The U.S Air Force seems to do a lot to make the lives of its pilots and air crew more comfortable.

Just the other day, one heard about a new chair that stops fliers from losing their lasagne before its full nutritional value can be enjoyed.

Now, emerges news that the Air Force is retiring a lovely centrifuge that helped pilots stay, well, conscious.

According the the U.S. Air Force's own Web site, the Physiological Training Center at Holloman Air Force Base is shutting down its spinning centrifuge in favor of a new centrifuge being built to help prevent gravity-induced loss of consciousness on the part of pilots when they are assaulted by several Gs more than the word "groggy."

This looks like a very, very crazy Six Flags ride.

Some might feel that they experience gravity-induced loss of consciousness every time their lovers make them ride a roller coaster at Six Flags. However, it might seem strange that from 1988 the Holloman centrifuge was the only one at the disposal of America's airmen.

The last pilot to enjoy that Hollomanly feeling was Capt. George Cannon, the 48th Operations Support Squadron Tactics Division chief from Royal Air Force Lakenheath, England. He enjoyed 9Gs before becoming an F-22 pilot at Langley, Va.

For reasons that seem to spin beyond my understanding, the new centrifuge, which will be housed at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio, will not be ready until 2012. In the meantime, centrifuge training will be in the hands of contractors. In Texas.

Well, the state needed something to perk it up after enduring a giddily wonderful number of Gs in the World Series.