Posts by S@NL - d.3ssen

1) Message boards : Number crunching : Show and tell your machine. Here's mine. (Message 1740147)
Posted 6 Nov 2015 by Profile S@NL - d.3ssen
Post:
Here's my current setup (no pictures yet):

System 1
* Intel Core2 6600 @ 2.4GHz
* 6GB RAM
* 1TB HDD
* 750GB HDD
* 250GB HDD (2x)
* running ESXI 5.5 /w 1x Win2k8, 1x Win7, 5x Ubuntu Server 14.04

System 2
* AMD FX-4300 @ 3.8GHz
* 8GB RAM
* nVidia GeForce GTX 750 Ti
* nVidia GeForce 9400 GT
* 750GB HDD
* 500GB HDD (2x)
* running Win7

Androids
* HTC One M7
* Yarvik Tab9-200

Planning to build a third system from some spare parts I have.
2) Message boards : Cafe SETI : Whatcha Watching? (Message 1739836)
Posted 5 Nov 2015 by Profile S@NL - d.3ssen
Post:
Final few episodes of Supernatural season 10. Hope to start on season 11 soon.
3) Message boards : Cafe SETI : Is anyone using IRC? (Message 1739834)
Posted 5 Nov 2015 by Profile S@NL - d.3ssen
Post:
I've been monitoring the #SetiAtHome IRC channel on Efnet for the last few days and there is hardly any activity there. There are users in the channel, but nobody is actually saying anything. (including myself)

Are Seti@Home users active anywhere on any IRC servers?
Perhaps discussing Seti and non-Seti related topics?
4) Message boards : News : Did SETI@home ever find aliens? (Message 1739361)
Posted 3 Nov 2015 by Profile S@NL - d.3ssen
Post:
I think the question we must ask, is the following: if SETI @ home was or has already found alien signals will they be able to reveal it.


On that theory...
I have always believed that if the signal was found, some governments (if not all and especially organizations like UN) would attempt to keep it a secret. Trying to prevent world hysteria and global chaos.
Because, yes, we SETI enthusiasts will probably be overwhelmed and overjoyed by such a discovery, but the rest of the world may be frightened to a whole new level knowing that some other (possibly more evolved) beings are out there.
And this idea will bring chaos and disaster.

If you look at human history and how in the past couple of millenia we've waged wars against people that were technologically inferior, I can understand that some will think that it could mean the end of humankind should we discover that we're not alone.

However, light takes a long time to reach us, as do radio waves. And a while back I found a video on YouTube that had somebody explain that if aliens would look at us with a massive telescope at a distance of several light years, they would probably see a planet with dinosaurs. And therefore not find our planet interesting to investigate.
Looking at how we scout the skies for signals, probably any signal that we find will be centuries old and the civilization that had send it might already be extinct. It would probably be a scream for help as they knew their planet was doomed.

Now, if you look at how aliens have been portrayed in novels and movies over the last century our imagination runs wild. We've imagined them as being friendly weird looking creatures curious to learn (as in E.T.), or technologically superior, human looking beings trying to make new friends (Vulcans in Star Trek). We've seen them as killing machines that don't need technology to kill (Aliens). And we've seen them as pilots of massive machines that can kill dozens in a single blast (War of the Worlds).

The question you ask may be "Will SETI (or any government) reveal what they find if they find anything?"
The question I ask is "What will the aliens do once they've discovered we've been listening to them?"

Here on earth, if you stumble upon a secret encrypted mail from some government agency you may risk jailtime.
But what if aliens thought you might have been eavesdropping on them, will they annihilate the entire human population?

I would love to see the day that SETI finds something, that the world rejoices and all of humankind will come together and make peace knowing that we're not alone. That we send a "hello" back and be visited by friendly beings that will teach us how to better ourselves.
I would love a scenario like the movie "Contact" to become a reality.

But I think that governments would intervene the second that SETI says "We've got one!".

Only time will tell.
5) Message boards : Cafe SETI : A friend of mine wants to know... (Message 1739129)
Posted 2 Nov 2015 by Profile S@NL - d.3ssen
Post:
Not really... =D

It's more like putting an empty glass against the wall to listen if you can hear your neighbor breathes.

(frick'n 4 edits to get that sentence right)
6) Message boards : SETI@home Science : Trying to understand RA and DEC coordinates (Message 1738254)
Posted 30 Oct 2015 by Profile S@NL - d.3ssen
Post:
You multiply the 0.895508 by 60 (the number of minutes in a degree) getting 53.73048 minutes then multiply the .73048 times 60 again to get 43.82 seconds arriving at 22 degrees 53 minutes 43.82 seconds. ( I think )

Try using celestia or Stellarium to get a better grip on celestial coordinates

This made the most sense to me.
So I'm going to try and use these calculations to get a more precise location on Sky. Also thinking about trying the programs you mentioned.
7) Message boards : SETI@home Science : Trying to understand RA and DEC coordinates (Message 1737684)
Posted 28 Oct 2015 by Profile S@NL - d.3ssen
Post:
I'm trying to figure out how to read and convert the RA/DEC coordinates in the NTPCkr threads to Google Sky.

After reading up on Right Ascension, Declination and the Celestial Equatorial Coordinate System on several sites, I still can't get my head wrapped around the conversion I need to make to find the candidates from the NTPCkr on Google Sky.

As I understand from various sites the RA is usually displayed has Hours:Minutes:Seconds, however, NTPCkr threads only shows a degree unit. (like RA: 22.895508). As some sites explain the full 360 degree of our globe is divided into 24 hours. As such, 15 degrees = 1 hour.
So, 22 degrees would be a little over 1 hour. So in Google Sky I would point my cursor to 1h.

But then comes the tricky part...what about the .895508?
If 1 degree = 1h / 15 degrees = 0.066666h.
And 0.066666h * 60m = 4 minutes.
So .895508 degrees would be 4 minutes.

According to this calculation, in Google Sky I would have to point my cursor to 1h 4m 00.0s

Am I correct?
8) Questions and Answers : Web site : Edit Profile page has a "undefined function" error (Message 1736354)
Posted 23 Oct 2015 by Profile S@NL - d.3ssen
Post:
Should be fixed now.


It is, thanks.
9) Questions and Answers : Web site : Edit Profile page has a "undefined function" error (Message 1735910)
Posted 21 Oct 2015 by Profile S@NL - d.3ssen
Post:
Trying to edit my profile, but the Captcha won't appear because the function "recaptcha_get_html()" isn't defined. Thus I can not save the changes.

The actual error near the top of the 'create_profile.php' page is:
Fatal error: Call to undefined function recaptcha_get_html() in /disks/carolyn/b/home/boincadm/projects/sah/html/user/create_profile.php on line 110





 
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