CENTENNIAL OF KITTY HAWK
One hundred years ago today, Man spat in the face of the old gods. For all Man's triumphs - medicine, the industrial revolution, democracy - the sky remained the exclusive domain of the birds and the supernatural. Yes, we had balloons and airships, but these are hardly practical machines. Zeus, Horus, Marduk, Shiva, they alone controlled the sky, while we were bound by feet of clay. But then came Wilbur and Orville Wright and for the first time Man flew as high as Daedalus, instead of falling to earth like Icarus. We all complain about air travel, but only because it is so common now that we take it for granted that one can be on the other side of the world - in practical terms, the far side of the entire universe - in a matter of hours. What a time to be alive. My thanks to the Wright Bros. and their Flyer.

(Key to mythology: Zeus was in the ancient Greek pantheon, Horus Egyptian, Mardul babylonian, and Shiva Indian; of these once mighty pagan idols, only Shiva is still worshipped today. Daedalus was a brilliant engineer in ancient Greek mythology. He designed the Labyrinth that imprisoned the Minotaur and also the waxy wings used by himself and Icarus, his son. We all know the story of Icarus's arrogance and demise, but what many overlook is that Daedalus did not fly to close to the Sun and was thus able to successfully escape his imprisonment.)