Let me start with the most im****tant part first, least you find you
don't have the time to read this long reply. I am sorry to hear that
you have diabetes. My younger sister contracted diabetes at about that
age (I think she was 9), and died in her early 40's due to complications
directly related to it; my mother-in-law also died from it after going
blind first, as did my wife's aunt after losing both legs. That is why
it doesn't make sense for people to let computer power just go to waste;
it would be like letting the faucet run with water going down the drain
while there are people dying of thirst outside. I therefore implore you
and others to read this long post, if that's what it takes to open your
eyes. Good luck, and thanks for your patience with me.
Alan Mackenzie wrote:
> Bill Velek <billvelek--NO-SPAM--@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote on Thu, 09 Feb 2006
snip
>>Cross-posting versus _not_ cross-posting is a very debatable point. I
>>have been active on Usenet for about 8 years or so (maybe longer), and
>>some people ***** and moan when you cross-post ...
snip
> Not really. The point about cross-posting is that there is a single
copy
> of your post, no matter how many groups you post it to. If you
> multi-post, there are n copies, taking up n times as much resources.
> There are, at a guess, several hundred thousand news servers - each of
> your (an my) posts will cost of the order of a gigabyte in storage and
> transmission. So cross-post!
Okay, you've sold me. But in perspective, the storage my posts occupy
is a drop in the ocean -- well, at least a large lake -- in comparison
with the excessive and constant drivel: idiots who post one-liners but
fail to snip or trim the prior post(s); personal crap of no lingering
interest to anyone (e.g. personal introductions); off-topic posts;
on-topic posts, but with incorrect -- and sometimes dangerous --
information; on-topic posts that are _correct_ but which repeat, for the
thousandth time, what has already been posted on the subject and which
could have been found with a modi*** of research; goofy jokes and
stories which are repeated ad nauseum; tired debates that go no where or
that no one else cares about (no doubt like this one); flamewars; and of
course, genuine spam, etc.
> People moan about _excessive_ cross-posting. (Of course, some people
> moan at anything on the slightest pretext, and there's nothing to be
done
> about that other than ignoring them.) If you cross-post a message to 20
> groups, can it really be on-topic on all of them? On any of them?
Certainly. In this particular case I'm promoting the World Community
Grid which uses grid-computing for research on the human proteome, to
find cures for myriad diseases. Now, let's take diabetes, for example,
given that we're already 'here'; is it appropriate to post a message
here about new research in the field of diabetes? Absolutely! If the
only thing that grid-computing was focused on was the search for a cure
for diabetes, would it be appropriate to discuss here? Certainly. _IS_
grid-computing helping to find a cure for diabetes? Absolutely; the
fact that it might also be helping one or two other diseases shouldn't
detract from the fact that it _IS_ helping find a cure for diabetes.
The fact that it _IS_ helping to find a cure for a DOZEN diseases ALSO
doesn't alter the fact that it is helping with diabetes. And the fact
that the unfortunate folks who have diabetes _CAN_ actually make a
valuable contribution to help that research by simply donating otherwise
WASTED computer power, is not only relevant and on-topic, but absolutely
compelling for posting here. Now, those very same arguments can be made
for cancer, so my post is just as appropriate in the cancer groups, and
that doesn't diminish at all that it should still be posted here; and
the same can also be said for the AIDS and Alzheimer's groups, and it
still doesn't diminish its im****tance or relevance in any of those
medical groups, either. And by the time we tally up it's absolute
on-topic relevance for each disease for which it holds promise, we find
that we have a message that is on-topic and ought to be posted in more
than 20 groups. Now, if I had altered the subject line and customized
the text for each group -- mentioning _just_ one disease each time --
and perhaps even spread them out, posting a different one each day,
would that have been okay? Without a doubt, because there are no limits
on how many or which groups any of us can post to, but doing it that way
would still amount to the same number of posts and occupy the same
amount of storage. So, is it really necessary to resort to such
tactics, which accomplish nothing except avoiding criticism such as
yours? Not really.
> If you cross-post a message to 20 groups, lots of them will get clogged
> up by irrelevancies from other groups. That's why people object.
True, often because threads digress into unrelated areas that are still
on-topic for one group but are no longer appropriate for the others.
That would be like me cross-posting a question about vacuum-packing
homegrown hops (which is a food ingredient for beer), in groups about
beer, food-preservation, and gardening. That's why I didn't cross post
to begin with, although there is a common thread among those groups.
snip
> How sure are you that your computer is not being abused by crackers for
> distributing spam?
snip
There are numerous reasons:
1. I routinely run several malware programs.
2. I stay fairly well informed about malware by subscribing to a number
of newsletters and am VERY active on the Internet in both a wide variety
of forums as well as a large number of mailing lists. I have also been
continually active on the Internet, far more than the average person and
for many years, and I have never ... repeat, _NEVER_ ... heard of a
single instance where any grid computing or distributed computing
program had ever been used for some subversive purpose; not even so much
as in any of the many chain letters that try to 'warn' the public.
Never a thing on radio, TV, newspaper, or any magazine to which I
subscribe. In fact, it is even very rare to hear unsubstantiated and
speculative worries about the _possibility_ that such could be misused,
as you have posted. Given that there are literally millions of people
participating in grid computing, from all over the world, I'd expect to
hear some complaints, especially if ever confirmed.
3. Published articles from what I consider to be reputable and reliable
sources, such as PC World Magazine, which I would expect to warn the
public if there were any substantial risks or confirmed instances of
abuse.
4. The degree of involvement by academia, and the number of colleges and
universities which are directly involved in grid projects; e.g., see
Stanford University's official website - http://www.stanford.edu/
where
"Folding@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
" is -- http://www.stanford.edu/group/pandegroup/folding/
Note that their current projects are for: Alzheimer's, cancer,
Huntington's, Osteogenesis Imperfecta, Parkinson's, and Ribosome &
antibiotics. How about the University of Texas at Austin --
http://eon.cm.utexas.edu/
-- which is using distributed computing (just
another name for grid computing) for "long time scale simulation of
solids"; not medical research, but valid grid computing nonetheless. I
could go on, but as I said, a google search reveals thousands of links.
5. Finally, the World Community Grid, which I'm promoting, is heavily
sup****ted by IBM: it developed the technology (see the film on my
website -- http://home.alltel.net/billvelek/world-community-page.html
);
it has hundreds of teams with thousands and thousands of computers
participating in the program; and a personal friend of mine happens to
work for IBM, and we've discussed their grid computing project a number
of times. I don't think IBM would risk its finances or its stature by
becoming involved in some sort of scam, or promoting a project which has
any significant risks of abuse by others.
This post has already taken me way too much time, so I'm not going to
bother responding to the rest of your post, nor will I be posting any
more in this thread. No offense, but I have other things to do.
Cheers.
Bill Velek
Help mankind by donating spare computer power for medical research to
help find cures for many diseases: http://tinyurl.com/b7ofs
The life
that YOUR computer can help save might be the life of someone you love.
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