Blog Entries For March 2007

Akxl was out for a week, due to the massive incompetence of DirectSpace Web Hosting, who no longer hosts this website. They still host other sites I work with; at last check they've been out for 2 weeks and counting. Akxl lost about 45 days of data during the disaster, but I was able to restore all of the content from backups, various Recycle Bins, WayBackMachine, and Google Cache. A bunch of comments got lost though.

Akxl is now back together, after an additional week of tweaking needed to get all the software (90+ programs) running on the new server. There is still a small issue with the databases, but it is coming together.

There's also been a huge amount of work done on the site to clean up the layout, find real places for all the new content, and get rid of all the clutter.

I even resurrected the first Akxl Labs website banner image to serve as the new blog page header.

A new article is in the works, this one on using modification on hash tables to create a tag cloud with guaranteed bounding in an efficient data structure. The algorithm I previously published is efficient, but only works in clouds with roughly normal distributions; the hash table based system will work for those with more sporadic distributions (the way my poor cloud is becoming).

Another article is planned on scroll bars in javascript, but don't expect that for 2 weeks or so.

And now, some pictures:

A tree grows out of the abandoned house next door. It always amazes me, because it lives in bricks, it's only source of survival being the gutter whose hole drops all of the roof water roughly onto the tree. This winter, that seems to have backfired for it. It's now completely upside down, and I don't think it will make it. I'm actually kind of sad - it was the only thing besides crumbling building I can see out my window, and I'm going to miss it if it dies.

As promised... (my mother made this to show how her new camera phone could edit pictures - thanks Mom!)