ZenLinux Blog

(That title is a pun on computer languages, btw… )

I was really pleased with the way the first meeting of the NH Seacoast Ruby/Rails User Group turned out. A total of eight of us were there, and we had a good mix of folks who had various levels of experience with Ruby. There seems to be plenty of interest from people who have gone through a tutorial or two but want to bring their Ruby/Rails knowledge to the next level. One gentleman came up all the way from Boston – a self-described “technical user group addict.” What a great hobby!

During the meeting I went over a list of my favorite Ruby and Rails development and community resources, including web sites, books, forums, and blogs. This sparked suggestions and additions from others in the room, creating an enjoyable, interactive discussion.

Next I’ll be working with the Greater NH Linux User Group, which has graciously offered to host a wiki and mailing lists for the group. When that is set up I’ll be sure to announce it on this blog and to everyone who has contacted me in the past with interest in this group. Nick is also helping us find a new meeting location in Portsmouth (much appreciated, Nick!).

Apparently there are a lot of folks in the area who are interested in seeing what a Ruby/Rails user group meeting is like, as I received over a dozen RSVPs for the upcoming event. Unfortunately, that threw a wrench in my plans to host it in a study room at the UNH Library, which can only hold 4-6 people. Fortunately, Rob from the Seacoast Linux User Group agreed to help me out and let me use a conference room in Morse Hall for this month’s meeting. I’m very grateful for Rob’s assistance. So the updated meeting information is:

WHEN: Tuesday, January 16, 2007, from 7-9 PM.

WHERE: Morse Hall, Room 301, UNH Campus. Durham, NH (directions)

WHAT: I’ll be sharing some of my favorite resources for developing with Ruby/Rails and following the community. We’ll also engage in such exciting activities as creating a regular meeting location and schedule, setting up a mailing list, and coming up with an organization name that makes a cool acronym! Contact me for directions and parking information if you’d like attend. All are welcome, whether you’re a Ruby pro or just want to know what all the hype is about. 🙂

I’ve had a couple of lively debates about my last Amazon post with some colleagues. To explain my own views more clearly, I’ve used a hypothetical example that if Amazon were to put an obvious, large, blinking notice in your shopping cart when the price of your item had changed, I’d not have much of a problem with their practice. The crux of the issue is that Amazon is using one price to lure you into putting the item in your shopping cart, and then another when you pull out your credit card to pay for it, and is trying to do so in a way that you won’t notice. That’s why the brick-and-mortar analogy is so apt.

A second issue is one of time: a day is a reasonable time to leave an item in your shopping cart and expect its price to remain constant. I’m not arguing that people should be able to leave items in their carts for weeks or months and pay the same price – that’s just gaming the system the other way.

If Amazon made this process more obvious, they’d obviously stand to lose a lot of customers. I believe that’s a strong sign that something is wrong with this practice, and Amazon should know better.

L.A. Times reporter David Streitfeld wrote the other day that he’s observed and reproduced the fact that Amazon subtly raises prices for customers shopping for obscure books, if they leave them in their on-line shopping carts for a day. The price increases were modest but noticeable (less than 5%), but what’s more bothersome is the feeling that Amazon is “gaming” you, its customer.

While some might say this practice is a better approximation of true free-market economics, Streitfeld makes an apt analogy of how people would react if this activity occurred at brick-and-mortar bookstores:

Imagine this: You go to a bookstore, browse, choose a couple of volumes. But you don’t want to carry the books around. So you ask the clerk to hold the tomes until Saturday, when you’ll come back to buy them.

When you return, the bookseller hands you the items but advises you that he’s raised the prices. “I knew you were hot to buy them,” the clerk says, “so I figured I could make a few extra bucks.”

I hope this article gets significant attention and gets people talking about the ethics of this practice. Even more so, I hope other booksellers take a hint from this controversy and post “truth in pricing” policies which clearly state whether they accept or reject this kind of consumer manipulation.

Please note I’m not arguing against price changes in general, which are a fact of life and have to happen. I’m talking about the situation which in the course of one day the price of something you want is increased, just because the vendor you’ve selected knows you’re preparing to buy it.

Amazon has a history of controversial business practices, including using its 1-click software patent against Barnes and Noble. The Free Software Foundation has updated their Amazon boycott page and is no longer running it, but it’s evident that the public reaction against Amazon made a big impact in this outcome. Let’s hope history repeats itself and Amazon is forced to re-think this business strategy.

I live within a reasonable distance of Blue Job Mountain, and find it a convenient short hike to do on a whim. I’ve probably been hiking it not quite every other weekend since late September. There’s a fire tower at the top and some great views when the weather is clear.

The past few times I’ve hiked it I’ve been timing myself, and just making small goals to improve my ascent progress. This morning I have a new record of 13:48 for the half-mile, 400-foot climb! Conditions were pretty much ideal this morning because when it’s wet it can slow you down quite a bit, as the trail is fairly rocky.

These photos were taken from the top of the fire tower, which I didn’t photograph as I have plenty of shots of it already.

Well, it’s been a week, and the experiment is over. Unfortunately, I had to use IM for a couple of hours yesterday to firm up plans to head to Boston with a friend who was unavailable by telephone (thanks a lot, Billy!). At any rate, the point of the experiment was still made. The verdict? IM: you can’t live with it, and you can’t live without it. 🙂

I can’t see myself doing without IM entirely, as it would wreck what bit of a social life I do have. At the same time, I’m going to be much more conscious about when and how I plan to use IM when I log on, and will probably limit it to a few hours each day, and then turn it off. As with many things, moderation is key.

The Boston event I referred to above involved attending a talk given by Noam Chomsky. It was an interesting overview of the state of populist movements in Latin America, and a striking contrast to what we consider political issues in the U.S. In places such as Bolivia, elections were over issues such as local control of natural resources, particularly land and water rights, and the human rights of indigenous people. A person like Evo Morales wouldn’t have a chance in a U.S. presidential election today, where our last White House race consisted of two people who attended the same ivy league school, were members of the same Skull and Bones elite society, and who were funded by incredibly concentrated, private interests. Most Latin American countries face difficult challenges because foreign investment is so deep – unlike East Asia, where strong internal investment helps to prevent these countries’ political systems from being manipulated so thoroughly by foreign countries. It was a thought-provoking lecture on issues I was very unaware of.

Haha, I found this appropos article on reddit just now, about a PC World writer who stops using PCs for a full 20 days. I won’t be trying that out..

I had an incredibly productive evening working on CampaignLever. Everything just started falling together, and several features are now working. The key to motivation is to see continual progress, and that was certainly the case during this productivity boost.

It’s been over two days since I started my week without instant messaging, and I’m definitely noticing the differences. Am I feeling more productive? Yes. I also feel I’m more efficiently focusing on whatever’s in front of me, whether it’s an e-mail, article, or code I’m reading. I think that’s a big plus, and it would easily be worth it at this point just to swear off IM forever if there were no downsides to this.

But there are downsides to it. I already feel disconnected from a lot of my friends whom I communicate over IM with regularly. Surprisingly, short chat sessions with them make up fairly meaningful connections I have with them. Often times we’re exchanging interesting URLs over IM. As a budding entrepreneur, this frequently revolves around product ideas or interesting market research that I find very useful. I’ve sent out a few of these kinds of updates via e-mail now, but no one is responding. I don’t blame them – IM is just too convenient for these types of exchanges. Share a link or an idea, and get feedback from someone in real time. There are also many social plans that get made over IM, and I’m wondering if I’ve already missed an opportunity to grab lunch or a beer with some of my friends.

I’m certainly going to continue this productivity experiment, but as of now I’m thinking when it’s over I am definitely going to continue using IM, but I may end up managing it a bit differently, such as limiting the time I’m on-line (my “Away” status is generally ignored by most poeple – they just see my user icon and fire off a message). Perhaps using something like Campfire would also be easier to contain from an interruption standpoint.