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Economist writes against economy of magic in Harry Potter

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  • #31
    Unless conjured creatures are like Leprechaun gold and disappear after a while.
    Best diet food ever.
    "The DPRK is still in a state of war with the U.S. It's called a black out." - Che explaining why orbital nightime pictures of NK show few lights. Seriously.

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    • #32
      Originally posted by Will9
      Colon, I think anything edible can be classified as food.
      Isn't all organic material edible?
      DISCLAIMER: the author of the above written texts does not warrant or assume any legal liability or responsibility for any offence and insult; disrespect, arrogance and related forms of demeaning behaviour; discrimination based on race, gender, age, income class, body mass, living area, political voting-record, football fan-ship and musical preference; insensitivity towards material, emotional or spiritual distress; and attempted emotional or financial black-mailing, skirt-chasing or death-threats perceived by the reader of the said written texts.

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      • #33
        Magic can be used to create food-see the eating hall at the school. Poof and there is food
        A ship at sea is its own world. To be the captain of a ship is to be the unquestioned ruler of that world and requires all of the leadership skills of a prince or minister.

        Men grow tired of sleep, love, singing and dancing, sooner than war

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        • #34
          I agree with the article 100%-there is nothing more frustrating than a easily solvable problem taking up pages when there is no explanation other than stupidity. I cant help but think as i read that if it was me(with harrys power) i could solve the every books plot issues singlehandedly. Fight, damnit
          A ship at sea is its own world. To be the captain of a ship is to be the unquestioned ruler of that world and requires all of the leadership skills of a prince or minister.

          Men grow tired of sleep, love, singing and dancing, sooner than war

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          • #35
            Originally posted by Slade Wilson
            Magic can be used to create food-see the eating hall at the school. Poof and there is food
            Not true. Remember GoF? The House Elves make all of the food and the magic is used to bring the platters up from the kitchens.
            “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
            - John 13:34-35 (NRSV)

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            • #36
              Nobody noticed how you could have major settlements in LotR without the least bit of agriculture going on, except in the lands of the hobbits? I suppose it's possible the hobbits exported their agricultural surplus but weren't they supposed to be isolated and little known?
              The book is better about this than the movies. The book mentions the rich lands surrounding Minas Tirith (which get burnt by Sauron's army), for instance. The movie (and the book, IIRC) mention farmland in Rohan as well. The movies' weakness in this regard is that they showed Edoras and Minis Tirith as stand-alone fortesses with no supporting fields/pastures. Given all they were trying to cram in, I imagine it was pretty tough to justify getting that in there.

              ...

              As for magic in LotR...

              Bear in mind that the wizards are humanish manifestations of supernatural beings (angels, basically). Sauron is a fallen angel. Morgoth, Sauron's imprisoned master, is a fallen Archangel, basically Lucifer.

              The elves have "craft" which Tolkien asserts is fundamentally different than "magic." Craft = a natural ability, honed by practice. Magic = doing more than you were really meant to do. Or at least that's my simplification of it. The elves' "craft" seems magical to humans, because they can do things naturally that humans simply can't.

              Both Morgoth and Sauron are greatly weakened by their use of "magic." Morgoth uses his power to create his various minions (Orcs, Trolls, Balrogs, Dragons, etc) and thereby slowly loses much of his original strength. He was once the most powerful of the Valar, but in the end, once his armies are defeated, he cowers before the others. Sauron loses much of his original power to the ring when he makes it - and therein lay the seeds of his ultimate downfall.

              -Arrian
              Last edited by Arrian; July 24, 2007, 15:48.
              grog want tank...Grog Want Tank... GROG WANT TANK!

              The trick isn't to break some eggs to make an omelette, it's convincing the eggs to break themselves in order to aspire to omelettehood.

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              • #37
                Originally posted by Arrian
                Given all they were trying to cram in, I imagine it was pretty tough to justify getting that in there.
                Well they better hope Tolkien forgives them.
                Click here if you're having trouble sleeping.
                "We confess our little faults to persuade people that we have no large ones." - François de La Rochefoucauld

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                • #38
                  Zombie Tolkien will avenge Bombadil!

                  -Arrian
                  grog want tank...Grog Want Tank... GROG WANT TANK!

                  The trick isn't to break some eggs to make an omelette, it's convincing the eggs to break themselves in order to aspire to omelettehood.

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                  • #39
                    But I digress, don't want to thread jack.
                    Too Late.




                    Originally posted by Patroklos
                    Your right, look at the wank (as the SF community calls it) in SW. Every rebel talks about the Empire with dread and fear, then wipes out a legion of storm troopers while shooting over their shoulder during morning tea.

                    "Only Imperial Stormtroopers are so precise." Whatever Obi Wan, I haven't seen a stormstooper hit **** after three movies.
                    They just walked their ass onto the Tantive IV with no problem, huh? And Hoth? And Endor(until the Wookie got an AT-ST)?


                    And the Force is basically the same thing as magic, and suffers the same problems as HP magic. And it is with the villains that things are really bad, because a lot of times authors justify heroes holding back out of some moral code. Villains don't have that.

                    Someone tell me again why Darth Vader didn't just ripe the eyes out of people's heads,
                    Same reason no one else does. It's messing. Besides, chking someone to death leaves an impression, and you can stop mid-way I you have second thoughts.

                    or rotate their brains inside their skulls, or just rip the location of the rebel base out of Leia's brain?
                    Oh, you mean the daughter of the most powerful Jedi ever? Hmm....It couldn't be latent force resistance, no sir...

                    I also liked how blaster bolts burn straight throgh stormtrooper armor for fatal blows, yet can't shoot through Lukes unarmored hand
                    You mean the one made out of METAL?

                    or Leia's unarmored shoulder.
                    Sure it did.
                    Today, you are the waves of the Pacific, pushing ever eastward. You are the sequoias rising from the Sierra Nevada, defiant and enduring.

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                    • #40
                      Originally posted by Imran Siddiqui


                      Not true. Remember GoF? The House Elves make all of the food and the magic is used to bring the platters up from the kitchens.
                      She made that up out of thin air to cover the error


                      ((i totally forgot about that ))
                      A ship at sea is its own world. To be the captain of a ship is to be the unquestioned ruler of that world and requires all of the leadership skills of a prince or minister.

                      Men grow tired of sleep, love, singing and dancing, sooner than war

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                      • #41
                        Originally posted by Colon™


                        Isn't all organic material edible?
                        No
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                        • #42
                          Is polystyrene edible? Can you drink kerosene?
                          "I say shoot'em all and let God sort it out in the end!

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                          • #43
                            You can, but it might be the last drink in your life
                            Tamsin (Lost Girl): "I am the Harbinger of Death. I arrive on winds of blessed air. Air that you no longer deserve."
                            Tamsin (Lost Girl): "He has fallen in battle and I must take him to the Einherjar in Valhalla"

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                            • #44
                              I don't have a problem with the blaster bolts burning through stormtrooper armor, as the stuff is clearly made out of cheap plastic. Albeit that does raise the question of why the Empire can't spring for at least kevlar or something for its elite forces...
                              1011 1100
                              Pyrebound--a free online serial fantasy novel

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                              • #45
                                Originally posted by Slade Wilson


                                She made that up out of thin air to cover the error


                                ((i totally forgot about that ))
                                Imran is a Potter scholar.
                                Let us be lazy in everything, except in loving and drinking, except in being lazy – Lessing

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