LHC@home

Hello everyone.

After reading all the "fair distribution of work" "when will we get more work" and other posts, I've decided to confront some of you with the question 'why are you a member of LHC@HOME?'

Let me tell you why I'm a member:
1. It's a time limited project (the LHC will be in operation some day)
2. It reminds me not to have my PC running 24/7 because there's not always work available
3. I like the crowd here (not a gazillion posts in the forums)
4. Once in a while, we do get the feedback that the work we do (or have our computers do) does have an effect. It's not the mere crunching for results that no-one can process either....

So when there's no work, don't worry.
If there's work but you don't get any, don't worry either.

There shall be enough work for us when there's either fewer 'US' or when 'we' are not panicing about not getting work...

Cheers,

Sysfried

PS: feel free to add your reasons in this thread.

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1. I like the fact that the number of participants is small, which means it is easy to get quite high up the rank order in the stats (before the current work came I was no 400 for example)

2. I like the fact that it is a time-limited project for the same reason - once the project stops I will be permanently high up in the stats. For that reason my personal preference would be for Garfield to run on a separate project, but
I accept that I am in a minority on that.

3. Which leads neatly on to: I like the fact that we can disagree here and not get flamed. My recent post suggesting what I think would be a fairer way of distributing work harvested some disagreement, but none of it was unpleasant. Not all projects are the same in this.

4. There is nostalgia for me in that I worked at CERN in the summer holiday between my BSc and my Masters (paid menial work, not as a physicist).

5. There is also nostalgia in the science as I did my masters in particle physics (designing a drift chamber, oh how I'd've loved to have had Garfield in 1979 - but what would it have run on?

6. When I have LHC work it feels like winning a lottery (which it is in a way) which adds variety to the BOINC experience. Without an intermittent project, watching the boxes daily would be like watching paint dry, only slower. I hope we will see more BOINC projects that have intermittent work.

7. Because it is BOINC:

7a which was designed to make Distibuted Computing work well when supporting several projects

7b. Because the B0 stands for Berkley Open, continuing the tradition of Berkley contributing to the open software movement (Pascal, BSD, many Linux utilities originated from Berkley, etc)

7c. Because of the open nature of the platform, added-value is provided from independent developers, like from Willy who provided the BoincStats banner you (see below)

8. Because I am proud to be associated with a project that has helped another project get off the ground, one from a very different scientific background (I am thinking of Malaria@home). It is nice to see the expertise spread across disciplines.
River~~

EDIT: PS than you for the question. I am one of the people who quite often post suggestions for making things better (at leasat in my opinion!). It is helpful to be reminded of the many things that I already like here. :)

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PS - your sig needs to be in BBcode, not HTML. This changed ages ago. The url for the banner needs changing too, as BoincStats changed the urls some time ago.


Owner of Paguera-Info.eu

Click on the reply link to see the see/copy the BBcode from this message.
R~~

[sorry, double post]

[Mods please delete this]

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1) It's the best project there is :)
2) What we do is helping *now*.

Michael

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Team Linux Users Everywhere

1) Only for give an Hand to the best BOINC project avaible at now! :)

I don't care about the credits, I just want to see that screensaver on my computer again!! :'( I really miss those glowing particles

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1) -- because it is the best project Boinc has!

2) -- because LHC@Home is doing something that will better mankind (i.e) building the particle accelerators which will....

3) -- inturn lead to a better understanding and better knowlege of antimatter which will lead to better space travel!

thats why im a member!!

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as below
plus
when they create a black hole that will consume the world all the et`s that seti is trying to find will pick up on there version of einstein a huge gravitational wave from the milky way
and so we could help some alien just like us discover a new black hole lol

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Without reading all the responses here is mine.

I am a participant because I believe this is a valid use of my computer's time. At the time I joined 2 years ago there were only 4 projects. All the projects have some value, and that is different to each person based on thier interests. This project for me is helping to build a 'real' world device now, not some dreamed up thing, not game playing or not searching for some possible signs of some other thing totally on speculative information. While the goal or usefulness once it is built may not be realizied until it is in operation, the building part needs to be completed first and that is a more real goal. since I'm not a 'scientist' this is a way for me to contribute into this area, which I hope will in some way provide a positive outcome that in some way improves or contributes to our society.

Hi Gang,

I used to crunch a lot for LHC because I thought the project worthwhile, but I gave it a rest for a while. I check up on it every so often, and when I saw all this new energy being put into it (new servers, new application), I decided it was time to reattach a couple of machines and see how it goes. Plus, I like the graphics.

...waiting for work...

-Gene

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BECAUSE I WANNA LEARN TO GO SOOOOO FAST THAT I PASS PICARD ON THE WAY TO THE NERTRAL ZONE!!! TOODLES!

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A clear conscience is usually the sign of a bad memory

The idea of contributing to a physical science is what really appealed to me.
I also enjoy the myraid of comparisions aboot what hardware is better at crunching.
The appeal of joining with other like minded fahzools working for a common goal.
Trying to keep my BOINC farm at 12 machines yet always upgrading or increasing the geek factor of my systems.
*If this is to be considered a hobby....then how many hobbies do you get do 24/7....even when your not at home.

Peace.

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I like the fact that it helps someone design a real device which will very likely result in advancing the knowledge of physics.

.. and the work units don't take several weeks like the climateprediction project.

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I'm not the LHC Alex. Just a number cruncher like everyone else here.

Why... perhaps because
- the SwissTeam.NET lead the Score :)
- my boss say, that i can use the pc for this project (he like the cern)
=> thats the reason why i lead the score :)
- i like the fact that we do something that has a effect that we can "see"
- cern is located in switzerland .. parts of them.
- i can turn on my pc and it is like roulette to win a WU :)
- a friend say: "distributed computing isn't a race, its a marathon". And LHC is really a hard marathon, without enough water :)
- it isn't SETI :)

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Great replies!

You just made my reason #3 climb to #1 position! ;-)

And thanks for the sig info, River~~, I'll fix that soon.

Until then, I too have 2 machines running Einstein (because I like it, too) but have more shares on LHC, so when LHC goes live with a truckload of work, I'll be crunching as well....

Cheers,

Thorsten

For me, the fundamental reason was because the Large Hadron Collider will enhance physics' understanding of the universe substantialy. I truly appreciate that my systems have been of help in optimizing the design and operation of the hardware.

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because they'll let me.

The most important reason I have for this project is (as mentioned before) that the data is being used to construct the LHC. Searching for signals and folding proteins have enormous value, but this project has a specific goal and endpoint.

Ever since my idea was denied for building the LHC out of one million Slinkys, I figured this is probably the only way I'll be able to contribute to the construction of a big hole in the ground.

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<BR>derekm
Team MacAddict

1) Only for give an Hand to the best BOINC project avaible at now! :)

Haha, I must agree with this, and it's always fun to bring a dead thread back to life.

Welcome Raghnar, I noticed your post about the WU's recently, but neglected to say hello and welcome, so I'm doing so here. :)

I would echo your enthusiasm in the project and say that enthusiasm sets this apart from many projects; people really need to care about LHC to have this project attached.

Along with what river said, his points (along with others) were about the same as my sentiments for this project.

In hope of crunching at some point or another (or not, it's still a great community and project),
Mike Molzahn

Postscript: LoL i thought the forum was screwy, i may have responded to the wrong post (was looking at joined date not post date :P)

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