Interesting piece in the NYTimes about impressive survival rates in airplane accidents -- the ones that are serious, but not the hopelessly catastrophic plummets. The point is that passengers should pay more attention to the pre-takeoff safety speech that flight attendants rip through.

First of all, if the flight attendants themselves didn't seem fall-down bored as they race through their mumbled instructions, maybe they'd attract some attention. More important, tell us important stuff! The universal spiel begins with a tutorial on how to operate a seat belt. Come on, now. If you start your act with brain dead material that would make a six-year-old snicker, you can expect your captive audience to tune out.

How about this for an opening line? "Good morning folks. Please give me your attention as I describe how to stay alive in a crash." That would make my Raleigh-to-Dulles companions lower their newspapers.