Circuit City, may I please direct you to my comments about Zed. At least FedEx was at least professional when they took my call, they stay in the I’m-annoyed-but-I’ll-still-work-with-you category.
Both could use a healthy dose of Joel’s advice.
Circuit City, you’re fired.
Thanks for Mongrel, Zed — don’t let the door hit you…
I’m not sad to see the writer of Mongrel leave. Not one bit. I’m not sure what Dave Thomas was reading earlier today, but I don’t have anything positive to say about it.
I like Mongrel. I’ve read Zed Shaw’s article rant on programmers and statistics, and I liked it quite a bit — though I prefer his Ruby/Odeum vs. Lucene Analysis Part 2 since it lays out a more clear example of his opinion about how to properly use statistics to analyze software (amazing — Zed can make a set of useful points without using the F-word!!).
But as an outsider to whatever caused his Rails rant, he just doesn’t come off as credible when he makes silly pointless wildly exaggerated claims about his skills and situation and then begs dares challenges asks anyone disagreeing with him (except Humility) to start an all out fist fight.
I wouldn’t hire him. And I don’t think many people would if he behaves on the job anything like he does on his blog. I’m sure he thinks that’s too bad for me. And I’m glad that we’re both happy with the result. Consequently, I think we’re both quite fine with his decision to leave the Ruby/Rails community for good.
In the end, it just doesn’t matter. He’s only sorta known compared to the heavy hitters (when I said Zed Shaw, a number of people said “Who?” and then I had to tell them “the guy that wrote Mongrel” — evidence of the error of his delusions perceptions of his own fame). We’ll mourn his natural-self-selection out of the Ruby ecosystem, remember Darwin’s theories of natural selection, and then dry our tears and watch smarter, happier, funnier people blossom in the space he used to fill.
So Zed, I don’t hate you. I simply know we’ll be just fine ignoring you. And please don’t let the door hit you on the way out.
Pooh on Projects
The Bear and Friends have a way to speak truth. Just before heading to the doctor this morning, my wife put on The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh for our son. It’s been years since I’ve seen this, and my ear caught something of it while it played in the background. Pooh has eaten too much hunny and is stuck in Rabbit’s front door. Owl comes by to try and solve the problem. Does any of this sound familiar to you as you’ve seen other IT folks talk to business people about how to solve their problems:
| [Owl] | You, sir, are stuck. A wedged bear in a great tightness. In a word, irremovable. Now obviously this situation calls for an expert. |
| [Gopher] | Somebody call for excavation expert? I’m not in the book, but I’m at your service. Gopher’s the name. Here’s my card. What’s your problem? |
| [Owl] | Yes, yes, yes. It seems the entrance to Rabbit’s domicile is impassable. To be exact, plugged. |
| [Gopher] | And you want me to dig it out? |
| [Owl] | Precisely. I say, it’s over here my good fellow. |
| [Gopher] | Fist thing to be done is get rid of that bear. He’s gumming up the whole project. |
| [Owl] | Dash it all, he is the project. |
| [Gopher] | Umm… Hard digging, might hit bedrock, danger can happen, risky. Needs planks for bracing. Big job, take two, three days. |
| [Pooh] | Three days? What about lunches? |
| [Gopher] | No problem, I always go home for lunch. Oh, this will run into money. |
| [Owl] | I say, how much |
| [Gopher] | Er, do the job for hourly wage, plus cover material plus overtime plus 10 percent. |
| [Owl] | And your estimate? |
| [Gopher] | N’. N’. Can’t give you an estimate, too risky. |
| [Owl] | Blast it all. |
| [Gopher] | Good idea! Will dynamite, save time. |
| [Owl] | What’s the charge? |
| [Gopher] | The charge? Oh, about seven sticks of dynamite. |
| [Owl] | Oh no no no, the cost, the charge in money? |
| [Gopher] | No charge account, I work strictly cash. |
| [Owl] | Obviously, but I should think… |
| [Gopher] | Well I can’t stand around lollygagging all day, I’ve got a tight schedule…Think it over. Let me know. You’ve got my card. I’m not in the book, you know. |
| [Owl] | Oh dash it all, he’s gone. |
I laughed at how little things some things have changed since the Disney writers took liberties with the Pooh stories and created this funny dialogue.
