I love a guy who loves dogs

I'm talking about Brian Williams. In his NBC special on the White House, he had a few meetings with the First Puppy, Bo.

There are people who don't like animals. There are people who don't see animals. There are people who like animals well enough. Then there are people who turn into little kids whenever they cross the path of a dog or a cat or a horse or a ferret. I'm one of those people. On my walks, when I see people coming in my direction and they have a dog, my eyes light up and I think, "Ooh, a puppy!" Or "Ooh, a Rottweiler!" I can barely contain myself. "Can I pet him? What's his name?" Etc.

Brian Williams is like that. When beautiful Michelle came into the room with Bo at the end of the leash, Brian Williams immediately dropped into a crouch and said, "Ohhhhh, good boy!" Then he apologized to the First Lady for not greeting her first.

My kinda guy.

Fear of Flying

I learned to manage my fear of flying by this simple reasoning:

1. Commercial air travel is many times safer than driving a car
2. Most crashes occur during take-off or landing, not when the plane is at cruising altitude, and it's almost impossible for a plane at 32,000 feet to go down. Almost impossible, emphasis on "almost."

Close enough to get me to fly on airplanes. I figured, during takeoff, there were several minutes of danger, and all I had to do was hold tight for those few minutes, and then we were likely home free. I'd wait to hear the little ping that came when people were free to move around the cabin, and I loved it when we leveled off. As far as landing: it's hard to keep up being terrorized for hours on a plane; mostly you just want to get to your destination. I also figure if you made it this far, you're likely to make it all the way. So by the time we come in for a landing, I'm cool as a cucumber.

So what do I make of the recent spate of airline crashes? Sully's crash--that was birds: take-off.

The crash into the house in Buffalo? That was a small feeder airline with pilots getting $22,000 a year. So I'll avoid those little commuter airlines if I can.

But the Air France crash just off Brazil? This one rattles me. They were at cruising altitude. They were not supposed to crash. But they did.

So until I find out why this airplane fell out of the sky, I am hereby refusing to fly from Brazil to France in an Airbus.

What are you afraid of?

Mapping the brain, politically

There's an interesting column by Nicholas Kristoff about the differences in the brains of liberals versus conservatives.

One difference: Conservatives register more disgust with more things. Maybe, but the most liberal person I know won't use a Porta Potti at a sporting event. Just won't do it.

I think everyone has a certain disgust level. I can't stand the smell of cooked cruciferous vegetables. I'm almost physically ill. But give me a snail fork and some garlic butter and I'm ther

What was your favorite car?

Mine was a pale blue 1970 Ford Maverick, which I had for 21 years. It had a dark blue vinyl top, which of course peeled. My dad used to change the brake shoes on it himself, out on hot summer days on the bermuda grass in the backyard, using his own tools on those heavy-duty springs. Could have blinded himself. But he grew up as a farm boy, and during World War II he was the head mechanic on B-17s. Every time one of those B-17s was worked on, he had to go up with the pilots. Talk about a guarantee. What was the best car you ever owned?

(For a favorite car, the 1957 Thunderbird comes to mind. With the porthole.)