Recasting a moderated message about SETI and BOINC in the news

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Message 765967 - Posted: 10 Jun 2008, 23:49:40 UTC

I posted an encounter with too much information. It was taken out, so here it is, updated and "cleaned up". This has to do with an article in the L.A. Times, picked up by the Star Ledger, Newark, NJ, about SETI. As usual with email, it runs backwards, the latest first:

Dear [name removed]-

You have been very generous with your time, and I thank you very much. Just one last point, my passion is not for SETI, per se; rather, my passion, my zeal, is for "crunching" for the incredible power it has evidenced in projects at both BOINC and WCG. SETI is a huge part of this in that it was the progenitor of BOINC. I do crunch for SETI on one of my Core 2 Duo machines. But here is my BOINC signature bloc, there is a lot to BOINC besides SETI.

[signature removed]


> Dear [name removed]

Many on staff do run the SETI@home program on their computers here and at home. As I have stated the SETI Institute is a major supporter of UC Berkeley's projects as they are supporter of ours.

It would be helpful if every time an article about SETI research came up that each project got a nod. However, it just doesn't work that way. Most of our scientist do their best to acknowledge the greater SETI research community but there is no controlling writers, editors, or even interviewees. I suspect most of the SETI researchers do their best and continue their experiments and continue to share information.

We here at the institute get about ten calls and emails a week regarding the SETI@home project. Some thinking we run the program but most wanting to get involved, and we direct them to the website. Also, many people, about one a day, wish to contribute their time to the search for extraterrestrial intelligence, a lot of times donating money isn't satisfying enough, so we also send them to the SETI@home page and/or amateur SETI sites.

Project Argus, conducted by the SETI League (an amateur SETI group headquartered in New Jersey), is a project that allows amateur radio astronomers from around the world to search for ETI signals with their own systems. You can learn more about the SETI Leauge from their web site at <http://www.setileague.org>.

Another source of information is the Society for Amateur radio astronomers. You can visit their web site at <http://www.bambi.net/sara.html>

I hope this helps. Thanks again for your email and your passion for the search for extraterrestrial intelligence.

> [name removed]


>>[name removed]-

Thanks so much for your reply, I really appreciate it. I did look at the SETI site and found the Other Projects page. But I think that maybe you missed my question. I am already "crunching" for SETI@home and also eight other projects from BOINC and WCG.

My point was that when there is going to be an article in a newspaper or magazine, it would be very helpful to those who are already crunching for SETI like me if SETI@home was mentioned, and if possible also BOINC, of which SET@home is the sire. There are only about 350,000 of us in all the crunching community. That is out of one billion or so computers. That is pretty poor.

>> I will directly ask you the question in my signature: Are you a cruncher? Visit http://boinc.berkeley.edu and http://worldcommunitygrid.org.

>> Thanks again.
[signature removed]


[name removed],

Thank you for your email. I'm not quite sure which LA Times article you are referring to, but the SETI Institute is a major supporter of the SERENDIP search. In fact, you can get to SET@home from our website:

http://www.seti.org/seti/other-projects/seti_at_home.php

SETI@home distributes data to personal computer users that has been collected with the Arecibo Radio Telescope, in Puerto Rico, as part of Project SERENDIP. The SETI Institute used the Arecibo Radio Telescope, the search program was known as Project Phoenix, which ended in March 2004.

Our most recent project is the Allen Telescope Array (ATA), located in Hat Creek, CA. We have currently completed construction of 42 antennas of the 350 dish goal. You can read more about the ATA at http://www.seti.org/seti/projects/ata/.

Please visit <http://setiathome.ssl.berkeley.edu/> for information on SETI@home. For more information about the SETI Institute and the work that we do here please visit our website at http://www.seti.org/.

Thanks again for your email and for your interest in SETI. It is with support of people like you that SETI can succeed.

[signature removed]

name removed]wrote:
The L.A. Times recently had a very nice article about SETI. This article was picked up the The Star Leger, Newark, NJ, on Sunday June 8, 2008.

While everyone knows that SETI@home, the public distributing project, is not a part of SETI, is it really too much to ask that you might give SETI@home a bit of a PR plug when someone does see fit to give you a positive write-up?

SETI @home is your friend. We have provided to SETI what some claim is the largest super computer ever devised in terms of sheer power, teraflops. We could really use some help. All of Public Distributed Computing could use some help.

World Community Grid, sponsored by IBM, has been getting into the news quite a bit lately. There have been a number of articles about projects at WCG, and in every case, the @home projects have been well mentioned.

>>>> All we are asking is a little respect.

>>>>[signature removed]

I hope that this sanitized version is O.K.

>>RSM



http://sciencespringe.wordpress.com
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Message 765998 - Posted: 11 Jun 2008, 1:50:51 UTC - in response to Message 765967.  

We here at the institute get about ten calls and emails a week regarding the SETI@home project.

I'll bite and say this would appear to be a convo with the SETI Institute - no matter how it's sanitized.
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Message 766327 - Posted: 11 Jun 2008, 19:35:04 UTC - in response to Message 765998.  

We here at the institute get about ten calls and emails a week regarding the SETI@home project.

I'll bite and say this would appear to be a convo with the SETI Institute - no matter how it's sanitized.

Exactly. The SETI Institute is not SETI@Home or U.C. Berkeley.

... and projects like the Allen Telescope compete with SETI@Home (and every other project) for funding.
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Message boards : Cafe SETI : Recasting a moderated message about SETI and BOINC in the news


 
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