A SFGate columnist laments the demise of the stick shift. He goes a bit too far into the sexual parallels for my taste, but perhaps I’m too prudish to enjoy driving in a visceral manner. I must admit that although two people have tried to teach me how to deal with a clutch, I haven’t truly made the effort to learn how to drive a manual transmission. I’m surprised, though, that manual transmission sales are down. More of my friends own stick shifts than not, so I’ve always felt in the minority.