Day 965

I was disappointed to see so many disparaging comments about the Curiosity lander on the Internet this morning. Where was the universal applause that followed the moon landing in 1969? Sure, there were a ton of positive comments about Curiosity, but they came with an undercurrent of disapproval. Some said the NASA money should have been used to feed the hungry. Others said that the imagination and technical wizardry of NASA scientists was misplaced and should have been used to turn the Sahara, the Gobi, and Antarctica into gardens instead.

You've got to be kidding! What would be the point of turning the Sahara and Antarctica into gardens? If you turned the entire planet into a wonderful place for humans to live and breed, that's exactly what they would do. Why is it that overpopulation is the one problem that most humanists just don't want to deal with? There are way too many people already. Personally, I applaud the audacity of the Curiosity team at JPL. I think the most appropriate role of the best and brightest among us has always been to test the limits of what is possible. What a waste it would be to use the best and brightest to simply level the playing field for the rest of us. Yay Higgs boson. Boo endless debates about universal healthcare. Ultimately, there is more benefit in a few reaching Mars than in millions sitting in front of televisions, watching future episodes of "The Real Housewives of Antarctica."

This is the beauty of dogs. They aren't judgmental. They don't nitpick about website designs. They don't take an amazing technical achievement and try to turn it into political fodder. I like the simplicity of eating, sleeping, and doing the best you can at whatever happens to capture your fancy. By and large, I don't care what other people do with their time and their money. I am human though, so occasionally I get up on a soapbox like everyone else. I'll admit that I do like technology and admire people with big dreams. If there was a starship headed outbound, I'd want to be on it. So, three cheers for the Curiosity team and their amazing achievement. If you have to raise my taxes to pay for more ambitious spaceships in the future, go right ahead. If you want to raise my taxes for anything else though, just forget about it.

Margo is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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