Random Developments

I don’t usually drive around Melbourne; I don’t own a car, so I take the public transport or simply walk to wherever I need to go. However, in recent weeks I had the need to drive to a few places, and I’ve made extensive use of the “directions” feature of Google Maps.

In short, it works quite well. It got me to my destination every time. But… the directions needed some retouching every now and then. That is, it does make some interesting mistakes.

For example, this path, part of a trip from Point Cook to the city:

It seems very reasonable, and it is indeed the shortest possible path. The only problem with it is that the area shaded in dark grey is a Royal Air Force base, and they don’t really like random people driving through their roads. Granted, there is a road there, but there’s a heavy barrier and an armed guard on the way…

Or this, which is how Google Maps suggest you drive from the city to the western suburbs using the West Gate freeway:

One can see in this map a very sharp right turn from Kings Way onto the freeway, which seems odd. It seems even odder when you switch to the satellite view:

It looks like they’re suggesting that you drive over a barrier and across four lanes of traffic to enter the freeway. Hardly the best possible route.

One more: a path from the Franklin Street, in the city, going south to the Eureka Tower (which is at 7 Riverside Quay):

See that sharp left turn from Queensbridge onto an unnamed street just south of the river? Well, look at the satellite view:

The proposed path takes one onto the footpath and over a very tall barrier (the large red thing) before reaching the destination. Again, it’s a very good path, but not legally - or physically - doable. I guess you could do it on foot, of course…

Don’t get me wrong, Google Maps is very useful and helped me a lot. But, if I found these problems in just a few weeks, I guess their maps need some serious revision…

Word of advice: this post has spoilers after the fold (after the link to “read more”). I will discuss fine points of the plot and the ending. You have been warned.

So, I’ve finished reading the last Harry Potter book a few days ago, and I have to say that I really enjoyed it. I was honestly worried that it would not live up to the hype, but it does. Every last plot point is very well finished, all the mysteries are solved and everything fits together perfectly. Not only that, but details from all previous books (even the first two) are relevant to the story and to the conclusion; it seems that J. K. Rowling did know what she was going for from the beginning, and she got to the end in the best possible way. A co-worker of mine even joked that she should get a job with the producers of Lost, now.

There one minor annoyance, which I will discuss in the spoilers session below; nothing too serious, though. An advice to anyone who hasn’t started it yet: go re-read book 6 beforehand. I had read book 6 soon after it came out, and didn’t touch it since; that was a mistake, as I started reading book 7 with just a vague recollection of the previous events, and there was no “previously on Harry Potter” at the beginning… it took me a while to remember what, exactly, was a horcrux, or what relevance that locket had.

I did a long “stretch” to finish the book; I read the final 150 pages or so in a single sitting, and I was exhausted at the end. There is so much going on, so many details to keep track of and so many mysteries being solved that you end up physically tired at the end. Worth it, though, and I almost started reading it back from the start right away. I decided on starting from the beginning, though, and I’m going through the audio version of “Philosopher’s Stone” now (from the library; these audiobooks are unbelievably expensive); Stephen Fry’s narration is wonderful. And, by the time I finish the first 6, the audio version of book 7 should be available.

In short: great book. Spoilers to follow.

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