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The Harry Potter-a-thon
On New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day, Gail and the boys and I had a Harry Potter marathon. We watched all five movies back to back, and Gail had fun making Harry Potter-themed snacks. We’re all big fans of the Harry Potter series, but as with Star Wars, when you see a movie enough times and get to know the characters well enough, you start to notice little things that don’t make sense. I have fun coming up with these things. These are not a knock on the movies — I know that they are fantasy and that they don’t need to be 100% realistic to be enjoyable, in fact, any fantasy movie that’s 100% realistic isn’t really fantasy, now is it?
Philosopher’s Stone
- Hagrid says about Gringotts “ain’t no place safer! Not one! ‘cept perhaps Hogwarts.” Rrrrright. Hogwarts is guarding possibly the most important and valuable object in the wizarding world, and three eleven-year-olds — including one who’s only known about the wizarding world for less than a year — are able to get by the traps. Not to mention the fact that when Harry finally does arrive at the end, Quirrell is already there, which means that he got by all the traps too — and Harry had help, while Quirrel did it by himself. Hey, bang-up job on those traps, Hogwarts professors.
- Nicolas Flamel has had the stone, presumably in Gringotts, for well over 600 years. Why did they decide to move it to Hogwarts? Ron makes a good point about keeping a creature like Fluffy in a school. Surely they suspected that Voldemort might try to steal the Stone, so why bring it to Hogwarts and put the students in danger?
- To get into the room where Fluffy is guarding the trap door, Hermione performs a simple “alohomora” spell. Shouldn’t the teachers have magically locked that door so that simple spells wouldn’t open it?
- Similarly, if the restricted section of the library is truly restricted, surely the gate should be magically locked.
- When Voldemort tells Quirrell to kill Harry, why does he attempt to choke him? Why not just use avada kedavra? And why is he able to touch Harry’s throat, but turns to dust when Harry touches him? Quirrell says he tried to kill Harry a number of times previously as well — why use a complicated curse to make Harry’s broom fly all over the place and not just use the killing curse? He had plenty of opportunities…
Chamber of Secrets
- If Hagrid was at Hogwarts when the Chamber was opened fifty years ago, that would make him between sixty-one and sixty-seven years old at the time of this film. Does Hagrid look that old to you?
- On a similar note, Professor Dumbledore had a fairly long grey beard in the fifty-year-old flashbacks. My beard has a fair bit of grey in it, and if I hadn’t shaved in ten years, it could be that long, so it’s possible that Dumbledore is as young as forty in the flashback, but likely older. That makes him at least ninety now.
- Gilderoy Lockhart is a fraud, and yet he takes a number of opportunities to perform spells in front of people, with disastrous results. If I were pretending to be awesome when I really wasn’t, I’d try to avoid performing in front of people, lest my inadequacies be publicly displayed. Why would he choose to try to fix Harry’s broken arm? Why would he choose to start the dueling club when he knows he can’t fight? For that matter, why would he take this teaching job in the first place?
- Speaking of the dueling club, Snape says “perhaps it would be a good idea to teach them how to block unfriendly spells”, to which Lockhart answers “An excellent suggestion!” and then doesn’t do it. He picks two students and basically says “go!” without any advice on what to do.
- Why do some “expelliarmus” charms flick the victim’s wand away harmlessly (Lupin on Snape) while others (Snape on Lockhart, Harry on Snape) knock the victim twenty feet back?
- When trying to stop the flying car, Ron pulls out his wand and taps the steering wheel saying “Stop! Stop! Stop!”. He’s been around magic all his life — does he really think this will work? I know it’s a plot device to have him break his wand, but it could have been done better.
- Is “eat slugs!” really a spell, or did Ron just say that out loud and then do a non-vocal spell, something they don’t learn until sixth year?
Prisoner of Azkaban
- Fred and George said they took the Maurauder’s Map from Filch’s office during their first year, which means that they’ve had it since before Ron arrived at Hogwarts. During that time, if they had looked up the Gryffindor dormatories, they’d have seen the name “Peter Pettigrew” on the map because Scabbers lived there. Either they never looked up the Gryffindor dorms in that time (which seems unlikely), or they never thought it weird that the name of a person who they didn’t know kept showing up in the Gryffindor dorms.
- Sirius got past the dementors and into Hogwarts, presumably, because he was an animagus and turned into a dog. Are dementors really fooled by animagi? The Maurauder’s Map isn’t. Wouldn’t this mean that any animagus sent to Azkaban could simply transform and walk out?
- Hermione says something like “Bad things happen to wizards who mess with time”. If that’s the case, why would a professor give a time-turner to a thirteen year old witch just so that she could take extra classes? Doesn’t this seem dangerous?
Goblet of Fire
Order of the Phoenix
I’ve only seen this movie two or three times, so I don’t really have any comments about this one. One thing I do want to mention is that the character of Luna Lovegood was perfectly cast. She is exactly how I pictured her when reading the books, seemingly kind of ditzy, but sweet and strangely wise. She’s got the right dreamy sort of look and voice.
Updated NLL predictions
Since I posted my predictions of the NLL East and West divisions, there have been a few changes in the league. The team rosters have been released, a number of players have announced that they will not play in 2009, but most importantly the Chicago Shamrox have ceased to exist, and their players scattered to the four winds in the umpteenth NLL dispersal draft. Here are my updates to my previous comments:
East
Toronto
All the rumours I’ve read about Craig Conn say that he’ll be ready for action mid-January, so me might miss the first two or maybe three games. If he’s fully recovered and as good as he can be, he’s a big addition for the Rock. The Rock also picked up Bill McGlone from Chicago, and I know nothing about him. He had 40 points in 16 games in 2007, which is hardly MVP-worthy but pretty decent, though his production dropped by 50% in 2008. Goaltending is still a concern. I watched the first game of the season, and the Rock’s offense looked pretty solid, even without Conn.
Buffalo
They’ve lost Brett Bucktooth, possibly for the year, and I forgot that they will now have Sean Greenhalgh, who missed all of last year.
Rochester
So much for “not many changes”. Grant is still gone, but so now is Scott Evans, and the Gaits reunite once again as Gary’s twin brother Paul is the new head coach. As far as I know, Paul has zero pro lacrosse coaching experience, so that will be interesting.
Philadelphia
Athan Iannucci had surgery in the off-season, and from what I heard, was supposed to be out for a couple of games at most. Now there are rumours that he should be back mid-season, and I’ve read at least once that he may be out for the entire season. Losing the reigning scoring champ and league MVP is a pretty big blow.
Also Peter Jacobs retired.
Boston
They were going to be a pretty decent expansion team anyway, and now adding former Goalie of the Year Anthony Cosmo makes them even better. Jake Bergey chose to sit out the year rather than play with someone other than the Wings. I think this is odd, considering the Wings have twice left Bergey unprotected in expansion drafts, and he was chosen by Boston each time. The first time he was traded back to the Wings, this time he decides to sit out. Perhaps the Boston GM shoud have given Bergey a phone call before picking him?
Chicago
Ummm, gone.
Prediction
Losing Iannucci is major, so Philly is no longer my pick to win the division. I’m a little more optimistic on Toronto and a little less on Rochester. Chicago was last anyway, so that doesn’t really affect anything. Boston got better, but I don’t think they improved enough to put them into the playoffs. End result:
- Buffalo
- Philadelphia
- New York
- Toronto
- Rochester
- Boston
West
Calgary
One thing I missed that’s different about 2009 for the Roughies is the return of captain Tracey Kelusky, who missed half of last season. Shawn Cable is not on the roster, but he only played 7 games last year (for 5 points), so that’s not much of a loss points-wise. Avery was released, so it’s only Campbell and King in goal.
San Jose
Much-hyped rookie Paul Rabil has been signed, so add one to the list of potential offensive stars on the Stealth.
Portland
The only change here is that Dallas Eliuk has now officially retired. No big surprise, and he wasn’t going to be playing anyway.
Prediction
No changes.
The NLL season is on…
…and the Rock are tied for first overall! And that’s after the game! A few thoughts about the game:
- Great that we could watch it for free through nll.com!
- The video quality wasn’t any worse than the $7 B2 games from last year, I didn’t think. Not bad in a small window, but not really watchable full-screen for any length of time.
- Nice to see the Rock offense spread around — hat-tricks by Manning, Biernes, Wiles, and Ratcliffe. McGlone’s goal was very nice, and Manning’s seeing-eye goal to win it was nice too. Crosbie with 6 assists, Ratcliffe with 5, Wiles with 4.
- No Craig Conn. No big surprise.
- More of a surprise: no Ryan Benesch. He was benched at the end of last year, but Mike Kloepfer said during the off-season that there’s no problem with Benesch and that he’s a big part of the Rock’s future. Then he doesn’t play the opener. An upcoming trade, perhaps?
Buzzword overload
There’s a question on StackOverflow about the best source code comments people have seen or written. My favourite answer is this one, which doesn’t require any programming knowledge to understand, since it’s impossible to understand anyway. I found it quite hysterical:
/**
This method leverages collective synergy to drive "outside of the box" thinking and formulate key objectives into a win-win game plan with a quality-driven approach that focuses on empowering key players to drive-up their core competencies and increase expectations with an all-around initiative to drive down the bottom-line. I really wanted to work the word "mandrolic" in there, but that word always makes me want to punch myself in the face.
*/
Nothing about “solutioning”, though; perhaps it’s out of date. I’d never heard the word “mandrolic” before, so perhaps I’m out of date.
Gail has on occasion actually used some of these words, particularly “synergy” and “solutioning”, and doesn’t understand why I laugh every time. I have an idea what it “means”, or what it’s supposed to mean, but to me, “synergy” is just the quintessential buzzword that doesn’t actually mean anything.
Failure is not an option
Our camera stores pictures on a compact flash memory card. The other day when changing the card, Gail managed to bend a pin inside the camera, so it wouldn’t recognize any card. We took it into a camera repair shop yesterday, and it’s going to cost us $200 to get fixed. The repair guy said that Gail likely tried to put the card in sideways or backwards or something and that it’s not that uncommon. For a fairly expensive piece of equipment, this seems like a blatant design flaw. If a card should only go in one way, why can’t they design them so that it’s physically impossible to put it in wrong? Make it so that it’s impossible to screw it up. Failure should not be an option.
We had the same problem with an old wireless PCMCIA card. We had a PCI card in the computer, and that card had a slot that the PCMCIA card could slip into. But it was entirely possible to put the card in the wrong way, in which case it simply wouldn’t work. (Luckily it didn’t damage the card.) Unfortunately, it wasn’t plug and play, so you had to shut the computer down, put the card in, and boot it up again. If you got it backwards, you’d have to shut the computer down again, reverse the card, then boot it back up.
The designers of the SD card that’s in my kids’ $89 cameras seemed to get it right:
- Make it a rectangle that’s longer than it is wide, so you can’t put it in sideways
- Put a notch in one corner so that if you put it in backwards, the notch makes it not fit before the card gets to the pins.
Update: I wrote the above before talking to the camera guy. Turns out it is impossible to put the card in backwards or upside down, but it is not impossible to put it in sideways. If they had made it “portrait instead of landscape” as the camera guy said, this possibility would have been removed as well.
Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens
I’m not a big fan of the snow. I go skiing once or twice a year, maybe more in the future because I took the boys last year and they enjoyed it, and tobogganing and making snowmen with them is fun too, but other than that, I’d be fine living somewhere that never got snow.
However, and I can’t explain this, one of my favourite things is a work-from-home day when I sit down at my laptop, sip a mug of hot chocolate, and watch a huge snowstorm outside. Maybe it’s the knowledge that I don’t have to navigate the roads, or maybe it’s just the fact that it’s cold and nasty outside and I’m toasty and warm inside, but I love that feeling.
It’s snowing like crazy outside, and I just finished my hot chocolate. I might make another cup. It’s a snow day today so the boys and Gail are home, but I’m warm and cozy inside and have no plans of venturing outside today (except maybe to shovel later on but I won’t think about that now). Suddenly my TLS certificate validation problem on the Mac just doesn’t seem so daunting.
The might know science, but they don’t know web programming
While trying to buy tickets online for the Ontario Science Centre, I saw this:
Seriously, how hard is it to accept a postal code without a space and add it yourself?
Later on in the transaction, I hit an SSL error because the certificate was valid for “www.ontariosciencecentre.ca” but I happened to type “ontariosciencecentre.ca” into my browser, and none of the links after that redirected me to “www.”. If their certificate relies on the “www.” prefix, then their web server should be redirecting me.
They might know everything there is to know about science (and they do, I’ve loved going to the Science Centre since I was a kid), but their webmaster has a few things to learn.
Update: As you can see in the comments, Ken Huxley from the Science Centre has fixed the postal code problem and is working on fixing the SSL problem as well. Kudos to him, and my apologies for my condescending “has a few things to learn” comment above (not to mention the title of the post). When he mentioned that he was going to reconfigure DNS to fix the SSL problem, I realized that I understand at a high level what he’s going to do, but I have no idea how to actually do it. I guess I have a few things to learn as well. But if I hadn’t whined written about the problems I found, they wouldn’t have gotten fixed, so it’s nice to know that my blog has made the world a better place.
Stability in the NLL
OK, this is getting ridiculous. There’s a news report saying that the owner of the Chicago Shamrox is trying to sell the team, and they might fold (as early as this week) which would require yet another dispersal draft. Is anyone else getting tired of this? The last time an NLL season began with exactly the same teams as the previous year (in the same cities) was 1993. Here’s what’s happened since:
- 1994: Removed Pittsburgh
- 1995: Added Rochester, removed Detroit
- 1996: Added Charlotte
- 1997: Removed Charlotte
- 1998: Added Ontario and Syracuse, removed Boston
- 1999: Ontario moved to Toronto
- 2000: Added Albany, Baltimore moved to Pittsburgh
- 2001: Pittsburgh moved to Washington, Syracuse moved to Ottawa, added Columbus
- 2002: Added New Jersey, Montreal, Calgary, Vancouver
- 2003: Washington moved to Colorado, removed Montreal
- 2004: New Jersey moved to Anaheim, Albany moved to San Jose, Columbus moved to Arizona, removed New York and Ottawa
- 2005: Added Minnesota, removed Vancouver
- 2006: Added Edmonton and Portland, removed Anaheim
- 2007: Added New York and Chicago
- 2008: Removed Arizona
- 2009: Added Boston, removed Chicago?
Sometimes franchises fail because lacrosse just didn’t sell in that city (Ottawa, Anaheim). Sometimes they fail because of corrupt or incompetent ownership (Vancouver). In the case of Arizona, it was some mystery reason that made no sense — they shut down operations because the season was cancelled, but then the season was resurrected two weeks later. Arizona management announced that they had already shut everything down and couldn’t restart it in time (though every other team managed it), so they’d just sit out 2008 and return in 2009. Of course they didn’t return at all, so it sounds to me like they used the season cancellation as an excuse to fold up operations since they weren’t making much money. This is too bad (particularly for Arizona fans), since they had a very good team that made the finals twice in three years. The Chicago thing sounds like another mystery reason — their owners say that it’s just too difficult to manage the team in Chicago from their offices in Atlanta and LA. Mmmmmmkay. Never heard of phones? Email? Video conferencing? Hell, hire someone who lives in Chicago that can run things.
What the hell ever happened to due diligence, not only on the part of NLL ownership groups, but on the part of the NLL itself?
Apparently the Chicago owner announced that he wanted to sell the team during the middle of last season, which means that less than two seasons after he bought an expansion franchise, he’s trying to sell it. Did he not consider the “difficulty” of running a team from a thousand miles away before spending $3 million to buy an expansion franchise? Did the NLL not ask him how he intended to run the team from a thousand miles away?
Twenty-one NLL teams have folded or moved since the league was formed in 1987. Of those, four only lasted a single season. Compare that to the NHL, where a total of eighteen teams have folded or moved since 1917. Three cities (Pittsburgh, Washington, and New Jersey) have had NLL teams fail twice, and the New York Titans are threatening to make it four. Does this sound like a good league to purchase a franchise in?
Having said that, the Toronto, Colorado, Calgary, Philadelphia, Buffalo, and Rochester franchises are all healthy. I don’t know about Edmonton, Minnesota, Portland, or San Jose, and I haven’t heard too much lately in the way of negative rumours about those four. I really hope that the late 90’s and early 2000’s were a kind of experimental phase for the NLL, where they tried lots of new markets, many of which failed. Now that they have a core of seven or eight franchises that are doing well and are unlikely to fold, perhaps we’ll see a little more stability.
On rebuilding
I read an article on general borschevsky’s Maple Leafs blog the other day that contained the following text at the bottom:
Brian Burke believes Mats Sundin is not interested in returning to Toronto. No one seems to mind. Despite the obvious need for a top line centre, despite the need for veteran leadership, despite the fact that this team is already better then last year’s team and that the playoffs are just a short win-streak away,…
As soon as I saw the line about “the playoffs are just a short win-streak away“, I cringed. I immediately commented on the article, saying that this is why many people think that Leafs fans are stupid. No matter how bad the team is, these die-hards always seem to think that if we just make the playoffs, the Cup is ours. Or that making the playoffs, even if you get swept in the first round, makes the season a success. I wrote a little while ago about delusional Leafs fans who think that every year is the year. I, on the other hand, have accepted the fact that this year’s Leafs are not a contending team, and are likely not even a playoff team. In the long run, this is probably good, in that they will get a higher draft choice, and Our Saviour will pick the next Sidney Crosby.
For the record, general borschevsky is neither delusional nor stupid. He responded to my comment, saying that making the playoffs may not mean a Cup victory, but it does mean that we’ll be watching the Leafs in the playoffs, and it’ll be exciting and entertaining. And for those of us not employed in the sports industry, that’s what sports is, isn’t it? Entertainment? This is a good point — neither Toronto nor Pittsburgh won the Cup last year, but I am quite sure that Pittsburgh fans enjoyed last year’s playoffs a lot more than Leafs fans did.
There are three reasons a team misses the playoffs:
- Your team sucks because you are rebuilding, and after a few years, you will be a contender.
- Your team sucks because you are rebuilding, but after a few years, you will still suck.
- Your team just sucks.
Of course, the difference between groups 1 and 2 can only be seen through hindsight. The Leafs have missed the playoffs three years in a row, and I think they were squarely in group 3 during that span. They were not rebuilding — you don’t trade away a prospect and a draft pick for Yanic Perrault if you’re rebuilding. But the Leafs are clearly rebuilding now, so if they miss the playoffs this year, it will be because they have moved to either group 1 or group 2 — only time will tell which one.
I have been a Leafs fan my whole life. In that time, I have never watched a Leaf game hoping that they lose. So why is it that I cringe when someone suggests the possibility that the Leafs might make the playoffs this year? Because I have managed to convince myself that in order to get good, the Leafs will have to suck for a while. I mean really suck. It’ll be a tough couple of years (or more), but if Our Saviour does what everyone seems to think he will do, the Leafs will be a really good team in four or five years. I know that there’s no guarantee (losing is a necessary but not sufficient condition for building a winning team), but I have some confidence, so I’m willing to put up with the sucky years, mainly because the only other option is stay mediocre-at-best for the rest of whatever. So I’ve convinced myself that the Leafs will suck for a few years but in the long run, this is a good thing. I’ve braced myself for the pain. Then someone says “the Leafs could make the playoffs!” and I realize that if that happens, the pain will likely still come, it’s just been postponed.
I love analogies. I’m not always good at coming up with them, but I love them. So here’s my analogy. Sorry if you’re reading this over lunch.
You went for dinner at the local greasy spoon and had the monster chili burger with onion rings and big piece of coconut cream pie. And a Diet Coke. Man, was that good. But a couple of hours later as you’re sitting down to watch the Leaf game, you realize that the Diet Coke just isn’t sitting well. Damn, shoulda had the chocolate shake. The discomfort turns to pain, and a few minutes later, you start to wonder if your dinner might, ahem, come back. Twenty agonizing minutes later, you’re now hoping it will come back, since that will likely make the pain stop. You make your way to the bathroom not looking forward to what’s about to happen, but ready for it. But when you get there, the bathroom door is locked — your roommate, who went for dinner with you, is in there already with similar issues. Do you bang on the door and thank your roommate for allowing you to put off the inevitable upchucking? No, because as unpleasant as it’s going to be, you know it’s necessary, and you’ve braced yourself for it.
Dumb analogy? Well, sure it is. Dinner is likely coming back up anyway, whether the bathroom door is locked or not, whereas the pain of not making the playoffs but not getting any better either can continue indefinitely. So here’s another one:
You’re in the dentist’s office getting a filling. The dentist is about to stick that four-foot needle in your mouth (and then wiggle it around just in case you can’t feel it). You grip the armrests, leaving visible dents that patients that use that chair the next day can still feel, bracing yourself for the most unpleasant part of any dentist visit. (Aside: I’ve had many fillings and four or five root canals and crowns, and for me, the needles are always the worst part.) Just before the dentist gives you the needle, he remembers something. “Oh, hold on” he says, puts the needle down, and starts fiddling with some other equipment. You breathe out, having been given a little reprieve. A minute later he picks the needle up again and says, “OK, I’m ready now”. You grip again, and again he says “Oh, wait a sec” and puts the needle down. Now say he keeps doing this, several times. First off, you might want to find a less forgetful dentist. Secondly, by the seventh time he does this, you’re ready to yell “Just give me the damn needle, will you?” Do you want the needle? No, but you know it’s necessary and you’ve braced yourself for it.
So when someone suggests that the Leafs might make the playoffs this year, I say no. Not because I want them to lose, but because they are rebuilding and they need to lose for a while in order to get better. It’s necessary, and I’ve braced myself for it.
Cut The Chatter, Red Two 