[Off-topic] something to keep your computer busy

[DeltaOne81]

Hey all-

I know some of you guys like to get your hands in every Cornell-related thing you can, so I just wanted to make you aware of something I've just started organizing. Since your computer is probably feeling lonelier these day without college hockey scores to check, it may make it feel useful again :-D.

If you're familar with concept of distributed computing feel free to skip this paragraph. If not, basically the idea is that the average computer in the world isn't nearly used to it's potential. Even when you're sitting at it using it, there are still thousands or millions of wasted cycles between every keystroke while you're typing, etc. If, instead of wasting those cycles, you could put them to a good use, you could create an incredible supercomputer out of spare moments. Enter "distributed computing." Somebody has a big task they want to accomplish, which they break up into small parts and dole out to any computer which has their software installed. To give you an idea of the power here, one of the biggest efforts  logs over 1000 years of computer time every 24 hour period.

Enter one of the most promising of these tasks, Folding@Home. Run by some guys at Stanford ( http://folding.stanford.edu ), Folding@Home studies protein folding. That may not seem so interesting at first, but when you realize that poteins are involved in our DNA, enzymes, antibodies, and several more forms, it becomes a very important key. While they know that protein "folding" is involved in many important aspects of our existence, they know very little about how it actually happens. Also, protein "misfolding" is thought to be involved with Alzheimer's, Mad Cow, Parkinson's, possibly even cancer, and many more serious conditions. If you want to learn more about the science, check out the Science link on the web page above.

Okay, so anyhow, the Cornell part. I just started donating my computer's spare time to this effort a few days ago and have decided to organize a Cornell "team" - the Cornell University Big Red. We've climbed almost 500 places since our humble beginnings this weekend. By entering the team number in your software, your results can be counted towards our team, as well as keeping track personally (if you enter a username :-) ). Our team number is 3148. The software is available for Windows (98 through XP), Mac OS X, and Linux. You can close it at any time to get all your cycles back, or you can set it to only run as a screensaver, so that it only runs when you're not at your computer. Also, it only needs to be online to get a new work unit and send in reults, so it's fine for dial-up users. If you're interested, we'd love to have you. What else are you gonna do, check out NHL playoff scores? Puh-lease ;-)

-Fred, DeltaOne81 '03

[Adam \'04]

This sounds like a great cause. I just joined the Cornell "team".

[DeltaOne81]

Thanks Adam! I hope others of you are following suit.

I just noticed, the Harvard "team" is one person! ::laugh:: Well, still more than they have hockey fans ::rolleyes:: - if you don't wanna do this to beat cancer, at least do it to beat Harvard :-P

Too many smileys, too little homework for me right now...

-Fred

[chag]

Hey Fred,
I have 8 PC's in my classroom and I'm a bio teacher, so what better thing to have as a screen saver than protein folding ? I'll get the machines going on it tomorrow.
LGR !!
Good luck,
Beth '80

[DeltaOne81]

Don't forget team 3148 Beth ;-)

Edit in response to the following post:
Sorry, sorry, can't be too safe now ;-).

[chag]

Got it from your first post. I went to Cornell, give me some credit. ;-)

[Susan Newman 08]

Just joined the Cornell team:-P :-D

[jtwcornell91]

Now, now, we know Harvard has at least six hockey fans.  Or were some of the six student tickets for Lake Placid purchased by non-fans?

[DeltaOne81]

Guess it depends if you put "drunken @$$holes" in the fan category.  ::twitch::

(Maybe I'm being too harsh, but it's Hahvahd... I feel obligated)

[Josh '99]

There were fans, but judging by their behavior, I wouldn't make any assumptions about their ability to use a computer.  ;-)

[CowbellGuy]

They were from the Harvard football team weren't they?

[jtwcornell91]

I seem to recall the jerks who tried to pick a fight with our section being a little skinny to play even Ivy football.  The guys we ran into that night at Roomers could have been football players, although the fact that they were wearing ECAC Champions hats led me to believe they were hockey players.

[DeltaOne81]

Great... another perfectly good thread degrading into Hahvahd bashing ::help:: ... though 'spose it's my fault :-))

[jeh25]

Your recollection would be wrong then. From talking to them prior to the game, at least 2 of them (Packard's roommates I believe) were football players.

[jtwcornell91]

That's entirely possible, since the "action" took place a number of rows in front of where I was standing.