Hurray for being decisive.

[peacebone]

I am going to kendou tonight whether the rest of my body approves or not, and that is final, thank you.

Definitely not going for the extra hour advanced practice, though. That's just begging for karmic retribution. Hence, I'll be back and decent at eight thirty-ish if anybody should need me

Comments

[majorbum]

Tracy, if Pluto is a planet, then so is half the crap in the Kulper belt plus a large comet (Ceres I think). Heck, Xena is bigger AND has its own moon. It was funny the first time but please just drop it.

[peacebone]

I disagree. Pluto was disqualified not because of its size, but because its orbit intersects with Neptune's. Unlike that of Pluto, the orbit of Ceres (which is the largest object in the Mars-Jupiter asteroid belt, actually; I don't think any comet will ever come close to planetary status, regardless of orbit, because they're made primarily of ice, and though I'm not sure if that factored into this decision, I'm sure it'll be a factor if comet vs. planet is ever brought up) and those of the Kuiper belt objects in question are full of orbiting bodies. DQing those, I can understand and agree with, but kicking out Pluto because it crosses with one object is ridiculous and overcomplicated.

It was intended to be funny the first time; this time, not so much. Honestly, if it bugs you, why are you even reading the entry?

[majorbum]

http://www.boston.com/news/globe/ideas/articles/2006/09/03/planet_politics/?page=full

An article by the poor bugger that got tapped to chair the committee. Pluto was disqualified because it lacks the mass to clear its own orbit; Pluto and Charon actually more closely resemble a binary system than the classic moon model and were originally thought to be a single object. It was orginally thought to influence Neptune's orbit but according to Gingerich the odd orbit of Neptune comes from improper calculation of it's mass.

And I'm commenting because I really don't want to wake up one morning and see those shirts.

[peacebone]

So, how clear does its orbit have to be? If you draw a line and say "anything with fewer than this number of extraplanetary bodies is OK," it's going to be an arbitrary decision. Just like so-called races in human beings, there isn't a nice, bold line. Even Earth, which most everyone would agree is a planet, is struck by asteroids a few times a month (so think of how many actually cross or intersect its orbit in order to make this statistically likely). The orbits of Earth and Mars together have several hundred small asteroids between them (Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia 2003). As such, I really don't think it's a good qualifier for planet/"dwarf planet"/not-planet.

All that aside... why, exactly, should I base my opinions and actions around your precious world? You realize that this is my journal, correct, and that if you don't like it, you can fuck off?

[renshai]

http://www.thinkgeek.com/tshirts/science/8964/

(my brother made one like you describe, except underneath Pluto = Planet it says you bastards)

[peacebone]

Nice! Heh, I'm very tempted. Thank you. ^_^;

[themeadowlark]

*grins* only if pluto and planet are balanced on the razor :)

oh, don't listen to bill, he just wants an argument :P or i suppose, if that floats your boat ;)

[peacebone]

If only.

Yeah, so I figured, and hence freezing the thread... XD I don't care to continue.