8/11/2006 - The will of the people

Mary's violet eyes make John stay up nights.

What does he do in the throes of his insomnia? We'll never know, because Pluto has been dropped from the ranks of the planets. The New York Times calls this "coming to [our] senses" but I lament the decision, and not just for the sake of classical music enthusiasts (actually, PB points out that such enthusiasts are unaffected).

From the NYT's perspective, Pluto was an accident, an outcast among the planets that should never have slipped in. The horror that lay behind Pluto was the dozens of equally valid mongrel planets, waiting to tear down the Berlin Wall lying roughly six billion kilometers from the sun (not to mention those rogue agents hiding between Mars and Jupiter).

From my perspective, we had a chance to live through the expansion of our little corner of the universe. A chance to better engage the hearts and minds of children around the world to be interested in not 8 but 12, dare I say 51 balls of rock, gas or ice revolving our beautiful Yellow Dwarf (see Dwarves can be beautiful!).

Well, I shall endeavor to keep Pluto alive in my own family, and maybe even spread the legends of Ceres, Charon and Xena! No, sir, I will not yield!

9,000 Plutonic steps today. Cheers,