Poor Pluto

1930-2006

Well, it's official. We went and lost ourselves a planet yesterday. I guess now we lose our Nine Pizza-Pies and My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Noodles or something like that. But Pluto isn't so much gone, I guess, as redefined. Now it's a "dwarf planet". All because it plays well with others and "has not cleared the neighbourhood around its orbit."

So this poor little planet, who nobody even noticed for most of it's life, got named after the god of death, was finally getting spacecraft sent it's way, getting to hang out with the big guys, and generally doing a fine job of minding it's own business now is kicked out of the planet club. Sheesh, give the kid a break.

What does that even mean "has not cleared the neighbourhood"? Is that like a citation or something? What did it do? Leave a couple of cars up on blocks in the front yard? Walk by some trash in the gutter without cleaning it up? Allow kids to walk on its lawn? Run over Mr. McFeely during one of his Speedy Delivery runs? Wait, no... I think NOT running over Mr. McFeely might contribute to this particular offense.

I guess I'm just glad I'm not a teacher or a textbook or a really cool painted ceiling that now has to change and learn to incorporate "dwarf planet friendly" nomenclature such as Ceres and 2003 UB313 into its lexicon.

Tim "Small Solar-System Body" James