Custom cruisecontrol.rb task to handle migrations with seed data. (for when standard cruise build task yields FK constraint violations when the fixtures start loading).
#This builds from migrations each time (slower, but more reliable).
#Must then empty seed data before tests start to delete stuff, or FK constraints get violated.
task :cruise do
ENV['RAILS_ENV'] = 'test'
puts "custom cruise task invoked. env is hardcoded to test"
Rake::Task["environment"].invoke
#start from scratch with just the test db
Rake::Task["db:test:purge"].invoke
#necessary to reconnect, as purge drops database (and w mysql the conn)
CruiseControl::reconnect
#run all migrations from scratch. slow but clean
Rake::Task["db:migrate"].invoke
#empty the db of data - migration has loaded seed data into the tables,
#which'll be deleted badly by test fixtures loader.
#NOTE: db:test:purgetwo is just a quick hack to force this identical action to be called again
#TODO: replace with the correct way to force execution of a task in rake
Rake::Task["db:test:purgetwo"].invoke
#necessary to reconnect, as purge drops database (and w mysql the conn)
CruiseControl::reconnect
#the migration has already done a schema dump
Rake::Task["db:schema:load"].invoke
success = Rake::Task["test"].invoke
success
end
Embarrassingly, this currently needs ‘db:test:purgetwo’ to exist. I just copied pasted db:test:purge task. The correct way would be to look at how to ensure task execution in rake, but debugging cruisecontrol.rb exhausted all my patience and sanity.
Clave y Son upstairs at “The Third Space” bar, just across from Stockwell Tube Station. On the second and fourth tuesday of each month, there is a live band: either “Osvaldo Chacon y Su Timba” or “La Cuba Ritmo”.
Rhum Jungle on a Tuesday in Farringdon. I haven’t been yet, but this is DJ Rich, so the music and tuition will be good.
Wednesday:
Cuban Connection at 4 Wild Court near Holborn tube, on a Wednesday night. (Lessons: always some rueda, as well as rotating lessons on rumba, son, reggaeton, styling, etc. Recent teachers: Ariel, Rafael, Janet, and Osbanis). Club has recently had a great turnout.
Thursday:
“The Cuban” in camden stables (camden market) on a Thursday. Rueda lessons at 9pm, plus club, which plays some cuban music (but not as much as the name might suggest). [more info]
Tito’s on a thursday night. Bachata and Casino lessons, and then a club with music from Javier. Opening 16th Oct 2008.
Friday:
Tito’s latin bar at london bridge on a Friday (Rueda-based lessons from 7pm, then club, which also plays some merengue, bachata after 10:30pm). [more info]
Floridita’s in wardour street, soho. Drinks are expensive (> 10 pounds for a cuba libre), and entry is 15 pounds after 9pm. Good live cuban music until around 11pm. This restaraunt’s small dance-floor is generally full of non-dancers, but off the floor, you can find some corners to dance in. Often has good DJ’s for cuban music. Expect a fair amount of merengue and reggaeton. Best from midnight onwards (open til 3am). Don’t go here unless you have checked some other dancers are going, too! There’s a dress code, which is described as “funky and glamorous” (but then, they let me in!)
. I really recommend these lessons, especially if you’re serious about getting your basic technique right.
Rueda in the Park. My favourite, and not just because it’s free! Partner dancing as well as rueda. Hyde Park at 3:33pm (though some days it doesn’t get going until 5pm). [more info]
La Clave Cubana. Every two weeks (2nd and 4th Sunday of each month). Lessons and club. Dedicated cuban. Great music - you can listen through some of Dj Rich’s current favourite tracks here.
Bar Salsa on a Sunday night club @10pm. A mix of music styles. Some cuban tracks. It is 70% cross-body dancers, but some good cuban dancers show up) [more info]. Some girl friends have told me that some of the clientele here are a bit sleazy (there are punters there just drinking, as well as dancers)
londonsalsa.co.uk is a great database of lessons and clubs; if you could filter to just show cuban places, I probably wouldn’t need to maintain this list!
I had set up rubygame and Ruby/SDL a while back to a point where I could code simple examples, but I wouldn’t actually want to foist the stack setup on anyone else. (In fact, for portability, something like jmonkeyengine on java, running jruby for scripting makes more sense (at least where download sizes don’t matter)).
I’m learning salsa, specifically cuban salsa. To this I am addicted. I’m past beginner now, and have just enough of the basics to carry me through a dance with a forgiving, preferably amnesic girl. To make any real progress beyond the basics, I know I have to go out and make a fool of myself over and over in the clubs. Here, above, is a video which demonstrates some of what I like about this style (besides the way the girls dance!) and where, I suppose, I want to get to. This guy doesn’t do any fancy moves; it’s all just style, just play. I think it also invalidates any argument along the lines of “Ah, I’m not cuban so I’ll never be able to dance like that…”.
beautiful “6 billion others” portraits project.
“A future online repository of thousands of video & audio testimonies as a portrait of contemporary mankind”.
While the desolate-looking photos in the flickr set are interesting, I wonder if the empty billboard frames have been cleared down, or replaced with some art, or murals, information, etc.
Sitting waiting on the tube, how cool would it be to get to stare across at prints of fine art, good photos, a well done mural or “graffiti”, some classic poems, a big map of the local area for each station / some history of the area, a “what’s on” for the month, or just an occasional refreshingly bare wall. Anything but those insipid oppressive posters we daily try to avoid looking at.
I think I posted this “light criticism” project a while back from the Anti-Advertising Agency, about “New York’s True Graffiti Problem”.
“… the Web 2.0 generation, with its YouTube and Twitter mania, has gotten a particularly bad rap for self-obsession and indulgence.”
Article: “Responsibility is in their sites. / Web entrepreneurs have an eye on social need” - San Francisco Chronicle. A step in the right direction, at least.
This Rails sample app from Caboose is “intended to be an example of “better practices”, but with the intention of ultimately being “best practice” through collaboration and iterative improvement.”
“The application implements:
a user model with a few extra fields (last login, timezones)
restful authentication.
full timezone support
basic views implemented with Yahoo! YUI CSS grids.
behavioral testing with rspec, including good example of mocking in controller specs.
I was just about to roll my own and thought I’d better look on the internets:
This svn pre-commit hook will stop you committing the migration
042_add_versioning_for_user_details.rb
when someone else already checked in a migration with the same number
042_do_something_else.rb
It looks well thought out but I haven’t tested it yet. It’s only looking up the existing migrations if it sees you’re checking in a migration, so this hook shouldn’t slow down other check-ins much.
“The idea is to use festival speech synth to turn what people type into rhythms, giving them a simple multi-user interface for playing words together.” More here, or at wednesday’s Dorkbot London.
