A Pound of Thoughts

Being a science geek, I’ve always been intrigued by not only maps as a young child, but also our solar system.  Now I wasn’t very big into Jules Verne, Isaac Asimov or Karl Sagan, but I enjoyed reading about the planets of our solar system.

Recently, however (as in the past 4 or 5 years), a flurry of activity has been happening regarding our solar system. For instance, a new planet and moon were discovered in 2003, named Xena and Gabrielle, after the television-series characters of the same name.  (According to this article.)

Recently, the planet-moon duo has been renamed Eris (the planet) and Dysnomia.  They’re way out beyond Pluto.  Now, when they were discovered, scientists had to come up with a new way to classify planets because Eris was so small.  Since its diameter is only roughly between 1,490 to 1,860 miles, they decided to call it a “dwarf” planet.  Now here comes the rub.

Pluto, our ninth planet, is only 1,430 miles across.  Therefore, it stands to reason that they couldn’t leave Pluto classified as a “regular” planet.  So, after hundreds of years of having nine planets, Pluto got demoted to “dwarf” - now we only have eight “normal” planets.

As a kid in elementary school, I learned this mnemonic (although I didn’t know what it was) to remember the planets:  “My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Nine Pies.”  NOW what are the kids going to use to remember the planets??

Oh, one other thing, we also have a “dwarf” planet between Mars and Jupiter named Ceres.  It was discovered in 1801 and thought to be a “big” planet at 530 miles wide.  However, it was downgraded to “asteroid” once the other asteroids in the Asteroid Belt were discovered.  Now, as I understand it, it has been promoted to “dwarf” planet.

So here’s a mnemonic to remember all these planets:

My                                        Mercury
Very                                     Venus
Excellent                             Earth
Mother                                Mars
Could                                   Ceres
Just                                     Jupiter
Serve                                  Saturn
Us                                        Uranus
Nine                                     Neptune
Pizzas                                  Pluto
Eventually.                         Eris

Michelle Malkin has done some spr - err, “summer cleaning” to her website, which she is dubbing “MM.com version 2.0″.  Heh, heh…so clever!  By the way, Michelle, I really like the new format.  It’s very eye-friendly.  And what a nice picture!

Y’all go on over and take a gander.  Her new design gives me some ideas for my site…Winds of change might be blowing my way, too!  Oh, and happy blog-iversary Michelle!

1. When was the last time you went on vacation and where did you go?  I went on vacation the weekend of May 17-20 and it was to the Beach Club in Gulf Shores, Alabama.
2. Do you prefer vacations with family or friends?   Family.   Haven’t really been on a vacation with friends in seven years.
3. What are your two ideal vacation spots?   Um, Rome, Italy and Pigeon Forge, Tennessee.
4. When is your next vacation and who are you going with?   I guess my next vacation is during Christmas and I’m going with my wife and her family.
5. Do you think vacations are necessary?  Explain.   Vacations are absolutely essential, because they help you forget about all the stresses that everyday life brings and helps you relax and take in what really is important. 

Today has been one of those days…I woke up - after only getting about four hours sleep - feeling absolutely terrible.  I was exhausted, my throat hurt (and still hurts), and my stomach wasn’t feeling too well.  Work was about as drab as it possibly could have been.  I felt like I had chills all day.  And did I mention my throat hurts?

I tried to eat three square meals, and that didn’t sit too well with my already peeved stomach.  I had two scrambled eggs cooked in unsalted butter (1 tbsp) and two small sausage patties for breakfast.  For lunch I went to Wendy’s and got a frescata sandwich (yes I got fries, too, to my shame) and tonight me and the wife had Sonic for supper.  Terrible fast food.  I won’t be doing that tomorrow!  I am so sick of fast food.

We watched “The Break-Up” tonight for the first time.  Thought it was going to be funny….It wasn’t.  It was mediocre, and I am definitely glad we did not see that in theaters.  I thought it was going to be a little more light-hearted, but MAN the use of the g-d word!  The more I think about it, the less and less I like the movie.  If you haven’t seen it, don’t.  If you have, well, you know what I’m talking about.  Where’s the humor in seeing two people despise each other?  Oh well, ‘nough about that.

Well, guys, it’s late and I’m tired, and I’m probably not making any sense whatsoever.  So, I’m wrapping this post up…Ugh, what day is it?  Is it really Monday?  It feels like Monday take three….maybe Tuesday will be better.  ‘Night all!

Tonight my wife and I watched a movie that I haven’t seen in a long time - “A River Runs Through It”.  It’s about two boys who grow up in 1910’s Montana, and it catalogues their life as they meet life head-on in their own ways.  It’s based on the novella by Norman Maclean.  As I watched the movie, I began to wish that life could go back to the way it was in those days.

Things were simpler, then…or were they?  Truly they were different times.  No computers, television sets, or even commercial airplanes.  No internet, nothing high-definition, and you still had to go through the local switchboard to make a telephone call.  Most kids nowadays wouldn’t know what that was.  Oh, you could actually enjoy fly fishing without worrying about checking your e-mail.  Oh, how I wish we could go back to those days sometimes.  

One of these days I am going to go to Montana.  It has such a beautiful countryside.  The snow-capped mountains, the whitewater streams and rivers, the rolling grasslands.  They all appeal to me.  It seems to me that once in that setting, all of life’s problems and worries would just melt away like the spring thaw, and you would forget which time you were in…and you could go back to a time, a more innocent time, when the world was a much bigger place and just going down the road ten miles was an epic journey.  If only…

I have supported - and voted for - Senator Trent Lott in the past. But now, after his stunts to suck up to Ted Kennedy and the Dhimmicrats, and his support for the “Shamnesty” bill, I have decided to pull my support for him. In my book, he is now no better than any of the liberals on the left. He has contracted their mental disorder, and he needs to go.

H/T: Michelle Malkin

If you go to her website, you’ll see that someone e-mailed her about www.trentlott.com. Apparently it’s been snatched up by the nutroots group Moveon.org. However, It wouldn’t surprise me if Trent Lott sold this domain to them as a show of “solidarity”.

I call on all voters in Mississippi - especially South Mississippi where Mr. Lott is from - to vote him out of office when the time comes! We need someone to represent us who cares about our national security and our sovereignty.

Mr. Lott, your days are numbered.

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I do believe it is possible to create, even without ever writing a word or painting a picture, by simply molding one’s inner life.  And that too is a deed.

Etty Hillesum, Dutch Jewish woman who was imprisoned in a Nazi concentration camp