Don't summon Azathoth.

I'm not sure what you're implying here. Is this just a general rule of thumb for rationalists?

Why didn't Harry acquire a working Time Turner / make someone else use a Time Turner as soon as he found out Hermione was missing? Why did Dumbledore make sure it was actually Hermione who died, making the use of Time Turners to alter events that much harder?

If this story wasn't constrained by any story telling concerns, Time Turners would just dominate everything. "How do I use my Time Turner to cheat?" would be the first and last thought of a rationally empowered Harry whenever he has an inkling of something bad happening, and not something he could ever miss.

The story says "This [Time Turner] could've saved Hermione, if I'd been able to use it.", but really, how hard would it be to acquire one of the other Time Turners he relied upon for sending the messages? Even if those students weren't present in the Great Hall at the time, as soon as his own Time Turner was locked down in the first place, acquiring access to another one would have been the highest priority by far, and surely within his means (given that other Time Turners are only controlled by fellow students).

The more I think about it, the more an even more rational version of a HP-fanfic should be called "Harry Potter and the Time Turners". Probably less entertaining, but that's the downside when you take your characters' intellect seriously ...

Edit: I also missed this: "if I'd looked for a student with a Time-Turner to send a message back in time before I found out about anything happening to her, instead of ending up with an outcome that can't be altered". That's one remark that is just wholly incompatible with any half-competent Harry. It's just inconceivable, on the order of someone giving you a genie and endless wishes, and you just not thinking of it in a situation of great need.

Harry is Dumbledore's hero and 'heir' if you will.

I interpreted this (with p<0.1) as foreshadowing Harry being Voldemort's heir, and Harry being Voldemort's idea of a better self (with power Voldemort knows not).

I thought of a weird hack based on ambiguity about "information". Here's how it works:

1. In the present, you have a problem you need to solve but will only be able to solve a long time in the future.

2. Set up a random process to guess an answer and write it to a sheet of paper A.

3. Do something with the answer, then hide the paper somewhere safe where it won't be disturbed until you later solve the problem properly.

4. Memory charm yourself to forget what was written to A.

5. Much later, solve the problem properly. Also learn the Imperius curse, and then Imperius yourself to do the following protocol. Cast all sorts of other advanced protection spells to prevent anyone or anything else interrupting the protocol.

6. At time T, you expect to receive a sheet of paper B with a correct answer to the problem. You then look in the place where you hid paper A and see if the answers match. If they match, you write "Success" on a third sheet of paper C. If they don't match, you write "Fail" on paper C, add a completely different answer from either A or B to paper C, and put it in your pocket. If you don't receive a paper B at all, then write "Fail" on paper C, add a random answer, and put it in your pocket. Memory charm yourself to forget what was written on A and B, and what you wrote on C.

7. At time T+1 hour, you look in your pocket and do the following. If you find a paper C starting with "Fail" then copy the rest of its contents to a paper B, and send it back in time one hour to yourself. If you have a paper C starting with "Success" then write down the correct answer to the problem on a sheet of paper B and send it back in time one hour to yourself.

It seems like the only consistent loop is where the guessed answer written on paper A matches the correct answer later written on to paper B. But since it's "only a lucky guess", it's not strictly information about the future. Would that work?

Cannon!harry does NOT like skele grow. I don't expect Rational!Harry would like it any more, even if he wouldn't complain about it to anyone.

If I understood you correctly, something similar happens with myself. Schematically, it goes as follows: if I have to go from A to F in the following diagram,

A B C
D E F

and I cannot go directly through the rectangle's diagonal but I can go on the squares' diagonals, I will go A-E-F, and return F-B-A. Is this what happens with you?

The mechanism is probably that the brain at A, knowing it has to get to F, scans all immediately available directions to walk and determines that AE is the one closest to approaching F. That the path that starts going to B will have the same total length is a fact available in Far/analytic mode, but not in the mode that operates if one walks while thinking of something else.

The image in the forum shows the fixed version, at least for me right now. (Maybe it will for you too, if you clear your browser cache? Or maybe there's a copy of the old version elsewhere in the discussion.)

I think he should have put a note on the comic page acknowledging that he'd fixed a mistake.

Is there anything cool happening anywhere else?

I wish I could promise you that I would obtain one of those highly guarded tomes from the Department of Mysteries, and pass it to you beneath a disguised cover.

Estimate of the probability Quirrell is talking about Roger Bacon's diary?

Slightly higher probability given that canon Harry (OOtP) has a known propensity for ignoring gifts that could have averted disaster until too late.

Trying to find web developer work in the SF Bay area.

Because SF is awesome and where all the great stuff in webdev is happening.