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PF Member becomes famous!
Fellow PF member bitjumper (and my very good friend) was on MSNBC, made the headlines of the local paper (attached link) and has been contacted by numerous radio stations.
I'm proud to say I was one of the first in on his "campaign".
"Erik Kilk, a Hewlett-Packard software engineer, is on a mission to reinstate Pluto as a planet after last week's demotion by an international group of astronomers meeting in the Czech Republic. Kilk displayed campaign-style signs in front of his home in Cascade Park, where his neighbors have put up their campaign signs seeking voter support on more terrestrially oriented candidates and issues."
"Take a look at the campaign signs in Erik's yard," a friend advised Bill Brent.
"Is it a local issue," Brent asked, "or national?"
Actually, he was told, it's kind of universal.
Erik Kilk is campaigning for Pluto.
The Cascade Park resident wants Pluto restored to its rightful place in the universe, as the ninth planet in our solar system.
That's how things stood more than 30 years ago when Kilk crafted his own planetary system for a grade-school science fair, back when Pluto was the ninth foam ball from the sun.
But things changed a week ago in the Czech Republic, when the world's astronomers gathered in Prague to weigh Pluto's qualifications for planethood and found it lacking.
"I was reading about the decision, and I was bummed out, even though I understand it," Kilk said.
"Pluto is such a cute little planet, and we all grew up with him. I'm a physics major and grew up with science," said Kilk, a graduate of the University of California at Berkeley. "I built a handmade telescope."
Kilk lives just south of McGillivray Boulevard in a cul-de-sac peppered with campaign signs: a couple of Brian Baird placards over here, a Mike McGavick sign and a Bruce Hagensen endorsement over there.
As he scanned all the political messages, the Hewlett-Packard engineer realized that it was time to take his campaign to the street ... or at least to a spot next to the curb.
"Somehow, it popped into my mind. I thought it was a fun idea and funny. I got really excited on Friday and Saturday."
And Kilk isn't the only one. His Web site www.vote[/URL] pluto.com includes a link to a British Broadcasting Corp. Web site that describes much of the scientific outrage among the global astronomy community. It is being expressed, among other ways, by bumper stickers that urge: "Honk if Pluto is still a planet."
The Pluto campaign seems to be going grass-roots, even though technically the planet doesn't actually have that sort of organism.
Kilk passed along an e-mail from a woman who'd seen his Web site, and she wanted him to know that "I have a 5-year-old who was hilariously distraught about Pluto not being a planet anymore. How can we get a sign?"
Nancy Bott, one of the cul-de-sac residents with political signs in her yard, doesn't think her neighbor is mocking the process.
"It makes me laugh," Bott said. "We can be serious about who we want in government, but it's nice to have a chuckle."
Kilk said he is a registered voter, by the way, so he will also have an opportunity to cast a ballot on more terrestrial-based political issues.
As far as his political leanings go, he's clearly a conservative in one area: the planetary status of Pluto.
After all, he said, it's all about traditional values.
On the Web
For more information, visit
[PLAIN]www.votepluto.com. [/URL]
news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/5283956 .stm.
[PLAIN]http://www.columbian.com/news/localNews/08312006news55291.cfm
Fellow PF member bitjumper (and my very good friend) was on MSNBC, made the headlines of the local paper (attached link) and has been contacted by numerous radio stations.
I'm proud to say I was one of the first in on his "campaign".
"Erik Kilk, a Hewlett-Packard software engineer, is on a mission to reinstate Pluto as a planet after last week's demotion by an international group of astronomers meeting in the Czech Republic. Kilk displayed campaign-style signs in front of his home in Cascade Park, where his neighbors have put up their campaign signs seeking voter support on more terrestrially oriented candidates and issues."
"Take a look at the campaign signs in Erik's yard," a friend advised Bill Brent.
"Is it a local issue," Brent asked, "or national?"
Actually, he was told, it's kind of universal.
Erik Kilk is campaigning for Pluto.
The Cascade Park resident wants Pluto restored to its rightful place in the universe, as the ninth planet in our solar system.
That's how things stood more than 30 years ago when Kilk crafted his own planetary system for a grade-school science fair, back when Pluto was the ninth foam ball from the sun.
But things changed a week ago in the Czech Republic, when the world's astronomers gathered in Prague to weigh Pluto's qualifications for planethood and found it lacking.
"I was reading about the decision, and I was bummed out, even though I understand it," Kilk said.
"Pluto is such a cute little planet, and we all grew up with him. I'm a physics major and grew up with science," said Kilk, a graduate of the University of California at Berkeley. "I built a handmade telescope."
Kilk lives just south of McGillivray Boulevard in a cul-de-sac peppered with campaign signs: a couple of Brian Baird placards over here, a Mike McGavick sign and a Bruce Hagensen endorsement over there.
As he scanned all the political messages, the Hewlett-Packard engineer realized that it was time to take his campaign to the street ... or at least to a spot next to the curb.
"Somehow, it popped into my mind. I thought it was a fun idea and funny. I got really excited on Friday and Saturday."
And Kilk isn't the only one. His Web site www.vote[/URL] pluto.com includes a link to a British Broadcasting Corp. Web site that describes much of the scientific outrage among the global astronomy community. It is being expressed, among other ways, by bumper stickers that urge: "Honk if Pluto is still a planet."
The Pluto campaign seems to be going grass-roots, even though technically the planet doesn't actually have that sort of organism.
Kilk passed along an e-mail from a woman who'd seen his Web site, and she wanted him to know that "I have a 5-year-old who was hilariously distraught about Pluto not being a planet anymore. How can we get a sign?"
Nancy Bott, one of the cul-de-sac residents with political signs in her yard, doesn't think her neighbor is mocking the process.
"It makes me laugh," Bott said. "We can be serious about who we want in government, but it's nice to have a chuckle."
Kilk said he is a registered voter, by the way, so he will also have an opportunity to cast a ballot on more terrestrial-based political issues.
As far as his political leanings go, he's clearly a conservative in one area: the planetary status of Pluto.
After all, he said, it's all about traditional values.
On the Web
For more information, visit
[PLAIN]www.votepluto.com. [/URL]
news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/5283956 .stm.
[PLAIN]http://www.columbian.com/news/localNews/08312006news55291.cfm
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