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[Neonivek]

True. But Potterverse wizards seem to pull that sort of thing all the time.

It is because, for reasons they never explain, before you come of age you have the ability to cast spells unconsciously... and even afterwards.

It is almost like the younger you are the closer to magic you are as well.

[Flying Dice]

It's almost like Rowling was using magic as a dime-store metaphor for the soul. :V

[Lord Shonus]

Or, perhaps, that consciously using magic means that it doesn't well up inside you so that it pops out without you wanting it to. Witness Dumbledore's sister.

[Neonivek]

Or, perhaps, that consciously using magic means that it doesn't well up inside you so that it pops out without you wanting it to. Witness Dumbledore's sister.

Either that or it is like martial arts. Where being good at martial arts means that if you get into a fight you likely won't wail your body.

[kaenneth]

Most* of the children I know who fell out of 2nd floor windows seem OK.

*(sample size one; but he does have a really stupid sounding laugh...)

[Mephansteras]

Work entry for today:

We have a standard in our database that records have a record active flag column that holds 1 or 0 to reflect the status of the record. Standard stuff, all well and good.

One of the recent changes someone put into a table: A field called record status flag that hold ACTIVE or INACTIVE.

WHY? Seriously, what the hell was this person thinking? Not only is this not the standard we use but it takes much more space in the database (the table has millions of records) and takes more effort to input. Why would you do this?

*SIGH*

[Descan]

Quidditch seems a little less insane when you have access to powerful healing magic. At that point, it's no more risky than, say, high school football.

He might be talking about the "Catch the flying golden bug and you wipe out everything your team-mates have done."

Takes 15 goals to get one snitch, I doubt the point spread is that far apart, and from a purely spectator-oriented position, watching a dude on a broom look for something you can barely see can't be fun.

Get rid of the snitch, buy a clock, and maybe it'll be a good sport. As far as sports go.

(On the other hand, I don't like the magical world because nobody seems to give a damn to figure out why waving a pointy stick and saying some bullshit words can make you super-fucking-powerful. I can see why wizard-born people might not, but muggle-born? Seriously? Not one kid takes a look at all this and goes "Why?")

[Graknorke]

(On the other hand, I don't like the magical world because nobody seems to give a damn to figure out why waving a pointy stick and saying some bullshit words can make you super-fucking-powerful. I can see why wizard-born people might not, but muggle-born? Seriously? Not one kid takes a look at all this and goes "Why?")

They get them while they're young. Harry was 11 and that's probably the upper bound for when any child learns about being a wizard, muggle-born children might even normally learn of it earlier we don't know. Anyway, by then proper cynicism hasn't completely set it, and they're all taken up by the spectacle and wonder of it all. By the time they would otherwise have questioned 'why', it's already normal.

[Lord Shonus]

Quidditch seems a little less insane when you have access to powerful healing magic. At that point, it's no more risky than, say, high school football.

He might be talking about the "Catch the flying golden bug and you wipe out everything your team-mates have done."

Takes 15 goals to get one snitch, I doubt the point spread is that far apart, and from a purely spectator-oriented position, watching a dude on a broom look for something you can barely see can't be fun.

Get rid of the snitch, buy a clock, and maybe it'll be a good sport. As far as sports go.

(On the other hand, I don't like the magical world because nobody seems to give a damn to figure out why waving a pointy stick and saying some bullshit words can make you super-fucking-powerful. I can see why wizard-born people might not, but muggle-born? Seriously? Not one kid takes a look at all this and goes "Why?")

Based on Harry's lessons (most of his classes, particularly Transfiguration, involve lots of complicated notes), magical theory is a thing. Rowling just doesn't show it to us because it would be rather boring, just as if a Danny Dunn story stopped the exciting trip to the moon for eight pages of Delta-V calculations.

[Graknorke]

just as if a Danny Dunn story stopped the exciting trip to the moon for eight pages of Delta-V calculations.

...I would read that.

[Lord Shonus]

NOw, perhaps. Would you have done so when you were 10?

[Putnam]

Quidditch seems a little less insane when you have access to powerful healing magic. At that point, it's no more risky than, say, high school football.

He might be talking about the "Catch the flying golden bug and you wipe out everything your team-mates have done."

Takes 15 goals to get one snitch, I doubt the point spread is that far apart, and from a purely spectator-oriented position, watching a dude on a broom look for something you can barely see can't be fun.

Get rid of the snitch, buy a clock, and maybe it'll be a good sport. As far as sports go.

(On the other hand, I don't like the magical world because nobody seems to give a damn to figure out why waving a pointy stick and saying some bullshit words can make you super-fucking-powerful. I can see why wizard-born people might not, but muggle-born? Seriously? Not one kid takes a look at all this and goes "Why?")

http://hpmor.com/

[Flying Dice]

NOw, perhaps. Would you have done so when you were 10?

I can't speak for anyone else, but I've loved heavy doses of backstory and technobabble (real or bullshitted) for as long as I can remember. There's something about that sort of writing which, when done well and in the proper time and place, adds a great deal of depth to a story. If a writer just skips from one cool thing to another, it feels like the Disneyland tour of their world rather than their world as they probably envisioned it. Maybe. If they're competent and not just making crap up as they go along. I might have just been weird, though, because I was reading Starship Troopers in primary school because I adored Heinlein's descriptions of the military tech and the intricacies of the rather strange political system he brewed up for it. Incidentally, that's an excellent example of how to cram a novel full of worldbuilding without interrupting the flow of the narrative.

Certainly, there can be stories for the ADD kids who can't go five pages without a textual fireworks display. Well, maybe not any more, because the only children that read books voluntarily in this day and age probably don't fit that mindset to begin with.

[Lord Shonus]

Don't forget that most kids don't have the knowledge needed to handle complexity beyond a certain point. Hell, I had trouble with Dale Brown (somewhat pulpy Air Force techno-thriller writer) when I was 9 or 10 because I didn't get the military jargon (I spent hours trying to figure out what the hell the meant by "in a line B-52".

[Flying Dice]

True, but there's a degree of difference between specialized terminology and stuff that you can figure out from context. "FUBAR" needs someone to explain what it stands for (or a quick trip to a search engine these days), "variable-output phased plasma cannon" can be construed from usage and known words. Besides, the best method to pick up and keep jargon (among other things) is to read it over and over, all the while wondering what the hell it means, and then eventually figure it out. You don't forget things that you learn in that way.