Gemfile for Rails 3.x Greenfield

I just started building a new product, and wanted to document my tools of choice in the Gemfile below. I also like to use use Rails Wizard to generate some of the configuration stuff (like making sure generators use Rspec instead of Test::Unit). Normally I would also lock the Rails gems to specific versions but I've been trying this app out with Rails 3.1rc1 so it's easier to let those dependencies float for now.

I'm using 'thin' here because I'm running this on Heroku's new Celadon Cedar stack where you need to bring your own app container (unless you want to use WEBrick).

# gems needed by Rails
gem 'rails', '3.0.8'
gem 'pg'
gem 'sass'
gem 'coffee-script'
gem 'uglifier'
gem 'jquery-rails'

# application gems
gem 'thin', '1.2.11'
gem "haml", "3.1.1"
gem "haml-rails", "0.3.4"
gem 'formtastic', "1.2.4"
gem "foreigner", "1.0.3"
gem "dim", "1.0.0"
gem "authlogic", "3.0.3"

group :development do
  gem "annotate"
end

group :test do
  gem "rb-fsevent", "0.4.0"
  gem "growl", "1.0.3"
  gem "guard-spork", "0.2.0"
  gem "guard-rspec", "0.4.0"
  gem "shoulda-matchers", "1.0.0.beta2"
  gem "capybara", "1.0.0.rc1"
  gem "launchy", "0.4.0"
  gem "timecop", "0.3.5"
end

group :development, :test do
  gem "rspec-rails", "2.6.1"
  gem "silent-postgres", "0.0.8"
  gem "factory_girl_rails", "1.0.1"
end

The Ontology of Unknowability

I just started reading a great book called The Cybernetic Brain with this great passage from the opening chapters:

One could say that the modern sciences stage for us a modern ontology of the world as a knowable and representable place. And, at the same time, the product of the modern sciences, scientific knowledge itself, enforces this vision. Theoretical physics tells us about the unvarying properties of hidden entities like quarks or strings and is silent about the performances of scientists, instruments, and nature from which such representations emerge...the performative aspects of our being are unrepresentable in the idiom of the modern sciences...

Cybernetics...was the science of exceedingly complex systems that modern science can never quite grasp...This is the aspect of cybernetics that interests me most: the aspect that assumes an ontology of unknowability, as one might call it, and tries to address the problematic of getting along performatively with systems that can always surprise us...

I keep running into ideas about the limits on human knowledge in much of my reading. It's become my favorite topic to think about, and I'm always delighted to see it crop up somewhere new. I love the notion that something I grew up thinking unconsciously, a totally unexamined assumption, has been so upended: the notion that science can in theory provide all the answers. I guess I used to think that if we had enough resources to do a "Manhattan Project" on every human problem, we could solve them all. I'm perceiving there's another way to view the world, one that is hopeful and capable, but one that is more realistic about what we can figure out for ourselves. It sounds like cybernetics is or was the science of people trying to work with these limits instead of against them, to get things done in the real world; it has a dark reputation for its contributions to things like cruise missile technology, but the science has many nonmilitary applications and in fact grew out of psychiatry!

Here's a quick reading list of where I've confronted ideas about unknowability and fallibility, in case this interests you, too:

• Godel, Escher, Bach: this is an amazing, complicated book treating a number of subjects, but it explains Godel's Theorems, and generalizes from the mathematical results to suggest that certain truths in the universe probably are unprovable (even though they are true).
• Thinking in Systems: complex systems cause their own behavior. No one is really in charge of anything and seemingly common-sense simple solutions can have disastrous outcomes because of the essential nature of systems. Feedback loops are much more important than we'd like to think.
• The Black Swan: we think unusual events are predictable, or avoidable, and we think that human history is driven by measurable, understandable processes that can be rendered into narratives. This author argues that in reality extreme events (black swans) are responsible for much of why things are the way they are.
• Omnivore's Dilemma and Primal Blueprint: nutrition as a science has failed us because it reduces a complex entity, food, to the most base macronutrients. As a result we treat proteins, carbs, and fats as holy quantities that need to be measured and controlled, simply because we CAN measure and control them, without much concern for the context in which they are consumed. Both of those books point to alternative, less stressful ways of consuming food to be more healthy and less obsessed. Come to think of it, I'd say the latter book, with its discussion of food epigenetics, is a very cybernetic book!
• Tyler Cowen's TEDxMidAtlantic talk: the human need to package everything as a story (particularly as a good vs evil story) can be extremely limiting in imagining real solutions to problems.
• Path Dependence in Rocketry: rocketry is stuck on a path laid out in World War II. We would never build space technology from scratch the way we are doing it now, but it's pretty much impossible for us to ever modernize how we launch rockets due to the phenomenon of path dependence. e.g. rocket science is not really evolving even if we all would like it to. We're stuck.
• The Selfish Gene: Natural selection does not operate the way you think it does (at the species or the population level); instead it operates at the level of individual genes or groups of genes.
• The Annotated Turing: explains the halting problem which limits what we can ever hope to compute.
• Antikythera mechanism: this ancient clock reveals that early civilizations had much better technology and achieved much greater knowledge, including rudimentary calculus, than we had assumed. Read this to make sure you don't get overarrogant about Western or 20th century achievements. Everything old is new. Humans had calculus way back when, and lost it for many centuries: what could we lose today? 
• The Elegant Universe: quantum mechanics has disturbing implications for what the true nature of reality is. String theory makes pretty wild predictions that seem like they might be accurate, but we'll probably never be able to prove them because the task would involve massive, impossible amounts of energy. The archetypal example of human cognition exceeding human know-how. 

Why I Work in Baltimore

Here's the video from my recent Ignite for a Better Baltimore talk, "Baltimore: A Great Place to Pickup Ideas and Run With Them".


The slides are posted here.

Innovation Community Manager

I've got a little something posted at the OSI Baltimore Audacious Ideas blog today:

Baltimore is experiencing a renaissance of ideas and entrepreneurship driven from the bottom-up; with a little support from the top-down, this renaissance has the potential to transform our economy. I challenge Baltimore’s economic development organizations to invest in this promising trend by sponsoring a new “Innovation Community Manager” staff position charged with supporting the community leading this transformation.

I've already had one business owner contact me to brainstorm some way his company could help us better organize events, so the idea is already bearing fruit! Full details are over at the OSI blog.

My Presentation Materials

In case you saw me speak at TEDxBaltimore, RailsConf, or Ignite RailsConf over the past few days and would like to get access to my materials, here they are!

• TEDxBaltimore links and TEDxBaltimore slides
• RailsConf HTML5 tutorial materials
• Ignite RailsConf 20 Favorite Gems slides (with code samples!)

Thanks for checking out my blog!

Links for TEDxBaltimore talk

I'm speaking at TEDxBaltimore tomorrow afternoon about ideas for new programs and events we could start in Baltimore to continue building on momentum within our innovation community. Here are links to the projects and ideas I reference in the talk:

• Google Summer of Code and Ruby Summer of Code
• Secret Science Club in NYC
• Matt Porterfield's Case for a Repertory Theater in Baltimore
• startupbaltimore.org and BaltTech
• Philly Tech Week and DC Tech Week
• Hump! Festival
• Artomatic
• Flashpoint in DC
• MFA in Software proposal

Hope to see you there!

RailsConf is coming back to the Baltimore Convention Center, so here's an update of a list I made last year for attendees. The list is optimized for people staying near the convention center (this is not necessarily the list I would give you if you were staying with me or  had ready access to a car)

SOUTH

Your best bet in this direction is the Federal Hill neighborhood which has a lot of activity, bars, and nice restaurants.  During the day you can climb to the top of Federal Hill itself, and then visit the incredibly awesome American Visionary Art Museum: this is the ideal art museum for hackers, because it celebrates self-taught artists.

On Wednesday or Thursday evening I recommend checking out Illusions Magic Bar & Lounge.  If you're around on Friday or Saturday night, there's an awesome magic show featuring an upside-down straitjacket escape. There's nothing like this place back where you come from!

WEST

Right next to the convention center you'll find Geppi's Entertainment Museum: all about pop culture, comic books, toys, etc.

NORTH

Maryland's signature dish is the crab cake, and one of the best versions is made at the Faidley's stand in Lexington Market which is worth visiting to soak up all the vibrant activity of a city market.

Definitely visit the Mt. Vernon cultural district, a long walk north from the harbor. It's a beautiful neighborhood with brownstone homes and great restaurants.  The Brewer's Art bar was apparently named one of the "Best Bars in America" by Esquire, and they brew an excellent ale called Resurrection. Ask them for a flight of all the beers they brew there.

If you have a car or bike, you may also want to check out the Hampden neighborhood which tends to get a lot of attention by people writing articles like this one - John Waters recently described it as a mix of "hipster culture and redneck culture".

EAST

The Inner Harbor is our ubertouristy area, but it's very nice if you've never been there.  Besides our great National Aquarium, you can each catch a water taxi from there to the Fells Point neighborhood farther east, which has a ton of bars and restaurants and cool shops and coffee shops.

If you have access to a car or taxi, after stopping in Fells Point you might want to visit Canton, one of the city's technology hubs.  The Beehive coworking facility is well-worth a visit if you have time to kill before or after the conference.

RUNNING

Besides the RailsConf 5K taking place, there's a red brick path going all the way around the harbor that makes for a good running route.  Check out the Bmoreonrails recommended running route (at the bottom of the page).

THE WIRE

If are a Wire fan with a car, you may want to visit some of the shooting locations which I have catalogued previously in "The Wire tour".

MORE IDEAS

Check out the recent New York Times sightseeing guide and The Baltimanual. And don't miss Ignite RailsConf on the Monday night of RailsConf!

John Trupiano has put together a list of fun events happening that week (including a Yankees-Orioles game).