$ irb1.9
irb(main):001:0> require 'atom'
=> true
irb(main):002:0> feed = Atom::Feed.load_feed(URI.parse("http://www.google.com/base/feeds/snippets"))
NoMethodError: undefined method `element_specs' for String:Class
        from /var/lib/gems/1.9.0/gems/ratom-0.6.2/lib/atom/xml/parser.rb:115:in `element_specs'
        from /var/lib/gems/1.9.0/gems/ratom-0.6.2/lib/atom/xml/parser.rb:80:in `block in parse'
        from /var/lib/gems/1.9.0/gems/ratom-0.6.2/lib/atom/xml/parser.rb:77:in `loop'
        from /var/lib/gems/1.9.0/gems/ratom-0.6.2/lib/atom/xml/parser.rb:77:in `parse'
        from /var/lib/gems/1.9.0/gems/ratom-0.6.2/lib/atom.rb:202:in `initialize'
        from /var/lib/gems/1.9.0/gems/ratom-0.6.2/lib/atom.rb:156:in `new'
        from /var/lib/gems/1.9.0/gems/ratom-0.6.2/lib/atom.rb:156:in `parse'
        from /var/lib/gems/1.9.0/gems/ratom-0.6.2/lib/atom/xml/parser.rb:359:in `build'
        from /var/lib/gems/1.9.0/gems/ratom-0.6.2/lib/atom/xml/parser.rb:340:in `parse'
        from /var/lib/gems/1.9.0/gems/ratom-0.6.2/lib/atom/xml/parser.rb:81:in `block in parse'
        from /var/lib/gems/1.9.0/gems/ratom-0.6.2/lib/atom/xml/parser.rb:77:in `loop'
        from /var/lib/gems/1.9.0/gems/ratom-0.6.2/lib/atom/xml/parser.rb:77:in `parse'
        from /var/lib/gems/1.9.0/gems/ratom-0.6.2/lib/atom.rb:411:in `initialize'
        from /var/lib/gems/1.9.0/gems/ratom-0.6.2/lib/atom/xml/parser.rb:306:in `new'
        from /var/lib/gems/1.9.0/gems/ratom-0.6.2/lib/atom/xml/parser.rb:306:in `block (2 levels) in loadable!'
        from (irb):2
        from /usr/bin/irb1.9:12:in `<main>'irb(main):003:0>