Thursday, August 24, 2006

Pluto, we hardly knew ye...

Most of my entries in this blog are about the environment in which libraries operate and the perceptions users have about libraries and information resources. Occasionally, I talk about the larger environment. I don't often get to go galactic here.

Alas, Pluto has been downgraded to a new class of dwarf planets by the International Astronomical Union. Just because the planet is smaller than earth's moon, follows a weirdly elliptical orbit, has a twin dwarf planet named Charon, and has been known to harbor terrorists, just like that, the astronomers toss it out of the solar system.

Somehow, I don't think Pluto really cares about all this. But you know who does? Catalogers. Check out my colleague Giles Martin's comments on the change in his blog entry, "Classical Planets and Plutonian Objects." (To paraphrase Dave Barry, I think "The Plutonian Objects" would be an excellent name for a rock band.)

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

In a time of increasing uncertainty and accelerating change... I did not need this.

What do I do with the "porcupines" in my mnemonic? Where, o where, shall mother sit?

Bah. Feh.

George said...

Andy, I think this is exactly why the Pope was so upset with Galileo.