Elderly Nova Scotian Mrs. Fiedke explains why she refuses to fly out of Barcelona:<\/p>\n
\n“I’m a strict believer, in fact, a Witness, but I never trust the airlines from those countries where the pilots believe in the afterlife. You are safer when they don’t. I’ve been told the Scandinavian airlines are fairly reliable in that respect.”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
(Muriel Spark, The Driver’s Seat<\/em>, end of Chapter IV)<\/p>\n
Update:<\/strong> (7\/16\/06, 10:20pm)<\/p>\n
Maybe Mrs. Fiedke is right. At least so says the BBC’s 10 Things We Didn’t Know<\/a> column (þ A Sweet, Familiar Dissonance<\/a>):<\/p>\n
\n8. Devout Orthodox Jews<\/strong> are three times as likely to jaywalk as other people, according to an Israeli survey reported in the New Scientist<\/em>. The researchers say it’s possibly because religious people have less fear of death.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Elderly Nova Scotian Mrs. Fiedke explains why she refuses to fly out of Barcelona: “I’m a strict believer, in fact, a Witness, but I never trust the airlines from those countries where the pilots believe in the afterlife. You are … Continue reading