Blog & White

© Amazon.fr

Après son enquête sur Solaria, Elijah Bailey est invité sur la planète Aurore par le docteur Fastolfe. Jander, le seul autre robot humanoïde à part Daneel, a été retrouvé désactivé d'une manière spécifique, et Fastolfe, qui l'a construit, se considère la seule personne dans la galaxie capable d'avoir fait cela, tout en niant en être responsable. Au moment des faits, Jander appartenait à Gladïa, la Solarienne que Bailey avait rencontrée lors de sa précédente enquête. Le « roboticide » n'est en réalité qu'un prétexte pour affaiblir politiquement Fastolfe : ce dernier est partisan de permettre aux terriens et à tous les mondes spaciens de coloniser la galaxie en n'utilisant aucun robot (afin de ne pas créer par accident des colonies où seuls les robots survivraient), alors que ses opposants veulent la coloniser au moyen de robots humanoïdes (afin de créer des colonies propices à la vie humaine) et réserver ce droit aux habitants d'Aurore. Dans son enquête, Elijah retrouve son ami le robot Daneel et ils sont accompagnés d'un autre robot de Fastolfe. Giskard. Après avoir interrogé Gladïa, Elijah interroge Vasilia, la fille de Fastolfe, qui déteste son père et peint de lui un portrait très négatif. Vasilia travaille pour l'institut de robotique qui cherche à construire des robots humanoïdes, Fastolfe refusant de livrer le secret de leur fabrication. Bailey interroge alors le Dr. Amadiro, directeur de l'institut, et opposant politique direct de Fastolfe. Ce dernier tente de déstabiliser Elijah en le forçant à s'exposer à un orage (Bailey n'est toujours pas complètement à l'aise à l'extérieur, même par beau temps) pour pouvoir le « sauver » et ainsi s'emparer de Daneel afin de pouvoir l'étudier. Elijah et les robots parviennent à échapper à Amadiro, et les deux roboticiens sont appelés à discuter avec le président afin de trouver un compromis, à la façon auroraine. Elijah est présent et explique comment Amadiro est parvenu à faire régulièrement sortir Gladïa de chez elle sans Jander afin d'interroger ce dernier pour analyser le comportement de son cerveau ; c'est cette analyse qui a accidentellement provoqué le gel mental du robot. D'autres détails permettent à Elijah de découvrir que Giskard est capable de télépathie. Ce dernier explique qu'il a provoqué le gel mental de Jander dans le but d'arrêter Amadiro mais aussi d'embarrasser suffisamment Fastolfe afin que ce dernier fasse appel à Elijah, le but ultime de Giskard étant d'analyser le cerveau d'un terrien et décider si ces derniers sont plus aptes que les spaciens à coloniser la galaxie.

© Amazon.fr

Elijah Bailey est envoyé sur la planète Solaria pour y enquêter sur le meurtre du docteur Delmarre. Sur la planète, Elijah est accueilli par son ami Daneel Olivaw qui a été envoyé de la planète Aurore pour le seconder. Les habitants de Solaria vivent isolés les uns des autre, ne supportent pas la proximité d'autres humains et vivent entourés de robots, ce qui rend un meurtre quasiment impossible. Les suspects que Bailey interroge sont tous convaincus que Gladïa, la femme de la victime, est coupable, tout en reconnaissant que le meurtre en lui-même est impossible à exécuter. Sur Solaria, Bailey affronte sa phobie d'être à l'extérieur et petit à petit apprend à la surmonter. Il interroge en « visioconférence » (le moyen habituel utilisé par les solariens pour se rencontrer) Gruer, le chef de la sécurité de Solaria qui est victime d'un empoisonnement sous ses yeux. Son enquête l'amène à rencontrer en personne et malgré leur réticence, l'assistant de Gruer qui essaye de lui faire abandonner l'enquête, un sociologue autodidacte qui lui raconte la genèse de Solaria, et l'assistante de Delmarre qui lui montre comment les enfants sont élevés (par des robots dans une sorte de ferme, et habitués à s'isoler les uns des autre dès leur plus jeune âge). À la ferme, Bailey manque d'être tué par un flèche empoisonnée tirée par un des enfants, et de détective commence à imaginer une solution où les robots sont manipulés de sorte à servir d'arme du crime à leur insu en effectuant des tâches qui, prises séparément, ne peuvent faire de mal à un humain. Bailey rencontre alors Gladïa Delmarre en personne et découvre qu'au contraire de ses compatriotes, elle souhaite être en présence d'autres personnes. Gladïa entretenait une relation amicale avec Leebig, un roboticien qui travaillait (sans succès) sur des robots capables de châtier les enfants désobéissants. Bailey accuse finalement Leebig d'avoir assassiné Delmarre au prétexte que ce dernier, isolationniste, s'opposait aux plans de conquête de la galaxie du premier. Il démontre aussi que Gladïa n'est pas capable de commander les robots suffisamment précisément pour les utiliser comme arme du crime. Leebig avoue finalement la méthode du crime (un robot au bras détachable, utilisé comme arme et rattaché au robot pour la faire disparaître), ainsi que les tentatives de meurtre de Gruer et de Bailey avant de se suicider. L'affaire est close, et Bailey convainc Gladïa d'émigrer sur Aurore. De retour sur Terre, Bailey fait son rapport au ministre, et explique que Leebig a utilisé la colère de Gladïa à l'encontre de son mari comme moyen de tuer ce dernier en lui fournissant une arme au moment opportun.

Very fruity and quite bitter. Contains barley and wheat.

Galway Bay Brewery, Oranmore, Galway, Ireland. 5.8% alcohol.

A bit more sour than regular Guinness, but the taste is similar. Contains malt, barley and roast barley.

Guinness Brewery, Dublin, Ireland. 0.0% alcohol.

© Amazon.fr

Dans le futur, les humains se sont regroupés dans des villes géantes recouvertes de dômes fermés. À coté de New York, Spacetown a été construite quelques décennies plus tôt par les spaciens, des descendants des humains qui étaient partis coloniser d'autres planètes. Elijah Bailey, inspecteur de police, est chargé par son supérieur le commissaire Enderby d'enquêter sur le meurtre d'un spacien, le Docteur Sarton. Comme elles suspectent un terrien d'être responsable du crime, les autorités de Spacetown exigent que Bailey coopère avec Daneel Olivaw, un robot d'apparence humaine créé par Sarton. Les terriens détestent les robots, car ces derniers fournissent de la main d'œuvre bon marché et condamnent ceux qui sont remplacés à une existence misérable, et nombre de terriens font partie du mouvement médiévaliste qui considère que le passé était mieux que le présent et qui veulent en particulier interdire les robots. Après quelques fausses pistes, Bailey se retrouve accusé du meurtre d'un robot employé par la police et d'être lui-même un médiévaliste, tout comme sa femme (qui a avoué l'être). Au cours de son enquête, Bailey a été convaincu par les spaciens qu'il a rencontrés que les cités sous dômes n'ont pas d'avenir, et que les terriens doivent recommencer à coloniser des planètes. Bailey à son tour a convaincu un meneur du mouvement médiévaliste qui était suspect du meurtre. La mission des spaciens de Spacetown étant justement de convaincre les humains de repartir dans l'espace, ils considèrent leur mission accomplie, et comptent quitter Spacetown, le résultat de l'enquête étant de peu d'importance. Dans les quelques heures qu'il lui restent, Bailey réussit alors à démontrer que le meurtrier est Enderby, lui aussi médiévaliste, et qu'il comptait tuer Daneel, mais a tué Enderby par erreur, les deux se ressemblant parfaitement. Daneel et Bailey, devenus amis au cours de l'enquête, se disent au revoir.

© Amazon.fr

I'm not going to summarize all the short stories, but here's the The Complete Robot's entry on Wikipedia.

The title is misleading, as Asimov wrote six more robot stories after the book had been published.

Wikipedia

During the Cold War, Napoleon Solo extracts Gaby Teller from East Berlin, evading KGB agent Illya Kuryakin. Gaby is the daughter of a nuclear scientist working for the United States and who has recently disappeared. The kidnapper is likely the Vinciguerra couple, Nazi sympathizers who want to build a nuclear weapon. Solo and Kuryakin are forced by their superiors to cooperate in order to retrieve the weapon and the new technology that has been used for building it. As Gaby's uncle Rudi works for a shipping company belonging to Vinciguerra in Rome, the trio travels there under cover and discover that the Vinciguerra couple has been recently exposed to radiation. Solo and Kuryakin break into a shipyard, where they find traces of uranium. The barely escape after setting of the alarm and being chased by the guards. The next day Gaby meets with Rudi and Vinciguerra in order to gather intelligence, but she betrays the two agents. Solo is captured and tortured by Rudi (who is a war criminal), but Kuryakin saves him in the nick of time, forcing Rudi to reveal that the weapons is being built on an island fortress where Gaby has been reunited with her father, who is killed as soon as the weapon is completed. Solo and Kuryakin team up with British intelligence's Waverly to organize an assault on the fortress, and discover that Gaby is actually an MI6 agent. After a long chase after the weapon, they discover it is a decoy. The however manage to locate Vinciguerra on the sea and destroy the real weapon with a homing missile. Both Solo and Kuryakin are ordered to kill their partner, but they refuse. They are are then reunited with Gaby and Waverly in a new international organization, U.N.C.L.E.

“paahteinen doppelbock”

Makea, aika hyvää. Sisältää ohramallasta.

Panimoyhtiö Hiisi, Jyväskylä, Suomi. 7.5% alkoholia.

Wikipedia

Because they are saving as many dragons as they can, the island where Hiccup and his people live is overcrowded with the creatures. Hiccup wants to take the dragons to the Hidden World mentioned by his late father. Hiccup's dragon Toothless meets a female dragon of his species, actually a bait in the trap set by the dragon hunter Grimmel. The female dragon escapes, but soon after Grimmel visits the island and threatens Hiccup and his people, who decide to leave after the village is destroyed by the hunter. They take a break on another island, but discover that Grimmel and his men are following them. Hiccup lets his dragon leave with his new mate, and with the approaching menace of Grimmel's hunting party, he and Astrid go search for the Hidden World. They find it and understand that it's no place for humans. On their way back, Grimmel capture Toothless and his mate, as well as all the other dragons. The villagers attack the hunters and eventually free the dragons, killing Grimmel in the process. Understanding that humans and dragons cannot safely live together, the villagers free all their dragons and, led by Toothless, they leave for the Hidden World. Years later, Hiccup, Astrid and their two children sail towards the Hidden Word and are met by Toothless, his mate and their own children, flying one more time together.

Several months ago, the leffakone infrared receiver started to misbehave. There were a lot of errors in syslog about spikes in the signal, and the problem seemed to come from the serial port on the motherboard rather than from the homebrew IR receiver, connected to the serial port, that I had built in 2002 or 2003 and that I had been using with lirc ever since. One of the symptoms was that unloading the lirc-serial kernel module caused the computer to freeze, while testing the receiver with an oscilloscope seemed to show that it was working correctly. For many months, I was too lazy to do something about it, as using a keyboard with a long enough cord was enough to control leffakone. During the last autumn vacation, I tried to test the receiver with the serial port on minikone, but the latter seems to deliver only 1.2V signals, when the receiver expects at least 7V to power its onboard voltage regulator. So that was not very conclusive.

At the same time, I had the idea of building a CO₂ monitor using a Jeenode I had lying around, and somehow I wondered if the IR receiver module would not just fit into one of the Jeenode's ports. Guess what? It fits perfectly, allowing to use the IRQ pin as the input, which is exactly what the Arduino-IRremote library suggests to use. Writing the software was a bit of a headache, because the library assumes that the compiler would run with the -flto option (and the compilation ends with an error if it is not set), but my custom Makefile somehow fails to compile the code correctly if I enable that option. Thankfully, you can get around the problem with #define SUPPRESS_ERROR_MESSAGE_FOR_BEGIN. After that, the program is quite straightforward: configure it for the RC5 protocol (as this is what my remote control produces), read a code and write it to the serial port if it matches the RC5 address. I also added a new feature: if the code is the power on button, it would set a pin to HIGH for a short while, allowing to switch the computer on. I used the Jeenode USB as it has an on-board USB-to-serial adatpter, which makes it perfect to connect to a modern computer. I had one reed relay left from the timer and despite being rated for a 5V control voltage, it works with the Jeenode's 3.3V signal. The Jeenode is connected to the computer with a USB cable where I have replaced the USB Type A connector with a Molex connector so that I can use one of USB headers on the motherboard. Crimping the very small contacts was difficult as I don't have a crimping tool, but the connections seem to be working despite having done quite a poor job of it.

Yesterday, I installed the extra reed relay and the Jeenode onto the PCB that holds the relays of the timer, and now it's inside leffakone and working well. And since I forgot to take a picture, there is no image of what it looks like. In addition, I'm quite happy I have been able to do this project by using only bits and pieces I already had (the Jeenode, the headers, the reed relay, the IR receiver module, the USB cable, the Molex contacts and housing).

“Fresh bananas… fruity flavour… Lager and Crystal malts… Challenger and Styrian Goldings hops”

Sweet, with a definite (cooked) banananess in it. Contains barley.

Carlsberg Marston's Brewing, Eagle Brewery, Bedford, Bedfordshire, England. 5.2% alcohol.

“aromas of treacle toffee and dried fruits… Crystal and Chocolate malts… Sovereign hops… caramel, coffee and earthly roastes malts flavours”

Sweet, roasted, with maybe a hint of aniseed. Contains barley.

Carlsberg Marston's Brewing, Wychwood Brewery, Witney, Oxfordshire, England. 6.6% alcohol.

The last issue of Make: magazine had an article about building a CO₂ monitor. The concentration of CO₂ is apparently a good estimator for the concentration of SARS-CoV-2 in the air, which is correlated to the risk of transmission. The article suggests keeping the concentration of CO₂ under 800 ppm when people are wearing masks.

The Make: article proposes a green-yellow-red light indicator, where the light is green when the concentration is below 1000 ppm, yellow above that level and red when it goes above 2000 ppm. These values are rather about indoors air quality and not directly related to limiting the transmission of SARS-CoV-2.

An article from NIST however indicates that the 1000 ppm limit has no basis whatsoever so I decided to use the 800 ppm limit instead and a rather arbitrary limit of 1300 ppm based on looking at Figure 2 in this article which seems to indicate that some cognitive abilities drop around that concentration.

Description

The device itself is quite simple: it has an on/off switch and a single two-color LED indicator, red and green. The yellow color is obtained by turning on both green and red colors at the same time. It also has a small hole where a paperclip can be inserted for triggering the calibration procedure. The holes next to the power switch expose the CO₂ sensor and its temperature/humidity sensor.

Inside the box there is an Arduino-like Jeenode I had lying around with an AA Power board (I have no idea if these are still sold, I've had them around for over ten years). The AA Power board is meant for a single AA battery, but it cannot provide enough current, so I removed the battery clips and connected it to a 2-AA battery holder, via the switch. It seems to be working well with two NiMH rechargeable batteries.

The CO₂ sensor is a Sensirion SCD30. It is quite expensive (about 50 EUR), but has an easy to use I2C interface and is the most accurate of the sensors presented in the Make: article. The software is quite trivial (if you except the calibration procedure, see below), and available here. The device automatically makes a measurement ever two seconds, the program reads it and updates the LED accordingly. That's it.

Calibration

There is an automatic calibration procedure that requires to keep the sensor powered for at least 7 days and put it in fresh (outdoors) air at least an hour per day. This is not very practical given that I've estimated that the batteries would last about 25 hours (20 mA for the ATmega, 17 mA for the SCD30, 10 mA for the LED at 3.3 V, with maybe a 80% efficiency for the power board with two 1900 mAh batteries at 2.4 V). There is however also the possibility to expose the sensor to air with a known CO₂ concentration and tell it the actual value it is measuring. It then uses this value as a reference point for subsequent measurements. The device is apparently sensitive to changes in shape (e.g. when subjected to mechanical stress during transport) so as a portable device it probably needs to be regularly re-calibrated.

The calibration procedure is simple: place the device outdoors, wait about 2 minutes for it to settle, then introduce a paperclip into the hole and press the button underneath it; the LED will be flashing red. The device will take repeated measurements every 2 seconds, and when a succession of 10 measurements is considered stable enough (i.e. the absolute value of the difference between the first and last of those is at most 1, and the sum of the absolute values of each measurement with its previous one is at most 10), it sets the calibration value to 416 ppm (which seems to be about the average value in 2021). As the device is accurate to +/- 30 ppm, the exact value does not matter so much. The device then returns to its normal operation mode, showing a green, yellow or red light.

What next?

Put a sticker on it with some indications about the LED colors and the reset button hole.

Very fruity, tropical fruits, slightly bitter. Contains malted barley and oats.

New Belgium, Fort Collins, Colorado, United States. 5.3% alcohol.

“mango, apricot, grapefruit and mandarin orange…”

Very fruity, tropical fruits and slightly bitter. Contains malted barley and wheat.

Rooster's Brewery Ltd, Harrogate, North Yorkshire, England. 6.1% alcohol.

Wikipedia

A bad cowboy arrives in Alaska through a subway terminal. He first attempts to rob a saloon by scaring the people with a picture of a man holding a gun, but has to flee when his trick is discovered. He then goes home, finds his wife in the arms of another man and shoots them both, only to discover that it was not his home. He then goes to his house but has no interest in his wife, and when she is knocked unconscious by a falling vase, he dresses up and goes wooing his neighbour until her husband arrives and they leave. The cowboy gets a taxi driven by a friend to follow them, plays a dirty trick on the policeman trying to arrest them for dangerous driving. They spend some time in a very large igloo, and the cowboy attempts to fish through a hole in the ice. Later he goes the woman's hut, but is chased by the husband and escapes by disguising himself as a snowman. The cowboy and the husband fight again and the former is wounded, but the wife then accidentally kills her husband. The cowboy the draws a gun. Suddenly, Keaton is woken up in the cinema by the janitor.

Wikipedia

The Young Man is told by his fiancee that she would marry him when he has become a successful businessman. He accidentally gets the money from a wallet he was trying to return to its owner, and with that money he buys from a crook furniture that is on the pavement with the intent to resell it for a profit, unaware that it belongs to a family that is about to move and is waiting for the moving cart. He gets a cheap horse-pulled cart, and starts loading the furniture, helped by the family that believes him to be the moving man. He then leaves, very slowly as the horse is not fast. After a while, he finds himself in the middle of the yearly police parade, accidentally catches the bomb thrown by an anarchist and throws it away. After the explosion, he is chased by the police across the city, always hiding, but always found again. He eventually manages to lock up the whole police force into the police station and comes out disguised as a policeman. His fiancee arrives just at that moment and is disappointed that her man is only a policeman. In despair, he gives himself up to the police.

Wikipedia

Alfred Butler is the gentle son of a wealthy family. To toughen it, his father sends him on a camping trip (with his valet and all the comfort). There he meets a young lady that he wishes to marry, but her father does not want a wimp for son in law. As it happens, a boxer named Alfred “Battling” Butler is due to fight soon, and the valet claims to the father that his master is that person, thinking that the boxer will lose his fight and that he will soon be forgotten. Alfred travers to the city where the fight takes place, and the boxer alas wins the fight, he is welcomed back as a hero by his girl's family and married on the spot. As a new fight is alrealy announced, Alfred has to go to the boxer's training camp to pretend writing to her from there. As she unexpectedly follows him there, the valet agrees with the boxer's trainer that the latter would train Alfred for the actual fight to which Alfred would have to participate. Before the fight, Alfred is very worried, until the trainer tells him that the boxer is actually fighting his own fight and only wanted to teach Alfred a lesson. The boxer however fights Alfred in the dressing room and when the latter sees his wife looking at him he starts fighting and eventually knocks the boxer out. Alfred then confesses to his wife, who is relieved that her husband is not actually a boxer.

Wikipedia

Five years after the Ghostbusters have saved New York, they are out of business because they have been sued for damage to the city. When Dana's child is the victim of a paranormal event, she asks the former Ghostbusters to investigate. They find a river of slime in the old underground tunnels, and the substance seems to react to human emotions. They are sued again after the investigation for drilling a hole in the middle of 1st Avenue, but as ghosts appear during the trial, the judge has to admit that ghosts exist. The Ghostbusters are back in business. In the meanwhile, Dana works at restoring paintings in the museum, where her boss Janosz is being manipulated by the ghost of Vigo, an Carpathian ruler from the 16th century, through the painting of the man. Vigo commands Janosz to bring him Dana's baby so that he can be corporeal again and rule the world. When the Ghostbusters discover that a major event is going to happen, they try to warn the mayor, but are sent to a psychiatric hospital by his assistant, and Dana's baby is kidnapped by a ghost nanny. When the museum is getting covered in slime and ghosts wreak havoc in the city, the Ghostbusters are asked for their help, but they cannot break the layer of slime around the museum, which is reinforced by all the negative emotion in the city. They need a symbol of hope for the population, so they slime the Statue of Liberty and animate it with music. With it and with the positive emotion from the city's population, they manage to enter the museum, save the baby and defeat Vigo.

Wikipedia

Holmes is asked by a famous Russian ballet dancer to become the father of her child, but Holmes wiggles out of it by hinting that he is in a relationship with Watson (who is not happy about what such a rumor could do to his reputation). Soon after a cabby brings a young woman whom he had found in the river. She has lost her memory, but Holmes manages to learn that her name is Gabrielle, the Belgian wife of a mining engineer who had gone to Scotland for his work and has ceased to give news three weeks ago. Holmes, Watson and Gabrielle investigate the address where Gabrielle was sending her letters to her husband, discover it is an abandoned shop, but find a letter from Mycroft. At his club, the latter commands his brother to cease investigating the case. The trio therefore goes to Scotland and discovers that something strange is happening in a castle near Loch Ness. They also discover the dead engineer being buried in a nameless grave. One evening, Holmes is summoned to the castle, where Mycroft explains that the engineer was working on an air pump used in a prototype submersible, and died in an accident. The same evening, Queen Victoria visits the place to see the submarine, but she disapproves of the notion of attacking unseen from under water, and puts a stop to the project. Mycroft also tells Sherlock that the real Gabrielle had been murdered three weeks earlier, and that the young woman is actually an Prussian spy. Upon his return, Sherlock understands she uses her umbrella to send Morse code messages to a group of German sailors disguised as monks, and tricks them into stealing the sabotaged submarine, killing them in the process. The spy is then arrested and exchanged for a British spy. Some months later, Sherlock is very affected when he learns from Mycroft that she was arrested as a spy in Japan and executed.

Wikipedia

Arthur is the son of a lighthouse keeper and Atlanna, queen of Atlantis to escape an arranged marriage. When Arthur was very young, Atlanna is forced to go back to Atlantis and Arthur is raised by his father and trained by the Atlantean Vulko, who is loyal to the queen. Arthur is exceptionally strong and able to breathe under water, and becomes known as Aquaman. He stops Black Manta from hijacking a Russian submarine which is nonetheless used by Arthur's half brother Orm, king of the Atlanteans for staging an attack from the humans on a summit between Orm and King Nereus, thus convincing him to unite the Atlant people under Orm's banner against the humans. Nereus's daughter Mera seeks Arthur and sends him on a quest to find the legendary Trident of Atlan, whose owner becomes Ocean Master. Arthur is captured by Orm and defeated in a duel, and escapes thanks to Mera. They travel to the fallen Kingdom of the Deserters under the Sahara, where they find a clue leading then to Sicily. There they find a clue to the next leg of the journey, to the Trench, and escape an attack by Black Manta, who is armed by Orm with prototype Atlantean weapons. They dive into the Trench, where Arthur's mother had been given as a sacrificed years ago. Arthur and Mera dive into it and discover a wormhole that transports them to an underground sea at the center of the Earth. There Arthur finds his mother alive, and the trident guarded by the Karathen. She could not escape, as only the true king of Atlantis can take the trident, and one needs the trident to leave the place. Arthur manages to communicate with the Karathen and it lets him take the trident. With the Karathen and the monsters from the Trench as ally, Arthur confronts Orm's army and vanquishes him in a duel. Arthur is then recognized as Ocean Master.

“English dark roasted chocolat stout”

Sweet and roasted, with hint of rye bread. Contains malted barley and wheat.

Frederic Robinson Ltd, Stockport, Greater Manchester, England. 4.5% alcohol.

Just another IPA, nice but nothing special. Contains malted barley and wheat.

Frederic Robinson Ltd, Stockport, Greater Manchester, England. 4.3% alcohol.

“Marshmallow and chocolate stout”

Very sweet, strong chocolate and red fruit candy (strawberry and rapsberry, maybe? and probably vanilla too) flavours. Contains malted barley and malted oats.

BrewDog plc, Ellon, Aberdeenshire, Scotland. 7.0% alcohol

As I cannot find any Blair's Original Death Sauce in shops, I decided to reverse-engineer it, from memory. This is the result.

Ingredients

• 25 g carrot
• 11 g freshly grated garlic
• 3.5 g fresh coriander leaves
• 5 g mineral salt (Seltin)
• 1.5 g powdered paprika
• 0.2 g smoked paprika
• 4 g sugar
• 1.5 g powdered onion
• 0.5 g dried parsley
• 10 g tomato concentrate
• 15 mL lemon juice
• 150 mL Poppamies Habanero sauce (1 bottle)
• water

Tools

• 1 very small saucepan and matching kitchen stove
• 1 0.1 g-precision scale
• assorted measuring spoons (15 mL , 50 mL)
• 1 immersion blender
• 1 clean and empty habanero sauce bottle (or another container for the leftover sauce).
• 1 clean small funnel that fits into the bottle
• 1 electric kettle

Preparation

Chop the carrot finely, rinse and chop the coriander leaves.

In a very small saucepan, boil 1/2 dL water and add the carrots. Let it boil, then add the garlic, coriander, salt, paprika, smoked paprika, sugar, powdered onion and dried parsley. Let boil until the carrots are soft, stirring from time to time (keep an eye on it, it takes only a few minutes). If the water evaporates too quickly, just add more water and let it boil again. Then add the tomato concentrate, lemon juice and habanero sauce and boil once more.

Blend the preparation with an immersion blender until smooth and set aside.

Rinse the empty habanero sauce bottle, and preferably get a second bottle, as there will be more than 150 mL sauce.

Boil water in a kettle and use it immediately to fill the bottles and the screw caps to sterilize them. Also pour some of that water in and outside of a small funnel. Estimate the thickness of the sauce, add boiled water and stir to make it thinner. I added 30 mL water, maybe 20 mL would have been enough? Then empty the bottles (careful, they are hot) and pour the sauce into them with the funnel. Put the screw caps and store in the refrigerator. I use on such batch over several months, it seems to be keeping well.

“Dates + fig”

Sweet, roasty, rye bread. Contains wheat, barley, oats.

Anarchy Brew Co., Newcastle, Tyne and Wear, England. 9% alcohol.

‘sweet milk chocolate and roasted coffee bitterness’

Very sweet, very chocolatey, I didn't notice the coffee or the bitterness. Contains malted barley and wheat.

Thornbridge brewery, Bakewell, Derbyshire, England. 6.8% alcohol.

Wikipedia

Puss in boots is trying to steal the magic beans that are in possession of Jack and Jill. The beans would grow and take him to a castle in the sky where he would find the goose who lays golden eggs. Bringing back those eggs to the village where he has been raised as an orphan, he would thus restore his honor. His first attempt fails as he is interrupted by Kitty Softpaws who is associated with Humpty Dumpty. The latter was Puss's friend, but he turned rogue and led Puss to lose his honor by losing the villager's gold. All three associate, manage to steal the beans, reach the castle and bring back the goose and many eggs. The goose happens to be a gosling, and his mother, a giant goose follows him and threatens to destroy the village. Puss understands that Humpty intended to use the giant goose to destroy the village, but he manages to convince his once-friend to return the gosling to his mother and save the village. Puss's honor is restored with the villagers, but as he's still considered a criminal, he flees before the arrival of the police. Humpty, faking his death while saving the village, escapes with the goose to the castle.

Wikipedia

In 1967, Dr. Evil escapes Austin Powers by freezing himself. The latter then voluntarily goes into cryostasis, and gets thawed when Evil reappears, thirty years later. Evil is not interested in Virtucon, the wealthy company set up by his henchman Number 2, and decides to steal a nuclear weapon and threaten the World for money. Austin has difficulties adapting to the modern world, and is helped by Vanessa Kensington, the daughter of his sidekick in the 60s. Together they track Number 2 to Las Vegas, and Austin discovers Evil's plan by infiltrating his secretary's home: send the weapon to the center of the Earth and trigger volcanic eruptions. When infiltrating Virtucon to recover the weapon, they are made prisoner. The UN accepts to pay Evil, but the latter decides to go on with the plan anyway. Austin and Vanessa are left to a convoluted and certain death, and therefore manage to escape. Evil is betrayed by Number 2, and while Austin activates the secret base's self-destruct, Evil escapes again with a rocket and goes into cryostasis in orbit. Austin and Vanessa eventually marry and escape one last murder attempt by Evil's henchman.

“dark chocolate and vanilla flavours… mild mocha aroma”

Sweet and very roasted, a bit chocolatey. Contains barley malt and wheat.

Carlow Brewing Company, Bagenalstown, Co. Carlow, Ireland. 6.0% alcohol.

Änglamark Dark Chocolate, 70% : bio, fabriqué en Italie, pas très intéressant

© Amazon.fr

Edward Blake est le patron d'une usine anglaise qui est déprimé depuis la mort de sa femme plusieurs années plus tôt et qui s'est peu à peu distancé de leur fille. Il décide alors de changer d'air et devient majordome dans une grande maison en France, sans révéler sa véritable origine. Il y fait la connaissance de Madame, sa patronne, d'Odile la cuisinière, de Manon une étudiante qui vient faire le ménage plusieurs fois par semaine, et de Philippe, le gestionnaire du domaine. Edward se rend vite compte que Madame a des soucis d'argent et que les seules personnes qu'elle reçoit ne cherchent qu'à lui soutirer les biens qu'il lui reste. Elle refuse cependant l'aide de son nouveau domestique. Andrew entreprend alors de résoudre les divers problèmes de la maisonnée : l'ami de Manon l'a quittée en apprenant qu'elle était enceinte, Philippe est amoureux d'Odile, mais ses manières rustres font qu'Odile se défie de lui, et Madame est déprimée depuis la mort de son mari, en plus d'avoir fait de mauvais placements financiers. Il fait aussi la connaissance de Yanis, un adolescent du quartier voisin que Philippe avait surpris à le voler et qu'il contraint depuis à travailler lui, le menaçant de le dénoncer à la police. Andrew conseille Manon sur comment mieux communiquer avec son copain, apprend les bonnes manières à Philippe, convainc Odile d'accepter la présence de Philippe lors des repas, donne des cours de français et de maths à Yanis pour qu'il réussisse à l'école. Il organise une soirée d'halloween pour Yanis et ses copains et une fête de Noël pour toute la maisonnée. Avec Philippe, il va reprendre les bijoux qu'une «  amie  » de Madame lui avait soutirés à vil prix, et lorsque Madame vend son domaine à un promoteur immobilier, il n'hésite pas à user de la force pour reprendre le compromis de vente et le détruire. Lorsqu'il se décide enfin à avouer à Madame qu'il a caché son passé, elle lui apprend qu'elle le savait déjà, car ils ont des amis communs (qui ont permis à Andrew de trouver son emploi de majordome). Et à la fin, la fille d'Andrew vient lui rendre visite avec son mari et ses enfants.

Very sweet, tastes of sweet dried fruits and rye bread, very good. Contains barley malt.

Traquair House, Innerleithen, Peebleshire, Scotland. 7.2% alcohol.

“Black forest gâteau in a can… cherry and chocolate… ligthly roasted coffee… Brambling Cross hops”

Sweet, quite roasted flavours, maybe chocolate, but I could not find cherries in it. Contains malted barley and wheat.

Thornbridge brewery, Bakewell, Derbyshire, England. 8.0% alcohol.

Wikipedia

In the fall of 2013, Mitsuha is a high school girl living in the small town of Itomori who wishes to live as a boy in Tokyo. She inexplicably begins to switch bodies with Taki, a high school boy who lives in Tokyo, causing all sorts of embarrassing situations. They first believe this to be dreams, but they start communicating by leaving each other written messages on paper or phones. One day, Mitsuha accompanies her grandmother for a ritual at an old shrine in the mountains outside of town, and later tells Taki about the comet about to pass nearest Earth the same evening. The next morning, Taki attempts to call Mitshua for the first time, but the number is not allocated. Having slowly fallen in love with her, decides to go looking for his friend. He does not know Mitsuha lives, but in a photography exhibition he recognizes the characteristic landscape and learns the name of the surrounding region, Hida. He then travels there, relying on sketches of the Itomori landscapes he has drawn from memory to identify the place. He eventually meets a restaurant owner who identifies the place and takes him there. Taki then discovers that Itomori has been destroyed when a piece of the comet fell on it, three years earlier; research at the library shows that Mitsuha and her whole family had been killed. Upon this discovery, messages from Mitsuha on his phone start to disappear and he starts to wonder if this was all a dream after all. Taki then travels to the shrine (which was far enough from the disaster area), where he has a vision of Mitsuha. He remembers having met her randomly on the train in Tokyo three years earlier, where this stranger had given him a braided ribbon that he has worn on his wrist since then. Taki then wakes up in Mitsuhas's body on the morning of the catastrophe. Her grandmother reveals that the ability to switch bodies has been passed along the generations. Taki then convinces Mitsuha's friend of the imminent disaster and they plan to cause an incident at the local power plant so that people would take refuge in the planned shelter, the school, that is just outside of the impacted area. Taki then realizes that Mitsuha must be in his body at the shrine, he runs there; at sunset they return to their own bodies and manage to see each other for a short while before reverting to their respective timelines. As the original plan had failed, Mitsuha tries to convince her father, mayor of the city, to evacuate the people. Her memories of Taki start to fade, and so do Taki's memories of her. The comet's fragment crashes, Itomori is destroyed, and Taki, in his own timeframe, remembers nothing anymore. Five years later, after having graduated from university, Taki searches for a job, but senses that he has lost something, but is still interested in the events surrounding the comet. Eight years earlier, the town had been evacuated, and all the inhabitants have been relocated; Mitsuha has moved to Tokyo. She and Taki suddenly glimpse each other when their respective trains pass each other, feel drawn to each other and each races to find the other one. They finally meet and ask each other for their names.

Citrus hedelmät, ehkä greippi. Sisältää vehnämallasta ja ohramallasta.

Panimoyhtiö Hiisi, Jyväskylä, Suomi. 3.5% alkoholia.

“Hallertau Taurus hops… Pilsner, Wheat, Munich, Oats malt”

Sour as expected, with a taste of raspberry. Contains malted barley, malted wheat, malted oats.

BrewDog plc, Ellon, Aberdeenshire, Scotland. 5.0% alcohol

“blend of Ninkasi (… beer made with a small amount of local apple juice) and Sommerset Wild (a sour beer fermented using yeast and bacteria from local orchards)”

Sour, citrusy, difficult to describe. Contains barley malt and wheat.

The Wild Beer Co., Shepton Mallet, Somerset, England. 7.3% alcohol.

Just another lager. Contains barley malt.

Boyne Brewhouse, Drogheda, Co. Meath, Ireland.

“Sour red ale aged in red Burgundy barrels with raspberries. 2018 vintage ale… acidity… fruit flavour… spicy red fruits and vinous oak”

Indeed sour, red wine flavours and indeed raspberry aroma. Contains malted barley and wheat.

Thornbridge brewery, Bakewell, Derbyshire, England. 7% alcohol.