to eris human

Okay, I confess that mainly I'm posting this because I thought the title insanely clever, and I haven't seen it anywhere else yet. But at the same time, it seems gloomily appropriate to me that the minor planet tentatively named Xena has been officially named Eris, after the Greek goddess of discord, and its moon is called Dysnomia (goddess of lawlessness).

Because really, who doesn't like discord and lawlessness, at least now and then.

I have a strong aversion to Wikipedia, would normally not link there. But I've stolen the cool picture above from them, and really the piece on Eris seems pretty good. Not that I'd go writing a school paper with that as my only source, mind you.

Speaking of things that make me gloomy, demoting Pluto certainly did. Seems pretty low to me. I have great respect for Neil DeGrasse-Tyson, the head of the planetarium here (he's probably the best public speaker I've seen lately, and certainly the most patient). But his unending crusade to demote Pluto was, well, pretty crappy in my eyes.

I'm off to say some prayers to Eris and Dysnomia.