Little Yellow House: December 2006

Why's (Poignant) Guide to Ruby

This has got to be the most amusing programming book (treatise, even) that I have ever read. I haven't made it all the way through yet, but if you're looking to pick up the programming language Ruby, or even if you just enjoy a smarmy and ironic presentation, it's worth a scan. The introduction sets the tone:

"Pretend that you’ve opened this book (although you probably have opened this book), just to find a huge onion right in the middle crease of the book. (The manufacturer of the book has included the onion at my request.)

So you’re like, “Wow, this book comes with an onion!” (Even if you don’t particularly like onions, I’m sure you can appreciate the logistics of shipping any sort of produce discreetly inside of an alleged programming manual.)

Then you ask yourself, “Wait a minute. I thought this was a book on Ruby, the incredible new programming language from Japan. And although I can appreciate the logistics of shipping any sort of produce discreetly inside of an alleged programming manual: Why an onion? What am I supposed to do with it?”

No. Please don’t puzzle over it. You don’t need to do anything with the onion. Set the onion aside and let it do something with you.

I’ll be straight with you. I want you to cry. To weep. To whimper sweetly. This book is a poignant guide to Ruby. That means code so beautiful that tears are shed. That means gallant tales and somber truths that have you waking up the next morning in the arms of this book. Hugging it tightly to you all the day long. If necessary, fashion a makeshift hip holster for Why’s (Poignant) Guide to Ruby, so you can always have this book’s tender companionship.

You really must sob once. Or at least sniffle. And if not, then the onion will make it all happen for you."

Now how's this for a mod'ed vehicle?

Car tricks

Ummm. Maybe you should just go to TechEBlog to see what I've been reading... Maybe a link on the sidebar? Thank you Sean.

Car Tricks that I'd like to learn.

Also, just a slick web design: Rubik's solving robot

Corporate hijinx

So it would seem I still have a job. I'm not entirely sure whether that's a good thing or a bad thing. At any rate, this Flickr set accurately captures the mood around my workplace today:

The Third Annual AOL Christmas Layoff