they have a secret world in the twilight

This may surprise you, but I'm a regular reader of Patrick Smith's "Ask A Pilot" blog, and I often end up sharing his articles in my feed reader (someone says I should share in FriendFeed as well, but I don't know, it all sounds very complicated, and might make it just that much easier for the robots to find me). But today's is particularly good, especially regarding the safety record of commercial aviation in America. Money quote:

The system, as it stands, is remarkably safe. Although airlines have been through fiscal hell and back over the past several years, and despite their status as the most consistently dogged pariahs of the postindustrial American economy, they and their regulators have managed to maintain an astonishingly reliable transportation system. Here we are amid the safest-ever stretch since the dawn of the jet age. The last large-scale accident involving a major U.S. carrier was that of an American Airlines A300 in November 2001. That was approximately 43 million flights ago.

43 million flights. I mean, great googly-moogly. Now, sure, deep-down, everyone is a little bit afraid of flying, and I've certainly nursed my share of irrational fears in the past. But 43 million flights is quite a lot, and it just makes me a little bit giddy to think about how well the system has come to work, safety-wise. It doesn't mean there haven't been close calls, and it doesn't mean an airliner didn't run off the runway at Chicago's MDW and crush some poor soul in their car not too long ago. But it does mean that, current FAA tribulations notwithstanding, there has been an effort to make things safer, and as in the auto industry that effort seems to be paying dividends.

And like Patrick Smith, I'm glad the FAA is under a magnifying glass right now, because without it that kind of record can't continue.

M83 - Kim & Jessie (This may surprise you, but I'm obsessed. You'll swear it's 1987 all over again...)