Author Archives: dgm

Unknown's avatar

About dgm

Former IT professional, previously a digital archiving and repository person, ex research psychologist, blogger, twitterer, and amateur classical medieval and nineteenth century historian ...

The new India …

Something that struck me during our recent trip to Thailand was the sheer number of tourists from what used to be known as the sub-continent – a tribute both to the growth of discount air travel in both India and … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Ronald McDonald does Thailand …

In Ao Nang, across the street from  some dodgy looking bars is a MacDonalds. Outside the McDonalds is the usual garish Ronald McDonald effigy – except is Thailand, so the figure is standing, palms together in a classic wai gesture … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Getting scammed at the Grand Palace

Thailand, being a poor country, is full of people trying to turn a dollar. Most are legit, some are dodgy and some are very dodgy. The dodgy ones tend to cluster around where tourists go on the basis that you … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Getting round Bangkok

Bangkok is a big brash, noisy slut of a city, and getting around it can be intimidating, with manic cab drivers, whose meters often seem to be broken, even more manic tuk tuk drivers intent on taking you somewhere you … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment

The arrogance of power

One day, when I was in Bangkok, I looked over the edge of the Skytrain walkway near Asoke station. Traffic was snarled as usual, and as always in Bangkok it was disciplined in an anarchic way, ie there are rules … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

The Thai election

We’re just back after three weeks in steamy monsoonal Thailand, and yes, we had a great time. This wasn’t a serious trip, we spent most of the time swimming, snorkelling and doing other human things. It was most definitely un … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Banks, phone calls and security

Now I’m probably turning into an old fart, but I get really annoyed by banks when they phone you up about something trivial: – Hello this is the XYZ bank. Can I speak with Mr Xyzzyy? – Speaking – I … Continue reading

Posted in Computers and Internet | 1 Comment

La lutte continue!

Back in November I blogged about my mother’s admittedly tenuous connection with Basque refugees and the Spanish civil war. Today’s Guardian brings news of unfinished business: Spanish civil war victims’ bodies finally removed from mass grave Scottish anarchist in legal … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

AIATSIS digital preservation program to be cut

Twitter has recently brought news that AIATSIS’s digital preservation program is to be cut. This is unfortunate to say the least. AIATSIS was engaged in digitising the cultural patrimony of the first cultures to inhabit Australia, and in the process … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments

More Epsilon fall out

More fall out from the Epsilon data breach – this time it’s Dell Australia: An Important Message from Dell Australia Dell’s global email service provider, Epsilon, recently informed us that their email system was exposed to unauthorised entry. As a … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment