How Big is a Parsec?

[Malenfant]

Originally posted by Casey:
Like about CT chargen for example?

I don't like CT chargen, sure. But I still don't come up with all sorts of vile, sneering invective about the people who use it. And I'm not on some moral crusade against it either.

It's one thing to label someone a grognard (which I do), it's another to say that they're scum for doing it that way or believing in something (which is what Bill does).

 

[mike wightman]

This is not going to end well...

 

[flykiller]

Knowing the people doesn't make the excessive acronym usage any less idiotic, for both crypticness and unpronouncability. It is understandable, but not a bright thing in many people's opinion.

IRL YMMV, IMNSHO.

 

[robject]

Originally posted by flykiller:
</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Knowing the people doesn't make the excessive acronym usage any less idiotic, for both crypticness and unpronouncability. It is understandable, but not a bright thing in many people's opinion.

IRL YMMV, IMNSHO. </font>[/QUOTE]ROFLMAO (IMTU).

 

[Spinward Scout]

Though it's hard to see why really - metres and kilograms and lightyears and so on can be defined in the same way on any planet.

Now, a lightyear isn't based on a universal constant - it's based on the length of a Terran year. I do agree that the common usage of the word might change, especially with people who don't understand the true meaning of the word. I see that a lot in the real world now. I sure hope you folks get your bad feelings and misunderstandings straight, and I hope I didn't add to that. I am sorry if I did. Just remember, life's too short.

Dameon

 

[JustinThyme]

NASA was created to give legitimacy to developing military strategic weapons under the pretense of peaceful space exploration. There was never an astronaut who wasn't launched by a ballistic missile. With regards to parsecs, would someone please tell me which Traveller game used the space of "half parsecs" ?

 

[Malenfant]

Originally posted by Sol Pniering:
NASA was created to give legitimacy to developing military strategic weapons under the pretense of peaceful space exploration. There was never an astronaut who wasn't launched by a ballistic missile.

Actually, the military side was specifically separated from NASA at its creation. Sure, the US wanted to develop strategic rocket-based weapons too, but that aspect of it was firmly in the hands of the Pentagon and the armed forces.

For more background, see: http://www.spaceline.org/history/6.html
http://www.centennialofflight.gov/essay/Evolution_of_Technology/NASA/Tech2.htm
http://space.about.com/cs/history/a/nasahistorya.htm

 

[aramis]

The whole unit issue can be looked at conversely:

ALL OTU J drives work in units that happen to map out to:
0-1.5, 1.5_1-2.5, etc Pc

THerefore the traveller parsec is the distance covered on a J1 plane before the item is expelled from J-space; higher levels of J-space expell in the same time, but have linear increase in correlational distance in N-space...

that distance is the same no matter whose drive it is. In the 3I, the Terran Parsec corresponds to median distance, and hence would be the term used, even though it's not precise, because most terrans are linguistically lazy, sloppy, and imprecise.

 

[GypsyComet]

Originally posted by Aramis:
...that distance is the same no matter whose drive it is. In the 3I, the Terran Parsec corresponds to median distance, and hence would be the term used, even though it's not precise, because most terrans are linguistically lazy, sloppy, and imprecise.

To the point that a number of nation-states attempt to legislate against linguistic evolution...

ObTrav: Some worlds will throw an off-worlder in jail overnight for just about anything. Some might put the local equivalent of a Bible in the cell, while for others it might be a Dictionary of Acceptable Usage, 1108 Edition, Expurgated...

 

[Chuck Anumia]

And to think when I began this thread I thought the answer was as simple as the answer to the question about the universe and everything being "42".

 

[FlightCommanderSolitude]

It would be in a game other than Traveller.

 

[far-trader]

Well you did get your simple answer right off, but yes being Traveller such simple questions often spark the biggest debates. Oh and the actual answer to the big question is 16 for the real universe, 42 was for a fictional one