took this off an article on the Yahoo! AP news: "Pluto and objects like it will be known as "dwarf planets," which raised some thorny questions about semantics: If a raincoat is still a coat, and a cell phone is still a phone, why isn't a dwarf planet still a planet?" haha. looks like there's gonna be some more debate & explaination over this issue. for those who are interested, the new definition of a planet is: a planet not only must orbit the sun and be large enough to assume a nearly round shape, but must "clear the neighborhood around its orbit."

anyway, i find it disturbing to think that the stuff we study today, esp in the science course, is decided by the whole lot of scientists out there who simply dictate what they think is right. it's ok if it's true, established facts like the planets revolving around the Sun and not the Earth that we are studying; but this whole debate of where to categorise Pluto under is jus sth that's based on the whims and fancies of the astronomists. damn, very soon scientists are gonna tell us that the amoeba doesn't belong to the animal kingdom! :p