I must be the only person who thought this was about the gem using Actor pattern. Great write-up. I really appreciated it as concurrency was something I've been looking into and was about to start toying with the Celluloid gem. This was a really good, clear example with useful code. Thanks!
Of course, adding the word "gem" to the title might indeed help. Now, an article on creating the material celluloid would indeed be awesome... volunteers?