well, here I am again 
validates_confirmation_of is not working
heres my model
class User < ActiveRecord::Base
attr_accessor :password
attr_accessible :email, :first_name, :last_name, :screen_name,
:password
validates_confirmation_of :password
validates_presence_of :email, :first_name, :last_name, :screen_name,
:password
validates_format_of(:email,
:with =>
/^([^@\s]+)@((?:[-a-z0-9]+.)+[a-z]{2,})$/i,
:on => :create,
:message=>âhas an invalid formatâ)
#validates the uniqueness of email and screen name
validates_uniqueness_of :email, :screen_name
#end
def before_create
logger.info(âpassword set to:â+password)
salt = [Array.new(6) {rand(256).chr}.join].pack(âmâ).chomp
self.password_salt, self.password_hash =
salt, Digest::SHA256.hexdigest(password+salt)
end
#Authenticate a user
def self.authenticate(email, password)
user = User.find(:first, :conditions => ['email = ?', email])
if user.blank? ||
Digest::SHA256.hexdigest(password+ user.password_salt) !=
user.password_hash
raise "UserName or password invalid"
end
user
end
end
and my view
Email
<%= text_field 'user', 'email' %>
Screen Name
<%= text_field 'user', 'screen_name' %>
First Name
<%= text_field 'user', 'first_name' %>
Last Name
<%= text_field 'user', 'last_name' %>
Password
<%= password_field 'user', 'password' %>
Password Confirmation
<%= password_field 'user', 'password_confirmation'%>
however if I set differnt passwords in user creation it let me save the
user 
