10. Januar 2016

Ice skating in tailwind

Great timing. A wave of cold temperature and clear skies comes to Sweden precisely when needed. But if it weren’t for the logistics, the wind could have made ice skating impossible. A story in pictures on what the dark and cold winter in Sweden had to offer.

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28. November 2015

Europe – Story of a Migrant

No, this is not a story about a refugee even though certainly many could be written. Instead, it is a story about a migrant within the European Union. A story that should make UK citizens think twice. A story against reactionary and nationalistic tendencies.

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13. November 2015

Quantify this: Running

It’s easier than ever to track your mileage in running, cycling, and many other activities. But why would one do that? For the present self to celebrate past accomplishment?. Or to post it online here for promoting one’s virtual self? No. I want to track running mileage in order to adjust my course and correlate exercise with race performance.

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18. Oktober 2015

San Francisco Sunday Swing: Lindy in the Park

What a friendly welcome of the local Swing dancing community in San Francisco! I’m saying thank you and recommend the following to my fellows in London – should you ever visit San Francisco, then Lindy in the Park is a place to go to.

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2. August 2015

Getting lost in a marathon: an extra mile for free

As if the race wasn’t long enough on its own, some runners did not pay enough attention and had to run the extra mile in the Vanguard Way Marathon, a nice and challenging race on scenic trails south of London. A humoristic take on how to get more out of the race than you paid for.

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16. Juli 2015

Run to work: Review of first year

Run to work statistics: 41 commutes, over 200 km distance covered, 17 hours spent on exercise, around GBP 86 saved on public transport, not so fresh air, and a ridiculous number of trolleys avoided by not having to go through one of London’s busiest train terminals.

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15. Juni 2015

Across the Alps by Bike

A journey through valleys, villages and across mountain passes, through sunshine, rain, and thunderstorm: in this year’s mountain bike trip, we crossed the Alps from Oberstdorf in Germany to Lake Garda in Italy.

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27. Mai 2015

Through the Normandy to Paris by Bike

What started as a joke turned into reality on a bank holiday weekend: A bicycle ride from London to Paris. Well, to be exact, we skipped the part from London to the channel and started in Dieppe.

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18. Mai 2015

50 km of Wales in a Day: Big Black Mountains Challenge 2015

Panoramic views on a scenic route through the Black Mountains in Wales. This challenge, organized by the Longtown Mountain Rescue Team, was worth every step that was needed to complete the 50 km hike. We arrived tired, but happy before sunset.

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13. April 2015

Cycling in London

On the topic of cycling in London: much has been written, and more will be written. That is because it is a complicated matter. This is a brief and incomplete view on the upsides, the downsides, and the quirky aspects of cycling in London.

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22. März 2015

Cardboard cut-out: a solution for the sliding piano pedal problem

The pedal of the electric piano in my room keeps sliding and slipping away under my foot. A well-known issue. Placing the piano on a large piece of cardboard fixed this: a cut-out of the right size is now keeping the pedal in place.

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20. Februar 2015

Long distance ice skating on Siljan: Old places, new adventures

The ice conditions and the weather in Stockholm being far from ideal for ice-skating, we travelled all the way up to Lake Siljan in Dalarna, Sweden. An essay on the wonders of long-distance ice-skating, a winter activity as fantastic as well as little known outside the Nordic countries.

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25. Dezember 2014

Train to Paris

It was my second time in France. After exploring the countryside in the Auvergne a decade ago, this time I visited the capital over a weekend while travelling from London to Munich by train and by bus. A mixed story about discovering Paris by foot.

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14. November 2014

Svenska utanför Sverige – hur gör man då?

Man brukar säga att det är mycket lättare att lära sig ett främmande språk när man befinner sig i landet där språket talas än om man befinner sig utomlands. Angående svenska som främmande språk får jag nu ingå kompromisser eftersom jag inte längre bor i Sverige. Kommer jag att glömma bort allt som jag lärt mig? Helst inte.

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4. Oktober 2014

Bletchley Park and the rebuilt bombe

A visit to Milton Keynes gave me a brief look into former codebreakers’ life at Bletchley Park during World War II. The exhibition also featured a rebuilt exemplar of the bombe, an electromechanical machine that played a role in breaking the code of the Enigma. I got fascinated for several reasons.

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20. September 2014

Hiking in the Sierra Nevada: Boulders, Bears, and Giant Sequoias

It was my first four-day hiking trip in the wilderness of the Sierra Nevada in the Sequoia National Park (California). This is a recount of my experiences and a descriptions of the lessons I learnt while carrying my backpack with food and shelter over segments of the High Sierra Trail.

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26. August 2014

Saatchi Gallery: What is this made of?

A friend recently showed me this place. I am posting no more than this: have a look at Saatchi Gallery in London and find out. Guess first what it is. Find out later.

25. August 2014

Eastbourne via Beachy Head towards Seven Sisters

Spending a day at the Channel near Eastbourne, escaping to more scenic running routes than London can offer. Wind and rain. The weather forecast calls it “heavy drizzle”. Impressive.

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23. August 2014

Lightshow in London

The deserted City of London on Saturday. Almost empty. Brilliant colors and stark contrasts on a unique day of sunshine and rainfall – a few pictures.

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17. August 2014

Scotland, Let the Sky Fall

A recount of a hiking trip into the wilderness of Scotland: on ex-hurricanes and their effects, suicidal drivers, famous spots from the literature and the movies, a town nicknamed Lang Toon and on the festival time in Edinburgh.

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31. Juli 2014

Run to work: Review of first month

Time to have a look how my experiment worked out in the first month. Running to work has lived up to my expectations and has never yet failed to lift my spirits. There is room for improvement, but the 14 runs totalling in more than 70 km were worth every kilometer. Here are the few lessons learned.

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29. Juli 2014

Bouldering the Vauxwall in Vauxhall

Finally gotten around to check out Vauxwall, a newly opened bouldering centre in London. We were pleasantly surprised by finding nice bouldering areas in a few railway arches near Vauxhall. Even better, we had the place basically for us – no one else there, what a luxury.

28. Juni 2014

It's a long road: Marathon through Hyde Park

How is it to run a marathon? Having asked me this question often enough, I decided to settle the matter and run laps in Hyde Park until I either give up or finish. No starter fees. Without time limit. Lessons learnt from a long journey.

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21. Juni 2014

Motion Segmentation of RGB-D Videos via Trajectory Clustering

Persistence paid off. The little, remaining work on my Master’s thesis at KTH is finally completed. I can hardly remember touching a subject at university that was as demanding and as satisfying as the research on how to segment moving objects in videos taken by a RGB-D camera. Thanks to everyone who helped me with this mission.

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19. Juni 2014

Bike to work? Run to work.

It’s 5.5 kilometers for me to my workplace in London. I took my running shoes instead of public transport. And I will do this again. The idea is not new, though – and people are already shouting on the web for making running to work tax-deductible. But it’s not tax that matters. It’s trading commuting time against exercise.