iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Mike Bechthold 🇨🇦🇺🇦 @mike-bechthold.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

We've come a long way since the Turbot War of 1995!

Mike Bechthold 🇨🇦🇺🇦 @mike-bechthold.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

Vimy and history remain relevant today! The Vimy colony to nation idea is a myth but works with the PM’s statement. He draws on our history to make his point (! !) but his use of the myth is couched in equivocal language that makes it clear he understands the problems of that view. Well done, sir!

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Mike Bechthold 🇨🇦🇺🇦 @mike-bechthold.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

The Bank of Canada unveiled our new $20 bill today. The CBC is highlighting that it's the first bill to feature King Charles, but for me the really great part is that Vimy Monument is on the back!

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Mike Bechthold 🇨🇦🇺🇦 @mike-bechthold.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

I’m not suggesting a unilateral concession. That would be pointless. But it can be dropped in negotiations where we get something back. The booze ban was never meant to be permanent. That would also be pointless. Lol

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Mike Bechthold 🇨🇦🇺🇦 @mike-bechthold.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

I'm not suggesting that we roll over to appease them. The time has come for us to cash in on the ban. It's done its job by stinging them. Now exchange it for equivilent US concessions. Removing the ban is largely optics at this point as the market for their booze will be a fraction of the past.

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Mike Bechthold 🇨🇦🇺🇦 @mike-bechthold.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

I'm 100% behind standing up to the US, but you missed the point of the article. He says bring US alcohol back but leave it up to Canadians to choose not to purchase it. The same way the decision to boycott trips to the south emerged as a grassroots movement and has significantly affected US tourism.

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Mike Bechthold 🇨🇦🇺🇦 @mike-bechthold.bsky.social · 21/05/2026

Great title! Congratulations. Really looking forward to getting my hands on this book when it's released!

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Mike Bechthold 🇨🇦🇺🇦 @mike-bechthold.bsky.social · 20/02/2026

Cue the batshit crazy response in 3 ... 2 ... 1 ....

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Mike Bechthold 🇨🇦🇺🇦 @mike-bechthold.bsky.social · 19/02/2026

This looks very promising! Brendan Fraser as Ike and Damien Lewis as Monty to tell the story of James Stagg, the RAF meteorologist who had to provide the weather report for Ike's D-Day go/no go decision. youtu.be/zdM4tdLQBg0?...

youtu.be

PRESSURE - Official Trailer [HD] - Only In Theaters May 29

YouTube video by Focus Features

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Mike Bechthold 🇨🇦🇺🇦 @mike-bechthold.bsky.social · 09/02/2026

So it seems that the owners of the Ambassador Bridge have just made a sizeable “political” contribution.

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Mike Bechthold 🇨🇦🇺🇦 @mike-bechthold.bsky.social · 22/01/2026

Symbolism matters. After his epic speech at Davos that earned a standing ovation, PM Carney is hosting a Cabinet planning retreat at the Québec Citadelle, a fortification built to defend against an American attack that never came. He's playing 3D chess when others can't figure out checkers.

Photo credit: https://www.quebec-cite.com/en/businesses/citadelle-de-quebec

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Mike Bechthold 🇨🇦🇺🇦 @mike-bechthold.bsky.social · 21/01/2026

Thanks. I just tried to check out and it doesn't like my address. It finds it in its database but then says its not valid.

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Mike Bechthold 🇨🇦🇺🇦 @mike-bechthold.bsky.social · 21/01/2026

I'll take one! Do I use the link that someone else posted in the thread?

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Mike Bechthold 🇨🇦🇺🇦 @mike-bechthold.bsky.social · 29/12/2025

The Avro Arrow is a topic that continues to delight and inflame enthusiasts and scholars of Canada's Cold War Air Force. There is much scholarship on this topic out there, much bad, but one of the best historians on the topic is Russell Isinger. Highly recommended. www.crowdcast.io/c/vl-2026-is...

crowdcast.io

Virtual Lecture: “I shot an Arrow in the air:” Canada’s Cold War Fighter Procurement Experiment

Register now for Virtual Lecture: “I shot an Arrow in the air:” Canada’s Cold War Fighter Procurement Experiment on crowdcast, scheduled to go live on January 8, 2026, 06:00 PM GMT.

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Mike Bechthold 🇨🇦🇺🇦 @mike-bechthold.bsky.social · 01/12/2025

Congratulations to Paul Johnston on the publication of The RCAF in History and Memory: A Survey of the Historiography, 1909-2025! This is a really useful overview of all the important works that have been published on the various iterations of the RCAF. publications.gc.ca/site/eng/9.9...

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The Aviation Show @theaviation.show · 15/11/2025

The @usni.org Press is running a sale right now, and if you use the code HOLIDAY at checkout, you will get 50% off! What better time than now to get your mitts on Airpower and the Normandy Campaign, edited by @mike-bechthold.bsky.social. The other contributors are ace. www.usni.org/press/books/...

usni.org

Airpower and the Normandy Campaign

The U.S. Naval Institute provides an independent forum for those who seek to advance and strengthen the naval profession.

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Mike Bechthold 🇨🇦🇺🇦 @mike-bechthold.bsky.social · 10/11/2025

This Saturday, the Guelph Museums is hosting a Liberation and Remembrance Symposium to mark the 80th anniversary of the end of the War and the liberation of Europe. I'm speaking on the RCAF and other speakers include Roger Sarty, Geoff Hayes, and Alex Souchen. guelphmuseums.ca/event/libera...

guelphmuseums.ca

Liberation and Remembrance Symposium - Guelph Museums

This year marks 80 years since the end of the Second World War and the liberation of Europe. Eight decades later we reflect on Canada’s contributions to the war effort,…

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Mike Bechthold 🇨🇦🇺🇦 @mike-bechthold.bsky.social · 24/10/2025

Churlish? Maybe, but also correct! I know it was the British but the meme was too good not to share!

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Mike Bechthold 🇨🇦🇺🇦 @mike-bechthold.bsky.social · 16/10/2025

Excellent article on the current air war in Ukraine, Russia, and Western Europe by Peter Caddick-Adams. Provides essential context linking the Ukranainian drones strikes on Russia to the Transportation and Oil Plans of the Second World War. thecritic.co.uk/nato-must-st...

thecritic.co.uk

NATO must stand firm against Russian provocation | Peter Caddick-Adams | The Critic Magazine

Today an aerial war is being fought across Europe. It is reliant on cutting edge technology, the full potential of which has yet to be realised. This undeclared war is most obviously witnessed in…

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Mike Bechthold 🇨🇦🇺🇦 @mike-bechthold.bsky.social · 01/10/2025

Amazing! Glad to see it arriving safely on your side of the Atlantic. Enjoy! (And you chapter is far better than passable! It's a key contribution to the volume and stands on its own merits.)

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Mike Bechthold 🇨🇦🇺🇦 @mike-bechthold.bsky.social · 18/09/2025

Such a good book, though tough to read at times. His Black Snow book is even better.

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Mike Bechthold 🇨🇦🇺🇦 @mike-bechthold.bsky.social · 06/09/2025

RIP Ken Dryden 💔 One of my favourite players of all time.

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Mike Bechthold 🇨🇦🇺🇦 @mike-bechthold.bsky.social · 19/06/2025

This Saturday I'm speaking at the Military Heritage Day at the Chatham Kent Municipal Airport about Canada and the Liberation of the Netherlands. Also lots of warbirds, military vehicles, and other displays. Hope to see you there!

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Alex Brown 🇵🇸 (they/them) @bookjockeyalex.bsky.social · 16/06/2025

I refuse to give the NYT my eyeballs, so I can't speak to the specifics of this article. But any historians attempting to use AI for either writing or research should be run out of the field. AI is inherently unable to do anything we need it to do to understand and communicate history.

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Mark Urban @markurban.bsky.social · 16/06/2025

I've blogged about how the Israeli air force has reshaped the Middle East and what others might learn from them markurban.substack.com/p/israels-sl...

markurban.substack.com

Israel's Sledgehammer

How their air force re-shapes the Middle East

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Walter Olson @walterolson.bsky.social · 12/06/2025

Chair of history department at U.S. Naval Academy resigns after order to remove paper from symposium “for reasons having nothing to do with scholarship.” [James Matheson, Baltimore Sun]

baltimoresun.com

Naval Academy history chair resigns over ordered removal of symposium paper

Tom McCarthy cited the removal of a paper on grounds beyond its academic standard.

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Reposted by Mike Bechthold 🇨🇦🇺🇦

Alan Owlport 🦉 🎃 @alanallport.bsky.social · 13/06/2025

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