Jim’s Brain Online

Posted by Jim at June 20th, 2007

As the next Harry Potter book comes out relatively soon (about a month from now), I thought I would get my predictions of what will happen out in public.

The ones I’m fairly confident of:
1. Dumbledore really is dead. Admittedly this isn’t a prediction, but since some people argue that he’s secretly alive, I thought it worth mentioning.
2. Harry (or more precisely his scar) is a horcrux. For more on this, read my original post on the subject.
3. Harry will ultimately survive the seventh book. I’ve no reason to believe this, but it seems more probable to me at the moment. Still, I wouldn’t be surprised if his death seems like an inevitability through a large chunk of the novel.
4. Ron and Hermione will also survive, but, this doesn’t mean that they can’t be seriously hurt.
5. The fact that Voldemort used some of Harry’s blood to embody himself will somehow help Harry.
6. Peter Pettigrew will ultimately somehow help Harry against Voldemort whether deliberately or no.

Predictions I’m not at all confident of:
1. That RAB stands for Regulus Black, Sirius’ younger brother. I’ve no clue whether he’s alive or dead though.
2. That Percy will ultimately be restored to the Weasley family–but I wouldn’t be surprised if he dies in the process.
3. That at least a couple Weasleys will die in the book as well as other Order of the Phoenix members (I don’t dare even guess how many) .
4. Arthur Weasley becomes Minister of Magic by the end.
5. Dumbledore was right about Snape and Snape will ultimately be fighting on Harry’s side. Why? Well, here’s a total guess… Remember the bit at the end of the sixth book where they mention that Snape told Dumbledore that the Potters’ deaths caused him to stop serving Voldemort? I’m going to guess that while Snape hated James Potter, he loved Lily. Thus he would have motivation to change sides after her death. Of course this is largely conjecture on my part…

Anyone else have predictions?

Posted by Jim at June 19th, 2007

I just saw space shuttle Atlantis and the International Space station in the sky above my house. It’s strange to think that I just saw human made objects orbiting the planet…

If you want to read more about it, try TV8 and Bill Steffan’s blog.

Posted by Jim at June 13th, 2007

One of my daughters (Becca) recently had a birthday. One of her aunts (who will be left nameless) bought her a toy electric guitar.

You can’t actually play anything on it. It doesn’t have strings, but it does have five buttons high on the fret board that play prerecorded guitar riffs in different styles ranging from rock to blues to country.

She loves it and plays it a lot. Kristen and I are of course just a little sick of it.

Here’s a bit of actual play post birthday party:

To set the scene it must be noted that Becca and Abby have put down the guitar (Yay!) and are playing with the baby carriage that Becca also got. They are pushing dolls around in it and pretending that they are hurt.

Becca: Let’s take the babies to the hospital.
Abby: OK.

Becca: Baby, you are going to the hospital.

They push the stroller around the living room for a bit.

Abby: And let’s pretend that they pass a concert!

Things go downhill rather quickly from there.

Another scene:

Kids have gone to bed. Kristen (my wife) is cleaning up the living room and has picked up the guitar. She presses one of the frets and we can both hear the ensuing guitar solo.

Then she mimes beating the guitar against the floor.

Me: What are you doing?
Kristen: I’m imitating the Who.

Posted by Jim at June 2nd, 2007

It turns out that the huge boar killed by an 11 year old boy recently had only been released into the wild six days prior to being shot.

I had wondered about that. The bit about the kid’s father and others being ready to shoot the pig with rifles if it threatened him made it sound like one of those farms where you pay to shoot something.