Tag Archives: John Hunter

Ruby on Rails Job Opportunity

I, John Hunter, work for the American Society for Engineering Education (Information Technology Program Manager): my work on this blog is not associated with ASEE and the opinions I express are mine and not those of ASEE. That said, we are looking for a Ruby on Rails developer at ASEE, in Washington DC. So please apply, if you are interested.

I could list details but essentially we develop web applications using Ruby on Rails. We are seeking someone with the experience and skill to be an immediately productive member of a team working on rails applications. They will need to be able to code features with little supervision and follow ruby on rails and our coding conventions. Programmers are given responsibility but within our conventions – this has been something we have slipped on prior to moving to Ruby on Rails but now we are focused on doing this well.

We do have a senior Ruby expert so we do have a senior person to assign the most complex tasks to. We are very focused on following best practices in ruby and ruby on rails development. And we are very focused on creating applications that follow rails, and ASEE coding conventions in order to maximize performance and minimize life cycle costs. My experience indicates that as a programmer shows they can take on more responsibility they will be given more responsibility.

The ideal candidate will love Ruby on Rails. For those of you who are not programmers loving your job might seem odd. But a large number of those that develop using Ruby on Rails do. And those will fit in well. Those that don’t appreciate the beauty of Ruby code can still succeed in this position, but might feel out of step with how we work. Contact Keith Mounts or me if you are interested. We are looking to hire a permanent employee that will work in our office, but we may consider hiring a contractor that could work remotely on a 3 to 6 month project that we have recently started.

#2 Engineering Blog

A few months ago I posted on our #1 Engineering Blog status. Now we are ranked second in 3 different measures. In the same Google and Yahoo rankings we talked about in the original post we now show up 2nd.

And Rich Hoeg at eContent posted on the Engineering Jobs top 100 where we are tied for 2nd with the Women in Science blog: Engineered to Perfection … Almost!.

See our directory of science and engineering blogs.

In a desperate search to find some way we are still first I found that Ask has us 1st.

Starved Rock State Park, Illinois

Photos from my hike in Starved Rock State Park, Illinois in 2006.

blue flower photos of red berries

Clifton Gorge State Nature Preserve Photos

photo of Tree at the Clifton Gorge State Nature Preserve
The Clifton Gorge State Nature Preserve in Ohio is quite a nice short hike. Photos by John Hunter. If anyone knows what the green beetle is, please add a comment.

I visited the preserve last year. Other sites from the trip include: Rocky Gap State Park, Maryland and Coopers Rock State Forest, West Virginia.

More photos: North Cascades National Park Photos – Mason Neck State Park, Virginia – travel photo directory – Olympic National Park – The Cloisters Museum and the Museum of Modern Art

Backyard Wildlife: Birds

photo of a bird

The last few days a bird like this one has been chasing a crow in my yard (unfortunately I have not been able to get an action picture of that). If you know what type of bird this is please add a comment.

When I see robins pecking away in the grass sometimes I see them get worms but my guess is they often are eating other stuff. I also see starlings feeding on my lawn. I found some online links that I quote below on what robins and starlings eat.

From the Yardener:

Next to beneficial insects, songbirds consume the most pest insects in your yard. Robins, blackbirds, flickers and starlings will eat a lot of webworms if they are in your lawn. Many seed-eating birds prey on caterpillars while raising their young. Encourage birds to settle in or near your yard and prey on fleas by offering them food, water, and shelter.

Cornell University: American Robin

The American Robin eats both fruit and invertebrates. Earthworms are important during the breeding season, but fruit is the main diet during winter. Robins eat different types of food depending on the time of day; they eat earthworms early in the day and more fruit later in the day.

History And Biology Of European Starlings In North America
Continue reading →

I Support the Public Library of Science

I support PLoS graphic

I am a fan of the Public Library of Science, as I have mentioned previous. Yesterday I donated some money to support their great efforts. From the PLoS site:

During this time of transition from traditional to open access publishing, we must develop creative ways to support the launch of new journals, the investment in new publishing technologies, and efforts to increase awareness of, and commitment to, open access.

The Future of Scholarly Publication, 2005
Why Most Published Research Findings Are False by John P. A. Ioannidis, PLoS published, 2005
Inhibition of Mutation and Combating the Evolution of Antibiotic Resistance, PLoS published, 2006
Who Needs Sex (or Males) Anyway? by Liza Gross, PLoS published, 2007
Science Journal Publishers Stay Stupid, 2007
YouTube+ for Science from PLoS, 2007

Backyard Wildlife: Fox

This photo shows a fox in my backyard from a few months ago. It liked to rest on that tree stump for a couple days – I have not seen it since. Other wildlife spotted include: possum, raccoon, rabbits, turtle, many birds including hawks and/or falcons, robins, starlings, doves, butterflies, bats, lightning bugs, all sorts of bees, ants, praying mantis, and many more birds. And I see several cats prowl the yard frequently. Maybe I can view CatCam photos of the cats prowls 🙂 I added a Cat category to the blog today: showing all the cat related posts.

Backyard Wildlife: Turtle

I took this photo in my back yard yesterday. It is the first time I have seen a turtle there. I saw a chipmunk today – I have see them occasionally but can’t get a photo of them – they move quite quickly 🙂 Other wildlife I have seen in my backyard: possum, raccoon, mole, fox, squirrels, rabbits, many birds including hawks and/or falcons, robins, starlings, doves, a humming bird once (front yard), butterflies, bats, lightning bugs, all sorts of bees, ants, praying mantis, and many more birds. And I see several cats prowl the yard frequently.

Designed Experiments

One-Factor-at-a-Time Versus Designed Experiments by Veronica Czitrom:

The advantages of designed experiments over [One Factor at a Time] OFAT experiments are illustrated using three real engineering OFAT experiments, and showing how in each case a designed experiment would have been better. This topic is important because many scientists and engineers continue to perform OFAT experiments.

I still remember, as a child, asking what my father was going to be teaching the company he was going to consult with for a few days. He said he was going to teach them about using designed factorial experiments. I said, but you explained that to me and I am just a kid? How can you be teaching adults that? Didn’t they learn it in school? The paper provides some examples showing why OFAT experimentation is not as effective as designed multi-factor experiments.