Poor Pluto

My grade school science lessons and the mobile I made of the planets have just had a rude shock: Pluto is no longer a planet. Except for Earth, Pluto and Jupiter were always the easiest planets for me to remember because Jupiter was the biggest and Pluto was the smallest and furthest from the sun. But now it's been downgraded to a "dwarf planet."

Next thing you know, they're going to tell me that the quadratic equation is bunk, too. That would be easier for me to get over, though, because when they started throwing numbers in with letters, my world got goofier (no pun intended, regarding Goofy and Pluto).

Edited at 8:49 p.m.: A certain bloke (word used appropriately), who might be named Ross, has corrected me. The reasoning for declassifying Pluto as a planet is a bit different than I'd posted. He referenced this link.

Posted by Layla at 8:26 AM, August 24, 2006.

Camping photos

For those interested, here are some photos from the camping trip to Point Reyes:

Posted by Layla at 10:48 PM, August 20, 2006.

Mel Gibson, anti-Semite

By now, if you don't know that Mel Gibson was arrested for driving drunk and then let loose with a bunch of choice anti-Semitic lines, you're probably never going to hear it. I followed a lot of the aftermath, including things like whether it would hurt his career and whether he would speak at a synagogue in an attempt at atonement.

Personally, I find it interesting that Gibson's blood-alcohol content level wasn't that far above the legal driving limit, especially for someone who has personally admitted to having battled alcoholism for years. Yet, when alcohol loosened his tongue, his instinct was to start ranting aginst Jews and blaming them for all wars.

So, now that the story has passed its news peak, the columnists are still at their own opinion peaks. For one thing, they point out that there's just no way Gibson needs to worry about his career. Anyone who can put something like $25 million of his money into "The Passion of the Christ" clearly is at a secure place in his life. Plus, anti-Semitism allegations arose during the making of that film, and were fueled by the fact that Gibson's father denies that the Holocaust even happened. And you can see how that affected Gibson: His movie grossed more than $370 million.

The other point, perhaps best made by this Boston Globe columnist, is that Gibson's DUI got a whole lot more attention than did the story of a man who went on a rampage through a Seattle center, killing one and injuring five.

Posted by Layla at 10:35 PM, August 07, 2006.

Pt. Reyes camping

Did you miss me? OK, probably not, but that's OK because I didn't miss you. No, I'm not that mean. It's just that I had a good weekend camping at Olema Ranch near Point Reyes on the coast. Two friends and I headed out Friday, and we were joined Saturday morning by a fourth person.

Much fun was had, and the Pt. Reyes lighthouse and beach were wonderful. Parts of me are currently the color and feel of a very bright pink, painful thing because I left my sunscreen in the car for the trek to the lighthouse. Then I didn't apply it until we got to the beach, and it takes about 10 minutes for sunscreen to start working (hence the reason the directions say to apply it before going out in the sun). And I'd been so good this year about avoiding sunburn, too.

OK, now that I've read up on the goings-on in the world this weekend, I think I will get off the Internet and go read.

Posted by Layla at 10:06 PM, August 06, 2006.