Pluto: Not Really A Planet??

August 28, 2006

Since childhood, I always thought of Pluto as the ninth planet, the planet farthest from the sun. That's what I read from astronomy books, and that's what every quizmaster said in quiz bees then. I memorized the names of the planets and their relative distances from the sun. And they were always in my heart, those nine planets, from nearest to farthest: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto.

But when I was in high school, I was shocked when I heard that Pluto was not really the farthest planet from the sun. Neptune was the farthest! I didn't believe it at first, but after I read the latest science books and encyclopedias, I found out that Pluto's orbit is so elliptical ("very elongated oblong") that the Sun's position inside its orbit is way off-center. One side of its orbit reaches the very far end of the solar system, while the opposite side is inside Neptune's orbit. Pluto crossed Neptune's orbit on February 7, 1979. Since then, Neptune became the farthest planet.

So at that time, my idea of Pluto being the farthest planet from the sun got pretty shattered. Almost.

During that time, I also learned that Pluto will cross Neptune's orbit again some time in 1999, escaping Neptune's orbit. When it happens, Pluto will once again become the farthest planet from the Sun. And so it did on February 11, 1999.

But recently, I learned from the science news that astronomers came into an agreement last week that Pluto is not really a planet! That there are officially only eight planets in the solar system! What a shocker again!

I learned that Pluto's planetary identity has been in question since years ago. For instance, there are some asteroids found recently that are a bit larger than Pluto. Therefore, some asteroids are larger than some planets?? The astronomers found out that there's really no scientific definition of the word "planet". What exactly is a planet?

To answer that question in the definitive, the astronomers convened in the International Astronomical Union (IAU) in Prague, Czech Republic. In that meeting, the majority of the astronomers agreed on the following definition of a planet (a.k.a. Resolution 5A). For a celestial body in the solar system to be called a planet, it has to satisfy all of the following:

1. It must be in orbit around the Sun.
2. It should have sufficient mass for its self-gravity to overcome rigid body forces so that it assumes a hydrostatic equilibrium (nearly round) shape.
3. It should have cleared the neighborhood around its orbit.

Criterion #1 means that the celestial body should revolve around the Sun. Criterion #2 means that the celestial body should have a nearly round shape. And Criterion #3 means that no other celestial body of comparable "size" (mass) should orbit near the body in question.

Pluto fails to meet Criterion #3 because there are thousands of huge, icy and rocky bodies orbiting near Pluto's orbit. These bodies are called Kuiper Belt Objects (KBOs), and they lie inside an asteroid belt-like region called the Kuiper Belt. The belt is located just beyond Neptune's orbit. Some of the KBOs are as large as Pluto, even larger! (In addition, Pluto itself is a Kuiper Belt Object.) Pluto therefore fails to clear the Kuiper belt from its orbit. Because of this, Pluto fails to be a planet under this definition. (Update: Pluto's failure to meet Criterion #3 is not really due to the fact that Pluto's orbit overlaps the orbit of Neptune, which was what I posted previously.)

This definition is radical enough. It booted Pluto out of the elite nine bodies of the solar system. It will surely change textbooks, encyclopedias and science websites around the world. But it doesn't yet sink totally into mine. It boggles the mind. That's Pluto.

See also these links:
National Geographic
IAU Website
Fox News
Bad Astronomy
Wikipedia

Lyrics and Chords: Alive by Frio

August 25, 2006

Alive by Frio (click the triangle to play):

By now you should have heard this "make me alive, make me suffer, make me feel" tune from the radio or the music video channels. In fact, you can hear this song almost everywhere. It's been on air for a long time already. The first time I heard this rock song a long time ago, I was attracted to the beat and the chorus, but I wondered "Who made this song? What's the title? Is it Make Me Alive??". I kept on wondering for a long time until I found the music video on Youtube.

Here's the lyrics of the song, together with the guitar chords I transcribed myself. The actual tune is a half step lower than the chords transcribed in here, so this means that you might have to tune your guitars a fret down to get an accurate sound. (This assumes that your guitars are originally in standard tune, i.e., E-A-D-G-B-e from the bass to the trebel string.)

Here it goes:

===============
Alive
By Frio

(Intro)
G   D/F#   F   C
G   D/F#   F   C

(Stanza)
Am7                     C
    Tomorrow never comes

                      G
The day will end today

Am7                             C
    You come to change the truth

                G
Forget it anyway

F
   I'll never be a man

F
   So take it as I am

(Chorus)
           G
Make me alive

          D/F#
Make me suffer

           F   C
Make me feel

           G
Make me alive

          D/F#
Make me suffer

           F   C
Make me feel

(Stanza)
Am7                          C
    Just leave me in the rain

                       G
My life is in the drain

Am7                         C
    I'll seek your love forever

                          G
I beg not a different game

F
   I'll never be a man

F
   Embrace me as I am

(Repeat Chorus)

   G        D/F#   F    C
Alive…

   G        D/F#   F    C
Alive…

(Instrumental)
G   D/F#   F    C
G   D/F#   F    C

Am
    I'll never be a man

F
    Embrace me as I am

(Repeat Chorus 2x)

(Coda)
   G        D/F#   F    C
Alive…

   G        D/F#   F    C
Alive…

   G        D/F#   F    C   Eb (hold)
Alive…

===============

The Latest Song from Sunsilk

August 18, 2006

Update: Here's the audio file itself, Let Me by Orange and Lemons. Thanks to Son of Rage and Love for the contribution. Click the triangle to play (download here):

Update:  Here's the audio file of the Vietnamese version of the Sunsilk ad. Thanks to philippinean for the file. Click the triangle to play:

Sunsilk Vietnamese Ad

Update: It's now been confirmed that Orange and Lemons did the remake of the Sunsilk jingle. The song has been given the title Let Me. Thanks to the people who posted this news on the Comments page.

I've received many questions and requests about the title and lyrics of the jingle from the latest Sunsilk commercials. I scouted the Internet for the answers, and I found out that the title seemed to be one of these two:

* You're My Sunshine
* This Song Is Happiness (See also this blog.)

Unfortunately, my sources are not official, thus I cannot tell with certainty the title of the song.

There are two versions of the song: the original one in the guy-and-girl-sitting-on-the-bench-and-lying-on-the-grass version, and the local remake in the girl-wears-very-tall-shoes-and-guy-wears-them-too version. The exact information about these two versions are still largely unknown as of this writing.

As for the original version, rumors say that one of these bands performed the song:

* Coldplay
* John Barry
* A Vietnamese band

Some people say Coldplay played the song because of the song's style and even the singer's voice. Other people say it's John Barry who originally did it through the song The Girl With The Sun In Her Hair (which was also used in a Sunsilk commercial a long time ago), but someone created a "Pinoy" adaptation of his song. Finally, still others say that a Vietnamese band performed the song in a Vietnamese Sunsilk commercial. However, I found this site containing the English lyrics of the song used in the Vietnamese commercial. Although the title is also "You're My Sunshine", the lyrics are different.

As for the local remake, some people speculate that Orange and Lemons performed the song. However, I seriously doubt it because the remake singer's voice resembles neither Mcoy's (Hanggang Kailan) nor Clem's (Huwag Kang Matakot), and the musical style is so different. Finally, some say that Radioactive Sago featuring Slapshock did the remake; they even say that it's an official announcement from Sunsilk. I haven't verified this, though.

Very well, here's the lyrics with my own transcription of the chords. I transcribed the chords from the original version.

============
(Intro)
              A   DM7
You turn my head

         A    DM7 (hold)
But instead

(Stanza)
              A
You turn my head

         DM7
But instead

           E   D
I feel so lonely

               A
I feel for you

               DM7
I've got to say

            E        D
You put a spell on me

(Chorus)

          A
I open my eyes

           F#m
Softly and wide

             C#m
'Round the flower

               DM7
You're my sunshine

          A
I open my eyes

           F#m
Softly and wide

             C#m
'Round the flower

               DM7
You're my sunshine
============

My New Audio Album

August 17, 2006

Hello guys! 

I'm currently uploading my songs to the new Music Gallery supplied with my upgraded blog. You can check it out by going to my Music Gallery (or you can click the Navigate link at the upper-right corner of my blog and then look for "Music"). I uploaded not only Korean theme songs but Taiwanese and  Philippine theme songs as well.

As of this time, I'm still not finished uploading all my songs yet. And I still have to explore my Music gallery and tweak some settings. For now, you can listen to the songs but you cannot download them yet.

Enjoy!

Testing an Audio Feature on My Blog

August 16, 2006

Here's True Love by Fin.K.L, from the Korean drama All About Eve:

Here's In The Name of Love by Yasmien Kurdi, from the Taiwanese drama Frog Prince (Philippines release):

And finally, here's First Love by one of my favorite Japanese singers, Hikaru Utada:

Test Post One More Time

August 7, 2006

Sorry for not being online for months. My schedule's been very hectic these days.