29 Oct 2009

Simpler deployment for Jekyll using a Rakefile and rsync

Earlier I wrote about using Git and its post-receive hooks for deployment. After using this configuration for six months, I’ve concluded that it’s unnecessarily complicated for my requirements. Scott Kyle and Ben Vinegar agree.

Using such a configuration makes perfect sense for projects residing on GitHub. The repository already exists, and it’s a complimentary service that you don’t have to configure.

In future, when someone asks me how they should deploy Jekyll, I will recommend using a Rakefile and rsync.

$ rake deploy

Thanks to Scott Kyle for sharing his Rakefile.

Updated 02 Nov 2009

Wolfgang König brought to my attention that you can exclude files from being copied in the build using the exclude option. I’ve appended this to _config.yml.

exclude: ['Rakefile', 'README.markdown']


07 Oct 2009

Favourite photos from holiday to the United States

You can browse the entire United States 2009 collection on Flickr.


06 Oct 2009

A quick comparison of American and Australian slang

Even though english is the de facto language of the United States and Australia, I’ve always been interested in the subtle differences of slang between other english speaking countries.

While in the United States, I compiled a list of common words or phrases which were unknown to me, even with exposure to American media.

United StatesAustraliaIn a sentence
SandwichBurgerExtra melted cheese on my sandwhich
GrillBarbecueThrow a steak on the grill
PitcherJugI’ll have a pitcher of beer
The checkThe billCould we have the check for the table?
To-goTake-awayA smoothie to-go, please
SingleOne dollarDo you have a single?
ElevatorLiftElevator doors are closing, quick!

This list does not attempt to be a comprehensive or accurate comparison.


20 Sep 2009

My desktop was minimal before migrating to OS X

It’s possible to achieve a minimal Linux desktop, even if you’re unlikely to see one.

GNOME with OpenBox

Minimal OpenBox desktop

GNOME with Beryl (Compiz)

Minimal GNOME desktop

Do you really need your processor utilisation, network traffic and weather sitting in your panel? It’s like you’re supporting the minority use case a majority of the time. As an end user, you shouldn’t care how much your processor is being utilised. If you really want to know the weather, take a look out the window.

Panels and task lists are redundant. Looking at the desktop, it’s easy to identify which applications are at your disposal. When in doubt, Beryl supported an exposé-like feature.


08 Sep 2009

Holiday to the United States

Three months ago it was spontaneously suggested that two mates ought to travel overseas. Had the suggestion occurred over IRC, it may have looked like this.

<Tate> Hey Jeff, do you want to go to the United States?
<Jeff> Sure.

On the 20th of September, Jeff and I will be travelling to the United States for two weeks starting in Los Angeles, California.

Using a combination of Google, Twitter, Google Maps, Wikipedia and Aardvark we booked hotels, flights and tours.

I’ve put together a map with the cities and national parks we’ll be travelling to.

Map



Tate Johnson is a 23 year old Ruby on Rails developer and university student living in Brisbane, Australia. He enjoys riding bicycles, motorbikes, taking photos and travelling.