Posts by Heflin

1) Message boards : Number crunching : Time to fold up the tent... (Message 1179940)
Posted 22 Dec 2011 by Profile Heflin
Post:
Wow, really!!??

I have some machines in other cities that I don't get to but once a year or every other year. They run fun with very little interaction. Sure, they are not always fully used or optimized, but they are helping science. And, they are not causing a problem for their primary local users. I'm a big fan of "Set it. And forget it!"

Why not simply take a month or two off from WATCHING or BABYSITTING BOINC? Just let it run & do whatever it does. Then at the end of your vacation check and see how efficient and how much work it really did. Compare that to when you are babysitting.

I've logged my work since day one with annotations as to when I closely monitored, was out of the country, brought on new machines, etc. It is interesting to see the graph, even machines left alone are pretty effective.

It could be a good challenge to see how many days in a row you can go WITHOUT checking BOINC or your status while your machines still run BOINC.

Happy New Year! And enjoy your "vacation"
2) Message boards : News : Another way to support SETI@home (Message 1179920)
Posted 22 Dec 2011 by Profile Heflin
Post:
Is there a *simple* way for credit/money to go to SETI ... withOUT registering or logging into the goodsearch site?

Maybe a URL/link to start with that all susequent actions give credit to SETI?

If not, then how about a 'public' account/registration at GoodSearch that all SETI folks can use & even pass on to others?

3) Message boards : Number crunching : Decision Regarding Banished Users (Message 978417)
Posted 14 Mar 2010 by Profile Heflin
Post:
I was not aware of the banishment or incidents relating to it.

I do wonder if those allowed back must start their credits (and all that goes with it) from zero, or if they are allowed to step back into their existing credits and account?

While credits have no monetary value, they do have pride and bragging value.

It appears they get to step back into their existing accounts and credits. I would think if incident was serious enough to banish a person, that they would not be able to step back into their credits and original 'Member Since' date.
4) Message boards : News : Video on making a desktop supercomputer (Message 978406)
Posted 14 Mar 2010 by Profile Heflin
Post:
Why not move the computer into your refrigerator!!

It'll cut the noise down significantly & you probably wouldn't even need any fans :)
5) Message boards : Number crunching : Early SETI contributors - who's still around? (Message 969374)
Posted 9 Feb 2010 by Profile Heflin
Post:
WE may be old, but who is running the oldest machine or rather the same machine for the longest period? Not directly verifiable because a single computer can be issued a new Computer ID when things go wrong.

Since May 2006 & still running

I ran classic SETI@Home till the server would not accept completed work back!
6) Questions and Answers : Web site : "Projects in which you are participating" adding WorldCommunity Grid (Message 966110)
Posted 27 Jan 2010 by Profile Heflin
Post:
Thanks Gundolf!

They were setup with same e-mail, but a long time ago when I updated all to a new e-mail address I didn't update WorldCommunityGrid.

Correcting that makes WorldCommunityGrid to appear as one of the projects at the bottom of the page. GREAT!

WorldCommunityGrid is not hyperlinked to the project (home page or account page) like all the other projects are (to the account page). Is this a feature, bug, or more my configuration error?
7) Questions and Answers : Web site : "Projects in which you are participating" adding WorldCommunity Grid (Message 965475)
Posted 23 Jan 2010 by Profile Heflin
Post:
Is there a reason why World Community Grid project is NOT listed under "Projects in which you are participating"?

This seems to be consistent across all of the projects I've participated in: not listing World Community Grid

Could World Community Grid be added to "Projects in which you are participating"?

https://secure.worldcommunitygrid.org/index.jsp
8) Message boards : Number crunching : Merge with an old account? (Message 963442)
Posted 15 Jan 2010 by Profile Heflin
Post:
Even more simple ... no matter what you do or don't do, your old SETI@Home totals will not be converted to BOINC Cobblestones, added to any other credit totals or converted to cash, iTunes credit.

Your old SETI@Home credits will be continuously converted to good will and good wishes for your contributions!
9) Message boards : Number crunching : SETI@home Processor Guide - Version 0.4 (Message 957985)
Posted 22 Dec 2009 by Profile Heflin
Post:
How are you going to correlate to a RAC?
Will be highly dependent upon HOW & WHEN BOINC is allowed to run.

I guess you could ensure that all folks have similiar run configurations.

Run always?
Run only when idle for x minutes?
Run only when idle for y hours?

And local CPU throttle?
One machine I run BOINC on is a laptop with BOINC CPU throttled down to 40% to keep cooling fan from turning on.
10) Message boards : Technical News : Precedence Bulk (Dec 10 2009) (Message 957062)
Posted 18 Dec 2009 by Profile Heflin
Post:
However I was actually a little offended by the (presumably unthinking ?) assumption in the email that everyone who donates computer time and or money is a resident/taxpayer of the USA.



Idea: Person-outside-USA sends/gives monetary gift to USA-taxpaying-SETI-supporter.
USA-taxpaying-SETI-supporter then sends tax deductible donation to SETI of the same amount ...
...PLUS tax donation benefit (37% or whatever).

Person-outside-USA full donation gets to SETI
USA-taxpaying-SETI-supporter gets no monetary benefit.
SETI gets more money than original direct donation.


11) Message boards : News : We started sending out our annual year-end donation drive mass e-mail (Message 956858)
Posted 17 Dec 2009 by Profile Heflin
Post:
How about an automated e-mail to individuals right before their green-donation-star expires?

I think/recall that green-donation-stars expire after 1 year.
So a friendly reminder might generate more repeat donations.


My last donation was for: $ 358.009994506836
and is about to expire.

What STRANGE donation amount can you get the system to create/accept???
12) Message boards : Cafe SETI : fired for using Seti and boinc (Message 951576)
Posted 2 Dec 2009 by Profile Heflin
Post:
I always ask before taking anything from work home and have never had a request refused. On the other hand, I have some company equipment at home that I would like to send back to work but it's stuck here taking up space.


Sorry, but you THOUGHT you were authorized. In reality, or rather in the law you are ALWAYS wrong, violating something.

Is your authorization in writing?
Is it signed? dated? notarized?
Are copies properly filed with proper people?
Is the signer the PROPER person to authorize?
Did the legal department concur in writing?
Is the material UNIQUELY identified in writing?
Is the location identified?
Is the material physically identified as company equipment?
Have you ever connected ANY non-company equipment to ANY company equipment? (power strip, mouse, display, power cable) Were you authorized in writing for that?


I once was refused ENTRANCE to work when I was carrying work equipment. The security guard could not uniquely match the material I had to a line item on the proper paperwork I had authorizing the movement. Why? The guards had recently been chided for not verifying paperwork matched equipment LEAVING the compound, so the guards were cracking down on everyone.


13) Message boards : Number crunching : NEZ - The truth behind the credits... finally revealed. (Message 951570)
Posted 2 Dec 2009 by Profile Heflin
Post:
This is so clearly a case of "If someone wants to get you, they can alwasys find something to nail you."

At work we have been told to use not less, but MORE, MUCH MORE bandwidth !!
We are not fully utilizing our bandwidth pipe. The fuller the pipe, the more it is justified.

IF the bandwidth BOINC used even impacted the distric's network, then the network was already over-congested. Unless someone can show a graph of bandwidth usage along with a log showing the BOINC usage prevented other traffic, then the bandwith issue is just smoke&mirrors to confuse the issue.

In all my professional years (29), I have NEVER EVER seen a computer that could pass 100% of all the security, configuration, authorized, legal, properly configured, justified usage, no unauthorized information/files, all accounts properly documented and justified and configured, all audits properly checked, etc. This includes Government secret and top secret computers. There is always always at least one flaw, one missing authorization, one newer file, etc.

Had the district's lawyers provided written authorization to accept all the "User Agreements", licenses, update licenses, etc? I have never been able to get written authorization from legal for every piece of software, file, application, OS, and UPDATES on even ONE machine.

Like most news stories, this is a lot of misinformation, incomplete information, and ignorant analysis.



14) Message boards : Number crunching : broken computer (not mine) (Message 946631)
Posted 12 Nov 2009 by Profile Heflin
Post:
So did anybody send a message to this guy letting him know?

15) Message boards : Number crunching : credits (Message 941673)
Posted 21 Oct 2009 by Profile Heflin
Post:
Don't worry. Just like the lottery, the ET signal is going to be discovered by someone who only does a few work units a day & doesn't even monitor their setup!!

Now won't THAT piss off those who have spent thousands on upgrades and CUDA and maintaining a huge cache! :) :)


Remember, we low RACers are doing QUALITY work, not just quantity.

Hey! Let us keep our illusion while you highRACers run circles around us!! :)
16) Message boards : Number crunching : One Year Later (Message 941669)
Posted 21 Oct 2009 by Profile Heflin
Post:
Welcome Back!

Is your daughter still available?

I've been around the whole time, but am still a measly thousandare.
So I'd like to marry into credits!

Actually, I'm just looking for a faster host, daughter, whatever! :)
17) Message boards : Number crunching : Communication deficit (Message 935355)
Posted 23 Sep 2009 by Profile Heflin
Post:
canary in your coal mine.


Not all dead canaries are cause for concern.
Canaries die for all sorts of reasons (old age, lack of food, run over, etc).


All of these "but sometimes need several attempts." & "They eventually seem to get through." are NOT problems -- they are a normal part of the process. Even a project going down for a week shouldn't be cause for concern -- just continue doing work for other projects.

Imagine if Boinc had an extremely simple interface: it only reported what project it was currently working on & if it had more work in-hand to do. The vast majority of users "complaints" would go away.

Let's stop doing a 'Denial of Service Attack' on our own hardware (SETI) and people (SETI staff). ET can wait another day or week before meeting us!
18) Message boards : Number crunching : IF "no work available" THEN resend ? (Message 930778)
Posted 4 Sep 2009 by Profile Heflin
Post:
If you really want to stay busy, the answer is to find another project that is mildly interesting, and give them a 5% or 10% resource share.


I try to setup other people's machines with their
PRIMARY Project @ 100%
Backup Project @ 10%
All else empty Project @ 1%

They never run out of work. And people seem to become interested in other projects as well.
19) Message boards : Number crunching : SETI@Netherlands 10 year challenge & Gauntlet! (Message 923479)
Posted 3 Aug 2009 by Profile Heflin
Post:
Great Job on the donations!

I'd challenge you to NOT include ANY zeros in your donation amount.
And not duplicate any numbers!

i.e. instead of $130.xx donate $134.56
i.e. instead of $35.00 donate $35.67

The small dollars and cents don't mean that much to the individual, but they sure will add up for SETI@home!
20) Message boards : Number crunching : Directly Proportinate Giving (Message 920927)
Posted 24 Jul 2009 by Profile Heflin
Post:
[Devils' Advocate ON]
On the other hand, having a project always short of money could be GOOD.
It means that only those things that really need money will be spent.
Only those things most important over the long run will be done.
Spending money on new hardware will only be done as a last resort.

Throwing more money at most projects does NOT result in better work nor a better product.

[Devils' Advocate OFF]


Suggestion/Challenge for monetary donations:
Maybe only donators can start a new thread?
NEVER use a zero in your donation amount !!
Increase each character in your amount $123.45 or $56.78
Use the same digit in all places: $111.11

I try to do this with any electronic donation. It doesn't cost any more to process & if I can afford $100, I can probably afford an extra $23.45 or $11.11


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