From time to time, Shane has been known to pitch magazine articles to turn impractical knowledge into practical cash. Be sure to hunt through the pile of disused Cosmopolitans, dog-eared Peoples, and soiled National Geographics the next time you find yourself at a doctor’s office. You might get lucky and spot one of his learned dissertations on outmoded flight technology or obscure ancient history. Here are the articles best worth mentioning:

Tourist Fakes: The Quest (posted on Coin Talk, April – May, 2011)

A five-part account of a 2010 trip through the Mediterranean in search of fake ancient coins sold to gullible tourists by con men and scam artists. Links as follows:

Part I – Foreword / Part II – Venice / Part III – Rome / Part IV – Ephesus / Part V – Naples and Pompeii

The Red Baron: An Ace for the Ages (published in Aviation History, July 1995 and Legends of Flight, August 2003, by Cowles History Group)

Frequently cited, linked and reprinted, this cover article summarizing the life and military career of Manfred von Richthofen, better known as The Red Baron, serves as an overview of history’s most celebrated flying ace. The original article also included a sidebar about the Fokker Dr.1, the Baron’s iconic triplane designed by Antony Fokker to Richthofen’s specifications in 1918.

Dogs of War (published in Dog World, August 1995, by Maclean Hunter Publishing)

A second article published the same year concerned one of history’s more obscure figures, the Red Baron’s great dane, Moritz.

Laying a Legend to Rest: The Funeral of the Red Baron (originally written for American Eulogy, 1995)

A third Baron article, this one about Richthofen’s funeral, was accepted and slated to appear in the magazine, American Eulogy. It was cancelled when the magazine folded — probably due to a readership that was either too depressed or too dead to renew their subscriptions.

All three of Shane’s Red Baron articles have been collected into one eBook available for Kindle at Amazon.

Whatever Happened to Mr. Pink? (posted to the pre-web internet, 1993)

Before the web went mainstream, back when internet message boards were king, back when VHS and laserdisc were the best options for home screenings, Shane wrote this article trying to resolve one of the great debates among film nerds at the time. It was so long ago, he didn’t even have his own email address. Since then, the article has been copied and pasted on numerous websites and continues to be hosted and discussed decades later.