The best marking assistant.

Excellent thread. Of the three years I've TA-ed intro history classes, this year is far and away the worst for disengagement. I use powerpoints, email reminders, and verbally explain assignment requirements in class for weeks prior to the due date and am still greeted with utter bafflement.

Someone in Lawson Hall must have watched Twin Peaks for the first time.

My workplace is starting a "women's empowerment group" with undetermined goals, structure, or a mandate. They also need volunteers to run & design it. Alas, it is decidedly "only for people that identify as women." I can only guess gender diverse/non-binary empowerment is a 2026 Q2 goal? Maybe?

Prof. Cody Groat's new publication, "Always a Part of the Land: The Federal Commemoration of Indigenous Histories" is available for pre-order. www.mqup.ca/Books/A/Alwa... @westernulibs.bsky.social

Based on the comment section walking is somehow capitalist, anti-social, problematic, performative, and just a generally asinine thing to do with ulterior motives. www.theglobeandmail.com/life/article...

Give me the confidence and self worth of McCain Foods who think a Deep and Delicious Cake is valued at $5.99. (That terrible nostalgia brick has no business being more than $2.00)

Getting real tired of marking chatgpt essay proposals with the same bloody sub headings, lads.

I saw Aly give a great presentation on "patriotic drag" at the Laurier Military History Colloquium last year and I'm so happy to see their work on active history!

I am several years late on Slow Horses but I am enjoying every crude minute of Gary Oldman.

Fun occurrence today when I had to set up a powerpoint deck remotely from my laptop and everyone got to see my remote desktop launcher is called "portal to Avernus" (aka the first layer of Hell in the world of DnD)

A fun benefit of being an "extremely online person" with a partner who is decidedly not so is that I can say a sentence like "You don't understand, Mr Fantasy is the DJ Crazy Times of 2025" to Jay and he will wearily allow me to explain.

You've got that footnote day dream look in your eye And I've got that eighteenth version thing that you like And when we try APA we come back every time Cause we gotta use Chicago style We gotta use Chicago style

Today I'll be thinking about William Dawson, CAMC & Harry G. Dickson Jr, RCAF who died in the First & Second World Wars. Both from London, Ontario, and the same age (22/20) as many of the students that I teach today. It's a privilege to share William & Harry's stories with them every year 🗃️ #cdnhist

Always amazed at the amount of research that can be done entirely online these days. A thread: 🧵 I was looking at a piece of digitised archive film (IWM AYY / www.iwm.org.uk/collections/...) which includes these shots showing a ship transporting British soldiers to France in 1939:

History postdoc researcher Eric Story is uncovering the remarkable 1923 journey of George Hincks and Marshall McDougall — two disabled WWI veterans who hiked over 2,000 km to raise awareness of veterans’ challenges after the war. Featured by CTV Winnipeg: www.ctvnews.ca/winnipeg/art...

The fun thing about doing a Canadian history comp field is that you never know when Granatstein is going to leap out from behind a metaphorical bush when you least expect him. (For the record I think The Canadian war on queers is essential reading now more than ever 🤔) 🗃️ #cdnhist

"Fantasy Crap Figurine with Battle Scuttle Action" is not a sentence I thought I'd read today but I'm amused that I did.

Mentally, I'm here right now.

High school history day was a success - I swear there were actual engaged students in this room a mere five minutes later. 🗃️ #cdnhist

Or you can graft a determinate tomato scion to a potato as a rootstock, plunk it in a 5 gallon tub and market it as a "french fry & ketchup plant." Yes, this is a thing. For actual context: 95% of the greenhouse grown tomatoes you buy in Canada are grafted to 1 of 3 dominant rootstock variants.

the humble potato is there any thing it can not do

Good morning. I don't know who did this, but I love you.

@karenbowness.bsky.social questions: do you like Florence and the Machine? Do you like them enough to spend $140 to see them in April? 🤔

Desk clerk in the gym is clearly Feeling Something™️ as it was quiet when I came in and his music choice a few mins later was Piano Man.

Ok, with limited knowledge gleaned only from this week: I predict Springer will get a hit but will be confused and walk back to the bench. Did I do it right?

Nineteen innings or bust.

I love that even the most sports-ambivalent of Canadians will cheer for the Jays but we all still delight when the Leafs biff it yet again.

Happy Halloween! If FWW photography is good for anything, clearly it's men playing dress-up (I kid, I kid). (Although also, I'm not kidding. It really is great). Here are some snaps by Rider-Rider of a Maple Leaf Party in France, dated September 1917, LAC O-2012, 15, 16.

Happy Halloween from 1988? 1992, 1999, and 2003. I want to say the 1999 look was for Halloween but that was everyday wear for me when I was an angsty 17 year old. No idea what the last one was. Inebriated university student who liked emo music? (I miss that Jimmy Eat World shirt!)

Third year in a row of having to get student health services to update my name and gender at the flu/covid shot clinic. Gotta love consistency!

We're accepting applications until 30 November, but *today* is the last day to apply if you want a chance to win $250 worth of books in the UBC Press Nature | History | Society series. #envhist #climatehistory #cdnhist

Ah, this is my favourite poppy/remembrance day head scratcher every year. In crisping of the crust and in the mozzarella, we will remember them.

This is the best take that requires historical knowledge and fifteen year old internet lore. Frame it, hang it in the Louvre, and have someone steal it via a ladder.

Well this is a gut punch. I was just extolling the virtues of his books to my tutorial students this week. What a loss for the field and his family. www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

More thoughts no one asked for: the 2024 rule re-haul completely nerfs the twinned spell metamagic option (goodbye, dual casted haste) but the transmute spell option is ridiculously good. Also meet Pfeffernusse. Every sorcerer needs a jaunty hat.

Me, after being invited to a dnd game this coming week: "Maybe I'll make a class I don't normally play. Monk? Warlock? Druid?" Me, 30 mins later, putting the finishing touches on my billionth draconic sorcerer:

Evidently I once cared about baseball!

Every batch of assignments I mark feels like I'm getting pelted with a slightly larger bowl of slop than the past term and I'm losing the will to make enthusiastic pleas about the value of writing to students.

I am watching this game out of spite because of a bizarre fantasy nhl pool/bet that I made with my PhD office mate (a die hard Leafs fan) in which I inexplicably chose the Kraken solely "on vibes" to perform better than the Leafs for the entire season.

Seven years of almost (or actually) coming in last, half-way point stroopwafel selfies, & reducing my already glacial speeds. Another Phoenix 25k trail race* in the books. This medal will join its brethren in a cardboard box in my closet. *Per tradition, I mostly walked after 7-8km. Whoops.

The Rostam remix of Run Away With Me would be perfect for square dancing and I'm not mad about that.

Happy "10th Anniversary Edition of Carly Rae Jepsen's masterpiece E.mo.tion with unreleased bonus tracks" day to all who celebrate.

🐏 New Absolute Units 🐏 Same-sex relationships have always been part of rural England, but they've been underrepresented in our collections. In the first of 2 episodes, @timjerrome.bsky.social shares his work tracing queer rural lives in The MERL archives. merl.reading.ac.uk/explore/abso...

If this great thread has crossed your timeline as it has mine, then you might enjoy this clip from SOE agent Harry Rée's interview with the Imperial War Museum. He describes his fistfight with a German of the Sicherheitsdienst, or SS Security Service. Full interview: www.iwm.org.uk/collections/...

Trying to determine if this "trench art vase" I bought for $10 off fb marketplace is real, but I don't know enough about shells. The base seems off? Seems more like post war tourist claptrap. Either way, it's a fun knick knack to have. #cdnhist 🗃️

Luke warm thanksgiving take: Stovetop brand boxed stuffing is better than any homemade recipe. Yes, even your grandmother's.

You know, the last time I did this on twitter I had to mute the post as I earned the ire of archivists everywhere for what was a clear jest. ("This record is not currently digitized") Anyway. "Love the Vimy Trap."

Keeping this & a bag of chips for right after the race next week.