There was a giant CPU spike yesterday when generatedata.com was linked to on reddit, causing servers to melt, kittens to die, etc. etc. I’ve moved the script over to a dedicated host with about 5x the resources, so the site is already loading a loading a lot snappier. But this is just a temporary fix: I need to properly scale it out and work on improving the efficiency of the code – something I’ve meant to do for a while.
I’ll cut back on my birding this weekend and start now. :)
Hey, I’m the one who linked to it on reddit, because its an awesome resource. I hope the traffic helped rather than hurt. Love the site.
Hey Sup, thanks for the post! It provided some good motivation for me to get off my butt and improve the hosting situation + code efficiency. :)
You didn’t make any money off the traffic? Damn son, put some ads up.
Nah! The world has enough ads in it. ;-)
Ben, I just found your data generator: awesome work! I intend to download the source and explore it with relish and maybe a bit of mustard. One suggestion: you might consider a Parent Name that would most of the time copy the last name of a previous name field. Probably ridiculously difficult to implement, just thought I’d mention it. I’m creating a dummy load for a student database to see how my design is working out, so I don’t really care.
And if you ever make it back to Arizona, in Tucson there’s the Sonoran Desert Museum. They have a walk-in hummingbird cage…. Spring or fall would probably be the best time for activity.
Nice idea, Wayne! I’ll totally keep it in mind.
And yeah – I’ve been to the Sonoran Desert Museum! The hummingbird cage is brilliant – great opportunity seeing those guys up close. :)