PMJ2

Back to the Pluto thing. NasaWatch chimed in with this point:

IAU's definition 5A just passed - the one that excludes Pluto as a planet. It also excludes Earth and Jupiter because their zones are not cleared (NEOs, Trojans, respectively).

The scientists obviously know about the NEOs (Near Earth Objects, I believe, which are asteroids in orbits that intersect Earth's orbit) and the Trojans (objects in Jupiter's Lagrange points, which are by definition significantly influenced by Jupiter's gravitational attraction.) Obviously this resolution is a bit too vague, unless they've defined "cleared the neighborhood around its orbit" to mean cleared of objects that are not significantly influenced by its gravitational attraction. Either way, seems to me that NASAWatch is just being argumentative, instead of helping the (often confused) media understand the true meaning of the resolution. Thanks for providing such a valuable service, Keith!

Pretty obvious I don't care about this planet mumbo jumbo, isn't it!?!

Planet Mumbo-Jumbo

Lots of talk recently about what a planet is. I'm mostly bored by the discussion, because it's an argument on semantics for most people (except for the scientists who need to classify things). The one aspect of it that amuses me is this contradiction that I saw in a bunch of places (newsday CNN ABC News):

Pluto is automatically disqualified because its oblong orbit overlaps with Neptune's.

This based on the recent IAU resolution 5 (below). So here's my question: based on the above logic, wouldn't Neptune also be disqualified since Pluto overlaps with its orbit? I suppose they (the media) phrased it this way because they figured (1)(c) below is too confusing for most people to understand. What does "has not cleared the neighbourhood around its orbit" mean, anyway? I think the IAU knows what it meant. I'm curious whether Neptune had anything to do with them not calling Pluto a planet. I think not (seems to me that Pluto's moon Charon, or other nearby objects might have something to do with it).

RESOLUTION 5A
The IAU therefore resolves that planets and other bodies in our Solar System be defined into three distinct categories in the following way:
(1) A planet1 is a celestial body that (a) is in orbit around the Sun, (b) has sufficient mass for its self-gravity to overcome rigid body forces so that it assumes a hydrostatic equilibrium (nearly round) shape, and (c) has cleared the neighbourhood around its orbit.
(2) A dwarf planet is a celestial body that (a) is in orbit around the Sun, (b) has sufficient mass for its self-gravity to overcome rigid body forces so that it assumes a hydrostatic equilibrium (nearly round) shape2, (c) has not cleared the neighbourhood around its orbit, and (d) is not a satellite.
(3) All other objects3 orbiting the Sun shall be referred to collectively as "Small Solar System Bodies".

(see the rest of the resolutions here)

As my old man would say...

AH, ya dummy Naasz!

I won a dumbshit award yesterday. I was playing street hockey and jumped over part of a fence. Unfortunately, I tripped over the other part. Twisted my knee up some. Hopefully it will go away in time for me to play in a ball hockey tournament this weekend in Ocean City, MD.

Lookout Hokies!

Suspected cop killer shuts Virginia Tech campus

BLACKSBURG, Virginia (AP) -- Virginia Tech shut down its campus Monday and ordered everyone to remain inside as authorities searched for an escaped inmate suspected of killing a hospital guard and a sheriff's deputy.

My Pandora internet radio station

Pandora is a pretty cool internet radio site. It builds a radio station for you based on your artist/song inputs, playing music that has the same characteristics as the ones you enjoy. Mine tend to include "major key tonality", "acoustic guitar", "string solos", etc. The list goes on and on, but every time I see it, I think, "yeah, that is what I like". Well, give it a shot and see if you agree. Here's a link to my favorite station.

To immediately listen to this music station I've created (named "Dar Williams Radio") simply click on this link or copy and paste it into your Internet browser:

http://www.pandora.com/?sc=sh92154544887126537

This station plays on Pandora, a music listening and discovery service. Pandora enables users to easily create streaming stations that explore their favorite parts of the music universe. When you click on the link, you'll automatically receive a free no-questions-asked trial so you can listen to this station--and create some more of your own.

Enjoy!

Allen Telescope Array

Still reading this one, but think it warrants a look:

This new instrument which – when completed – will brandish 350 antennas, can speed up the search for signals from other societies by hundreds of times and more. Compared to earlier efforts, it will turn SETI on its metal ear. We're not talking about the difference between a Lexus and a Toyota; we're talking about the difference between a Lexus and an oxcart.

In the next two dozen years, the Allen Telescope Array will parse the nearest thousand light-years of space. If there are other occupants of this galactic neighborhood, we could turn up a signal.

But then what? Would the discovery be put under wraps, either voluntarily or by government edict? If we found a signal, would you know?

FINALLY!

College football is officially here, boyz and girls! So say the guys at Tailgate Fever. Go Hokies!

The outlook is good for us this year. Bud Foster may not be scored on all season. The man is a genius. It’s Socrates, Plato, Galileo, Newton, Einstein, and Foster. End of discussion. Oh, and those two guys from Guinness.

Google's gift

Google is cool.

Google is about to give its hometown a wonderful gift: a municipal wireless network covering the entire city of Mountain View, with free Internet access for both residents and visitors.

Rinsing the sponge

I don't remember which of my friends I first heard use the expression, "Rinsing the Sponge", but I think it may have been T Rice. I decided yesterday to see if anyone else uses that expression, and found a number of hits on housecleaning, and a couple others that I won't mention, but nothing about my intended meaning: a brief hiatus in consumption of alcoholic beverages to allow the liver to recover. Usually this act occurs after a particularly painful overindulgence, and includes almost excessive consumption of good old H20.

The Grapes of Wrath

I finished reading the Grapes of Wrath a couple weeks ago. I expected it to be a difficult read, but was, for the most part, entertained. Having finished, now I think it's a tough read. What a strange ending. Certainly are a couple of interesting topics in there, though: the generosity of the poor and the greed of the wealthy; "the bitter conflict between the powerful and the powerless"; man's basic need for work. I've been looking for a reference to this third theme, but haven't found one. It seems that the other ideas are more important to people. For some reason, though, I focused on the way the men in the story were all but worthless when they didn't have work. There's a particular passage (can't find it now) that struck my fancy, dealing with how important a man's work is to him; how it's a part of him, makes him whole or something. Oh well, can't find it.

For some reason I've done a lot of other reading (at least for me) this summer. Here's my current list, starting in late June:

Read:
Ernest Hemingway, The Old Man and the Sea
Orson Scott Card, Seventh Son (Book 1, The tales of Alvin Maker)
Orson Scott Card, Red Prophet (Book 2)
Chuck Palahniuk, Fight Club
Orson Scott Card, Prentice Alvin (Book 3)
John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath
Orson Scott Card, Alvin Journeyman (Book 4)
Orson Scott Card, Heartfire (Book 5)

Currently reading:
Sylvia Naser, Beautiful Mind

Zindane: (verb)

What an idoit...

Check out this cool game.

The definition of Zidane from the Urban Dictionary:

1) (name) Captain of the French National Football team during the World Cup 2006. Apparently has a sister involved in not-so-Catholic activities. We know nothing about his mother.

2) (verb) to zidane someone/something: Irrational act of head butting during a crucial moment and being caught in the act by a third-party.

3) (verb) to go zidane: Act of accusing people of saying "bad things" about you and your family and not having the balls of saying what those exact words are to the media, leaving millions of fans in limbo and frustrated.

Judge: Defendant how do you explain your actions?

Defendant: Your honour, I was full of rage. He said bad things about my momma. The only thing I can think of was to zidane him in the nuts.

Judge: What did he say exactly?

Defendant: Bad words. I can't repeat.

Judge: Don't you go zidane on me!!!

And speaking of Chuck Palahniuk

If you like non-stop entertainment in your fictional reading, and don't mind a dark story-line from time to time, I highly recommend the following books by Chuck: Fight Club, Survivor, Invisible Monsters, and all the rest except Haunted, which I didn't much care for (but in Chuck's defense, I also never finished reading... got bored and a little too grossed out).

If you like to read the book before you see the movie, it sounds like you'd better pick up a copy of Choke, Survivor, and Invisible Monsters, all of which I thoroughly enjoyed, and all of which could be coming to a theatre near you...

Fight Club

I'm trying to decide how I feel about this article (via DrudgeReport). Apparently some high school kids are organizing fight clubs, like in one of the greatest movies ever made. It sounds like most of the fighters are willing participants, but it seems the rules have changed a bit from "don't talk about fight club": they're actually making and selling videos of the fights. Also, it sounds like the Project Mahem aspect of Fight Club the movie is being taken up by Fight Club the reality.

Anyway, if you've read any of Chuck Palahniuk's books, this quote won't surprise you:

Chuck Palahniuk, author of the cult 1996 novel Fight Club that was the basis for the 1999 movie, declined an interview request but said, "God bless these kids. I hope they're having a great time. I don't think they'd be doing it if they weren't having a great time."