“The name of American must always exalt the just pride of Patriotism. With slight shades of difference, you have the same Religion, Manners, Habits, and political Principles. …
“Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports.
“In vain would that man claim the tribute of patriotism, who should labor to subvert these great pillars of human happiness, these firmest props of the duties of men and citizens.”
— George Washington
My friend Duff’s latest enhancement to Soapadoo is so totally excellent that I thought I should blog about it. In addition to being the premiere source for reviews of anything, Soapadoo can now read your blog and detect when you’ve posted a review. Soapadoo will then syndicate that review itself, saving you the trouble of posting it twice. This will be immediately useful to me as I’ve already double posted several reviews here and on Soapadoo. Why not check out Duff’s announcement and get your own blog hooked up?
“A window of opportunity will not open itself.” — Michael Crichton
Teascript is my latest Rails application. It’s scheduled to go live in mid-September. You can read more about it in the original announcement that I posted a few weeks ago.
Beta testing for Teascript begins next week. I’m looking for a dozen or so people to help sanity check the application before I unleash it on the public. (I already have 8 signed up.) As a beta tester, you would receive full access to the product starting early next week.
While I’m not requiring anyone who volunteers as a tester to send me feedback, it’s much appreciated! Interested? Shoot me an e-mail at matthew AT teascript DOT com and I’ll add you to the list.
Yes, it’s time for another Microsoft rant. If you’re a regular reader of my blog, you’ll know that these rants are usually quite justified (unlike some others I’ve read).
How long should it take to create an e-mail template? Go ahead, take a guess. Five minutes? Ten minutes? Twenty?
Try 45 solid minutes!
Before I sat down, I thought to myself, “Self, how hard can it be to create a template in Outlook 2000? Sure, it’s older software, but it’s Microsoft, right? Made for the average computer user.”
Whatever. I gave up and had to just copy and paste my layout into a new e-mail. I suppose I’ll have to do this each time I need to use this particular design. Very frustrating. It seems that the deeper into Outlook you dig, the worse the user interface gets and the less things make sense. I found some VERY wacky things in there under the templating and forms menus. Quite frightening.
This makes me want to switch to a different e-mail client. Any suggestions?
“A common mistake that people make when trying to design something completely foolproof is to underestimate the ingenuity of complete fools.” — Douglas Adams
It’s always good to hear some positive news for a change. Three fisherman lost at sea for over nine months have been rescued. Read the full story at MSNBC.
Have you ever done a code review? Most developers haven’t. It doesn’t seem to be a regular practice in many parts of the software industry, yet by ignoring the importance of code reviews we miss out on the benefits that they can provide.
My friend and former co-worker Sri has written an article about code reviews that was published on java.net today. Here’s a teaser:
Need to be sure your program really runs right? Oh sure, testing’s a part of it, but so are code reviews. Sri Sankaran argues that research and experience prove that a standardized, effective code review process mitigates costs and produces better code.
Coming from an agile development background, I’ve participated in several code reviews myself. Properly used they can be an effective way to ensure that the software being shipped is solid, and that the team is on the same page when it comes to standards and organization.
Check out Lifehack’s list of resources for entrepreneurs. It’s an incredible collection of useful sites and blogs with advice ranging from how to start a niche business to how to maximize your Google AdSense income. I’m at the stage right now where I’m trying to learn as much as possible about what successful entrepreneurs have done to actually be successful. A resource like this may be the closest I can get without actually shadowing someone.
Last night’s meeting of the Raleigh-area Ruby Brigade set another record for attendance: 44 by Nathaniel’s count. This is 14 more than last month’s meeting. Incredible!
This was another first for the group in that we were meeting at Red Hat’s headquarters on NC State’s centennial campus instead of our old location at the Brier Creek Panera Bread. This is the same building that BarCamp was held in a few months ago. It’s a VERY nice facility. Open wi-fi, convenient restrooms, and a red motif that goes nicely with the whole Ruby thing.
Last night’s presentation was given by Stuart Halloway and Justin Ghetland. They introduced their new Streamlined framework to the group, which can be described as scaffolding on steroids. Maybe that’s too simplistic, though. I saw their original demo at RailsConf in June, but they were able to go into more detail tonight which was nice.
Nathaniel made several announcements before the presentation began:
What, you say you’re not a member of the Brigade yet? There is no excuse not to be. Sign yourself up and start hobnobbing with the ever-growing crowd of local Rubyists.