In any case, we can't lose Pluto, because then what would we eat?

I guess we could still have jelly sandwiches, but for a mnemonic device that one's awfully hard to remember.

Man very early made jars stand up nearly perpendicular.

I never needed the mnemonic. I didn't even need to memorize the planets - I just read about them (when I was six or seven) and knew them.

I don't know why I'm surprised that there is a minor planet mailing list.

I guess I was so surprised that I went into excessive use of the letter s.

I can't remember the order of Jupiter through Neptune without the mnemonic. You get beyond the asteroid belt and I get totally lost.

I learned the mnemonic after I'd learned the planets (I was really into astronomy) and it was harder for me to remember than the planets' names, in order. Same with the Roy G. Biv thing - I knew the color order before I could read.

So I thought "mnemonic" meant "something that unnecessarily complicates the act of remembering."

I learned Roy G Biv in high school. Up until then I thought of rainbows as having 6 colors.

What do I mean "up until then", rainbows have 6 colors. That whole indigo violet thing is wack.

If I was ever taught a mnemonic for the planets, I have no memory of it. I wish I could remember how I learned all the things I know.

An old, old woman walks into a bank one day and asks to speak to the Bank President. She manages to get into his office and says that she has a wager for him.

The President is intrigued and asks what the bet is. She says, "I bet you $1,000 that by Friday morning your balls will be square." The President laughs (knowing full well that his balls are round) and takes her up on the bet.

They agree to meet Friday morning to complete the bet. Each day the old woman calls the bank and asks him if his balls are square yet. By Thursday the Bank President is starting to worry- but how could the old woman win?

Friday morning she walks into the bank with her lawyer in tow and asks the Bank President if his balls are square yet. He of course says no, and she says that she has to confirm it before she will pay him his money.

He agrees, grinning, and so she takes down his pants and is examining him while her lawyer is cringing in the corner of the office. The old woman agrees that they aren't square, and pays him his $1000, cackling the whole while.

The President asks why she's laughing- she just lost $1000 and she says, "I bet my lawyer $10,000 I'd have you by the balls and you'd be smiling about it."

Huh. Bill Frist changed his stance on fed funding for stem cell research: [link]

Like -t, I needed the mnemonic past Mars pretty much. Roy G. Biv is the way I learned the order of colors in the visible spectrum; never thought about it before it was presented in class in grade school. I can't not think of the mnemonics when I think of either one.

I don't know why I'm surprised that there is a minor planet mailing list.

Dude, there was this whole huge kefuffle when one of the big planetariums/science museums (can't recall which! Ahrg.) decided to no longer refer to Pluto a planet. Like, angry words at conferences and snubs and all sorts of asshattery and not-speaking. The astronomy community can be...goofy.

Speaking of which, anyone else know what "oh be a fine girl(guy) kiss me right now silly! " stands for?

I think I had that one down by 9, for some reason.