it “should appeal to Rails developer’s sense of humor” do

Disclaimer: Unless you are familiar with Test-Driven Development with Rails Training and Behavior Driven Development, this video probably won’t make any sense whatsoever — On the contrary, if you are a Developer or Tester / QA type who happens to work in those environments, this video is friggin’ hilarious.

end

..and just because:

Smashing Magazine has a post today featuring one of my favorite web developer centric conics The Brads. Congratulations to Brad Colbow on the exposure at Smashing. Oh yea, and they do a great job of clarifying the whole XHTML2 / HTML5 noise of the last few weeks.

Original post

Frank must have been jealous of hearing about Lauren’s shopping experiences. Classic parody.

In lieu of the seemingly never ending stream of bad news these days, a little comic relief is in order.

Once again, xkcd brings the lols.

This story just speaks for itself – then the comments say something else entirely.

Regular readers may recall the story of Charles Walling, the retired Seattle warehouseman whose struggle to get his printer to work with Windows Vista was documented in our story marking the Microsoft operating system’s first year on the market. Well, it’s working now — but not without some help from a Windows test manager.

The underlying problem reflects the huge changes Microsoft made from Windows XP to Windows Vista, and the need for hardware makers to adjust. At the same time, the experience may provide a good reminder for PC users making an upgrade.

Here’s the back story: After the article ran, I received e-mails from a couple of people inside Microsoft who were curious about the cause of the problem. With Mr. Walling’s permission, I directed them to him. Tom White, test manager for documents and printing in Microsoft’s Windows Experience group, visited the Walling household on multiple occasions, figured out what was wrong, and ultimately got the printer to work.

The gentleman from Microsoft who helped him get it working had this to say:

“We probably could have done a better job here — by ‘we,’ I mean the royal ‘we’ of the software industry — and put a little bit more detection in there, to say the previous version is there and it would be better to remove it. I think it would be a great thing to educate people on, though: If you’re installing something new, make sure you remove the old stuff first. Even if you trust your new software program to do it for you, it’s a good manual step to do, as well, just to keep clean.”

Nothing like taking responsibility for your own work there White.

Full Story

From Kevin D. Weeks

Forget about competency tests, previous work history, personality profiles like the MBTI, reference-checking, and follow-up interviews. After years of rigorous and admittedly maverick research, I’ve identified five key characteristics you can use to quickly assess the fitness of a programmer candidate. I humbly submit that if you follow my advice and check for these attributes, you’ll shorten your hiring cycle and simultaneously increase your success rate.

The best programmers prefer cats as pets. I’ve canvassed hundreds of programmers on the subject of preferred pets, and despite the odd ferret-lover (and believe me, ferret-lovers are odd), time after time cats turn out to be the non-human companion of choice. Think about it; it makes perfect sense because programmers are human cats. Cats are night animals, as are programmers. Cats are independent, like programmers. Cats prefer to be left alone except when they want attention, and so do programmers. Cats are notoriously elegant animals and … uhm, well … programmers love elegant code. What’s more, software guru Meilir Page-Jones has likened managing programmers to herding cats.

Turning to the next characteristic, programmers have a highly developed sense of the absurd. And if you think about it, this makes no sense at all. I don’t know why so many programmers can quote The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy or know the entire Naughty Hungarian Phrase Book skit, but they do. The next time you interview a programmer candidate throw a “You’re all individuals” at him and see what he says.

Perhaps a sense of the absurd matters because so much of what developers put up with is absurd – absurd schedules, absurd requirements, absurd hours. Treating the absurdities of the average development process with humor makes developers’ jobs much easier.

Developers are usually science-fiction fans. Great programmers love technology, especially technology that doesn’t yet exist. You’re in a business where the only constant is change, and you need developers who don’t mind a few arrows in their backs. Make sure your candidate has read Robert Heinlein’s The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress. And remember, every programmer worth her salt knows what grok means. Many developers also are musicians, painters, or photographers. Some will claim this is because both programming and artistic endeavors require great creativity.

They’re wrong. It’s because programming is more like painting than engineering. Like painters, when programmers make mistakes, they just code right over them.

Then there’s the matter of puns. I’ve witnessed online pun-fests that lasted as long as a week, with as many as 30 programmers trying to outdo each other. I’ve noticed that some participants are punctilious about staying with the root word, while others approach them as pun-tests where misspelling words is permitted. Again, the predilection makes perfect sense. Programming is about using language to accomplish something, and programmers have a highly evolved appreciation of how a language can be manipulated to specific ends. Puns are ways of both displaying a mastery of language and honing it.

So there you have it. Look for developers who love cats, quote Monty Python, read Heinlein, play guitar, and are accomplished punsters. If you find all these characteristics in a single individual, hire that person immediately – confident you’re hiring a truly great developer

Full article

Yet another comic, full of win from xkcd. Also, cool to see them getting props from the New York Times.

An instant classic from Weezer

Enjoy!

The Real Reason Why Your Printer Doesn’t Work

There’s a fine line between art and too much time on someone’s hands

Still, several interesting icon arrangements.

Not to explicitly point out Ruby or anything

Full article

Ok, I admit it – my inner-geek wants one of these. Not quite sure how to phrase this one on an expense report though

An employee takes a nap in a nap pod which blocks out light and sound at the Google headquarters in Mountain View, California March 3, 2008. REUTERS/Erin Siegal

From Joy Of Tech

An instant classic – What If Gmail Had Been Designed by Microsoft?. This is a hilarious (but sadly accurate) view of what the much loved Gmail web based email might have looked like if it was designed by the Redmond based giant Microsoft.

Cleverly shown through a series of screenshots which get progressively worse as GMail is given the once over Microsoft-style.

In case you forgot, this concept originated from the extremely clever video, which ironically enough was originally outsourced by Microsoft to show off the stark design contrast between their own product marketing and that of Apple. In the off chance you haven’t already seen it, I’ve included it below. Enjoy!

Ah, nerd humor!

Once again, Rands in Repose has somehow managed to tap into the core depths of my mind from across der IntarWebs and write a most fascinating post that nearly mimics the very thought process that flows through my own head. It’s a great read and if you’ve ever wondered why certain types of people (the technologically interested in this particular case) are never bored, read on

A nerd needs a project because a nerd builds stuff. All the time. Those lulls in the conversation over dinner? That’s the nerd working on his project in his head.

It’s unlikely that this project is a nerd’s day job because his opinion regarding his job is, “Been there, done that”. We’ll explore the consequences of this seemingly short attention span in a bit, but for now this project is the other big thing your nerd is building and I’ve no idea what is, but you should.

At some point, you, the nerd’s companion, were the project. You were showered with the fire hose of attention because you were the bright and shiny new development in your nerd’s life. There is also a chance that you’re lucky and you are currently your nerd’s project. Congrats. Don’t get too comfortable because he’ll move on, and, when that happens, you’ll be wondering what happened to all the attention. This handbook might help.

If I had a nickel for every client who would not get that this is a joke…

Enjoy!

Dear Mr. Architect:

Please design and build me a house. I am not quite sure of what I need, so you should use your discretion.

My house should have between two and forty-five bedrooms. Just make sure the plans are such that the bedrooms can be easily added or deleted. When you bring the blueprints to me, I will make the final decision of what I want. Also, bring me the cost breakdowns for each configuration so that I can arbitrarily pick one at a later time.

Keep in mind that the house I ultimately choose must cost less than the one I am currently living in. Make sure, however, that you correct all the deficiencies that exist in my current house (the floor of my kitchen vibrates when I walk across it, and the walls don’t have nearly enough insulation in them). As you design, also keep in mind that I want to keep yearly maintenance costs as low as possible. This should mean the incorporation of extra-cost features like aluminum, vinyl, or composite siding. (If you choose not to specify aluminum, be prepared to explain your decision in detail.) Please take care that modern design practices and the latest materials are used in construction of the house, as I want it to be a showplace for the most up-to-date ideas and methods. Be alerted, however, that kitchen should be designed to accommodate (among other things) my 1952 Gibson refrigerator. To assure that you are building the correct house for our entire family, you will need to contact each of my children, and also our in-laws. My mother-in-law will have very strong feelings about how the house should be designed, since she visits us at least once a year.

Continued….