kevin marsh
kevin marsh
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minor leopard rails wrinkle
if you encounter this issue booting up a mongrel:
$ ./script/server
/library/ruby/site/1.8/rubygems/custom_require.rb:27:in `gem_original_require': no such file to load -- builder/blankslate (loaderror)
from /library/ruby/site/1.8/rubygems/custom_require.rb:27:in `require'
from /users/kmarsh/sites/sampleboardportal/vendor/rails/activesupport/lib/active_support/basic_object.rb:3
from /library/ruby/site/1.8/rubygems/custom_require.rb:27:in `gem_original_require'
from /library/ruby/site/1.8/rubygems/custom_require.rb:27:in `require'
from /users/kmarsh/sites/sampleboardportal/vendor/rails/activesupport/lib/active_support.rb:29
from /users/kmarsh/sites/sampleboardportal/vendor/rails/railties/lib/commands/server.rb:1:in `require'
from /users/kmarsh/sites/sampleboardportal/vendor/rails/railties/lib/commands/server.rb:1
from ./script/server:3:in `require'
from ./script/server:3
...it’s because you’re missing builder. try a sudo gem install builder. fixed the issue for me!
| 0 comments | october 30, 02:50 pm
my rails stack setup notes
it really is a no brainer to setup linux, mysql, ruby, rubygems, rmagick, rails, etc. the 45th time you’ve done it. but it takes a bit of time to go through those 44 other times. so i decided to write down all my steps so i can consistently setup a box at will with little fuss. take a look, it probably is very close to what you’re looking for:
ubuntu / mysql / rails stack install guide
| 1 comment | october 02, 08:45 pm
the only way digg can redeem itself
kevin rose has stated he intends to stop the censorship of the posting of the (now) infamous aacs code.
the only way digg can redeem itself now in the minds of its followers is to be sued by the mpaa, fight it, take the case all the way to the supreme court, and have the dmca deemed unconstitutional and overturned.
| 1 comment | may 02, 06:01 am
coda
so, coda is out and it has been pretty well received. for good reason. it’s a very elegant-looking app, with nice touches all over the place. panic really knows how to exploit the look and feel of os x and the core technologies beneath. put simply: it oozes mac goodness from every corner.
i want to use it, i really do. however. i don’t need it.
you see, ever since i switched from php to rails i only touch the server for little increments at a time, and no longer work directly on it (man, those were[n’t] the days!) even when developing comps from photoshop to xhtml/css, i mainly stay within my current editor and switch back and forth between webkit.
(as an aside, i really like the bundled panic sans font. appears to be some variation of bitstream vera mono, possibly with the underscores tweaked.)
coda osx | 0 comments | april 24, 10:11 pm
rails scalability problems solved
so all this talk about rails (not) scaling got me thinking. if the database is the next bottleneck after you’ve beefed up your pack of mongrels, just remove it—and replace it with twitter!
that’s right. a twitter-based activerecord store.
i expect the plugin to work something like this:
development:
adapter: mysql
database: sockr_development
username: root
password:
host: localhost
test:
adapter: mysql
database: sockr_test
username: root
password:
host: localhost
production:
adapter: twitter
username: sockr_production
password: web2point0h
(note here how i’m still using a traditional rdbms for development and test environments. kicking in twitter here would be quite silly, as we don’t need the scalability for just our local user as we’re developing. we really need it for production!)
that’s it! the plugin would take care of marshaling your activerecord objects into 140 byte chunks and sending it off to twitter hq for cold storage.
keep your eyes peeled for the plugin, coming soon!
rails twitter | 0 comments | april 23, 05:09 am
when to say yes to feature requests
as the only web developer for a small company, i get a lot feature requests for our apps and because time is limited (for everyone) i have to prioritize these requests. my job sure would be easier if i could just say no to everyone but management probably wouldn't have much of a use for me after awhile. so we need some rationale for turning one down and giving the other the thumbs up. here's my little rule of thumb:
(time savings per day/time to implement) * number of users
or if you like terse variable names,
s/i * u
case i: the quick win
bob spends about 30 minutes a day sorting through a list of orders, paginating through and selecting ones that match a given range. he submits a request:
"kevin, it'd be great if i could use the existing search tool to search for a range of order numbers."
a quick estimate yields about 15 minutes for writing a few test cases, and coding up the feature. we have all the variables we need, so lets fill in our equation, sticking to hours:
(.5/0.25) * 1 = 2
hmm, seems sort of arbitrary. we'll leave this on the whiteboard, and tell bob we'll get back to him.
case ii: productivity, multiplied (or divided)
just then, sue comes in:
"kevin, the other 4 customer service representatives and i are spending about 2 hours every day handling orders with invalid credit card numbers. could we give our customers some more information during checkout if their card was rejected? it sure would reduce our call volume."
adding some more validation and error handling to the order processing steps would take a couple hours, but it looks like it would save 5 csr's 2 hours every day. how does this fill into our equation?
(2/2) * 5 = 5
we can see right away this looks like a huge difference, keeping in mind of course that it's just a rule of thumb.
while it isn't a hard and fast rule (i don't think you could come up rules like "< x = no" and "> y = yes") i've found this technique can help prioritize requests in a way that your users can appreciate. it also forces your users to think a little about how much time they really spend doing things, and how much time it takes you to do your job.
development | 1 comment | march 19, 01:32 am
dotfiles.org now has search
i'm pleased to announce dotfiles.org now has search capabilities. this feature was born out of my desire to quickly see common features in everyone's dotfiles, specifically shell aliases. that being said, matching lines from each dotfile will be displayed one right after the other.
give it a try and if you haven't yet signed up, go ahead and do so. it's free!
dotfiles | 0 comments | february 06, 09:33 pm
reddit, digg, and slashdot
reddit: for computer science students
digg: for computer science drop-outs
slashdot: for computer science graduates, circa 1980
web20 humor | 2 comments | january 30, 07:31 pm
best of 2006 playlist
i had a great time listening to my favorite releases of 2006, as defined by this smart playlist:
match [all]:
* year is 2006
* my rating is > 2
john mayer – stop this train
john mayer – the heart of life
john mayer – vultures
john mayer – gravity
teddy geiger – look where we are now
teddy geiger – thinking underage
daniel powter – bad day
jewel – again and again
guster – empire state
corinne bailey rae – put your records on
john mayer – waiting on the world to change
john mayer – in repair
john mayer – slow dancing in a burning room
john mayer – belief
john mayer – i’m gonna find another you
john mayer – i don’t trust myself (with loving you)
teddy geiger – for you i will (confidence)
teddy geiger – love is a marathon
teddy geiger – try too hard
gnarls barkley – crazy
jewel – good day
chris thile – wayside back in time
daniel powter – song 6
jewel – goodbye alice in wonderland
amos lee – supply and demand
the click five – just the girl
guster – lightning rod
jewel – stephenville, tx
sanctus real – fly
sheryl crow – real gone
train – explanation
chris thile – you’re an angel, and i’m gonna cry
katharine mcphee – somewhere over the rainbow
keane – nothing in my way
train – cab
daniel powter – lie to me
guster – dear valentine
thom yorke – the eraser
train – always remember
ben kweller – thirteen
ben kweller – this is war
kate havnevik – new day
train – shelter me
ben folds – still
hellogoodbye – here (in your arms)
the knife – silent shout
ray lamontagne – empty
james taylor – jingle bells
i think i’ll make it a new years eve tradition!
music 2006 | 0 comments | december 31, 06:19 pm
my dream app
no, not that dream app, but mine.
i’d like an app that i can use to document my computing experiences. you know, like when i’m on a safari.
i currently do this with screenshots that automatically get uploaded to flickr and tagged ‘screenshot’ and/or del.icio.us. however, i’d just like one button that i push, and a svelte hud pops up, asks me for some tags and maybe a description, then pushes it up on the web somewhere. if i’m on a webpage, it’ll cache the site’s text (which i can then search), take a screenshot and then get out of the way.
paul uses screenshots and keynote, but that doesn’t work so well with multiple computers… and i don’t like the idea of accumulating 200 mib files.
(hmmm, maybe this is rediscovr?)
update:
| 3 comments | december 28, 06:11 am
junebug and nginx
so i came across junebug today, which is a slick wiki engine that harnesses the power of camping and gives you a nice-looking wiki that's contained in one directory.
here's what i did to get it setup and running and proxied through nginx:
install junebug (you'll need ruby gems for this to work):
$ sudo gem install junebug
create the wiki:
$ junebug wiki
edit the config.yml file's url and feed parameters to the location we'll proxy it to, say http://example.com/wiki
edit your nginx.conf and add the following entries:
upstream junebug {
server 127.0.0.1:3301;
}
location /wiki {
proxy_pass http://mongrel-kmw/wiki;
proxy_redirect off;
proxy_set_header host $host;
}
location /wiki/static {
root /home/kmarsh;
}
fire it up!: ./wiki start (this daemonizes automatically)
restart nginx (send it hup kill -hup [nginx pid])
visit your wiki at the url you specified above, maybe http://example.com/wiki
junebug nginx howto | 1 comment | november 15, 07:31 pm
toward a more republic democracy
the house of representatives (and to a lesser extent, the senate) were established out of the desire for the nation to be led by the people; realizing that not everyone could travel to the capital on a regular basis and voice their opinions.
so the founding fathers setup a republic, where citizens vote once a year for representatives that share the same ideals as them. which is usually (poorly) determined by party affiliation.
however, how do we know that who we elect are actually voting in our favor? and, more importantly, how do our elected representatives know how their constituents would vote?
as a web developer, i am always looking for ways in which the web can be used to improve our lives. here is one such way:
a list of upcoming issues before the house could be put on the representative's website;
constituents could log in and cast a vote for each issue as if they were before the house themselves;
a representative could log in and see a tally of the votes so far for each issue. they would then take this to congress, armed with the opinions of their constituents.
this also makes election time much easier. rather than listening to party-incited backbiting and dirt-digging, you would know that you differ on, for example, 89% of the issues in the previous term and, in this case, it might be time to vote for a candidate whose opinions are more aligned with yours.
because after all, shouldn't a government "of the people, by the people, and for the people" include more of the peoples' opinions?
american government politics web | 1 comment | october 25, 02:46 am
dotfiles
i'm proud to announce the grand opening of dotfiles!
from the site's homepage:
dotfiles.org is a place to upload, share, and synchronize your dotfiles.
if you don't know what a dotfile is, you probably don't need it. and if you don't know, learn up!
it's my first app written in camping, which has been a trip i'm confident to say i hope i'll take again.
projects | 4 comments | october 21, 04:05 am
mephisto
it's official, this blog is now running mephisto!
there a few bugs and things missing, which'll get cleaned up in due time.
also, feeds have now been moved to feedburner:
http://feeds.feedburner.com/kevinmarsh
update (or subscribe!) today!
kevinmarshcom mephisto | 2 comments | october 16, 05:21 am
tab-completion for ruby cheat sheets
add this to your .bashrc or .bash_profile file:
complete -w "$(cheat sheets | egrep '^ ' | awk {'print $1'})" cheat
ruby bash | 0 comments | october 15, 06:11 pm
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