Orac has taken note of our carnival. He regularly posts links to the Grand Rounds which is what passes for a carnival in the medical blogosphere. It's worth noting the very high frequency of anonymous/pseudonymous bloggers, presumably for confidentiality/liability reasons (the Grand Rounds is all about errors this week, after all), but it's a fascinating look inside another profession... one which matters to all of us. Real life is so much more interesting than staged drama. He's also got an interest in Holocaust history (the difference between Holocaust denial/diminution and quackery isn't that great, is it?) and takes note of the 60th anniversary of the evacuation of Auschwitz, including a link to an upcoming PBS series about the camp.

Speaking of atrocities and errors, a judicial inquiry in the world's largest democracy has determined that accident and rumor led to over a thousand deaths. Gujarat, India was a nasty place to be in 2002: a train fire killed almost 60 people, mostly Hindu, and rumors that the train was firebombed by a Muslim mob led to days of" communal violence" [ed. - mob riots] which resulted in between 1000 and 2000 deaths, mostly of Muslims. Scores of Muslims (but no Hindus) are still in state jails in connection with the incident. The judicial inquiry concluded that the fires were accidental, most likely the result of in-train cooking, and that no evidence existed to support the extant arrests. There are political overtones to this, as the BJP which was in power when the riots happened is not in power any longer, so they can't squelch the results, though they are sticking by their story.

The Magazine of History has dedicated its current issue to Martin Luther King, Jr. The editor and nearly sole author of the issue was King Papers editor and Ralph Luker collaboratorClayborne Carson. My favorite article was the discussion of the King-Malcolm X relationship: were it not for their deaths, there's a distinct possibility that they might have developed a long-term fruitful (but likely tense) working relationship as their views matured and appreciation for each others' successes deepened. Clayborne Carson is no relation to Rev. Betty Claiborne [it was on radio, I couldn't tell until I looked it up], who was pardoned by the governor of Louisiana this week, clearing her 41 year-old swimming-pool integration arrest and conviction off her record at long last.

Finally, though we don't really need a reminder this year of the capricious and devastating power of nature, it is the tenth anniversary of the Great Kobe Quake. I was nearby.