Everyone loves a good plan. It gives direction, sets expectations, lets us know what’s coming next. It makes everything seem manageable. The problem with plans is that we have trouble letting go of them or allowing them to evolve with…
About a year ago I adopted the French Republican Calendar for my personal journalling. Why? Really for 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…
From the realm of ‘too far fetched’ to be believed comes word that members of the UX, a shadowy underground organisation, have been cleared of charges in their daring, but clandestine operation to restore an antique clock at the Patheon…
Speaking with Matt Leighninger this morning I was reminded of one of my best tips for those looking for offbeat sights in Paris – the military models at the Musée de l’Armée. The museum is a treasure. A grande promenade…
It’s always amusing and often telling to compare where we are now to where we thought we’d be. Whether through sci-fi novels, advertisements for the house of the future, or in this case prints from an exhibition at the Bibliothèque…
Having just returned from one of my favourite cities in the world, I was fascinated to find a Paris Metro Virtual Experience. This media-rich site offers wonderful history of the Paris Metro and the opportunity to take a virtual tour…
I attended a great talk by Steven Bednarski of St. Jerome’s University today. His CV lists UQAM, York, Toronto as places of experience. His framing question today: How does a social historian make use of a research database? Bednarski explains…
The Gardens at the Palais Royal are distinctly different from those at the Luxembourg. A grand urban courtyard, the Palais Royal have been a public garden from immediately prior to the Revolution. The Palais Royal was owned by the Duc…
There’s a neat spot, a little off the beaten track, in Paris that I have some fond memories of. It’s an oasis, small in scale, and slow in pace. It’s not the sort of place that you find in the…
I have long wanted to jot down some thoughts about some of my favourite places in Paris. Meaning to eventually present these as an appropriately georeferenced set with appropriate navigation, for now I thought I would add them as simply…
French architect Jean-Pierre Houdin has unveiled a quite fascinating theory of pyramid construction. Apparently based on a decade of investigation, he is able to proposed a series of concepts proposing that internal construction ramps allowed for the efficient and remarkable…
In my research into nineteenth century Canadian drinking habits, I very quickly learned that the temperance folks had a special enmity for the custom of treating. The crusade against this special social practise informed much of the pamphleteering and petitioning…