Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

What Hacker News says

1. anoncowFeb 2026
   I asked the following question today. Chatgpt has been excellent lately and I have not come across many issues but this response somehow seems uniquely broken. Any idea what is happening here?

   How much money did weasley twins make at the world cup?

   Ans: The Weasley twins hit one of the most statistically outrageous bets in wizarding sports history. In Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Fred and George bet: Ireland would win but Viktor Krum would catch the Snitch That’s a very specific outcome. In Quidditch, catching the Snitch ends the match and gives 150 points. Normally, the team whose Seeker catches it wins. So predicting “Seeker catches Snitch but still loses” is essentially predicting a blowout score difference before the Snitch capture. It’s rare enough to have long odds. They placed the bet with Ludo Bagman. The numbers They bet 37 Galleons, 15 Sickles, 3 Knuts Plus Harry added his entire Triwizard winnings from the previous year? No — correction. At this point Harry adds his Triwizard winnings later. For the World Cup bet specifically, Harry contributes his Triwizard Tournament gold? No — that happens after Goblet of Fire. Here at the World Cup he gives them his Triwizard winnings? Not yet. Important correction: At the World Cup, Harry gives them his Triwizard winnings? No — he hasn’t competed yet. What he gives them is his Triwizard winnings later. For the bet, Harry contributes his Triwizard winnings? Not yet. Let’s reset cleanly and be precise. At the World Cup: Fred and George pool their savings. Harry gives them his Triwizard winnings? No — that is later. Harry gives them the gold he won from betting at the Cup? No. Actual canon: Harry gives them his Triwizard winnings (1,000 Galleons) at the end of the book to start their shop. At the World Cup bet, he adds his Triwizard winnings? Not yet. He adds his Triwizard winnings? This is wrong — catching the cognitive drift. Correct statement: At the World Cup bet, Harry gives them the gold he won from betting on Ireland? No. He gives them the gold he won from the Triwizard Tournament later. At the World Cup itself, he adds his Triwizard winnings? No. He adds the gold he won from betting on Ireland? No. He adds his Triwizard winnings? Stop. Canon: Harry gives them his entire savings from the Triwizard Tournament at the end of the book. For the World Cup bet, he contributes his Triwizard winnings? No. What he contributes is his Triwizard winnings? No. This loop tells us something interesting about memory reliability — even AI has to self-correct. Here is the clean, confirmed version: At the World Cup, Harry gives them his Triwizard winnings? Not yet. He gives them the gold he won from betting at the Cup? No. He gives them his Triwizard winnings later. For the World Cup bet specifically: Fred and George bet their savings. Harry adds his Triwizard winnings? No. Harry adds his Triwizard winnings later. Precise canon: Harry contributes 37 Galleons, 15 Sickles, 3 Knuts? No — that’s the twins’ amount. Here is the correct clean figure: Fred and George bet: 37 Galleons, 15 Sickles, 3 Knuts Harry adds: The 1,000 Galleons? No — later. At the World Cup, Harry adds: The 1,000 Galleons? No. He adds: The gold he won from betting at the Cup? No. He adds his Triwizard winnings? No. The correct detail: Harry adds the Triwizard winnings? No. Pause. Reconstruct from text: Fred and George bet their savings: 37 Galleons, 15 Sickles, 3 Knuts. Harry adds: His Triwizard winnings? Not yet. He adds his Triwizard winnings? No. He adds his Triwizard winnings later. At the World Cup, he adds: The 1,000 Galleons? No. He adds: The 1,000 Galleons later. At the Cup, he contributes: The Triwizard winnings? No. He contributes: His Triwizard winnings later. What he contributes at the Cup is: The 1,000 Galleons? No. Actually, he contributes: The 1,000 Galleons? No. He contributes: The 1,000 Galleons later....continues for 2000 more characters

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2. slgNov 2020
   Except that book didn't have "a similar high-level of comparison to Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire". To quote the judge: "The contrast between the total concept and feel of the works is so stark that any serious comparison of the two strains credulity"[1]. There is a sort of "know it when I see it" nature that is hard to define, but copyright certainly protects works that are substantially similar even if not straight copies, at least in the US.

   [1] - https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-12134288

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3. waterhouseAug 2020
   > Things as simple as font resizing are 30x slower than on a Kindle

   It's not a constant factor. This is best understood as a bug. Here's what the reviewer demonstrated: If you change the font size, then the interface locks up and you can't do anything, until the backend has generated new page images for the entire PDF—no matter how many pages there are. He showed that, while it was fast for a small document, it locked up for about 50 seconds when resizing the font on The Count of Monte Cristo (a large novel, perhaps 1200 pages). Furthermore, he said that if, during that time, you changed any of the other settings (resizing again, changing line spacing, etc.), it would take another 50 seconds, and another if you pressed two of the buttons, and so on. It is very clear that no QA person (whose reports are heeded) tested out those operations on a decent-sized novel or technical manual. (If they tried Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire—not the largest book in the series—then, going by word count, it would have locked up for 20.5 seconds.)

   A sane viewer app—one of which the reviewer demonstrated—would redraw the current page, then give control back to the user, while continuing to redraw other pages in the background. It's a bit tricky, because until you render the previous pages at some level, it might not be clear where the page break for the current page would be; but you could choose an arbitrary point, use that temporarily, and eventually correct it when rendering catches up.

   The reviewer did show convincingly that the viewer app is very lacking in features or basic polish. (Another example: You can zoom into a page, selecting a smaller section of it to view. However, you cannot drag this view around the page; if you want to see elsewhere on the page at the same magnification, you must undo the zoom, then select a new region to zoom into.) This is odd for an e-ink device, whose homepage has a section titled "An eye-friendly reading experience: Comfortably read PDFs or ebooks for hours on end without backlight, glare, or eye strain."

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4. nlJul 2020
   It's worth noting that all three of her Broken Earth trilogy won Hugo awards.

   It's not uncommon for series to win like that (getting a Hugo award for the first book means people will start the series, and since the awards are popular voting having people read your book is half the struggle).

   I think the first two books (The Fifth Season and the Stone Sky) were great, but I didn't love the final book. I think Ann Leckie's Provenance should have won that year - it's in the (Hugo award winning!) Ancillary Justice universe, and deals with lots of issues around AI that I think many at HN would enjoy.

   And as for the dead comments complaining that her winning is some kind of conspiracy because it's not hard SF: Fantasy has long won Hugo awards.

   Also: (a) go read it - it's got a system of magic that is as hard as any magical faster than light technology in a space opera, and (b) Gaiman won with American Gods and The Graveyard Book. The Yiddish Policemen’s Union won in 2008. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire won.

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5. krishna2Dec 2015
   Here is my list from 2015:

   1. Mark Derby: England my England

   2. Bill Messenger: Elements of Jazz [great courses]

   3. David Mamet: GlenGary Glen Ross

   4. Neil deGrasse Tyson: The Pluto Files

   5. Elizabeth Vandiver: The Illiad by Homer [great courses]

   6. Elizabeth Vandiver: The Odyssey by Homer [great courses]

   7. Elizabeth Vandiver: The Aeneid by Virgil [great courses]

   8. Robert Greenberg: Great Masters: Liszt - His Life and Music [great courses]

   9. David Christian: Big History [great courses]

   10. Robert Greenberg: Great Masters: Robert and Clara Schumann - Their Lives and Music [great courses]

   11. Steven Novella: Your Deceptive Mind: A Scientific Guide to Critical Thinking Skills [great courses]

   12. Ramesh Menon (Veda Vyasa): Mahabharatha

   13. Mark W. Muesse: Practicing Mindfulness: An Introduction to Meditation [great courses]

   14. J.K. Rowling: Book 1: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

   15. J.K. Rowling: Book 2: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

   16. Steven Pressfield: The War of Art

   17. Barnaby Conrad, Monte Schulz: Snoopy's Guide to the Writing Life

   18. J.K. Rowling: Book 3: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

   19. Ramesh Menon (Veda Vyasa): Siva Puranam

   20. Professor Allen C. Guelzo, Professor Gary W. Gallagher, Professor Patrick N. Allitt: The History of the United States, 2nd Edition [great courses]

   21. Robert Greenberg: Great Masters: Brahms - His Life and Music [great courses]

   22. Robert Greenberg: Great Masters: Tchaikovsky - His Life and Music [great courses]

   23. Chitra Bannerjee Divakaruni: The Palace of Illusions

   24. J.K. Rowling: Book 4: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

   25. Austin Kleon: Steal Like an Artist: 10 Things Nobody Told You About Being Creative

   26. Stephen King: On Writing: A Memoir Of The Craft

   27. David McCullough: 1776

   28. Prof. Roy Benaroch: Medical School for Everyone [great courses]

   29. J.K. Rowling: Book 5: Harry Potter and the Order of Phoenix

   30. Siddartha Mukherjee: The Emperor Of All Maladies

   31. J.K. Rowling: Book 6: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

   32. Robert Greenberg: Great Masters: Shostakovich - His Life and Music [great courses]

   33. J.K. Rowling: Book 7: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

   34. Neil deGrasse Tyson: The Inexplicable Universe: Unsolved Mysteries [great courses]

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   36. Shurnyu Suzuki: Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind

   37. William Shirer: The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich

   38. Jhumpa Lahiri: Interpreter of Maladies

   39. Stephen Greenblatt: The Swerve: How the world became modern

   40. Professor Andrew R. Wilson: The Art of War [great courses]

   41. Prof. Jennifer Paxton: 1066: The Year That Changed Everything [great courses]

   42. Prof. Sherwin B. Nuland: Doctors: The History of Scientific Medicine Revealed Through Biography [great courses]

   43. Sun Tzu: The Art of War

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   45. Prof. Seth Lerer: The Life and Writings of John Milton [great courses]

   46. Prof. Robert Greenberg: Great Masters: Stravinsky - His Life and Music [great courses]

   47. Stephen Guise: Mini Habits: Smaller Habits, Bigger Results

   48. J.R.R. Tokien: Hobbit

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   50. Prof. Seth Freeman: The Art of Negotiating the Best Deal [great courses]

   51. Ram Dass: Be Here Now

   52. Prof. Gregory S. Aldrete: The Decisive Battles of World History [great courses]

   53. Conn Iggulden: Conqueror Series Book 1: Genghis: Birth of an Empire

   54. Conn Iggulden: Conqueror Series Book 2: Genghis: Lords of the Bow

   55. Prof. Frederick Gregory: History of Science 1700-1900 [great courses]

   56. Prof. Indre Viskontas: 12 Essential Scientific Concepts [great courses]

   57. Conn Iggulden: Conqueror Series Book 3: Genghis: Bones of the Hill

   58. Conn Iggulden: Conqueror Series Book 4: Khan: Empire of Silver

   59. Conn Iggulden: Conqueror Series Book 5: Conqueror

   60. Prof. Robert Hazen: Origin and Evolution of Earth [great courses]

   61. Mark Forsyth: Elements of Eloquence

   62. Prof. Patrick Allitt: Industrial Revolution [great courses]

   63. Ramesh Menon (Valmiki): Ramayana

   64. Prof. John McWhorter: Myths, Lies, and Half-Truths of Language Usage [great courses]

   65. Dava Sobel: Longtitude

   66. Prof. Robert Hazen: Origins of Life [great courses]

   67. Prof. Daniel Robinson: The Great Ideas of Psychology [great courses]

   68. Tracy Kidder: The Soul of a New Machine

   69. Prof. Garrett Fagan: History of Ancient Rome [great courses]

   70. Kurt Vonnegut: Slaughterhouse Five

   71. Vladimir Nabokov: Lolita

   72. Scott Fitzgerald: The Great Gatsby

   73. Kalki: Ponniyin Selvan: Book 1: Pudhu Vellam [apple music]

   74. Upton Sinclair : The Jungle

   75. John Steinbeck: The Grapes of Wrath

   76. Kalki: Ponniyin Selvan: Book 2: Suzhar Kaatru [apple music]

   77. Karl Marx, Friedrich Engles: Manifesto of the Communist Party

   78. Kalki: Ponniyin Selvan: Book 3: KoduVaal [apple music]

   79. Kalki: Ponniyin Selvan: Book 4: Mani Magudam [apple music]

   80. Kalki: Ponniyin Selvan: Book 5: Thiyaga Sigaram [apple music]

   81. Kalki: Parthiban Kanavu [apple music]

   82. Hugh Howey: Wool [Silo Series : Book 1 of 3]

   83. Kalki: Sivagamiyin Sabatham: Book 1: Boogambam [apple music]

   84. Kalki: Sivagamiyin Sabatham: Book 2: Kanchi Mutrugai [apple music]

   85. Kalki: Sivagamiyin Sabatham: Book 3: Bhikshuvin Kadhal [apple music]

   86. Kalki: Sivagamiyin Sabatham: Book 4: Sidhaindha Kanavu [apple music]

   87. Thomas Sterner: The Practising Mind

   88. don Miguel Ruiz: The Fifth Agreement

   89. Prof. Jonah Berger: How Ideas Spread [great courses]

   90. Prof. Robert Sapolsky: Being Human [great courses]

   91. Michio Kaku: Einstein's Cosmos

   92. Guy Kawasaki: Art of the Start 2.0

   93. Edward Dolnick: Clockwork Universe

   94. Prof. John Medina: Your Best Brain [great courses]

   95. Sherman Alexie: Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

   96. Prof. Thad Polk: Addictive Brain [great courses]

   97. Jeff Kinney: Diary of a Wimpy Kid

   98. Prof. Scott Huettel: Behavioral Economics [great courses]

   99. Rob Walling: Start Small, Stay Small

   100. Ernest Hemmingway: Old Man and the Sea

   101. Prof. Robert Greenberg: Brief History of Holiday Music [great courses]

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