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Let's protest Pluto's demotion!


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I'm mad as hell and I'm not gonna take it anymore!

 

Okay, not really. But there's poor Pluto, floating around the sun for millenia, minding its own business. Hell, it was only "discovered" 76 years ago, barely a blip on the radar in the cosmic scheme of things. And now, it gets its planetary status removed out of the blue? I say this is a tremendous injustice, folks. If there were a civil rights commision for heavenly bodies, you bet they'd not stand by idly for this outrage.

 

I mean, sure, its orbit is eccentric. But who among us can cast the first stone at eccentricity? Certainly not me, my friends.

 

And think of the children! The children with science books... all wrong! As of this morning, there's not a damn printed science book in any school in this wonderful world that doesn't list our solar system as having nine planets! Misinformation! And when will these books be replaced, and at what cost?

 

Well, I say we are all guilty of plantary elitism. The only saving grace about this fiasco is that Pluto really doesn't give a crap about what we call it. It has been around much longer than the scientists who deal with semantics, and will continue its trek across the skies long after they are gone.

 

Viva la Pluto!

 

- Jeff

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It's a clear case of "the Man" dissing a discovery by an amateur astronomer.

 

 

Clyde Tombaugh, an amateur astronomer who used the new telescope at the Lowell Observatory was able to photograph Pluto in the year 1930. The planet Tombaugh found was named Pluto. Pluto became the outermost known planet of the solar system.

 

 

http://www1.jsc.nasa.gov/er/seh/pluto.html

 

though, I gotta admit, he borrowed a pretty big telescope to do it.

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Yeah, dammit!

 

And while we're on it, what the hell's up with the new politically correct pronunciation for Uranus?

 

There was absolutely nothing wrong with saying "Your Anus".

Now they want us to say "Urine Us", which sounds to me like an invitation I'm not willing to offer! :mad:

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Originally posted by philbo

There was absolutely nothing wrong with saying "Your Anus".

Now they want us to say "Urine Us", which sounds to me like an invitation I'm not willing to offer!
:mad:

 

Wow, those choices leave you between a rock and a hard place. Or something like that.

 

You know, the good news about the solar system is that it keeps on truckin' regardless of how a few primates on the third rock try to define it. I take comfort in that.

 

- Jeff

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Originally posted by philbo

Yeah, dammit!


And while we're on it, what the hell's up with the new politically correct pronunciation for Uranus?


There was absolutely nothing wrong with saying "Your Anus".

Now they want us to say "Urine Us", which sounds to me like an invitation I'm not willing to offer!
:mad:

 

I say good riddance to Pluto, and while you're at it, wipe Uranus too!!!

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at the time when pluto was discovered, it was a singular discovery. Now, we know of hundreads and possibly thousands of pluto like objects that orbit the sun. Some even larger.

 

But you know, rock the boat or not? I dont know.. they want to draw a line somewhere.. pluto doesnt fit the classical ideal of the planets.. soo either we nix it for science sake, or keep it for traditions sake..

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Originally posted by Jeff da Weasel

And think of the children! The children with science books... all wrong! As of this morning, there's not a damn printed science book in any school in this wonderful world that doesn't list our solar system as having nine planets! Misinformation! And when will these books be replaced, and at what cost?

 

Would you have them continue to read textbooks that described the sun rotating around the Earth, a central (and erroneous) cultural belief in human history for far more than 76 years?

 

In a way, Pluto has been promoted rather than demoted, with similar kuiper belt objects now classified as "Plutons."

 

-plb

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Originally posted by Deef

Is the thumb still a finger?


I still don't know if a tomato is a fruit or a vegetable.


:freak:

Deef

 

My favorite rule of thumb (anyone know the dark origins of that expression?) is this:

 

If you're a killing a whole plant to eat it, it's a vegetable. If the plant "offers" you the food, i.e., droppings, it's a fruit...

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Originally posted by Jeff da Weasel



And think of the children! The children with science books... all wrong! As of this morning, there's not a damn printed science book in any school in this wonderful world that doesn't list our solar system as having nine planets! Misinformation!

- Jeff

 

 

And that is just the beginning. Wait until evolution is thrown out !

 

Dan

 

http://teachmedrums.com

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Originally posted by Magpel



My favorite rule of thumb (anyone know the dark origins of that expression?)

 

I've heard it, but I think it's wrong. I think it simply refers to using the thumb as a rough unit of measurement, which is also the origin of "feet" and "hands" as units of measurement.

 

Seems a few cunning linguists :D on Wikipedia agree with me:

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rule_of_thumb

 


If you're a killing a whole plant to eat it, it's a vegetable. If the plant "offers" you the food, i.e., droppings, it's a fruit...

 

I'll agree about this one! :thu:

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Originally posted by Brittanylips


Would you have them continue to read textbooks that described the sun rotating around the Earth, a central (and erroneous) cultural belief in human history for far more than 76 years?

 

No, but that was an actual conceptual error, not just a name change. It's not like we suddenly discovered anything new about the behavior of Pluto, we just changed what we call it. After years of arguing over it. Whatever. :bor:

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