links for 2008-04-21

April 21, 2008 | 1 Comment

Import Gmail Contacts using Ruby on Rails | Atlantic Dominion Solutions

(tags: ruby rubyonrails gmail google)
Intridea - Seed Fu: Simple Seed Data for Rails

“The issue of pre-loading needed data for a Rails application has always been somewhat confusing and difficult…”

(tags: rubyonrails rake databases data)

links for 2008-04-20

April 20, 2008 | 0 Comments

jashkenas’s ruby-processing at master — GitHub

A Ruby wrapper for the Processing API. Requires JRuby.

(tags: processing ruby java jruby)

Twitter Updates for 2008-04-19

April 19, 2008 | 0 Comments

Calling it a day and switching to Hulu with my wife. #

Twitter Updates for 2008-04-18

April 18, 2008 | 0 Comments

Perqs of working at home: when I pour coffee beans into the grinder, my 14-month-old looks up and says "aaaaah" (imitating the grinder). #

Twitter Updates for 2008-04-17

April 17, 2008 | 0 Comments

I don’t care what anyone says about Simply Red. "Holding Back the Years" is one of the smoothest songs in existence. #
Chardonnay. MacBook. Ruby. Jetrecord. iPod. Yes. Owner of a Lonely Heart. In the end you gotta go, look before you leap. #

links for 2008-04-17

| 0 Comments

Tom ten Thij’s homepage: Rails schema browser plugin: proof of concept

(tags: databases visualization rubyonrails)

Twitter Updates for 2008-04-16

April 16, 2008 | 0 Comments

@areyousure, no. #
@doing @nothing, @really. @howboutyou? @wish @i @was @on @a @beach. #
@mukund, option + command + arrow key (right or left) #
@mukund, or command + 1 (2, 3, 4, 5, etc, for the tab number you want) #
@mukund, my pleasure. I guess you’ve also seen that ctrl + tab works, too (moving left to right). Ctrl + Shift + Tab goes right to left. #

Ruby Hash Compact

| 1 Comment

I couldn’t find this with a quick Google search so I’m posting here in case anyone else finds it useful.

Ruby’s Array class has a nice method called compact that will remove any empty values. I couldn’t find a similar method for Hash but it seems like it should exist, so here’s my first stab at it. Please improve upon these or point me to popular implementations if they exist.

class Hash
  def compact_nil
    delete_if {|key, value| value.nil?}
  end
 
  def compact_empty
    delete_if {|key, value| value.empty?}
  end
 
  def compact
    delete_if {|key, value| value.nil? || value.empty?}
  end
end
 
# Usage
hsh = {'a' => '', 'b'=> nil, 'c' => 'hello'}
hsh.compact
# => {'c' => 'hello'}

links for 2008-04-16

| 0 Comments

Design Snips - a set on Flickr

Screen shots

(tags: design inspiration)

Twitter Updates for 2008-04-14

April 14, 2008 | 0 Comments

Boulder/Denver people, where do you get your business cards printed? I’ve already got designers. My printing needs are simple. #
@jonto I don’t remember. I’ll contact him. Thanks. #
@andrewhyde Nice! Something you should be right at home with. #

Website Content Programmer Position at New Horizons Ministries in Seattle

| 0 Comments

Hi!

If you or someone you know in Seattle is 1) a Christian, 2) a web designer, and 3) looking for a way to serve a desperately underserved group of kids in the city, please review the job description below. I am not affiliated with New Horizons but friends of mine are, so I’m passing this along. Please contact New Horizons with any questions.

New Horizons Ministries is a multicultural organization whose mission is to be in relationship with homeless and street involved young people, serving and loving in the way of Jesus, equipping them to leave street life.

JOB ANNOUNCEMENT

TITLE: Website Content Programmer (Contract position)

REPORTS TO: Associate Director

HOURS: 8 hours a week, $15/hour

(6 month contract with option to renew)

PURPOSE:

The primary function of the Website Content Programmer is to implement text and graphic updates for New Horizons Ministries’ website.

RESPONSIBILITIES AND DUTIES:

In coordination with the Information Technology Coordinator and Development Manager implement ongoing, quarterly and yearly text and graphic updates.
Work with Information Technology Coordinator and Development Manager in the website creative planning process to enhance and expand website aspects such as, but not limited to, maintaining updated text and graphics content.

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS:

All NHM core staff or contract staff must be Christians, personally committed to the Lord Jesus Christ, and their lives must demonstrate such a commitment. They must be non-judgmental and able to work with Christians of differing denominations.
Two years of programming experience.
Advanced use of HTML required, average knowledge of JAVASCRIPT required, ASP preferred but not required, familiarity with FTP server use, comfortable use with CSS1 and CSS2.

RESUME & COVER LETTER CAN BE SENT TO:

Linda Ruthruff, Associate Director

New Horizons Ministries

PO Box 2801

Seattle, WA 98111

lindar@nhmin.org

206-374-0866 ext. 105

Another Website Content Programmer Position at New Horizons Ministries in Seattle

| 0 Comments

Hi!

JOB DESCRIPTION

TITLE: Website Content Programmer (Contract position)

REPORTS TO: Associate Director

HOURS: 8 hours a week, $15/hour

(6 month contract with option to renew)

PURPOSE:

The primary function of the Website Content Programmer is to implement text and graphic updates for New Horizons Ministries’ website.

RESPONSIBILITIES AND DUTIES:

In coordination with the Information Technology Coordinator and Development Manager implement ongoing, quarterly and yearly text and graphic updates.
Work with Information Technology Coordinator and Development Manager in the website creative planning process to enhance and expand website aspects such as, but not limited to, maintaining updated text and graphics content:
1. Look and feel facelift
2. Update mission statement
3. Links to more information
4. Links on Board Members
5. Comprehensive program overviews
6. Global partnerships
7. LNO/Bad date list
8. Statement of Faith
9. Culturally competent images
10. Bibliography
Ongoing updates include: core staff changes, volunteer changes, board changes, job announcements, newsletters, upcoming events (Quickshow!), Executive Director’s Report, In-kind specialty item needs, MOR updates, program changes.
Annual updates include: annual report, board photos, staff photos.
Annual fundraiser updates for WALK and Dessert Extravaganza:
1. WALK
  - Add ‘Walk 2000 _’ under upcoming events
  - Add PDF registration form link
  - Update text and date information
  - Set up online registration
  - Quickshow! Link
2. Dessert Extravaganza
  - Copy and pictures for ‘News and Events’ link
  - Online registration
  - Online invitation

New Horizons Ministries, PO Box 2801, Seattle, WA, 98111, 206-374-0866

Twitter Updates for 2008-04-13

April 13, 2008 | 0 Comments

Had my first Mac scare today. Three beeps on startup. Last week I installed new RAM and that’s what it was. Thankfully not the logic board. #

Twitter Updates for 2008-04-11

April 11, 2008 | 0 Comments

@nickf Looks great, Nick! #

links for 2008-04-11

| 0 Comments

queso’s sitemap at master — GitHub

Generate sitemaps that follow the sitemaps.org standard.

(tags: rubyonrails plugins sitemaps)

Twitter Updates for 2008-04-10

April 10, 2008 | 0 Comments

Installing CS3 on Leopard: fail. #
One thing I’ve learned from being self-employed so far: you become quite an adept yak shaver. #

Startup Humility

| 6 Comments

Almost one year ago I attended the Amazon Web Services Startup Project event in Seattle. There were 150+ companies represented at the event. What follows is the attendee list as written in the event program. Companies without links either have moved (and I can’t find them) or have gone dormant or have gone out of business.

www.2degreesfrost.com
www.acceleratedpictures.com
www.altusnet.com
andiso.com
www.apatar.com
www.asterdata.com
www.attensa.com
www.beetlabs.com
www.berecruited.com
www.biego.com
www.biz-waves.com (expired)
www.blingee.com
www.blist.com
www.blockbeta.com
www.boctordesign.com (appears to be dormant)
www.brevisys.com
www.busmonster.com (appears to be dormant)
castingwords.com
catchthebest.com
www.clayvalet.com
www.cleverset.com (acquired by ATG)
www.collabomatic.com
combustionlabs.com
www.counterpunchsoftware.com
www.craic.com
www.dashwire.com
www.deramark.com
www.dewblaze.com (appears to be dormant)
www.digini.com
www.digitalmarketingcorp.com
down2night.com
www.edoceo.com
www.eventspace.com
www.extemposoftware.com
www.extrahop.com
www.eyejot.com
www.farecast.com
www.forterrainc.com
www.fortyseeds.com (appears to be dormant)
www.fremontforward.com (appears to be dormant)
www.geospiza.com
giganticlabs.com (now inevitable.cc)
www.gogomo.com
www.graniteedge.net (appears to be dormant)
www.gridnetworks.com
www.groundspeak.com
www.healia.com
www.hp.com
www.hjksolutions.com
www.iconclude.com (acquired by opsware.com, acquired by hp.com)
ilike.com
www.illumita.com (now skytap.com)
indiemarketer.com
infoether.com
www.insilicos.com
instacalc.com
iqition.com (unavailable)
www.isilon.com
www.jamglue.com
www.jdlds.com
jetrecord.com
www.jobster.com
www.judysbook.com
kinnection.com
www.knacta.com (now kantrak.com)
leancode.com
www.level3.com
www.lexblog.com
www.limbermedia.com (appears to be dormant)
www.litepost.com
local-box.org (appears to be dormant)
www.localmarketers.com
www.luxuryrealestate.com
www.megapump.com (appears to be dormant)
www.mercent.com
www.minecode.com
www.mixpo.com
www.mpire.com
m-six.com
www.domaintools.com
www.netgridcomputing.com
www.o24biz.com
www.ontela.com
www.oprizo.com
radar.oreilly.com
igniteseattle.com
www.othersonline.com
www.peeridol.net (appears to be dormant)
peerwisdom.com (now trusera.com)
www.pepperspollywogs.com
www.photoworks.com
www.phrasetrain.com (appears to be dormant)
www.physware.com
hotfromsiliconvalley.com
popshops.com
www.positivemotion.com
www.posta.com (now tumbleweed.com)
www.producingfuture.com (appears to be dormant)
rain48.com
www.razorcom.com
www.realtechllc.com
redllamainc.com
www.rescuetime.com
www.revealtechnology.com
www.ripl.com
www.robotcoop.com
www.sampa.com
schoolsoft.com (now dreambox.com)
www.seattleluxury.com
www.seattlevideopages.com (expired)
www.secondspace.com
sixfire.com (expired)
www.smartsheet.com
spamarrest.com
www.sportsmatrixinc.com (appears to be dormant)
www.stashspace.com
www.styledujour.com
www.tableausoftware.com
www.teamdirection.com
www.techforward.com
www.tgn.com
www.theisaacgroup.com (appears to be dormant)
blog.seattletimes.nwsource.com/brierdudley/
www.theplatform.com
www.threecast.com (appears to be dormant)
www.thriftbooks.com
transmutable.com
www.trendi.com
www.triphub.com
www.ubertor.com
www.univaud.com
www.ventureallstars.com
www.verari.com
www.versionate.com
www.vlabsource.com
www.voxpixel.com
www.watermarktech.com
www.weogeo.com
wishpot.com
xcache.com (appears to be dormant)
www.yort.com (appears to be dormant)
www.yottamusic.com (gone)
www.zeeza.net (appears to be dormant)
www.zoommediaplus.com (appears to be dormant)
www.3i.com
www.archventure.com
www.atlasaccelerator.com
www.bofasecurities.com
www.clearstone.com
divergent.com
www.eldorado.com
www.firstround.com
www.foundationcapital.com
www.fraziertechnology.com
www.ggvc.com
www.humwin.com
www.lehman.com
www.ovp.com
www.paladinpartners.com
www.partechvc.com
www.polarisventures.com
www.seapointventures.com
www.sierraventures.com
www.voyagercapital.com
capital.vulcan.com
www.madrona.com
aws.amazon.com

Look at the list again. 23 out of 167 companies are gone a year later. That’s 14%. Before you poke fun, how do you know your company won’t be next? How do I know my company won’t be next?

Certainly courage and determination are necessary ingredients of any startup. But so is humility.

Your thoughts?

links for 2008-04-10

| 0 Comments

Slick or Slack

Hot or Not for code.

(tags: code programming)
Ruby Facets

Library of patterns, convenience methods, and snippets to extend Ruby, all of which may be ‘required’ into an existing program.

(tags: ruby code)

Twitter Updates for 2008-04-09

April 9, 2008 | 0 Comments

Post-1945 concert music is the perfect soundtrack for suburban life. Feel like I’m walking in a murder mystery. #
I’m being squeaked at by ~50 prairie dogs as I pass by. Are they afraid or planning an attack? #
It’s an attack! Runing as i typ ths!! #