Pluto is no longer a planet. Isn’t that really weird? That they can just decide to rescind a fact we all learned as kids? I guess teachers will have to come up with some new mnemonics.
On a related mind-blowing note: “How many oceans are there?” Every American kid would say “four,” right? Well, get this: Australian kids say FIVE! Or at least, that’s what Snookums learned in school. He says they don’t count the Arctic Ocean; they count the North and South Atlantic separately and add in the “Southern Ocean” around Antarctica.
Anonymous
August 25, 2006 — 11:47 pm
Well, every USer kid is wrong. As is Snookums. The Southern is an officially designated ocean (since 2000). As is the Arctic.
tara d.
August 26, 2006 — 2:34 am
this is the weirdest thing i have ever read. can you just DO that? weird. by committee, then, we’ve decided that all apartments are now called dinglehuts, and the lake michigan is a shi tzu.
hank
August 26, 2006 — 10:45 am
Bye Pluto? Weird, I just heard that we’ve added 3 more planets to a total of 12… So I see they’ve decided to downgrade instead. Probably best that way, Pluto can stop fooling itself now and be comfortable with what it is, a dwarf planet hemmorhoid of the solar system.
I can confirm that we did learn there are 5 oceans back in school.. our version was Pacific, Indian, Atlantic, Arctic and Great Southern…
Kris
August 26, 2006 — 11:06 am
Okay, so either Rodd is remembering them wrong, or he failed Geography. 🙂