[Crapshoot E-Zine] Issue 4: 1.27.2002
- From: "rjn.kwcomp.com" <rjn@xxxxxxxxxx>
- To: "Crapshoot" <csezine@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sun, 27 Jan 2002 21:39:44 -0500
Issue 4: 1.27.2002
We finally had a reader submit an article. Thank you Pyrce. You can read
his article below. You can submit your comments (good or bad) or articles via
the comments page.
This week I'm serving up a dose of SETI@home, a program that allows you
to help search the skies for little green men, and Utilikilts, a stylish take
on Scottish kilts.
Zach has served up another outstanding short story called GRIFF. Enjoy!
R.J.
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Seti@home
By R.J.
Almost everyone has looked up at the stars some time and thought "is
there intelligent life out there?" Finally, the ability to search the stars for
little green men from Mars is here.
Seti@home is a unique idea that focuses on the use of idle personal
computers throughout the world to analyze terabytes of space data. Simply put
it works like this:
The Seti@home system, SERENDIP, piggybacks on a dish in Puerto Rico
called the Arecibo Observatory. It records thirty-five gigabytes of data
everyday and stores it on the Seti@home servers. Then, peoples' computers
download .25 megabyte chunks and analyze it. They look for an increase in a
signal's strength over a twelve second period. (The dish, being in a fixed
position, would only receive signals from space over a period of twelve seconds
and is only directly ointed at the source of the signal for a short amount of
time due to the Earth's rotation.)
If a block of data is thought to contain a signal from space, then it's
sent back to the Berkeley Seti@home group for further analysis. The signal is
checked to see if it's radio-frequency interference, which excludes 99.9999% of
all suspected signals.
If the suspected signal passes this test, it's checked again by the
Arecibo Observatory. If the signal is confirmed, it'll be checked by another
group of astronomers. If the other group confirms it (which would rule out
bugs, etc.), then it would be announced to the rest of the scientific community
and publicly over the web. You could be the one to discover E.T.
By playing with the Seti@home program, I've been able to see how it
works. I wasn't very impressed with the screensaver part of the program. It
would open multiple copies of the program and act strangely. This is probably
my computer because the application part of the program worked fine. It took me
around eighteen hours to process one block of data. I set up a Linux machine
with a 466 mhz Celeron processor and 64mb RAM.
Any of you with more powerful computers want to help? Head over to their
site and download a copy. To boldly go where no one has gone before!
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GRIFF
By Zach
I once knew this guy named Griff. He was a bit of a kook. You see, Griff
believed he was some sort of prophet. He thought that a god named Mod spoke to
him. That's why Griff started the First Church of Mod.
The first order of business for the Mod-followers was to watch the
Jeffersons. I don't know why. Something to do with the interracial neighbors
and the Brit.
The second order of business for the Mod-followers was to battle it out
between the Selected Ones, to find out who is the real Chosen One. They had
these special spades made up thst they used to battle eachother with.
Eventually, Griff turned out to be the chosen one. He was Mod's son. He was
Haysoos Christay.
Griff came to me one day, and he says to me, "I want you to follow me. If
you don't, you won't get into Meaven. You'll go to Mell." I was laughing. He
told me I shouldn't. He also said I should stop eating gyros. And why did I
hunt? He said it was wrong that I had a stuffed moose's head on my wall.
I was driving with Griff, since I had agreed to see one service at the
First Church of Mod. While we were driving, we were surrounded by a bright
green light. We began floating skyward. Griff opened his door, and fell out. I
stayed in the car. When I opened my door, I stepped out into an alien space
ship.
On this mother ship, I met several humans. The one who appeared to be the
leader of the bunch was an old bearded man. He said his name was Mod.
Thankfully, I had old Christina, my hunting rifle. Within hours, I was the only
living thing on the spaceship.
I did my best at controlling the space ship down to Earth. I managed to
crash land that baby just outside the First Church of Mod.
I went inside the church and brought along with me, Mod. Griff was
already inside. I told everybody I had killed Mod. This proved that Mod was
nothing but a man (In a spaceship). If I could kill Mod, he can't be that great.
People were mad at Griff. They revolted against him, and crusified him.
My wall is now finely decorated with a stuffed Mod and a stuffed Griff. And,
Griff is on a cross!
THE END!
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Reader Soapbox
PC vs. Mac
By Pyrce
PC or Mac, which one I should choose? I'm in the market for a new
computer, and I have one computer guru from each side.
On a PC you have more programs to choose from. You can play games or do
your homework. Macs, on the other hand, have games and such, but far less. It's
easier to do video editing and graphics on a Mac then it would be on a PC. It's
a tough decision.
It all depends on what you're into. If video editing and such are what
you'll be doing mostly, go for a Mac. If you want to play more games and have
more variety go for the PC. Either way, you can still do most of the same
things. For example, if you wanted to do video editing you can use Adobe
Premiere on a PC or a Mac.
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Zach's Site of the Week
By Zach
The Onion
This great website mixes humor with news. It's a great place to read the
news if you want to laugh.
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R.J.'s Site of the Week
By R.J.
Utilikilts
Utilikilts have become the latest fasion. They come in many different
styles and colors. Why not be a manly man and buy one of these Utilikilts? How
can you stand not owning one? You can order them in colors such as tye-dye,
black, islander, khaki, and olive.
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Links
Utilikilts
SETI@Home
The Onion
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