"If you want to write about the joys of air travel (which there are damned few now"

If you are talking about flying from Cleveland to Buffalo, yes, I agree. Have you never enjoyed a trip to places like Xian, Dunhuong, or Lijiang? Have you never been amazed at how easy it is to get around the world? Patrick is, and so am I.

Thanks for being so gracious. Bad grammar bothers me too. I cringe when people mix up "affect" and "effect". I do think, though, that tone does "affect" what is acceptable grammar. The first sentence did not bother me because I understood that it fitted the tone; in very formal writing, it would have stood out as incorrect. I am glad you see what I mean by rhythm and how the first sentence has the stronger rhythm by placing "word" in the center. As for the piano lessons, I agree completely. The "good life" for the ancient Greeks did not consist in mindless consumption of pleasurable experiences, but in using ones mental abilities to the fullest extent possible. It is important for children to realize that "fun" does not come from the TV or video game, but from their own fully-engaged minds.

"I want a columnist who cultivates sources, ferrets out controversy, interviews industry bigwigs and asks the unpleasant questions they don't want to talk about."

What you want is an airline industry consumer advocate, a Ralph Nader of the skies. I can see the book "Unsafe at any height". That's fine, except Mr. Smith evidently has no interest at all in interviewing airline executives to ask them unpleasant questions. I can't blame him. And do you really think they would answer? Who is being disingenous now? I believe he said in previous columns that he was not a business writer - if you want that, go to the Wall Street Journal. Probably most people who read "Ask the Pilot" are just interested in finding out why they should not be too alarmed when the flight becomes bumpy. Personally, I would love to hear more of the exotic places travelog stuff. It may bore you, but be assured, interviews with airline executives would make a state of the union speech riveting in comparison.

Flying can't be any more dangerous than writing a column.

"But, as I so painstakingly pointed out, and as you so idiotically ignored: That's not Salon's mission statement!"

How could I have been so idiotic as to forget salon's mission statement! Before I, too, descent into insults, let me just say that I don't want to read any magazine where writers are expected to conform to a "mission statement". It is Patrick's column - let him write what he wants.

The question is does being an airline employee make it impossible to write a column on air travel? Is there a conflict of interest? Can Patrick "serve two masters"? Why not? We are all aware of the situation. We can take the bias into account, as I do every day when reading news from various sources. Were he an investigative reporter/consumer advocate then the conflict of interest would be intolerable. Since he is just writing a column, with a very wide degree of freedom in subject matter, I don't see a problem. In fact, the column could benefit from his being an active, as opposed to "furloughed" pilot. How long would it have been before the column's name should have been changed to "Ask the (former) pilot? Maybe it's just me, but it never occurred to me that Patrick should be a consumer advocate. He is primarily trying to give a pilot's perspective on the experience of air travel while keeping the column interesting. I am glad he remains unabashed, given the bashings he has received lately from the feminists, the Jewish lobby and the consumer activists. Who knew a column about air travel could be such a minefield?

I never heard of this woman before today, and I won't remember her tomorrow. I do wonder if her (quasi) criminal record will be an issue when it comes time to apply for the green card. And to think I had assumed the US already had so many unstable right wingers there was no need to import more from north of the border.

"I guarantee you that a battery of personality profile tests would reveal this person to be a psychopath."

One of my first thoughts, as well. And perfect qualifications for touting the neoconservative line. Mental health issues, a criminal record - she will be fast-tracked for a green card for sure.

Well, I liked it.

Patrick. I mean Jared.

By the way, I experience exactly the same flexibility, humanity and courtesy when flying in China and which is so lacking here.

Locutus is obviously a troll dying for attention. I have seen this in chat rooms. Ignore him.

In Ghana: a converted lorry or van used as a public conveyance; a minibus.

1973 Ghanaian Times 19 Apr. 12, 42 mini-buses currently being used as ‘tro-tro’ to convey workers to and from their offices had been drafted to supplement the fleet. 1976 M. BIRMINGHAM Heat of Sun v. 67 A tro-tro{em}as we call the minibuses which today carry Ghanaians on their endless journeyings. 1977 J. WYLLIE To catch Viper (1979) xiv. 83, I went to the crossroads and got on a tro tro. 1986 B. K. LAING Search Sweet Country xi. 113 By the edge of the skyline where the trotros took people to and from poverty..the cock crowed into the city. 1990 Sunday Times 5 Aug. VII. 7/3 We caught a tro-tro (a public transport truck) to a market that stretched to the horizon. (Oxford English Dictionary)