From the Channel

A mole sits on top of some freshly dug earth
5 m
Video
Chemistry

Happy National Mole Day!

Profile picture for user Sonia Mendes
Oct 23, 2018
You might be thinking we’re honouring those funny-looking, burrowing creatures — but National Mole Day is actually in honour of a different kind of mole. Celebrated annually on October 23 from 6:02 a.m. to 6:02 p.m., Mole Day commemorates Avogadro’s Number (6.02 x 10 23 ), which is a basic measuring unit in chemistry. Chemists and chemistry students around the world celebrate Mole Day with various activities related to chemistry and moles. For a given molecule, one mole is a mass (in grams)
A Handley Page Halifax transport plane operated by Lancashire Aircraft Corporation during the 1948 milk airlift between Northern Ireland to England. Anon., “Ravitaillement aérien de l’Angleterre.” Photo-Journal, 7 October 1948, 19.
Article
Aviation & Space

A milky way from Northern Ireland to England

Profile picture for user rfortier
Oct 22, 2018
Greetings to you, my reading friend. It is with some trepidation that I offer you the following story of hardship and, sadly enough, tragedy. This being said (typed?), this story was also one in which brave crews did all they could to help their fellow human beings. As such, it was and is well worth telling. Having put before you these words of warning, yours truly will now set the stage for our topic of the week, found in the 7 October 1948 issue of Photo-Journal , a weekly newspaper published
Joust for Atari (artifact no. 2002.0384.001)
5 m
Blog
Sports & Gaming

Rising from the Grave: “Deadplay" and Video Game Preservation

Profile picture for user Dany Guay-Belanger
Oct 16, 2018
Videogames are cultural heritage artifacts worthy of preservation. My Master’s major research project culminated in the creation of a podcast and website which investigates videogame preservation and proposes some solutions to this complex and pressing issue.
The British Army Aeroplane No. 1 in flight, Farnborough, England, October 1908. Its designer, Samuel Franklin Cody, was at the controls. Imperial War Museum, negative number RAE-O 995.
Article
Aviation & Space

Who was first? Who was second? We do know. Third flight!

Profile picture for user rfortier
Oct 15, 2018
Bonjour / hi, my reading friend. Would you like to join me in remembering the 110th anniversary of the first controlled and sustained flight of a powered airplane within a group of territories known back then as the British Empire? This flight took place in the United Kingdom, in England to be more precise, in October 1908, and …What’s this I hear (read?)? The 110th anniversary of this first flight should be held in February 2019, to commemorate the flight made in Canada by John Alexander
A representative example of a type of leaf kite known as a kaghati. The kamuu, a bamboo bow whose sound is designed to keep birds away from valuable crops, is clearly visible. CASM.
Article
Aviation & Space

Atonement, if rather late, for a lack of action on my part

Profile picture for user rfortier
Oct 9, 2018
Bonjour, my reading friend. Yours truly is indeed atoning for a lack of action. You see, back in October 2003, the Canada Aviation Museum, today’s Canada Aviation and Space Museum in Ottawa, Ontario, acquired one of the largest, if not the largest privately-owned collection of kites from around the world in existence in Canada. This amazing material belonged to Yves Laforest and Anne Clément. Back then, it was their hope, and mine, that kites from this collection would be put on display. For a
Loading up Voo-Doo, the Waco Hadrian used for the first transatlantic flight by a cargo glider, Montreal Airport (Dorval), Dorval, Québec, June 1943. Anon., “Flying into focus”. Flying Aces, October 1943, 7.
Article
Aviation & Space

It was magnificent. It was splendid. It was pointless.

Profile picture for user rfortier
Oct 1, 2018
Greetings, my reading friend. How are you today? I can only hope that the fall weather is not affecting you too much. Would you be pleased to hear (read?) that the event at the heart of this week’s article took place in summer, a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away? All right, all right, our event actually took place on Earth but our planet was so different back then that one could argue it was an alien world. The year was 1943 and much of the Earth was in the throes of a cataclysmic
penicillin ad
3 m
Article
Health & Medicine

Misconceptions over penicillin allergies can be dangerous

Profile picture for user Sonia Mendes
Sep 27, 2018
Research indicates that 10 per cent of all patients in the U.S. claim to have a penicillin allergy. However, 90 per cent of those people are not truly
A poster of the Italian-French movie La morte viene dallo spazio. We see 2 members of the control centre’s team: the unsavoury French researcher and the pretty but cold mathematician.
Article
Aviation & Space

Movie titles can be so… positive and cheerful: The Day the Sky Exploded

Profile picture for user rfortier
Sep 24, 2018
Good day / buongiorno / bonjour, my reading friend. Are you interested or, better yet, fascinated by science fiction? If so, yours truly advises you to leave this webpage. No, no, don’t go! Yours truly was joking. This being said (typed?), I must warn you that the film we are about to examine this week is not among the masterpieces of the 7th art. La morte viene dallo spazio / Le danger vient de l’espace is not without merit however. The original version of this Italian-French feature film hit
painting
3 m
Article
Social Science & Culture

The Tate Modern encourages visitors to slow down

Profile picture for user Sonia Mendes
Sep 21, 2018
Next year, a Pierre Bonnard exhibition at the Tate Modern will encourage “slow looking” sessions for visitors. London’s Tate Modern hopes art lovers
The model of the Soviet rocket made for the French film À pied, à cheval et en Spoutnik. Anon., « À la conquête de la lune… » Photo-Journal, 23 to 30 August 1958, 8.
Article
Aviation & Space

A dog, a mouse and a Sputnik

Profile picture for user rfortier
Sep 17, 2018
Hello, my reading friend, hello. Would you be unhappy if yours truly brought to our menu a largely spatial subject? Yes? No? Oh I see. Very well. We will talk about space today, despite all opposition. Indeed, the august institution for which I have the honour and pleasure of working, most of the time, is the Canada Aviation and Space Museum in Ottawa, Ontario. You will notice the presence of the word space in this name. I would therefore like to highlight this week the 60th anniversary of the
Patrick bundled up for the cold storage
4 m
Article
Social Science & Culture

A Day in the Life of an Archives Summer Student

Profile picture for user Adele Torrance
Sep 14, 2018
This summer I had an amazing time visiting the Canada’s Museum of Science and Technology (CSTM). With my family and friends, we took in the sites and explored the exhibits, sounds and interactives of the new museum. There is so much to see that it requires several visits to take everything in as intended. My way into work every day this summer regularly offered me intriguing views of the new development around the museum and the constant stream of visitors arriving; it was a busy summer 2018
The host of the weekly television show Plein Ciel, on the right, and his technical adviser, Captain Marcel Everard. Anon., “Introduction à l’aviation.” La semaine à Radio-Canada, 29 November to 5 December 1958, 12.
Article
Aviation & Space

A television show I would have liked to see during my youth

Profile picture for user rfortier
Sep 10, 2018
Greetings, my reading friend. With your permission, we will momentarily put aside the remarkable library of the Canada Aviation and Space Museum in Ottawa, Ontario, to view a publication which, at first glance, had nothing to do with the fields of interest of this august institution. A review of the weekly La semaine à Radio-Canada allowed yours truly to unearth a television show I would have liked to see during my youth. Intended for an adolescent audience, mostly male in all likelihood, Plein
nurse
3 m
Article
Health & Medicine

Defining Moments Canada launches national contest to commemorate the centenary of the Spanish flu pandemic

Profile picture for user Sonia Mendes
Sep 5, 2018
A national contest is challenging schools, museums, and heritage organizations to tell stories about the Spanish flu pandemic using digital storytelling tools. “We hope to inspire Canadians to bring to light the stories that shaped our country but are only briefly mentioned in textbooks, and often ignore the many diverse voices that need to be heard,” says Neil Orford, program leader for Defining Moments Canada, the bilingual, non-profit heritage organization hosting the contest. “Personal
Museum of Fear and Wonder
5 m
Article
Social Science & Culture

A small, Alberta museum offers up unusual insights into human nature

Profile picture for user Sonia Mendes
Sep 4, 2018
Two brothers have converted a typical, Alberta farmhouse—located near Calgary—into the Museum of Fear and Wonder. This unorthodox museum is a reminder that things are not always what they seem, that the world is much more interesting and complex than we realize. Read more about the Museum of Fear and Wonder in this feature article.
Lift off of the hydrogen balloon that carried aloft the antenna of the American emergency radio transmitter BC-778, better known under the name “Gibson Girl.” Anon., “Gibson Girl to the rescue.” Flying Aces, septembre 1943, 30.
Article
Aviation & Space

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery

Profile picture for user rfortier
Sep 4, 2018
Guten tag / good day / bonjour, my reading friend. I hope that all is well with you. If yours truly may be so bold, what do you know about the flights over the seas and oceans made in the 1920s and 1930s to set distance records? Not much, you say? It’s no big deal. All you need to know is that many people from different countries initiated such flights in those years. Some of them, Charles Augustus Lindbergh and James Errol Boyd, arrived at their destination and became heroes. Several other
scientist
5 m
Video
Aviation & Space

Young scientists send worms into space

Profile picture for user Sonia Mendes
Aug 28, 2018
Four young women from Toronto have become published scientists, thanks to a school project. The women — who were in Grades 8 through 12 when their project started — shot a tube of microscopic worms into orbit so they could study the effects of low gravity on muscle deterioration. Kay Wu, one of the students involved in the project, was selected by Ingenium as a STEAM Horizon Award Winner in 2017 . Read more about the successful science project in this feature article from the Globe and Mail, and
The Sikorsky S-51 by Sergeant Maurice Dupont of the Sûreté provinciale for his traffic control flights in Montréal, Québec. Willie Lamploy, “Le policier du ciel – Solution aérienne aux problèmes de la route.” Le Petit Journal, 31 August 1958, 94.
Article
Aviation & Space

It was shouting time in heaven

Profile picture for user rfortier
Aug 27, 2018
Salutations, my reading friend. Are you well? I am delighted to hear (read?) this. While it is true that the library of the Canada Aviation and Space Museum in Ottawa, Ontario, has no equal in the country, the fact is that many aeronautical / aerospace events are not covered in the thousands, yes, yes, thousands of Canadian and foreign magazines found therein. Newspapers, whether daily or weekly, contain many very interesting photos. Just take a look at the one above, taken from a Montréal,