Everything Pluto is Wrong, et al.

•We're constantly learning new things, and the only constant in this world is change. I was amazed in high school when my science textbooks differed from the teacher's updated lesson plan, and moreso in college when I found out some of the stuff in high school was wrong. It's still a conscious effort for me to dismiss the traditional model of an atom, with electrons orbiting the nucleus like a miniature solar system rather than the more accurate Electron cloud model. Science has again changed with the historic reclassification of Pluto(h.t. Rob). Pluto is smaller than our moon, and at times its orbit brings it inside Neptune's. I think I was in high school or college before I knew that little detail, that our ninth planet was occasionally our eighth. Now, it's no longer considered a planet at all and our solar system only has eight. What is Pluto? According to astronomers, it's a Dwarf Planet, along with Ceres and 2003 UB313. Once again, school books will be wrong for a few years, although the decision may yet be contested by some scientists. At this time, Gimli was unavailable to comment on our trio of Dwarf planets.

•Nothing lasts forever, but don't tell my mom that. For weeks her 13” television has been acting up, and most of the time would not turn on. I'd guess the set is nearly 10 years old, and some research online pointed to fairly common problems with the power supply with that particular model. Repairs would prove more expensive than a new set, especially now that flat screens and high definition models dominate the market. A regular tube television might be as cheap as $60 or $70. Stubbornly, she refused to part with the old one, citing “sentimental value” as my dad and I got it for her, and because the woodgrain casing matched the bureau it sat upon in my folks' room. I really don't remember when we got that set, and my dad thinks one of her brothers gave it to us as a Christmas present. Her solution at first would be to hit the television, which if anything made the problem worse. When it reached a point of complete death, she opted to start using the larger flatscreen in our living room, which is attached to my VCR. She also started using my VCR to tape her shows and watch them at night, falling asleep in the living room chair instead of her room. My dad started looking at televisions on his own and asking my advice, despite her insistence that she didn't want a new set. It's a common tale, not unlike our old car sitting in the yard for a year after being in an accident and classified as totaled. She doesn't like buying new things, and has trouble parting with old things. “You're just like her!” grumps my dad, venting his frustration. He has the opposite flaw of being in a hurry and buying the first thing he sees, just to get it done. They've balanced each other out over the years, though it's never an easy process. “I just have to get it myself, or nothing will get done!” Knowing full well the result of that attitude, especially at a time when television technology is changing so rapidly, when my parents have never even had air conditioning or Cable, I really had no choice but to help him. I took a vacation day on Thursday and after taking care of a few personal errands at the bank and post office, I met up with my dad and hit three different stores, settling on a good model for my mom's needs. They simply don't make black casings with wood grain details anymore, at least nowhere we checked, but the silver casing did match the new VCR I got her last year, also reluctantly accepted. I hooked everything up even though she kept saying she didn't want it and that we should take it back or my dad should put it in the den. She thought it was smaller than her old one but a tape measure proved that while the casing was smaller, the screen was the same size, with a sharper and brighter picture I might add. As I programmed the channels she began hitting her VCR remote, which wasn't working. “Does it need batteries?” I asked. She said no and took the batteries out, and began rubbing them on a sheet to create static. “These are the ones that came with it; they should still be good.” I went in the closet and got out a fresh pair of batteries. Nothing lasts forever, but don't tell my mom that. I think I'm going to get another pack of rechargeable batteries like I use in my digital camera, and let her have those for the remote.

•Ducks sometimes venture into the woods and dig around in mud and leaves. Geese fear children. A labyrinth may not always have walls you can see. My favorite places have always been the places in between places, but sometimes I'll discover a new place in between those. I'll have more on that next week...

•The poster for the upcoming film “Eragon” has been revealed. There's also a video game coming out prior to the film's release. For those of you who don't know, Eragon was a novel, the start of a trilogy, written by a Christopher Paolini when he was a teenager. When I was that age, I thought our solar system had nine planets and that electrons orbited the nuclei of atoms like planets in a solar system. At my age, I'll sometimes confuse Et cetera with et al., though never with Peter Cetera. Sometimes, everything you know is wrong.