The triumph of Inquiry is rather bitter

I should never watch science documentries with my mother. It's only very rarely that she realises that the days where I had an attention span of a crazed gnat are long over -- and tries to TEACH me things about the documentary that she knows nothing about. And when this happens, she never ceases to tell me the stupidest things.

One of the things I never look forward to about growing up is the increasing awareness that you actually do know more than your parents about certain things, so that when they try to educate you about it you discover the shallows of their blatant ignorance about the areas they profess to be competent. It is not pleasant. At best you feal resigned, cheated and unsure. At worst you feel like the world is being pulled away -- BY the world -- in the way of a kindergarten teacher engaging in a wrestling match with a child who loves a small blanket.

Call this adolescent hubris if you will, but adolescent hubris verified can be inordinately devastating.

Joy to the world, and goodbye Pluto -- good riddance.