# Comment on a 22-year-old column **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [March 26, 2002, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comment-on-a-22-year-old-column/100255 "2002-03-26T22:12:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Znutar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/50afbb/32.png) [@Znutar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Znutar)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2002, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comment-on-a-22-year-old-column/100255/1 "2002-03-26T22:12:03Z")
I note the recent reuse of old columns. Hope the straightdope is still generating new columns. Though I have all the Straight Dope books, I hadn’t previously noticed that the column reprinted today (original day 29-August-1980) has a major error in it, that is so uncharacteristic of Cecil’s info. "The galaxy in which we presently reside, by way of comparison, is 25-30 parsecs across. " Nope, sorry. It’s more than a parsec to the nearest star. Sol is about two-thirds of the way out on the galactic disk, and is approximately 8,000 parsecs from galactic center. Since there is no solid-line “galactic boundary”, the actual diameter of the galactic disk is somewhat vague, but a reasonable figure might be 25,000 parsecs. Doesn’t change the gist, i.e. that we’re talking about a whole lot of flies here, but an error of 99.9% is pretty significant, don’t you think? ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2002, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comment-on-a-22-year-old-column/100255/2 "2002-03-27T00:37:25Z")
Welcome to the SDMB, and thank thee for posting thy comment. Please include a link to Cecil’s column if it’s on the straight dope web site. To include a link, it can be as simple as including the web page location in thy post (make sure there is a space **before** and **after** the text of the URL). Cecil’s column can be found on-line at this link: [If I hadn’t killed 52 flies as a child, how many descendants would they have had by now? (29-Aug-1980)](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1_022.html) * * * moderator, «[**Comments on Cecil’s Columns**](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/forumdisplay.php?forumid=1)» ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2002, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comment-on-a-22-year-old-column/100255/3 "2002-03-27T00:43:27Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Znutar \* > Hope the straightdope is still generating new columns. Yes, once a week. > [@](#): > > I hadn’t previously noticed that the column reprinted today (original day 29-August-1980) has a major error in it, that is so uncharacteristic of Cecil’s info. > > "The galaxy in which we presently reside, by way of comparison, is 25-30 parsecs across. " Cecil Adams does not make errors. This must obviously be a mistake by the editor, who incorrectly parsed the sentence and changed kpc to pc, thereby transforming kiloparsec to parsec. Let me tell you, being Mr. Adams’ editor is not always fun and games. ---
**Author:** ![JillGat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9fc29f/32.png) [@JillGat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JillGat)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2002, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comment-on-a-22-year-old-column/100255/4 "2002-03-27T01:43:47Z")
[[I note the recent reuse of old columns.]] There have always been classic columns posted on the home page along with the newest column. We usually have “staff reports” (where Cecil humors us and let’s us try our hand at answering questions that aren’t worthy of him). Staff reports should be back soon. Until then, you get twice the classic columns for your money. ---
**Author:** ![tracer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tracer/32/20578_2.png) [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2002, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comment-on-a-22-year-old-column/100255/5 "2002-03-29T00:41:55Z")
In Cecil’s how-many-descendants-will-these-flies-have article at [http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1\_022.html](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1_022.html) , almost as a casual aside, He states: > [@](#): > > The galaxy in which we presently reside, by way of comparison, is 25-30 parsecs across. Now, admittedly, Cecil does follow this up with: > [@](#): > > It’s easy to scramble up your decimal points in calculations of this type and I may have lost a few billion parsecs here and there, … but still, come **on!** 25-30 parsecs for the **whole galaxy**?! This is off by a _factor of a thousand_. Hell, the Milky Way galaxy is **thicker** than this, even way out in the spiral arms! ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2002, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comment-on-a-22-year-old-column/100255/6 "2002-03-29T01:51:16Z")
Sorry tracer, but I just **had** to try the “merge thread” command. ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2002, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comment-on-a-22-year-old-column/100255/7 "2002-03-30T19:46:39Z")
The column can also be found on pages 22-23 of Cecil Adams’ book «[_The Straight Dope (1984; reissued 1986, 1998)_](https://securesite.chireader.com/cgi-bin/dopestore/buystuff.bat#tsd)».