Finally a good use for all this computing power

To my regular readers: I apologize for the lack of posting in the last week or so. I've been quite busy. Fear not, however; I have a list of topics to discuss that should be up here before too long.

It seems to me that only a few law schools in the nation actually require laptops, much less laptops with certain required characteristics. IU is one of them. I suppose this is a good thing, because it gave me an excuse to buy a new laptop, but in the long run, it is probably excessive.

The requirements were such that we needed top-of-the-line everything. High powered processors, massive hard drives, and more memory than a herd of elephants. All that so that we can run Microsoft Word in class to take notes, and at the end of the semester run exam software. I equate this to using C4 to light a firecracker.

So, in an effort not to have my money wasted, I sought something for which I could use this thing for. As a result, I have joined the World Community Grid. Essentially, it is a grid computing software that I now run every hour of the day. According to the site, "Grid computing joins together many individual computers, creating a large system with massive computational power that far surpasses the power of a handful of supercomputers. Because the work is split into small pieces that can be processed simultaneously, research time is reduced from years to months. The technology is also more cost-effective, enabling better use of critical funds."

Since I joined the WCG three days ago, I have joined four projects. Discovering Dengue Drugs - Together, Human Proteome Folding Project, FightAIDS@Home Project, and SETIatHome. The program runs in the background all day, and lets me help out worthwhile causes for the sake of humanity. For those looking for a feel-good project that lets you use your excessively powerful law school computers, I invite you to sign up and download the software.

For all students, professors, staff, and alumni of Indiana Law, I have set up teams on the two websites to represent our school (called IU School of Law - Bloomington). The teams don't do anything particular, but they allow us to compete with other teams (notably, the one at the law school up 37).

And trust me, if I happen to be the one who finds proof of intelligent life elsewhere in the universe, you'll be the first to know.