There was one thing with block chaining that I was really hoping they'd hit on. They didn't. They had:

  # good
  names.select { |name| name.start_with?("S") }.map { |name| name.upcase }

I've noticed that sort of chaining is changing towards:

  names.select { |name| name.start_with?("S") }
       .map    { |name| name.upcase }

Which can be further chained (if need be) like so:

  names.select { |name| name.start_with?("S") }
       .map    { |name| name.upcase }
       .sort
       .join(', ')

Which, imo, is just better than trying to do it all on one line or using intermediate variables. It's more of a value call when it comes to the intermediate variables, though. I'd also use

  .map(&:upcase)

instead of

  .map { |word| word.upcase }

But I think it's perfectly understandable if you find the word.upcase more explicit and readable.