Ewan's Corner

Ewan McPhail's blog and soapbox – sporadically blogging since 2003

Posts Tagged sad

Pluto demoted, Aliens must be laughing

Aug 25

Posted by ewan in out there, sci-tech | No Comments

Pluto-truecolour-small.jpgAs of yesterday, Pluto is officially no longer a planet and we now live in an 8-planet solar system. However the new definition is ridiculous (Earth hasn’t “cleared the neighbourhood around its orbit” and neither has Neptune because it crosses Pluto’s orbital path):

“A planet within our solar system is defined by the International Astronomical Union as a celestial body that is in orbit around the Sun, has sufficient mass for its self-gravity to overcome rigid body forces so that it assumes a hydrostatic equilibrium (nearly round) shape, and has cleared the neighbourhood around its orbit. Those bodies which fulfill the first two conditions but not the third are dwarf planets if they are not satellites.” —-wikipedia Planet entry as redefined yesterday by the International Astronomical Union

So called “dwarf planets” are not even planets according to the definition and less than 5% of the world’s astronomer community voted for the change, which is simply wrong. There is currently a move to have the new definition overturned or at least updated. Today I am not proudly Human.

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JC’s Mom

Jul 25

Posted by ewan in Junior McPhail, me | No Comments

“It all started the week that we brought our son home from the hospital. When the baby would cry in the middle of the night, I’d join him because I was soo tired… when I explained this to my husband he simply told me this week off he had taken was his vacation… his chance to relax… a year later it’s the same story. He works and I stay at home with our son and go to school. He has never gotten up with JC in the middle of the night, I consider myself lucky if my hubby feeds him or changes him once a week. I love our son more than anything in this world and it is beyond me how my hubby can walk past the reaching hands and the smiling face of our 1yr old yelling dada. I never thought this indifference would be possiable from my husband and it is making me take a hard look at our relationship and our future. ”
– JC’s Mom

This makes me so angry, and so very sad. I came across JC’s mom’s post on babycenter last night… the same night my little boy started walking. Last night was one of the happiest nights for myself and my family, and i can’t imagine a father who wouldn’t want to be part of it all. I spend as much time as I can with my family, I don’t want to miss more than I already have to, i want to be there for them. I want to be a real dad, any idiot can be a father. One day JC’s father is going to wake up, and realise he missed out on one of most wonderful experiences God offered him… and realise how he has hurt both JC and his mom.
Enough of that… the Shuttle Discovery will hopefully launch today at 16h39 South African Time, and the Christian Science Monitor discusses asteroid 99942 Apophis which may hit Earth in 2036 [more info, as usual, at Wikipedia]. I’ll be 62 that year, and Caleb will be 31.

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