Author Archives: dgm

Well the answer’s no. Readers of one of my other blogs will recall that I experimented on myself with Amazon’s self publishing suite back in January. No surprisingly I’m not amazingly rich as a consequence, sales have been trickling along … Continue reading →

Last Friday, I watched a documentary on Semphill and Rutland, two British airforce officers who, at the end of the first world war went to Japan to render the Japanese military and technical assistance. That they became spies for the … Continue reading →

Originally posted on Gyrovague's Raves:
Robert Fulford: Chekhov at 150 and the Russian writer’s longest roadRobert Fulford, National Post   Published: Monday, March 22, 2010 “I have seen Ceylon, which is paradise, and Sakhalin, which is hell,” said Chekhov of…

Over the weekend I read a short compilation of some of Chekhov’s letters home during his overland journey to Sakahalin in 1890 – before the Trans Siberian railway was built. Chekhov is an amusing and candid letter writer. As well … Continue reading →

Lost, one poem. it was about ethernet cables. No, I didn’t write it, but thought it charming and saved it to a hard drive somewhere. Saved it in the days before evernote, before dropbox. My guess is that it’s on … Continue reading →

As part of planning for our Trans Siberian trip I’ve been doing a little background reading. Now you would expect the opening of the rail line to the far east and Siberia to have an impact in Russia, but it … Continue reading →

Some of you may remember that a couple of years ago I became mildly obsessed with the questiona as to whether the anglo-saxon cleric Sighelm could have visited the St Thomas christians in Kerala. Of couse it really wasn’t about … Continue reading →

The federal government announced an initiative last weekend to get all schoolkids to learn an Asian language. While laudable I suspect it won’t work. Chris Rau has an excellent piece in this morning’s SMH explaining one set of reasons. I’ve … Continue reading →

We’re beginning to get serious about our attempt to travel the trans siberian. Technology is the easy part – either our old Asus netbook, which has the virtue of being light and robust, or possibly the windows netbook – which … Continue reading →

Even though we’ve had a cold winter, the garden is already producing with the first chilli of the year …