eich@uiuccsb.UUCP (12/02/83)
#R:ihuxa:-33900:uiuccsb:10100006:000:679 uiuccsb!eich Dec 1 22:52:00 1983 Are you sure it was a slip? The script, published in "The Art of Star Wars" and presumably not amended, has Ben *"react to Solo's stupid attempt to impress them [Luke and Ben] with obvious misinformation."* The original response from mit-eddi!rh, which brought this up did so in connection with the size of the Death Star. Yes, "big" will do fine, but the producer and especially the special effects designers do work to maintain internal consistency (see the sketchbooks, etc.). They don't always succeed, but it's inaccurate to imply that they don't even try, and then to attempt to buttress this contention by pointing to the not-so-inappropriate-after-all "parsec" line.
eich@uiuccsb.UUCP (12/04/83)
#R:ihuxa:-33900:uiuccsb:10100011:000:413 uiuccsb!eich Dec 4 01:06:00 1983 It's doubtful that George Lucas wrote the "Star Wars" novel -- more likely is Alan Dean Foster (this is indicated not only by rumor but also by style; any ADF readers agree?). It was based on an earlier version of the script, hence the extra scenes. The script narrative (The Art of SW) has parsec used as I noted earlier, as an intentional boner. And George Lucas was, uncontestably, the sole script-writer.
akp@isrnix.UUCP (12/06/83)
#R:ihuxa:-33900:isrnix:9900005:000:545 isrnix!akp Dec 5 17:05:00 1983 I noticed that Ben reacted as though it as a snow-job, but it could have been because <n> parsecs was an unreasonably small amount of time to make the Kessel run in. Like saying you drove from New York to San Fransisco in six hours. So the reaction is still consistent with the idea that a "parsec" (in SW talk) is a unit of time. Even if Solo were trying to snow Ben and Luke, why would he use the wrong term? Would a modern smuggler say, "I made the Colombian run in less than six miles"? -- Allan Pratt ...decvax!ihnp4!isrnix!akp
jack@rlgvax.UUCP (Jack Waugh) (12/07/83)
I suppose a parsec of time is the time it takes light to travel that far in a vacuum.
rigney@uokvax.UUCP (12/11/83)
#R:rlgvax:-146000:uokvax:12300004:000:287 uokvax!rigney Dec 9 15:01:00 1983 But then Han would hardly brag about taking a number of parsecs to make the run, a parsec is 3.26 light years (thereabouts), so he'd be claiming it took him a decade or so to get to Kessel. No wonder imported spice is so expensive it's worth smuggling!-) Carl ..!ctvax!uokvax!rigney
eder@ssc-vax.UUCP (Dani Eder) (12/12/83)
12 December 1983
The parsec is not a universal constant, it depends on the size of
the Earth's orbit. Parallax is the apparent motion of nearby stars
relative to much further background stars caused by the Earth's motion
around the Sun. A parallax of one arc second is caused when the size
of the Earth's orbit as seen from the star in question is one second
of arc wide. This implies that a parsec is 206264.8 times the diamter
of a planet's orbit, whatever that diameter is. The constant, by the
way, is the number of seconds of arc in one radian.
Dani Eder
Boeing Aerospace
ssc-vax!ederjec@isrnix.UUCP (12/15/83)
#R:ihuxa:-33900:isrnix:9900006:000:73 isrnix!jec Dec 9 19:36:00 1983 Or as my Traveller friends like to say, "I made the Indy 500 in 480..."
rigney@uokvax.UUCP (12/19/83)
#R:ssc-vax:-67200:uokvax:12300009:000:636 uokvax!rigney Dec 16 14:54:00 1983 Except the number of seconds in an arc is arbitrary, too. There's no universal reason for 60 seconds to a minute, 60 minutes to a degree, 360 degrees to a circle. 2pi radians in a circumference is universal, but it seems more likely that universal measurements would be based on powers of two times the fundamental constants of physics (planck's constant, speed of light, or whatever). I don't believe Han said Parsec any more than I believe they were all speaking English "a long, long time ago," obviously when the language gets translated, the measuring system is expressed in familiar terms as well. Carl ..!ctvax!uokvax!rigney
wetcw@pyuxa.UUCP (T C Wheeler) (01/09/84)
Parsec - a unit of distance. I take for my source Azimov's "I, Robot" Liar. Note the dial in the hyperdrive ship (0 to 1 million parsecs). On the first trip, note the dial, 30,000 parsecs and the comment that they must now be out of the galaxy. The story was written over 30 years ago ( maybe 40). When the technicians returned from their trip, the dial was again on 0. Who, in his right mind, would challange Azimov?:-) T. C. Wheeler
julian@osu-dbs.UUCP (Julian Gomez) (01/11/84)
A parsec is defined in terms of an AU, so it's about as nonabsolute as an AU is.
saj@iuvax.UUCP (02/15/84)
#R:ssc-vax:-67200:iuvax:5800002:000:125 iuvax!apratt Jan 8 01:43:00 1984 Familiar terms, perhaps, but I reiterate: no gunrunner is going to say, "I made the Miami-San Salvador run in fifty miles!"
elias@eosp1.UUCP (Doug Elias) (02/16/84)
.
...a smuggler might boast about how closely a natural hazard
(reefs, whirlpool, nova, asteroid-cloud, etc.) was skirted,
and thus how many {miles, parsecs} was shaved off the run...
...if the hazard was well-enough known to the shipping community,
just referring to the destination and the savings would be sufficient...
"...migod, it really IS worth only 2c..."
dougrentsch@unc.UUCP (Tim Rentsch) (02/17/84)
In times when space warp travel is common, getting into and out of warp quickly might make a HUGE difference in terms of how long the trip takes, because the trip is much shorter. Seen in this light, saying that something was done in "under 17 parsecs" makes a lot of sense, no? Tim