Things Noted Here and There

British historian David Irving was denied bail on Friday and will remain in an Austrian jail through the holidays on charges of Holocaust denial. His attorney says that Irving will not contest the charges, but his agent sends word that his next book will argue that Austria has no jails.

Russell Jacoby,"Turning Academia Into a Cafeteria," LA Times, 23 November, is critical of academe's compulsive offering of alternatives. Jacoby's article reminds me of the argument by Tim Burke's colleague at Swarthmore, Barry Schwartz, in The Paradox of Choice: Why More is Less. eb at No Great Matter makes lite of all of this.

"The Lion in Winter – Full Transcript," Boston, December 2005, is John Sedgwick's fascinating interview with Boston University's Chancellor Emeritus, John Silber. Thanks to Margaret Soltan at University Diaries for the tip.

There's a busy week ahead in the history blogosphere:
1) Nominations for The Cliopatria Awards will close on Wednesday 30 November. If your favorite History Group Blog, Individual Blog, New Blog, Post, Series of Posts, or Writer is not yet nominated, the time is now.
2) History Carnival XXI goes up on Thursday 1 December at CLEWS. Send your nominations of the best history blogging posts since 15 November to: Laura4991*at*prodigy*dot*net. All history subjects are welcome, but given Laura's interests, she hints that it will be a"blood-soaked murder-through-the-ages extravaganza"!
3) Carnivalesque XI, an ancient/medieval edition of it, goes up at Blogenspiel on Saturday 3 December. Send your nominations of posts about history prior to, oh, about 1500 CE, to: another_damned_medievalist*at*hotmail*dot*com.