The future of flight, Part II

Published 11:24 pm Thursday, May 15, 2008

Yesterday, it was a Swiss pilot with a jet-powered wing. Today, it’s a Japanese man who plans a demonstration flight of the world’s smallest helicopter, a one-seater that can go 56 mph. Tomorrow, it will be a sudden increase in the number of UFO sightings.

UPS has signed a deal to sponsor Big Brown, the horse that won this year’s Kentucky Derby and happens to be named after the shipping company. The horse is also favored to win Saturday’s Preakness and, some speculate, even the Triple Crown. But if that doesn’t work out, UPS and the horse’s owners could see if Big Brown can deliver another way — by reviving the Pony Express.

Let’s call it “CSI: American Idol.” For the week of May 5-11, “Idol” was the No.1 show in the U.S. and “CSI” was No. 5. Were Fox and CBS to do a crossover episode of the two shows, Las Vegas’ finest forensic scientists could solve the mystery of what’s in the judges’ cups, revealing that water makes Paula Abdul a little tipsy and Simon Cowell gets his acidic tongue from spiking his beverage with hemlock.