Posts

The US Postal Service is much maligned for poor customer service, inefficiency, and being a bloated government bureaucracy. They’re big, they touch everyone’s lives, and the sometimes screw up, so they’re an easy target for ridicule. I have to say that there’s one thing I generally like about the postal service though, and that’s low turnover. You don’t have to go to the post office too many times before you start recognizing the people working behind the counter, because they’re always the same. Sure some of the people working behind the counter are slow, cranky, or both, but once you get to know them, you’re rarely surprised. Sure, it would be nice if everyone were friendly and efficient, but that’s not realistic. I’d just as soon know what I’m getting. ...

Ruby on Rails 1.0 is out. Perfect timing for me at work being that we’re deep in the throes of implementing a Ruby on Rails application. We are finding deployment a bit scary, but I imagine that with the rapid uptake Rails is enjoying, it will be as easily deployed as PHP within the next 12 months or so. Update: the release announcement is here.

Jon Carroll’s column yesterday captures my feelings on capital punishment perfectly.

In a bit of a change of pace from the usual content here, I’m posting a job listing. I’m looking for a UI designer/Web developer to design the interface for a brand new content management system implemented using Ruby on Rails. This person will also contribute to the design of the public Web site where the content is published. Basically what we’re looking for is an HTML/CSS/JavaScript hacker who has top notch user interface design skills. This isn’t a graphic design position, and things like Photoshop skills aren’t really necessary. We have the back end skills already, we just need someone to make our applications easy to use and attractive. ...

I was a bit surprised to read that someone is trying to organize a class action lawsuit against Wikipedia, on behalf of people who have been defamed there. Is this a case of greedy lawyers trying to cash in on recent bad publicity that Wikipedia has garnered? As it turns out, the people behind the lawsuit are the same people who set up a fraudulent charity that purported to be collecting money for earthquake relief, which was exposed on Wikipedia. So their response to being outed as fraudsters is to file a lawsuit against Wikipedia. Let’s hope that no money is spent dealing with this garbage. ...

How strong is Apple’s brand right now? The iPod Mini became an instant collector’s item as soon as it was discontinued.

Naomi Klein has written an important article about the United States’ history of condoning and using torture when it suits our purposes. Her goal is to war us about the dangers of assuming that the use of torture by our government began with the invasion of Iraq, or 9/11, or the Bush administration. Most people who are paying attention know that “extraordinary rendition” is a legacy of the Clinton administration, and that our history of torturing people and more commonly, teaching others how to torture, goes way back. Not only do we have to accept that torture isn’t just being perpetrated by a few bad apples, but also that it’s not something that Donald Rumsfeld came up with. ...

The mystery of who wrote the false information in the Wikipedia entry about John Siegenthaler has been solved. The writer confessed after an anti-Wikipedia activist tracked down the computer he used (at his workplace). For what it’s worth, he made up the allegations so that he could show them to a coworker.

The rampant acquisition of early stage companies continues, as Yahoo picks up del.icio.us. I think that there’s something to this buy ’em while they’re cheap strategy. If you have enough cash, why not just buy everything and see what sticks? The worst case scenario is that you bring in some smart, creative people who have already proven they can get a product out the door.

If you’re interested in the Human Interfaces discussion that I talked about yesterday, you can read Martin Fowler’s original post, which helpfully includes links to many of the subsequent comments that have been posted all over the place in response. Charles Miller’s comment on this topic is particularly useful.