Missing Pluto

I was supposed to write about this 2 weekends ago but sleep and laziness got in the way. The demotion of Pluto as a planet caused quite a stir: some are actually joining Save Pluto campaigns, running photoshop contests, while others are cashing in on this historic happening.

After so many years of being almost ignored (c'mon, we only know Pluto because of his association with the Little Mouse in a tux), Pluto suddenly becomes famous. It is a sad event. However in my opinion, we should give it the mourning that it is due, and then we move on. This latest news, to me, is just an affirmation that there is still so much out there that is waiting to be discovered. Current technologies in science & astronomy have helped us get to know the outside world more than we could ever dreamed of ten, twenty years ago.

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"Science and understanding change, but this change is not so earth-shattering... The solar system right now is exactly like it was 24 hours ago. Nothing's changed in that time period -- just the name by which we define each of these things." -- Whitsett, President-Elect of the National Science Teachers Association.

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On a side note, the clarified definition of a planet is now as follows: a celestial body that is in orbit around the sun, has sufficient mass for its self-gravity to overcome rigid body forces so that it assumes a ... nearly round shape, and has cleared the neighborhood around its orbit.

My, my, there seems to be one or two people in the office who fit the definition PERFECTLY.

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cheers! getting a massage and a facial after a Barely-Breathing Monday Morning
it's ok... if you spent more than an hour on the road on your way to work. At least you got to spend time praying and relishing the last remains of the weekend in your head.
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images lifted from cafepress.com