  This is a brief report on the status of neutrino "astronomy" at a time when
the kilometer-scale neutrino detector IceCube is approaching completion. We
revisit the rationale for constructing gigantic neutrino detectors by
transforming large volumes of natural ice and water into Cherenkov detectors.
With time, the motivation for building such instruments has come into clear
focus, and the requirement for their kilometer scale has been rationalized with
improved accuracy. We will discuss the performance and some selected results of
IceCube based on data taken during construction.
