Wikipedia entries:  When astronomers (from the IAU) declared that Pluto was no longer a planet, but had been demoted to a “dwarf planet;” it sounded like the IAU realized no one cared that they existed so they re-wrote the history books to further frustrate elementary teachers all over the earth.

And then it was revealed that since 1992, over one thousand objects in the Kuiper Belt have been documented.  In fact, Pluto isn’t even the largest dwarf planet; Eris is 27% (roughly) larger than Pluto and resides even further out than Pluto.

and this is where it all gets interesting:

Beyond the Kuiper Belt astronomers postulate (and can partly prove) that there are at least two other phenomena.  The scattered disc, where Eris resides, is thought to be objects that have been scattered by Neptune’s orbit and gravity.   Beyond the scattered disc is an even more mysterious and ethereal location, the Oort cloud.  Sedna, which lies outside the scattered disc and on the inner reaches of the Oort cloud, has an amazing orbit which seems to be influenced by a large (earth-size or maybe Jupiter-sized) planetoid within the Oort cloud.

Oh, yeah.  Then there’s Nemesis, the theoretical star beyond the Oort cloud that is the cause of the comets.  Amazing.

p.s.  Did you know that many consider Pluto to be a binary system?  Yeah, I find that fascinating too. 

via the Zeldman blog:  It’s true.  What happens when you’ve aim’d, blogged, myspace’d, facebook’d, and tweet’d?

“Got book?”

So, I was thinking the other day, what is your favorite recent film trilogy?  (qualifiers:  at least one of the movies must have been released since 1990 and all have had to be theatrical releases.)

Some hints (I’ve marked which movies I’ve seen in parenthesis):  Bourne (3), Mission Impossible (3), Shrek (1, 2), the Fast & the Furious (3), Ocean’s (3), X-Men (3), Spiderman (3), Star Wars (3), Lord of the Ring (3), the Matrix (3), Terminator (3), Underworld (3), the Mummy (3), Pirates (3), etc.

I enjoyed the Bourne series, the Matrix trilogy, and the Ocean’s series the most; and I will be least likely to watch any of the Spiderman and the Mummy movies again.

We watched National Treasure:  Book of Secrets last night which was a very good movie (but very similar to the original National Treasure).  Disney has a short film (similar to what Pixar has done with their major releases) about Goofy and his new purchase of a high-definition entertainment system.  Just hilarious.

I haven’t found it on Youtube.

Yahoo article via TUAW:  I agree with putting the Apple TV on a “under-achiever” list, but is it really as bad as Vista?  Apple TV does what it is supposed to do, and even if you wanted it to do more at least it lives up to its description.  Putting the Apple TV on the same list as Vista is akin to saying that an MCSE that can’t find the network settings in Debian is just as much a charlatan as a auto mechanic that can’t change your spark plugs without breaking your oil pan.

Vista is so far from what it is advertised as, it should be the subject of a lawsuit.  The Apple TV?  While I wouldn’t buy it and think that it has little purpose, it is every part the overgrown iPod that it says it is.

via the Pixar blog:  Wether or not his timeline is correct, the Buy•N•Large site is very interesting.

via Financial Times article & NYT article:  I have bought a few shows & movies on iTunes, but not nearly in proportion to the amount of music that I’ve purchased.  Renting movies and TV shows makes so much more sense than music, after all isn’t that why there is a Blockbuster and not a Platinum Album Store?

Hilarious if this were in Transformers Two.

1.  thin, tiny, subnotebook

2.  new display styles and better resolutions

3.  new macbook or macbook pro form factor (reflecting #1)

4.  show off the dev kit for the iPhone

5.  brand new software package (they already revised ilife, iwork, and the OS)

6.  itunes subscriptions for video

7.  upgraded Apple TV

In a couple of days I will give them a probability of happening.

I was going to just post my predictions for MacWorld, but I thought that I’d better quantify where I stand.

I’m a cultist.  I’m obsessed.  I’m a fanboi.  But not of Apple (necessarily)…   I think that everything that I use should be three things:   consistent, simple, and beautiful.  I crave consistency, I feel that “less is more,” and I think that beauty can be defined.  I also want a product that does what it is supposed to do.

Those four principles are why I use Apple’s hardware and software.  It fits those four qualifications the best.  Apple has made poor products, but I said “the best” not “perfectly.”

So if an obsession with a consistent, simple, and beautiful UI that does what it is supposed to do (and doesn’t get in my way) has made me an Apple ‘fanboi’  …  I’ll take it as a compliment.

And…if in three years, Geindour (a fictional linux distro) can support a better UI, I’ll give it a try.  Because Apple and the Mac OS isn’t perfect.