Category: production notes

This is a shorter episode than I’m used to. Normally I would have added the first part of 87 to this episode, since 87 on its own it too long for one episode, but short enough that two episodes would both be a bit short. However now that I’m almost caught up to the written work (just two episodes to go!) I’m ok easing off the pace just a little bit. For those who’ve been asking – yes, I do have something in mind for what to do while the next chapters are being written. I’ll be announcing it next week.

Those reading along will notice that I actually changed a line slightly. I dropped the description of Voldemort’s voice as “high, like a teakettle”. As much as I love this description, and as much as I hate to stray from the source material, the difference between the voice-as-described and the voice-as-recorded was too great. It was potentially jarring enough to interrupt the flow of the story, and it was too late to change the recording of the voice. So I made a small adaptation. I hope everyone will be ok with calling it an artifact of translating the media from text to audio-with-cast. Many apologies to Eliezer!

There are many places to discuss HPMoR and argue the merits of various fan theories (I know of at least three). I cannot keep up with them all, so I’m simply posting my own speculation here. It’s entirely possible that this has already been brought up by someone else in one of those forums.

Based on the way Moody describes AK in this chapter, I think it’s likely that Harry was two words and a wand-twitch away from killing Dumbledore back in 81 with:

“I cannot let you go into debt to Lucius Malfoy, Harry! I cannot! You do not know – you do not realize -”

DIE.

Harry didn’t even know which part of himself had spoken, it might have been a unanimous vote, the pure rage and fury pouring through him. For an instant he thought that the sheer force of the anger might take magical wing and fly out to strike the Headmaster, send him tumbling back dead from the podium-

I wonder how long it will take Harry to realize this.

I mentioned a while ago that it hadn’t occurred to me to strip out all the “he said”s from the audio version once I got a larger cast until someone else mentioned it. I had generally left in the first occurrence of each in an episode, so a listener is reminded who sounds like what. I’ve eased off on that lately. I figure after this many episodes, the voices are probably pretty well known. I realize that first-time listeners who start with the latest episode will still need the prompt, but that’s probably not very common anyway. In these long chapters spread over multiple episodes, it’s sometimes a bit clunky to reintroduce a character in the middle of a dialog.

Very few time-travel stories allow for both a self-consistent single universe and unlimited time-travel. That would almost invariably be an instant victory condition for the time-traveler, and likely boring to read about. That’s why we need restrictions like only six uses per day. Interestingly, there was a movie nearly a quarter century ago that belied it’s understanding of this with its silly premise.

It’s possible some younger readers/listeners haven’t seen this movie, so I’m going to fully endorse Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure. It is in my top-five movies to watch when you just want to watch a plain ol’ fun movie. It doesn’t take its subject matter seriously, but it is a damn fun time! And it has the advantage of carrying a very humanistic message.

It is notable in that, like the Harry Potter universe, causality points both ways (present effects having future causes). This makes for a great break-out-of-jail scene once the protagonists realize they are very nearly gods. They never use this power for anything important (it is a goofy comedy, after all) but it’s a fun introduction to the self-consistency principle.

I believe I went through my entire range of non-cartoony female voices today. I’ve already gone through every single thinking-to-himself voice for Harry, and I had to bring in Brian Jones (Severus) to help me out with Ravenclaw Two. I can only say thank you again to those who volunteer their voices to help. :)

Brian has an amazing radio voice, which I hadn’t heard before due to the inflection he uses when he plays Snape. The richness of it really blew me away. I mean, he has a strong voice IRL, but people sound different when they’re talking casually compared to when they’re intoning. I’ve been told myself a number of times that people are surprised when they hear me on the podcast, and ask if I do post-production on my voice. I don’t, you just fall into a different cadence when you’re performing. As my friend Jon says – it’s natural, it’s just the “Dramatic Chipmunk” version which doesn’t get used in ordinary life. It’s the main reason I actually record a fresh intro every week (as opposed to pasting in a stock intro, like I do with the majority of the outro). Saying those twenty-six words injects me smoothly into narration mode, it’s almost like flipping a switch. Brian just slips into his with a few seconds of preparation. I’m glad to have him on board!

Rather than production notes, today I’m just providing links to help explain Bayes’ Theorem. Bayes’ Theorem is a way of thinking about beliefs and evidence that allows one to have a more accurate map of reality in their heads. It is what Harry means when he says “Proof, Headmaster? There are only ever probabilities.” It helps us to best know how we know what we know.

The guide I find to be most understandable is Komponisto’s “Bayes’ Theorem Illustrated“. It is simply enough that you can grasp it without even engaging the equations. And as a bonus, it shows you how to grasp the correct answer to the Monty Hall problem.

Another guide is Eliezer’s own “An Intuitive Explanation of Bayes’ Theorem“. I think people are pretty much split on which of the two is better, so if one doesn’t work for you, try the other. They’re both good.

If you’re wondering “What Is Bayesianism, anyway?“, this link will give you the core tenants. It’s much shorter than either of the previous two, and may be the shortest summary possible. And as it notes of LessWrong (and by extension, this podcast) – “that’s basically what this site is for: to help us become good Bayesians.”

Last week was a busy week, and now you know why. :)

I gotta say, it is crazy difficult being duplicitous with your loved one. In general I am complete shit at lying, I’ve always been against it so I never really got any practice. I do my best to implement the “act exactly as you’d act if you weren’t hiding this big thing” advice, but it really wears you down! I’m glad as hell this is finally over. Well technically it won’t be over until Saturday (so if you know Melissa IRL, don’t mention this to her yet), but I’m already feeling some relief just getting this out and thinking about it. Just a few more days…