Pluto

"Pluto has always been considered a little strange. It's like the cousin you don't want to invite to Thanksgiving dinner, but you have to -- but he's so weird, you hope he doesn't show up."
- Andrew Fraknoi, chairman of the astronomy program at Foothill College in Los Altos.

I first heard about the reclassification of Pluto to "dwarf planet" from an irate DJ yesterday morning. Who knew this would bring forth so much passion? Looking at the relative sizes though (above, from the nasa.gov site), Pluto really isn't in the same league as the rest of the planets.

Lisa Krieger at the SJ Merc did a great article on it. In addition to talking to Fraknoi, she tracked down the president of the Academy of AstroPsychology [read astrologer] who said "Pluto is the dark stranger, the mysterious outside who doesn't belong." She also interviewed Gerry Bugas, founder of Pluto's Restaurants, who said "it strengthens our conviction about our uniqueness as a restaurant and a design."

I like Fraknoi's quote so much because it makes this scientific decision accessible to the average person. He could have just spoken about data and dry facts. We are facing a big U.S. shortage of scientists and engineers. The more we can do to pique interest, the better. Sound bytes may be shallow, but they certainly get attention!