Of planets and integrity
It is not my intention to add to the persistent stereotype of beauty pageant participants, nor blonds for that matter, but integrity is not “doing whatever you have to do to achieve a goal.” Last night, Miss Teen Montana stumbled over her words as she tried to describe integrity as the drive to reach a goal. Startlingly, five minutes later she was crowned Miss Teen USA.
Now, “doing whatever you have to do” implies the possible use of unethical measures. Integrity, on the other hand and without reaching for a dictionary, means upholding ethical values.
In another case of difficulties with definitions; the International Astronomical Union is currently debating planets; more specifically, what is and is not considered a planet. Apparently, they don’t even have a definition: “Never needed one. Everyone instinctively knew what a planet was.”
I remember my elementary school presentation about planets; it was my “I want to know everything about space” period and I didn’t even have to look at my paper, I knew all nine planets by heart. The latest proposal calls for a 12 planet system, made up of the traditional planets (still by heart: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto) and adding the asteroid Ceres, Pluto’s moon Charon, and an object called 2003 UB313. This proposal has come under fire already, as according to this definition, dozens of other bodies in our solar system could be named planets.
Whatever the scientists decide, it will take a while to instinctively call other bodies a planet or even drop Pluto from the list. But at least I know how to define integrity.
4 Responses to “Of planets and integrity”
Comments
1 Paull Young 16 August 2006 @ 4:45 pm
Ah poor Miss Teen USA - she must have delved too deeply into the ruthless world of beauty pageants!
I’m all for more planets, but surely we need a better name than “2003 UB313″. C’mon boffins, grab our attention.
2 Marc 16 August 2006 @ 5:37 pm
The unofficial nickname of the UB313 (not the Miss Teen USA) is Xena. Yeah, that’s right, after the television show. Its satellite is called Gabrielle, the show’s sidekick character. It might say a little too much about the astronomers working on this project…
3 Paull Young 17 August 2006 @ 12:53 am
Ha ha ha! That’s brilliant, just brilliant.
I can just see these astronomers all huddling in a group around a telescope, sniggering - “I can see Uranus!”
4 Gabrielle van Bree 21 February 2008 @ 4:39 am
Hello from Gabrielle.
I was searching the internet and found your site! I was wondering if we might be related, my father was Casper Jacob Art van Bree. I was hoping to contact some of my relatives in Holland or around the world as I unfortunataley dont know a lot about my fathers life
I look forward to your reply
Many Thanks Gabrielle.
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