threehv

Rails 2.2 deprecates the inbuilt Rails MySql driver and you are recommended to use the native MySql gem instead.

Unfortunately, when I tried to install this on my fresh Leopard box I got:

Error installing mysql:
ERROR: Failed to build gem native extension.

Followed by a load of guff about options.

After a bit of searching I found a post on the Rails blog with some potential alternative commands; mostly about Windows installations but also some for OSX.

Of these, only one worked for me – and that was:

sudo gem install mysql -- --with-mysql-config

Note that that is double-dash space double-dashwith-mysql-config.

I have just read this excellent description likening “the PC” from the “Get a Mac” ads to Warner Brothers’ greatest ever creation, Wile E Coyote [1]. Reading through the Wile E rules, it fits perfectly.

Despite being probably the greatest cartoon character ever created, it has to be said that Wile E does not figure in my all time top-three cartoons. It should be noted that there is no Pixar, Dreamworks, MGM or even stinking Disney in this list – it’s Warner Brothers all the way:

• Number 3: The Three Little Bops
  The story of the three little pigs, told in Jazz. “Sturdy place this house of bricks, built in 1776, high-class place with a high-class crowd, sign on the door ‘no wolves allowed’”
• Number 2: Sylvester and Tweety in “Birds Anonymous”
  Cat at Meeting: “I used to be a three bird-a-day cat, till BA helped me”
  Sylvester: “From now on, birds is strictly for the birds”
• Number 1: Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd in “What’s Opera Doc?”
  Elmer Fudd: “Kill the wabbit, kill the wabbit”
  Bugs Bunny: “How will you kill the wabbit?”
  Elmer Fudd: “With my spear and magic helmet!”
  Bugs Bunny: “Your spear and magic helmet?”
  Elmer Fudd: “With my spear and magic helmet!“
  Bugs Bunny: “Magic Helmet?”
  Elmer Fudd: “Magic Helmet!“
  Bugs Bunny: “Magic Helmet?”
  Elmer Fudd: “YES MAGIC HELMET … AND I WILL GIVE YOU A SAMPLE!“

Nice to see that, after writing this article and searching for links, two of the three have been nominated for Oscars. So it’s not just me!

[1] Link via Daring Fireball

UPDATED: link to a video of “Birds Anonymous”

Google’s Chrome browser is making big waves on the Internet. “Watch out Microsoft, Google is coming to get you” they are saying.

But they are wrong.

Mozilla should be worried. Even Apple should be worried. But Microsoft should not.

You see, if Chrome is successful it will take search revenue (from the little online search box) that Google pays to Mozilla and Apple every time you click on an advert (as opposed to a search result).

But that’s not Google’s aim.

Their aim is “fire and move”.

Just as Microsoft prepares an assault on Google’s search and advertising business, Google distracts them with an assault on the Windows desktop. A classic Microsoft ploy (see the Win16 API, the Win32 API, the .Net API) turned against them.

So, how do you respond to fire and move? Well, that’s the real question.