That's ironic because it was written on a bus.

See the following rubycon talk, "worst idea ever!" which covers this and several other even more horrendously ill-advised gems:

http://www.confreaks.com/videos/198-rubyconf2009-worst-ideas...

It includes a way to rescue from segfaults, which goes quite nicely with the inline assembly :)

If you are a rubyist you should watch this. It's hilarious. If you think this wilson gem is crazy wait until you see the other shit they get up to.