Why on earth is this in the negative? We downvote bad jokes now?
We downvote bad jokes now?
As one of the downvoters, haven't we always downvoted bad jokes?
This was a bad joke, not in the sense of inappropriateness (a similar but better joke at http://lesswrong.com/lw/ams/harry_potter_and_the_methods_of_rationality/61ew was heavily upvoted), but in the sense of being strained, weak, and largely unfunny.
The Atlantis thing was proposed in a chapter titled "Hold Off On Proposing Solutions".
And why Voldie'd lay low for TEN YEARS waiting for a hero.
(Still... see Chris Halquist below. '73 to '81? He must've had some plan going.)
I didn't foresee this being a plausible interpretation, and have just now edited the birthdate to 1927 to avoid further confusion. It was intended as a bit of an, "Oh no, is she about to identify Voldemort?" moment, to be contradicted soon after by the Gaunts not exactly being on the Wizengamot or having a patroness grandmother. But as it's plausible-to-the-reader that the Gaunts are different in this fic, I feel like I need to do something to cut down plausible misunderstandings I didn't foresee. (I've also edited Ch. 53, fyi.)
Eliezer S. Yudkowsky
Eliezer has jossed this. Page 118 or so of the TVTropes discussion.
Duplicating the page, maybe, but he absolutely can't forbid quoting it or linking to it; those actions'd fall under fair use in most cases.
(That is, if you care about copyright law at all.)
If he wanted to write sequels, the obvious way to do it would be to continue the fic.
Does anyone have any ideas on how to implement one?
Yes, many people do. Many others just need to google it.
For the record: I've been trying, on and off, to set up a development environment for PB for a while now, but always kept getting error'd because of version inconsistencies. But that was before I knew of Bundler. I'll try again in the near future.
Then again, I'm just starting out with rails and I have other things to do with my time, so don't expect any miracles.
EDIT: Retraction was accidental.
So is this some sort of glitch in predictionbook which falsely records me editing the prediction, when in reality it was edited by some moderator?
Yes, that was gwern. The site doesn't keep track of who changed the prediction, so it just assumes the author of the prediction ( = you) did it.
(The sheer amount of "they just didn't care" inherent in the site design boggles the mind.)
No it isn't.
"ELF!" [said the Sorting Hat]
Huh? Harry remembered Draco mentioning a 'House Elf', but what was that exactly?
Judging by the appalled looks dawning on the faces around him, it wasn't anything good -
Maybe he got it from you?
That is correct.
I would be very surprised if there were a grand total of 0 voice-changing charms in existence.
And besides, it's a whisper. That's probably significant in some way.
doesn't a squib child of a wizarding couple imply that Mom was getting some on the side?
Accurate deduction! Here, have a cookie.
Seconded. 2 threads in 3 days = BAD IDEA.
(Not that these comments will make a difference; someone or the other's gonna notice the comment-count and instinctively think "Over 500!! Ah, there's my chance to be of service! ...... HEY GUYS NEW THREAD HERE!")
Pop quiz: What percentage of Muggles have ever heard the word "arbitrage"?
(Retracted because reply makes sense)
Secondly, I noticed that Harry's first Transfiguration lesson includes a photograph of a Dementor. What would that look like?
Probably just a cloaked and hooded figure.
Next you'll be wondering why the robes in the picture don't decay.
Being in debt is probably not the same thing as being a vassal, even temporarily.
(Well, maybe... Dumbledore still hasn't told us what rights Lucius now has over Harry.)
For that matter, why didn't Dumbledore mention the Imperius debt when they were talking about debts?
Dumbledore's being awfully incompetent... Wonder why that would be.
I suspect that everyone discounts the "I was Imperiused!" claim for being an obvious lie, and thus discounts the implications of it being officially true. It's certainly a plausible hole in worldview - ignoring the implications of a false statement being "true" is an easy mistake to make.
I think Dumbledore is more into the "general wanting to win a war" mindset. In that mindset, you don't spend a trump card like a blood debt from one major enemy just to save one life. So he shouldn't (in his pov) speak about that issue to Harry.
Kindle StoreIf you had to look on the internet for all your original fiction, you'd have the same problem.
Or so I heard, at least.
... Now I want a Death Note fanfic where Ryuk is a Totoro.
Or just that he's pissed with Harry for putting himself in Malfoy's debt.
Or for painting a giant bulls-eye on himself.
The icy glare could really mean anything.
Self-Actualization.
Well, Sturgeon's Law for a start, combined with the fact that people who don't bother to create their own universes are statistically going to be less-motivated, less-experienced, and/or less-competent programmers. There's a reason that the stereotype of hackers is 13 year old script kiddies. I'm glad for the exceptions, but they are exceptions.
Rather, what I'm saying is: [stuff you're saying]
In which case, I totally misunderstood what you were saying. Never mind.
Your explanation of the Groundhog Day attack is the only one I've seen so far that makes sense.
Alternatively it could have been a way to determine the right memory charm to achieve the desired effect without using legilimency
The Potions Master was frowning thoughtfully, eyes intent. "The reaction to a False Memory Charm is hard to predict in advance, Mr. Potter, without Legilimency. The subjects do not always act as expected, when they first remember the false memories. It would have been a risky ploy. But I suppose that is one way Professor Quirrell could have done it.".
Implying that fanfiction is not written in the real world.
if I saw legions of ridiculous, cockamamie theories about my story get treated with absolute seriousness on web forums and TV Tropes, I might purposely spoil the ending in my sarcasm-dripping condescension
That clinches it; 75th is my alter ego. You know, a la Tyler Durden or something.
Maybe the reason McGonagall knew that Dumbledore was behind the Santa Claus portkey is because only the headmaster could create a portkey that would work inside the Hogwarts wards.
Then again, Snape didn't realize that just from hearing about the portkey. This theory's probably inaccurate.
Retracting as per pedanterrific's comment.
That's exactly the same behaviour we'd see if he really did just want to put the girl in Azkaban.
First paragraph: Irrelevant.
Maybe it's just an inherent constraint of writing a Harry Potter fic.
In other words, you're talking about what makes a fic a Harry Potter fic, not about what HPMoR is about.
...a story that eventually revealed that "prophecies don't really exist and are always cons" ... would be in the same class as a story that eventually revealed that "magic doesn't really exist, it's all sufficiently advanced technology controlled by aliens who are the real mastermind, villain, and Harry ends up teaming with Voldemort to def
If that were true, it'd be really easy to detect an Imperius by examining the subject's memories... The subject wouldn't remember deciding to do anything the Imperius made them do. [Test Foo]
Instead, McGonagall's statement implies that the best way to figure out whether the subject was Imperiused is to see if they remember being Imperiused, even with all the information that would allow you to perform Test Foo.
Then again, McGonagall's speaking outside her area of expertise.
We're given at least two hints about this during the trial
Mind spelling them out for those untutored in the Dark Arts?
I still can't figure out whether you're excluding the Imperius.
Miss Granger would remember the Imperius. Obliviation cannot be detected by any known means, but only a Professor could have cast that spell upon a student without alarm from the Hogwarts wards
'She was Imperiused and then Obliviated' looks like the likeliest hypothesis right now.
Miss Granger would remember the Imperius. Obliviation cannot be detected by any known means, but only a Professor could have cast that spell upon a student without alarm from the Hogwarts wards
'She was Imperiused and then Obliviated' seems to be the likeliest hypothesis.
(There's an analogous, hilarious, inconsistency in canon; how did the twins never see Peter Pettigrew sleeping in Ron's bed?)
What makes you think they didn't?
(The obvious answer to this inconsistency is that they had no reason to spy on their brother/the first-years' dorm, but... He used to be Percy's rat. They never spied on Percy? BS.)
Here's a real change from canon:
His eyes were as cold as anything Minerva had seen from him since the day his brother died.
No clue what it implies, though.
... Has it occurred to you that "fanfiction" and "original story" may not be sharply delineated categories? Cases in point: every major story from before the Age of Copyright, like the Greek myths or the King Arthur legends or the Robin Hood stories. Pick two versions a couple centuries apart and you'll find changes way more drastic than this one, and yet you can't pick out a version in the chain joining them that wouldn't qualify as fanfiction of the earlier versions.
Second quote: Excellent catch.
I meant something along the lines of "When your hammer is too darn impressive, everything begins to look like a nail."
I've said it many times, and I'll say it again... this is a better solution than most of what's been proposed in the discussion thread so far.
How on earth does the abstract relate to the putative topic?
Yes, that is the question! Congratulations, you have won our Daily Double!
Somehow I haven't seen that happen in the ~3 months I've been here.
I'll take your word for it, though.