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I havn't gone completely crazy, but I now (sort of) am the answer to everything. So, now that I am the answer to "the Universe, and Everything" I planned to see the work of a couple of other researchers that also had answers to a lot of questions on a grand scale, like the amazing International Encyclopedia of Unified Science - a fantastic project that of course failed.

The main reason for my trip to Vienna was to see some of the graphics by Otto Neurath and his collegues. I recommend having a look at the Isotype archive, or better, the paper Like sailors on the open sea (PDF) about his statistical work. If you are looking for a book about his work, I recommend the short but efficient Principles of Making Isotype Charts, in part written by his wife Marie. It has the best images of the most important works.
The Österreichisches Museum für angewandte Kunst (MAK) does not allow cameras so I cannot show what the exhibition looked like, but I can just show the Österreicher im MAK restaurant that I found to be the nicest pub in town. Absolutely gorgeous!

Coffee. Well, they say the modern café was invented in Vienna. There is a very refined café culture here, meaning there's lots of different styles of coffee, the café is a place to meet people, to sit for a long time (=hours), and to read newspapers (available for free, even international ones). One of the common variants of coffee is Wiener Melange and it looks like the photo below. There are incredibly many coffee variants and some are local (not the typical Italian names). If you can, the german version of this wikipedia page on Viennese café history is pretty much essential reading.

The best cafées are not pretty but try to keep the traditional style. Waiters are usually men in black suits, for example. This is what Bräunerhof and Sperl look like. Live classic music is not uncommon on weekends.

If coffee is the national hot drink, then Tafelspitz is the national dish of Austria. It is basically boiled beef but again there's an advanced protocol on how to cook this dish and even how to eat it. You start by having the broth as a starter soup, the bowl topped with shredded pancakes. Pancakes appear in surprisingly many ways and dishes here.

Then you eat the beef (there are confusingly many different cuts of beef to choose from), with Rösti, apples and horseradish sauce.

There are of course many more things to be said about Vienna but I'll save that for my next trip when my research is a bit better grounded. But, many museums are worth visiting, especially the MuseumsQuartier and MAK. The Secession building interior is a rip off at €8, for nothing.The CAT (fast train between the airport and the city) is also a rip off, when the S-Bahn is almost as fast and costs almost nothing. The saturday market Naschmarkt is essential; plan for having lunch there at one of the many food places. Learn how to say hello (they are always very polite and friendly here). Don't eat cake with every cup of coffee. Go there in April/May or late fall (warm but not too warm). Drink the local fruit schnapps. Always rent an audio guide at the museums. Buy day passes at the local transport system (subway+tram+bus). Skip dinner one evening and go for the local street food. Just look at how beautiful the street stands are (click for full size). And, yes, schnitzel can be street food here.

It was time again for my winter trip to Berlin. The Swedish promoters of Third Thursday mentioned they might have the November TT meeting in Berlin. Of course this was worth checking out. TT is an (very) informal meeting of Interaction Designers - to hang out, talk shop or just a normal debreifing session at a pub.

Shouts out to all people that came, especially the nice guys Jan from UXStoryTellers and Volker at Pidoco! Cheers guys! The image does a poor job showing all people that showed up. Maybe Emma of someone else has more and better images?

Well, that was Thursday and I had 4 more days. What to do? I will share just some of the food experiences I had. Disclaimer: I like German food. In Berlin you can get food from every corner of the world. It, however, always comes in the typical Berlin style - relaxed and in a come-as-you-are manner.

I've said it before - they know breakfast in Berlin. It is served everywhere and almost around the clock. One of the best ever is this foodie shop called Brot & Butter. My God it was good - perfect bread and nice relaxed style. Ok, I'm quite a bit fanatic about bread quality.

You sit in the middle of the store, a bit unusual but it works just fine. I will return.

While I'm at it, dinner at Renger-Patzsch is highly recommended. Excellent service, food is nice and refined. The restaurant is in a residential area and you will be the only tourist in this place.

The area around Hackesche Höfe is the opposite: quite touristic, but still pleasant and interesting. Plenty to see and many shops. When you get tired, Pan Asia is worth a stop.

I had luch at Pan Asia, and that day the set menu was Schweinrückensteak in soy followed by dessert.

Dessert was Maki, with banana. Sound strange but was just fine. Sugar-coated Maki. Good value.

Yet another breakfast opportunity, at Literaturhaus. Sit in the nice Winter Garden or in the more classic café inside. Nice service and relaxed place to read your Sunday magazine in.

You need a walk after all those breakfasts. This empty field was right in town behind a hole in the wall (no, not that wall). The graffiti and paintings are in a different league here. What size is that, 25 meters high? Not your average tag.

More wall paintings.

A final word. Lots of coffee at breakfast, well you know what's coming... This being Berlin, it was an experience typical of the town: they played minimal techno inside! I could not believe it. Was this booth hacked by outlaw DJs or is the town council way cooler here?

Completely irrelevant, but here's my recommended playist for a Berlin trip: Dixon's Temporary Secretary, one of the finest compilations in a while! It is also absolutely mandatory to get something from the local Sonar Kollektiv label, and why not Sonar Kollektiv: Early days. Berlin is absolutely huge in size and you will spend some time travelling with the U-Bahn. It's worth having some music in your ears for those long trips, music that will have some connection to the city and its ambiance. See you next year, Berlin.

I am leaving Uppsala University for a new job in Stockholm. This means I will not use my old domains anymore. boralv.se is my new home on the web. Update you feeds and links please.

The whole feed

http://boralv.se/blog/rss.php

Just the music feed

http://boralv.se/blog/rss.php?id=MUSIC

Det finns några berömda sista måltider, med betoning på sista. Det kan vara Saddams kokta kyckling, eller Homer Simpsons obegränsade bufféfrossa på pizza. Själv skulle jag som sista måltid utan tvekan välja vit sparris. Jag planerar dock äta sparris många gånger till, hoppas jag.

I sparrisens hemland kallas den "Königliches Gemüse" och den behandlas verklingen med all respekt. Under säsongen (maj månad) så säljs den mesta sparrisen lokalt, hemma hos bönder eller längs med vägarna bredvid odlingen. Färskheten är nämligen A och O - sparrisen ska ätas samma dag, helst inom några timmar efter skörd. Dagen efter eller senare går självklart bra om man gillar torra fibrer och träsmak.

Tyskarna äter nog också grön sparris men det är den vita som anses vara en delikatess värd att tala om. Det finns en massa regler och klassificeringar och det är småroligt att läsa EUs handelsnormer för sparris.

Näst sista veckan i april var jag i Berlin och blev glatt överraskad av att det redan fanns sparris på menyn. Alla restauranger som är något att ha gör reklam för sina olika sparrisvariationer på stora skyltar. Dock verkar alla äta den på det traditionella sättet: kokt med hollandaise. Kanske med Schnitzel eller skinka till, men oftast som den är.

Jag kan tycka att det går bra med en majonnäs till, om man gör den själv alltså. Inte så kraftig olja heller helst.

All sparris klarar inte riktigt att leva upp till klassificeringen "extra". Vanligare klass 1-sparris blir bra som soppa och den gifter sig väldigt bra med aningen grädde. Det gör inget alls om man gömmer lite finhackad rökt lax eller forellrom i botten på tallriken som en överraskning.

Över 10°C varmt. Sommartid. Bytte till sommardäck. Har städat skrivbordet (nåja).

As usual, Berlin proves to be an excellent town for short weekend trips. For us living quite close even more so. I live close to the airport in Stockholm, and the airport in Berlin is very central (the local bus between "Tegel" and the city center takes less than 20 minutes). I plan to make this a yearly trip around Christmas time.

I usually go here for the art and music scene, but here's a couple of food tips:

At the Christmas market at Kulturbrauerei this booth sold Absinth... beats the traditional Glühwein by a mile. Not for everyone though.

Berlin is famous for its late breakfast habits. Many places serve breakfast until 16, or even 24 hours... My favourite places are, in order, Café Einstein, Zillemarkt and Schwarzes Café. Only Einstein is really hi-end.

The German Chancellor took Clinton to Gugelhof for dinner once. They serve German/French food (Alsace), and a bit more stylish and refined than normal. A bit formal service (not in a bad way though), otherwise relaxed and oriented towards quality. Solid Alsace food, like Tarte flambée and Choucroute. Located in Prenzlauer Berg.

The location of Renger-Patzsch is really off center. It's in the middle of a residential area where not much else is going on. It's worth a trip though. I was really impressed, by the service, the food and the nice patina of the restaurant interior. The best food I've ever had in Berlin. Menu changes often. U-Bahn station Eisenacher Straße.

Let's not forget the street food - which typically means Döner/Kebab and this special Berlin classic, Curry Wurst. Konnopke's Imbiß is considered the original. Located under the Eberswalder Straße substation.

Julklappen till mig själv i år var en resa till Berlin, dagarna innan jul. Jag har varit här ett par gånger tidigare men jag fann besöket annorlunda på ett par olika sätt.

Det är fan vad de röker här, slog det mig första kvällen ute. Att det är rökförbud i många länder är inget man tänker på förrän man hamnar på ett ställe utan rökförbud. Fast det är tydligen bara några få dagar kvar på den friheten i Berlin. Efter nyår ska det vara stopp även här, fast man undrar ju. Regler och politisk korrekthet är bestämt inte stadens främsta gren. Undrar om inte Berlin till och med slår Amsterdam i att vara frisinnad?

Det är nog det som är attraktivt med staden - jämfört med Sverige så är det rätt annorlunda och definitivt urbant (på ett sätt som Stockholm inte är). Jag var här mest för att besöka ett par museer, men staden i övrigt är lika intressant. Avenyerna, den nya arkitekturen, förfallet, mixen av nytt och gammalt, den historiska kopplingen, det bohemiska, stora pengar, allt är speciellt.

Jag är inte så intresserad av allt det alternativa man hittar här, men det ger i alla fall en lättsam stil som jag gillar. Främst socialt, menar jag. "En av mina främsta trivselfaktorer har varit avsaknaden av riktigt bra krogar" skriver Bobo (se nedan). Det ligger något i det. Det finns en överbetoning av det rustika, det prisvärda inte minst. Men det är nog mer tyskt än unikt för Berlin. Jag kan se det positiva i inställningen, lite på samma sätt som lower your standards (PDF) kan vara en effektiv metod att skapa (något med kvalité, motsägelsefullt nog). Det är kanske bara en fråga om Gemütlichkeit? Det enkla upplevs välkomnande. Det är iofs en effekt av att man är på semester, men jag får en avsaknad av stress som jag tycker mig kommer av staden.

Det var också annorlunda att vara här här precis innan jul. Det var verkligen bitande kallt, kallare än hemma! Eftersom man som turist är mest till fots så fick man verkligen bita ihop - det är sällan man är ute och går en hel dag sådär. Glühwein hjälper kortsiktigt. Eftersom jag inte firar jul det minsta så fanns inte heller en shoppingstress. Synd kanske - det hade enkelt gått hitta massor med saker här. Inte minst från Stilwerk. För en gångs skulle en trevlig shopping mall, inriktad på design.

Mer: jag vet inte vad man ska tycka om Bobos berlinbeskrivning, men läsvärt är det. Dock överkurs på alla sätt och vis.

I've been planning to buy a newer car forever... I first had to make a sacrifice (as in: wave a dead chicken), by investing in a new stereo and other expensive non-returnable things on my old car before I could find this one.
Two days after upgrading my old car I found this blue a4 - with an almost perfect specification: V6, quattro, automatic gear and GPS navigation. It is so much comfortable than my old a4!

Being Swedish (we average 150 litres per capita and year here) and working in the computer business, coffee is no stranger to me. In Sweden we use the term fika for coffee moments, usually with something sweet to go with the coffee.

I'm now documenting my coffee drinking on my own domain, gofika.se. This is also a guide to coffee places in and around Uppsala. The site is only available in Swedish.

It's been a long trip - today I finally got my PhD. Design in Telemedicine.

I've run the Acid Jazz server for quite a few years now (since 1995 I think), and I'm also the admin of the AJ mailing list. The list started 8 October 1993.

I try to keep my playlist updated, but it's not really working.

This is what I really would like: being an architect; designing (wood) furniture, especially beds for compact living, running a combined coffe/music shop that also sells sourdough bread.

Currently I'm the local project manager for the EC project MELISA. MELISA will demonstrate interactive advertising and sports-related games over digital television and next generation mobile networks infrastructures.
I also teach on techniques on how to implement advanced Graphical User Interfaces, mostly related to Java.
Previously, I've worked mostly with design of medical applications, both clinical and administrative. The clinical one's being most fun, of course...
I now and then work at the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) in Heidelberg, Germany, with the design of a teleradiology application that has won the European IST Prize twice!

Gravad lax (salmon), Fortis Flieger (watch), Secrets & lies (movie), Sperss (wine), estragon (herb), Wüsthof (knives), typography, italian red wine, Bauhaus, xemacs (text editor), Illy (coffee), furniture design, sans serif fonts, bicycles, fishing, english and french movies, Trimbach (alsace wine), London, sunday brunches with pancakes, acid jazz (music), blueberries, a good hack, Edika (cartoons), Fissler Profi (kitchenware), williams (schnapps), Gaggia (coffee machines), Style Council (band), PG Wodehouse (author), Heidelberg (town).

For people who should know better.

The drinkers' guide to Heidelberg