:(

Our neighbourhood shrank just a little today. Little in celestial terms anyway. Pluto is no longer considered a planet. Yes, it's almost as ridiculous as a good ol' Robin Williams bit from Good Morning Vietnam where he jokes about a country being "recognized" like it was at a party. Are you going to consider Pluto a planet next time you see it? If you listen to the troublemakers at the International Astronomical Union, you might introduce yourself politely as though you'd never met, or worse... You might ignore it, as it's part of the socially acceptable yet less well recognized "dwarf planet" group. Shame!

I realized that this may be a dividing line in my life as well. Not just mine... this could be a generation gap (those that consider Pluto a planet v. those that don't). Sure there have been plenty of changes that I've witnessed in my nigh' on 30 years like video games shifting from Pong to Oregon Trail, to Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. But at least there have been video games of one sort or another as long as I can remember. What about kids who are just about to start learning about the planets? They're going to think there isn't some planet-like thing out at the far reaches of our solar system. What a loss. Not only that, but now we don't get to use the odd, if entertaining mnemonic: "Mark's Very Extravagant Mother Just Sent Us Ninety Parakeets" to remember the order of the planets. I guess we can take solace in the fact that we can revert to "Mary's Violet Eyes Make John Stay Up Nights" which was used before the discovery of the wee planet way out there/dopey Disney dog.