Code Monkey

If you have thousands of emails in your inbox there is no way through the gmail UI to archive them without going page-by-page.  Here's how to do it with Mutt:

Install Mutt and configure it for gmail using these directions: http://lifehacker.com/5574557/how-to-use-the-fast-and-powerful-mutt-email-client-with-gmail

Open mutt (allow all of your message headers to get pulled down) and type [shift + D].  This will allow you to enter a pattern to mark messages for deletion. In the gmail-centric config from the link in step 1, marking for deletion just means archiving.

At the prompt at the bottom type "~s ./*" omitting the quotes.  This should mark all your messages in your inbox for deletion.

After the marking is complete ype "$" omitting the quotes.  This will push deletion instruction to the server.

Because Xcode 4.3 has moved the Developer directory under the Xcode Application directory, you have to set the new location before installing MacVIM like so:

sudo xcode-select -switch /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/

then run the install and it should work:

When using Homebrew on Lion with Xcode 4.2 command line tools, you'll get an error when installing pre 1.9.3 versions of ruby because gcc is an LLVM compiler (which isn't supported).  The way around this that worked for me is to install gcc-4.2 from here.  After installing it you can use rvm by setting the gcc version like so:

CC="/usr/bin/gcc-4.2" rvm install [your ruby version]

I've been struggling with the UI composition of some of the pages for a side project I've been working on.  I got the idea to involve the whole family in the creative process by using play-doh to help visualize the wireframes/mockups.  The kids' Play-Doh was pretty old and needed a re-up anyway so we went to Target to pick up a 24 pack of the fresh stuff.  I gave the kids the pink and greeny pastels while I used the more basic colors to create a mockup of one of the pages I'm trying to figure out.  It worked ike a charm, we all had a ton of fun and I got some great ideas, especially from my wife not only on the visual compostion but how to distribute content across the page.  It's a little abstract but the end result is four quatrants in clockwise order from upper left containing:

Pie chart with some overall statistics for the two main abstractions of the application

Textual content in a list that is useful for one of the two main abstractions of the application

Calendar containing past and future data points for both abstractions

Visual representation of status for the other abstraction not represented in block 2

Of course I also added the twitter bootstrap bar up top for my own context.

Classic, non-vocal jazz

Dub step / Techno

Classic, cuss and fight country

Thrash metal

Nice explanation with a nice solution.

In Rails 3, CoffeeScript files are compiled into closures.  In order to make a function callable from another file or an element event you need to add '@' to the beginning of the function.  This will make it callable globally:

@foo = (bar) ->    #do something

compiles into

In the asset pipeline of rails 3, the javascript that is compiled from coffeescript executes before elements are drawn onto the page.  In a pure js/jquery solution, the answer would be to call document.ready to execute code only after the page has been safely rendered:

$(document).ready(function(){...});

If I want

alert "#{$('.data').val()}"

to only execute after all the elements on the page have rendered I need to add it to the jquery function like so:

$ ->   alert $('.data').val()

The compiled result would be:

Here's something that hopefully may save someone some time: when using the linux version of the forticlient VPN (proprietary IPSEC) software, if you end up not being able to route requests properly after connecting but ifconfig reveals a new ppp0 network adapter as it should, just manually add a default route through the new adapter:

sudo route add default gw [ip of ppp0 adapter] ppp0

Here's a utility for converting YAML to XML and vice-versa in ruby/rails:

When comparing two dates, particularly comparing a DATETIME and a DATE, DATE_FORMAT() can be both annoying to work with(opinion) and prohibitive from a performance standpoint(fact). Same goes for grouping, if you want to say something like "give me a list of records that were created but not more than one an hour". One trick is to use SUBSTRING() to make the date comparisons/groupings:

Comparing a DATE and DATETIME SUBSTRING(datetime_col_name, 1,10) = date_col_name

Grouping a DATETIME column by hour SUBSTRING(datetime_col_name,1,13)

As a sidenote, SUBSTRING() is also handy in general as a substitution for LIKE when the column is formatted in a predictable manner.