Well, Me. My name is Shawn Day and I am a PhD student in the History Department at 
As I was wandering to the whole food store tonight I heard the droning of an aircraft I couldn’t identify. There was the beat of a helicopter blade, but I could 
identify the comingled drone of a heavy engine. Then as the sounds grew closer a huge Ford Tri-motor roared over the trees a block away. The Tri-motor was cruising at no more than 1000ft accompanied by a helicopter shooting video. It was an amazing sight. The sun was at a lovely evening height giving a wonderful orangey ambience, the sky clear and I was transported to another era. I was drawn back to a time when an airplane was the novelty (rarity) that the Tri-motor is today. What would it have been like to have seen this virilely powerful metal beast soaring over a small town bringing the hope/promise/threat? of a faster communication and transport? The sheer size and mechanical wonder must have inspired an awe even more substantial than my serendipitous amaze.
The helicopter buzzing about the larger ship seemed like a hawk being menaced by a sparrow or two. Especially as another helicopter came shooting across the skyline heading in for a closer look as well. I will have to find out where the magnificent beast was heading. A new addition to the Canadian Warplane Heritage at the airport perhaps. Given that only 18 are known to still exist, I was blessed with a rare experience tonight.
presented a nuanced and revisionary look at the common story that wartime demand drove Canadian farmers to double acreage devoted to wheat and unwittingly create a dangerous monoculture. A situation that led to a massive collapse in GNP when the price of wheat collapsed after the war. McInnis’ earlier paper “
When I took a look at the three new mysteries I was reminded what a powerful addition to the teaching of Canadian history that this collection is. The new mysteries: “The Redpath Mansion Mystery”, “Death on Painted Lake: The Tom Thomson Tragedy,” and “Death of a Diplomat: Herbert Norman and the Cold War” keep raising the bar of how to effectively present material using the web. The project is a collabourative effort amongst Canadian historians to provide engaging and fun teaching tools directed towards high school and university level students. The mysteries are presented as self-contained websites, each one with its own theme and approach. Typically they provide compelling narrative and also offer a wealth of primary documents and other source material to aid in learning about Canadian History and historical methods. With the addition of these new modules, the breadth of the site is reaching a point of critical mass and offer a nicely diverse collection from throughout time and geographic area.
no other reason than to be different. It offered me the opportunity to learn the Republican Calendar through practise (a word-a-day sort of arrangement). The upheaval of the switch to a new system in France in 1795, caused confusion, was not widely adopted and in the end was discontinued by Napoleon during the Empire. This was not before such references such as the Coup of 18 Brumaire and lobster Thermidor forever embedded the poeticisme of the calendaring system in our historical memory.
Serendipitously I chose the genre of historical fiction and ended up reflecting on some of the more memorable books I have enjoyed. At the top of that list is the 
Particularly:
What a wondrous treasure trove of information! These records contain the deposit details for thousands of newly-arrived immigrants to New York from 1850. The bank was established by the Irish Emigrants Society and served a largely Irish population. Amazingly, the 
In this one he ponders our conscious creation of “islands of stasis” and why an anachronistic mode of research practise persists. More importantly his ‘punchline’ refers briefly to how to make use of tools, such as 
He summarizes his understanding of the conventional process involving measured, concrete steps, that unfortunately presuppose that time essentially stands still as we practise our craft. Here I learn about Parmenides. Turkel proposes a radical new model that accounts, not only for the aspect of continual change, but to my mind also suggests that the future of our practise is in greater real-time collective research products. I would normally point directly at a notable post, but this one warranted particular acknowledgement in hope that you will check it out. Great points to ponder.
His ribald contributions to a true appreciation of the nuances of Victorian military and social history will be missed. I have always looked forward to the next installment of the Flashman papers. The obits remind that he was author, journalist and screenwriter. When 
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