Closing up shop
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Decades before people were stealing corporate CPU resources to run Bitcoin miners, they were running SETI@home.
Not that I would ever have done such a thing (cough).
That effort is now winding down. No more data is being distributed to participants for processing.
https://setiathome.berkeley.edu/
Its volunteer science legacy lives on via BOINC[*] but that too seems to be in decline. Its history page is interesting but a little depressing.
https://continuum-hypothesis.com/boinc_history.php
And now I’m reminded that a friend from work gave me several ideas on how I can volunteer to help kids with math & science, so I think it’s time to rediscover my own volunteering passion.
[*] I was unable to find an acronym expansion for BOINC but I’d like to think it was at best a backronym inspired by Calvin & Hobbes.
On walkabout. Back soonish.
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@Just-Jeepin Haven't thought about SETI at home in years, we used to run it on our home computer. Bummer it's closing shop.
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@Just-Jeepin I did SETI@Home decades ago. Honestly I thought it had already shut down.
My recollection is that even though they are shutting down, they have gathered a ton of data that requires higher level analysis, so it's not all bad.
These distributed computer projects have been hurt by the fact computers have gotten both thirstier and better at conserving power at idle. Back in 2000 your computer was basically fully on all the time, so having it crunch numbers when idle was essentially free. Today, a gaming machine might only be using <50W at idle, but could easily use 500W under load, making it a lot more expensive to participate. Granted, the machine does a lot more work per watt than a machine from the turn of the millennium, but it's going to be harder to find volunteers.
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@facw I believe they stopped distribution about 3 years ago, but now they’re shutting down the processing hardware too.
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@Just-Jeepin Good on you to volunteer. Especially now, we need more people to help our kids improve in math and science. I'm fortunate to have that background to help my kids but they tell me of how many of their classmates struggle with these subjects. Imho, the quality of math and science education has declined over the years. However, there are now so many online resources like Kahn Academy for kids supplement their education.
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@Krusty-Walnut My oldest son started grade 8 in a local public school in January (has been homeschooled up to this point) Apparently there is a fair representation in his class of kids that don't know their times tables. In grade 8!
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@ibRAD It's really bad. My kids go to public school but we do some things outside the classroom to make sure they are actually learning something. I have my son signed up for Russian Math this year. He hates it but based on how bad I hear his new math teacher is, I'm glad we signed him up.
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@Krusty-Walnut What is russian math?
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@ibRAD It's basically the new Kumon. It teaches math more like how we learned and not whatever they do today. It's popular in New England since it's based in Boston. I reccomend it but you will have to spend time with them depending on how smart your kid is. We do the online version since the nearest center is 1 hr away from us.
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@Krusty-Walnut Thanks. I'll look into that. We were using Saxon math textbooks for homeschooling and they were pretty good.
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@ibRAD I now wish I had time to homeschool my kids but I then I also think about the friends they've made in school. The "hybrid" approach for us has worked and my daughter is in an advanced math and science program at the best high school in the state and top 5 in the country. Hopefully she can continue her success and get into a top tier school like MIT or Harvard. We'll probably know by the end of the year if she applies for early acceptance.
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@Krusty-Walnut I was fortunate to have my former spouse to stay home and teach the kids. Obviously that doesn't work now, but the youngest was keen to try public school, and the oldest was planning on attending high school next year anyhow so it probably worked out for the best in the end.
