OT: Star Wars and parsecs [was Re: Why not a Python compiler?]

[Steve Holden]

Steven D'Aprano wrote:
> On Thu, 07 Feb 2008 13:44:05 -0700, Ivan Van Laningham wrote:
> 
>> Gary Kurtz at SunCon 77 explained that it was a test to see if Obi-Wan
>> knew what he was doing; supposedly, Obi-Wan's expression indicated that
>> he knew Solo was feeding him shit.
> 
> Why the hell would the pilot care whether the passengers knew what a 
> parsec was? Did Concorde pilots quiz their passengers what Mach 1 means?
> 
They didn't need to, since the aircraft's speed was displayed inside the 
cabin as a Mach number.

> Especially a pirate like Solo, who really only cared about one question: 
> "can the passenger pay?".
> 
> 
>> I think Lucas didn't have a clue, myself; it's not credible that
>> citizens of a starfaring civilization who deliberately set out to hire a
>> starship wouldn't know the difference between time and distance. Occam's
>> razor says Lucas screwed up and doesn't want to admit it.
> 
> For sure.
> 
> 
What's more, he won't pay dues so ILM can be a full sponsor member of 
the PSF. It doesn't seem credible to me that an organization of that 
size couldn't find $2,000 in its budget to support the language of which 
it may well be the largest single user in the world. Not that I 
seriously imagine George Lucas micromanages the budget down to that level.

regards
  Steve
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