Giving NASA a convergent set of objectives, as we did in the 1960s, is good. Would reaching for new heights be a waste of money? I don't think so. The space program, taking less than half a penny on the dollar in the federal budget, is no boondoggle. If NASA is anything, it's cash and resource-starved, forever at the whim of shortsighted politicians eager to divert money to local pork (to see what I mean, watch the merciless portrayal of a young Walter Mondale in the miniseries From the Earth to the Moon, a caricature of many in Congress that can't be too far from reality). So again: renewed vigor in NASA is good. Turbocharging space exploration and related scientific research through regulated privatization, à la the Federal Aviation Administration is better. If success in the former can lead to faith in the latter, I'm satisfied.

"We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard," said John Fitzgerald Kennedy. Forty-one years later:

President Bush will announce plans next week to send Americans to Mars and back to the moon and to establish a long-term human presence on the moon, senior administration officials said Thursday night.

Bush doesn't plan to send Americans to Mars anytime soon; rather, he envisions preparing for the mission more than a decade from now, one official said. The president also wants to build a permanent space station on the moon.

The initiatives are part of a broad, new commitment to manned space flight, three officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Beneficial for science, inspiring for mankind. I hope this turns out to be true.

Gabe (and Patrick, for that matter; I remember your work illustrations): investigate this at once. (Via Fishbucket.)

How are you fellows, eh? Haven't seen hide nor hair of you.

While Spirit landed on Mars, Stardust took some choice snapshots of a passing comet. We can safely call that a double-victory for the American space program.

It's come to my attention that my e-mail account may not be accepting all messages - so if you've sent something to me and I haven't yet responded, try again. What the problem is, I don't know. Just imagine: someone on planet Krypton knows what plans a friend or two of mine had for New Year's last night.

Glenn notes a hint of, oh, lip-curling-across-file-sharpened-teeth contempt for weblogs from journalist clubbers in the Editor & Publisher. Spontaneous and decentralized, we're apparently "self-important." Now, the anger of Paid Professional at Visible Amateur is understandable: journalists would have us non-journalists believe that it's difficult to find your work in a periodical. It's not. What is difficult is to find your work in a periodical recognized as excellent, and often. That is, of course, what most journalists are trying - and not quite succeeding - to do all the time. League ball doesn't guarantee a pennant. Blogs are as good as anything to illustrate the second distinction, as well as continuing to chip away at the first, every hour of the day.

Yesterday, Drudge ran as his large-font headline a CBS News story entitled "9/11 CHAIR: ATTACK WAS PREVENTABLE." The premise pushed by the article, insinuating that blame fell pretty squarely on the new Bush administration, was fishy; bloggers and readers looked at the idea from all sides and began a compelling discussion on Instapundit. Today was Instapundit's second crack, and Glenn linked to a second story that satisfactorily defused implications of the first. Advantage? Blogosphere.

Lawrence Reed divulges the secret behind Wilbur and Orville Wright's success one hundred years ago, wisdom that could be applied to the president's anticipated initiative on space travel. Hint: the secret wasn't government.

Iraqis protested against terrorism; Big Media yawned. If a left-friendly cultural stereotype is smashed, will the press cover it? Glenn Reynolds celebrates the fall of broadcast Rome on MSNBC, with a gracious mention of yours truly.

At least several of this site's regular readers, I'll have you know, are fans of Jerry Holkins and Mike Krahulik's witty, nerdish comic Penny Arcade. It's not exactly my kind of humor, though every now and then Holkins and Krahulik have put out some priceless work. But reading taste aside, both artists have my sincere admiration for their side project, if it can even be called that:

One of the comic's biggest targets is the mainstream media and their treatment of game players and the industry. Frankly, they're sick of features on local and national news programs portraying players as morally corrupt, psychotic killers just waiting to go postal on their high school.

...This Christmas they decided to do something about it - something that might give the news media something positive to write about gamers for once. The two geek humorists live near Seattle, so they hooked up with the Seattle Children's Hospital and Regional Medical Center to arrange a sort of donation charity thing. The idea was simple: They would set up an Amazon.com Wish List, put a few dozen items on it, and let their readers buy and donate them. Once the presents were delivered, Holkins and Krahulik would cart them all down to the Children's Hospital and give them to the kids. With a little luck, they might deliver one or two hundred toys and games to some sick kids who need to have a little fun.

So, the guys set it up, threw together a simple Web page, called it Child's Play, and put a link to it in the rant that accompanies their thrice-weekly comic. Then something truly incredible happened.

Gamers went nuts buying toys and games. One or two hundred items quickly ballooned out of control.

...We're not just talking about little trinkets here. Sure, there are lots of inexpensive items on the list, but readers have bought dozens of Game Boy Advance systems, Playstation 2s, Xboxes, and GameCubes - as well as child-friendly games to go with them. Some organizations have gotten together to make large purchases or donations. To date, thousands of gamers have donated a total of more than $100,000 worth of toys, games, and cash to help the kids of the Seattle Children's Hospital.

Looks like Chief Wiggles is in a charitable run for his money. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is competition of the best kind.