Word: pluto
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...last week's coverage of the controversy concerning the planet Pluto that brought Cleveland to mind (and, no, not because of his physique; that was Taft). Much the way 19th century pundits no doubt fought over which numeral to assign the inconveniently nonconsecutive Cleveland, astronomers have spent the past few years debating whether or not Pluto is in fact a planet or whether new findings place it in a family of smaller, humbler objects. The problem is more complex than just firing a planet and downsizing the solar system from nine to eight. If you keep your definitions loose enough...
...been outed as a well-marketed, Oscar-winning love story that has earned $158 million at the box office--instead of a controversial, low-budget, art-house flick--one of the film's supporting players says he wants his due. RANDY QUAID, apparently not living large on his Pluto Nash salary, is suing Focus Features for $10 million, alleging that it tricked him into accepting low pay for his role as a rancher by downplaying the movie's moneymaking potential. Neither his lawyers nor Focus would comment. But in his complaint, Quaid is described as an "instantly recognizable household name...
...infrastructure. As recently as 2001, the U.S., with just 6% of the world's population, churned out 41% of its Ph.D.s. And its labs regularly achieve technological feats, as last month's rollout of a new, superpowerful Macintosh computer and the launch of a space probe to Pluto make clear...
...over the past few years, astronomers have realized that Pluto is just an especially big-and not even the biggest-of a giant swarm of icy bodies, known collectively as the Kuiper Belt, which orbits the Sun out beyond Neptune. If it's just one among many, it either has to be downgraded from its original status as a full-fledged planet, or at least a handful of other big Kuiper Belt objects have to be added to the list. But in any case, these lumps of ice haven't melted since the origin of the Solar System some...
...That's what New Horizons will be investigating when it reaches Pluto, its major moon Charon, and two smaller moons, found just last fall. And while a more than nine-year journey sounds like a long one, it's remarkably quick for a probe that has to travel more than 3 billion miles. Indeed, at a top speed of more than 47,000 m.p.h., which it will achieve by playing off Jupiter's gravity in a 2007 flyby, New Horizons will be the fastest spacecraft in history (it's no slouch even now: a mere nine hours after launch...