NORMAL LIFE: Planet Madness

At work, some of us send emails all over the word to our colleagues in a global economy. Meanwhile, some of us are in the army where bombing things to smithereens is part of a normal working day. And then there's the scientists among us have been enjoying a 'business trip' to Prague to debate whether or not Pluto really is a planet! Is this really what we humans have come to?

Pluto has been known to us for nearly 80 years so why the sudden need to redefine the solar system? Are those guys and girls in Prague just bored, or something? I'm in constant awe of what has been achieved in terms of space exploration. Admittedly, there's better use of the money spent funding space exploration to deal with the our own problems on this planet, but when the aliens do come, we want to be prepared, don't we!

Apparently, the International Astronomical Union (UIA) has been working for months to refine the world 'planet'. Give me a break, and get a proper job! Apparently, this need for a new definition stems from the fact that Pluto, unlike the other planets, has a highly elliptical orbit around the sun and that scients have seen planets bigger than Pluto further out into deep space. I'm sorry, isn't that a bit sizeist? That's like saying to a leprechaun "sorry mate, you can't be human, you're too short!"

Since Pluto is also smaller than some of the moons in our Solar System, it will be assigned to a new category of planets known as 'dwarf planets' with one called Ceres nestling between neighbouring Mars and Jupiter. More information here.

So, I guess the days when My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Nine Pizzas are over?!