Pluto demoted
 

Just heard about the news about Pluto, it's been demoted fom Planet, to minor Planet. Our solar system not only has 8 Planets! I suppose it's not that important, it's only a name, but it's kinda sad. I still think it would have been better if they had gone for the Pluto/Charon binary planet idea. A binary system right in our own neighbourhood!

Hey, I'd rather have eight planets than twelve (or rather about fifteen when the whitecoats pin down the sizes and orbits of some of the asteroids).

Anyone in favor of the name Xena for our favorite tenth planet candidate?

At last, Gustav Holst can rest in peace.

My Very Educated Mother Just Baked Us Nine....

NINE WHAT?! Seriously, I'm a bit bummed out by that. ...Or it could be that school just started.

Just Baked Us Nothing seemed to be the winner in the Fark thread.

Just Busted Us Nincompoops?

I think the new thing currently named "Xena" by silly people should be called maybe...Mondas?

Mwahahaha!

I still think that Mimas should be changed to 'The Death Star'. I mean look at it!
What next? An Enterprise shaped asteroid?

I took an astronomy class in undergrad several years ago, and the prof mentioned then that Pluto had been demoted to a Kuiper Belt Object, part of a cloud of chunky bits leftover from the formation of the solar system. It makes sense, really. Given the highly elliptical and inclined nature of its orbit, it probably didn't form from the planetary accretion disk that gave rise to the other eight planets.

Disclaimer: I am not an astronomer, and I don't even play one on TV. I haven't kept up with all the semantic redefinitions over the years, so absorb this information at your own risk. That is all.

Oh sure, Pluto doesn't get to be a planet anymore, but we still let Rhode Island be a state?

Zeke, I'm afraid that I'm in full agreement. It's foolish to have all of those itty-bitty states remain separate purely for historic reasons. If anything New York City should be one state and the rest of the Northeast should be another.

I disagree. Hypocrisy and non-standard standards for all :D

After all, Newfoundland was its own *nation* until the 1920's (Or was it the thirties?)...

Wiki says that it became a Dominion in 1907 and then reverted to colonial status in 1934 because of financial insolvency or something. It became our tenth province in 1949.

/The more you know

Interesting.

But pointless.

Pointless is good.

Hear that, PHJ? *g*

Just for that:

Who are you?


WHO ARE YOU?!

I HEAR ALL.

Hey Sa'ar, thanks for the "The more you know" gag. It reminds me of a similar joke from Bob and George. "Whose Line" points for anyone who knows where the similar gag comes from.

Ummm...Who's Line is It Anyway?