Java Jane’s Friends and Family

“Zealots” is Worth 48-pts with a Triple-Word-Score*

nobody@vox.com(Steve Betz) — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 11:45:21 -0400

The other book about zealots I read was on a much lighter topic than religion, violence, polygamy and society: Scrabble. The book “Word Freak” from Stefan Fatsis chronicles the author’s foray into competitive Scrabble. Initially, Fatsis (a Wall...

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Zealots

nobody@vox.com(Steve Betz) — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 11:42:15 -0400

I realized that when I was traveling this past weekend that two books that I had read back-to-back possessed a common element: they both* were about groups of people that are outside the mainstream of society and had completely dedicated to the a...

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This one is soooo popular in the U.K.

nobody@vox.com(Melissa Ann Lambert) — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 09:51:43 -0400

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technology of the futile and inane

nobody@vox.com(kitty) — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 21:17:51 -0400

I have worked in the high-tech realm since about 1999, and as such I have been exposed to the inane quest for the bags of money hidden behind the facade of technical innovation. I've worked for a company funded by venture capital and, even worse,...

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Cacophony

nobody@vox.com(Steve Betz) — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 12:39:52 -0400

So, I went to the gas station this morning to fill my car and realized one thing I really Really REALLY dislike is the invention of the video-embedded gas pump. Does everyone have these?? When you activate the pump, the screen lights up and a “...

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Redwood Country Weekend

nobody@vox.com(Steve Betz) — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 01:28:41 -0400

It’s sort of hard to believe that the Eureka-Arcata-Redwoods area is in California. Its certainly not the California I live in. Where we are dry and sunny, the northwest corner of the state is a temperate rain forest -- so it’s incredibly lush --...

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being boring

nobody@vox.com(kitty) — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 00:14:51 -0400

this past week or so I have read about 5 books, slept for approximately 10 hours every day, let my to-do list languish, set up my projector and screen, opened a new checking account, organized 1/8 of my kitchen cupboards, washed my duvet, though "...

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Eureka!

nobody@vox.com(Steve Betz) — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 09:58:35 -0400

There’s an old adage in the lab that the most profound scientific discoveries never begin with someone shouting “EUREKA!” Usually they start with the someone saying "now that's odd..." Eureka is Greek for “I have found it!” So this weekend the “...

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money money money

nobody@vox.com(kitty) — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 19:30:36 -0400

As Americans, we tend to develop some very dysfunctional relationships with money. It is such a cultural force that it becomes strangely tied to our perceptions of self and self-worth. For the last 15 years I have spent more than I have made. I ...

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For Joie, and grrrace, and Janie

nobody@vox.com(Steve Betz) — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 16:04:21 -0400

One of our networked computers has ~20000 songs loaded up on it... here's what I'll be listening to this afternoon....

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