On the AOL News Page the other day there was one of those classic victory shots. Two guys, faces wreathed in huge smiles, one jumping in the air, the other with his fists triumphantly punched up over his head, head thrown back, eyes closed.

These weren't football players celebrating their Super Bowl victory [insert the names of who won here] or basketball stars celebrating a big game win. Theses two guys had a distinctly nerdy-intellectual look. One even had the standard issue pocket-protector in his front shirt pocket. Still they were celebrating a huge victory.

The occasion of their joy was the 32 inch journey of NASA's Mars rover Spirit. It had taken a week to move these 32 inches, a week of delicately maneuvering the souped-up golf cart named Spirit to enable the vehicle to make its …