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	<title>Sphaerula</title>
	<link>http://sphaerula.com/wordpress</link>
	<description>by Conrad Halling</description>
	<lastBuildDate>Wed, 20 Jul 2011 01:11:33 +0000</lastBuildDate>
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		<title>The Eye of the World, by Robert Jordan</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Curious about Robert Jordan&#8217;s The Wheel of Time series, I decided to read the first volume, The Eye of the World, which Jordan published in 1990. Twenty-one years after the publication of this first volume, The Wheel of Time is &#8230; <a href="http://sphaerula.com/wordpress/books/the-eye-of-the-world-by-robert-jordan/">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a>]]></description>
		<link>http://sphaerula.com/wordpress/books/the-eye-of-the-world-by-robert-jordan/</link>
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		<title>NY Post Blocks iPad’s Safari Web Browser</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Dave Winer reports that the NY Post blocks iPad access to its website when you use the iPad’s standard Safari web browser. The Post wants you to buy its iPad app, which is priced at $1.99 and apparently requires an &#8230; <a href="http://sphaerula.com/wordpress/internet/ny-post-blocks-ipads-safari-web-browser/">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a>]]></description>
		<link>http://sphaerula.com/wordpress/internet/ny-post-blocks-ipads-safari-web-browser/</link>
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		<title>Most Common iPhone Passcodes</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Daniel Amitay collected a set of four-digit passcodes from iPhone users using his Big Brother Camera Security app (which Apple has subsequently banned from the App Store). If you have an iOS device and you lock it using a four-digit passcode, &#8230; <a href="http://sphaerula.com/wordpress/technology/most-common-iphone-passcodes/">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a>]]></description>
		<link>http://sphaerula.com/wordpress/technology/most-common-iphone-passcodes/</link>
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		<title>“I, Genius,” by Abstruse Goose</title>
		<description><![CDATA[“I, Genius,” by Abstruse Goose, shows what it takes to be a genius. In Outliers: The Story of Success, Malcolm Gladwell writes that it takes 10,000 hours of practice to master a skill. Geniuses practice harder than most.]]></description>
		<link>http://sphaerula.com/wordpress/working/%e2%80%9ci-genius%e2%80%9d-by-abstruse-goose/</link>
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		<title>Chris McDonough’s Project Maintainer Response Cheat Sheet</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Chris McDough at plope.com posted an Open Source Project Maintainer Sarcastic Response Cheat Sheet. Chris’s list starts with: 1. I&#8217;ll just retype the docs into this email for you. and gets even better through sixteen more responses. Anyone who has served &#8230; <a href="http://sphaerula.com/wordpress/computing/chris-mcdonough%e2%80%99s-project-maintainer-response-cheat-sheet/">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a>]]></description>
		<link>http://sphaerula.com/wordpress/computing/chris-mcdonough%e2%80%99s-project-maintainer-response-cheat-sheet/</link>
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		<title>Robert Scoble Peers Into the Future</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Robert Scoble asks, “Google 2015: what will it look like?” and predicts trends for the next four years. I like his list of ten, especially, “Home entertainment systems will increasingly go completely Internet connected and many people will unplug their cable &#8230; <a href="http://sphaerula.com/wordpress/technology/robert-scoble-peers-into-the-future/">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a>]]></description>
		<link>http://sphaerula.com/wordpress/technology/robert-scoble-peers-into-the-future/</link>
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		<title>Data Scientists Needed</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Steve Lohr of the New York Times reported last week in an article titled “New Ways to Exploit Raw Data May Bring Surge of Innovation, a Study Says” that a McKinsey Global Institute study predicts that businesses will need tens &#8230; <a href="http://sphaerula.com/wordpress/computing/data-scientists-needed/">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a>]]></description>
		<link>http://sphaerula.com/wordpress/computing/data-scientists-needed/</link>
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		<title>Do Developers (and Data Analysts) Need a Second Monitor?</title>
		<description><![CDATA[On Datamation yesterday, Eric Spiegel asked, “Do Developers Really Need A Second Monitor?” The discussion rages on at Slashdot. There is no such thing as too much desktop, as far as I’m concerned. In my experience, all software developers can increase &#8230; <a href="http://sphaerula.com/wordpress/computing/do-developers-and-data-analysts-need-a-second-monitor/">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a>]]></description>
		<link>http://sphaerula.com/wordpress/computing/do-developers-and-data-analysts-need-a-second-monitor/</link>
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		<title>Comment Spam (Part 3)</title>
		<description><![CDATA[I have posted twice already (here and here) about my experiences with comment spam. As I have related, management of comment spam was spinning out of control until I activated the Akismet plugin for WordPress. On my second post, I &#8230; <a href="http://sphaerula.com/wordpress/wordpress/comment-spam-part-3/">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a>]]></description>
		<link>http://sphaerula.com/wordpress/wordpress/comment-spam-part-3/</link>
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		<title>How “Organic” Is Organic Food From China?</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Last night Johanna Bäker made a wonderful salad, for which one of the ingredients was Cascadian Farm frozen organic edamame shelled soybeans. The package had these labels: Cascadian Farm Organic Photo of the Cascade Mountains Founded in Skagit Valley, WA &#8230; <a href="http://sphaerula.com/wordpress/food/how-%e2%80%9corganic%e2%80%9d-is-organic-food-from-china/">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a>]]></description>
		<link>http://sphaerula.com/wordpress/food/how-%e2%80%9corganic%e2%80%9d-is-organic-food-from-china/</link>
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		<title>Perl 5.14 Released</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Perl 5.14 was released on May 11. chromatic is celebrating with a “free ebook giveaway” of his book Modern Perl. (OK, that’s a joke because the book is already free.) More seriously, however, chromatic in an earlier post rages against Linux &#8230; <a href="http://sphaerula.com/wordpress/computing/perl-5-14-released/">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a>]]></description>
		<link>http://sphaerula.com/wordpress/computing/perl-5-14-released/</link>
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		<title>StackExchange: English Language &amp; Usage</title>
		<description><![CDATA[For word mavens, StackExchange has added english.stackexchange.com, “English Language &#38; Usage, a collaboratively edited question and answer site for linguists, etymologists, and serious English language enthusiasts.” This new site has already attracted many interesting questions and answers. The best question so far &#8230; <a href="http://sphaerula.com/wordpress/language/english-stackexchange-com/">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a>]]></description>
		<link>http://sphaerula.com/wordpress/language/english-stackexchange-com/</link>
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		<title>Advice for Job Hunters</title>
		<description><![CDATA[wickline, who is leaving her or his current job, provides good advice today at blogs.perl.org about how to organize a job search. I have one piece of advice (based on a recent experience while reading résumés) for Perl developers who are looking &#8230; <a href="http://sphaerula.com/wordpress/computing/advice-for-job-hunters/">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a>]]></description>
		<link>http://sphaerula.com/wordpress/computing/advice-for-job-hunters/</link>
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		<title>Data Science</title>
		<description><![CDATA[David Smith writes today on the Revolutions blog about the new terms data science and data scientist. Smith provides good background on the recent appearance of these terms and admits that he finds these terms useful. One link Smith provides &#8230; <a href="http://sphaerula.com/wordpress/science/data-science/">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a>]]></description>
		<link>http://sphaerula.com/wordpress/science/data-science/</link>
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		<title>Achieving Mastery</title>
		<description><![CDATA[In a massive and deeply thoughtful essay, Bosco Ho writes about how connecting deliberative practice, neural plasticity, individual strengths, and the “joyful connection of flow” into a  loop can lead to achieving mastery over an activity. Highly recommended. &#160;]]></description>
		<link>http://sphaerula.com/wordpress/working/achieving-mastery/</link>
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		<title>Audio Versions of Isaac Asimov’s Foundation Trilogy</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Isaac Asimov’s classic Foundation Trilogy (later expanded to included several more books—prequels and sequels—and joined to his robot series), has been a favorite of mine since I was a teenager. Nicholas Whyte recently posted that an eight-hour version of the &#8230; <a href="http://sphaerula.com/wordpress/books/audio-versions-of-isaac-asimov%e2%80%99s-foundation-trilogy/">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a>]]></description>
		<link>http://sphaerula.com/wordpress/books/audio-versions-of-isaac-asimov%e2%80%99s-foundation-trilogy/</link>
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		<title>New England Bicycle Expo</title>
		<description><![CDATA[This weekend the New England Bicycle Expo is taking place at the Arts at the Armory building in Somerville, Massachusetts. I visited with the Zipcar people, who were kind enough to give me a Zipcar T-shirt when they learned that &#8230; <a href="http://sphaerula.com/wordpress/bicycling/new-england-bicycle-expo/">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a>]]></description>
		<link>http://sphaerula.com/wordpress/bicycling/new-england-bicycle-expo/</link>
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		<title>What If Earth Had Rings Like Saturn’s?</title>
		<description><![CDATA[YouTube video author T0R0YD (Roy Prol) envisions what the Earth would look like if it had rings like Saturn’s rings. This delightful video shows what the rings would look like from various cities at different latitudes. There are questions that the &#8230; <a href="http://sphaerula.com/wordpress/astronomy/what-if-earth-had-rings-like-saturn%e2%80%99s/">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a>]]></description>
		<link>http://sphaerula.com/wordpress/astronomy/what-if-earth-had-rings-like-saturn%e2%80%99s/</link>
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		<title>Animated Photos by Jamie Beck</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Jamie Beck is a New York City photographer whose blog on tumbler.com, From Me to You, features a series of stunning animated photos. Each photo is actually an animated GIF, but you have never seen an animated GIF like Beck’s. &#8230; <a href="http://sphaerula.com/wordpress/photography/animated-photos-by-jamie-beck/">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a>]]></description>
		<link>http://sphaerula.com/wordpress/photography/animated-photos-by-jamie-beck/</link>
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		<title>When Will the Macintosh Become a True Malware Target?</title>
		<description><![CDATA[In a post on Daring Fireball titled “Wolf!” John Gruber has collected predictions dating back to October, 2004, that any day now the Macintosh will become as big a target for malware as Windows. We’re still waiting&#8230;. &#160;]]></description>
		<link>http://sphaerula.com/wordpress/computing/when-will-the-macintosh-become-a-true-malware-target/</link>
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		<title>One Evolutionary Origin of Domesticated Rice</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Yesterday on the Gene Expression blog, Razib Khan wrote an extensive summary of a paper by Molina et al., “Molecular evidence for a single evolutionary origin of domesticated rice.” Khan, an excellent science writer, provides useful background information into the &#8230; <a href="http://sphaerula.com/wordpress/biology/one-evolutionary-origin-of-domesticated-rice/">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a>]]></description>
		<link>http://sphaerula.com/wordpress/biology/one-evolutionary-origin-of-domesticated-rice/</link>
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		<title>More Than Human, by Theodore Sturgeon</title>
		<description><![CDATA[I recently finished listening to the audiobook of More Than Human, written by Theodore Sturgeon and narrated by Stefan Rudnicki and Harlan Ellison. This audiobook is available from audible.com. As with many audiobooks, listening to the book greatly added to my &#8230; <a href="http://sphaerula.com/wordpress/books/more-than-human-by-theodore-sturgeon/">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a>]]></description>
		<link>http://sphaerula.com/wordpress/books/more-than-human-by-theodore-sturgeon/</link>
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		<title>Fasting May Reduce Heart Disease</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Nearly a month ago, Patrick Morgan at 80beats posted “A Day Without Food May Help Maintain a Heart Without Disease.” Morgan describes a study that has shown that people who report that they fast for 24 hours once a month &#8230; <a href="http://sphaerula.com/wordpress/biology/fasting-may-reduce-heart-disease/">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a>]]></description>
		<link>http://sphaerula.com/wordpress/biology/fasting-may-reduce-heart-disease/</link>
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		<title>Photos From Airplanes</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Once a month on average, I fly from Boston to Portland to visit my family, and I always request a window seat so I can take photos. These are a few photos taken with my iPod touch in the past &#8230; <a href="http://sphaerula.com/wordpress/photography/photos-from-airplanes/">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a>]]></description>
		<link>http://sphaerula.com/wordpress/photography/photos-from-airplanes/</link>
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		<title>Drood, by Dan Simmons</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Published in 2009, Drood is a fictional memoir told by Wilkie Collins (the famous Victorian author) about his relationship with Charles Dickens (the even more famous Victorian author) and their search for a mysterious and spooky character named Drood. The &#8230; <a href="http://sphaerula.com/wordpress/books/drood-by-dan-simmons/">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a>]]></description>
		<link>http://sphaerula.com/wordpress/books/drood-by-dan-simmons/</link>
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		<title>Piracy of Technical Books</title>
		<description><![CDATA[David Flanagan, the author of JavaScript: The Definitive Guide, Sixth Edition, which was published this month (April, 2011), posted on his blog about his despair at seeing pirated PDF copies of his book available already from links identified by Google searches. &#8230; <a href="http://sphaerula.com/wordpress/books/piracy-of-technical-books/">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a>]]></description>
		<link>http://sphaerula.com/wordpress/books/piracy-of-technical-books/</link>
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		<title>Perl Resources</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Perl Resources This is a list of online resources for Perl, mainly for my reference. Perl Perl Programming Language: A comprehensive site with links to everything in the Perl world. Perl Programming Documentation: The complete documentation for Perl. Modern Perl &#8230; <a href="http://sphaerula.com/wordpress/computing/perl-resources/">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a>]]></description>
		<link>http://sphaerula.com/wordpress/computing/perl-resources/</link>
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		<title>Voyager Spacecraft Approach Interstellar Space</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Voyager 1 and Voyager 2, launched in 1977, continue to coast outwards from the sun, and both spacecraft are approaching interstellar space. The boundary of interstellar space is defined as the point beyond which the solar wind gives way to stellar &#8230; <a href="http://sphaerula.com/wordpress/astronomy/voyager-spacecraft-approach-interstellar-space/">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a>]]></description>
		<link>http://sphaerula.com/wordpress/astronomy/voyager-spacecraft-approach-interstellar-space/</link>
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		<title>“Cranking,” by Merlin Mann</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Merlin Mann, who seems to be struggling with writing his new book about Inbox Zero, writes about what is really important in his life. This is one of the best posts I have read this year, and it is well &#8230; <a href="http://sphaerula.com/wordpress/writing/%e2%80%9ccranking%e2%80%9d-by-merlin-mann/">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a>]]></description>
		<link>http://sphaerula.com/wordpress/writing/%e2%80%9ccranking%e2%80%9d-by-merlin-mann/</link>
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		<title>Python Magic</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Have I mentioned that I’m teaching myself Python? These are my two favorite Python comics, from Abstruse Goose and xkcd. &#160;]]></description>
		<link>http://sphaerula.com/wordpress/computing/python-magic/</link>
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