I'll usually use the same database but different namespaces. However, I will put services on their own database. For example, if I were using Redis for caching as well as storing the User Sessions, I would put caching on db 0 and the sessions on db 1. This makes it easier to flush all of the stored cache without wiping out the user sessions (or vice versa).
It looks like you may have created a Rails app called Redis. This could be causing a conflict with the gem. You should think of Redis as a reserved name.
You are very correct. Old habits die hard.
Semantic UI - http://semantic-ui.com/
Foundation -http://foundation.zurb.com/
Here are the two main alternatives that I would consider.
However, if you have a good designer on your team, you may want to consider a more lightweight responsive framework instead of these kitchen-sink-included.
Great topic, will be added to my list of upcoming episodes!