Winter has come.

From today I need to wear a coat, a scarf, and winter trousers to go out in Stockholm.

It's still autumn by Swedish standards which define winter as temperature below zero degree Celsius, though.

Gordon Ramsay Plane Food

Flying with British Airways from London Heathrow airport means that you depart from the new Terminal 5 building. After passing the security checkpoint surprisingly smoothly, I have dinner at Gordon Ramsay Plane Food. It could be the best restaurant in London. A poached hake, a rocket parmesan salad, and non-alcohol cocktail called Lemon Tree are all good. Usually, airport restaurants inside the security checkpoint are lousy. But it's worth visiting Heathrow Terminal 5 early and having the last meal in London at this restaurant. (A friend of mine, a frequent flier from Terminal 5, told me that the service could be slow for passengers whose boarding time is fast-approaching.)

Bolitas de espinacas at Navarro's

Have dinner with a friend of mine at Navarro's, probably one of the best Spanish restaurants in London.

Not every dish is great. (I said "the best in London".) Calamares rebozados are horrible. Brocheta de cordero isn't as good as the one I had in Madagascar.

BUT I have to write this down to remember. Bolitas de espinacas are fantastic. They are deep-fried, breaded balls of spinach and ricotta.

Long-lasting insecticide-treated bed nets in Madagascar

There are always things to learn which you would not imagine unless you visit the field.

Long-lasting insecticide-treated bed nets (LLINs) are the main tool for combating against malaria promoted by the international aid community. These nets have insecticide ingrained into the fabric so that mosquitoes with malaria parasites will die as soon as they touch the net. People talk about its durability in terms of how long the effect of insecticide lasts.

Today the head of the malaria control department at the Ministry of Health in Madagascar told us the following:

In 2006, pregnant women and mothers with children under the age of five in the east coast area received LLINs for free at health centers. Since then, the malaria infection rate had been stable around 10 to 20 percent. Last year, it suddenly went up to nearly 50 percent. We investigated what happened. It turns out that those LLINs distributed in 2006 have holes so that mosquitoes can come inside the bed net. Why? People in the east coast tend to have the kitchen inside the house. They burn charcoal to cook. The cooking smoke makes bed nets dirty. So people wash LLINs quite often. After two years, LLINs are worn out.

It's not about the durability of insecticide but that of nets themselves that matter to Malagasy people.

Ambodisaina village in Atsinanana region of Madagascar

Hi from the capital city of Madagascar

On the day of our arrival in Antananarivo, the capital of Madagascar also known as Tana (pictured above), the current and former presidents of the country, visiting Maputo, the capital of Mozambique, agreed to set up a transition government which will supervise presidential and legislative elections during the next 15 months. (See BBC News for more detail.) On the way from the airport to the hotel by taxi, we saw many, many residents of Tana lining up alongside the road, waiting for the current president, whom the international community does not recognize the head of state of Madagascar, to come back to the country.

With my colleagues from Tokyo, I'm visiting Madagascar to launch a research project on the impact of long-lasting insecticide-treated bed nets (famous for its preventive effect against malaria infection) on poverty reduction. If I have time and connection to the Internet, I'll keep updating this blog LIVE FROM MADAGASCAR.

Good design helps newspapers

A TED talk (February 2009) by the designer who revolutionalized newspapers in Central and Eastern Europe.



I would add that this guy's design of his presentation slides is also excellent.

The least hard-working nation in Europe

So this is why, ever since I moved to Sweden, I always feel discouraged from working hard.

By the way, the above linked article shows why Sweden's only English news media, The Local, is a crappy news outlet. It doesn't explain what "collectively agreed" annual leave or "collectively agreed" working week really means. This is the most crucial piece of information because the whole article bases its information on the statistics for these two things. If you don't speak Swedish in Sweden, The Local is the ONLY source of local news. This country doesn't have any printed media in English.

How to "Save As ..." in Excel 2007.

For the first time ever, I use Excel 2007. And I don't know how to "save as", that is, to save a file in a different format than the default Excel format.

So I google it, and find this page from Digg.

I'm amazed that many people think it's a stupid question. Many people don't answer the question, just saying the guy who asked this question is retarded. They say, "To publicize how stupid this question is, let's keep posting!" How mean they are. As a result, I have to scroll down quite a bit to find the solution:

RIGHT CLICK on quick access toolbar
SELECT Customize quick access toolbar
SELECT Show All Commands from "Choose commands from:" drop down
SELECT Save As
CLICK add

The guy who asked this question (and I myself) is not retarded. It's Microsoft Excel developers who are retarded. How can you design the updated version of software so un-intuitively to the users of the previous version? (They completely reshuffle which command belongs to which menu bar.)

And the most annoying feature of Excel, namely, a pop-up window always shows up when I want to close a file that is already saved in the non-Excel format, still remains in this new version of Excel. It is Microsoft Excel developers who are retarded.

And when I enter "mar2003" (as the survey identifier for the one conducted in Morocco in 2003; "MAR" is the ISO code for Morocco), Excel 2007 recognizes it as 3/1/2003 (as the previous version of Excel does). Who would enter "mar2003" for 1st March 2003? It is Microsoft Excel developers who are retarded.

I'll Be Your Love

Composed by Yoshiki
Performed by Nicole Scherzinger (vocal), Yoshiki (piano), Ikuro Fujiwara (conductor), and Tokyo City Philharmonic Orchestra in Tokyo on December 2002.



For most of you, this video is a rare footage of Nicole Scherzinger before she broke through as the lead singer of Pussycat Dolls. For me, Yoshiki's killer melody is the most important although I do think Nicole's beautiful voice really fits this song.

Done with the revision of the last chapter in my PhD thesis

My PhD thesis, completed two years ago, has four chapters. One chapter was already published in a non-peer reviewed journal. Another chapter was published as a book chapter. The third chapter was submitted to and then rejected by a journal and then re-submitted to another journal last April.

Today I finished revising the last chapter (finally) and submitted it to a journal.

Now I can fully move on to new research projects (until journal editors either ask me to revise the submitted papers or tell me that they decide to reject them).

Tokyo Subway Map for your iPod

I just discovered Gizmobies. It's a stylish protector skin for iPod, iPhone, Blackberry, and Nintendo DS. This is what I wanted for my iPod Classic. And my hesitation to buy an iPhone due to its rather ugly design will go away with Gizmobies.

It originates from America, and its Japanese store has the "Japan-only" patterns. I hope Scandinavian designers will soon join the bandwagon. They should do a better job.

And what's surprising to me is that one of the patterns available in US is the Tokyo Subway Map (see above). This is a cultural shock to me.

London's tube map is a design icon.


On the other hand, I always thought Tokyo's counterpart was ugly.


But for Americans, Tokyo is cool, and so its subway map is also cool, as it seems.

分島花音 (Kanon Wakeshima)

Ayumi Hamasaki + visual-kei + breakbeat + classical music? Kanon Wakeshima is at least different.

still doll


砂のお城 (Sand Castle)

"Open Page" by Lenzman featuring Riya

A beautiful DnB tune:

The Daily Telegraph on drum and bass

An Economics Editor of the Daily Telegraph, UK's conservative broadsheet newspaper, has a blog post on drum and bass (or DnB for short). Since DnB is my favorite music, I can say something about the post. The article is so not up-to-date to the current scene of DnB, but the following paragraph is right on about this genre of dance music:

There are few other genres of dance music - or sub-genres rather - that can cover such an expanse as DnB - from the bone shaking dance hits that ravish clubs to the slow, meditative intensely jazzy DnB that flourished in the late 1990s. DnB is about plenty of things - about playing with form, about confronting expectations, but the more you drill into it the less it is really about either the drums or the bass.

The article is outdated because it recommends Goldie, Roni Size, and LTJ Bukem to the uninitiated. They are great legends of DnB, but this music has evolved a lot since those mid-1990s stars. I would recommend Pendulum (if you like rock music), Chase & Status (if you like electro music in general), and High Contrast (if you like movie soundtracks or classical music). And to keep up with the latest scene, check out BBC Radio 1 programme Fabio & Grooverider (you can listen to the latest show online on demand).

Skinnarviksberget

Views from Stockholm's highest point. To get this view, aim for Gamla Lundagatan in Södermalm and walk until the end of the street even if you feel the street is a dead end private road.

Skogskyrkogården (and Pizzeria Pergola)

The Woodland Cemetery in the south of Stockholm. These photos do not do justice to this UNESCO World Heritage site. It seems like I forgot taking photo when I was really struck by the beauty of the cemetery. The cemetery was designed by Swedish architects in the early 20th century. Here grave stones are all small and modest (see the third picture above), placing the surroundings at the center stage. A stark contrast to Milan's Cimitero Monumentale.



Across the street from the exit of the nearest T-bana station (Skogskyrkogården) is a pizzeria called Pergola (Address: Gamla Dalarövägen 56). It looks like a place targeting tourists who don't know where to go so it will survive with mediocre foods. Don't let its appearance put you off, however. Their pizza is excellent. It's a great way of learning how pizza is served in Stockholm: it always comes with what Swedes call pizza salad (shredded white cabbages marinated in dressing overnight) and the choice of pizza ranges from standard Italian ones to Mexican salsa pizza, from "pizza del mal" topped with Swedes' favorite crayfish to Turkish kebab pizza. Usually, the taste of pizza in Stockholm is rather straightforward (I mean it's good but not impressive). But Pergola's pizza tastes impressive.

I still cannot believe that I found it the best pizzeria in Stockholm...

Berlin's Turkey Town

Berlin hosts the largest number of Turkish residents outside Turkey. Berlin's Kreuzberg district can be called Turkey Town although, unlike China Towns everywhere in the world where only Cantonese restaurants abound, the area is not just about Turkish kebab restaurants and travel agencies for Turkish residents but also about Berlin's fourth boho area with an amazingly wide range of restaurants on Oranienstrasse and interesting independent small retail shops (and of course graffiti on the walls). Wandering around the area after getting off U-bahn at Kottbusser Tor is a must when you are in Berlin.

As the last dinner venue in Berlin, we choose Hasir at Adalbertstrasse 10, the restaurant launched by Mehmet Aygun, the Turkish immigrant who invented doner kebab. (More specifically, he's the first to put doner kebab on pita bread, something unheard of in Turkey). I always thought doner was a junk food. In this restaurant, that is not the case. Juicy meat makes doner a proper lamb cuisine. Shish kebab is also fantastic. Turkish tea is properly brewed. And the bill is around 10 euro per person. Simply great.

A bridge over the Landwehr Canal

Strolling along the Landwehr Canal in Tiergarten takes us to this pretty bridge near Grand Hotel Esplanade and Bauhaus-Archiv.

Hotel Review: Hotel Q!

I stay in room 408 for three nights from 9 to 12 July, 2009. The single room charge is 105 euro per night (booked well in advance).

The Good:

Breakfast. A wide range of foods is available, from typical continental breakfast (salami, cheese, croissant) to Italian salad, from grilled peppers, courgettes, and mushrooms to miso soup, from pickled salmon and poached trout to fried eggs (cooked to order and served on a green leaf of leek, which is a culinary revelation!), from freshly squeezed orange juice to a wide range of tea bags. There are even tasty cakes and pastries. And all is included in the room charge. What's more, on Saturday and Sunday, the breakfast is served until 1 pm. They understand what Berlin is about.

Bedroom design. Bathroom is also cool with black stone-looking tiles on the walls and the floor.

Friendly and efficient staff.

The location. From the airport, take bus 109 and get off at George-Grosz-Platz. The hotel is one block away from there. A few minute walk takes you to the nearest U-bahn station Uhlandstrasse, the terminal for Line U1. Without changing trains, you'll reach to Kreuzberg where great Turkish foods and stylish bar and nightclub on the riverside await you. Schwarzes Cafe is within a walking distance.

Booking online at its website is straightforward.

The Neutral:
The theme color of this hotel is red, red, and red. From the front desk to lighting in the corridor and even in toilets. If you love red, this is fantastic. If you don't like red, you may feel too much.

The Bad:
There is no kettle or even coffee maker in the bedroom.

There is no alarm clock in the bedroom.

The shower head is fixed to the wall of the bathroom.

Towels provided are rather worn out.

The Ugly:
The miso soup in the breakfast. The soup stock is completely wrong, at least for Japanese people's taste.

Verdict:
Unless you hate the color of red, this is your place to stay in Berlin.