Rob , you made a correct point.
As it's name suggest static initalizer block.So there would be some piece of information which would either initialize in or intialized by this block.
if you explore the Java API , you will find in so many API ,which require native code to be loaded first to work class properly,that piece of code can be loaded with the help of static block.Loading of library.
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Mintoo
SCJP 1.4
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