Space Shuttle Columbia.

The Columbia has apparently broken up on re-entry. Causes unknown yet, but it did have insulation on the external fuel tank come off and possibly hit the wing on takeoff, so perhaps that's involved. It hurts to think about it, the loss of lives, the loss of good men and women. It hurts to think about the fear that might build behind it - don't let this scare us off space. Don't let this make us give up or fall back again. And already the politics and fears of terrorism spark up.

There's an entry in the Blog of the Moderate Left which says, in part, regarding the charge of "American Arrogance" causing this:

So call us arrogant for building the space shuttle. Call the men and woman who gave their lives today arrogant for believing they could fly to space and return to tell about it. But don't call us wrong. For this arrogance defines humanity. And I would rather our species be arrogant than afraid.

The whole entry's well worth reading. As is the text at Instapundit that linked me to it. And a BBC news article. And an article at Yahoo (from the AP) about it as well that has some more details (not many, there aren't many yet).

I'm sure there's tons more out there, but I find I don't want to go searching yet. It's so early, all there will be are questions and sadness. I have enough of each.

I am sorry and I am proud and I hurt. And I have not the words I want for this. So many links, but I have so few words of my own right now.

My day...what shall I do with it?

I've learned of the space shuttle disaster, cried over it a bit, and done the dishes.

I'm going to pay a couple bills (such as the mortgage, important little thing that it is). Then I'm going to head out, stopping at the library to return a couple books and pick up the three that are waiting for me on hold. On to the Japanese Gardens or to one of the parks - I haven't quite decided yet, but I'll do something of that sort. On the way back home, I'll stop at the office, where I'm going to use a CD burner to do backups of my laptop. I still haven't gotten it to talk nicely to the Win98 machine that has the burner here at home. SIGH. But, I'm not gonna hold on backups until I manage that. It has no problems with the work network, anyway.

Scott is helping someone move, and then gaming. I'll talk to him tonight or tomorrow about vacation time and scheduling it, but since the company has decided that the cap won't apply instantly, it's not as pressing as it was. Probably March or April-ish.

cadhla has been writing lots of poetry lately, wonderful as always. It makes me want to write again. It's been a long time since I've written much - other than entries here, and while I like to think my entries and emails sometimes contain a good turn of phrase, that's not what I mean when I speak of writing, exactly. Not just getting words down, but trying to choose the words and the tone with artistry.

We'll see if I give it the time. I know myself, I'll probably sidetrack when I get the books. :)