Thursday Things: Roland and Robots Edition
11 July 2024. Vol 6 No 28. By Dan McGirt. #257
It’s Thursday Things! This week we wash blueberries, watch robots, and wonder where a sword went.
If you enjoy this edition, please click the heart icon in the header or at the end of the post to let me know.
Have you seen this sword? Image: Patrick Clenet CC BY-SA 3.0 Via Wikipedia “Durandal”
The sword that was stolen
Who stole Durandal?
If Dan Brown has been scratching his head for a new book idea, here it is, ripped from the headlines:
The Durandal sword in the southern French village of Rocamadour, commonly known as the “French Excalibur,” has mysteriously vanished from the stone it had long been stuck inside.
Like Excalibur of Arthurian legend, Durandal has ties to medieval folklore. It was said to be indestructible and belonged to the legendary paladin Roland, a knight of Charlemagne in French epic literature.
As the story goes, some 1,300 years ago, Roland threw it into a rock 32 feet off the ground, where it has sat ever since. And though the actual blade that’s now missing and presumed stolen is a replica, a valuable piece of history has been lost.
Paging Robert Langdon.
What bold thief made this climb in the deaf in the dead of night, to abscond with the legendary blade of Roland?
What dastardly villain would dare to remove the sword from where it pierced the stone more than 13 centuries — wait, what was that last bit, again?
And though the actual blade that’s now missing and presumed stolen is a replica
Are you kidding me? All this fuss over the Disneyland version?
Next you’ll tell me that Roslyn Chapel isn’t the isolated and mysterious location depicted in The Da Vinci Code but has a visitor center, gift shop, coffee shop1, website, and ticketed tours daily?
Actually, you don’t have to tell me that. I’ve been there.
(The soup in the café is quite tasty!)
The mysterious coffee shop at Roslyn Chapel. Image: Roslyn Chapel Trust
As for Durandal:
According to the legend, it was given to Charlemagne by an angel, then gifted to Roland to be used in battle. It was said to be the sharpest of all blades and completely indestructible.
But Roland, dying as he faced defeat at the Battle of Roncevaux Pass in 778 C.E., feared the sword would fall into the hands of his enemies. Just before dying, Roland tried in vain to break the sword upon the rocks.
With no other choice, Roland then threw the sword into the air to save it. By some miracle, it flew more than 100 miles and embedded itself into the rock face of Rocamadour, where it had allegedly rested ever since.
And who can prove otherwise?
In either case, Lenfant said that four different blacksmiths have offered to make new recreations of Durandal for free in the wake of the theft. Thankfully, it seems the legend of the sword will live on.
Some legends never die.
Washing blueberries
I love blueberries. They’re my favorite of all the berries.
Don’t get me wrong. I like strawberries. But eating strawberries requires effort, because you’ve got to deal with the little tuft of leaves at the top.
Blackberries? Raspberries? Also delicious. But they go squishy and mushy pretty fast.
Blueberries are the perfect berry. Round, compact, easy to scoop up an devour by the handful. And packed with all kinds of unpronounceable nutrients!
But you have to wash them.
Do I always?
Eh…sometimes I just eat them straight from the carton. I know I shouldn’t. But they’re so good!
Still, I try to do it right. And if you need advice on properly washing blueberries, then Martha Stewart has you covered:
How to Wash Blueberries the Right Way
You might even be tempted to eat them straight from the carton, but before you do, it's important to wash them first.
I know. I know. I already confessed. Let’s skip the lecture and get to the helpful tips.
"Before washing blueberries, inspect and remove [ones] that are moldy or broken, as well as debris like leaves or stems," says Trung Vu, chef instructor of pastry and baking arts at the Institute of Culinary Education in New York City.
To wash blueberries, follow these steps, as provided by Vu:
Place the blueberries in a colander. If you need to wash a lot of berries, do it in batches to avoid overcrowding.
Rinse the blueberries under cold running water, gently swishing the berries around with your hands to ensure all the berries are exposed to water.
Gently shake the colander to remove excess water.
That’s easy enough. But then there are four more steps for drying the blueberries. Why?
After washing, blueberries should be dried so they don't get soft and spoil.
Okay, that’s reasonable. Except there is also advice on when to wash blueberries:
Only wash blueberries just before using them. You should avoid washing blueberries before storing them in the refrigerator, as the extra moisture will cause them to spoil faster. This can also make them soft and mushy, says Vu, so wait until you're ready to eat them.
If I’m only washing the blueberries just before using them, why bother with drying them, since they’re presumably about to be eaten, not put back into the fridge?
Get your story straight, so-called blueberry expert!
There are more tips for blueberry wrangling at the link.
As for me, except for the few a I grab beforehand, I wash all my fresh blueberries at once in a bowl of white vinegar-water solution, dab them dry with paper towels as best I can, and store them in the refrigerator. It’s more efficient to wash them in bulk.
That’s right, Martha Stewart! I completely ignore you and your alleged blueberry expert.
But trust me, the damp blueberries in my refrigerator won’t be there long enough to go bad…
Mmm…blueberries! Photo by Joanna Kosinska on Unsplash
Japan does the most Japan thing ever
Japan is known for many things: sushi, samurai, Hello Kitty, and getting regularly stomped on by Godzilla.
Oh … and giant humanoid robots.
But that’s all fiction, right?
Not anymore: Japan introduces enormous humanoid robot to maintain train lines
It resembles an enormous, malevolent robot from 1980s sci-fi but West Japan Railway’s new humanoid employee was designed with nothing more sinister than a spot of painting and gardening in mind.
Starting this month, the large machine with enormous arms, a crude, disproportionately small Wall-E-like head and coke-bottle eyes mounted on a truck – which can drive on rails – will be put to use for maintenance work on the company’s network.
To be clear, this is not an autonomous robot. Nor does its human operator ride inside its head, as depicted in various anime tales.
Its operator sits in a cockpit on the truck, “seeing” through the robot’s eyes via cameras and operating its powerful limbs and hands remotely.
Or is the human operator just for show?
With a vertical reach of 12 metres (40ft), the machine can use various attachments for its arms to carry objects as heavy as 40kg (88lb), hold a brush to paint or use a chainsaw.
As seen in the video below, the giant humanoid robot can perform many useful tasks of railroad maintenance.
But come on — it’s really part of Japan’s Godzilla defense network. No one is fooled.
Thank you for reading!
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From the website:
On offer, each day is freshly prepared tasty homemade soup, a selection of rolls and paninis with a range of fillings and a delicious range of scones, cakes and pastries. We will also be serving seasonal selections throughout the year and our food is, of course, complemented by a wide range of hot and cold speciality drinks, served by our specially trained baristas; perfect before or after a tour of the Chapel.
Our coffee supplier Italian Aroma is one of the leading independent coffee roasters in Scotland. We serve their continental blend which is a mix of Arabica & Robusta coffees, roasted to a full chestnut colour with a balanced flavour. We also stock their very own range of Plantation Tea.