In the News

Two weeks ago a bunch of astronomers got together and said that Pluto is no longer a planet. I didn't know they could do that. I didn't know that deciding whether a planet was a planet was something that could be done by consensus. Like a bunch of botanists can huddle in a room for six days and then say a carrot is no longer a vegetable.

Philosophical Jona thought about the impermanence and relativity of everything. If Pluto's no longer a planet, then maybe one day Disneyland will no longer be the Happiest Place on Earth. I also thought about the supremacy of man over the universe. If people decide what a planet is, did they decide to make-up the idea of a higher being as well?

I mulled these thoughts over for about 20 seconds (each thought naman). Then I turned to the more pressing task at hand: with Pluto no longer a planet, how are students supposed to memorize the sequence of the cellestial bodies with the time honored mnemonic device:

My
Very
Educated
Mother
Just
Served
Us
Nine
Papayas

How?!?! Tell me, how?!

And so I came up with.... tada!

My
Very
Educated
Mother
Just
Served
Us
Nilaga

I admit it's a little folky, but it works.