Calendar Error In Sorcerer's Stone

Post by Tim Bruening
Page 2 of Sorcerer's Stone: Mr. and Mrs. Dursley wake up on a dull, grey
Tuesday morning. That Tuesday turns out to be a weird day, with Mr.
Dursley seeing a cat reading a map and lots of people wearing colorful
cloaks; and British Muggles in general seeing lots of owls flying about
in the daytime, and also a downpour of shooting stars.
Page 12: The reason for the weird happenings: The night before, Lord
Voldemort (who had so terrorized British wizards for at least the
previous 11 years that few of them wanted to even say his NAME!) had
killed James and Lilly Potter, but disappeared when he tried to kill
baby Harry Potter. Lord Voldemort's disappearance had triggered wild
celebrations by British wizards.
Page 328 of Deathly Hallows: A headstone gives the death dates of James
and Lilly Potter as October 31, 1981. Hence the dull, grey Tuesday
morning at the start of Sorcerer's Stone is November 1, 1981. According
to the perpetual calendar in my World Almanac, November 1, 1981 was on a
Sunday, the same as for 2009. Why didn't J.K. Rowlings consult a
perpetual calendar before writing the Harry Potter books?

We have no knowledge of the calendar used in the Wizarding world. After
all - even today - there are several different ones used on earth.

Tim Bruening

2007-10-06 02:01:05 UTC

We have no knowledge of the calendar used in the Wizarding world. After
all - even today - there are several different ones used on earth.

The Dursleys are card carrying Muggles, so I assumed that the day after the
first fall of Voldemort was a Tuesday on the Muggle Gregorian calendar!

Also, Mr Dursley went to work at hus drill factory that day, which would rule
out that day being a Sunday.

(not quite so) Fat Sam

2007-10-05 11:34:33 UTC

Post by Tim Bruening
Page 2 of Sorcerer's Stone: Mr. and Mrs. Dursley wake up on a dull,
grey Tuesday morning. That Tuesday turns out to be a weird day, with
Mr. Dursley seeing a cat reading a map and lots of people wearing
colorful cloaks; and British Muggles in general seeing lots of owls
flying about in the daytime, and also a downpour of shooting stars.
Page 12: The reason for the weird happenings: The night before, Lord
Voldemort (who had so terrorized British wizards for at least the
previous 11 years that few of them wanted to even say his NAME!) had
killed James and Lilly Potter, but disappeared when he tried to kill
baby Harry Potter. Lord Voldemort's disappearance had triggered wild
celebrations by British wizards.
Page 328 of Deathly Hallows: A headstone gives the death dates of
James and Lilly Potter as October 31, 1981. Hence the dull, grey
Tuesday morning at the start of Sorcerer's Stone is November 1, 1981.
According to the perpetual calendar in my World Almanac, November 1,
1981 was on a Sunday, the same as for 2009. Why didn't J.K. Rowlings
consult a perpetual calendar before writing the Harry Potter books?

Man, you've got waaay too much time on your hands.

Toon

2007-10-06 10:00:14 UTC

Post by (not quite so) Fat Sam

On Fri, 5 Oct 2007 12:34:33 +0100, "\(not quite so\) Fat Sam"

Post by Tim Bruening
Page 2 of Sorcerer's Stone: Mr. and Mrs. Dursley wake up on a dull,
grey Tuesday morning. That Tuesday turns out to be a weird day, with
Mr. Dursley seeing a cat reading a map and lots of people wearing
colorful cloaks; and British Muggles in general seeing lots of owls
flying about in the daytime, and also a downpour of shooting stars.
Page 12: The reason for the weird happenings: The night before, Lord
Voldemort (who had so terrorized British wizards for at least the
previous 11 years that few of them wanted to even say his NAME!) had
killed James and Lilly Potter, but disappeared when he tried to kill
baby Harry Potter. Lord Voldemort's disappearance had triggered wild
celebrations by British wizards.
Page 328 of Deathly Hallows: A headstone gives the death dates of
James and Lilly Potter as October 31, 1981. Hence the dull, grey
Tuesday morning at the start of Sorcerer's Stone is November 1, 1981.
According to the perpetual calendar in my World Almanac, November 1,
1981 was on a Sunday, the same as for 2009. Why didn't J.K. Rowlings
consult a perpetual calendar before writing the Harry Potter books?

Man, you've got waaay too much time on your hands.

Harry Potter exists in a different universe, where people can effect
the world around them with the simplest whim. One cannot use our info
for them. They might have started their colanders on a different day
than ours. or Maybe, they decided Tuesday would be our Sunday.

W***@nospam.nul

2007-10-06 13:56:36 UTC

Post by (not quite so) Fat Sam

On Fri, 5 Oct 2007 12:34:33 +0100, "\(not quite so\) Fat Sam"

Post by Tim Bruening
Page 2 of Sorcerer's Stone: Mr. and Mrs. Dursley wake up on a dull,
grey Tuesday morning. That Tuesday turns out to be a weird day, with
Mr. Dursley seeing a cat reading a map and lots of people wearing
colorful cloaks; and British Muggles in general seeing lots of owls
flying about in the daytime, and also a downpour of shooting stars.
Page 12: The reason for the weird happenings: The night before, Lord
Voldemort (who had so terrorized British wizards for at least the
previous 11 years that few of them wanted to even say his NAME!) had
killed James and Lilly Potter, but disappeared when he tried to kill
baby Harry Potter. Lord Voldemort's disappearance had triggered wild
celebrations by British wizards.
Page 328 of Deathly Hallows: A headstone gives the death dates of
James and Lilly Potter as October 31, 1981. Hence the dull, grey
Tuesday morning at the start of Sorcerer's Stone is November 1, 1981.
According to the perpetual calendar in my World Almanac, November 1,
1981 was on a Sunday, the same as for 2009. Why didn't J.K. Rowlings
consult a perpetual calendar before writing the Harry Potter books?

Man, you've got waaay too much time on your hands.

How much time on your hands do you have to have to read a children's
book longer than the phone book?

Shadow

2007-10-05 12:00:20 UTC

Post by Tim Bruening
Why didn't J.K. Rowlings consult a
perpetual calendar before writing the Harry Potter books?

I think they should garnish her royalties!

--
___________
Invite friends. Hang out. Get PAID! Experience the next level in social
networking! http://www.freewebs.com/yuwiepays

Tonks

2007-10-05 22:24:56 UTC

Post by Tim Bruening
Why didn't J.K. Rowlings consult a
perpetual calendar before writing the Harry Potter books?

I think they should garnish her royalties!

I agree! How dare she make a mistake!!!
Haha but seriously yeah I'm actually kind of surprised about that.
She's usually so prescise about EVERYTHING. Oh well. I suppose she's
entitled to make a couple minor mistakes.... even though it bothers
the heck out of me..... :-)

Richard Eney

2007-10-05 22:54:20 UTC

Post by Tim Bruening
Why didn't J.K. Rowlings consult a
perpetual calendar before writing the Harry Potter books?

I think they should garnish her royalties!

The numerous and incompatible calendar errors have been a perpetual
topic here since the newsgroup began. The problem seems to be that
calendars have numbers on them, and JKR is allergic to numbers in
logical order.

At one point, long ago, there was a theory that she had used the
same calendar for two years in a row, but even then, it had to
have been a calendar for a different year than the one current
at the time of writing. I think it was after PoA, because I remember
some discussion of whether the earthly full moons were at the right
times.

It would be neat if someone (not me) trawled through the books
and posted all the calendar errors (again).

=Tamar

Thom Madura

2007-10-06 00:11:29 UTC

Post by Tim Bruening
Why didn't J.K. Rowlings consult a
perpetual calendar before writing the Harry Potter books?

I think they should garnish her royalties!

The numerous and incompatible calendar errors have been a perpetual
topic here since the newsgroup began. The problem seems to be that
calendars have numbers on them, and JKR is allergic to numbers in
logical order.
At one point, long ago, there was a theory that she had used the
same calendar for two years in a row, but even then, it had to
have been a calendar for a different year than the one current
at the time of writing. I think it was after PoA, because I remember
some discussion of whether the earthly full moons were at the right
times.
It would be neat if someone (not me) trawled through the books
and posted all the calendar errors (again).
=Tamar

Why? It really doesn't add to the stories, and the mistakes don't
subtract from the stories either.

In a series of seven books with as many sub-plots as these had,
continuity is one of the hardest things to maintain. JKR did a FIRST
CLASS job of it - very few errors. She did say - right from the off -
that she is not good with numbers.

What is clear is that the subject matter for the newsgroup has pretty
much fallen off to picky little details and continued speculation on
matters that no longer mean anything. Sorry to say - but it is probably
time to move on.

DaveD

2007-10-06 12:09:06 UTC

Post by Richard Eney
The numerous and incompatible calendar errors have been a perpetual
topic here since the newsgroup began. The problem seems to be that
calendars have numbers on them, and JKR is allergic to numbers in
logical order.
At one point, long ago, there was a theory that she had used the
same calendar for two years in a row, but even then, it had to have been
a calendar for a different year than the one current
at the time of writing. I think it was after PoA, because I remember
some discussion of whether the earthly full moons were at the right
times.
It would be neat if someone (not me) trawled through the books
and posted all the calendar errors (again).
=Tamar

Why? It really doesn't add to the stories, and the mistakes don't subtract
from the stories either.
In a series of seven books with as many sub-plots as these had, continuity
is one of the hardest things to maintain. JKR did a FIRST CLASS job of
it - very few errors. She did say - right from the off - that she is not
good with numbers.
What is clear is that the subject matter for the newsgroup has pretty much
fallen off to picky little details and continued speculation on matters
that no longer mean anything. Sorry to say - but it is probably time to
move on.

Personally I find JKR's numerical and calendar errors quirky and endearing -
shows that she's human like the rest of us, and is equally fallible, even
with lots of editors checking her work.

But I agree, the nature of the posts has rather changed of late - lots more
(irritating) cross-postings, and niggles nitpicking and a few nasty
arguments over how many angels can dance on the head of a pin.

Perhaps it is - shock horror - time to move on!!! At least, until the next
film comes out - then we can niggle and nitpick it to pieces for a while :)

DaveD

Louis Epstein

2007-12-29 04:47:45 UTC

Thom Madura <***@optonline.net> wrote:
: Richard Eney wrote:
:> In article <***@g4g2000hsf.googlegroups.com>,
:> Tonks <***@gmail.com> wrote:
:>>>> Why didn't J.K. Rowlings consult a
:>>>> perpetual calendar before writing the Harry Potter books?
:>>> I think they should garnish her royalties!
:>> I agree! How dare she make a mistake!!!
:>> Haha but seriously yeah I'm actually kind of surprised about that.
:>> She's usually so prescise about EVERYTHING. Oh well. I suppose she's
:>> entitled to make a couple minor mistakes.... even though it bothers
:>> the heck out of me..... :-)
:>>
:>
:> The numerous and incompatible calendar errors have been a perpetual
:> topic here since the newsgroup began. The problem seems to be that
:> calendars have numbers on them, and JKR is allergic to numbers in
:> logical order.
:>
:> At one point, long ago, there was a theory that she had used the
:> same calendar for two years in a row, but even then, it had to
:> have been a calendar for a different year than the one current
:> at the time of writing. I think it was after PoA, because I remember
:> some discussion of whether the earthly full moons were at the right
:> times.
:>
:> It would be neat if someone (not me) trawled through the books
:> and posted all the calendar errors (again).
:>
:> =Tamar
:
: Why? It really doesn't add to the stories, and the mistakes don't
: subtract from the stories either.
:
: In a series of seven books with as many sub-plots as these had,
: continuity is one of the hardest things to maintain. JKR did a FIRST
: CLASS job of it - very few errors. She did say - right from the off -
: that she is not good with numbers.
:
: What is clear is that the subject matter for the newsgroup has pretty
: much fallen off to picky little details and continued speculation on
: matters that no longer mean anything. Sorry to say - but it is probably
: time to move on.

I assume the Lexicon took care of the calendar discrepancies some time ago
(perhaps that's why she wants to stop a print edition?).

When people stop caring about little picky details and "move on",
that means the whole phenomenon of interest in the book is declining.

-=-=-
The World Trade Center towers MUST rise again,
at least as tall as before...or terror has triumphed.

Sirius Kase

2007-10-06 13:44:40 UTC

Post by Tim Bruening
Why didn't J.K. Rowlings consult a
perpetual calendar before writing the Harry Potter books?

I think they should garnish her royalties!

The numerous and incompatible calendar errors have been a perpetual
topic here since the newsgroup began. The problem seems to be that
calendars have numbers on them, and JKR is allergic to numbers in
logical order.
At one point, long ago, there was a theory that she had used the
same calendar for two years in a row, but even then, it had to
have been a calendar for a different year than the one current
at the time of writing. I think it was after PoA, because I remember
some discussion of whether the earthly full moons were at the right
times.
It would be neat if someone (not me) trawled through the books
and posted all the calendar errors (again).
=Tamar

the second, third, and fourth books mostly use the 1992-93 academic
calendar except for Valentines day. One nice feature is that
Halloween is always on Saturday, which is the thing that I first got
my attention in the books. My explanatory theory was that the wizards
had figured out how to simpllify their life by using the same
calendar every year by having two contiguous days in midsummer both
be Saturday.

Here's a calendar:

http://www.timeanddate.com/calendar/index.html?year=1992&country=9

Remember, an academic calendar starts in the fall, so you must
generate 1993 to see the second semester. I leave that to you as an
exersize .

Thom Madura

2007-10-06 17:43:12 UTC

Post by Tim Bruening
Why didn't J.K. Rowlings consult a
perpetual calendar before writing the Harry Potter books?

I think they should garnish her royalties!

The numerous and incompatible calendar errors have been a perpetual
topic here since the newsgroup began. The problem seems to be that
calendars have numbers on them, and JKR is allergic to numbers in
logical order.
At one point, long ago, there was a theory that she had used the
same calendar for two years in a row, but even then, it had to
have been a calendar for a different year than the one current
at the time of writing. I think it was after PoA, because I remember
some discussion of whether the earthly full moons were at the right
times.
It would be neat if someone (not me) trawled through the books
and posted all the calendar errors (again).
=Tamar

the second, third, and fourth books mostly use the 1992-93 academic
calendar except for Valentines day. One nice feature is that
Halloween is always on Saturday, which is the thing that I first got
my attention in the books. My explanatory theory was that the wizards
had figured out how to simpllify their life by using the same
calendar every year by having two contiguous days in midsummer both
be Saturday.
http://www.timeanddate.com/calendar/index.html?year=1992&country=9
Remember, an academic calendar starts in the fall, so you must
generate 1993 to see the second semester. I leave that to you as an
exersize .

What is wrong with just saying that Halloween falls on a particular
Saturday of the month (Like maybe the last) - like having Thanksgiving
fall on the third Thursday in November - regardless of the date.

After all - If you believe in it - the Christ was born in the Spring -
which hardly fits a day in December.

Sirius Kase

2007-10-06 18:12:11 UTC

Post by Tim Bruening
Why didn't J.K. Rowlings consult a
perpetual calendar before writing the Harry Potter books?

I think they should garnish her royalties!

The numerous and incompatible calendar errors have been a perpetual
topic here since the newsgroup began. The problem seems to be that
calendars have numbers on them, and JKR is allergic to numbers in
logical order.
At one point, long ago, there was a theory that she had used the
same calendar for two years in a row, but even then, it had to
have been a calendar for a different year than the one current
at the time of writing. I think it was after PoA, because I remember
some discussion of whether the earthly full moons were at the right
times.
It would be neat if someone (not me) trawled through the books
and posted all the calendar errors (again).
=Tamar

the second, third, and fourth books mostly use the 1992-93 academic
calendar except for Valentines day. One nice feature is that
Halloween is always on Saturday, which is the thing that I first got
my attention in the books. My explanatory theory was that the wizards
had figured out how to simpllify their life by using the same
calendar every year by having two contiguous days in midsummer both
be Saturday.
http://www.timeanddate.com/calendar/index.html?year=1992&country=9
Remember, an academic calendar starts in the fall, so you must
generate 1993 to see the second semester. I leave that to you as an
exersize .

Because no one with any clout has ever proposed that. If the wizrds
did something like that, Rowling would have mentioned it since it is
significantly different than the way Halloween is designated in our
world. Besides, the Potters tombstone proves that they died on Oct.
31, 1981, which was a Saturday. There is nothing in the books to
indicated that Hogwarts had its Halloween feast at any time other than
the usual date of Halloween. Departures from normal would be noted.

Post by Thom Madura
After all - If you believe in it - the Christ was born in the Spring -
which hardly fits a day in December.

Christ is a Harry Potter character? I missed that. But, anywho,
people who study such things say Jesus was born in late January in
Bethlehem, a part of Israel where it does't snow. Sheep can graze
year round in southern Israel. As mentioned in earlier threads,
church holidays were set for reasons other than historical accuracy.
Otherwise, we would celebrate Christ's birthday in January and his
death at the first full moon following the spring equinox. Then, we'd
celebrate his resurrection on the following Sunday. But, we don't for
reasons I don't fully understand.

Toon

2007-10-07 10:27:02 UTC

Post by Sirius Kase
Christ is a Harry Potter character? I missed that. But, anywho,
people who study such things say Jesus was born in late January in
Bethlehem, a part of Israel where it does't snow.

Probelm is, nobody knows what year he was born, so how can they know
the month?

And for that matter, why is it science can't find the star? Space is
pretty static. We can easily plot courses and positions for things
extending back 10500 years, even account for Earth's wobbles. Yet
there's nothing that matches up with a giant star in the sky.

Thom Madura

2007-10-07 11:27:26 UTC

Probelm is, nobody knows what year he was born, so how can they know
the month?

That's because he wasn't born.

Catholics believe in the Trinity - that Christ was one part of GOD. That
means that Christ IS GOD to them. A supreme creators basic trait is
immortality - no beginning and no end. God could not have been born in
Bethlehem or die on a cross. In fact, it is this basic premise that
questions the reality of an Almighty God. God cannot end his life.

As far as the Christ, there is no proof that he ever walked the earth -
noting the Bible is not proof. Conveniently, there is no body either.
Christianity recognized Parables - religious fiction that has a moral
message - being in the Bible. Just how much of the Bible is fiction
seems to grow as time goes by.

Post by Toon
And for that matter, why is it science can't find the star? Space is
pretty static. We can easily plot courses and positions for things
extending back 10500 years, even account for Earth's wobbles. Yet
there's nothing that matches up with a giant star in the sky.

Sirius Kase

2007-10-07 15:55:26 UTC

Probelm is, nobody knows what year he was born, so how can they know
the month?

Catholics believe that? They why do they set up creches at Christmas
time? Frankly, I don't believe you. Most Christians believe that the
Christ was a human avatar of God, that he was both God and Human, and
therefore experienced birth and death, and most importantly, love and
pain.

Anyway, Catholics are down to about 15% of the population and
continuing to go down. So, what they believe is irrelevant unless you
are part of that 15% or have close friends/loved ones who are. I know
a few and frankly, they don't seem to know what they believe. Most
don't go to church, those that do find it to be confusing unless they
approach it simply as a "spiritual experience" and check their brains
at the door, and my closest friends, after 30 years of us treating
religion as a delicate subject, suddenly quit attending their
Catholic Church and started attending the Methodist Church nearby.

Post by Thom Madura
As far as the Christ, there is no proof that he ever walked the earth -
noting the Bible is not proof. Conveniently, there is no body either.
Christianity recognized Parables - religious fiction that has a moral
message - being in the Bible. Just how much of the Bible is fiction
seems to grow as time goes by.

But, there is a lot of hearsay, and a record of someone named Jesus in
the court records (Romans were very good record keepers), who might
have been him. But, it was such a minor case, interesting only that
is a rare example of a man put to death for "contempt of court" for
failing to defend himself in court. Nowadays, the court would appoint
an attorney for someone like that.

Post by Toon
And for that matter, why is it science can't find the star?

Science? Scientists have found objects that could have been the
star. But, Scientists aren't in the business of determining whether
any particular star is the motivation for somebody's roadtrip. It
involves knowing stuff that isn't scientific.

Post by Toon
Space is
pretty static. We can easily plot courses and positions for things
extending back 10500 years, even account for Earth's wobbles. Yet
there's nothing that matches up with a giant star in the sky.

They didn't say "giant star". But, they did say that it moved, and
that they followed it until it stopped. Sounds like a flying saucer
to me.

There are a lot of celestial phenonmenon that could be meaningful to
these wise men that may have been referred to as a star. Most people
think it was a comet or a particularly rare astrological formation.
And I do mean astrological in that a couple of planets showing up in
the same place in the zodiac can have meanings to astrologers that are
not at all scientific. At that time, verifiable facts hadn't yet been
separated out from the rest. So, these guys interest in this object
wasn't motivated by pure science. Or maybe they saw a particularly
bright meteor and wanted to see where it landed. but, it burned up
right over the stable in Bethlehem. Can you find records of a meteor
shower? There are several big ones every year.

Toon

2007-10-08 09:51:39 UTC

Post by Sirius Kase
Catholics believe that? They why do they set up creches at Christmas
time? Frankly, I don't believe you. Most Christians believe that the
Christ was a human avatar of God, that he was both God and Human, and
therefore experienced birth and death, and most importantly, love and
pain.

Yet all that power, all those miracles, and the dude doesn't even fly.
Weak.

Post by Toon
And for that matter, why is it science can't find the star?

Science? Scientists have found objects that could have been the
star.

Could have been is not the same as is. If they found it, they'd know
the date of birth.

Post by Sirius Kase
They didn't say "giant star". But, they did say that it moved, and
that they followed it until it stopped. Sounds like a flying saucer
to me.

Great. Intergalactic pranksters.

Post by Sirius Kase
There are a lot of celestial phenonmenon that could be meaningful to
these wise men that may have been referred to as a star.

They were astronomers. They'd know a star or other celestial body if
they saw one.

Toon

2007-10-08 09:47:43 UTC

On Sun, 07 Oct 2007 07:27:26 -0400, Thom Madura

Probelm is, nobody knows what year he was born, so how can they know
the month?

That's because he wasn't born.

Wll, some say he was. Of course, I have heard three different
explanations for the Christ: god's son, god in human form (least
plausible. he's giving up running the universe for 33 years? screwing
over all who pray to him?) and god's word manifested in human form (I
don't even know how to interpret this.)

Then there's the detractors, or nonexistent, to the long haired weirdo
who goes running around saying he's god's son, and telling everybody
to all just get along, in which case, who cares if he's a nut who
thinks he's god jr?

I think the Far Side said it best: The first page of the Bible is
found: The following is meant to be a work of fiction.

The there's the whole holy trinity, of which I still can't figure out
the holy spirit. One version basically made it seem god and jesus are
just bodies, and the spirit is the creator who inhabits one of these
two bodies. In which case, it's pretty much double counting.

r***@yahoo.com

2007-10-12 22:06:57 UTC

But we don't know much about irregular comets do we? Hale-Bopp sure
came out of nowhere. Don't assume it was a star because to the
ancients, the only difference between stars and planets were that
planets moved around.

Tim Bruening

2016-05-31 18:17:24 UTC

Probelm is, nobody knows what year he was born, so how can they know
the month?
And for that matter, why is it science can't find the star? Space is
pretty static. We can easily plot courses and positions for things
extending back 10500 years, even account for Earth's wobbles. Yet
there's nothing that matches up with a giant star in the sky.

That might be because the star was a supernova, so no longer exists!

Toon

2007-10-07 10:23:34 UTC

On Sat, 06 Oct 2007 13:43:12 -0400, Thom Madura

Post by Thom Madura
After all - If you believe in it - the Christ was born in the Spring -
which hardly fits a day in December.

Not to mention Christmas was a combo of other religious ways. In
fact, Dec was chosen specifically to have the XMas celebrations fall
out during Witner Solistice Celebrations to keep the Christain
persecution down (how ironic Christians would go on to persecute
others, like Native Americans, or gays, or Harry Potter Books).

I mean, who tenders sheep out in the snow? You'll lose them for sure.

Sirius Kase

2007-10-07 16:18:06 UTC

Post by Toon
On Sat, 06 Oct 2007 13:43:12 -0400, Thom Madura

Post by Thom Madura
After all - If you believe in it - the Christ was born in the Spring -
which hardly fits a day in December.

Is religion the cause or the excuse? In either case, you act to
protect yourself. The other guys' motive doesn't matter when you are
a target.

Post by Toon
I mean, who tenders sheep out in the snow? You'll lose them for sure.

No, the smell is hard to miss.

r***@yahoo.com

2007-10-12 22:02:40 UTC

Post by Toon
I mean, who tenders sheep out in the snow? You'll lose them for sure.

How much snow does Southern Israel get? Sirius already said that sheep
can graze year round.

Anyway, I'm not sure the continuity matters if there was a two day
delay in celebrating. The text said Voldemort "disappeared", not
killed, so forgive the wizards for not breaking out in celebratiion
too prematurely.

But the calendar thing is another matter, because it's simple. Move a
date over one day a year, two on a leap year, which means adding an
extra midsummer day or two just makes things worse.

W***@nospam.nul

2007-10-06 13:57:18 UTC

Post by Tim Bruening
Why didn't J.K. Rowlings consult a
perpetual calendar before writing the Harry Potter books?

I think they should garnish her royalties!

In that case, I volunteer to be her accountant. :-)

Post by Richard Eney
At one point, long ago, there was a theory that she had used the
same calendar for two years in a row, but even then, it had to
have been a calendar for a different year than the one current
at the time of writing. I think it was after PoA, because I remember
some discussion of whether the earthly full moons were at the right
times.
It would be neat if someone (not me) trawled through the books
and posted all the calendar errors (again).
=Tamar

Toon

2007-10-06 10:01:42 UTC

Post by Tim Bruening
Why didn't J.K. Rowlings consult a
perpetual calendar before writing the Harry Potter books?

I think they should garnish her royalties!

Next thing you know, someone will prove her math's off.

Toon

2007-10-06 10:01:04 UTC

On Fri, 5 Oct 2007 08:00:20 -0400, "Shadow"

Post by Tim Bruening
Why didn't J.K. Rowlings consult a
perpetual calendar before writing the Harry Potter books?

I think they should garnish her royalties!

Or her salad.

RobMac

2007-10-10 15:12:30 UTC

IIRC, as this "nit" has been around for years, even Jo has acknowledged this
faux pas and chalked it up to it being a fantasy book....

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Eric Bohlman

2007-10-10 20:25:28 UTC

Post by Tim Bruening
Page 328 of Deathly Hallows: A headstone gives the death dates of James
and Lilly Potter as October 31, 1981. Hence the dull, grey Tuesday
morning at the start of Sorcerer's Stone is November 1, 1981. According
to the perpetual calendar in my World Almanac, November 1, 1981 was on a
Sunday, the same as for 2009. Why didn't J.K. Rowlings consult a
perpetual calendar before writing the Harry Potter books?

My hunch is that JKR didn't start out with an exact timeline in mind; the
books were set vaguely in the present (as of PS/SS) or recent past. By the
time she needed to use a specific timeline (the Black family tree and the
dates on the headstone, or maybe the GOF movie with the graveyard scene)
she just adopted the dating system that fandom had created; if she had used
a different system that would have put the Potter deaths on a weekday,
she'd just have come up with another dating conflict.

Tim Bruening

2007-10-10 20:46:38 UTC

Post by Eric Bohlman

How did fandom decide on the dating system?

Sirius Kase

2007-10-11 01:17:10 UTC

Post by Eric Bohlman

How did fandom decide on the dating system?

They start with Nick's cake, which indicates it must be 1992...

Fandom has also decided that there is a missing 24 hour period,
therefore the Tuesday in book one would be Nov 2. Of course, since in
1981, Halloween was on Saturday, it makes it more like a missing 48
hours.

Tim Bruening

2007-10-11 02:23:37 UTC

Post by Eric Bohlman

How did fandom decide on the dating system?

They start with Nick's cake, which indicates it must be 1992...
Fandom has also decided that there is a missing 24 hour period,
therefore the Tuesday in book one would be Nov 2. Of course, since in
1981, Halloween was on Saturday, it makes it more like a missing 48
hours.

Something like a time bubble produced by the ricocheting AK curse?

Richard Eney

2007-10-12 05:19:08 UTC

<snip >

Post by Tim Bruening
How did fandom decide on the dating system?

They start with Nick's cake, which indicates it must be 1992...
Fandom has also decided that there is a missing 24 hour period,
therefore the Tuesday in book one would be Nov 2. Of course, since
in 1981, Halloween was on Saturday, it makes it more like a missing
48 hours.

Something like a time bubble produced by the ricocheting AK curse?

Something produced by JKR writing that people celebrated all day long
after V died, being seen by muggles, and that McGongall waited on the
street all day and long into the night, with DD and then Hagrid not
arriving until close to midnight. JKR has not explained where Harry
was during that 20-24 hours. "Fandom" didn't "decide" it, JKR wrote
it that way.

Hagrid arrived to pick up Harry just before the muggles arrived to
investigate the noisy destruction of the house, which makes it a bit
tricky to have Harry magic-bubbled 22 hours into the future.

speculation:
Maybe DD time-shifted both Hagrid and Harry (without telling Hagrid)
so that he could spend all day researching and performing magical
proection spells and then go to the Dursley house with all the
magic in place, ready to be set off by placing the prepared letter
in Harry's hand.

=Tamar

Tim Bruening

2007-10-12 06:49:34 UTC

Post by Richard Eney
<snip >