I missed a lot of things while I was in Africa. There was an obsession with Facebook vanity URLs that still doesn’t quite make sense to me, the launch of a new iPhone that I still won’t buy because it doesn’t have a keyboard (cue the Apple fanboy trolls) and–most exciting to me but most under reported– a milestone in electric aviation. I fantasize about electric, supersonic planes the way others fantasize about Hollywood celebrities or, I guess, new iPhones. It’s the result of spending as much as 30-hours per trip on dirty, fuel-spewing, noisy planes with broken entertainment systems and bathroom doors that don’t always lock. (Did I mention I fly coach?)

Earlier this month, in Turin, Italy, Italian astronaut Maurizo Cheli set a world record for speed for a 100% electric plane at 155 mph. That’s still slow compared to commercial jets, but remember when electric cars only went a few feet and looked like go-karts? It’s progress, right? The promise is a bit more exciting than the actual video, but here it is anyway. We now return you to regularly scheduled Twitter, Facebook and iPhone news.