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From: rpw3@fortune.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.sf-lovers
Subject: Re: What a 'parasec' is. - (nf)
Message-ID: <2162@fortune.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 3-Jan-84 19:08:12 EST
Article-I.D.: fortune.2162
Posted: Tue Jan  3 19:08:12 1984
Date-Received: Thu, 5-Jan-84 01:11:51 EST
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#R:ihuxj:-33600:fortune:9900014:000:1315
fortune!rpw3    Jan  3 14:52:00 1984

Sorry to be picky, but the astronomical term is 'parsec' (two syllables),
not 'parasec' (3 syl.). As defined in Webster's New Collegiate:

parsec:	[par-allax + sec-ond] n. a unit of measure for interstellar
	space equal to a distance having a heliocentric parallax
	of one second [of arc] or to 206,265 times the radius of
	Earth's orbit or to 3.26 light-years or to 19.2 trillion miles.

Parsecs are DISTANCE, not time, no matter what Trek says. One could go
so many parsec/sec (REALLY fast) or parsec/year (still a good bit faster
than light).

If Trek really says 'parasec' (pa-ra-sec), then it's a perfectly
acceptable made-up science fiction term that (from its construction)
must mean "a kind of second". Again from Webster:

para-:	[Greek: akin to] prefix. 1. beside, alongside of, beyond,
	aside from (parathyroid); 2. closely related to (paraldehyde);
	3. faulty, abnormal (paresthesia), b. associated in a
	subsidiary or accessary manner (paramedical), c. closely
	resembling, almost (paratyphoid).

One can only guess that at high warp speeds time ain't what it seems
compared to the rest of the universe so time flies in parasecs???

Rob Warnock

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