Couple of links for the Ruby folks out there. First up is 6 Optimization Tips for Ruby MRI with some nice and simple suggestions for optimization. Next is an excellent list of resources for getting up to speed with Rails 2.1.
Any rails programmers out there want to let me know what the best way to keep up with the ruby and rails community is? It seems that every week the way to do things (plugins, svn vs git, github, etc) changes way more rapidly than it's possible to learn as a newbie. Should I just stick with reading and learning from the RoR 1.2.x book I have, or try to learn from whatever the latest-and-greatest RoR technique of the day is?
That list is pretty good. Put Ryan Daigle, Ryan Bates, and Chu Yeow in your RSS reader and read them as they come in. I'd also take a look at peepcode if there are specific areas you are interested in.
Doesn't hurt to finish your 1.2.x book, but it will be out of date. Not all of it, but some of it.
Rails does move pretty fast, but it's still young as far as things go...