Blog & White

L'esprit de Waha se retrouvé échangé avec celui d'une jeune humaine qui passait en bateau sur la rivière, à cause du pouvoir, juste découvert, du petit-frère de celle-ci. Les trolls se demandent alors pourquoi Waha aime soudain tant l'eau et refuse de manger de la viande crue, tandis que les humains se demandent ce qui arrive à leur fille, d'habitude bien élevée et effacée. Parmi les humains, Waha tente de découvrir comment les esprits ont été échangés. Elle le découvre lors de son mariage, tue sauvagement son nouveau mari, et repart à Phalompe avec le petit-frère. Ce dernier parvient à échanger à nouveau les esprits, et les deux humains sont autorisés à rentrer chez eux sans être dévorés.

Dixième volume de la série Golden City. Après la destruction de la cité flottante Golden city, une nouvelle cité en orbite a été construite. Kumiko est perdue en ville, où les pauvres manifestent violemment contre les nantis qui ont construit la nouvelle Golden City. Elle est enlevée par des hommes de mains du docteur Seed, qui expérimente des médicaments sur des SDF après leur avoir effacé la mémoire. Mifa part au secours de Kumiko, mais est fait prisonnière, sa mémoire effacée, et disparait avec Seed. Ses amis libèrent cependant Kumiko. À la fin, après avoir échappé au tueur à gages lancé à ses trousses par le conseil d'administration de son groupe, Banks revient d'Afrique où il jouait les Robins des bois.

Vingt-deuxième tome des aventures de Blake et Mortimer. Un groupe de personnes tentent de reprendre les expériencens de Septimus sur l'onde Méga et essayent pour cela de retrouver Olrik, le cobaye original. De son coté, Mortimer étudie lui aussi l'onde Méga et observe une interférence d'origine inconnue. Des clones de Septimus, de plus en plus nombreux, parcourent les rues de Londres. Enquêtant sur le cas d'anciens soldats évadés de l'asile, Blake trouve un vaisseau spatial enfoui sous Londres, tandis que Mortimer, piégé par les groupe décrit plus haut, s'allie à Olrik pour leur échapper et tenter de soigner les cauchemares de ce dernier. L'entité extra-terrestre sous Londres, influencée par l'onde Méga de Mortimer, est la source des clones de Septimus, dont le but est l'invasion de la Terre. Blake détruit le vaisseau spatial et les clones disparaissent.

Sixième volume d'Atalante, paru en 2013.

L'Argo est échoué, et Atalante, Jason et les argnoautes sont attaqués par des morts-vivants. Pour leur échapper, ils entrent dans un batiment abandonné, un labyrinthe qui les mêne à l'entrée des Enfers. Ils y rencontrent Perséphone, qui leur apprend qu'Hadès a disparu depuis des semaines et que les morts parviennent à s'échapper. Atalante apprend aussi que l'eau de la source du Styx pourra guérir Raxos, mordu par un mort-vivant et en train de se transformer en l'un d'eux. Atalante s'enfonce dans les Enfers à la recherche de la source. Elle découvre un géant enchaîné.

Christian, Bolivie Fèves sauvages 70% : pain frais

Christian, Pérou 75% : doux

Christian, Ghana Commerce équitable 73% : noix de coco, intense

Christian, Vietnam plantation Ben Tre 70% : acide

Christian, Pérou Puiera 70% : un peu acide

Following An Unexpected Journey, Bilbo and the dwarves continue their adventure, through the forest of Mirkwood; Gandalf has left them without an explanation. In the forest, the party is attacked by giant spiders, and after escaping, are captured by the Wood Elves. They soon after escape, riding empty barrels down the river. They are chased by Orcs and protected by elves, led by Legolas. The latter is set on killing Azog. Meanwhile, Gandalf visits the tombs of the Nazgûl and finds them empty. He then travers to Dol Guldur. Bilbo and the Dwarves are then smuggled into the lake town of Esgaroth by Bard, the descendant of the rulers of Dale. Thorin promises the current ruler a share of the gold in the Lonely Mountain in return for weapons and supplies. Meanwhile, Gandalf confronts the necromancer at Dol Guldur and recognizes Sauron; Gandalf is taken prisoner. Bilbo and the Dwarves reach the mountain and thanks to Bilbo manage to open the secret door. Bilbo then seeks the Arkenstone in a huge pile of treasures, but wakes up Smaug the dragon. Rekindling the forges, they attemtp to burry the dragon in molten gold, but the latter escapes and decides to go and destroy Esgaroth for having helped the Dwarves.

Very strong and sweet, better than other strong beer I've tasted, but still not very interesting. Contains malted barley.

Tennent Caledonian Breweries, Glasgow, Scotland. 9.3% alcohol.

“caramel sweetness of the malts with toasted biscuit notes… earthy hops”

Just another ale. Contains barley malt and wheat.

Clanconnel Brewing company, Craigavon, Northern Ireland. 4.3% alcohol.

Terry Pratchett's Dodger is said to take place in the first quarter of the Victorian Era. We'll assume it is the year 1840. According to the National Archive's currency converter, 1 £ in 1840 is worth about 45 GBP in 2005.

Moreover, the same source indicates that with 100 GBP (about 2£ 5s) you could buy 11 days work of a craftsman wages in the building trade, 3 stones (42 lbs) of wool or 1 quarter (28 lbs) of wheat. As a reference, a person's daily needs in energy are equivalent to about 2 lbs of wheat (representing 2950 kcal according to Wikipedia).

These are the coins mentionned in Dodger:

• Guinea: 21s = 252d (47.25 GBP)
• Sovereign: 1 £ = 20s = 240d (45 GBP)
• Crown: 5s = 60d (11.25 GBP)
• Half-Crown: 2.5s = 30d (5.63 GBP) (about 1.5 lbs of wheat)
• Shilling: 1s = 12d (2.25 GBP)
• Sixpence: 1/2s = 6d (1.13 GBP)
• Groat: 4d (0.75 GBP)
• Thruppence: 3d (0.56 GBP)
• Penny: 1d (0.19 GBP)
• Half-penny: 1/2d (0.10 GBP)
• Farthing: 1/4d (0.05 GBP)

A day worth of a craftman's wages is therfore 4s, which could buy 2.5 lbs of wheat or 4 lbs of wool.

Dodger lives in early Victoria London and makes a living as a tosher, finding and reselling precious objects and coins in the sewers. One night he saves the life of a young woman who was beaten up by unknown men. Charles Dickens and Henry Mayhew, who happended to pass by help Dodger and take the woman, who refuses to tell her name, to Mayhew's place. Dodger takes in interest in the woman, named Simplicity by Mayhew, and promises himself to avenge her. During his investigation, he accidentally arrests Sweeney Todd and thanks to Dickens who writes about him in the newspaper and has opens a subscription for him, he becomes famous and much richer than he has ever been. He learns from Simplicity that she is the daughter of a German teacher and married to a German prince against his father's will, and the latter is attempting to get her killed so that his son can be married to a more politically suitable woman. The British government, to avoid diplomatical complications with Germany is in favour of sending Simplicity back. Moreover, the rumor has it that the Germans have sent the Outlander, an assassin that nobody has ever been able to identify, to kill Simplicity and Dodger. Dodger and Dickens then hide Simplicity at Angela Burdett-Coutts place, a known philantropist. Dodger then devises a plan to officially get Simplicity dead: taking advantage of guiding Benjamin Disraeli, Dickens, Mayhew and Simplicity disguised as a boy in a visit through the sewers, Simplicity is supposed to get lost and killed by the Outlander, while the rest of the group find a disfigured body (stolen from the Coroner's mortuary) that looks like Simplicity. During the visit in the sewers, the real Outlander (a woman) attacks Dodger, but his is saved by Simplicity in the nick of time. Dodger's plan can anyway proceed, and Simplicity is now free from her awful husband. Dodger and her plan to get married; Dodger is also hired by the Queen to become one of her spies.

Maxwell Smart, analyst for the CONTROL intelligence agency finally becomes field agent 86 when all active agents have been compromised. With his partner Agent 99, they investigate a traffic of uranium by the criminal organisation KAOS leading them to a (fake) bakery in Moscow. Smart destroys the bakery but further investigation by the famous Agent 23 shows no trace of uranium or wrongdoing. Smart is put into prison under the accusation of being a double agent. When he hears on the radio a message addressed covertly to him by an agent of KAOS who had helped them escape from the bakery that KAOS would plant a bomb in L.A., he escapes and goes there where he convinces his boss and 99 that hs is not the double agent, and finds proof that it is actually 23. A car chase ensues, 86 and 99 trying to recover the bomb's remote control from 23. They eventually prevent the bomb from exploding, and Max is definitly accepted as a field agent.

“scotch ale brewed with Scottish Heather Honey… malty beer”

Strong roasted flavours, honey aroma with a hint of rye bread. Contains malted barley.

BrewDog Ltd., Ellon, Aberdeenshire, Scotland. 4.5% alcohol

Michael Yound is a Ph.D. student at Cambridge whose subject is the early life of Adolf Hitler. He meets a physicist who bears the guilt of being the son of a Nazi doctor in Auschwitz and who has built a device that can displace matter in time and space. Michael sugges to poison the well of Hitler's parents in Braunau am Inn, with an experimental permanent contraceptive for males that he steals from his ex-girlfriend's lab. As soon as the deed is done, Michael's consciousness wakes up in a new Michael's body, philosophy major at Princeton, in a world that has never heard of Hitler. Another man, Rudofl Gloder, has however take the place of the Nazi dictator, managed to anihilate USSR with atomic weapons in 1938 and taken over the whole of Europe. A Jewish Free State had been created in the Balkans and all jews had been deported there. Because of asking questions about Braunau and Auschwithz (that nobody knows about), Michael is noticed by the secret services who want to know how he knows about these places. Michael learns that a German defector, now living in Princeton, had revealed that after his father discovered the strange properties of a water well in Braunau, Gloder had built a factory in Auschwitz to synthetise the contraceptive and sterilized all the males in the Jewish Free State. Michael finds the defector (the same physicist as in his own timeline, again feeling guilty because his father's deeds), who has built the same kind of machine. They send dead rats to the Hitler's well, prevening them from drinking the water, and history goes back to its original timeline.

In ancient China, a soldier escapes the battlefield and ends up in a cave where he is attacked by ghosts and saved in the nick of time by a swordsman who quickly disappears. Their paths meet again and soon are joined by the Monk and his disciple. The soldier undestands that the warriors of goodness cannot unite to fight evil because they are arguing all the time. Their are attacked by a demon and only manage to temporarily imprison its soul; to destroy him, the two young ones must find the Lady Li I-Chi and get the two twin swords, Purple and Green. The Monk is poisoned by the demon and must be taken to the Fort to be cured by the Countess or he will become a double of the demon within ten days. In the fort they are attacked by the demon but eventually they escape. The Monk is cured, but the Swordsman is poinsoned too. The two young ones eventually reach the border between Good and Evil territories, find the lady who gives them the ability to unite the two swords. They thus manage to prevent the demon to enter Evil territory and tip the balance of Goodness/Evil in favour of the latter. They also become the new generation of gardians of Goodness.

Twenty years after failing to complete the Golden Mile, a 12-pub crawl in Newton Haven as teenagers, Gary King, an alcoholic, gathers the four friends from his youth to attempt the pub crawl again. In the fourth pub, Gary fights against a teenager in the toilet and discovers the kid is a robot; so are the kid's friend, and apparently a large proportion of the town's population. The inhabitants who are still human try and convince Gary and his friends to join themr. Their refusal to comply causes the robots to chase the heroes, losing two members of their group during in the process; they reappear as robots. Despite the situation, Gary is still keen on drinking one pint in each pub, and he and Andy eventually take cover in the last pub of the Golden Mile, the World's End. The place is the headquarter of an extra-terrestrial entity known as the Network (responsible for the advances in telecommunications in the past twenty years), who explains that key locations in the world have been invaded and a small proportion of the population replaced with robots to invisibly take humanity on the path to world peace and to take its place in a galactic federation (with little success currently, humans being quite set against imposed happiness) and the possiblity to access eternal youth, as robots. Gary refuses, causing the Network to leave the Earth and to cause global destruction of the planet. In the end, some humans who have survived are quite happy living a simple life with the robots, while others despise them.

Benvenuto Gesufal est le maître-espion (et assassin) du podestat Leonide Ducatore, dirigeant de la république de Ciudalia. Benvenuto est envoyé en Ressine pour négocier un accord secret entre Ducatore et le chah de Ressine afin de mettre fin à la guerre qui les oppose. Benvenuto est aussi chargé d'assassiner, pendant une attaque préméditée des ressiniens, Bucefale Mastiggia, héros de la guerre et le fils du dirigeant de la faction adverse, le plus sérieux rival de Ducatore au poste de podestat. Benvenute s'acquitte de ces deux tâches mais est fait prisonnier par les ressiniens et finalement libéré contre rançon. À son retour à Ciudalia, il est accueilli par les Mastiggia comme un héros qui a combattu aux cotés de Bucefale, grâce aux rumeurs propagées par Ducatore. Quelques temps plus tard, un rescapé de l'attaque au cours de laquelle Bucefale a été assassiné refait surface et accuse Ducatore et Benvenuto lors d'une assemblée du Sénat de Ciudalia. Le podestat fait arrêter Benvenuto, mais ce dernier s'échappe et fuit la ville, avec l'aide et en compagnie du sorcier de Ducatore, le nécromant Sassanos. Ce dernier a pour mission d'aller chercher Belisario, le fils du podestat, parti plusieurs années auparavant à l'étranger ; le podestat veut en faire son successeur. Benvenuto est surveillé à distance par d'autres sorciers, et Sassanos ordonne Benvenuto de se cacher à Bourg-Preux, où il sera invisible aux autres sorciers, la ville étant bouillonante de magie suite à une bataille de sorciers plusieurs siècle auparavant. Benvenuto se terre quelques temps, mais finit par avoir le mal du pays, et surtout il se rend compte que le podestat son patron se sert de lui. À la fin de l'hiver, Benvenuto reprend le chemin de Ciudalia, mais est attaqué près du but par les hommes de Mastiggia. Il apprend que la maîtresse du père Mastiggia est en fait une sorcière vieille de plus de deux-cents ans et que son but était de devenir l'éminence grise de Ciudalia après avoir fait de Bucefale le nouveau podestat ; Ducatore a involontairement détruit ses plans. Benvenuto est finalement sauvé de justesse par Sassanos accompagné de Belisario et ses hommes, et ils rentrent ensemble à Ciudalia. Le podestat est ennuyé du retour de Benvenuto et le fait chanter afin qu'il élimine la famille Mastiggia et aille ramener sa fille, Clarissima, qui avait trahi son père (ce dernier ne voyant en elle qu'une fille à marier afin de tisser une alliance) et rejoint les Mastiggia. Benvenuto s'acquitte de sa tâche et devient aux yeux du public le héros qui a sauvé Clarissima de ses ravisseurs.

Holmes is asked by Dr. Mortimer to keep his patient, Sir Henry Baskerville, safe from what caused the mysterious and horrific death of Sir Henry's uncle, Sir Charles, presumably killed by the legendary ghost hound, the Baskerville family's curse. Since Holmes cannot leave London, Watson accompanies Sir Henry to Devon. They are warned that a prisoner had escaped from the nearby Dartmoor Prison and is hiding on the moor. The prisoner, wearing Sir Henry's old clothes given to him by his sister, Sir Henry's servant, is found dead with marks of laceration on his body. Sir Henry also meets his neighbour, a struggling farmer named Stapleton, and his daughter Cecille, who falls in love with Sir Henry. Watson also notices another stranger on the moor, which happens to be Holmes. Sir Henry, led by Cecille to the place where Sir Charles had been killed, is attacked by the hound and by Stapleton, saved by Watson and Holmes. The legendary hound has been revived by Stapleton, using a masked, famished great dane trained to recognize Sir Henry's scent. Stapleton is an illegitimate descendant of the Baskerville family, and would inherit the Baskerville fortune at the death of Sir Henry.

Mac Oloch, un Picte congelé dans un glaçon s'échoue sur la plage, près du village d'Astérix. Après avoir été partiellement soigné de son aphonie, il raconte avoir été attaché à un tronc par Mac Abbeh, le chef du village voisin qui convoite la fiancée de Mac Oloch, et jeté dans le Loch. Astérix et Obélix raccompagnent Mac Oloch en Calédonie ; on apprend que Mac Abbeh a conclu une alliance avec les romains pour assurer son accession au trône de Calédonie lors d'une prochaine cérémonie où le prétendant qui fait le discoups le plus acclamé est élu. Mac Oloch apprend que Mac Abbeh a enlevé sa fiancée, et tandis que le premier se rend à la cérémonie, les deux gaulois partent délivrer la jeune femme. Ils la ramènent à Mac Oloch juste au moment où ce dernier fait son discours et accuse Mac Abbeh. Une bataille s'ensuit, et le chef félon et le centurion romain son soumis au supplice du tronc dans le Loch. Astérix et Obélix s'en retournent alors chez eux.

Huitième volume de la série Opale publié en 2013. Sleilo est convaincue qu'elle peut contrôler l'esprit de la pierre noire. Elle convainc Darko est ses amis de travers les Enfers et de libérer Ghörg du onzième cercle, afin de combattre Kamphre d'Yrkhone. Les Klapotèques les guident au premier cercle et leur permettent de chevaucher des démons ailés qui les emportent au neuvième cercle. Ils y rencontrent les cousins de Ghörg qui les accueillent chaleureusement et acceptent de les accompagner au dixième puis au onzième cercle. L'emplacement de ce dernier est défini par l'endroit où se trouvent les démons du onzième cercle, qui se trouvent en ce moment au Havre. Ils y retrouvent Ghörg, puis se replient dans la forêt pour y lever une armée d'hommes libres.

Quatorzième volume d'Aquablue. Une île-cité flottante a été construite sur Aquablue. Nao et son entourage, ainsi que nombre de personnalités terriennes sont invitées pour l'inauguration. Un commando de natifs d'Aquablue prend possession de l'île et menacent de tuer leurs otages si la Terre ne procède pas immédiatement à l'évacuation des colons terriens.

Douzième volume de la série Alpha. Une tueuse à gages, Scala, est envoyée sur les traces d'Alpha, tandis que l'ancienne partenaire de ce dernier parvient à le retrouver en Alsaka. Le FBI suit cette dernière et Scala, informée des mouvements du FBI, trouve aussi la trace d'Alpha. Lors de sa fuite, Alpha est retrouvé par Scala qui, au lieu de le tuer, l'emmène en hélicoptère, simule un crash en mer et fait croire à sa disparition.

“…the finest Fuggles and Super Styrian hops, floor malted Optic malt and our unique yeast…

Individually packed and numbered, this bottle is one of only one hundred thousand produced.

…will improve with age for many more years.”

Very sweet and very strong, tastes like sherry but much sweeter, with hints of prunes. Made of malted barley.

Previously tasted in 2007.

Bottle N° 49425. Fuller, Smith & Turner, London, England. 8.5% alcohol.

Three cheap musical boxes (each one playing a subtly different version of "The Swagman"), manufactured in Dartmoor Prison, are sold at a local auction house. However, a criminal gang is determined to steal and recover all three. The first is stolen from a collector, friend of Watson's, murdered in the attempt. Sherlock Holmes is to late to prevent the theft of the second one, but manages to recover the third from the shop where it was re-sold. The maker of those boxes had stolen printing plates from the Bank of England and never revealed where he had hidden them before being arrested. Holmes discovers that a message is coded in the variations of the tune played by the boxes, and manages to decode it partly. The gangsters manage to steal the last box and manage to lure Holmes with a planted clue. Holmes escapses death and guesses the end of the message (the place where the plates are hidden, a small museum); Holmes and the police manage to catch the gangsters in the act.

Thor, son of Odin and future king of planet Asgard wants to prove himself by attacking the Frost Giants of Jotunheim (a commando of which had manage to enter unnoticed in Odin's castle and approach the source of their power, the Casket of Ancient Winter, taken from them by Odin when he had defeated the Giants long time ago). The attack is a failure and Thor, his brother Loki and their friends are saved in the nick of time by Odin. As a punishment for his rash actions, Odin banishes Thor to Earth. His war hammer Mjolnir is thrown to Earth as well and remains attached to the ground in the desert until someone worthy of it lifts it up. Thor meets a group of scientists studying strange phenomenons in the sky (due to the use of Bifrost, the rainbow that allows travelling between the nine realms), whose work is confiscated by S.H.I.E.L.D after the discovery of Mjolnir. In Asgard, Odin reveals to Loki that he has actually been adopted, and that is is actually a Frost Giant. Odin the falls into a coma to recover his strength and Loki, who considers himself the new king, lets Thor believe that Odin is dead. He then sends an indestructible robot to Earth after Thor, who, having learned humility is able to recover Mjolnir and protect the town from the robot. Loki is the one that has left the Winter Giant's commando in the castle; he kills the king of the Giants and then uses Bifrost to destroy Jotunheim. His plan is foiled by Heimdall, guardian of Bifrost, and Bifrost is subsequently destroyed by Thor who has returned to Asgard. He then fights Loki, who disappears into space.

“traditional Irish dry stout… roasted malts with hints of chocolate, coffee and dark fruit… earthy hops”

Quite bitter with a definite coffee flavour. Contains barley malt and wheat.

Clanconnel Brewing company, Craigavon, Northern Ireland. 4.3% alcohol.

Holmes and Watson have been hired to guard a famous diamond, the Star of Rhodesia, and her owner, Lady Margaret, by her son Roland, during their train journey from London back to Edinburgh; Lestrade is on the train as well. Roland is killed and the diamond is stolen. The suspects are a grumpy professor of mathematics, an old couple (whose husband admits having stolen a teapot at an hotel), a young woman, Vivian Vedder, accompanying her mother's coffin back to Scotland, and Watson's friend, Major Duncan Blake. Questioning the suspects leads nowhere. Holmes is then pushed out of the train and miraculously manages to return into the car; he hypothesizes that the thief is Moriarty's partner, Colonel Sebastian Moran. Watson and Homes then inspect the coffin and discover a hidden compartment where the killer had been hiding; Miss Vedder admits she had been paid to take the coffin on the train. Lestrade is then found knocked-out next to the body of the killer. The train makes an unexpected stop to pick up several scottish policeman, and Holmes tells them that Blake is Moran. The latter stops the train with the emergency brake and fights to escape but is arrested by the policemen and taken out, his head covered with a coat. Holmes then reveals to Watson that the policemen were fake, that they have actually taken Lestrade out, and that the real Moran is handcuffed and hidden below a seat.

“a classic Traditional English Ale… English malt… local Fuggle hops”

An ale with a strange taste, not really metallic, that I can't describe. Contains malted barley.

Hogs Back Brewery Limited, Tongham, Surrey, England. 4.2% alcohol.

Women are found dead, their forefinger removed. Sir George Fenwick's daughter asks Sherlock Holmes for help when she finds out her father has burried a box containing a finger. Sir George, after an evening with his girlfriend had awaken in an unknown place with the finger in his pocket, and is being blackmailed for having presumably killed a woman. Sir George is killed before Holmes has a chance to talk to him, but leaves a clue about a restaurant where Holmes had spotted him earlier in the company of a woman. Moriarty (whom Holmes believe is behind the murders) then visits Holmes and threatens to kill Watson unless he gives up on the case. Holmes conjectures that Moriarty is using hypnosis to make his victims believe they have commited a murder. Soon after, a hypnotised sniper attempts to kill Holmes from the empty house across the street. Holmes then investigates London's club of hypnotists where he meets and befriends Sir George's girlfriend. Back in her appartment, she and Moriarty attempt to hypnotize Holmes and force him to commit suicide, but he is saved in the nick of time by Watson and the police. Moriarty falls from the building's balcony in an attempt to escape.

Un pensionnat situé dans une zone désertique et peu propice à la vie. Les pensionnaires s'adonnent aux joies de la drogue et du sexe, pour oublier la fadeur du quotidien et de l'enseignement. Marquis invente un jour un nouveau genre de musique, et les pensionnaires se mettent à créer des groupes et à jouer d'abord clandestinement, puis plus officiellement. Mais à force d'abuser des drogues inventées par l'un d'entre eux, les moniteurs finissent par remettre de l'order. On apprent que les pensionnaires ne sont que des clones servant de banque d'organes à leurs parents. Marquis s'enfuit pour ne pas être cannibalisé par son «  père  ». On le retrouve plus tard dans les caves de Shanghai, ville dominée par les tours où vivent les riches. Il est recueilli par un groupe de paumés comme lui, et finissent par se retrouver dans l'universtié de la Suburb, qu pied des tours. À nouveau des groupes de musique se montent et marquis devient une célébrité. La drogue coule à flot, et domine les besoins des habitants (avant l'eau, l'oxygène et la nourriture). La musique engendre la révolte dans la Suburb, et les groupes finissent par se disloquer, leurs membres mourant dans la guerre civile. Delange, en quelques sortes l'impressario de marquis, vend ce dernier à son «  père  » génétique en échange d'une place dans les tours.

The four children are back in Narnia, drawn there by young Prince Caspian who has sounded a horn (belonging to Susan, it had stayed behind when the fourn children had left Narnia, 1300 years ago). Caspian is chased by his uncle Miraz's men; being the last obstacle on Miraz's path to the throne. Caspian meets the Narnians, hiding in the forest after having been almost exterminated when Caspian's ancestors (the Telmarines) had invaded Narnia. Soon the four children meet the Narnians and Caspian and organize a revolt against Miraz, helped by an army of Narnians. Their first attempt at taking the castle fails and causes the loss of many. They then fall back in an underground temple, soon under siege by Miraz's troops. While Lucy escapes in the hope to find Aslan she had seen several times in visions and dreams, Peter challenges Miraz to a duel for the throne, buying Lucy time. Peter wins and spares Miraz's life; but one of the latter's followers kills him and blames the Narnians for having cheated, causing the troops to attack. Aslan arrives in the nick of time and saves the Narnians. He later offers whoever wants to go back to Earth (which is where the Telmarines came from originally). The four children take the opportunity to leave Narnia again.

“strong pale ale… plenty of Golding hops”

Just another ale. Contains barley malt.

Hook Norton Brewery, Hook Norton, Oxon, England. 5.0% alcohol.

The bishop sends Father Brown to carry a antique cross to Rome, but is warned by Scotland Yard that the famous antique thief known as Flambeau will attempt to steal the cross. In Paris, the priest identifies the thief and attempts to make him give up stealing and become an honest man; Flambeau however steals the cross and disappears. Father Brown attempts to bait him by putting an antique chess set (belonging to Lady Warren, one of his parishoners) to the auction; flambeau bites and steals the set, but returns it to its owner, a beautiful widow, and escapes the police with her and the priest's help. Flambeau still refuses to give up stealing antiques, but Father Brown gathers enough information (the crest on Flambeau's cigarette case) to track him to his castle in Burgundy with the help of an old heraldist and the owner of a Café in Paris. He discovers the secret room hidden behind the kitchen's fireplace where Flambeau has collected the product of all his robberies. Again, he helps Flambeau to escape the police; the collection is however taken and exposed in the Louvre. Seeing that his collection can now be admired by everyone in the museum, Flambeau returns to England and joins Lady Warren in Father Brown's church.

“Ginger root, water, sugar, pear juice and yeast”

Sweet but not too much and tastes of ginger. Very nice.

Fentimans Ltd, Hexham, Northumberland, England. 4.0% alcohol.

Sur un monde où le vent souffle en permance plus ou moins fort et toujours dans la même direction, les hordes se succèdent génération après génération pour remonter le vent et découvir ce qui se cache en Extrême-Amont. La 39ème horde, composée de vingt-trois membres, est probablement la dernière, étant donné que les véhicules modernes semblent plus à même de remonter le vent qu'un group de marcheurs. La horde est en outre poursuivie par des tueurs commandités par une faction du gouvernement qui s'oppose à l'exploration de l'Amont. La horde perd des membres lors de la traversée à la nage d'une mer intérieure peu profonde, souffre du retard imposé par un potentat local (à la solde des opposants aux hordes) qui contrôle l'accès à un point clef sur le chemin, puis dans les montagnes glacées, encore inexplorées par les hordes précédentes. Un group de sept parvient en Extrême-Amont, et se retrouvent devant un précipice et une mer de nuages. Le vent est provoqué par une sorte de volcan d'air, un peu en aval dudit précipice. Apparemment, en Extrême-Amont, il n'y a rien. Six des membres survivants se perdent ou meurent, et seul le scribe de l'expédition survit. Il descend une plante géante qui remonte du précipice, et finit par se retrouve en Extrême-Aval.

“double hopped pale ale… blend of american hops including Liberty, Willamette, Cascade and Chinook… zesty beer… citrus flavours… bitter finish”

Very flowery, quite nice. Contains malted barley.

Fuller, Smith & Turner, London, England. 4.5% alcohol.

“high proportion of wheat… perle hops and elderflower… fruit and citrus flavours”

Little bitterness, maybe even a bit sweet, with grapefruit flavour. Contains barley and wheat.

Cairngorm brewery Ltd., Dalfaber, Aviemore, Scotland. 4.3% alcohol.

Ray, a serious sci-fi geek, and his friends Pete and Toby are at a pub. Ray meets Cassie, who claims to be a time traveler whose job is to find and repair “time leaks” and stop “editors” who kill famous artist just after they produce their best piece to prevent the downfall part of their career. The guys have some trouble believing her, but they end up traveling back and forth through time within the pub, the “portal” being in the toilets. They see themselves in several times, and discover that they somehow become famous. They meet a second time traveler, named Millie, an editor. Millie wants to take the piece of scrap paper containing the idea that will make them famous, but that will eventually lead to their death. They refuse, and Millie kills everyone in the pub. Ray manages to destroy the paper by spilling beer on it, causing all the events to not have happened, but the paper is still soaked. The three friends walk home wondering about the events in the pub when Cassie appears through a big glowing portal. She reveals that they have only fourteen hours to save the Earth, and urges them to go with her to a parallel universe.

I have a list of files in a text file, and I want to load this list into some kind of data structure. The list is quite long, and requires to instantiate 100,000 objects in Python, all of the same type. I found out that depending on what kind of object is used, the time it takes to instantiate all these can vary greatly. Essentially, each line of the file is composed of tab-separated fields, which are split into a list with Python's str.split() method. The question therefore is: what should I do with that list?

The object must hold a few values, so basically a list or a tuple would be enough. However, I need to perform various operations on those values, so additional methods would be handy and justify the use of a more complex object.

The Contenders

These are the objects I compared:

A simple list, as returned by str.split(). It is not very handy, but will serve as a reference.

A simple tuple, no more handy than the list, but it may exhibit better performance (or not).

A class named List that inherits from list:

class List(list):
  def a(self): return self[0]
  def b(self): return self[1]
  def c(self): return self[2]

A class named Tuple that inherits from tuple:

class Tuple(tuple):
  def a(self): return self[0]
  def b(self): return self[1]
  def c(self): return self[2]

A class named ListCustomInitList that inherits from List and adds a custom __init__() method:

class ListCustomInitList(List):
  def __init__(self, *args): List.__init__(self, args)

A class named TupleCustomInitTuple that inherits from Tuple and adds a custom __init__() method:

class TupleCustomInitTuple(Tuple):
  def __init__(self, *args): Tuple.__init__(self)

A class named ListCustomInit that inherits from the list basic type but has the same features as ListCustomInitList instead of inheriting them from the custom List:

class ListCustomInit(list):
  def __init__(self, *args): list.__init__(self, args)
  def a(self): return self[0]
  def b(self): return self[1]
  def c(self): return self[2]

A class named TupleCustomInit that inherits from tuple basic type but has the same features as TupleCustomInitTuple instead of inheriting them from the custom Tuple:

class TupleCustomInit(tuple):
  def __init__(self, *args): tuple.__init__(self)
  def a(self): return self[0]
  def b(self): return self[1]
  def c(self): return self[2]

A class named NamedTuple that is made from the namedtuple type in the collections module:

NamedTuple = namedtuple("NamedTuple", ("a", "b", "c"))

A very basic class named Class and that inherits from object:

class Class(object):
  def __init__(self, args):
    self.a = args[0]
    self.b = args[1]
    self.c = args[2]

A variant of the previous that uses the __slots__ feature:

class Slots(object):
  __slots__ = ("a", "b", "c")
  def __init__(self, args):
    self.a = args[0]
    self.b = args[1]
    self.c = args[2]

A old-style class, named OldClass, that does not inherit from object:

class OldClass:
  def __init__(self, args):
    self.a = args[0]
    self.b = args[1]
    self.c = args[2]

The Benchmark

Each class is instantiated 100,000 times in a loop, with the same, constant input data: ["a", "b", "c"]; the newly created object is then appended to a list. This process it timed by calling time.clock() before and after it and retaining the difference between the two values. The time.clock() method has quite a poor resolution, but is immune to the process being set to sleep by the operating systems's scheduler.

This is then repeated 10 times, and the smallest of these 10 values is retained as the performance of the process.

The Results

The results from the benchmark are shown relatively the speed of using a simple list. As expected, the use of a simple list is the fastest, since it requires not additional object instantiation. Below are the results:

• 1.000 list
• 2.455 tuple
• 3.273 Tuple
• 3.455 List
• 4.636 Slots
• 5.818 NamedTuple
• 6.364 OldClass
• 6.455 Class
• 6.909 TupleCustomInit
• 7.091 TupleCustomInitTuple
• 7.545 ListCustomInit
• 7.818 ListCustomInitList

Conclusion

One can draw several conclusions from this experiment:

• Not instantiating anything is much faster, even instantiating a simple tuple out of the original list increases the run time by 150%

• The slots feature makes object instantiation 28% faster compared to a regular class

• Deriving a class from a basic type and adding a custom __init__() method that calls the parent's __init__() adds a lot of overhead (instantiation is 7 to 8 times slower)

“nutty roast flavour… four colour of malt make up the grist”

Sweet stout, with a strong roast and caramel taste. Contains barley and wheat.

Cairngorm brewery Ltd., Dalfaber, Aviemore, Scotland. 4.4% alcohol.

“Calypso & Pacifica hops offer a hint of tropical citrus… upfront bitterness… light malt body”

Just another ale. Contains malted barley.

Sunny Republic Brewing Co., Blandford, Dorset, England. 4.4% alcohol.