Florida, Eat Your Heart Out

Talk about election scandals! There are 10,000 astronomers in the IAU. Less than 300 voted yesterday on the new definition of a planet. The thousands who couldn't make it to Prague for the vote ("what? all the flights to prague are booked?!?") were not allowed to vote at all. That's bullshit. First of all, how often are the IAU members presented with stuff on which to vote? Probably not very often, considering that the general assembly meets only once every three years, and the last planet to be named was, um... Pluto (and that was in 1930). Second of all, this is a group of 10,000 and they have to go to Prague or else they don't get to vote?? Shit, I sent an absentee ballot to the USA for election day when I lived in Japan! There are millions of absentee and other types of ballots that needed to be counted in the US elections (and we all know how well that turned out). Are you telling me that a bunch of rocket scientists can't figure out a way to send a secure ballot by email?

I agree with Alan Stern, a leading NASA figure:

"If everyone had to travel to Washington DC every time we wanted to vote for
President, we would have very different results because no one would vote. In
today's world that is idiotic. I have nothing but ridicule for this
decision."

Granted, he's also the head of the New Horizons mission that recently launched a space probe to Pluto, but he's got a point.

The new definition - now that i've read up on it and understand it a little better - also seems to be really inconsistent. It states that a true 'planet' must have "cleared the neighborhood around its orbit." Well... Jupiter has something like 80,000 tiny asteroids that accompany it. Earth travels with a whole bunch of asteroids that we hope never hit us. And since Pluto crosses Neptune's orbit, shouldn't they both be disqualified according to the new decision?

I dunno... it's very confusing. And yes - I know that this stuff pales in comparison to the importance of what's going on right here on this planet. It doesn't affect the poverty levels or the AIDS crisis in the slightest or improve the situations in the Middle East or New Orleans at all. The $700 million that went toward the Pluto mission could've built countless schools and helped many people. But I'm a nerd and find it interesting. And what'll happen when aliens find the Voyager plaque that says "9 planets"? Will they think "those earthlings are fuckin' liars!!" And now that Pluto is no longer a planet, schoolchildren are upset (heck, the public schools in NYC bombarded the Hayden Planetarium in 2000 when it opened and didn't have Pluto as a planet (and it still doesn't)) and more likely confused. And what'll happen when they go after Uranus (huh-huh)? And are they going to rewrite the textbooks? It's a fascinating debate. (sigh)

And when all else fails, include a link to bunnies.