Luna Lovegood and the Chamber of Secrets - Part 10

[-]MondSemmel5y171

The GPT-3 vibes are getting stronger. I don't entirely see the story significance of the second and third part of this chapter.

I guess... Luna needed a place covered by the Fidelius Charm to protect herself from Rowena's Basilisk (like in the Antimemetics Division) while using her mother's astrolabe, and for some reason the one such place anyone in the story knew about was in China?

On a separate note:

"I solemnly swear I am up to no good."

This was an amusing part of canon Harry Potter, but in the Less Wrong / HPMoR meme space, I find this oath very unsettling. It's like the antithesis of Harry's Unbreakable Vow not to destroy the world. And using the Marauder's Map this time indeed results in a terrible misunderstanding.

Side notes:

a) According to Eliezer, the Fidelius Charm was immediately used in 683 CE to hide the charm itself and therefore doesn't show up in HPMoR-verse. So this chapter doesn't seem consistent with HPMoR-canon - Luna certainly couldn't mention the Charm unprompted. Which is fine, though does have to be pointed out, since the HPMoR story couldn't have happened the way it did if the ridiculously overpowered Fidelius Charm existed and was still available in modern times.

b) Regarding the astrolabe: It may not necessarily violate the time travel restrictions in HPMoR, but doesn't it violate or circumvent the Interdict of Merlin, as it would allow its user to spy on powerful wizards of the past? I suppose the Interdict could still kick in and blur the representation in the astrolabe.

[-]kithpendragon5y30

b) As I recall, the Interdict demands that powerful magics be transmitted directly from one living mind to another. That would not be the possible when one is spying on the past.

[-]Elias4y21

Spoilers for HPMoR (though I guess that's a given at this point):

c) how does she miss the fact that the map shows two Tom Riddle's walking down the passage way to the graveyard? That should not be easy to miss. It says "it was tangled and confused", but it would still show the name twice, and if she can read the one, it stands to reason she could read the other. Especially since we have precedent from HPMoR of both being in the same room without the map being confused.

[+][comment deleted]5y20

[-]Ben Pace5y70

Okay, just fyi, I dropped the other thing I was doing when I saw this episode had come out, and immediately read it.

[-]Ruby5y20

Link for the LW 2020/2021 NYE's Party

[-]Measure5y10

contract -> contrast

[-]lsusr5y20

Fixed. Thanks.

[-]MondSemmel5y10

Typos:

She passed a self-woking food stall -> self-working?
Hollar if you need anything. -> Holler
Luna tuned her astrolabe back into to causal time. -> turned (maybe); back to causal time?
"34.277 degrees north," said Lady Yue, "108.945 degrees west." -> the latter should be "degrees east": Google Maps
The photos of Xi'an comes from China Daily. -> come from

[-]Measure5y30

I think "woking" refers to this.

[-]NoriMori19928mo10

In that case "wokking" would be less confusing.

[-]lsusr8mo20

That's a good point. I've changed it to "wokking".

[-]mingyuan5y20

had slayed -> had slain

[-]lsusr5y20

Fixed. Thanks.

[-]Measure5y10

Same thing still in two places in part 9.

[-]lsusr5y20

I'm leaving those as-is.

[-]lsusr5y20

Fixed. Thanks.

[-]MondSemmel5y30

Actually, if "degrees east" was correct, I think maybe the next line should also change:

"An astrolabe displays the universe's location relative to itself. Luna set the latitude dials to -34.277 degrees and the longitude dials to 108.945 degrees." -> -108.945 degrees (Assuming the first sentence implies that one has to negate both coordinates, as happened with the north coordinate.)

[-]Dojan5y*40

I don't see how "An astrolabe displays the universe's location relative to itself" implies that the values should be negated. If you negate coordinates you are only defining a different point, but I might be confused here. I am used to using lat and long to define my position relative to the planet, not the planet's position relative to me. Though really, I fail to see the difference. Either way, North and East are positive, South and West are negative.

Also: The modern standard way to denote lat and long (at least among seafarers) is in degrees and decimal minutes, making the above position look like so: 34° 16.62' N, 108° 56.7' E. This is the format I use daily as a skipper. The traditional way is with degrees, minutes and seconds, like so: 34° 16' 37.2" N, 108° 57' 42" E. Decimal seconds were rarely used, as seconds already gives us accuracy down to ~30 meters, which is better than any practical method of navigation at the time. Seconds without decimals is what I would have predicted an old artifact like that to use, given it's implied age.

The use of decimal degrees and negitive numbers is a modern thing, to cater to digital devices and google maps and the like. This is a minor nit-pick, but I would find 34° 16' 37" N, 108° 57' 42" E more harmonious with the rest of the story.

Thank you for writing this :)

[-]lsusr5y30

I had originally intended for the numbers to be negated. After reading the discussion and thinking about it, I changed them to not be negated. Negating one of them but not the other, as I did by mistake, is completely wrong. This story is not intended to explore chirality.

Your traditional nautical coordinates are much better. I have changed it to degrees, minutes and seconds.

[-]Dojan5y30

I feel honoured :) But it appears that I made a mistake: I believe it was supposed to be 34° North, not 32° as I wrote. Just a typo. I'm not really sure what position is actually intended though. Note that Google Maps seems to be confused in the area, and the streetgrid is offset from the satellite image. This seems very appropriate :)

Further nitpick: you dropped one " in the new text above.

Also, the position 34° 16' 37" N, 108° 57' 42" E is usually read outloud as: 34 degrees, 16 minutes and 37 seconds North, 108 degrees, 57 minutes and 42 seconds East, including the "and". Oxford comma entirely optional.