my intention is to say more people (at least one) would donate if the SETI forum was not dominated by individuals who have no life outside of trolling this forum.

It's posts and posters like that what prevent me morally from donating $5 to SETI... How could I with clean conscience support such wankery?

Seriously, though: What about having advertisers pop up every now and again on the screensaver graphics? "This WU has been brought to you by _____"

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In any population, there are always a few that we wish would just disappear. They normally popup and add some hate and discontent and when they figure they have everyone's nerves stirred up they leave... Yes it is not productive... Obviously the little button to file a complaint against the poster is appropiate.

Now if that is why you do not feel that a donation is appropiate, then that is fine.

Thank You for the computer time that you have Donated...

Pappa

my intention is to say more people (at least one) would donate if the SETI forum was not dominated by individuals who have no life outside of trolling this forum.

It's posts and posters like that what prevent me morally from donating $5 to SETI... How could I with clean conscience support such wankery?

Seriously, though: What about having advertisers pop up every now and again on the screensaver graphics? "This WU has been brought to you by _____"

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Please consider a Donation to the Seti Project.

Sgt. Schultz knows nothing.

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me@rescam.org

... The devs have to look for other abilities.
I hope the second fundraising drive will give more options to non us users.
There are a lot out of it who want donate.
Personally i know many of them.

Can't they mail in a money order? I realize it would cost a few euros for bank charges and postage, but someone who would otherwise donate, say, $50 could make it $45 instead, for a total cost that's about the same.

I have to agree with the first quote above (being european myself), there are definitely a lot of interested crunchers over here. Not everyone has a credit card, they're definitely less pervasive than in the states where it's normal to pay for small change items by plastic (we use debit cards, mostly). So donating to the project is made more difficult and therefore less people will go the distance and actually contribute money. This is ultimately a bad thing for the project.

As to the second quote, sure, we could just suck it in, say "let's ignore the fact that a sizable portion of our donation has to go towards covering shipping and handling of a money order that in itself costs quite a lot of money" (i.e. surcharge). So basically, if you want to donate 50 bucks - it's not as if 5 dollars would cover it. Over here, a money order costs at least 15 euros. So, from those 50, deduct 15. Then deduct another 5 dollars for shipping charges, and you're left with 30 dollars max that actually go towards Seti@Home. VERY bad thing! I do not want to fund my local bank, nor the postal service, I want to fund Seti@Home.

In any case, I'll find someone with a CC to make a donation for me and reimburse them with cash - this seems to be the quickest and easiest way to donate for us backwards people without plastic...

Thanks everyone who supports this project, be it with crunching power or with money or with goodwill. Every little bit helps, keep it up!

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Donate to SETI@Home via PayPal!

Optimized SETI@Home apps + Information

... sure, we could just suck it in, say "let's ignore the fact that a sizable portion of our donation has to go towards covering shipping and handling of a money order that in itself costs *quite* a lot of money" (i.e. surcharge). So basically, if you want to donate 50 bucks - it's not as if 5 dollars would cover it. Over here, a money order costs at least 15 euros. So, from those 50, deduct 15. Then deduct another 5 dollars for shipping charges, and you're left with 30 dollars max that actually go towards Seti@Home. VERY bad thing! I do *not* want to fund my local bank, nor the postal service, I want to fund Seti@Home.

Fair enough; as it's been quite a while since I bought a MO—and I've never done so in Europe—I didn't realize the charges are that high. I agree that paying 67% in 'overhead' on a smallish donation would be unreasonable.

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Fair enough; as it's been quite a while since I bought a MO—and I've never done so in Europe—I didn't realize the charges are that high. I agree that paying 67% in 'overhead' on a smallish donation would be unreasonable.

Exactly my point!

Well, my boss just informed me that I'll be going on a week-long trip to NY in the near future, so getting a money order there should be a piece of cake - so long as I don't spend all my money on goodies first, of course ;)

Keep on crunching,
Simon

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Donate to SETI@Home via PayPal!

Optimized SETI@Home apps + Information

It's posts and posters like that what prevent me morally from donating $5 to SETI... How could I with clean conscience support such wankery?

In any population, there are always a few that we wish would just disappear.... Now if that is why you do not feel that a donation is appropiate, then that is fine.

I forgot to enclose that post in <sarcasm>...</sarcasm> tags...

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Evening Neo, Folks

$ 242731.52 has been raised... Not quite 33% of what is needed... It represents not quite one percent of the Seti BOINC Population...

Actually, I appreciate that... Here is for identifying the Need and Figuring out ways to make it happen...

We do know that in most parts of the World "Banks and Burocracy" are in the way... PayPal bypasses with minimum fees.... That is in the works... We have learned that the Bulk Emailing did not reach its entire audience (no I did not get mine)... So finding resonably safe ways to do what is need to Seti is Job One!

I am tired and am not going to worry about speeling errors.

Thank You to those that have found a way to make a difference... Thank You to those that wish they could but "things happen."

Pappa

It's posts and posters like that what prevent me morally from donating $5 to SETI... How could I with clean conscience support such wankery?

In any population, there are always a few that we wish would just disappear.... Now if that is why you do not feel that a donation is appropiate, then that is fine.

I forgot to enclose that post in <sarcasm>...</sarcasm> tags...

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Please consider a Donation to the Seti Project.

We do know that in most parts of the World "Banks and Burocracy" are in the way... PayPal bypasses with minimum fees.... That is in the works... We have learned that the Bulk Emailing did not reach its entire audience (no I did not get mine)... So finding resonably safe ways to do what is need to Seti is Job One!
[...]
Pappa

The Bulk Email did arrive here, but it was tagged as spam by my ISP as well as my own SpamAssassin and email client. Most probably this is due to the way the automailer is set up (missing/incorrect headers) that will artificially raise the spam score.

In any case, I did find it while browsing through my Junk Mail for false positives because no spammer yet had used Arthur C. Clarke's name ;)

It's good to hear that solutions are being worked on. I understand that this will take time (and why, Universities are usually *very* rigid and slow to allow any kind of change).

<rant>Bureaucracy is the biggest single cost producer in our modern world...be it with delays or just with its massive cost for "infrastructure". It has long ago surpassed the cost of that which it should regulate, and we're all paying for it.</rant>

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Donate to SETI@Home via PayPal!

Optimized SETI@Home apps + Information

... sure, we could just suck it in, say "let's ignore the fact that a sizable portion of our donation has to go towards covering shipping and handling of a money order that in itself costs *quite* a lot of money" (i.e. surcharge). So basically, if you want to donate 50 bucks - it's not as if 5 dollars would cover it. Over here, a money order costs at least 15 euros. So, from those 50, deduct 15. Then deduct another 5 dollars for shipping charges, and you're left with 30 dollars max that actually go towards Seti@Home. VERY bad thing! I do *not* want to fund my local bank, nor the postal service, I want to fund Seti@Home.

Fair enough; as it's been quite a while since I bought a MO—and I've never done so in Europe—I didn't realize the charges are that high. I agree that paying 67% in 'overhead' on a smallish donation would be unreasonable.

I just bought something from a small merchant who insisted on a money order. A $25 MO cost $1. Add the postage (that I was going to have to spend any way) and it goes up to $1.39 costs. However, this was in the US. I have no experience with Money Orders overseas.

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BOINC WIKI

I just bought something from a small merchant who insisted on a money order. A $25 MO cost $1. Add the postage (that I was going to have to spend any way) and it goes up to $1.39 costs. However, this was in the US. I have no experience with Money Orders overseas.

Well, see, that's just the thing - it costs next to nothing in the states to get a Money Order in U.S. currency. However, getting an international Money Order in a foreign currency (== U.S. Dollars) in Europe costs a huge lot (I asked, depending on amount it's a minimum of 15€ or up to 1% of the whole amount, whichever is larger).

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Donate to SETI@Home via PayPal!

Optimized SETI@Home apps + Information

Evening, my time

This will be a double post... Part of what I am involved in geeting Seti Enhanced over here... People keep asking for information and somehwo never get there to look.

Quote
On a couple of occasions I have mentioned that the minimum level computer that "I" would use as compared to what is actually "in use" in the world... Or some of the reasoning why...

Silly me, have worked in computers of various sizes, shapes, types (manufacturers) and OS's (I lose track sometimes but it has been over three decades). I currently have 12 machines running in my home office and garage. I fired up a PII 350 and a PII 400 for Seti Enhanced Beta. My interest was how well they would do (and testing optimizations for Crunch3r)... It is a comparable class of computer that I suspect that the "larger percentage" of Seti@home is running on... Silly me once again after having supported Seti since early 2000 and helping many start and work through some of the hassles...

I know there are many "fine old machines" that just keep working and working and working (I think this is where the Energizer Bunny got the idea for the TV Commercial)... Many keep returning Seti Results... So if it is not dead, please use it until it breaks... Seti Enhanced will take advantage of the computing horsepower...At least in the US you can pick up a "starter" computer for less than it would cost to repair it... Then back to Seti, make it do what you want it to do and keep crunching.

For Myself, I probably will not migrate less than a PII 550, actually it does better Einstein than Seti... For my part is my work requires stronger faster computers. The PII 350 and PII 400 will stay here for Astropulse...

I have posted results for the PII 400 in New deadlines, 4.34 days - 70.76 days... posted by Ingleside... The PII 350 or PII 400 are now capable of returning timely Results participating in the Seti Project... This has been the work of many people and countless hours... Several people have put Seti BOINC in the background to come here and test and have Fun... Sorry I had to use the "fun" word... It is not four letters though... Grin

Last but not least, Improvements in the Enhanced Application will ease the strain on Seti BOINC... It buys time to obtain newer stronger servers to handle what is happening... It also leads to my other passion Donations The operating funds needed to get to Astropulse are still not there... Seti Enhanced (seti@home II) is a step in that direction.

Thank You

Pappa
End Quote

Pappa

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Please consider a Donation to the Seti Project.

Like everything that is worth doing...Sometimes there are difficulties...If you have a passion for crunching SETI...and you can afford it...It would be great if you could express some of that passion in making a donation...Depending on where you live in the world...it may not be so easy to do...But i hope you find a way...It's time to bring SETI@home into the 21st century...To give Berkeley the tools they need to keep this project working...Each donation...No matter the size...Helps this program.

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PROUD TO BE TFFE!

Evening All

Currently we are about $1500 short of the 1/3rd mark ($250,000)... If those that can help do that buys a few more days...
If we look at the Plan and the Budget then more drive space is a requirement for getting the Multibeam Reciever and Recorder online...

We also know that Bandwidth to keep Seti going in one of Monthly Expenses... So what has been raised so far eases the burden... I am sure that someone "who has not said anything" is looking at what has been raised and calculating what can be done... Getting the hardware is a Big Ticket Item! A little shared information never hurts...

Keep Crunching and Keep Helping with Donations...

Pappa

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Please consider a Donation to the Seti Project.

Evening All

With all the shuffling around it gets easy to lose track... The Main page News stated that we reached a quarter million dollars ($250.000.00). That allowed Seti Enhanced and moving the New Data Receiver down to Arecibo in June (new data to crunch). This is still short of the goal, Please do not forget Our Friends Here...

I have heard that one project wanted to charge a monthly/annual fee to participate... If they did not reach thier goal they had enough data to publish a paper anyways... How Lame... I have also heard rumors that it may have scared off those that would like to contribute here... Seti is only asking for donations... In My Heart, I would not suspect that what "another" said would show up here... Yes as times I have had real heartburn with what happens or the lack of communications. With things in the background and finally getting Seti Enhanced here we are starting to see that as Users Care and Are Helping, the Staff are Looking and Helping... All in all, there has been improvement!

So all that said, we have about ten months to reach the Goal and More! We know that a movement to a Seti Store and PayPal are in the works (weeks)... If you can please consider a Donation... If you can't hopefully some will try to make up for those that wish they could... Not to worry...

Team Captains can still let team members know that there is a need...

Pappa

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Please consider a Donation to the Seti Project.

Hi all,

Any chance someone at SETI could create a new website page showing where our donations are going?

After all, $250,000 is a considerable amount of money and in this age of "Freedom of Information", I'd like to know *where* the donations actually went (and not where they propose to spend it - I found that page here: http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/sah_plans.php !

If it already exists, sorry, but I cannot find it - I only found the "budget" http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/sah_budget.php!!)


BURP project has a page that can be "copied":

http://burp.boinc.dk/donation_history.php

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regards,
Tim
Founder, UK BOINC Team
Join us @ UK BOINC Team: http://www.ukboincteam.org.uk/newforum

hello ubt-timbo

the "budget" page is where the donations will be going - since most of the
money has come in recently, most of it has probably not been spent at all...
an institution the size of UCB has a "cash management office" whose job is
to invest funds until they are needed/spent...

and i would guess that the overall budget for the department is $1.5 to $2.0 million at least...

frank

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the "budget" page is where the donations will be going - since most of the
money has come in recently, most of it has probably not been spent at all...
an institution the size of UCB has a "cash management office" whose job is
to invest funds until they are needed/spent...

That's a pretty good summary. The funds are in the "Friends of SETI@home" gift account and will be spent throughout the year. I was considering putting up a graph showing the remaining balance in that account and any grants we have, so people wouldn't be surprised if we're running low.

The budget presented is what we spend on SETI this calendar except for what we spend on BOINC (which is a separate budget item because David Anderson has NSF grants to cover his salary and that of some developers (Rom Walton, etc)). Right now 50% of my salary comes from an NSF grant for Astropulse and our HI survey, and the other 50% comes from an unrelated NASA grant. The AstroPulse/HI grant also covers a postdoctoral researcher working with me and a graduate student who works on AstroPulse. Unfortunately that grant is running out and today I found out the the NSF has decided not to fund two grants we had applied for (one for further HI work, one to help fund the 7-beam SETI sky survey). The PI of the NASA grant has requested that I reduce my fraction on that grant to 35%. Forgive me if I sound bummed out.

and i would guess that the overall budget for the department is $1.5 to $2.0 million at least...

I wish... Matt and Jeff (and Court and Bob) don't get paid nearly as well as if they found work in a non-academic setting. My full time salary is a bit less than theirs last time I checked. Dan's is a bit more. But then again, we're scientists so we're lucky to be working at all. Kevin (the post-doc) earns peanuts. Josh (the grad student) wants to work his way up to earning peanuts. But, when you add benefits (mostly health insurance, 17% for scientists, 22% for programmers, 7.3% for postdocs) and University overhead (10.5% on donations, 38% on grants) it adds up to about $500k anually on salaries+overhead. Add in $250k for hardware, supplies, and travel to/from Arecibo, and that's where the $750k (donations) or $900k (grants) comes from.

At any rate Dan and I are going to sit down tomorrow with a spreadsheet and figure out how to stretch the budget.

Anyone know Steve Jobs or Paul Allen? :) Just kidding, the UC Office of the President won't let us talk to famous rich people even if they call us.

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@SETIEric@qoto.org (Mastodon)

Anyone know Steve Jobs or Paul Allen? :) Just kidding, the UC Office of the President won't let us talk to famous rich people even if they call us.

Not directly, but how about taking advantage of pork-barrel spending and lobbying? I'm sure we SETIzens would consider* reelecting a congressperson who can throw a little money in BOINC's direction.

* Notice that I said consider.

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