Continuity mistake: When Mr. Poe and the Baudelaires first meet Justice Strauss she says that she is Count Olaf's neighbour, it cuts to a view up Olaf's driveway. At the corner of the sidewalk on the left of the screen you can see a tree standing. You can also see that Poe's car is parked right across it. Two shots later when Poe and the Baudelaires walk up Olaf's porch, look between Poe and the Baudelaires. Both the tree and the car are gone. (00:08:10)
Continuity mistake: After Aunt Josephine tells how Ike died she starts crying and reaches her arms out at Violet. When it cuts she does the same again. (00:51:15)
Continuity mistake: When the marriage certificate bursts into flames, the red thing on the certificate in the lower right corner has long threads hanging from it. The length of the threads differ between shots. (01:24:25)
Continuity mistake: In the beginning when the mail is being pushed through the mail box we can see two letters with stamps visible, and the one to the right has a purple stamp. When it cuts three letters with stamps are visible and the one in the middle has a more darkened stamp which is not purple. (00:02:35)
Continuity mistake: After the stove disconnects, right before the phone handle is shown fall off, we can see the handle has already fallen off. (00:59:45)
Continuity mistake: When Violet and Klaus are rubbing the floor, as the door opens, you can see them both lift their heads to look. When it cuts they lift their heads again. (00:14:20)
Continuity mistake: After Uncle Morty, Klaus and Violet agrees that Stephano is an impostor and Stephano returns we see him lifting his arm with the hook on up. When it cuts we can see his arm is suddenly lowered. (00:40:50)
Continuity mistake: Right after Violet and Klaus break the beam which is supporting them during the storm, they begin to run forward in one shot. However, when the angle differs in the next shot, they begin to run forward again. (01:02:00)
Continuity mistake: When the children are on Olaf's boat after Aunt Josephine has been eaten, Mr. Poe and the detective arrive. When Poe says he was wrong about Olaf, Sunny's hood is covering part of her face. When the camera goes to the orphans, you can't see her face at all because she is leaning in to Violet, and when the camera goes back to Olaf, her hood is completely off her face. (01:10:55)
Continuity mistake: When Violet tells Klaus to give her the fire extinguisher, it cuts to him saying "Why?" while holding his hand on Sunny's shoulder. When it cuts back to Violet, you can see in the background that his hand is resting down by her arm. (01:01:10)
Continuity mistake: When the letters hits the casket triggering the mechanism, which alarms that mail has arrived, we can see the silver ball begin to roll on the outer edge of the spiral. When it cuts the ball has suddenly went through the whole spiral and reached the hole in the middle in which it falls into. (00:02:40)
Continuity mistake: When Count Olaf spots Sunny and asks who she is, Violet says "Sunny is our sister" and you can see Olaf's hand on Violet's shoulder. When it cuts his hand is gone. (00:10:45)
Continuity mistake: When the children sail away from Curdled Cave with their aunt, the rudder of the boat is missing. The rudder is seen in the shot when they go in and the little baby is at the helm. (01:03:15 - 01:05:40)
Continuity mistake: When the rest of the house breaks off and falls in to the lake, a small piece of wall remains left with the entrance where the Baudelaires are standing. The broken planks left in that piece differ in the close-up shot of the kids and the remaining entrance. (01:02:10)
Continuity mistake: As Uncle Monty comes and greets Stephano, Stephano says "Oops, you caught me being a mentor" while bowing down and lowering his arm. When it cuts from behind Stephano he is still standing and lowering his arm again without bowing. (00:36:25)
Continuity mistake: When Olaf arrives with his acting troupe while Violet and Klaus are scrubbing the floor, a small stool can be seen a few feet behind Violet. A couple of shots later the stool has moved right behind her. (00:14:30)
Continuity mistake: When Klaus sees that they are sitting on a separated piece of Aunt Josephine's house and he says "Violet, you better tie your hair up", the camera zooms out. If you look closely on the broken edge on the house you can see the edge is firm and smooth. But when it cuts from a view from below as they are looking down you can see the edge on the house is full of broken planks. These broken planks weren't there before. (01:00:30)
Continuity mistake: When Olaf suddenly stops his car when he is going to buy the Baudelaires some treats, it cuts to the back seat where Violet and Klaus bend forward as if it was a sudden hard stop. However Sunny is sitting completely still as if she isn't moved by the sudden stop at all. (00:22:35)
Continuity mistake: As Violet sees the anchor you can see a black broken piece of plank hanging to the right of it. When it cuts the plank is gone. (01:00:55)
Continuity mistake: When Violet pours the spaghetti out of the spittoon over the strainer, all of it goes out of the spittoon and nothing is left. When it cuts, a spaghetti strand hangs over the spittoon's edge. (00:16:55)
Answer: A magnifying glass concentrates all the light that goes through it at its focal point, and it is this focal point that needs to be placed on the object which one wants to set on fire. The distance of the focal point to the lens depends on the magnifying glass characteristics, and it is more than likely that Count Olaf chose a glass where the focal point would be situated exactly "37 blocks" away from his house, that is, at the Baudelaire's mansion. When trying to set on fire an object much, much closer, the glass would concentrate much, much less energy, and would only be able to set on fire easily burnt objects, such as thin paper.
AnthonyA