Excerpt: In My Day Pluto Was a Planet

On August 24, 2006 a meeting of the International Astronomical Union or IAU concluded a meeting in which they decided many things. One of the chief among these was a new definition of what it is to be a planet. Their new definition of planetness meant that the planet Pluto was no longer considered a planet. To the scientists at the meeting who argued and voted for this measure it was nothing more than typical scientific inquery in the search for final truth in the universe. Or as a lay person may have called it nick picking. Nothing more was expected to come from this than the need to update text books and rearrange some museum exhibits.
Naturally there were some protests mostly from nonscientists who didn’t like the idea of their understanding of the solar system being invalidated but most of these were either half-hearted or jokey. No, these great minds of the astronomical community had thoughtfully examined their theories and came up with a new model for the solar system that wouldn’t effect anyone in any real way. In the tradition of great minds throughout history when they’ve made such a proclamation they got it completely wrong