March 13

On the 13th in 1930, Clyde Tombaugh, or someone acting on his behalf, sent a telegram to the Harvard College Observatory, announcing the discovery of the ninth planet in our Sun’s solar system. This new planet would be named Pluto. Tombaugh and Pluto had a very good run but, in August 2006, the International Astronomical Union, after heated debate, declared that while Pluto was a planet, it was only a dwarf planet, largely because Pluto ‘hadn’t cleaned its neighborhood.’ This should remind everyone to clean his or her room occasionally or you just might be declared a ‘dwarf human’. However, the upside of that would be that you would then be eligible for a handicapped parking sticker.