Posthuman Blues

Pluto vote 'hijacked' in revolt

On Thursday, experts approved a definition of a planet that demoted Pluto to a lesser category of object.

But the lead scientist on Nasa's robotic mission to Pluto has lambasted the ruling, calling it "embarrassing".

And the chair of the committee set up to oversee agreement on a definition implied that the vote had effectively been "hijacked".

And -- voila! -- we have another ready-made distraction to keep us from addressing cosmological issues of substance.