To begin

This is the third of the course blogs I've set up this term, all of them experimental. You can check our my longer running one at history439blog.blogspot.com, aimed at my large lecture course. This one will be smaller and is intended to provide you with a space in which you can ask questions, post interesting materials or ideas, or see if anyone is working on similar problems. If you want suggestions for further reading, or to alert others to something you've come up with, this is the place to do it. Email will remain the best place for housekeeping chores or something you'd like to keep between you and me, but feel free to use this space for sudden ideas, random inspirations, or surprising discoveries.