The volume dial on old Sony stereos that spins itself automatically when you press the volume up and down button on the remote is one of the most unnecessary and awesome inventions of the 1990s.

Whenever I fly, I usually leave my magazine in the seat pocket. I do this because once I forgot a book and I learned the capacity for ironic enjoyment of SkyMall tops out at about 15 minutes (which is probably why Family Guy episodes feel too long).

One time I found a used air sickness bag, but in all my years of flying, I’ve never found a non-airline-sanctioned magazine in my seat pocket. Part of the plane cleaner’s job must be to throw out all foreign reading material. Sort of like in Tehran after the election, but with less media hype about Twitter.

There is no good way to type the common abbreviation for “situation.” Sitch? Sitsh? Sit?

Recent reality TV developments have really called attention to this problem.

Once you’ve taken the step of putting your phone into “airplane mode” to prevent incoming emails from affecting the frame rate of BrickBreaker for Blackberry, you can never get that part of your dignity back.