Scaling Rails doesn't have to mean rewrites or microservices. Read this new post to see how and why to keep your business logic in Ruby, while firing up your kitchen with Go, C, and Rust! evilmartians.com/chronicles/b...

Every large enough Rails app has extracted some services for performance and scalability reasons. You can do this without losing the joy of building with Ruby and Rails. Keep the recipes in Ruby, and only upgrade the "dumb" (unaware) kitchen tools. Here's how.

@lucianghinda.com Hey! Heads up, I found that Short Ruby News has been flagged as spam for me for a couple of weeks. I couldn’t find it so took a look in there. As far as I know, I’ve not done anything to flag it from my side.

There is only one issue: once you start using OKLCH() in your web, you won't go back to RGB or HEX. Be warned. evilmartians.com/chronicles/e...

The term “AI slop” is reaching a critical mass of adoption. But I think underlying this is an increasing acceptance of AI “not slop”.

I’ve announced my departure from Evil Martians. I can’t express how grateful I am for 11 incredible years ❤️ But I’m excited for the next adventure. I’m open to roles in product ownership, design engineering, or design leadership. Let’s chat if something comes to mind!

Sure, Coyote is ostensibly the “bad guy”, but I actually think any objective observer is forced to acknowledge he’s not the one who instigates these situations in the way that the popular narrative would suggest. Just look at that little smirk on Roadrunner’s face.

I rarely get political on here …but this guy has long been a menace to society.

Watch this talk from @en.sitnik.ru (our Frontend Team Lead) at #FOSDEM about local-first and a new kind of privacy-focused architecture: 🔗 ftp.belnet.be/mirror/FOSDE...

Friends, a bunch of cool announcements for the #SFRuby meetup on February 11: – Our third confirmed speaker is @palkan_tula 🔥 – We will do a livestream 🎥 – 155 people signed up Details below 👇

This is like an anti-depressant in “news article” form. It shocks the part of the prefrontal context (pink part) that normally secrets “cozy dopamine” on slow news days. I reckon two “Luddite Christopher Walken” posts (and a 3 hour binge of McHale’s Navy) is just what the doctor ordered.

We’ve updated one of our classic posts to add more real-world examples from our work and useful links for 2025! So, read the article and uncover secrets and insights based upon years of Martian work designing interfaces for developer tools. evilmartians.com/chronicles/d...

Building a dev-facing product and looking to fundraise in 2025? We analyze the top 16 active VCs and investors right now: get the data, see who might be the best fit for your product, and tips on how to effectively connect. evilmartians.com/chronicles/t...

Think about this: phones are better than Pokedexes. But the latter is much cooler?

If you're somewhat in the local-first space, don't miss the interviews that Johannes Schickling (@schickling.dev) does on his podcast every two weeks. This week it's been James Arthur (@thruflo.com) from Electric SQL. Solid gold! 👌 www.localfirst.fm/18 #localfirst

My best writing advice: focus on absolutely nothing but what you’re writing, lose track of time, remind to eat, — and just have fun with it! For editing, I always pretend I’m the Leonardo DiCaprio version of Gatsby popularized by the GIF. He wasn’t really an editor, but it sure feels right.

Blog mantra 1: erect a wooden scaffold, gather your implements—and then, lying on atop aforementioned scaffold (aided by lo-fi beats to relax/study to), exhale—exhale your holy words onto the ceiling of your Sistine Chapel. And then… you must, must delete it. Now, you are ready. 🙏

🚨 ATTENTION ALL DEVELOPERS 🚨 🔥 BLACK FRIDAY EXCLUSIVE 🔥 Slash 70% off your development time with RUBY ON RAILS! The framework where less code delivers more features. NO PROMO CODE NEEDED. Simply run `rails new`!

Do you know why we feel butterflies in our stomachs? Because today we learned that Bluesky uses imgproxy! Considering this is our very first post, could there be a better start? 🦋💙

I had 136 follows on X, probably a lot of which were bots. I now have 75 followers here. Do you know what this means!!? No seriously, what does this mean?

Any tech editor/writer/author starter-packs? Or time to make one?

We MySpace now. www.youtube.com/watch?v=U13d...

If you were going to a course on Ruby / Rails (humor me) what would be your textbook? And would you GRADE on a CURVE?

OK, I am.

And now, I’m finally ready to talk about Ruby and Rails.

In Chicago, I once summoned an Uber. My friends and I got in the car. But I quickly realized — wrong car. Driver refused to accept this. “No! No! I can take you! I will take you!” A nervous sweat poured from my eyeballs. What would you do? Because …we got out. But what if we had stayed?

Top funniest I’ve seen: - Tim and Eric @timheidecker.bsky.social + Eric - I think you should leave timrobinson - they came together @davidwain.bsky.social - STELLA @davidwain.bsky.social , @michaelianblack.bsky.social, m. showalter - Nathan for you - comedy bang bang @scottaukerman.bsky.social

I have no idea where this photo was taken.

Hideo Kojima changed my life, but will anyone else change my life again? I’m begging for that same experience. I remember stretching out Metal Gear Solid 4 for weeks. I didn’t want it to end. It felt like the last ride. In some ways—it was. It was a bit maligned at the time. How spoiled we were.

I once worked in a performing arts theater. Concerts, standup comics, plays, etc. One day, CEO lined us up. If any girls had visible fat, she called it out—in front of us all—told them they needed to do something about it. AFAIK, she’s still in the industry. This was in Kentucky. But there’s more….

Bryan Bartlett, another radio friend. experienced. wanted to vacate his position. Called me in one day, told me he planned to recommend me. didn’t get it, didn’t care, didn’t try. Then I read he too had left us. I think I understood why it happened — but never understood why it happened.

My radio “mentor” was the late John Hingsbergen, who left suddenly, tragically—too soon. I still think of him often. We didn’t talk much before he moved on. always felt I let him down. John was consummate, objective journalist. But I let my opinions spill out there. At times, I hear his voice.

Future of writing is completely in uncharted territory. Totally excited for it. If my job / hobby becomes extinct, I support it wholeheartedly. Yes it will suck a time. But then, I will look for the next way. Where did it go? It will have had to have went somewhere. Maybe over there. 👉

And it seems no writing is ever good enough. It’s a great feeling, it means a drive to push yourself still exists. I got into writing because I knew many great writers produced their best work in their old age. Athletes, as we’ve recently been reminded… not so much.

There are no minimum character limits to communicate a message. There is no need to embellish or add fluff. It’s not literature. No need to inject storytelling. Nothing with that is wrong necessarily, but the scaffold being built upon must be a clear message. I have shed a few tears about this.

Tech writing, copy, advertising, documentation, all of it is much the same. Halfway through a sentence and you realize that the author has no frame of reference for the knowledge base held by anyone other than themselves.

Beginning writers are sometimes terrified to read back and edit their own work. they avoid it and throw it out there in an embryonic state. seen it with with a ton of resumes, too. put it out, forget. But they were right to be afraid. In my case, even the good stuff wasn’t good enough.

Writing is a very difficult thing because thinking is a very difficult thing. It’s not about intelligence, it’s about awareness, focus, willpower, and funny little comments like this one at the end here. Anyone can do it, but some don’t want to do it.

We need more movies where kids get sucked backwards in time. This is an untapped market right now. Please someone connect me. I’m working on a spec script where a kid goes back to the year 2023. Open to feedback.

The presence of Moo Deng is a specter that continues to haunt Thailand’s mass produced tourist T shirt industry. But these have potential in the States. Moo Deng has still got it.

My review of this red bean Bizzard: probably not going in my active rotation.

The west needs most mascots like this.

So many clickbait pseudo productivity biz grifter engagement farming listicle posts start with a phrase like “I’m obsessed with _____” And I’m obsessed with that.

But a Good Samaritan requires no reward! Thankfully, this old man and his wife agreed with that sentiment, returning me to the RadioShack—with the joy of the empty hand. I estimate his age to have been around 124. even though he stiffed me, I still hope he’s out there now, maybe with a Roku.

I press the “input” button to turn it from input 2 to input 1. The world holds its breath. And then, quietly at first; but swelling to a crescendo of clarity, the signal of Fox News had returned, and the old people breath a sigh of relief. It is done. Now all that is left is my reward.

I study the TV. I study the remote. I study the lines on the face of the old man and the old woman. Where are there children? Do they have any? am I doomed to this fate? The remote beckoned. Trembling I pointed it at the TV. A single bead of sweat ran down my face. Hold on to your butts, I said.

I had my task. “Take me to the motherfuckin’ TV!” (This part dramatized.) (I hope these people in the minibus shut up about PTA, getting distracted.) In a den (or some room rich people have) I see it. it’s an old, old TV. older than you, older than me. Inexplicably, even, somehow—older than TV.

In the old man’s car, we finally ride up to a huge ancient home. A mansion. This guy was old + old money. But I had the TV remote and I knew what to do. We went inside. The house was covered in antique furniture. The smell was old. An older woman was there. Children’s drawings on the fridge.