Give Me Pluto or Give Me Death!
by Chris Barbuschak
     In the past month, the planet Pluto has been stripped of its planetary status by the International Astronomical Union (IAU).  To understand the background of this former planet, we must go back to the year 1930, which was a year of many events. The Great Depression was raging, the Dust Bowl was blowing, and a new controversial discovery was made.  This discovery continues to be of great controversy today.  Pluto, a tiny solar body at the far reaches of our solar system, was found. The breakthrough was made by Clyde W. Tombaugh, an American Astronomer in January of 1930.  Tombaugh had found Pluto accidentally while looking for a “Planet X” which was predicted to exist by several astronomers.  Pluto later got its name from an eleven year old girl in Oxford, England who had suggested the new planet should be named after the Roman god.
     Still, to this day little is know about Pluto.  It has been hard to photograph it because of its distance.  It wasn’t until 2005, that Pluto was found to have three moons called Charon, Nix, and Hydra.  Pluto was also found to have temperatures of -235 to -210 C.  It is also estimated that Pluto is made up of two thirds rock and one third ice.  More information will be known when the NASA space probe, New Horizons reaches it at the end of 2014.
     However, as of August 26, 2006 the planet was stripped of its planetary status.  The cause of this was the discovery of a new “dwarf planet,” called Eris, that was larger than Pluto.  Pluto has been now grouped with mere asteroids.  No longer will the “solar body” be called Pluto, its new name is “Asteroid 134340.”  Pluto’s moons will also carry on a new numbered title.  The demoting of Pluto’s status has also led to an entirely new catalogue system for dwarf planets. 
     There has been much dispute about this all over the country.  Websites, protests, and hunger strikes have all occurred in outrage at the demotion of Pluto’s status.  According to CNN poles, 63% of Americans thought scientists made the right decision about Pluto while 37% did not.  Junior Mike White says, “I think scientists were correct on demoting Pluto’s planetary status because if it did not meet the scientific community’s definition for a planet, then it should not be called one.”
     Basketball coach and Drivers-Ed teacher Mr. Michael Hutton expressed concern about the controversy.  He said in confusion, “It was a planet?! He is my favorite Disney character!”  Science teacher Mrs. Rosemary Tunick was highly disturbed by the demotion.  “I am very upset,” said the popular science buff. “For the last twenty-nine years I have always taught that there were nine planets.  I even remember making a diorama when I was younger with the nine planets using a coat hanger.  Pluto was my basis of astrological knowledge.” 
     Bo Gustafson, an astrophysicist at the University of Florida and part of the committee that changed Pluto’s classification title, said, “I was not particularly pleased, I believe this battle over Pluto was more about politics then science.  To scientists, we don't really care if you call a certain object a planet,” Gustafson said. “When you carry out the science, it doesn't really matter. This is no longer a scientific issue, this is an issue of human culture.”
     A matter of human culture it is indeed.  No longer will we be able to memorize the planets with the acronym “My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Nine Pizzas.”  It will have to be “My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Nachos.”  Many would prefer nine pizzas then nachos.  Will Pluto ever get its rightful title back?  This might only happen if we have more hunger strikes and protests.

VarsityBooks: Does It Make the Cut?
by Mary-Catherine Ross
      The frustration of ordering textbooks online is a well-known dilemma among students. So much can, and often does, go wrong: the dreaded backordering, the out-of-print editions, and that guy named Steve in Cincinnati who seemed reliable but mailed you a broken toaster. More often than not these times of stress result in frantic calls to unhelpful hotlines and obscure bookstores the night before a textbook is due in class. VarsityBooks, the online supplier of Bishop Ireton’s textbooks since the 2000-2001 school year, seeks to eliminate as much as possible these common problems. However, complaints about the service provided by VarsityBooks still occur among Bishop Ireton students and their families.
     “It took a long time for one of my books to get here, even though I paid for quick shipping,” said Junior J.P. Vergara. Many of the complaints expressed by students concern textbooks arriving after the scheduled time. In the case of Junior Saznin Mehta, the Spanish textbook that she ordered was not in stock, and therefore not ready to be shipped out at the time the order was placed. She was not made aware of this, and other students in her class faced the same issue. These mistakes occur despite VarsityBooks’s best intentions that “….students and parents know that their books will be in stock when their order is placed.”
     VarsityBooks lists Bishop Ireton textbooks according to subject and then the specific class, providing easy access for student shoppers. Some students complain that books they have needed for their classes have not been listed on the website. Since students rely on the website for their course information, this sets them up for a shock on the first day of class. Seniors Sydney Cople and Simon Sun cited this problem in reference to several of their textbooks. As they pointed out, this problem will affect entire classes and, while resolvable, is an inconvenience to students and teachers.
     But problems exist within any company, and, horror stories aside, many students and teachers in Bishop Ireton High School express overall satisfaction with VarsityBooks. Beaming Sophomore Andrew Hirsch described his VarsityBooks experience as “fabulous.” “I’ve never had a problem,” said Junior Andrew Ohlert, who used VarsityBooks last summer and was pleased when his books arrived on the doorstep two days after his order was placed. Among Bishop Ireton students, the reliability of VarsityBooks is largely a matter of personal experience.
     Mrs. Rebecca Borman, Bishop Ireton English teacher, acknowledges that her students sometimes lack the required books, but is skeptical as to the reasons why. Mrs. Borman brought up the point that many students persist in being procrastinators, failing to give companies such as VarsityBooks adequate chances to supply their needs. Mrs. Borman believes that it is difficult to determine where the fault lies: with the student, or with VarsityBooks. Biology teacher Mrs. Rosemarie Tunick expressed complete satisfaction with VarsityBooks, having never heard direct complaints about the company from her students, who generally seem to have their books on time.
     According to Mr. Simmons, the Dean of Students, via email, operating an online bookstore is a complicated process, requiring a high level of communication between the different participants. First, Mr. Simmons and the Bishop Ireton teachers confer on a projected booklist. That information is then transferred to VarsityBooks, which checks to see if there are any problems with books being out of print or otherwise unavailable. This information is relayed back to the teachers, and so on until a final booklist is established. Lastly, students must access the website themselves and choose among several ordering options.
     Although breakdowns in communication unfortunately occur, judging by many student and teacher replies, they are kept at a minimum. In the tangled Internet world, it seems that there will invariably be errors in online commerce. All we do is hope that VarsityBooks will continue to commit to a high standard of excellence, making the ordering of textbooks a less stressful experience for students and parents school-wide.