Now you have me thinking about the people in my line of work (teaching journalism) who have a fetish for what one AV Club commenter (whose name I can't remember) referred to as "Wall Street Journal-style stipple porn."

For my part, all I can think of are those medical supply commercials with the woman with the drawl talkin' about how she had to cath, and the other commercials with the cowboy who has to wear a catheter. (And now I'm imagining the two of them starring in an adult video.)

I used to fly on the -200s a lot (and the occasional -700) and didn't mind them until I got my first ride on an Embraer 145, and getting the single seat on the port side of the cabin spoiled me for anything else so far as regional jets go. Thankfully, the major carriers are starting to bring larger equipment into our…

When I was a kid and the Shuttle program had yet to fly there was talk of a two-week turnaround on the vehicles and flights so routine and cost-effective that it would effectively become a scheduled service. Reality tempered it once the thing really flew, but there were still rosy visions; in 1985 NASA flew nine…

Working from memory, and forgive the moments of geek herein: the black tiles on the American shuttles signified HRSI (High-Temperature Reusable Surface Insulation), placed on areas that would experience the most heat on re-entry, and some areas were painted black to absorb more heat on re-entry too. One way to tell Col…

Yup. You either flew Concorde because you had to be there in a hurry, because you liked the novelty, or you wanted to be associated with the glamour. It was an expensive service to operate. The "asses over seats" ratio made subsonic widebody jet service much more sensible from a business standpoint, not to mention the…

Also heartbreaking: Greg Jarvis had originally been assigned to an earlier flight to supervise deployment of a payload for Hughes Aerospace, his employer. He was bumped to make way for a VIP passenger. He was then assigned to another flight, only to be bumped to make way for another VIP (IIRC, Bill Nelson, then a…

My main thought at every major point throughout the final Shuttle mission: "Well, we got away with it one last time."

My first impression going aboard the one at the Museum of Flight: "Man, this is disturbingly reminiscent of a CRJ." As Jack Ryan said in one of the novels, the Concorde was twice the terror of flying in half the time.

Now you have me imagining the members of The News sadly singing a slowed-down version of "I Want A New Drug," a la the unbearably sad Entresto commercials with the heart failure patients croaking out "Tomorrow."

Also, if you visit any of the Concordes on display in museums and get to go aboard, the glamour goes away in a hurry. The cabin's roughly the width of a regional jet (with corresponding comfort issues) and the cabin windows are tiny. After the novelty of flying supersonic wore off you'd probably be thinking "this kind…

"You gonna buy a car, or are you gonna whistle Dixie?"

"Don't give them money or matches."

You win the thread.

(sets DVR to record The Mao Tse-Tung Hour)

A friend gave me some tracks from the restored Clockwork Orange soundtrack and as amazing as they are to listen to, when you realize just how much work those early Moogs were, the music becomes that much more amazing when you know how complex the task was.

"It looks like you're trying to forge a document. May I help?" - Clippy

Nineveh is such a Tyre-d reference.

I've had one of those on my Amazon wish list for some time. After this, I may nudge it over to the cart soon. Thanks!

The one I use now was bought in 1998 for the last apartment I had in grad school. It was a budget mattress with the brand name "Spinal Bracer," which…it does. With my priorities being with things like student loan payments and so forth, replacing the mattress hasn't been up there. It's only a step up from sleeping on…