History Carnival #24 goes up at Natalie Bennett's Philobiblion on Wednesday 15 February! Send your nominations of exemplary history posts from between 1 and 15 February to: natalieben*at*journ*dot*freeserv*dot*co*uk*.

Jonathan Edelstein at Head Heeb is hosting"A Searchable Feast: The First Online Symposium on the Old Bailey Session Papers." It draws on the searchable Old Bailey Proceedings Online database of 100,000 reports of criminal trials in London between 1674 and 1834. The contributions to the Symposium include:
Natalie Bennett,"The Women Burglars of the Old Bailey Online," Philobiblion, 12 February;
Jonathan Edelstein,"The London Grand Jury and Municipal Governance, 1680-1700," Head Heeb, 12 February;
Russ Fagally,"Irish Recruitment and the Wild Geese in London," The War Room, 12 February;
Sharon Howard,"Arson in 18th Century London," Part I and Part II, Early Modern Notes, 12 February;
Janice Leidl,"Teaching with Old Bailey Online," Ancarett's Abode, 12 February;
Tim Lovell-Smith,"A Tahaitian in London, 1827," Head Heeb, 12 February;
Penny Richards,"A Perfect Fatuity," Disability Studies, Temple U, 12 February;
Chris A. Williams,"The Evolution of London Policing as Seen Through the OBSP," Head Heeb, 12 February.
Be sure to check back with Jonathan at Head Heeb, as he promises further additions to the symposium.

Randal Stross,"Trying to get a Read on Amazon's Books," New York Times, 12 February, is an important piece by an internet savvy business historian at San Jose State and a contributing editor at US News & World Report.

Paul R. Pillar,"Intelligence, Policy, and the War in Iraq," Foreign Affairs, March/April 2006, argues that in"the run-up to the invasion of Iraq, ..., the Bush administration disregarded the [intelligence] community's expertise, politicized the intelligence process, and selected unrepresentative raw intelligence to make its public case."

Finally, at Historiblogography, Michael Benson and Chris Bray debate (just scroll down) the rights and responsibilities of a free press and free speech. Well done!