blogging in progress :>

Simple Rails helper for using OnClick on div, tr and other tags

noreply@blogger.com (kill3rmedia) — Tue, 20 May 2008 22:31:00 +0000

I came across the issue of making set of div tags' OnClick event to be connected with a remote function, yet I couldn't find a helper method to that and I made a simple and stupid helper method by cannibalizing link_to_remote and link_to_function helper methods.

usage: just like using link_to_remote, yet we don't specify "name", since there's no text going inside the tag except the onclick event info
e.g: <div <%= onclick_to_remote :url => my_restful_url %> class="my_1">

I works for me and get the work done.. arguments such as :with are supported.. Posting it here hoping someone will find it useful or may be improve it as well.

check out the pastie for better viewing pleasure and understanding http://pastie.caboo.se/200546

def onclick_to_remote(options = {})
 *args = remote_function(options)
 function = args[0] || ''
 function = update_page(&block) if block_given?
 "onclick=\"#{function}; return false;\""
end

Evil Facebook Apps: Your identity belongs to us..

noreply@blogger.com (kill3rmedia) — Thu, 01 May 2008 19:39:00 +0000

according to BBC research, people can steal your identity through facebook and screw up your life... My guess is, only if you got such a life to be kept in secrecy.. What if your posted details are completely inaccurate, now who's laughing :)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7376738.stm

Welcome the Business Etiquette & Keep Informania Out

noreply@blogger.com (kill3rmedia) — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 16:55:00 +0000

According to an article published on Times Online people who regularly juggle between work, email and text messages has to pay an 10 point IQ penalty whether they like it or not. Smoking pot or marijuana would be less harmful where it only cuts off 4 points.

Meeting Etiquette: Keep your mobile turned off at meetings. This habit was first force fed to me by one of my former bosses. Keeping a mobile phone turned on can make you look like someone who does not belong to that meeting. If we assume we attend meetings to make important decisions and not to look stupid, it would always help keeping the mobile phone turned off. Silent mode may not be helpful, since you might have to fight the temptations to check what has happened to the world while you were not caring enough (of the outside world)

Bonus Points: According to the study, keeping your mobile turned on can take out 10 points of your IQ. So it increase your chances of looking stupid at a meeting at the same time. If you are low on IQ (which can also cause keeping your mobile turned on) that 10 points can be significant.

Ring-tone to ruin them all: Setting explicit or silly ring-tone may give out early warnings about you to the people you meet. It's always good idea to be discrete rather than being loudly stupid. Have several profiles for Outside, Office, Factory, Home etc. Set office ringing volume to low and tone to be less irritating to enhance your professional image.

Juggling between Email, Text Messages and Work: This also seems to take 10 points off and cause Low Productivity at the same time. I have my own experience on that as well. About 4 months ago I discovered I've been wasting lot of time on Juggling between emails, instant messages and work. I made it a habit not to log into instant messengers unless there's an prearranged discussion. If there's anything important people will leave an offline message. I check my email by following a set schedule.

What Times Online suggest is to use the dead-time, such as your traveling time to check text messages.

For many others; these approaches may not be ideal. For me these simply works. I'm not a Fire Chief, God or someone who's willing to pay 10 IQ points penalty and settle for a less-productive day.

reference: TIMESONLINE

Ajax Banner Rotator (uses JQuery) & Mootools conflict diffused (hopefully :)

noreply@blogger.com (kill3rmedia) — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 04:24:00 +0000

There was an issue reported by Revive Coffeehouse about mootools conflicting with the Ajax Banner Rotator.

Revive Coffeehouse said... Hey, Just as a heads up.. when using this module, it seems to disable the mootools menu effects, reverting them to standard CSS driven menus. So, I have a fancy banner rotator, but no fancy menus : ) Any idea if this can be fixed??

Possibly this is due to conflict of Mootools and JQuery. http://forum.mootools.net/viewtopic.php?pid=26204 hopefully it's been fixed on newer JQuery release (which I've used here). Please keep me posted on that issue.

I never expected to keep this thing up to date and fixing bugs (I'm no coder by profession as well as I've turned my evil eye towards RubyOnRails these days). But seems the rule that parents responsible of taking care of children applies here as well :)

V0.3b and 0.4b has also fixed the IE issue where the whole page becoming a link

Anonymous said... i love how this module works unfortunately its not working properly with my site its making the whole page a link

Download Module and read release notes http://joomlacode.org/gf/project/ajax_banner/

Ajax Banner Rotator Updated - Now Supports Joomla 1.5 Natively

noreply@blogger.com (kill3rmedia) — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 05:42:00 +0000

Just updated the Ajax Banner Rotator for Joomla 1.5 and now supports 1.5 without the legacy mode. Randomizing banners are still disabled since IE giving some error that I cant understand.. something to do with randomizing on jqrotator.js file. Comments welcome..

Thanks for the patience. I forgot to update the plug-in, even though I marked it supports 1.5 ;)

Download Module and read release notes http://joomlacode.org/gf/project/ajax_banner/

Read other posts on update, first release

attachment_fu file rename file rename / change filename : HOWTO

noreply@blogger.com (kill3rmedia) — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 07:36:00 +0000

I've been looking for a solution to change the filenames of the uploaded files and came across the great tutorial at http://the.railsi.st/2007/8/21/how-to-customize-attachment_fu-file-names/ but it was not what i was exactly looking for. I had issues with viewing the saved files because the thumbnail property does not exist for the new attachment etc.

I'm posting what I did and it changes the filenames to what ever we specify.. Works for me, and hopefully it will work for someone else as well.. :)

checkout the pastie for a better view of the code http://pastie.caboo.se/161062

class Photo < content_type =""> :image,
:storage => :file_system,
:size => 1.kilobyte .. 10.megabytes,
:resize_to => '500>',
:thumbnails => { :thumb => '125' },
:path_prefix => 'public/images/product_pics',
:processor => 'MiniMagick'
validates_as_attachment
belongs_to :product

def full_filename(thumbnail = nil)
file_system_path = (thumbnail ? thumbnail_class : self).attachment_options[:path_prefix]
@thumb = self.thumbnail unless (@thumb = thumbnail) #checks if thumbnails info already exisit
File.join(RAILS_ROOT, file_system_path, self.product.code, thumbnail_name_for(@thumb, self.product.code))
end

def thumbnail_name_for(thumbnail = nil, asset = nil)
suffix = "_#{thumbnail}" unless thumbnail.blank? #sets suffix by the name of the thumbnail set in has_attachment options
extension = filename.scan(/\.\w+$/) # extracts extension
return "#{asset}#{suffix}#{extension}"
end

before_thumbnail_saved do |record, thumbnail|
thumbnail.product_id = record.product_id
end

end

Linux Icons for Ruby & Rails: .rb, .rjs, .yml, .erb

noreply@blogger.com (kill3rmedia) — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 10:41:00 +0000

I've been looking for icons for ruby files and other rails related files. Since I couldn't find any, thought of making few myself using few available stuff.

Right click and save the files.

Controller Inheritance and RESTful routes

noreply@blogger.com (kill3rmedia) — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 17:02:00 +0000

Sometimes we might need to implement controller inheritance; to have a DRYer code, a logical way to organize our project using or let it be purely the personal preference. It would be especially helpful for an admin area of a website (which I wanted to implement as well as shown in the example of Justin French)

Admin Lounge Controller:
class Admin::ProductsController < face="courier new">

This has been well explained here and it helped me to fix few things which I've been struggling to do and also convinced me i was doing something meaningful.

then if we need to use restful routing for these and if you dont know how to create the route similar to admin_products_url or edit_admin_product_url. routes.rb got an example how to get it done. However you can find a better example here.

Controller Inheritance
http://justinfrench.com/index.php?id=122

RESTful routes for Controller Inheritance
http://railstips.org/2007/4/28/namespaces-added-to-routes

Great RESTful RAILS tutorial
http://www.b-simple.de/download/restful_rails_en.pdf

Ladies, wear stilettos and do your self a favor

noreply@blogger.com (kill3rmedia) — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 00:12:00 +0000

STILETTOS can be good for a woman's sex life, says a study which claims wearing them "directly works the pleasure muscles linked to orgasm''. Experts found the high heels toned women’s legs and strengthened pelvic muscles.

In tests, Dr Maria Cerruto, of the University of Verona, Italy, discovered that wearing a pair of ‘‘moderately high heeled shoes’’ had beneficial effects for a woman’s sex life.

Note the word "moderate" in above sentence :)

‘‘Heels work the pelvic muscles and reduce the need to exercise them. ‘‘Wearing heels during daily activity may reduce the need for the pelvic floor exercises necessary to keep that part of a woman’s anatomy toned and elastic,’’ Cerruto said. She asked 66 women under 50 about their sex lives, exercise regime and shoes. In tests, their pelvic muscles were more relaxed in higher heels, increasing their strength and ability to contract.

‘‘Women often have difficulty in carrying out the right exercises for the pelvic zone and wearing heels could prove to be the solution,’’ Cerruto said. Manolo Blahnik, whose shoes are worn by Sex and the City’s Carrie Bradshaw, said: ‘‘This is wonderful news. I’ve been hounded for years about how bad it is for posture, but . . . when you put on a high heel it makes life more exciting. For women, it’s a way to appeal to the male species.

‘‘There’s a limit. Anything over 11.5cm, you can’t walk properly; it’s no longer elegant" (this 11.5cm depends on your height and size of the feet as well i guess)

And, there are enough horror stories and embarrassing moments (some, i've seen myself) of too-high-heels so don't over do it trying to rev up your sex life and end up in miserable ankle sprains or life threatening accidents

Taken from http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,23157982-5013016,00.html and added few noteworthy points myself in bold text

Effects of high heels on your posture > http://feministing.com/archives/006992.html

RAILS on Ubuntu 7.1

noreply@blogger.com (kill3rmedia) — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 03:54:00 +0000

Windows platform may not be the ideal place to develop or deploy your Apache/MySQL/PHP or RoR(Ruby on Rails) applications. However I came across few problems myself trying to setup Ruby on Rails Development Machina on Linux (Ubuntu 7.10). Once you fix them, it works like a charm

There are many installation instructions and fixes posted everywhere. I thought of putting my own version to consolidate installation instructions and fixes to possible problems. I've also listed the sources I've referred myself and its recommended visit those websites if you need more detailed instructions as well as up-to-date news.

POSSIBLE ISSUES

rubygems (LoadError) require’: no such file to load – rubygems (LoadError)
MySql socket error No such file or directory - /tmp/mysql.sock
Open ssl problem when starting Webrick server

1. Install libopenssl-ruby1.8 » fixes the Webrick server error on startup

2. Install libmysqlclient15-dev » fixes the MySQL sock not found issue
Reference:
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/RubyOnRails

3. Install Ruby and Gems
Even though you can easily get ruby installed using apt-get it doesn't fix the issue. We'll have to compile it ourselves.
Reference:
http://www.thirdbit.net/articles/2007/10/04/installing-ruby-186-on-ubuntu-feisty-fawn-704/
http://www.urbanpuddle.com/articles/2007/08/17/mongrel-cluster-1-0-2-and-ruby-1-8-5
http://www.urbanpuddle.com/articles/2008/01/09/install-ruby-on-rails-on-ubutu-gutsy-gibbon-apache-version

Download ruby
tar xjvf ruby-1.8.6.tar.bz2
cd ruby-1.8.6
sudo apt-get build-dep ruby1.8
./configure --prefix=/usr
make
sudo make install
ruby -v and if you see something like ruby 1.8.6 (2007-03-13 patchlevel 0) [i686-linux] ruby is installed :)
then we install ruby gems. download rubygems and extract it.
cd rubygems-1.0.1
sudo ruby setup.rb

4. Install Rails
Reference:
http://rubyonrails.com/down
http://rubyonrails.com/

sudo gem install rails --include-dependencies

We are done.. Worked for me, and fingers crossed it'll work for anyone as well :)

Free Hugs Campaign

noreply@blogger.com (kill3rmedia) — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 12:22:00 +0000

Free hugs is a real life controversial story of Juan Mann, A man whos sole mission was to reach out and hug a stranger to brighten up their lives.

In this age of social disconnectivity and lack of human contact, the effects of the Free Hugs campaign became phenomenal.

Interview

Music Video

Free Hugs Campaign.. http://www.freehugscampaign.org/

Sky Sails, Wind power to cut 1/3 of a ship's energy costs

noreply@blogger.com (kill3rmedia) — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 05:10:00 +0000

image found at http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/graphics/2008/01/20/eakite120big.jpg

According to Sky Sails, a company based in Germany a sail that can be retrofitted into a modern ship can save 40% or on average 1/3 of ship's fuel cost.

Good RAILS (Ruby on Rails) IDE for Windows

noreply@blogger.com (kill3rmedia) — Sat, 20 Oct 2007 15:24:00 +0000

I've been trying to do a small e-commerce website using Ruby on Rails recently. I've being looking for a good IDE for RAILS that runs under windows. Everybody talks about textmate on apple, unfortunately (still) being a PC user and still stuck with windows (since adobe is not planning to release CS3 for Linux).

I've been evaluating almost every editor available. I've tried Aptana studio RadRails yet it seems to be too heavy if you are just a simple RAILS developer with a low end system, otherwise its a feature rich, cross-platform and actively developed.

I came across this cool program named RoRED. Light weight and easy to use. Sure may have lot of things to improve but with its code completing macros RoRED gets the job done well for me (so far). It's not Open Source (but as of today it's free) yet worth a look if you are looking for a lightweight and good IDE for RAILS.

AJAX Banner Rotator 0.2b

noreply@blogger.com (kill3rmedia) — Sat, 30 Jun 2007 07:27:00 +0000

Update 0.2b

Text from "Banner Custom text" field can be displayed with the rotating images and the text can be formatted using an external style sheet using the ID "rot_txt" (eg: ul#ajaxb_rotator #rot_txt {margin:10px 10px 10px 10px;})
Links can be turned off if necessary
The module can be used as an image rotator (with advanced functionality) by using the banners as source images (create a client and then it can be used to manage images)

Module/Download info »

Sri Lanka's first "porn shop" ( Non-NSFW, Nothing related to porn)

noreply@blogger.com (kill3rmedia) — Tue, 26 Jun 2007 11:40:00 +0000

Again, you got to be able to read "Sinhala" language to understand this joke.. Its not realated to pornography anyway

(picture is not taken by myself, just received through an email)

AJAX Banner Rotator

noreply@blogger.com (kill3rmedia) — Sun, 24 Jun 2007 09:25:00 +0000

Release Notes:
v0.2b released - 30/06/2007

AJAX Banner Rotator works with Joomla! v1.x (on J! v1.5 not been tested yet). it is a combination of "AJAX header rotator" module and "All Banners" module. it simply combines the functionality of both modules.

Once you add the banner ads from standard ad manager component, You can have your ads to be displayed in a slide-show using this module. Configuration is pretty straight forward and if you have ads added to system it will just start working once you insert this module to any module position.

I'm planning to use this as main image of a website related to travel/hospitality industry where users can be given an idea on the locations/hotels/resorts/activities awaiting for them and take them to relevant pages and categories directly (later the service providers may sign up for a premium spot in home page)

Module is available for downloading from http://joomlacode.org/gf/project/ajax_banner/ and its hosted in www.joomlacode.org

Please Note:

this module has been developed since there was a need of such a module and it serves the purpose for me
my knowledge in php/ajax = 0 and giving technical support would be difficult however comments suggestions and improvements are always welcome
this is not a commercial endeavor and you are free do what ever you like with it; yet hope others will also contribute to Open Source Software (i'm just trying to do my bit)

Digana Village Resort / Kandy / Sri Lanka

noreply@blogger.com (kill3rmedia) — Thu, 07 Jun 2007 05:37:00 +0000

Once a beautiful resort and now almost abandoned and haunted. Just happened to visit here in search of a swimming pool. Pool is full of algae. Still the serenity of the location is there.

A.J's wedding

noreply@blogger.com (kill3rmedia) — Thu, 03 May 2007 04:50:00 +0000

Unofficially released wedding photo

Dry Joke

noreply@blogger.com (kill3rmedia) — Wed, 02 May 2007 03:34:00 +0000

Apparently the person who drew the board forgot to put the "push bike" first and then ran out of space

(You got to be able to read Sinhalese as well as got to have a twisted mind as mine to make a joke from this)

Fussy dog (muffins only, please)

noreply@blogger.com (kill3rmedia) — Tue, 01 May 2007 06:06:00 +0000

I was walking on the platform because I had to wait another 30 minutes for the train. I saw this lovely dog and thought of buying breakfast for her. but she just sniffed the bun I fed and ran back to me wagging her tail!

then a guy who's working at railway station told me that she only eats muffins (privileged to be fussy, which I lack myself). I bought her two muffins and I could see she's filled with joy and started munching after giving me a grateful grin.

luckily dogs can earn their breakfast with charm! (and with the stupid look in their face)

DawsonTower

noreply@blogger.com (kill3rmedia) — Sun, 29 Apr 2007 15:44:00 +0000

Captain Dawson Tower

From Kandy to Colombo

noreply@blogger.com (kill3rmedia) — Sun, 15 Apr 2007 05:50:00 +0000

Misty Mountain (hop)

Catching the first rays of a new day

Railway Signal post

Heavy Rain Pouring

noreply@blogger.com (kill3rmedia) — Fri, 13 Apr 2007 04:33:00 +0000

En route to Kandy on 12th April (night).. going home before the Sinhalese new year

Connecting the dots backward... : Steve Jobs

noreply@blogger.com (kill3rmedia) — Fri, 21 Jul 2006 17:25:00 +0000

Commencement address by Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple Computer and of Pixar Animation Studios, delivered on June 12, 2005
http://news-service.stanford.edu/news/2005/june15/jobs-061505.html

Posting it almost after one year of the speech. However its always worthy to read (listen to) the speech. Thought of putting few excerpts to give some motivation to the read the full story.. if those didn't motivate you into reading the full article, please click on the link and read the full article :D

I am honored to be with you today at your commencement from one of the finest universities in the world. I never graduated from college. Truth be told, this is the closest I've ever gotten to a college graduation...

If I had never dropped out, I would have never dropped in on this calligraphy class, and personal computers might not have the wonderful typography that they do. Of course it was impossible to connect the dots looking forward when I was in college. But it was very, very clear looking backwards ten years later.
Again, you can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life...

You've got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don't settle...