Why not a Python compiler?

Grant Edwards grante at visi.com
Fri Feb 8 10:30:18 EST 2008


On 2008-02-07, Jeroen Ruigrok van der Werven <asmodai at in-nomine.org> wrote:
> -On [20080207 22:09], Reedick, Andrew (jr9445 at ATT.COM) wrote:
>>Errr... didn't one of the novels explain it away by describing the
>>kessel run as a region of space warped by black holes or other objects?
>>Bragging rights for crossing such a field thus centered on shortest
>>distance instead of time.
>
> http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Kessel_Run
>
> Han Solo claimed that his Millennium Falcon "made the Kessel Run in less
> than twelve parsecs." The parsec is a unit of distance, not time. Solo was
> not referring directly to his ship's speed when he made this claim. Instead,
> he was referring to the shorter route he was able to travel by skirting the
> nearby Maw black hole cluster, thus making the run in under the standard
> distance. However, parsec relates to time in that a shorter distance equals
> a shorter time at the same speed. By moving closer to the black holes, Solo
> managed to cut the distance down to about 11.5 parsecs.

Um, yea, I'd have to call bullshit on that.

IIRC, he was answering a question something like "is she fast".
If you buy the above BS, he'd have to be be answering a
question about his piloting skills not about how fast the ship
is.

One could give GL the benefit of the doubt and claim that GL
intentionally miswrote the line to give the movie the feel of
the badly-written serials he was emulating.  But then again, I
think GL has since proven beyond a doubt that he's just a
really bad writer who is particularly awful at dialog.

> In the A New Hope novelization, Han says "standard time units"
> rather than "parsecs". Therefore, the reduced distance of
> Solo's Kessel Run is most likely a retcon to explain George
> Lucas's confusion of time and distance units.

-- 
Grant Edwards                   grante             Yow! BELA LUGOSI is my
                                  at               co-pilot ...
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