539th Friday Blog Roundup
Tonight kicks off Pesach. I have tearfully said goodbye to bread and pasta for the next 8 days, and sighed a not-very-welcoming hello to the matzah. This is not one of my favourite holidays. It is very hard to be a picky vegetarian at Pesach and get enough protein.
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Skip this section if you skipped the recent post that had the Harry Potter spoiler because there is further discussion of the spoiler. Leaving a few spaces to give you time to jump ahead.
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Okay, I call foul on the idea that it was a self-generating potion. That would be completely out of character for Voldemort. The man/snake has hubris. He believes he is invincible and smarter than any other wizard. Therefore (1) he wouldn’t believe that anyone would ever know of the Horcruxes, (2) if they did know about the Horcruxes, they would never seek one out to destroy him, (3) if they were seeking Horcruxes that they would know about the cave, and (4) that if they did reach the cave that they would get to the island.
His security measures are not really security measures. They are more Voldemort playing with his prey like a cat plays with a mouse. All the obstacles are there for his personal enjoyment of his own cleverness because he never believed anyone would actually reach that cave, much less the island. Therefore, there would be no need to create a regenerating potion because the only time Voldemort would be returning to that island would be to retrieve and use the Horcrux. Why would he want to use a regenerating potion — surely more difficult to create and maintain — if he believed there would never be a reason to refill the bowl?
Plus, he underestimates other witches and wizards through the whole series — from Lily Potter to Harry, himself. Why would he account for other people’s dedication or intelligence now?
I know, we’ve thought about this way too much. It’s like we’ve turned into little Potter scholars.
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Stop procrastinating. Go make your backups. Don’t have regrets.
Seriously. Stop what you’re doing for a moment. It will take you fifteen minutes, tops. But you will have peace of mind for days and days. It’s the gift to yourself that keeps on giving.
As always, add any new thoughts to the Friday Backup post and peruse new comments in order to find out about methods, plug-ins, and devices that help you quickly back up your data and accounts.
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And now the blogs…
But first, second helpings of the posts that appeared in the open comment thread last week. In order to read the description before clicking over, please return to the open thread:
- “Exploding Lawnmowers and Dog Poop” (Wild and Precious Life)
- “The Lessons She Teaches Me: On Time #WDSD15” (Invincible Spring)
- “Cobra Pose” (No Baby Ruth)
Okay, now my choices this week.
River Run Dry gutted me with her post about giving away the last of the baby things. Karen already dealt with my hysterical sobby emails, so I will spare you the recap. But this line gutted me: “As I stood there, looking at it, grief washed over me. He is my last baby.” I am with her on the 99% of the time (um… maybe more like 97% of the time), especially when we are biking or plotting out our visits to Harry Potter conventions or reading young adult books. But that 3% of the time? It’s there, too.
Bound By Symmetry is back with a post about holding a room for a nursery when there isn’t a child on the way. Especially when they have guests staying with them soon. Should she really ask them to stay in the basement just so she can hold the unused room for someone who isn’t here yet? You can see my take on her situation in the comment section, though add your own while you’re there.
Lastly, it was a week for crying-while-reading. Something Out of Nothing is writing a series of posts for her daughter with the A to Z Challenge. The first one, for the letter A, recounts her feelings on losing her mother in the month of April. She writes so movingly about connecting with her mother through her daughter: “She gave me a connection to my mom I hadn’t experienced before. With every act of mothering, there was a recognition, a repetition. She bathed me and changed my diapers. She worried and watched while I slept. She responded to my cries with love and compassion. She watched in wonder as I grew and changed daily.” It is such a gorgeous post. You need to go over and read the whole thing.
The roundup to the Roundup: Pesach starts tonight. More on the Harry Potter spoiler. Your weekly backup nudge. And lots of great posts to read. So what did you find this week? Please use a permalink to the blog post (written between March 27th and April 3rd) and not the blog’s main url. Not understanding why I’m asking you what you found this week? Read the original open thread post here.
9 comments
Uh, happy Pesach?
hmmmm. sounds to me like Wolvog needs to write another letter. Imagine the scrapbook with replies from Jobs AND Rowling! It may come down to “I needed it to be that way, so it was”, which I dislike, but can understand when you’ve gotten so far into such an intricate series and have a “D’OH” moment. Or, she had a method worked out, but editing happened. Or, it didn’t occur to her and asking her about it will give her a reason to come up with one retroactively giving us another new tidbit on Pottermore!
Perhaps Regulus instructed Kreacher to make sure everything was restored so Voldemort would be unable to tell the locket had been replaced on the off chance he did a drive-by check? If I were going to sacrifice myself to weaken the most evil wizard ever, knowing that it wouldn’t outright defeat him, I like to think I would also have the foresight to know that I shouldn’t alert him to the fact that he was a tiny bit less invincible than before so that he wasn’t more vigilant.
Thanks, Mel! And Pesach Sameach (though I hope the week goes quickly for you so you can get back to enjoying bread and pasta)!
I think your assessment of Voldemort is right on. Which leaves… major plot hole! Bummer.
Next year in Jerusalem!
I agree with the idea of writing to Rowling. (Which would be a great name for a band.) I strongly agree with this. It’s not a bad thing to get in the habit of writing honest-to-goodness snailmail to writers. One of my most prized possessions is a letter from M.M. Kaye, who wrote to me when I wrote to her about loving all of her books. (Someday I’ll post it in my blog.) It took a long time to hear from her, and I’ve also written to writers and not gotten a response, but it was very cool when she wrote.
This post mentions that quinoa is allowable. Not sure if that helps, but at least it’s got some protein. Here: http://www.reformjudaism.org/food-restrictions-passover-explained-chametz-and-kitniyot
Oh, I second the idea that Regulus is behind it, the note in the locket makes it clear that he expected Voldemort to come back and check one day, and he must have waterproofed the parchment, or it would have dissintegrated long before the locket was opened. Isn’t there a spell for refilling something? I seem to remember them refilling goblets of whatever they were drinking in one of the books. Regulus could have refilled it just to mess with Voldy.
I really liked this one this week. Gave me a bit of hope, when everything else sucks right now.
http://www.unnaturallyknockedup.com/2015/04/one-day-in-retrospect.html