"Game-Changing" Energy Technology in the Works?

Well, it seems defense mega-corp Lockheed-Martin thinks so. They've partnered with Texas company EEstor, which claims to be on track to produce battery technology by next year that has at least 10x standard lithium ion capacity. Their claims are ambitious enough to be raising more than their fair share of skeptical eyebrows, and cries of "hoax!", but the fact that Lockheed-Martin has, so far, filed for two patents with them at least speaks well of their chances. Green commuter car company Zenn is also working with EEstor on their next generation of vehicles.

Somewhat hilariously (but, I suppose, unsurprisingly, given the secrecy inherent in the workings of Big Industry), the best apparent source of information about the science purportedly underlying this new battery technology is at the Wikipedia article on EEstor. The article suffers from a lack of verifiable sources (bad, bad!) but seems, at least to this layperson, to explain the fundamentals of concepts like permittivity.

Senator Edward M. "Ted" Kennedy, 77, Dies of Brain Cancer

The brother of President John F. Kennedy, Senator Kennedy, who spent over 45 years in the Senate, considered labor, civil rights, immigration, and social welfare programs, particularly health care (as early as 1966!), to be the most important causes he could champion using his influence and political power. No saint - q.v. the Chappaquiddick incident in 1969 - nevertheless he achieved much of significance in his political life, including passing minimum-wage legislation twice over, among other acts.

Requiescat in pace.

A Brief History of Craigslist

A neat article at Wired on the origin and history of craigslist and its eponymous creator, Craig Newmark.

Stylometric Scholarship Shaky

From New Scientist via Slashdot: standard techniques of stylometric analysis are "easily fooled" by rank amateurs.

[T]he features that stylometry techniques rely on can be easy to imitate,
say Michael Brennan and Rachel Greenstadt at Drexel University in Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania. They have shown that people can successfully confuse stylometry
software and hide their identity by imitating the writing style of another
person.

Let's set aside the legal questions the article raises. The reliability of stylometry has consequences for issues in ancient scholarship as well. One example: the question of the development of Plato's metaphysical and ethical thought has been addressed with stylometric techniques by scholars such as C.M. Young. If, for example, we can no longer confidently assert that the Philebus post-dates the Republic, we suddenly have far less evidence with which to understand and interpret the growth of Platonic philosophy.

Philosophy a 'failed discipline'?

So says Michéle Lamont in n+1 magazine:

The two unsuccessful disciplines are philosophy, which Lamont calls a
"problem field," and English, which she claims is in crisis. Both fail to secure
their share of fellowships because they fail to describe themselves in ways that
other disciplines find persuasive.

Naumachia in NYC!!

The Queens Museum of Art presented Those Who Are About To Die Salute You, a (misnamed, by the way - it should be 'We') mock naval battle last Thursday, August 13. From the Queens Museum website:

Those About to Die Salute You, a battle on water wielded with baguette swords and watermelon cannon balls by New York’s art dignitaries, will take place on Thursday, August 13, 2009 at 6 pm in a flooded World’s Fair-era reflecting pool in Flushing Meadows Corona Park, just outside of the Queens Museum of Art. Various types of vessels have been designed and constructed by artist
provocateur Duke Riley and his collaborators: the galleons, some made of reeds
harvested in the park, will be used to stage a citywide battle of the art
museums in which representatives from the Queens Museum of Art, the Brooklyn
Museum, Bronx Museum of the Arts, and El Museo del Barrio will battle before a
toga-clad crowd of frenzied onlookers. The event is free and open to public.
Dress code: Toga. Live music by Hell-Bent Hooker. Beverages will be served. RAIN
OR SHINE.

An article in WSJ; photos from the event; a Flickr slideshow.

Real-life Basis for Aesop's Fable

Check out the BBC News article about researchers demonstrating that Aesop's fable of the crow and the pitcher is factual. Nifty vids, too.

My favorite quote from the article: "In folklore, it is rarely possible to know with certainty which corvid is being referred to."

LOL, as they say these days.