Things that make me giggle...

So we're still in that stage where pretty much any use of the word "poop" is considered a hilarious punchline. And just now, I realized where they get this sense of humor. It happened when I saw this headline. Now, I know that's not how you pronounce it and all. But it still caused an involuntary giggle. And most of the story kept me giggling, too. Sigh. It's one thing at 4, but at 43, I think this just makes me juvenile.

Rare view shows big changes for Uranus
By DAVID PERLMANSAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE
Strange things are happening to the rings of Uranus, that little blue planet way out there in the solar system...

The time for the rare views is now, and astronomers from the University of California-Berkeley and the SETI Institute in Mountain View, Calif., has seen some dramatic changes -- some rings are growing brighter, at least one is fading away and another is either newly formed or unexpectedly moving outward from the planet by thousands of miles. (Sounds painful. But there are OTC treatments...)

At the same time, a broad, diffuse cloud of microscopic dust particles seems to be pervading the entire ring system....(Oh, is THAT what they're calling it now...)

De Pater said in an interview that "the ring system looks completely different" from the way it did 21 years ago when the Voyager 2 spacecraft flew past Uranus and photographed its rings and moons. (Hey, in 21 years, anyone's rings are going to change...)
"The rings are exquisite now," de Pater said, (quite the sweet-talker.)

...
We're starting to realize that studying the rings and moons of Uranus is more like studying the weather than planetary geology," Showalter said. "Things are moving."
Uranus itself, the seventh planet from the sun, was discovered in 1791, but its rings were not detected until 1977.
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I enjoyed that. Oh, the shame.