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[JoshuaFH]

I slept in my contacts last night. Dunno how I forgot to take them out.

It was so you could see in your dreams.

[Doomblade187]

I slept in my contacts last night. Dunno how I forgot to take them out.

It was so you could see in your dreams.

It was so we could see your dreams.

Very interesting, btw.

[Hanslanda]

Well I was drunk so...

I slept in my contacts last night. Dunno how I forgot to take them out.

It was so you could see in your dreams.

It was so we could see your dreams.

Very interesting, btw.

Wierdly enough, my vision is perfect in my dreams, or I'm utterly blind.

[Kagus]

"Microsoft" called me again. Third time in a week. This dude actually tried to argue that he wasn't a scam. Normally I'd mess with them a bit, but I'm feeling a bit under the weather and am grumpy.

Secondary WTF: How I managed to post this in the Ameripol thread instead of here.

[scriver]

Umm... those are fruit though - they are the seed-containing portion of the plant.

That's not the definition of fruit, that's the way They misappropriated it

I suppose arguing about that is like arguing about if Pluto is a planet, dwarf planet, dog, or deity of the underworld.  (In other words, perfect for internet forums!)

Can't tell whether or not the fact that the link redirects to "about:blank" in most browsers is an intentional statement about the usefulness of arguing about those topics.

I'd like to pretend it was, but it was really just me using the link button instead of the quote button by mistake and not noticing

[overseer05-15]

Pluto is a planet and I'll fight anyone who says otherwise.

I've got your back.

*clears throat*

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

otherwise

Die, bastard.

[Teneb]

Pluto is smaller than the Moon. The Moon is not a planet. Thus, Pluto cannot be a planet. Checkmate atheists.

[KittyTac]

That's not to mention Eris and other trans-neptunian objects. They are larger than Pluto.

[hector13]

The moon is a satellite of a planet though, so it doesn’t count. /total knowledge of astronomy and astrophysics and that

[scriver]

Yeah, it's not about size, its about whether something is a planet. And Pluto is a planet.

[Teneb]

Yeah, it's not about size, its about whether something is a planet. And Pluto is a planet.

Does that mean the other objects past Pluto like Sedna and Eris are planets?

[bloop_bleep]

IAU definition says that a planet must orbit a star, have a round shape, and clear the path of its orbit.

Meaning, that in the IAU's standard of planet, and thus the standard of planet conventionally used in the academic community, Pluto, Eris, etc. are not planets.

People may have their own definitions of planet, and they're free to have them, but if they use those definitions in an academic environment, they'd most likely just cause confusion and arguments.

There is really very little point in it anyway -- we're not going to treat Pluto or the study of Pluto any differently depending on whether it's a planet. The IAU decision was really only to create some consistency, and because it would make much more sense to classify the hundreds of planets which are much more similar to each other than to the 8 traditional planets as a different group.

[scriver]

Yeah, it's not about size, its about whether something is a planet. And Pluto is a planet.

Does that mean the other objects past Pluto like Sedna and Eris are planets?

Of course not, why would it?

IAU definition says that a planet must orbit a star, have a round shape, and clear the path of its orbit.

And who came up with that definition? Scientists. You know, the same kind of people who defined fruit in a way that included tomatoes.

Clearly these are not the kind of people we should entrust with coming up with definitions.

[Teneb]

Yeah, it's not about size, its about whether something is a planet. And Pluto is a planet.

Does that mean the other objects past Pluto like Sedna and Eris are planets?

Of course not, why would it?

It's treason then.

[bloop_bleep]

Yeah, it's not about size, its about whether something is a planet. And Pluto is a planet.

Does that mean the other objects past Pluto like Sedna and Eris are planets?

Of course not, why would it?

Sedna and Eris are larger than Pluto, and in the same general area as Pluto. There are hundreds of objects like them. There is no reason why they should not be planets and Pluto should.

IAU definition says that a planet must orbit a star, have a round shape, and clear the path of its orbit.

And who came up with that definition? Scientists. You know, the same kind of people who defined fruit in a way that included tomatoes.

Clearly these are not the kind of people we should entrust with coming up with definitions.

And who else should make the definitions? Scientists are the only ones actively involved in making definitions because they are the only people to whom definitions actually matter, since accurate science requires accurate classification and accurate classification requires unambiguous definitions. People can have as many pet definitions as they want, but that doesn't mean that everyone will understand or accept them. Look at this xkcd for further enlightenment.