/* The Schmitzer's Comment */

Why Rails 3 cannot start the debugger

2010-09-23T08:08:00.001-07:00

ruby-debug is installed, but I seeYou need to install ruby-debug to run the server in debugging mode. With gems, use 'gem install ruby-debug'This is because I don't have ruby-debug in my Gemfile:group :development, :test do gem 'ruby-debug'end

Adding Rails Counter Cache - Two Stage Release

2010-04-28T19:38:00.000-07:00

I recently added a counter cache to an existing has_many/belongs_to association. I am using a hosted Rails application (heroku)I went through all the steps:1) create a migration adding a table_name_count column to the counting table, and initializing table_name_count to the the proper value2) add :counter_cache => true to my :belongs_to association3) make use of .size instead of .count for

Confirmation Questions

2010-03-31T14:00:00.000-07:00

Registration for a web site should be as painless as possible. Some sites don't get this. I recently registered on a web site which required 3 "secret" questions to be answered in case I forgot my password.This was the most difficult part of registration- Who thinks up these?What is your most unique characteristic?Subjective? How do I answer this? Why would I answer this when the answer could

SSL Debugging using OpenSSL

2010-03-25T08:26:00.001-07:00

Here is a useful command, for debugging why your SSL connection is failing:openssl s_client -connect host:port

Rounding in Ruby String Format

2010-01-15T21:36:00.000-08:00

Ruby has a nice sting format operator, % for formating in a sprintf-like fashion:$ irbirb(main):001:0> "%2.1f" % 12.8987987=> "12.9"Works well, but the rounding can be correct:irb(main):002:0> "%2.1f" % 2.85=> "2.9"or incorrect:irb(main):003:0> "%2.1f" % 12.85=> "12.8"To compensate, use round and some decimal-place finangling:irb(main):004:0> "%2.1f" % ((12.85*10.0).round/10.0)=> "12.9"

How to force a fsck on reboot

2010-01-07T13:21:00.001-08:00

shutdown -rF now

Debian - Out of disk space on /tmp

2009-12-11T10:25:00.000-08:00

I suspected I was out of disk space, due to some corrupted JAR files, while compiling NHIN CONNECT 2.3How do I tell on Debian?$ sudo dfshows 0% available in /tmpWhat's taking up this space?$ sudo du /tmpShows recursively, what is where.This appears to be a difference between GlassFishESB and GlassFish 2.1, but I'm not sure.

MOHIE Planning

2009-12-02T09:01:00.000-08:00

I'm headed to Jefferson City, to attend Missouri's HIE Planning Technical Architecture Committee tomorrow. This is an exciting chance to change healthcare in Missouri.However, I'm worried that the group will be filled with lobbyists and vendors trying to get their piece of the pie. I would rather build something and give it away to Missouri and any other state which wants it. I think its time

Git on a Flash Drive

2009-11-18T10:16:00.000-08:00

Had some serious trouble figuring this one out...The Idea: Use Git for source control on my Debian laptop, and keep a copy of the repository on a USB Flash Drive.It should work something like this:on flash drive:mkdir projectcd projectgit --bare initon desktop:git clone /path/to/usb/drivemake changesgit add .git commit -m "did something"git push origin masterBut it didn't quite work that waygit

jQuery Dialog Input Focus

2009-11-16T04:28:00.000-08:00

I'm a big believer in setting keyboard focus to the proper input. As a long-time laptop user, I avoid using the mouse wherever possible. It simply slows me down. Save the mice!Using jQuery UI's dialog to pop up a form, I could not do this for some reason. Here is my code to set input focus in a dialog.// In event handler$('#mydialog').open();$('#myinput').get(0).focus();And nothing! I tried

Disable Windows Automatic Updates Now

2009-11-12T07:33:00.000-08:00

If you are a developer using Windows, do the folowing right now1. Open Control Panel2. Select Automatic Updates (I know you already switched it to Classic View)3. Select "Turn off Automatic Updates"4. Hit Ok5. Never reconsider this action.Its not worth it. I've written about the troubles that Automatic Updates causes, how they used it to hijack Firfefox and the joke of Ray Ozzie's calling it a

What is Google Wave

2009-11-11T15:19:00.000-08:00

What is Google WaveGoogle Wave is a new Communications Platform. Wave is a new paradigm - different from email, IM, chat, and Twittering.What is Google Wave LikeWave is the only non-linear communications platform. Wave communication is not ordered over time. Instead, it is stateful - a wave has a current state, which you see. It is also possible to linearize the wave, by using playback, and

Rapid Fire Nov 11

2009-11-11T04:47:00.000-08:00

Twitter StatusWith the new lists feature in twitter, they almost got it right. Lists are just another identity on twitter - has followers and follows people. What I'd like to see in Twitter is a list status - one entry for each list member, showing their latest status. Hmmm, maybe I'll write a quick client to do this...Adobe's Impact If your like me, you've given up on watching those "

MySQL 5.1 on Debian Local Host

2009-11-06T11:37:00.000-08:00

Could not connect on localhost for user with host %, which presumably was a wildcard. Got access denied.Connected as root, then ranupdate mysq.user set host='localhost' where host='%';And had to restart MySQL to have it take effect.

Authlogic and Functional Tests

2009-11-05T10:49:00.000-08:00

After adding Authlogic to my Rails application, functional tests failed with errors likeExpected response to be a <:success>, but was <302>This is because the controllers now require a valid session. Here are the steps to easliy accomplish this:1. Create a named user in fixtures/users.yml, as described in docs. I called my user autoauto: username: autotester email: whatever@whatever.com

Rapid Fire Nov 3

2009-11-03T07:09:00.000-08:00

Twitter ListsI organized my Twitter contacts into lists. My largest list was "dontknow". Now going through that list and figuring out who these people are. Following a lot less of them now. Was this the goal of lists?iPhone EnvyComing down with a serious case of it, especially after seeing them all at Strange Loop. This is not a fad, the game has changed. Those who have it, will never

Installing Nokogiri gem on debian

2009-10-30T08:25:00.000-07:00

sudo aptitude install libxml2-devsudo aptitude install libxsl1-devsudo gem install nokogiriThis fixes the "could not find libxml2" error

jQuery workaround for click exclusion

2009-10-29T13:14:00.000-07:00

I've been working with jQuery for a short time now. I would think there is a better way to do this, so I'm looking for help.I have a <div> which contains an <a href="...">In my javascript, I handle click events on the div, but don't want to handle the a clicks (want the link to be followed).I would like to express$('div-expression-excluding-the-hyperlink').click( function { // do something});

How to reset the Rails Console

2009-10-27T20:04:00.000-07:00

Editing a model while running the Rails console? Don't quit and restart it, you can reset the console.Its simple:reload!

How to Sponsor a Conference

2009-10-26T09:29:00.000-07:00

I recently attended the Strange Loop conference in St. Louis. This was my first real technical conference, and I was not disappointed. The venue was unique - an old movie theater, called the Tivoli. The speaker lineup had balance - There was an interesting topic for every session. I didn't find the conference overweighted for any technology.Of interest to me was the sponsorship of my company,

Astronomy Passion Talk From Strangeloop

2009-10-22T20:04:00.000-07:00

Let me know what you think. You can also download it (and see animations) at slideshare.How Objects Which Don't Exist Fooled AstronomersView more presentations from iamtheschmitzer.

Strange Passion Talk

2009-10-20T19:23:00.000-07:00

I'll be speaking at The Strange Loop Conference, giving a passion talk on Thursday. These are short, non-programming talks given at a developer's conference. This should be interesting.My proposal is here, and I'll post my talk later.

Firefox Strikes Back

2009-10-19T07:54:00.000-07:00

In a move to counter Microsoft's underhanded attempt to distribute updates through Firefox, Mozilla has decided to make users aware of the malicious code Redmond has installed.First you see this popup:which shows you somebody has been up to no good.This is part of their new blocklist for plugins:Way to go, Firefox. Help us get rid of this nasty plugin.

MySQL5.1 on Debian Installation

2009-10-15T04:33:00.001-07:00

I've been having issues installing MySQL5.1 on Debian, for the NHIN Connect port to Linux.First I tried downloading the tarball and following the installation instructions in their INSTALL-BINARY file. One thing which needs modification is substituting useradd for adduser.The problem, though was the installation scriptscript/mysql_install_dbwas failing, as it could not find files. After messing