I noticed this post over at BBC.CPDN

Posted 18 Mar 2006 12:50:36 UTC
.
.
.
I'm pleased to say that the BBC are coughing up £10K for much needed equipment, including a new super-duper "trickle server" which should greatly help things and help do more data analysis both for participants here and scientists at Oxford and eventually around the world. We should get this hardware in 2 weeks.
.
.
.

I'd love to see the Sci-Fi Channel or some other media outlet do a documentary on SETI and Seti@Home and then do a follow up - it would then be in their interests to supply hardware or funds to make sure the project runs as smoothly as possible.

I wonder how Mr Werthimer, Mr Anderson, Mr Lebofsky, et al, would pitch this idea (of a documentary with a follow up)?

This is how I would do it:

• Seti@Home already very popular and known
  
• has been around a while
  
• involves super-computers and astronomers
  
• (almost) everybody is interested in space
  
• there have been many popular movies on the theme of first contact
  
• aliens always get good ratings
  

What do people reckon, would this fly?

Anybody have other ideas?

---

Join TeamACC

Sometimes I think we are alone in the universe, and sometimes I think we are not. In either case the idea is quite staggering.

I noticed this post over at BBC.CPDN

Posted 18 Mar 2006 12:50:36 UTC
.
.
.
I'm pleased to say that the BBC are coughing up £10K for much needed equipment, including a new super-duper "trickle server" which should greatly help things and help do more data analysis both for participants here and scientists at Oxford and eventually around the world. We should get this hardware in 2 weeks.
.
.
.

I'd love to see the Sci-Fi Channel or some other media outlet do a documentary on SETI and Seti@Home and then do a follow up - it would then be in their interests to supply hardware or funds to make sure the project runs as smoothly as possible.

I wonder how Mr Werthimer, Mr Anderson, Mr Lebofsky, et al, would pitch this idea (of a documentary with a follow up)?

This is how I would do it:

• Seti@Home already very popular and known
  
• has been around a while
  
• involves super-computers and astronomers
  
• (almost) everybody is interested in space
  
• there have been many popular movies on the theme of first contact
  
• aliens always get good ratings
  

What do people reckon, would this fly?

Anybody have other ideas?

I think it's a great idea! I love to see a documentary about SETI. I think the ideas you came up with for the documentary are good.

Torrey Lauer

---

I wonder how Mr Werthimer, Mr Anderson, Mr Lebofsky, et al, would pitch this idea (of a documentary with a follow up)?

well i know matt won't be too keen, last time they had a TV crew in the lab one of them managed to kill several servers by overloading a UPS with a 500W lamp!

however, maybe TV crews have become more professional these days

---

Want to search the BOINC Wiki, BOINCstats, or various BOINC forums from within firefox? Try the BOINC related Firefox Search Engines

well i know matt won't be too keen, last time they had a TV crew in the lab one of them managed to kill several servers by overloading a UPS with a 500W lamp!

however, maybe TV crews have become more professional these days

But that could work to Seti@Home's advantage!

I'm fairly confident that TV crews are pretty well insured.

I can just see Matt saying to them "You broke the hardware, you replace it with new stuff as the older hardware is no longer produced!". And then over the course of the next month or so they can "fix" the "broken" hardware and re-introduce it bit by bit and no-one will be any the wiser. 8D

Matt, are you taking notes on this - it could work you know?

---

Join TeamACC

Sometimes I think we are alone in the universe, and sometimes I think we are not. In either case the idea is quite staggering.

I think it's a great idea! I love to see a documentary about SETI. I think the ideas you came up with for the documentary are good.

Torrey Lauer

Well you may be interested in this thread: SETI Radio Network

OK, not TV and not a documentary, but enjoyable none the less.

---

Join TeamACC

Sometimes I think we are alone in the universe, and sometimes I think we are not. In either case the idea is quite staggering.

But that could work to Seti@Home's advantage!

I'm fairly confident that TV crews are pretty well insured.

I can just see Matt saying to them "You broke the hardware, you replace it with new stuff as the older hardware is no longer produced!". And then over the course of the next month or so they can "fix" the "broken" hardware and re-introduce it bit by bit and no-one will be any the wiser. 8D

well no, it's never an "advantage" to have tv crews breaking stuff

also insurance can't also replace data, or time, which is usually more important than hardware

---

Want to search the BOINC Wiki, BOINCstats, or various BOINC forums from within firefox? Try the BOINC related Firefox Search Engines

well no, it's never an "advantage" to have tv crews breaking stuff

also insurance can't also replace data, or time, which is usually more important than hardware

OK I concede your point, but if reasonable precautions are taken to avoid damage to equipment (learning from previous experience) then I am fairly confident that the potential benefit could be large.

Just look at how well BBC CCE has done in the 4 or 5 weeks that it has been public with the BBC Documentary Meltdown having been aired at least twice and lots of coverage on the BBC website. In that time the BBC CCE has obtained 67,511 Users with 2,631 new users in the past day (according to Boincstats), which is the 4th highest number of users behind Seti, Einstein and CPDN, and they have just got £10K for hardware.

OK Seti may not need more users, but more money from increased publicity can't be a bad thing.

---

Join TeamACC

Sometimes I think we are alone in the universe, and sometimes I think we are not. In either case the idea is quite staggering.

. . ., maybe TV crews have become more professional these days. . .

reminds me of one of my favorite quotes: 'Never underestimate the power of stupid people, esp. in large groups'

Sparky

reminds me of one of my favorite quotes: 'Never underestimate the power of stupid people, esp. in large groups'

Sparky

Talking of quotes: "You know, I used to think it was awful that life was so unfair. Then I thought, wouldn't it be much worse if life were fair, and all the terrible things that happen to us come because we actually deserve them?..."

I'm sure that if Marcus was with us here today he would want Seti@Home and crew televised. 8D

Once we've found the evidence for the existence of ETI (if at all) then we can go full throttle to building a space age future. Of course if we don't find the evidence we should be building a better future anyway, but it would be so much easier (politically) if we had an incentive. A successful outcome to SETI would be a good incentive, and we would have a better chance of that outcome if Seti@Home had more resources, and it's amazing what good publicity and a higher profile can do to provide more resources (telescopes, computers, volunteers, etc).

"Sometimes I think we're alone in the universe, and sometimes I think we're not. In either case the idea is quite staggering."-Arthur C Clarke

---

Join TeamACC

Sometimes I think we are alone in the universe, and sometimes I think we are not. In either case the idea is quite staggering.

reminds me of one of my favorite quotes: 'Never underestimate the power of stupid people, esp. in large groups'

Sparky

Ah! You've been in a TV studio then! 8-)

---

Click here to join the #1 Aussie Alliance in SETI

@ Kinhull - You looked at my Profile :) No, don't get me wrong, I was just interjecting my humorous thoughts in to your serious discussion - it made me smile. I Whole-Heartedly agree with your idea, the more publicity we can achieve, the better our chances of getting more voluteer cpu cycles, => leading to more opportunities for donations, grants, etc. . .

I am behind you 100%, and believe me when I tell you that's A LOT!

My previous comment was directed towards the television crew evolving towards a more intelligent breed possible, but not likely.

As for the rest of your post, I want to see it happed, the X-Project was a giant step in the correct direction, IMO. We just need more vissionary companies like that one to make space more of a reality.

Regards,

Sparky

I would think that someone here would know somebody at the Sci Fi channel or Discovery Networks.

... and I'd hope we could get some feedback from the BBC or CPDN on how the project was viewed there.

If all else fails, we could start a letter writing campaign.

SETI was mentioned in "How William Shatner changed the Future" on the History channel.....

---

<bump>

Just wondering if any one has heard anything about this? As I do think it is a wonderful idea, and should be persued.

Sparky

I can forward the suggestion for a Seti@Home Documentary to the proper Dept's in NBC Universal Cable (which includes SciFi). No promises though. For all I know it'll get filtered out with all the NBC junk mail, but worth a try. I'm not exactly top of the totem pole, but it may just bubble up.

---

I can forward the suggestion for a Seti@Home Documentary to the proper Dept's in NBC Universal Cable (which includes SciFi). No promises though. For all I know it'll get filtered out with all the NBC junk mail, but worth a try. I'm not exactly top of the totem pole, but it may just bubble up.

If you could do that, it would be great!

Thanks Jedi_Mstr.

Fingers crossed.

---

Join TeamACC

Sometimes I think we are alone in the universe, and sometimes I think we are not. In either case the idea is quite staggering.

I can forward the suggestion for a Seti@Home Documentary to the proper Dept's in NBC Universal Cable (which includes SciFi). No promises though. For all I know it'll get filtered out with all the NBC junk mail, but worth a try. I'm not exactly top of the totem pole, but it may just bubble up.

give us an address, and we'll flood the department with mail, they can't ignore all of us forever. :)

Sparky

If the thread was titled "how to pitch a bad idea", I'd say give the task to a teenager who wants something. They think of the dangdest stories and methods.

give us an address, and we'll flood the department with mail, they can't ignore all of us forever. :)

Sparky

I doubt that would convince them... :)

A nicely worded letter/petition would work out much better.

---

If the thread was titled "how to pitch a bad idea", I'd say give the task to a teenager who wants something. They think of the dangdest stories and methods.

It's been a few years since I was a teenager, I might just have to nurture some precociousness and see what comes up.

---

Join TeamACC

Sometimes I think we are alone in the universe, and sometimes I think we are not. In either case the idea is quite staggering.

I got an email from David Anderson and in it he stated:

It would be great if NBC did a global-warming documentary
with the quality and impact of "Meltdown".

Sounds like the developers are keen.

That would certainly help NBC, or any other organisation, if they thought they would get project help to do a documentary or 'TV spot'.

[edit]
For those that don't know, Meltdown was the Documentary about the BBC Climate Change Experiment run using BOINC, there is going to be a follow up documentary about the preliminary results in a few months time.
[/edit]

---

Join TeamACC

Sometimes I think we are alone in the universe, and sometimes I think we are not. In either case the idea is quite staggering.