text:
Top Items:
Paul Miller / Engadget:
Apple's all-new MacBook Pro packs new NVIDIA GPUs, glass trackpad — Oh, don't act so surprised. A refresh of Apple's long-in-the-tooth MacBook Pro line was pretty much the only sure thing slated for today's event, and Apple certainly delivered. As for looks, you probably know the score by now …
Discussion: AppleInsider, Gizmodo, Infinite Loop, Technologizer, eWeek, PC World, DailyTech, Crave, BetaNews, Electronista, TG Daily, Gearlog and Tech Check with Jim Goldman
Jason Chen / Gizmodo: Hands On With MacBook Pro 2008
Harry McCracken / Technologizer: New MacBook Pro, MacBook, and Cinema Display...in Person
Jason Snell / PC World: New Thinner MacBook Pro to Use Fast Nvidia Graphics
Brandon Hill / DailyTech: Apple Launches 15.4" MacBook Pro, 13.3" MacBook
Tim Conneally / BetaNews: New MacBook Pros look a lot like the early pictures
Christian Zibreg / TG Daily: Apple unveils new MacBook
Carol Mangis / Gearlog: Miller on Apple's Announcement: He Expected More
Between the Lines:
Apple's new MacBook line: Affordable enough? — Apple on Tuesday moved to address a weakened consumer and its statement on a its refreshed MacBook lineup is telling. Since when does a premium brand like Apple worry about price and making its notebooks "far more affordable?"
Discussion: Industry Standard, Hardware 2.0, Infinite Loop, MacRumors, jkOnTheRun, VentureBeat, The Apple Core, GMSV, Gearlog and Electronista
Jordan Golson / Industry Standard: Do Apple's new MacBooks signal a shift on strategy?
Adrian Kingsley-Hughes / Hardware 2.0: Apple's revamped MacBook line
Jacqui Cheng / Infinite Loop: Up close and personal with the new MacBook Pro
Kevin C. Tofel / jkOnTheRun: Apple doesn't play in 37% of the notebook market
Jason D. O'Grady / The Apple Core: MacBooks: out with the old, in with the new — Apple today …
John Murrell / GMSV: Steve Jobs' war on buttons claims another victim
Carol Mangis / Gearlog: Unboxing the New Macbook, Macbook Pro
Jacqui Cheng / Infinite Loop:
Answers about the new buttonless MacBook trackpad — We have spent some time messing around with the new MacBooks and MacBook Pros, and the number one question we're getting so far is, "How in the world do you use the buttonless trackpad?" — Let me just say first that if you're already used …
Discussion: AppleInsider, Gizmodo and Gearlog
Prince McLean / AppleInsider: Apple unveils new 13" MacBook
Cisco Cheng / Gearlog: Apple's Touchpad and Mouse Clicks Merge
John Mahoney / Gizmodo:
Next-Generation MacBook Ditches the Plastic, Becomes MacBook Pro Mini — Joining the MacBook Pro, Apple's MacBooks, their best-selling mac ever, also received a complete hardware re-tooling today, with rejuvenated hardware packed inside a brand-new aluminum case, thus putting one of the final stakes …
Discussion: Engadget, AppleInsider, Jarrett House North and Valleywag
Aidan Malley / AppleInsider: Apple posts "Spotlight on Notebooks" event stream
Tim Jarrett / Jarrett House North: Notebook lust: the new MacBooks
Darren Murph / Engadget:
Apple finally refreshes Cinema Display: 24-inch, LED backlit, $899 — Another rumor to tick off the list, Apple just announced the 24-inch Cinema Display. LED-backlit, check; Mini DisplayPort, check; $899 list price, check; MagSafe adapter, check. In fact, it has a tri-pronged cable that also includes USB .
Discussion: Gizmodo, Infinite Loop, MacRumors, Macworld, Reuters, Apple, Electronista and TG Daily
Jacqui Cheng / Infinite Loop: Up-close photos of the new 24" Apple display
Philip Michaels / Macworld: Apple unveils new 24-inch LED Cinema Display
Janette Barrios / Apple: Apple Unveils 24-inch LED Cinema Display for New MacBook Family
Joshua Topolsky / Engadget:
Live from Apple's "spotlight turns to notebooks" event — 9:08AM PT - We've got a little less than an hour to go, so we'll just kind of be loitering outside Apple Town Hall, waiting to spot Steve and the unicorn that is his new MacBook Pro. — We're at Apple HQ!
Discussion: Guardian, Infinite Loop, Industry Standard, NEWSFACTOR, VentureBeat, TUAW, Brier Dudley's blog, SlashGear, Ars Technica, CNET News, Hardware 2.0, Apple 2.0, MAKE Magazine, Gadget Lab, Forward Thinking, CrunchGear, MacRumors, Obsessable, TG Daily, LAPTOP Magazine, MacUser, Gearlog, Paul Colligan's …, The Tech Report, Fortune, I4U News, Mobilewhack.com, Alec Saunders SquawkBox, Small Laptops and Notebooks, Digital Inspiration, Ben.geek.nz and TechSpot
Jack Schofield / Guardian: Steve Jobs press conference brings $999 MacBook but still no Blu-ray
Clint Ecker / Infinite Loop: Stream of Apple's notebook event now available
Chris Tompkins / Industry Standard: Steve Jobs: Blu-ray is a "bag of hurt"
Cory Bohon / TUAW: 10/14 Apple Event: Who's providing live coverage?
Brier Dudley / Brier Dudley's blog: Apple upgrades laptops, but no $800 model
Brenda Stokes / SlashGear: Live at the Apple MacBook event; a walk down memory lane
Erica Ogg / CNET News: Live blog: Apple notebook event
Adrian Kingsley-Hughes / Hardware 2.0: Thoughts on Apple's new products
Philip Elmer-DeWitt / Apple 2.0: The $800 rumor that spoiled Apple's party
Phillip Torrone / MAKE Magazine: Making MacBooks from giant sheets of aluminum
Brian X. Chen / Gadget Lab: Analysts: New MacBooks Priced Too High to Compete
Michael J. Miller / Forward Thinking: What Apple Didn't Announce Today
Doug Aamoth / CrunchGear: CrunchGear Live at the Apple Notebook Event
Barb Dybwad / Obsessable: New Apple MacBook Pro 2008 announced
Christian Zibreg / TG Daily: Apple fires up new MacBook Pro
Mark Spoonauer / LAPTOP Magazine: Live from Apple's Notebook Event
Aayush Arya / MacUser: New MacBooks are the sexiest "bricks" ever made
Cisco Cheng / Gearlog: Macbook Pro Graphics Now Switchable
Paul Colligan / Paul Colligan's Profitable Podcasting: What The "Spotlight Turns To Notebooks" Event Means To New Media
Cyril Kowaliski / The Tech Report: New MacBooks have aluminum enclosures, Nvidia graphics
Scott Moritz / Fortune: Apple unveils sleeker MacBook laptops
Luigi Lugmayr / I4U News: Latest Apple MacBook Pro Rumors before Apple Event
Ben Gracewood / Ben.geek.nz: Apple Refreshes MacBook Lines
Jose Vilches / TechSpot: Apple intros new MacBook and MacBook Pro models
Janette Barrios / Apple:
New MacBook Family Redefines Notebook Design — Industry's Greenest Notebooks — Apple® today unveiled an all new MacBook® family that redefines notebook design, and at the same time dramatically lowers the entry price for advanced notebook features including all-metal enclosures …
Discussion: MacRumors, Alice Hill's Real Tech News, The Apple Core, Macintosh, Mac Apps … and Gear Live
Jason D. O'Grady / The Apple Core: New notebooks: What Apple didn't announce
Juan / Macintosh, Mac Apps, iPhone, Steve Jobs, Apple: The New MacBook/MacBook Pros: Greener But Meaner Machines
Andru Edwards / Gear Live: Apple updated MacBook Air with NVIDIA graphics, more storage
Joshua Topolsky / Engadget:
MacBook Pro first hands-on! — Well you've heard the talk, now check out the pics in the gallery below. Believe it or not, that trackpad isn't as hard to use as you think. The new laptops are shockingly similar to current models, and in here those glossy displays don't seem too bad.
Thomas Houston / Switched: Apple Upgrades Laptops and Cinema Display
Mark Wilson / Gizmodo: Hands-On, The New Silver MacBook
Analysts: $999 MacBook most significant announcement — The announcement of a $999 plastic MacBook may be more significant than the revelation of metal MacBooks and MacBook Pros, say analysts with UBS and Piper Jaffray. The former firm notes that while the metal notebooks are more attractive …
Discussion: The Apple Blog
Clint Ecker / Infinite Loop:
Hands on with the Macbook/Pro's removable hard drive
Hands on with the Macbook/Pro's removable hard drive
Discussion: Technologizer and AppleInsider
Ed Oswald / Technologizer: First Take: MacBook
Prince McLean / AppleInsider: Apple debuts new 15" MacBook Pro
Apple updates MacBook Air
Apple updates MacBook Air
Discussion: CNET News, Reuters, AppleInsider, Infinite Loop, MacNN and Boy Genius Report
Daniel Terdiman / CNET News: Is Apple's new MacBook Pro a gaming machine?
Prince McLean / AppleInsider: Apple details new MacBook manufacturing process
Erica Sadun / Infinite Loop: Which new MacBook is right for you?
Marc Flores / Boy Genius Report: Samsung is back in the U.S. notebook business
Adam Frucci / Gizmodo:
New MacBooks Get Glass Trackpad with New Multitouch Gestures, No Buttons
New MacBooks Get Glass Trackpad with New Multitouch Gestures, No Buttons
Discussion: Scripting News and Lifehacker
Dave Winer / Scripting News: I would buy an Apple netbook
Eric Eldon / VentureBeat:
Ex-Google, Yahoo, Facebook employees snub recession, launch Hadoop startup — Recession be damned, a group of top Silicon Valley engineers have come together to launch an interesting startup called Cloudera. Not yet launched, it intends to help other companies adopt a promising software platform called Hadoop.
Discussion: The Open Road and Data Center Knowledge
Matt Asay / The Open Road: Microsoft cleared to commit code to Apache
Rich Miller / Data Center Knowledge: Cloudera: Bringing Hadoop to the Masses
Amr / Amr Awadallah Blog:
The Startup is Cloudera, the Business is Hadoop MapReduce — The new company I am starting is called Cloudera, it will be offering support for Hadoop, think RedHat for Hadoop, but that is just the beginning. — My co-founders are a bunch of really interesting folks:
Discussion: Valleywag and OStatic blogs
Sam Dean / OStatic blogs: Cloudera's Biz Model: Supporting Hadoop
Ben Jones / TorrentFreak:
Bush Signs Draconian Anti-Piracy Law — Over in California, champagne corks are popping. In the offices of the MPAA and RIAA, lawyers turned lobbyists are dancing jigs. In houses all around the US however, people are left dumbfounded by the passage of a bill based on appeasement to big money …
Discussion: Ars Technica, NewTeeVee, Zeropaid File Sharing …, Contentinople and MarketingShift
Nate Anderson / Ars Technica: Big Content gloats as Bush signs PRO-IP Act
Chris Albrecht / NewTeeVee: Vid-Biz: Brightcove, Spike TV, Distribution
Eve Bergazyn / Contentinople: News Bits: Spielberg Pulls a Switcheroo
Matt O'Hern / MarketingShift: Coors vs. Hottrix May Set Precedent for Developers
White House:
Fact Sheet: Protecting American Innovation
Fact Sheet: Protecting American Innovation
Discussion: Wall Street Journal, Salon and p2pnet
Fawn Johnson / Wall Street Journal: Bush Signs Anti-Piracy Bill
Cyrus Farivar / Salon: President Bush signs into law new "Pro-IP" bill
Jon / p2pnet: Bush signs RIAA, MPAA Bill
Erick Schonfeld / TechCrunch:
Bush's New Copyright Czar Is Going To Do About As Much Good As His Drug Czar
Bush's New Copyright Czar Is Going To Do About As Much Good As His Drug Czar
Discussion: Portfolio and ReadWriteWeb
Laura Rich / Portfolio: All Hail the Copyright Czar
Frederic Lardinois / ReadWriteWeb: ProIP Act Signed Into Law - White House Gets Copyright Czar
Motorola Recruiting for "Android Social Networking SmartPhone" Project — An innocuous posting on Coroflot might be indication of Motorola's plans for implementing Android into their hardware lineup. One of our readers sent us a link to a job posting for the Interaction Design Team at Motorola.
Discussion: VentureBeat, Silicon Alley Insider, Boy Genius Report, Electronista, IntoMobile and Ubergizmo
Kelly Hodgkins / Boy Genius Report: Motorola to develop an Android-based social networking smartphone
Matt Marshall / VentureBeat:
JS-Kit, the widget company for dummies, gets boost — JS-Kit, the Silicon Valley company that makes it easy for bloggers to add comments, polls, product reviews or ratings system to their website, has gotten a boost when it most needs it. — It has raised $3.6 million in a second round …
Discussion: Paying Attention, The Next Web, ReadWriteWeb and TechCrunch
Ernst-Jan Pfauth / The Next Web: JS-Kit Raises $ 3.6M and welcomes Chris Saad as advisor
Marshall Kirkpatrick / ReadWriteWeb: Bringing Data Portability to a Website Near You: An Interview …
Jason Kincaid / TechCrunch: Widget Maker JS-Kit Closes $3.6 Million Series B Round
JS-Kit Blog:
Social Widget Provider JS-Kit Raises $3.6M
Social Widget Provider JS-Kit Raises $3.6M
Discussion: paidContent.org, InformationWeek and The Drama 2.0 Show
Yahoo! Search Blog:
Yahoo! Search Hits the Airwaves — A little over four years ago, we launched our own search engine and became a principal in the search business. Our focus since then has been the same - building the best search experience to give users a fast, easy and intuitive way to get straight to their answers.
David Kaplan / paidContent.org: Yahoo Ad Campaign Pleads: 'Don't Give Up On Our Search Tools (We Haven't—Yet)'
Frederic Lardinois / ReadWriteWeb: Yahoo Fights Back: Launches New Ad Campaign for its Search Engine
Erick Schonfeld / TechCrunch: Can Yahoo Find New Searchers Through An Ad Campaign?
Benjamin J. Romano / Microsoft Pri0: Yahoo ad campaign; YouTube search ads; Obama in-game ads …
Jordan McCollum / Andy Beal's Marketing Pilgrim: New Yahoo Ads Tout Safety, Ease of Use
Nathania Johnson / Search Engine Watch: Yahoo Begins Offline Advertising Campaign for Search
Jim Goldman / Tech Check with Jim Goldman:
Intel Underwhelms—But That's OK, Really — Intel's quarterly report today might be one of those rare cases of "not bad" being "good enough," based on trading reaction to these numbers. — And I've just learned that despite suggestions to the contrary, Intel [INTC Loading...
Discussion: VentureBeat, Reuters, Tech Trader Daily and All Things Digital
Dean Takahashi / VentureBeat: Intel's Q3 earnings grow 12 percent, but Q4 looks cloudy
Business Wire:
Intel Posts Record Third-Quarter Revenue of $10.2 Billion
Intel Posts Record Third-Quarter Revenue of $10.2 Billion
Discussion: Associated Press, Between the Lines, CNET News, Tech Trader Daily and Silicon Alley Insider
Sam Diaz / Between the Lines: Intel barely beats for Q3
Brooke Crothers / CNET News: Intel posts record revenue, but cautions
Joe Weisenthal / Silicon Alley Insider: Intel Beats On Earnings, Though Light On Revenue
Chris Ziegler / Engadget:
AT&T goes wild with texting, announces four QWERTY phones — If you're into that whole SMS craze and you're on AT&T, you're in luck — four times over. The carrier's gone ahead and announced not one, not two, but four QWERTY-equipped dumphones today, including a dual slider and a Pantech being billed as …
Discussion: IntoMobile, textually.org and Electronista
AT&T Launches Line of New Quick Messaging Phones
AT&T Launches Line of New Quick Messaging Phones
Discussion: Crave, Unwired View, Phone Arena, Phone Scoop and PhoneNews.com
Nicole Lee / Crave: The gadget blog: AT&T fires off the Quickfire
Eric M. Zeman / Phone Scoop: AT&T Fires Off Four Messaging Devices
Humberto Saabedra / PhoneNews.com: AT&T Announces Four QWERTY Devices
Dan Primack / PE Hub Blog:
Booyah Raises $4.5 Million from Kleiner Perkins — Booyah is stew-like food prepared en masse for large gatherings, and has become an exclamatory catchphrase for broadcasters like Jim Cramer and Stuart Scott. More quietly, it's also become the name of an online content startup funded by Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers.
Discussion: VentureBeat and paidContent.org
Camille Ricketts / VentureBeat: Content provider Booyah scores $4.5M from Kleiner Perkins
Madison Park / CNN:
Study: Google does a brain good — (CNN) — Can Google make you smarter? Is the more you Yahoo, the better? A new study suggests that searching online could be beneficial for the brain. — A study at the University of California, Los Angeles, measured brain activity of older adults as they searched the Web.
Discussion: BBC
Emil Protalinski / One Microsoft Way:
Vista SP2 and Server 2008 SP2: watch this space — As some of you may recall, Windows Server 2008 shipped with SP1 already installed. Microsoft made this decision in order to synchronize the Windows client and server release schedule. As such, SP2 will be released simultaneously for both Vista and Server 2008.
Jason Kincaid / TechCrunch:
Nameo: Single-Button Business Card Replacement For The iPhone — A few months ago iPhone application developer Tapulous announced FriendBook, an app that would allow users to hold shake their phones together to exchange contact information - a fun and simple alternative to pocketfuls of clumsy business cards.
Discussion: The Next Web
Boris Veldhuijzen van Zanten / The Next Web: Nameo: the End of Businesscards?
Michael Masnick / Techdirt:
McCain Campaign Sends Letter To YouTube Defending Fair Use — from the what-the...? dept — This is impressive, and somewhat unexpected. It's rather rare to see politicians (other than maginal ones, at least) showing any sort of recognition of fair use.
Chloe Albanesius / AppScout: McCain Campaign Demands DMCA Takedown Notice Priority
Kara Swisher / BoomTown:
Angel Investor Ron Conway Speaks (About His Wise-Up-Silicon-Valley Missive) — Of course, the stock market had to come roaring back and it had to be extra sunny on the very day I was scheduled to have lunch with well-known Silicon Valley investor Ron Conway to talk about the worrisome state of the digital sector.
Discussion: The Drama 2.0 Show


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US antitrust regulators have recently developed great interest in patent trolls, which they have taken to calling "patent assertion entities" or PAEs. But it seems like they still haven't decided what to do about trolls. At recent hearings, critics lamented extortion-like demands, while supporters proclaimed trolls' benefits to "invention markets."
While they haven't yet settled on a plan of action, the regulators are certainly thinking the issue over. Just last week, dozens of comments were submitted to the antitrust agencies (US Department of Justice and Federal Trade Commission) suggesting what they should do—or not do—about the troll issue.
Trolls are causing great harm. They are filing more lawsuits with no fear of countersuit. They are seeking exclusion orders in the ITC. They are suing as patents are about to expire. They are pushing startups out of the market. They are targeting technology users. They are helping established companies harm rivals. They are avoiding promises made by predecessors. Despite claims that trolls help inventors and that the empirical evidence is not yet complete (when is it ever?), the antitrust agencies can act right now to address the troll problem.
To start, they can challenge concerning aggregations of patents. In the past two decades, the agencies have been transfixed on the positive effects of patents and licensing. But massive patent portfolios can be used offensively and can be valuable because of their size rather than the validity of each patent. These portfolios can have anticompetitive effects, including holdup, raised rivals' costs, increased price, and reduced innovation.
The agencies could also promote transparency. Much troll activity today is hidden beneath a labyrinth of shell companies. Acacia's subsidiaries control 250 patent portfolios. Intellectual Ventures has used at least 1276 shell companies to purchase and hold patents. Given this, how could potential targets engage in licensing negotiations or evaluate patent portfolios? The agencies must be able to shine sunlight on this subterranean network, obtaining complete information from patent acquisitions, among other conduct, to determine competitive effects.
It seems particularly slippery for trolls to avoid promises made by their predecessors. The agencies could prohibit transfers to trolls that refuse to adhere to promises to keep licensing costs reasonable. Such obligations are crucial when industries adopt standards, and evasion through transfer could create a fatal loophole since the industry would be locked into a technology that could face skyrocketing royalties. To pick one example, after the agencies approved the acquisition of the Nortel patent portfolio by the Rockstar consortium based on Apple and Microsoft promising to agree to reasonable licensing, the Rockstar CEO publicly stated that the consortium "isn't bound by the promises that its member companies made" since "[w]e are separate" and the promises "do not apply to us."
The agencies could challenge acquisitions involving trolls based on their distinct incentives. Trolls face fewer constraints in filing suit: they are immune from countersuit (since they don't manufacture anything), do not face disruption to their business, and do not confront reputational harms, customers exerting pressure to settle, or shareholders skeptical of enforcement. Challenge is even more appropriate when trolls have enhanced incentives to sue to cover anticipated venture-capital-like returns or when they combine with companies having both an incentive and ability to harm rivals.
Related is the potential unholy alliance between operating companies and trolls. Look at the recent $527 million sale of bankrupt Kodak's digital imaging patents to Apple, Google, Microsoft, Intellectual Ventures, RPX, and others. What would Intellectual Ventures and RPX do with these patents? Do any companies outside this large alliance stand a chance?
Finally, the FTC could consider the use of Section 5, the tool that reaches beyond antitrust and has been criticized for not offering a precise set of standards. One framework could find that certain trolls have market power in technology (licensing) markets, do not offer non-trivial efficiencies, and cause competitive harm that results in higher prices or reduced innovation for consumers.
Antitrust enforcement is crucial to the protection of consumers and a competitive marketplace. Even if certain trolls can justify some of their conduct, that does not mean that all troll activity is immune from antitrust scrutiny. If it was so protected, then the most aggressive and unjustified behavior, undertaken by trolls with the greatest market power and largest portfolios, and inflicting the greatest harm on rivals and consumers, would fall through the antitrust cracks.
The novelty of troll behavior ensures that the framework must be applied flexibly. But antitrust enforcement cannot automatically be shunned in a context that presents new and powerful opportunities to inflict anticompetitive harm.
Listing image by Flickr user: Cali4Beach

subset: commoncrawl


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Microsoft today made Office 2010 Beta 2 available for download to MSDN and TechNet subscribers. (Thanks to Mary Jo Foley for the heads-up.)
Here's a peek at the new Office 2010 logo.
My overview of the beta--which will be made available publicly at some point--will be up later in the week according to the schedule I agreed to with Microsoft. I assume that NDA is still in effect.
Hide comments


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The Root: Zora Neale Hurston Was a Conservative
John McWhorter is a regular contributor to The Root. He is the author of Our Magnificent Bastard Tongue: The Untold History of English.
This week we will hear a certain amount about how the newly unearthed short stories by Zora Neale Hurston reveal her interest in urban black culture, often obscured because of her rural focus in books like Their Eyes Were Watching God. Seeing Hurston rounded out for us is always welcome because she was complicated indeed. Besides her urban side, I have always valued her for being America's favorite black conservative.
One would be pardoned for supposing that there could be such a figure only among whites. But she is black people's favorite black conservative, quiet though her conservatism is kept. The reason this is important is not just to show something as uninteresting as that there have always been black conservatives. We know. Hurston's value is that she is not someone who most would immediately suppose was un-PC.
A common response to black conservatives is to suppose that they need to be taken into a corner and studiously informed that their views are based on the naivete that comes from growing up "fortunate," and are dangerous in fostering racism. "If we could only talk to him for a while" -- surely he's misled.
Yet one senses that if you tried this with Hurston, she might leave you crumpled up on the floor in that corner. She'd have none of it, especially the idea that she must not be "really black." Because -- and we all feel it too -- she most certainly was, according to any definition anyone might have.
To wit, Zora Neale Hurston was a thoroughly black waw-man who would gladly have peddled her wares on Fox News today. As we accept political diversity among black people, we need to keep this part of Hurston in mind in addition to the rest of her.
For example, one thing that will put black conservatives in our faces even more is that there are now two of them in Congress. Allen West of Florida, asked in the New York Times this weekend whether he felt proud when Obama was elected, coolly said, "I don't look to a man to get pride in myself."
Hurston would have understood that sense that black people are, in the end, individuals rather than the sum of an abstract "blackness," as she indicates here: "Suppose a Negro does something really magnificent, and I glory, not in the benefit to mankind, but in the fact that the doer was a Negro. Must I not also go hang my head in shame when a member of my race does something execrable? The white race did not go into a laboratory and invent incandescent light. That was Edison. If you are under the impression that every white man is an Edison, just look around a bit."
And like West, she wouldn't have been up for cheering when someone who said that Democrats take us for granted signed up as an "independent" but then voted Democratic every time anyway. "It's time for us to cease to allow ourselves to be delivered as a mob by persuasive 'friends' and become individual citizens," she said -- and voted Republican. Now, Republicans then were different from Republicans now -- but there is all evidence that even now, she would have voted Republican at least most of the time.
Here she is on what would later be called affirmative action: "If I say a whole system must be upset for me to win, I am saying that I cannot sit in the game, and that safer rules must be made to give me a chance. I repudiate that. If others are in there, deal me a hand and let me see what I can make of it, even though I know some in there are dealing from the bottom and cheating like hell in other ways."
Get that last line: She knew very well that society isn't fair -- i.e., about what we call societal racism and so on. She just thought that part of overcoming was learning how to work the system rather than overturn it. She did not go for the idea -- now so ensconced that it hardly seems an ideology -- that correct black thought is radical rather than liberal.
To her, the position of supplicant was intolerable, and she resisted the idea that her color should have made her feel differently, despite the horrors of history of which she was all too aware. She mocked the outstretched hand: " 'We were brought here against our will. We were held as slaves for two hundred and forty-six years. We are in no way responsible for anything. We are dependents. We are due something from the labor of our ancestors. Look upon us with pity and give!' "
Interesting: If there is one thing that all of the best-known black conservatives have in common when you meet them, it is that visceral resistance to a sense of victimhood or any fear of whites and What They Might Do. The people so often accused of being self-hating -- Michael Steele, Ward Connerly, Clarence Thomas, Walter Williams, Thomas Sowell, Larry Elder, Star Parker -- are actually quite markedly proud. It's no surprise to me that Hurston was, too.
That pride extended to her own people -- former Rep. Diane Watson of California could not have said of Hurston, as she did of Connerly, that she didn't like being black. Here was someone who depicted Moses speaking black English as a mark of wisdom and found Fisk Jubilee Singers-type arrangements of spirituals "a determined effort to squeeze all of the rich black juice out of the songs and present a sort of musical octoroon to the public."
And yet -- she always throws you in such welcome ways -- she also refrained from the escapist mythology of painting black Americans as exotically "African." Researching poor whites, she found that their speech almost eerily paralleled that of rural blacks. "After my fit of jealousy was cooled off, I realized that Negroes introduced into N. America spoke no English at all, and learned from the whites. Our sense of rhythm points it up a bit, but the expressions for the most part are English held over from the Colonial period." She's right on this; here and metaphorically, she understood that we are Americans.
She was truly spun gold. I wish her combination of starchy politics and vivid black authenticity could be brought to life beyond ancient think pieces and letter excerpts. Maybe Tyler Perry can think about a Harlem Renaissance movie. I suggest Queen Latifah as Hurston, by the way.


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Today's tpod
What Is Electricity?
Original Post May 22, 2013
The Electric Universe hypothesis proposes that electricity lights the stars and forms the web of galaxy clusters in the Universe. But what is it?
First, "electricity" is a catchall term that describes several different phenomena: piezoelectric, thermoelectric, and even bioelectric activity are all forms of electricity. In a similar vein, "heat" has many faces: radiant heat, contact heat, convective heat, etc. One thing to keep clear, though, is that heat is a form of energy while electricity is not. However, continuing with the analogy, a flood of molten lava is not a flow of heat, nor is an electric current a river of electricity.
Defining what is meant by electricity often depends on who is providing the definition. Physicists and mathematicians define it in one way, while the "man on the street" defines it in another. Electricity is a fundamental quality of matter, so it is used to characterize other things, thus consensus opinion is lacking precision.
Like all bedrock presumptions such as "gravity" or "time", reducing electric terminology into smaller units is impossible because it lies at the bottom of the lexical well. All we can do is draw water from the well, but we can't make more water. So, electricity must be defined in comparison to other observations that appear to have a relationship with one another.
It may be dissatisfying to realize that we can go no further than that in our search. However, neither can we go deeper into ideas such as "length". Length is the end of the line when units of physical measurement are considered. No matter how small or how large an object is, length remains as a principle that underlies all units, whether meters, or light-years. The question, "how many lengths of string does it take to reach the Moon?" is illustrative of the point. The unit measure of length must be considered. It depends on the unit value before the question can have meaning.
Scientists use the word "electricity" when they mean "the flow of electric charge". Maxwell and other early investigators thought of it in that way, and that is how it is used today when electric current is discussed. That leads into significant inconsistency when the expression is used among other groups of people, though. For example, consider this definition from a website designed for high school students:
[Electricity] is a form of energy, evident from the fact that it runs machinery and can be transformed into other types of energy such as light and heat.
Electrical energy is a valid phenomenon, but it is not the same as electric charge. Electrical energy (otherwise called, "electromagnetism") is measured in units called "joules", while electric charge is measured in "coulombs". Electricity, which we define as the flow of electric charge, travels through a circuit continuously when there is sufficient voltage to push it along through the wiring. It moves slowly.
Electromagnetic energy is different; it flows in only one direction at near the speed of light. Whereas electric charge is conserved in the circuit – it cannot be created or destroyed, only moved from place-to-place – electrical energy is converted into another form. It moves out from the source to the load and then away from the circuit as light or heat, never to return.
In a direct current (DC) circuit, electric charge hardly moves at all. In fact, electricity in DC circuits has been measured at speeds of only meters per hour. The electromagnetic energy in a circuit, on the other hand, travels like a wave through water, moving at speeds of millions of meters per second. Just as waves travel "through" water molecules in the ocean, electromagnetic energy travels "through" electric charge.
As previously mentioned, electric current is measured in coulombs per second (amperes) while electromagnetic energy is measured in joules. There is no way to convert one to another, they are unrelated – electric current is matter (charged particles) and electromagnetism is energy.
Electricity moves through a DC circuit in the wires as particles of charge. Electrical energy travels outside the wires as units of electromagnetism: it is a "field" rather than packets of material charge. In alternating current (AC) circuits, the movement of electricity is different, but the distinction between matter and energy remains. In AC circuits the electric charge does not flow. Instead, charged particles in the wires oscillate back and forth at 60 times per second in America, or 50 times per second in Europe. The energy flow is identical. However, it travels along outside of the wires at close to light speed.
So electric charge is not electrical energy. Electrons and protons are not carriers of electrical energy. Both are necessary in the Electric Universe, but each must be considered as unique phenomena.
Written by Stephen Smith from information provided by William Beatty.


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The collect and readings for the Seventh Sunday after the Epiphany may be found here. The appointed gospel is Matthew 5:38-48.
"You have heard that it was said, 'An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.' But I say to you, Do not resist an evildoer. But if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also; and if anyone wants to sue you and take your coat, give your cloak as well; and if anyone forces you to go one mile, go also the second mile. Give to everyone who begs from you, and do not refuse anyone who wants to borrow from you.
"You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
I spent last Thursday, Friday, and Saturday at the annual meeting of our diocese. On Thursday morning a young woman walked by and smiled. She looked familiar but I could not recall how or from where I knew here. I smiled back. What else can you do when a pretty lady smiles at you? Friday afternoon she passed by while I was speaking with another priest and said, "Hi Mike." I quickly looked at her name tag but it had turned backwards. I still did not know who she was. Saturday morning she came up to me and said, "I was at a retreat where you spoke about the sacraments." "Yes, now I know," I said. "I remember you and our conversation afterwards." She then send to me, "Axios!"
She has carried that word, axios, with her for the last six or seven years since that retreat. It is, I suspect, more than just a word. It has become for her a new reality, a new hope, and a new path of life.
Axios is the Greek word meaning worthy. I had used it in my talk about the sacraments. On the one hand, I explained, the sacraments are God's gifts recognizing that we are already axios, worthy, of God's life and love. On the other hand the sacraments are God's gifts that make us axios, worthy, of God's life and love. It is both at the same time. That is why at the invitation to communion I often say, "These are God's holy gifts for you, God's holy people. Behold what you are; become what you see." That is the invitation to live the reality of our God-given worthiness. It is the invitation to a shared life with God, what Jesus calls perfection.
"Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect." Behind this invitation is our axios. This call to perfection is the good news that offers us a new reality, a new hope, and new path for our life.
Some, perhaps many, will hear Jesus' words as an impossibility. They will hear his words as a demand for moral perfectionism; a demand to always say the right words, always make the correct choice, always behave appropriately. Such demands leave no room for mistakes, brokenness, or uncertainty and consequently, no room for mercy, forgiveness, or second chances. If that is how we hear Jesus' words the Christian life quickly becomes overwhelming and intimidating and our humanity becomes a barrier to God rather than a means. Perfection will seem unrealistic. "After all, we are only human," will become the justification for how we live.
So what does Jesus expect from us? I think one of the first things Jesus expects is that we stop using our humanity as an excuse, as a reason for being less than who we really are, and realize that our humanity is a means to God. That realization underlies Jesus' call to be perfect. This call does not change the fact that you and I can name the things we have done and left undone, the ways in which we have turned against God and our neighbor. Too often we have offered retaliation instead of the other cheek. Our thoughts, words, and deeds have sometimes been filled with violence rather than love, mercy, and forgiveness. Sometimes we have offered the beggar judgments rather than help.
Jesus' call to perfection does not deny that these things are often a reality of the world and our lives. It denies, rather, that they are the ultimate reality. That is not how the story has to end. "Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect." Jesus sees more for our lives than we often see for ourselves. He sees all that we are and all that we can become, children of God.
This is not so much about becoming something that we are not but about becoming what God has always intended and envisioned for our live. It is about becoming who we really already are. This means we become like God, live like God, love like God, pray like God, forgive like God. This is not, however, simple imitation, copy catting God. It is, instead, union and oneness with God. A shared life with God is our truest vocation and salvation. It is the purpose, goal, and intention for our lives. That is the perfection to which we are called.
Perfection is really about growing up into the fullness of who we already are. We behold that we are like our heavenly Father. We become like our heavenly Father. In the end this is about becoming fully human. In some way Jesus is saying, "You are children of God, now act like. Be who you are. Be perfect like your Father in heaven." This perfection is not, however, an escape from the world or ourselves. It is the means by which we are to engage the world and ourselves. Growing up, becoming perfect, happens in the chaos, pain, and messiness of relationships with our enemies.
"Enemy" is a strong word and often we do not want to admit we have any enemies. "Enemy" certainly includes but is not necessarily limited to mean enemy in the usual sense, an invading army, or a group or individual with whom we are fighting and trying to defeat or kill. It can be as simple as those who are not on my side; those who look, think, speak, or act differently than me; those who have hurt or betrayed me; those who when I see them make my stomach turn, create butterflies, fear and anxiety; those people I would rather not see, listen to, or deal with.
These are the ones we are to love and for whom we are to pray. That doesn't mean we are to pray that they see the error of their ways, that they change, or that they would simply go away. It doesn't mean that we love them if they change, if they apologize, if they act they way we think they should. We are to love them and pray that God would grant them all the good things we want for ourselves and those we care about most. Isn't that what God has done for us? Even when we act like enemies towards God he never stops loving or praying for us and our well being.
Recall an enemy, one who has hurt or betrayed you, one who brings back painful memories, one whom you would like never to see or speak with again. Do you see their face? Do you remember the event, the words that stung like a slap across the cheek? Feel the weight of the hurt? Pray for them. Love them.
Loving and praying for our enemies may not change them. It may not bring about world peace and probably will not make everyone get along. Loving and praying for our enemies changes us more than them. It will grow us up and make us perfect like our Father in heaven. We will know ourselves as axios and as the beloved sons and daughters of God. Behold what you are. Become what you see. Perfectly perfect.


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