Picked this up from Digg, Leaky Cauldron is running the highlights of a recent Q&A with JK Rowling on that series of hers.

Among the usual “who-marries-who” and “what-ifs”, Rowling answered a thoughtful question:
“Did Dumbledore, who believed in the prevailing power of love, ever fall in love himself?” by outing him as gay and revealling that he had at one point been in love with the man who would become his nemesis.

In fact, recently I was in a script read through for the sixth film, and they had Dumbledore saying a line to Harry early in the script saying I knew a girl once, whose hair… [laughter]. I had to write a little note in the margin and slide it along to the scriptwriter, “Dumbledore’s gay!”

Interestingly, she got an ovation from the audience. But I doubt this will go down well with the fundies who’ve already accused her of everything this side of murder. She didn’t shed too much light when asked exactly how much Dumbledore’s brother Aberforth liked goats (come to think of it, what a mental family).

Some may think she’s been reading too much fanfic or that she’s just looking for free publicity, but personally I think it gives you another reason to go through the books again and see if you can pick up anything you missed before :). Poor McGonagall…

Popularity: 43% [?]

Malaysia must be really doing well! The shuttle hasn’t even come back yet and the govt has already made plans to send another flight participant space tourist astronaut up.

“Captain doctor Faiz Khaleed will be the primary angkasawan and the next mission, probably in 2008 or 2009, should have him doing more challenging tasks,” Jamaluddin said according to the New Straits Times.

“This could involve him doing a space walk or conducting repairs to the spacecraft,” he said.

“I hope to submit a proposal to NASA (the US space administration) by this year that in addition to his training with the Russian Space Agency, Dr. Faiz will also be able to undergo training with them,” he said.

A space walk may be “challenging”, but really, how does it justify spending another RM100mil? And how on earth do they already know that the spacecraft will need repairs?! Sounds like the next mission will be more like a massive photo-op.

Popularity: 12% [?]

I don’t think I’m alone when I say I’m not at all proud of our looming foray into angkasa. Would we be as proud of Datuk Azhar had he “sailed around the world” in a Russian cruise ship?

The papers have dramatized the selection of the first angkasawan as well as “rebutting” claims that they are space tourists. A writer from the Star even went so far as to claim that we would be adding to the celebrations of Man’s first trip into space 50 years back, along with other inanities:

The adventures of our Angkasawan will not only add to the celebrations of the country’s 50 years of nationhood but also man’s golden anniversary in space.

…

Many jokes have been made about the Angkasawan bringing Malaysian food to space but that simple act will enable local scientists to determine how well our local food travel in a vacuum.

No other country is going to carry out such a task for you and this research can enable exporters of our foodstuff to come out with different packing.

Ever wondered why satay in London does not taste as good as that in Kajang. Our Angkasawan may bring back the answer and further research may ensure that the taste stays the same in the future.

But I thought vacuum packaging had been discovered decades ago!

The simple fact is that we are space tourists. This has been known since last year. The decision of which tourist to send up was already known then (they chose the model). Wikipedia has already added an entry for us in their list of space tourists!

So no, tomorrow I won’t be cheering as we send a tourist into space.

Popularity: 17% [?]

For some reason, whenever Malaysia makes international headlines, it’s hardly for flattering reasons - last I checked, the first post on Google News under “Malaysia” is Beyonce cancelling her concert here because she’s too sexy for us.

In contrast, New Zealand recently turned heads for using wikis to gain feedback on the drafting of their new Police Act.

NZ Police Superintendent Hamish McCardle, the officer in charge of developing the new act, said the initiative had already been described as a “new frontier of democracy”.

“People are calling it ‘extreme democracy’ and perhaps it is,” he said.

“It’s a novel move but when it comes to the principles that go into policing, the person on the street has a good idea … as they are a customer,” he said.

…

“The wonderful thing about a wiki is we can open it up to people all around the world - other academics and constitutional commentators interested in legislation - and make the talent pool much wider,” he said.

This is exactly what a modern democracy should be like. The reference to the people as “customers” is just gold.

How about you? Can you think of any ways you would like to change our laws ? :)

Popularity: 37% [?]