Facing your fears, and more

Good week for:

Facing your fears, after a New York City man began a month-long odyssey in which he’ll take up to 12 flights a day to conquer his fear of flying. Mark Malkoff is crisscrossing the country, getting off only to switch flights, while following advice to “breathe, shut your eyes, and think tranquil thoughts.’’

New York City, which was rated the safest big city in the country in new FBI crime statistics. New York’s crime rate was the lowest of the 25 largest cities, and also ranked 246th on a list of 261 cities with more than 100,000 residents.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

The Rev. Alberto Cutie, the hunky Miami Beach celebrity priest who caused an uproar when he was photographed on the beach smooching a woman in a bikini. With his girlfriend at his side, Cutie announced he was quitting the Catholic Church and joining the Episcopalians, who will let him canoodle all he likes.

Bad week for:

Secrecy, after the federal government mistakenly posted on the Internet a “highly confidential’’ 266-page report on the nation’s nuclear plants, weapons labs, and nuclear-storage sites, with specific locations and details on what can be found there.

The Russian navy, which opened fire on a village near St. Petersburg during exercises in the Gulf of Finland. Somehow, no one was injured when artillery fire from an anti-submarine ship rained down on the village.

James Coleman of Bristol, U.K., who became a national laughingstock when he cracked his skull on a low-lying branch while simultaneously jogging to work and tweeting on his BlackBerry. “Hurts,’’ Coleman tweeted when he got up off the ground. “Forget how tall I am.’’