I think I recalled it. this bald guy was Piccard.
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Apolyton Quiz VII
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I'd have had 9, but I was late...
Although I'd challenge the answer of #9. It's not entirely clear what makes a planet, since there is no clear parameters that define it. Only recently they found another amorph rock out there with a funny rotation track whose largest diameter is bigger than Pluto's. I hope that they'll find so many oddities out there that they have to cut back the number of proper "planets" to 9, or even better 8, kicking Pluto from the list."The world is too small in Vorarlberg". Austrian ex-vice-chancellor Hubert Gorbach in a letter to Alistar [sic] Darling, looking for a job...
"Let me break this down for you, fresh from algebra II. A 95% chance to win 5 times means a (95*5) chance to win = 475% chance to win." Wiglaf, Court jester or hayseed, you judge.
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The above gives my personal view on how to resolve the planetary status. The official decision will come from the International Astronomical Union. We had hoped for a timely decision but we instead appear to be stuck in committee limbo. Here is the story, as best I can reconstruct it from the hints and rumors that I hear:
* A special committee of the International Astronomical Union (IAU) was charged with determining "what is a planet."
* Sometime around the end of 2005, this committee voted by a narrow margin for the "pluto and everything bigger" definition, or something close to it.
* The exectutive committee of the IAU then decided to ask the Division of Planetary Sciences (DPS) of the American Astronomical Society to make a reccomendation.
* The DPS asked their committee to look in to it.
* The DPS committee decided to form a special committee.
* Rumor has emerged that when the IAU general assembly meets in August in Prauge they willl make a decision on how to make a final decision!
So when do we expect a decision? Back in August 2005 I used to joke that the IAU was so slow they might take until 2006 before deciding. That was supposed to be a joke. Now I joke that I hope there is a decision by the time my daughter starts grade school and learns about planets in class. She is currently 9 months old.I love being beaten by women - Lorizael
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