Mexico Medical Student |

How can Pluto get demoted as a planet?! I know I’m late writing about this, but I am convinced that this news has cosmic implications for all. I was brought up by an astronomy-loving father who owns a telescope that you can’t even lift as a single unit. So the characteristics of all the planets, the number of moons (known at the time–Saturn and Jupiter seemed to gain a moon every 4-5 years) were all known around 3rd grade. Now this?! You are NOT going to tell me Pluto is not a planet…no f***ing way. It has two moons for crying out loud!! It’s main infraction that demotes it from planet category: it doesn’t maintain an autonomous orbit around the sun (ie, it creeps into Neptune’s orbit for a bit). Also, its orbit is concentrically off and out of plane with the previous 8 planets. Well DUH!! It’s further away and significantly smaller than Neptune! So what if it creeps into Neptune’s orbit for 1% of the orbital tract…have Pluto take defensive driving or something. To make matters worse, several “asteroids” are now up for planet consideration, meaning we may have 12 or so planets soon once they finalize the data. I’m expecting California to slide into the Pacific any day now.

Then yesterday, the world found out Steve Irwin, the Crocodile Hunter died. The bloke got stabbed by a bull ray’s (stingray) barb through the chest while doing footage for a children’s show–the stingray had nothing to do with the filming, it was just on the sea floor when it was startled and defended itself. I haven’t read any medical reports, but given the speed of his death (w/in a few minutes), I’m thinking it had to have pierced the heart. What kind of a way is that for the Crocodile Hunter to go out? An accidental freak accident while filming a kids show?!? (dedicated to his daughter, no less) Nothing short of a flesh-ripping bloodbath at the maws of any number of fearsome animals would show this great man proper respect on his way out. Goodbye Steve–you’re gone too soon.

Locally, Crazy classmate had a legendary moment of schizoid glory on Friday in front of the whole class, because there was a petition to change our neurosciences exam from Monday to Thursday. It got changed but not without some serious fireworks. My personal opinion was to keep it as is because of other things coming up, but in the end it’s not that big a deal–it’s a small partial exam, it’s not a final or board examination. People need to calm the hell down. Anyway, so this weekend was spent studying less, tending to backlogged tasks more, but I have community medicine in Tequila (yes, that’s the real city where it all comes from) at a Red Cross facility for the next two 3-day weekends and a surgery final exam (the slaughter of rabbits continue) on Friday just before I take the road trip to Tequila. Can I have any more to do? Calgon, take me away!!

It’s the damn planetary alignments…without Pluto, everything is off. I’m convinced.