Is Pluto a really a Dwarf? What would Grumpy say?

[lindyhop]

Originally Posted by innerSpaceman

Actually, I don't think I've ever known astrologists to refer to any planets beyond Saturn anyway.

I'm embarrassed that I have this information in my head but I can't remember things I need to know to get by in the world today...I remember some astrology books that even referred to some as yet undiscovered planet because it was needed so that two astrological signs wouldn't have to share the same planet.

But all that seems moot because your astrological sign is dependent on what astrological section of the sky the sun was in at the time of your birth. (The actual constellations have rather inconveniently moved a bit in the past several thousand years.) After that it's what sign was on the horizon (your rising sign) and then which sign all the other planets were in (the moon being the most significant because it's so physically close). Oh, and let's not forget you have to consider which house each planet was in (twelve astrological "houses" that relate to different aspects of your life).

So many variables is what killed astrology for me because it soon became obvious that you could come up with enough stuff that you could interpret it all anyway you wanted. However I still wonder why my very Virgo-ish friend turned out to have most of her planets in Virgo. And it seemed to make some sort of sense that my rising sign Libra and moon in Cancer were what made me a rather unadventurous Sagittarius.

And the aliens who abducted me said it was all bunk.

[Alex]

And of course there is no single astrology. Whatever you want to be true you can find someone espousing. You can find many who do make use of the planets beyond Saturn.

And the physical pull of the sun is aboug 175 times stronger than the pull of the moon (the tugs on our precious bodily fluids) so the sun would dwarf the moon I'd imagine.

[Frogberto]

Originally Posted by Alex Stroup

And of course there is no single astrology. Whatever you want to be true you can find someone espousing. You can find many who do make use of the planets beyond Saturn.

And the physical pull of the sun is aboug 175 times stronger than the pull of the moon (the tugs on our precious bodily fluids) so the sun would dwarf the moon I'd imagine.

Or you could realize, for a variety of reasons, that astrology is pure bunk, with no basis in fact. Just sayin'.

[Alex]

I must say, that possibility never crossed my mind.

[wendybeth]

My Leo Sun would tend to make me want to agree with you, Frogberto, but my Pisces Moon has modified my natural Leonine tendancy to believe the Universe revolves around me and makes me more inclined to follow a more metaphysical lifepath.

My mother, an astrologer, would have you know she planned me that way.

[Alex]

California State Councilman Keith Richman is a moderate Republican and has tried to call attention to some of the stupidities of the state legislature.

In response to Pluto's downgrade he put forward this bill. Key parts:

WHEREAS, The mean-spirited International Astronomical Union
decided on August 24, 2006, to disrespect Pluto by stripping Pluto of
its planetary status and reclassifying it as a lowly dwarf planet;

...

WHEREAS, Downgrading Pluto's status will cause psychological harm
to some Californians who question their place in the universe and
worry about the instability of universal constants;

...

WHEREAS, The deletion of Pluto as a planet is a hasty,
ill-considered scientific heresy similar to questioning the
Copernican theory, drawing maps of a round world, and proving the
existence of the time and space continuum

He played it straight to see the response he would get from his fellow legislators. In the end he got 50+ cosponsors from both sides of the aisle.

Next he will attempt to legislate that pi equals 3. I bet he gets traction.