Praktiks: John Gravois,"You're Not Fooling Anyone," CHE, 9 November, touches a nerve in young academics who fear discovery that they are frauds. Another Damned Medievalist asks"Do I Dare to Give a Quiz?" and Miriam Burstein goes over some points about the job market.

SHA Convention Revisited: At Civil War Memory, Rebecca Goetz, Mark Grimsley, Kevin Levin, and I are caught in the act of closing down a Richmond pub. She who blogs at The Purloined Letter made the convention a family adventure (scroll down). Sober enough, but with re-enactments at Jamestown and the lynching of an elephant.

Tiny Arousers: Rachel Poliquin,"The Visual Erotics of Mini-Marriages," The Believer, November/December, touches on court dwarfs, pets, and stuffed animals getting married. Hat tip.