MissingMethod

RubyManual.org is a nicely organized, searchable documentation reference for the Ruby language (it’s about time). I cam across it this morning and put together a little bookmarklet that will let you search the manual really quicky. Just drag the following to your toolbar:

Ruby Manual Lookup

Then you can just click the bookmarklet, enter your search string, and go straight to the Ruby Manual search results. Hooray!

I presented at RUM tonight about my experiences deploying two Rails apps (Feedmarker & Teacher!). Here are some links I accumulated while researching the presentation (and troubleshooting my apps):
http://railsexpress.de/blog/

http://weblog.textdrive.com/article/175/rails-optimizing-resource-usage

http://wiki.dreamhost.com/index.php/Ruby_on_Rails#Switching_to_FCGI_with_Dreamhost

http://convergentarts.com/pages/fastcgi

http://duncandavidson.com/essay/2005/12/railsdeployment

http://work.alexyoung.org/archives/102/dreamhost-and-rails-500-errors

http://work.alexyoung.org/archives/134/getting-started-with-rails-optimisation

http://weblog.textdrive.com/article/175/rails-optimizing-resource-usage

Check out Peter Cooper’s new blog, Ruby Inside. It’s brand-new, but already has a ton of useful information and looks like it’ll be a great aggregator for Ruby and Ruby on Rails links and news.

Courtesy of the Wayback Machine, here’s the 37signals’ Web site, um, way back in November, 1999:

I love most of the copy, although I can’t imagine many people would have time to read through it. And the dots are a little confusing. But it’s kind of interesting to watch the site’s progression over the years.

It’s also nice to note that a lot of this “Getting Real”, “Less is More/Less/Everything” stuff has been a long time coming: here, here, here and here.

Hiring is a crucial moment, both for the business doing it and for the person being hired. So it makes sense that there are lots of different approaches. Google recently resorted to a math-puzzle posted on a billboard in California. A recent article on O’Reilly’s Ruby Blog advocated some simple screening questions to weed out nubies.

But Southwest Airlines takes a better approach: they hire for attitude. Here’s an exerpt from a Fast Company article describing how José Colmenares, a Southwest recruiter, evaluates attitude vs. skill:

The day’s most involved and revealing test is a group exercise called Fallout Shelter. Applicants are told to imagine they are a committee charged with rebuilding civilization after a just-declared nuclear war. They’re given a list of 15 people from different occupations: nurse, teacher, all-sport athlete, biochemist, pop singer. They have 10 minutes to make a unanimous decision about which 7 can remain in the only available fallout shelter. As the candidates propose, wrangle, and debate, Colmenares and some colleagues watch from across the room. They grade each person on a scale ranging from “passive” to “active” to “leader.”

The principle behind Southwest’s recruiting philosophy is to hire based on attitude and personality, rather than skills. The idea is that what you know changes over time; who you are doesn’t.

Contrast that to one of the questions proposed in the O’Reilly article on screening Ruby candidates:

3. Describe in detail the name-resolution chain for constants (i.e., if you reference a Constant in your function, where does the interpreter look for the definition of that constant?)

I’m not afraid to admit that I don’t know how to answer that question, or really even understand what it’s asking, which may explain why I think it’s a bad question to ask. Of course, when you’re interviewing someone who’s going to write code for you, there’s some logic in getting a feel for the limits of their ability.

Hiring managers would be better served by following Southwest’s example. A person’s skills limit their ability to do the job, but personlity limits their ability to develop skills.

Teaching someone enthusiasm, resourcefulness, and leadership is a lot harder than teaching them the name-resolution chain for constants in Ruby.

Ok folks, let’s keep this orderly; try to contain your emotions. Saddam Hussein’s novel, already a bestseller in Jordan, is being released in Japan. And we all know what that means: it’ll be at your local Barnes & Nobl within a month.
The historical novel depicts ancient tribal warfare and includes chapters entitled “The Foreigner Who Sold the Tribes”, “Retaliatory Tactics” and “The Burning of the Twin Towers” (but not the ones in New York, since, duh, those didn’t exist yet).

But, you know, I always thought of Saddam as more of a lyrical writer. Which is why it’s nice to read that “the book has a melodic clarity to it that suggests it could be adapted to the stage.

“I really think this book should be made into a musical,” says Itsuko Hirata, the Japanese journalist and translator who brought to book to Japan. “And once this is done, it should play in the heart of his enemy’s country, on Broadway.”

SOMEWHERE IN THE DUSTY DESERT
A YOUNG, MUSTACHIOED SADAM SITS WITH A PRETTY GIRL DRAWING WATER
SADDAM:Tra-la-la, I’m going kill your family, tra-la-la. Unless you agree to be my wife.

GIRL: But I told you that I’m married; you met my husband!

SADDAM: And your husband’s throat has met my knife! Tra-la-leeee!

Ok, this is just silly. Microsoft has put up a page on the Windows Vista Web site that is meant to help laypeople (like me) “get ready” for the release of the long-awaited (and long-delayed) next incarnation of Windows. Here’s a snippet:

Getting ready for Windows Vista, available in early 2007, means choosing the edition that’s right for you and ensuring that you have the right PC to enjoy the experiences you want.

I mean, I’m all in favor of enjoying the experiences I want, but available in early 2007!? That could be January, it could be April. Why in god’s name would I bother getting ready for an operating system that might not be released until almost a year from now?

And then, here’s a nice touch: The Editions (dum dum dum).

The five different editions of Windows Vista are designed to fit the way you intend to use your PC.

WTF? Forgive me if I have a little trouble deciding whether I want to buy Windows Vista Home Premium or just Windows Vista Home Basic. Oh wait, who gives a crap? It’s not coming out this year anyway.

Of course, my frustration is mitigated by the promising new features! Like Windows Vista Aero!

Windows Aero is an environment with an additional level of visual sophistication, one that is even more responsive and manageable, providing a further level of clarity and confidence to Windows users.

Yeah, clarity. As in see-through buttons!

Yay! Just what I’ve always wanted! I can already see my productivity sky-rocketing!

Check out this table showing the valuations of the top ten Web sites in spring, 1999:

Look at those names! Lycos, GeoCities, GO Network? What happened to these guys? And of course, look who wasn’t even on the list.

Ahh…remember the good old days?

via InternetNews.com

Saw this ad for The Poseidon Adventure remake on Yahoo today, and was surprised at how readable the text is, even upside-down. In fact, what caught my attention was that I didn’t even notice it was upside-down until I had already clicked off onto another page. I had to go back and check.

It’d be interested to hear the process the designers went through to come up with this ad. I bet they worked pretty hard to make sure the text was legible at first glance.