Pluto plutoed
My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us…
We are all familiar with this mnemonic for planets in the Solar system.
After Pluto’s demotion some years back, I read this:
“My! Very educated morons just screwed up numerous planetariums.”
My take on this is that humans, educated morons or not, came up with this classification system in the first place, and therefore inherently have the right to change it as necessary.
Sentimentalism is another thing, but that is not the issue here.
Officially a “planet” is a celestial body that:
- is in orbit around a star or stellar remnants;
- has sufficient mass for its self-gravity to overcome rigid body forces so that it assumes a hydrostatic equilibrium (nearly round) shape;
- is not massive enough to initiate thermonuclear fusion of deuterium in itscore; and,
- has cleared the neighborhood around its orbit.
Change any of these parameters, and that celestial body ceases to be classified as a planet.
In January 2007, the American Dialect Society chose “plutoed” as its 2006 Word of the Year, defining “to pluto” as “to demote or devalue someone or something“, “as happened to the former planet Pluto.”
Don’t get plutoed!!!
God has set down some parameters too. It is all in the Bible.
The difference here is that God does not need to hold a referendum to adopt a new resolution because he has discovered something new, or because he now has a deeper revelation of something which he did not have before.
If we choose to live according to God’s parameters, then we qualify to receive what he has to give; both now and eternally, and I gladly add that he is only too happy and willing to give to those who comply and ask.
If we do not live according to God’s parameters, then we get to live with and as others who don’t; both now and eternally.
Another point to note here is that we are composed of materials that disintegrate if we choose to change the parameters set by our creator.”
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This entry first appeared on my old blog site on Sept. 05, 2006