Make-A-Wish Builds A Millennium Falcon Fort For Boy 94
Thanks to the Make-A-Wish Foundation and a production crew from Little Mountain Productions, a 9-year-old is getting the best fort ever. The crew is making him a Star Wars-themed fort with a gigantic Millennium Falcon with solar-powered LED interior and exterior lighting to sit on top. No word on how fast it can make the Kessel run, but lets hope the kid gets a long trip.
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It's the top of the tree fort they're building for him. Too bad he has to be dying to get this.
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Overheard in the background... (Score:5, Funny)
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Parsecs (Score:4, Funny)
No word on how fast it can make the Kessel run
I think you meant how short it can make the Kessel run.
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Re:Parsecs (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Parsecs (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Parsecs (Score:4, Interesting)
And it was corrected in the lamest way possible.
It would have made more sense if the ships drive bent space. This would have the side benefit of explaining how they can get around so fast.
It also make more sense because Lucas was clearing trying to have Han boast about the ship engine. This ties in to Lucas love for hotrods at the time.
If the Kessel run was 20 parsecs, but the ship bent space around itself so the ship only need to travel 12 parsecs, this would be the space craft equivalent to shaving seconds off a drag race.
In fact, I assumed that's what he meant when I say SW the first time.
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Star Wars is about as far from real science fiction as the Lord of the Rings. Explaining it all away in technical terms is like trying to put a realistic spin on Sleeping Beauty.
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It is closer to fantasy than Star Trek is, that's for sure.
But even Trek has its own "Han shot first!"
Specifically, V-Ger being 82 AUs in diameter, chopped to just 2.
82 is roughly the diameter of the solar system, while 2 is the diameter of Earth's orbit.
"How can a thing 82 AUs in diameter 'enter' the solar system, much less orbit around Earth?"
Thus they chop the "eighty" part of the 82 from the pronounciation.
This is truly sad, and reduces V-Ger by over 3 orders of magnitude in power. Couldn't they have c
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V-Ger's cloud, that is. V-Ger itself is still pretty damned big.
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It also make more sense because Lucas was clearing trying to have Han boast about the ship engine
Well I'm glad "it make more sense". Something has to...
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Ok, let's just simplify the damned thing once and for all. Star Wars engines shoot gremlins out their ass.
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That's what I thought, too, in my own attempt to technobabble it. That it bent the space until the (wormhole) length was only 12 parsecs.
The only problem with that is that that's still years objective at 0.99999c.
Unless, of course, light speed is different in the wormhole. But if that's the case, an explanation need not include distance. Then the parsec thing falls apart as stupid.
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Re:Parsecs (Score:5, Insightful)
Corrected? The movie says what it says, there's no "correcting" to be done. Han's bragging line is what people call "techno-babble". Neither of the sequels make any explanation of this bit of techno-babble, nor do they need to, any more than someone would need to explain what a "hydrospanner" is.
Techno-babble permits inane crap to help move the story from one plot point to the next. When done well, it works like this [imdb.com]:
Brandon's Mom: Where are you going with those fireworks?
Brandon: Well, the Protector got super-accelerated coming out of the black hole, and it, like, nailed the atmosphere at Mach 15, which, you guys know, is pretty unstable, obviously, so we're gonna help Laredo guide it on the vox ultra-frequency carrier and use Roman candles for visual confirmation.
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any more than someone would need to explain what a "hydrospanner" is.
That one is easy. It's nothing more than a garden hose nozzle with a conically shaped spray.
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Well, yes, except that there was not just one black hole but rather a whole bunch of them relatively close together. You can either go waaaaaaay round the whole entire thing at a safe distance, or you can fly smack dab through the middle of them, weaving your way just between the surrounding black holes along a twisting path where their forces pretty much cancel each other out. Needless to say this is a very thin line. With a really souped up engine, you can cut corners, but it’s dangerous... get too
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That might be the dorkiest, fanboy post I've ever read; and this is SlashDot!
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Only on slashdot is this "insightful".
(I am not saying it is not true, it might even be informative. It is, however, irrelevant, because when you mention George's "Kessel boo boo", you are not evaluating his ability to retcon, but his basic astronomy knowledge).
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Length_contraction [wikipedia.org]
This might have been added to the script by a staff writer that talked to a university professor back when people gave a damb about science fiction. Now it's all vampires and magical fearies anyway.
She's got it where it counts, Kid (Score:2, Informative)
The gigantic Millennium Falcon is just the top (Score:1, Funny)
The Falcon will sit atop a 20-ft high Jar-Jar Binks, so wishing the kid a long trip might actually be cruel.
They are the Best! (Score:2, Insightful)
Those darn kids... (Score:1)
Seriously though, Make-A-Wish is one of the few charities I give to. It is truly wonderful what they do for the children.
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Yup, a great charity. One of my nephews took a trip to Florida to do all the theme parks and space centre there. They had a great time. My sons are also eligible, but we'll give them a few more years before we starting thinking about a wish for our oldest (4.5 years). We're thinking one wish will be a trip for sure, maybe both, but its up to them to decide when they're old enough
If this kid played his cards right... (Score:1)
Ladies and Gentlemen... (Score:1)
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Becasue before they did the Star Wars thing, those kids could suck it~
Follow the superhero story link in TFA... (Score:4, Informative)
Follow the superhero story link in TFA, that one's really touching, too.
That's Great (Score:2)
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You can wish all you want, but you can't change the truth. What Mr. Lucas? Did you just say you CAN change the truth? ohhhh.... :(
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It really great that they built a Millennium Falcon for the kid and all; but if he really had a wish and is a Star Wars fan, he really should've wished that Greedo shot first.
What? No!
Greedo shot first in the Special Editions. So the kid would basically have already got his wish. It's supposed to be Solo who fires first, with Greedo dead before firing a shot.
Is it wrong... (Score:2, Funny)
Sweeeet! (Score:1, Informative)
That's sooo awesome! Good luck, kid, you have good taste :)
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It'd be better to instead funnel that money to funds for research on diseases that tend to strike people down. Between spending money on a party for someone who's probably going to die and spending that same money on research towards treatments that stop families and communities from losing those people, the latter is a much better use of funds.
Hey son you will be happy to know despite you dying in 2 weeks that someone has contributed $5k to research a cure for your disease.
Or
Hey son you will be happy to know despite you dying in 2 weeks that someone has contributed a weeks worth of time to make you a kick ass fort.
Re:Good to be thinking of feelings, but (Score:4, Funny)
"For every problem, there is at least one solution that is simple, neat, and wrong."
As amply demonstrated by the bonehead comment above that sig.
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What an insightful response. I'm sure you've convinced a lot of people.
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I'm convinced
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even if you pull all the money spent on stuff like this across the entire world it probably amounts to less than 0.01% of all the money spent on researching disease cures. It'd be a drop in the bucket. Or we can spend that drop making a dying kid's wish come true.
what's the point of living a long life if you can't bring happiness to someone else?
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The happiness of having a healthy child and watching them grow into adults (rather than watching them die and trying to mitigate that trauma) is a deeper, more meaningful happiness than giving a kid some toys.
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Please, mod this up!
Not be a ghoul (Score:3, Interesting)
Wonder if the parents will sell it for a (sure to be) tidy sum. Not sure what I would do in the same situation.
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Actually, these days the Make a Wish foundation will also handle requests from patients who have contracted conditions that are usually terminal but from which they may make a recovery.
I have a 2nd or 3rd cousin (I can never remember how it works past 1st cousin) who took a trip to Disney World but who was also predicted to make a recovery from her cancer.
So, best case scenario, this kid recovers and gets to live out the rest of his childhood with the coolest fort that any kid could ask for. I hope that's
I want to be the first asshole to say... (Score:2)
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If I had a quarter for everytime I heard that .....
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I think the appropriate funny response to GP's comment is "That's what SHE said!"
Better luck next time!
Dibs! (Score:3, Funny)
In other news... (Score:1)
the Star Wars kid [slashdot.org] is filing a suit against the Slashdot community for not building him a Millenium Falcon fort. In a recent interview Ghyslain Raza exclaims, ".. that is totally the coolest thing and all I got was this #@!%$^* iPod".
Next wish.... (Score:1)
Now if they could just get Harrison Ford, Carrie Fischer, Mark Hamill and Peter Mayhew to get in costume and come play with him.
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But... (Score:2)
Kewl! (Score:2)
Does a 50-year old man wanting to get invited over to this kid's house to play sound at all creepy to you?
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Does a 50-year old man wanting to get invited over to this kid's house to play sound at all creepy to you?
Nope. Just sad. There again, I bought a complete set of TinTin books with the paycheck from my first contracting job, so I qualify for a special award of sad.
Yes, but (Score:4, Funny)
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Dont worry... the plans specify a small thermal exhaust port, right below the main port. The shaft leads directly to the reactor system. A precise hit will start a chain reaction which should destroy the fort. Only a precise hit will set up a chain reaction.
Unfortunately though, The shaft is ray-shielded, so you'll have to use proton torpedoes.
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Are you sure? I thought it was a moon...
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The kid next door is building a Death Star.
Yeah, but the kid with the Millennium Falcon ain't interested in your revolution, man, he's in it for the money. He expects to be well-paid. He's not crazy enough to attack that battle station, that's suicide!
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LucasFilms' (Score:2)
Goddamn slackers... (Score:2)
Look at this thing, would you? How the hell could they miss such a simple and important design feature as the mandible toe-in?
Obligatory (Score:1)
please... THINK OF THE CHILDREN!
Stupid kid (Score:1)
Everyone knows the ultimate wish is infinite wishes.
Trite, I know, but stories like this (Score:2)
Awwwww (Score:2)