Look up

This is not the most amazing thing of the day. It’s the most amazing thing of the month, of the season. At least to me it is. I realize that many people have no interest in this, but I’m always looking up at jets overhead and wondering where they’re going and where they come from.

Here’s what you do: Go the Wolfram Alpha search engine (computational knowledge engine) and enter “planes overhead.” You’re soon presented with a list of the planes flying over, plus another list of those off to the side. There’s also a map of where to look in the sky. I click on the Atlantic Southeast flight and learn that it’s at an altitude of 5,500 feet preparing to land in Detroit from Houston. The Chautauqua Airlines flight, up there at 37,000 feet, left Chicago and will land in White Plains, NY.

I’m a happy man.