Monday, August 24, 2009

Does this really affect anyone's life?

People remain seriously upset about the fact that Pluto is no longer a planet, and its not just the people who join these kinds of meaningless Facebook groups. The Illinois Senate actually passed a resolution that awarded "full planetary status" to Pluto during the part of the year when it is visible in the state's sky.

Now, I'm not exactly sure why it was so important for the IAU to downgrade Pluto from "planet" to "dwarf planet" a few years ago, but since it's pretty much their job to take care of the scientific classification of celestial bodies, I figured they knew what they were doing. I'm really confused by the Illinois Senate's actions though, because even if I know nothing about Illinois state politics, I bet there is something more important for them to be doing.

Or maybe it's a step in the right direction for a state that is known as being one of the most politically corrupt in the country. Pointless legislation is at least better than corrupt legislation, right?

As for the people who join these "Plutophile" clubs and put stickers on their car or sign online petitions or whatever, I have this to say:

It's a tiny little piece of frozen rock. That's all it is. It has no idea that you love it or think it should be a planet. Even if it was able to think and have feelings (which it does not, because it is a tiny, frozen rock), it probably would not care whether Earthlings called it a planet or a dwarf planet or anything else. On a list of interesting stuff in outer space, Pluto would be pretty much right at the bottom. Let it go.

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