Blog & White

© Ultimate Ears

Après moultes péripéties avec le vendeur en ligne, j'ai fini par recevoir mes nouveaux écouteurs. Contrairement aux précédents (Panasonic, livrés avec mon vieux lecteur de CD portable) qui se plaçaient dans le pavillon de l'oreille, ceux-ci se placent dans le conduit auditif, bloquant effectivement les sons extérieurs. En revanche, tous les sons du corps se font remarquer : les cervicales qui grincent quand je tourne la tête, un grattement de l'ongle sur le nez, la respiration, les battemements du c½ur… Le port des écouteurs n'est pas à proprement parler douloureux, mais il est bien plus intrusif que les précédents et quelque peu gênant. Peut-être que cela disparaitra avec l'usage ?

Du point de vue de la qualité sonore, les Super.fi 3 Studio sont sans commune mesure avec les anciens écouteurs. Bien que certains leur reprochent un manque de basse, ils ont un rendu des basses pourtant bien meilleur et semblent reproduire les sons en général de manière plus précise. Je soupçonne cette qualité accrue de provenir tant de la qualité du transducteur que de la position dans l'oreille et l'isolation supplémentaire qu'elle apporte. Un inconvénient cependant : positionner correctement l'écouteur dans l'oreille s'avère difficile, surtout lorsqu'on a comme moi des conduits auditifs tordus, et le positionnement a une influence sur le rendu sonore.

Enfin, le contenu du paquet ne correspond pas tout à fait à ce qui est annoncé sur le site Web de Ultimate Ears et dans la notice : j'ai eu en cadeau bonus un atténuateur (à utiliser dans l'avion, à en croire le petit logo dessiné dessus) et une paire d'adaptateurs en silicone supplémentaire, à double rebord (de toutes façons trop gros pour mes oreilles). Cadeau du marchand ou erreur du fabriquant ? Je ne vais pas me plaindre :)

Thanks to Niko, my Leffakone project is finally complete. He built the timer I designed already two and a half years ago, that enables Leffakone to boot automatically when it is time to record a TV show.

The device is based on a Microchip 16F84A PIC and is connected to the Wake On LAN connector of the computer, as well as to the parallel port. The WOL connector provides +5V to the device even when the computer is powered down. The parallel port is used for sending the 24-bit timeout value to the timer, one bit at a time (one line is data, another line is a “data available” signal). The timer then ignores all input for three minutes, giving enough time to shutdown the computer (when the computer shuts down, some garbage is sent to the parallel port, which would be considered as input if it were not ignoring it). After that delay, it counts down to zero, and then sends a signal to the WOL connector that boots the computer. It's as simple as that.

The device has two LEDs, one indicating that power is on, and one status LED. The status LED is:

• On when the device is in standby, waiting for input.
• Off when the device has received partial input and waiting for more.
• Blinking at 0.25 Hz when ignoring all inputs.
• Blinking at 0.5 Hz when counting down.

When the timer is in the process of receiving input, and the procedure does not complete, the internal watchdog timer makes it reboot after about two seconds, putting the device back to standby mode.

The timer is supposed to accept timeout values in seconds, but the programming contraints in the device are such that the actual time unit is worth about 1.02 seconds.

For years I've been especially following three TV series: Murder, She Wrote, MacGyver, and Lois & Clarke: The New Adventures of Superman. All three of them came to an end within a couple of weeks. The last episode of Murder, She Wrote aired on February 28th, the last Lois & Clarke on March 3rd and MacGyver March 17th. I feel empty, like I'd have lost several friends at once, especially since I had been watching Murder, She Wrote assiduously for over three years.

Thankfully, the wonderful world of television has brought relief to my pain through the remarkable concept of rerun: Jessica Fletcher still shows up regularly in my set from season eight, as do Lois, Clark and MacGyver, since the two shows are broadcast again from the start! This allows me incidentally to see the first six or seven episodes of Lois & Clarke which I missed last time, and to re-record the episodes of MacGyver which are incomplete in my collection.

“The blend of Cascade and Challenger hops combine to produce a fresh hop aroma that preludes a bitter-dry taste. Crafted from nearly three centuries of brewing heritage at one of Scotland's oldest breweries.”

Just another ale, with a fresh taste, maybe slightly acid. Made of malted barley.

Belhaven Brewery Company Ltd, Dunbar, Scotland. 5.5% alcohol.

“Authentic IPA would have been a live beer… made with pale malts … and unprocessed whole leaf hops with moderate bittering power but pungent aromas of spice and resin.

Bottle conditioned beer is bottled with live yeast sediment and undergoes further fermentation in the bottle.”

The taste is quite bitter, but also fruity. Made of malted barley.

Ridgeway Brewing, Oxon, England. 5.5% alcohol.

© MoviePoster.com

Bond recovered a large sum of money belonging to Sir Robert King, a personal friend of “M”. When getting close to his money at MI6 headquarters, King gets killed by an explosion; the bank notes have been covered with an explosive triggered by King's lapel pin, which had been replaced by a fake. While investigating about King, Bond notices that the money he retrieved is exactly the sum that had been paid as a ransom to free King's daughter Elektra some time ago. M had helped King to retrieve his daughter, but had refused to pay the ransom, rather using the daughter as a bait. The kidnapper was Renard the Anarchist, who took a bullet in the brain when MI6 was trying to kill him, after Elektra managed to escape. The bullet is moving towards the center of the brain, making him progressively loose his sense of touch and smell and insensitive to pain. M sends Bond to protect Elektra. He meets her at a pipeline construction site inherited from her father in Azerbaidjan but she refuses his help, not trusting MI6 anymore. Bond later saves her life from an attack; he also tears a piece of cloth bearing a russian marking from one attacker. He then meets Valentin Zukowski, an acquaintance of his in his casino in Baku. Zukowski recognizes the marking as that of an antiterrorist unit of the Russian ministry of energy. He tells Bond that Elektra's pipeline has several competitors who may be willing to get rid of her. Later, while snooping around Elektra Bond notices that her chief of security is somehow related to the former attackers. He follows him and takes his place at some meeting with who were waiting for him. They trust him and take him to a facility in Kazakhstan where nuclear weapon are being disabled and destroyed. He meets there Dr. Christmas Jones, the nuclear scientist in charge of the process and pretends to be a Russian scientist. Bond notices that Renard is also working at the facility and is trying to steal plutonium. Renard manages to escape with a nuclear head, blowing up everything, and Bond and Jones barely escape themselves. Bond then suspects that Eletktra and Renard are actually working together because of something they both said in different occasions, but Elektra convices him otherwise. Elektra then lures M to Baku and kidnapps her, while Bond is sent with Jones to investigate a possible terrorist attack in the pipeline. Instead of defusing the bomb (which appears not to be nuclear), he lets it explode in order to make Elektra believe that he is dead. They then go meet Zukowsky again on the Caspian Sea, because Bond made a connection between him and Elektra. Zukowsky admits providing her with material with the help of a nephew of his who is the captain of a russian submarine. He also tells Bond that they are currently in Istanbul, and takes them there. They then discover that Renard has taken over the submarine and plans to put the plutonium into its nuclear reactor in order to provoke a meltdown that would look as an accident. This would destroy all the pipeline of King's competitors. Bond and Jones get then caught by Renard because of Zukowsky's assistant being an accomplice of him. Jones is taken to the submarine while Bond is left with Elektra who tries to torture him, but he is saved by Zukowsky who died just after. Bond kills Elektra and manages to enter the submarine. There is then an big fight between Bond and Renard; Bond wins and saves the world.

© Amazon.fr

First volume of the Manifold trilogy, Time has been published in 2000 by Stephen Baxter.

2010. Reid Malenfant, who had been rejected by NASA as an astronaut still dreams to go into space. Since he cannot do it in the traditional way, he decides to build his own space rockets using available technology in order to go mining the asteroids. His ex-wife, Emma Stoney is still working for him as a project manager. One day, Cornelius Taine approaches Malenfant and convices him using a statistical theory that within two years a major catastrophe is going to occur within the next two-hundred years, provoking the end of the world. He is however convinced that if mankind has survived, it will try to send a message back in time. Using a neutrino-based radiotransmission model that allows waves to travel back in time, they manage to pick up a message that directs them to one particular asteroid called Cruithne. Malenfant decides to change his mission goal from an easy to reach, rich in metals asteroid to Cruithne. The first mission sent there is manned by a genetically enhanced squid and discovers the presence of a blue circle that transports the probe traversing it to the future. They discover eventually that humanity has survived, but that in the very far future, matter in the universe is decaying and that mankind barely survives rather than lives. Meanwhile, prodigiously intelligent and slightly autistic children have been born for several years all over the world and seem to affectionate blue rings. Taine is convinced that they are somehow linked to the ring found on Cruithne. While a manned mission counting Malenfant, Stoney, Taine and one “blue child” called Michael is sent to Cruithne just before being arrested by the authorities, the blue children are being feared by the populations of Earth which view them as a new race going to take over humanity in the future. A group of these children, doing advanced research on fundamental physics manages however to escape to the moon. Meanwhile, the party on Cruithne is stranded there after being attacked by the descendant of the squid, which have taken over the asteroid and prepare to migrate to the Trojans (a remote asteroid cluster). Michael steps into the ring and disappears. Later, Military forces from Earth (mainly trying to show that they still control something) attack Cruithne, but all except one soldier are destroyed by the squids. Our heroes escape the wrath of surviving soldier by stepping into the circle. They are transported through parallel universes where the rules of physics are so different that matter cannot necessarily exist, witnessing their Big-Bangs. Each time they step again into the ring, they come a little bit closer to their original universe. Taine then sends back in time the message that would lead them to the exploration of Cruithne. Just after that, the soldier who has followed them finds them and Taine gets killed trying to protect the other two, providing them with the soldier's equipment and allowing them to survive a bit longer. Malenfant and Stoney manage to finally come back to Cruithne, five years after leaving, just in time for Emma to die. Malenfant, feeling responsible for Emma's death because he forced her to come with him to Cruithne, commits suicide while jumping into the circle. During those five years, NASA has built a base on the Moon next to the one built by the blue children, in an attempt to control what they are doing. Malenfant wakes up in what appears to be a hotel room, and meets there Michael, explaining that his conciousness has been transferred into the giant computer that allows humanity to survive in the very far future. Michael tells him that he can change the past, which he gladly accepts. In the new future, Emma is sent to the Moon to negociate with the children who are building a doomsday machine that would destroy the whole universe and recreate a new one. Their goal is to give a new start to this universe, trying to prevent humanity to surviving in horrible conditions in the far future. Floating in space far above the solar system, Michael and him watch the expolsion on the Moon extend to Earth, to the solar system, before being themselves anihilated by it.

This book is similar to 2001: A Space Odyssey in the sense that it starts like a hard science novel but ends up in a psychedelic way. The end is quite depressing (but the alternative predicted there is not really better).

© Tara Expeditions

« Le voilier scientifique polaire Tara a commencé en septembre 2006, une dérive arctique qui durera deux ans. La coque arrondie et plate de Tara lui permet en effet de résister aux pressions extrêmes exercées par la banquise et de se laisser porter par elle.

L'expédition, dirigée par Etienne Bourgois, s'inscrit dans le cadre de l'Année Polaire Internationale (API) 2007-2008. Elle est un partenaire majeur du programme européen scientifique DAMOCLES. Programme d'envergure qui réunit plus de 45 laboratoires développant un système d'observations et de prévisions à long terme de l'Océan Glacial Arctique. Ceci afin dévaluer et prédire les risques et les impacts des changements climatiques sur notre environnement.

Au carrefour de la science, de la technologie, de la pédagogie et de la communication, Tara Arctic est une grande aventure humaine qui a la volonté de sensibiliser les citoyens de la planète sur l'importance des équilibres écologiques. »

(source: Tara Expeditions)

Sur France Inter, ils n'arrêtent pas de parler de l'API, alors forcément j'ai fini par en entendre parler aussi. Et puis, au détour d'une interview dans l'émission du 3 mars de CO2, mon amour, j'ai appris que je suis encore plus près du pôle que je le croyais (86°14'41" aujourd'hui).

“A unique blend of two classic ales BPA and Old 5X. Old 5X is aged in oak for 2 years. Brewed in llimited quantities. This Vintage Ale is dark and intense, almost ruby in colour with an appetising spicy, fruitcake aroma. This full-bodied ale combines flavours of oak, caramel and burnt toffee… can also be the ideal accompaniement to mature English cheese.”

Quite sweet and very slightly bitter. It tastes of candied fruits, maybe raisins. The after taste of the first sip reminded me of well-done butter biscuit, the next ones of caramel. The smell of the glass is however not very pleasant, very metallic. I tried it with bits of Pilgrim's Choice Matured Cheddar and the result is quite nice (although not extraordinary).

Greene King Westgate Brewery, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, England. 6.0% alcohol.

2006-07-25 11:24:57 -> 2007-03-11 14:03:25

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“Brewed with choice Styrian Golding hops…”

Quite sweet, it surprisingly tastes of flowers, maybe like violet. Made of malted barley. The 660 mL bottle is quite big, its content doesn't fit into a pint…

Wychwood Brewery Co., Whitney, Oxfordshire, England. 4.2% alcohol.

L'aspirateur nasal est un appareil qui permet de moucher un enfant qui n'a pas encore appris à souffler par le nez. Les appareils les plus simples sont constitués de deux tuyaux connectés à un réservoir. On place un tuyau dans le nez de l'enfant et on aspire avec la bouche par l'autre. Pour éviter les remontées de microbes vers la bouche sous forme d'aérosol, le tuyau « bouche » est muni d'un filtre. Ce filtre absorble les liquides et finit par se boucher, en particulier si un nettoyage malheureux sous le robinet le noie… Ne reculant devant aucun sacrifice, et plutôt que d'acheter un nouvel aspirateur, j'ai supprimé le filtre, ce qui augmentait le pouvoir aspirant de l'appareil, mais laissait tous les microbes venir dans ma bouche. Voila ce qui arrive quand on veut recycler du matériel prévu pour un usage unique (enfin je suppose que c'est à usage unique).

Ceci m'a conduit à concevoir un aspirateur nasal à filtre amovible, nettoyable et remplaçable, pour un coût minime. Le montage schématisé ci-contre utilise un second aspirateur qui jouera le rôle de filtre sous forme de flacon de lavage. Le liquide peut être de l'eau, qui diluant l'aérosol diminuera la probabilité qu'un microbe remonte vers la bouche. On peut imaginer utiliser un antiseptique à la place de l'eau, tel du vinaigre, de l'alcool médical ou la gnôle infecte qui traine depuis des années au fond du placard.

Donc un jour où j'aurai pas la flemme, j'irai à la pharmacie acheter un deuxième aspirateur nasal et bricoler le biniou ci-dessus.

Just another ale, but with a slightly flowery smell, a smooth texture, as if the gas bubbles were smaller, and a hint of sweetness. Made of malted barley.

Inbev UK Ltd, Luton, England. 4.4% alcohol.

“sweet, golden and refreshing. Brewed using only organically produced ingredients: English malts, and the finest honey gives a mellow, rounded character which is deliciously balanced with zesty hops.”

Smells slighly of honey and the taste is very slightly bitter. Otherwise, it's just another pale ale. Contains malted barley.

Fuller Smith & Turner, London, England. 5.0% alcohol.

La recette d'hummus trouvée sur le web. Je l'ai faite plusieurs fois, sans tahini (parce j'aime pas trop ça).

“A rich deep flavour that derives from the greater proportion of malted barley to hops which characterised Scottish ales of the 19th century.”

The smell reminded me of grape juice and beef broth, the taste is quite sweet and the aftertaste has again notes of beef broth. Made of malted barley.

Belhaven Brewery Company Ltd., Dunbar, Scotland. 6.5% alcohol.

“Black malt enriches the colour and teases the palate with an unmiskable ‘toast’

flavour. Brown malt gives it the dryness. An excellent accompaniment to red meat.”

Smells of a fruit I cannot put a name onto. The taste is bitter, a bit like coffee, with a sweet finish that reminds me of chocolate. I didn't find the ‘toast’ flavour, though. Made of malted barley.

Hook Norton Brewery, Hook Norton, Oxon, England. 4.8% alcohol.

Just another ale, quite bitter. Made of barley malt.

Marston's Brewery, Burton upon Trent, England. 5.7% alcohol.

Aujourd'hui, c'était Mardi-Gras, alors j'ai fait des churros au bureau (histoire de changer un peu des éternels laskiaispulla finlandais ou des beignets de carnaval français). La recette, je l'ai trouvée dans ce blog. D'après Niko qui a mangé des churros en Espagne il n'y a pas longtemps, le chocolat chaud (dont la recette est à la fin de l'article) devrait être plus épais pour mieux coller au churro. Il faudrait ajouter davantage de fécule ?

Et aussi, faire de la friture dans la cuisine du bureau, c'est le bazar parce qu'il n'y a jamais les bons outils pour nettoyer (déjà que j'ai déplacé la moitié de ma cuisine pour avoir tout le matériel nécessaire, j'ai dû prendre le panier à linge pour tout transporter). Évidemment, si un churro expériemental de calibre 20mm n'avait pas explosé en déversant plein d'huile bouillante sur la plaque de cuisson, le plan de travail et le sol, il y aurait eu moins de choses à nettoyer.

Une chose intéressante à noter, c'est que l'huile après cuisson (que j'ai reversée dans les bouteilles vides pour la jeter à la poubelle) occupait presque le même volume qu'avant. J'en ai déduit que mes churros devaient contenir entre 2 et 5% de matière grasse. C'est pas si lourd que ça finalement ! Mais c'est le chocolat chaud qui m'a tué : 7 heures plus tard, j'ai toujours le ventre plein.

J'ai remplacé les trois ampoules de 40 W (410 lm) du salon par des ampoules basse consommation de 11 W (700 lm) de marque Megaman Liliput Plus. La couleur est un peu différente, mais on s'y habituera. En revanche, vu qu'une ampoule fluocompacte de 11 W équivaut à une ampoule classique de 60 W, on y a gagné en luminosité : 71% de lumière en plus, pour 73% de consommation en moins. J'ai choisi la 11 W plutôt que la 9 W (équivalente à une ampoule classique de 40 W) parce qu'elle était moins longue (bien que plus large) et dépasse moins du lustre.

Évidemment, chaque ampoule basse consommation coûte 14 EUR, mais elles ont une durée de vie annoncée de 15 000 heures (à comparer aux ampoules classiques qui ont une durée de vie de 1 000 heures, c'est à dire environ un an). Au total, mon ampoule me coûte .93 EUR par an, ce qui est légèrement moins que le prix d'une ampoule classique. De plus, à 0,10 EUR du kWh (ils ont augmenté le prix de l'électricité de 20% d'un coup cette année les vaches), mon ampoule basse consommation me coûte 1,10 EUR par an, contre 4 EUR par an pour l'ampoule classique. C'est finalement peu par rapport au budget électricité annuel.

© Imdb.com

A fishing boat saves a man from the sea. The man has two bullets in his back, a small device under his skin which shows a Swiss bank name and account number and no clue about who he is. After reaching the shore, the man spends the night in a public park where he's awoken in the middle of the night by two policemen. Without even thinking about it, he fights them barehanded and flees. The next morning, he goes to the bank in Zürich and finds in his safe a collection of passports, loads of money in various currencies and a gun. He learns that his name is (probably) Jason Bourne. He leaves the gun and goes to the US embassy, just in time to escape the Swiss police. There he is about the be arrested again but manages to escape, with the help of Marie, a girl who had trouble at the embassy. They go to Paris, where Bourne has an appartment. There, they get attacked by an unknown man crashing through the window, but the man dies before Bourne is able to interrogate him. Before the attack, Bourne manages to find a trace of his past: he has spent time in a hotel under another identity, and he is supposed to be dead. Marie manages to get a list of the phone numbers he called when he resided at the hotel, which gives him a clue about what he did in the past: getting interested in a boat owned by a former African dictator, buying diving equipments… During the night, the ex-dictator is assassinated, and Bourne understands that he had been sent by the CIA to kill him (because the man threatened to expose the CIA actions in Africa if they didn't help him to get back to power) but failed. Bourne and Marie then go the morgue to see the body, but it has been taken away already. They then flee together barely escaping the French police. Marie manages to reach a former boyfriend who lives in the countryside, where they find shelter for one night. The next morning, Bourne notices that someone is watching them and will probably try to kill them. He finds and neutralizes the killer, from whom he learns nothing except the name “Threadstone”. He sends Marie to hide with her friend, then uses the mobile phone of the killer, to contacts whoever had ordered him killed and gives him an appointment in Paris. Bourne doesn't show at the appointment, but uses the event to follow the man (his former boss) to a CIA hideout where he almost got killed again. He however learns that he has been specifically trained to be the perfect invisible killer (the Threadstone project), and his memory comes back to him: he was supposed to kill the ex-dictator and put the blame to one of the man's collaborators, but didn't complete his mission because children were present on the scene. Bourne's boss is then eliminated in a CIA attempt to conceal the failure of the Threadstone project. At the end, Bourne finds Marie again somewhere on the Mediterranean coast.

Loads of car chases, fight scenes, stereotypical camera movements, and a disappointing plot. But I really liked the Richard Chamberlain version TV movie when I was a kid.

I ordered on Tuesday morning the first thirteen volumes of Pratchett's Discworld series at amazon.co.uk. I already have them in French, but I wanted to compare Patrick Couton's excellent translation with the original English text.

I got an e-mail at 7pm the same day that the first three ones had been sent using International Mail. Wednesday at 4pm, I got another mail that the remainder of the order had been sent using DHL express. This morning at 8.30am, the DHL guy came to deliver the package, which came from Glasgow. That's faster than light! (on the Disc, of course). Of course, the price of the delivery was accordingly prohibitive, but it seems to have been the lowest possible. The same delivery fees was applied to both halves of my order, even though the second was probably much more expensive than the first.

© eu.art.com

I watched an episode of Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman yesterday evening, were they managed to track back a radio signal (sic) to a point located at 47.55 degrees of latitude and 38.69 degrees of longitude. Thanks to Google Maps, I know now that this place, which according to the series is the headquarters of the Daily Planet in Metropolis, is actually located in Russia, north of the Black Sea, not far from the Ukrainian border, in a region full of fields. Superman is therefore a Mujik.

However, since they didn't mention if the latitude in North or South, nor if the longitude is East or West, I checked the three other possibilities, which all are in the middle of the sea. If Superman is not a Russian farmer, then he's completely soaked.

“… golden colour, clean full malt flavour and crisp hop flower afterstate, created by a skillful blend of pure Scottish water and the finest organically grown ingredients.”

A malty taste, flowery, with a note of rose, only sightly bitter. The emtpy glass smells of honey. Made of malted barley.

Brougthon Ales Limited, Broughton Biggar, Scotland. 6.0% alcohol.

“… essentially a Yorkshire beer with malt tastes slightly more prominent than the hop flavours… note the nutty overtones and the teasing late bitter-sweet sensations. Brewed using quality grains malts from a traditional Yorkshire maltster, a unique yeast strain, full-leafed hops and Yorkshire Dales water. The name Old Legover is the nickname of the Brewery's popular cask ale, originally called Daleside Country Stile.”

Just another ale, but a nice one. Slightly sweet, and only slightly bitter in the aftertaste.

Daleside Brewery, Starbeck, Harrogate, England. 4.1% alcohol.

Un peu de froid c'est bien, mais là, franchement, c'est abusé. Pour ceux qui ont la flemme de cliquer sur l'image pour la voir en grand, le thermomètre indique -36 °C. La photo a été prise ce matin à 8h de la fenêtre de la chambre à coucher. C'est bien d'avoir un thermomètre visible au saut du lit, ça annonce tout de suite la couleur. Mais pas de panique, ça doit remonter dans la journée, avec un pic à -25 °C.

La voiture a à peine réussi à démarrer (après avoir bêtement calé, la première fois c'était plus facile), on a l'impression que l'embrayage est lubrifié avec du goudron et le siège est un cube de glace.

“English malt and English hops combine to make a very English beer. Dry and crisp, with a hint of citrus. 303 A.D. – the year of St George – is the beer of St George.”

Pale and quite bitter, with vaguely flowery taste.

Hook Norton Brewery, Hook Norton, Oxon, England. 4.0% alcohol.

“fruity by nature with a well rounded body and the suggestive echo of Crystal malt… Our traditional Victorian tower brewery … is still powered by a steam engine.”

Vaguely fruity and moderately bitter. Just another ale. Made of malted barley and wheat.

Hook Norton Brewery, Hook Norton, Oxon, England. 4.6% alcohol.

© Posti Oyj

Palokan posti muutti Euromarketiin muutama kuukausi sitten. Nyt ei enää ole postitoimistoa, vain postiluukku Euromarketin infotiskin vieressä. Siellä ei ole enää postineitejä vaan Euromarketin työntekijöitä, jotka palvelivat myös infotiskillä. Hyvä juttu on, että aukioloajat ovat 7-21. Huonot jutut ovat, että…

Ensimmäisellä kerralla halusin lähettää painavan kirjen Ranskaan, mutta työntkijä ei tiennyt missä laatikossa postimerkit olivat. Toisella kerralla, hän unohti kertoa postinkantajalle että minulle oli saapunut paketti, ja minulla oli pakko mennä sinne ja valittaa. Kolmannella kerralla, minulla oli ilmoituskortti, mutta työntekijä ei löytänyt pakettiani, koska hän oli liimannut siihen väärän viivakoodimerkin ja laittanut pakettin väärään paikkaan.

Mitä tapahtuu seuraavalla kerralla?

“a malty base, with hop flavours of the Target, Challenger and Northdown varieties.”

A slightly honeyish smell, a fruity taste, and only slightly bitter. Contains malted barley.

Fuller Smith & Turner, London, England. 4.7% alcohol.

“dark in colour with a mocha coloured head and a slightly fruity aroma with a hint of chocolate… enjoyed as the ideal accompaniment to eating Oysters and other shellfish…”

Slightly sweet with a bitter aftertaste which reminds of chocolate (with enough imagination). Made of malted barley and wheat.

Marston's Brewery, Burton upon Trent, England. 4.5% alcohol.

Since I had an increasing amount of spam going through my spam filter, I decided in mid-December to block all comments until I come up with a better solution. From now on, sending comments is possible again, but the content will not be displayed immediately if it contains any URL, or if an URL has been input into the the URL field.

De plus en plus de spam parvenait à se faufiler à travers mon filtre à spam, j'avais donc décidé à la mi-décembre d'interdire les commentaires jusqu'à ce que je trouve une meilleure solution. À partir de maintenant il est à nouveau possible de poster des commentaires, mais le contenu n'en sera pas affiché immédiatement s'il comporte des URL, ou si une URL a été saisie dans le champ URL.

Joulukuun puolivälissä estin blogin kommentit, koska sain liikaa roskapostia suodattimesta huolimatta. Nyt on taas mahdollista lähettää kommentteja, mutta niiden sisältö ei näy heti, jos kommentissa tai sen URL-kentässä on linkkejä.

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Sixième volume de Lanfeust des étoiles, publié en 2006. Thanos, pirate de l'espace au service du prince Delhu aborde avec l'aide d'Hébus le troll, enchanté et soumis à Thanos, un transport d'animaux rares pour s'emparer d'un pwoalp, animal qui permet à celui qui s'est fait mordre de voir l'avenir. Pendant ce temps, Lanfeust qui a voyagé seize ans vers le futur doit s'habituer à avoir un fils adolescent qui le déteste et Cixi, devenue une redoutable femme d'affaires, remplaçant la princesse Ophredla qui avait perdu son corps durant une bataille contre Thanos. Les princes marchands se sont organisés en deux factions, ceux qui sont sous la coupe de Delhu et ceux qui s'y opposent. Delhu est un fait un pathaselse, créature polymorphe, qui a pris place du vrai Delhu longtemps auparavant et est en train de remplacer les autres princes marchands par des imposteurs pataselses un par un. Lanfeust a ramené de sa précédente aventure la bectérie gawlax, seule maladie capable de terrasser un pataselse et les partisans d'Ophredla organisent un attentat contre Delhu qui échoue. Ils sont attaqués par les pataselses et parviennent de justesse à s'enfuir. La guerre éclate dans la galaxie entre les deux factions et l'épisode se termine sur l'enlèvement du fils de Lanfeust par Thanos.

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Troisième volume du donjon de Naheulbeuk, publié en 2003. Les aventuriers doivent retrouver leur commanditaire afin d'être payés, mais ce dernier leur fait faux bond et leur donne rendez-vous à Boulgourville dans sept jours. Le seule chemin possible pour un délai aussi court passe par la forêt maudite de Schlipak. Chemin faisant, ils vont se baigner, tuer un ermite qu'ils ont pris par erreur pour un sorcier, et passent la nuit dans sa cabane, se battent contre un troll qui tue le ménestrel et arrivent dans la demeure du vampire hémophile (qu'ils tuent aussi, le prenant pour un vrai vampire, alors qu'il est le seul vampire sympa du monde).

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Onzième volume d'Aquablue, publié en 2006. Nao est retrouvé dans le désert par une tribu de guerrier nomades. Il est vieux, sa force de vie volée par le baiser d'Arakh. Le guérisseur qui l'a recueilli lui redonne sa jeunsse et son énergie en sacrifiant un animal et lui révèle ce qui s'est passé. Nao a été fait prisonnier par Marachna, qui voit en lui le descendant de l'assassin de son époux, Tenoch, et dont la force de vie devrait permettre redonner vie à ce dernier. Mais Nao n'est pas la bonne personne, et la tentative échoue, donnant un Tenoch mort-vivant. Le véritable descendant de l'assassin est le salmir Nassûl qui est sauvé in extremis des soldats de Marachna par les amis de Nao. Marcachna parvient à retrouver le Nassûl, à l'enlever et à redonner vie à Tenoch. Ce dernier a compris après sa mort que le dieu Arakh n'est qu'un démon mineur qui s'est joué de tout le monde et ne mérite pas l'adoration de Marachna. Dans sa colère, Tenoch tue Marachna avant de se suicider.

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Cinquième volume des Arcane du Midi-Minuit, publié en 2006. Plusieurs politiciens sont assassinés de façon mystérieuse. L'un d'entre eux est signé Sylvak. L'assassin se révèle être Tilly, la fille d'un magicien nommé Sylvak, doué de télékinésie sur le métal, et mort de nombreuses années auparavant dans l'incendie de sa maison. Sa fille cherche à se venger en assassinant les hommes politiques qui avaient à l'époque tenté d'en faire une arme. Devant son refus, ils avaient essayé de faire enlever sa fille. Le kidnapping avait échoué et la filette s'était enfuie, mais les kidnappeurs avaient par accident mis le feu à la maison, tuant le père et la nourrice de la fillette. Jim et ses amis parviennent à arrêter Tilly, mais cette dernière réussit à s'enfuir. La dernière victime devait être le roi, mais l'attentat échoue de justesse. Tilly est arrêtée à nouveau, mais Jim lui redonne sa liberté en échange de son aide pour réparer in extremis une montre qui joue un rôle important dans la transformation de Jim en Jenna. Jim est finalement arrêté.

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Neuvième volume de la série Alpha, publié en 2006. Alpha reçoit un tuyau d'un informateur que Scala, une terroriste mercenaire soupçonnée d'être à l'origine de plusieurs attentats récents a été repérée. En même temps, le président Chávez et son concurrent pour les prochaines élections sont invités aux États-Unis pour discuter affaires, tandis que Scala organise une exposition d'artistes vénézuéliens. Tous les visiteurs de l'exposition sont assassinés dans le but d'y attirer Chávez qui ne manquerait pas d'y faire une apparition devant les caméras de la presse. Heureusement, Alpha qui a mené l'enquête sur Scala arrive à temps pour le sauver. L'histoire se termine par l'assassinat de Lawrence, le supérieur d'Alpha, par Scala. Lawrence avait payé Scala pour organiser l'assassinat de Chávez et avait tenté, sans succès, d'éliminer cette dernière après s'être débarassé de tous ses complices.

“…brewed to a recipe believed to be over 500 years old… using malted barley, whole leaf English Aroma hops and well water. Owd Roger offers an explosion of rich fruit flavours with a dry bitter-sweet finish.”

Tastes of red fruits (cherry?) and the empty glass smells like honey and ginger bread. Made of barley.

Marston's Brewery, Burton upon Trent, England. 7.6% alcohol.