Larsblog - personal

Holiday in Russia and Ukraine

"Why did you come to the Ukraine? Why? I cannot understand this." The question is put to us over breakfast by a Ukrainian fellow guest, and I have to admit that I had asked myself the same question several times already. The holiday started out great in Moscow, and from there we took the train to Kiev which we liked even better. Finally, we went to the Crimean Black Sea coast, which was more of a mixed bag. ...

Read | 2006-09-24 22:45 | 8 comment(s)

Three Kingdoms

Three Kingdoms is a Chinese "novel" written in the 12th century based on the events of the so-called "Warring States" period of Chinese history (that is, the 3rd century). It is extremely famous in China, in fact, the Rough Guide to China claims pretty much every Chinese knows the story. Personally, I'd never heard of it before I started preparing for a holiday there in 2004. (Yes, this is also a posting that's been sitting around and suddenly got posted now.) ...

Read | 2006-08-21 00:05 | 14 comment(s)

Teaching Topic Maps in Beijing

As I wrote in an earlier posting I was in Beijing to teach Topic Maps to the developers of a Chinese start-up. The details of their product are secret right now, but the experience of teaching Topic Maps in this environment is quite unique. This posting has been sitting around unpublished for a long time, and I just stumbled over it now, but decided to publish it. ...

Read | 2006-08-20 23:51 | 0 comment(s)

Россйя

For this year's holiday we plan to fly to Moscow, then travel south to Kiev, and on from there to the Crimea, and finally back to Moscow for the return flight. The tickets are already bought, and we leave on August 25. However, our Russian experience has already started. I'm not referring to the Russian language course that we've started, but the hotel booking and visa application. ...

Read | 2006-07-25 23:47 | 3 comment(s)

A trip to København

I spent last weekend in København (or Copenhagen), the city that for four centuries was the capital of not just Denmark, but also Norway. At that time Oslo was just a tiny provincial backwater compared to København, and in beer terms the relationship has not changed since. In København even the grocery stores in many cases have a better beer selection than the wine monopoly does in Norway. This probably has a lot to do with the Danes' relaxed attitude to life in general, and alcohol in particular. In Denmark schnapps for lunch is perfectly common, and asking for non-alcoholic beer more is likely to raise a laugh than actually getting you any. (I know; I've tried.) ...

Read | 2006-07-24 22:39 | 4 comment(s)

The job is done

Yesterday we sent the completed draft of TMDM to ISO for publication as an International Standard. This means that the first part of the new Topic Maps standard is finally completed, finished, finalized, and ready. A few months from now (not sure how many), you'll be able to go the online ISO store and buy either a PDF version of the standard or a paper one. For those who don't want to, a free version is on isotopicmaps.org. So, implementors, go ye forth and implement! ...

Read | 2006-07-19 11:51 | 2 comment(s)

Life by the fjord

The first three days of this week we stayed in a little summer house by the fjord, commuting to work by ferry. Going there on the Sunday felt like any trip to a summer house, except that it was a little odd to take a ferry for 20 minutes out of central Oslo, and then walk for 10 minutes to the summer house. The place itself was a nice little wooden house, literally by the fjord, which we rented quite cheaply from a governmental organization. ...

Read | 2006-07-12 21:17 | 2 comment(s)

From Seoul to Gjervoldsøy

Sunday morning I woke up in Seoul; Monday evening I went to sleep in the family summer house on a tiny island outside Arendal in southern Norway. The contrast could hardly have been greater, in every possible way. ...

Read | 2006-06-06 11:56 | 4 comment(s)

A trip to Beijing

This week I am in Beijing to teach Topic Maps to the developers of a Chinese start-up company, which is developing a new product based on Topic Maps. I'll get back to the subject of the start-up and the training in a later posting. For now I'm so excited about being in China again that I'll confine myself to that subject. I was here for three weeks in 2004, and found myself absolutely fascinated, so I am more than happy to get another chance to visit. ...

Read | 2006-05-23 18:06 | 2 comment(s)

Gildet på Solhaug

A week ago or so I received an email from my girlfriend about a play she wanted to see at the National Theatre: Gildet på Solhaug, or The Feast at Solhaug, by Ibsen. The play was to be performed in the restaurant at the theatre, accompanied by medieval food (the play takes place in, well, it's not entirely clear when, but it sounds as though it might be around 1300), and three kinds of beer from Nøgne Ø. I of course said yes at once, and so we went tonight. ...

Read | 2006-04-02 21:10 | 0 comment(s)

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