Flying is one of the great privileges of our age.
Though commercial air travel is commonplace today, the act of flying
itself is no less a miracle now than it was in, say, Da Vinci's time.
Although Da Vinci was arguably the brightest and best-connected man of
his day, he could only play at flying, not actually do it.
Among other fields, materials science just wasn't up to the task of getting
him aloft: despite his great mind and connections, Da Vinci was AOG/SOL.
But today, a jerk like me can look up at the cumulus clouds building over
the mountains, then go to the airport and fire up a flying machine
play like a god among them. Like, wow.
