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SETI Accelerator Hoax Revealed
Stone Table writes "The SETI Accelerator by Krasnoconv sounded too good to be true. Well, in response to the overwhelming requests that they've had, they finally let the cat out of the bag. The whole thing was a hoax! They've posted a page to explain the hoax, from birth to death. I think this just goes to show that people will believe just about anything, if it serves their interests." Check out the original article on it as well. (CT:Duh!)
So, you probably think my potato powered electric car is a hoax too. eh?
People will believe anything because they want it to be true or are afraid it might be true.
Something to keep in mind when reading anything on the net (or in a newspaper). Even smart people can be fooled.
A dyslexic man walks into a bra.
Some moderations I'd like to see
to avoid future hoaxes where everyone
who doesn't want to publish the
Sewer Times kisses up.
[+5 moderator looses remaining points]
[+3 comment creates improved thread]
[+4 sorry for making you submit AC]
Now they're going to have a higher SETI@Home ranking than my unsuspecting network of NT machines here at the office!
--
Wooden armaments to battle your imaginary foes!
To be honest, for a hoax, it was a good idea. People combine computers to create Beowulfs, which they use for high end computations. Why not put a few of these in one PC and do the work of a couple of computers? Yu could build a computer just for SETI @ Home usage, and at the same time working on 3-6 different areas of space at a time.
The applications for such a device would be endless (considering it could have been a tool to use else where with other applications)
"Imagination is the only weapon in the war against reality." -Jules de Gautier
That might be the case for some cards, but isn't it possible to render into an off-screen buffer, and then read the contents of that buffer? Doesn't a 3D video card help when rendering images that you intend to save, not just show once? (I don't have one, so I can't check on this.)
It's a tough hoop to jump through to have to do that to crunch numbers, but it might be theoretically possible. (No idea whether you could do anything that's faster than just using the CPU, though, since there would be overhead to messing with the video card.)
That would make an interesting (well, pretty crappy actually) screen-saver: The raw data flashes over your video RAM... kind of like those old calculators that used the screen-display register as part of their calculations, making the numbers dance like crazy.)
#define X(x,y) x##y
#define X(x,y) x##y
Peter Cordes ; e-mail: X(peter@cordes ,
PiHex project has ended and btw PiHex proggie doesnt exist for any other OS than windows so its not the option for the most of the ppl reading slashdot.....
-- http://electronicintifada.net --
... on slashdot, and has been going on for such a long tyme, that I find it sad that you don't realize that YHBT.
Don't feel bad, I've been through this, too.
Only the sick mind of a self-proclaimed "geek" of this decade could conceive of such a thing, paralleled only by Nero fiddling while Rome burned.
I think I read somewhere that Nero wasnt even in Rome when it burned. But I'm no history buff, so I could be wrong.
A couple of days ago, in this very messaging board, somebody proposed a brilliant idea: instead of something useless like SETI or cracking RC5, one could dedicate those cycles to analysing satellite data that could help farmers plan crops. Truly wonderful. Sad thing, though, is that in a tech world like the one we have, "sexy" useless projects like SETI demand all the attention, while worthwhile causes like the latter languish. Truly sickening.
Actually, I'd rather try this collective effort on something really harmless, like the SETI project, until all the bugs and hoaxes and whatever are found and fixed, and only _then_ use it for something as important as crop planning. If something goes wrong with SETI, well whoopsie, you tell the geeks all over the world "guess what, we didn't find Little Green Men as we announced last month". If something goes wrong with the crop planning, would you be the one going to the farmer, and telling him/her/it "guess what, due to a small bug in CropCycles@home, your crop's useless for consumption. Too bad".
I'd say it's a good idea to explore new ways to use the unused CPU cycles, but for the moment, I see no problem in using it for SETI.
El respeto al derecho ajeno es la paz.-Benito Juarez
Tongue-tied and twisted, just an earth-bound misfit, I
Learning to fly, Pink Floyd.
Fuck you
That was during the whole O.J. thing. Peter Jennings never even saw it coming. :-)
... but yes, the "famous Peter Jennings phone call" in which someone called in to the news program saying they were in the back of a news van, and they could see O.J. I actually have the "re-enactment" done by Howard and Robin recorded on a cassette tape somewhere. "I see O.J. man. I see O.J. and he be scared, cause there's cops all DEEP in this!"
It sounds like they are talking about a different hoax than you are talking about
>I'd like to see if you are insensitive enough to
> tell that in the eye to the mother of a malnourished
> child, who lives every day just to find enough
> for her child to eat that day
Yep, I'd ask her why she was so insensitive to the starvation of the children all around her that she just HAD to open her legs and make a starving child of her own.
Meanwhile, I pay my electric(cpu) bills and I feed, house, dress, and educate my own kids. I also don't make more kids than I can afford. If only every parent did this, we wouldn't have this problem would we?
Good judgement comes from experience, and experience comes from bad judgement.
- W. Wriston, former Citibank CEO
Ha - I always suspected I could make my computer run faster by replacing all my fuses with pennies! Now what smells like smoke in here...?
That's actually not a bad idea. Remember the purpose of a screen saver is to prevent burn-in and/or prevent casual snooping. You might
not want to waste any CPU cycles on it.
Now we just need to hunt down and execute the person reponsible for 0.5 second Green shutoff on monitors. Couldn't it have been at least 30-60 seconds???
Thank You.
there's a link at the bottom of the page that says PLEASE READ FIRST: THE TRUTH OF KRASNOCONV, where they say the whole thing is a hoax. maybe if the person posting a story actually went to the url we wouldn't have this problem.
-Sigs are for losers.
Don't discredit this so quickly... just think for a moment. They said the only thing they did was to make one post to a single newsgroup. Now think about how it spread from there.
It must have started with a few people reading that newsgroup who went and checked the site (the few negligible hits they reported), and then they told their friends about it, etc., and the word slowly spread. Then after a brief time, somebody spread the word to slashdot. Bingo! starting from slashdot, the word spread at an exponential rate. And don't think that it's merely the slashdot effect. After the posting on Slashdot, you better believe the news continued to spread like wildfire through the human network -- from slashdotters to their friends to their friends' friends, etc..
My point is -- this surely proves the effectiveness of the Net as a distribution medium (in this case, of news, but it could be of anything). All it takes is to have enough initial momentum, and eventually, it will reach places like Slashdot, and will start to take off from there.
Poll Mastah
I am sorry, but the concept of this is awesome. Sure its not original, but if someone did take the time to make generic (or not so) processing boards for the masses, they will come. Tie these in to things like ProcessTree, and we can really take advantage of this power.
I disagree--this was an important lesson for many of the self-described "experts" who frequent /.
This was such an obvious hoax that I was laughing from the start. Come on, the board was obviously a paste-up fake! Based on Russian surplus technology?? The Russians are still using vacuum tubes; they're not going to trash some super vector processors. And in gull-wing SMT packages yet!
Anyone who fell for this hoax deserved it!
That nobody seemed to mention is this:
If this was really surplus hardware, non-x86 vector processors... someone would have to write the code to work on seti stuff on them. These poeple claimed that it worked with standard seti@home software; you just plug it in.
This simply can't be. That's not how things work.
It's time for /. to create a SETI category- specifically so I can block these pointless irrelevant stories.
I was somewhat taken in by the hoax, but after it was revealed, I thought it was hilarious. My time spent looking at their website was well worth the laugh I got later. :-)
Need a Python, C++, Unix, Linux develop
I didn't read that at all. This product was mentioned in many places, but the guys behind it let it all happen naturally from word of mouth across the net. That's the point they were trying to make. That a single posting in a newsgroup, can turn into a tidal wave of page hits in a very short period of time, as people tell other people on different forums.
"Politicians are interested in people. Not that this is always a virtue. Fleas are interested in dogs." P.J. O'Rourke
was a hoax.
we're admitting it.
send us an email.
*we promise that this is not a hoax and we won't take your email address, SPAM the shit out if it, sell it, or do something ELSE dis-ingenuous.*
right.
/* Half alive and half dead too, work is for suckers and the sucker is you. - "Half-life" by Local H*/
I'd agree if the authors had limited themselves to a post in a newsgroup. However, I think the fact that they created pictures of the product, established a fairly complete website, and even took orders lifted the effort well beyond that of a mere troll and into the realm of hackdom.
"The legitimate powers of government extend only to such acts as are injurious to others." Thomas Jefferson.
There's obviously a lot of interest in such hardware, and people are willing to buy them. A smart capitalist would recognize this, and actually turn this "hoax" into a marketable reality!
Can we get a "-1 Wrong" moderation option?
When they found out they couldn't
supply the market rather than hand the board over to pirates they called a hoax & are now
renegotiating the loan with the bank
to retool.... I hope I hope, I hope.
.=]
the truth is out there
but sometimes a good plausibility counts more
[X]
A MICROWAVE LASER can put
a lump in a politically
active chest. The heating effect
can cause a localized turgor
remarkably similar to a carcinoma.
Reinforced aluminum foil
can stop these rays.
Yeah, but it's now before April 1st 2001...
Although the name might suggest it, SAMOWAR has nothing to do with war, but is Russian for ... tea pot.
Ahh, the joy of foreign puns.
Free Manning, jail Obama.
Is this conceit or ignorance?
They should make a stephen king-type offer, "If 75 percent of the people who want one send us a dollar for research, we will create a real processor."
"These are the days that must happen to you." -Walt Whitman
This is the second hoax that /. has ran in the last couple of months alone (remember the potato computer). Do you think they will post about the "human brain on a PCI card" that I developed and ship with a card detailing the life of the cadaver the raw materials were taken from?
/. from being a respectable news outlet.
Seriously, guys, it is incidents like these that prevent
ByteMyCode.com: A Web 2.0 code sharing community.
This was exposed and discussed on Technocrat two days ago.
Don't feel bad -- I saw one of the big network News organizations (I think it was ABC) get taken by a hoaxster during one of their live "crisis" broadcasts, where the person confirmed that somebody had indeed killed themself since "they couldn't be on the Howard Stern show."
If it can happen to them it can happen to slashdot.
The Future of Human Evolution: Autonomy
I just posted in another story here something about the moderation system. I think we really need some more customising on what you want to see, i like trolls, but i don't want to see the automated spam, so in fact for me it should be +1 Troll.
Nyaaaa!
:)
...... only to have discovered a new alien civilisation.
;)
Conspiracy.
Maybe the boards really do exist, maybe the chips do exist.....
Maybe, just maybe the Russian missiles could run seti@home whilst flying to the target
Hey.. that's cool, I can see it now.
The US detects hostile aliens in space and can't find a powerbook with which to defeat them so it sends up an "anti-alien" nuke. This nuke works through some units as it flys to the meet the ALIENS OF DOOM (tm), who are soo rendered dead and splatted about and generally harmless.
Luckily the missile sent its data back before it exploded
Talks with the new civilisation break down, the aliens attack! we send another missile.
ad infinitum
troc
PS Well it could happen, at least it might happen. Well, National Enquirer would print it.
Troc's dubious podcast and blog: http://www.trocnet.net
Computer Science Germans apparently are no different. What do they feed these guys?
Turkey. And lots of it.For more information, click here.
>Why are these people proud of this "accomplishment"? I'm guessing that it's because they duped 100,000 surfers, including many tech savvy people, into visiting their site. >is there something wrong with German/European Society that makes this allright? There is nothing 'wrong' with the "German/European Society". They are different people and have different norms than we do. That does not make it wrong (except to those who are so ethnocentric that they consider any culture other than their own to be inferior etc). >Why do they think that deluding thousands of people is an accomplishment? Hands up every one who, with ~US$100 (domain name + a month of basic web hosting) can get a few thousand interested viewers to their site. I thought so. >The last time I checked, Our (american) president pulled the same thing on us... are all societies the same this way? What are you asking? If it's "are all societies the same?" then no, definately not. >or is this just some sick fantasy world that certain sects of our world play a role in? Whoa. Now these people are in a sick fantasy world? Suddenly, they are a 'sect' too? What of all the aborigines who think that this 'Western' concept of material hording is strange? Are we then not a 'sect' which is living in some sick fantasy world? It's all a matter of perspective. Their world view is different from ours, let's respect that and not be so quick to impose judgement on things unfamiliar to us.
There are 1.1... kinds of people.
- SETI@home is a crock,
- There are no aliens,
- S@h is supposed to be about spare CPU time,
- It's just a geek pissing contest anyway,
- SETI is a worthy endevour,
- I want to help SETI any way I can,
- The pictures are fakes &
- Can anyone confirm if this is real?
For the record SETI@home is about shifting the processing time and associated costs from a central underfunded scientific core - if the participants wish to invest in faster processing then they're welcome to.BTW: a S@h co-processor was first discussed within weeks of the first client release, it's not a new thought and these time wasting idiots did not think of it first...
Is this true?
--Giving to trolls for the benefit of us all
And grammar of course. I was fooled and I can admit it. We should all just give up and be fooled with /. news.
Did I do something wrong, I dunno.
Look, the moderation here isn't perfect, and there are sure to be childish twits who moderate down legitimate articles, just as there are childish twits who submit them. Quit yer bitching and DEAL WITH IT!
--
Your Servant, B. Baggins
The only thing I want to know is why they did it?
It seems that SETI has not found Life in space or intelligence on Earth.
-----
If my facts are wrong then tell me. I don't mind.
Sickening? I think you judge too harshly.
Your idealism has noble intentions, but there is no reason to fault people for indulging themselves. Of course there is an obvious point where self-indulgence is harmful to the population at large, but this is hardly a case of that. Would you fault somebody for buying new sports equipment so they feel they can play better instead of giving it directly to a charity? People work for their money, and they should be allowed to spend it as they see fit.
What if you did detect a signal, and it said "gets your message out to 25 million email addresses! Unlimited Income opportunity!!!"? Then what?
-----
Username taken, please choose another one.
> You disgust me
Quite right. How dare this person have an opinion that differs to yours. I bet he is the sort who hangs out in libraries looking for other free-thinkers to debate freedom of choice and expression with.
> You are the kind of bastard that burned
> Alexandria's library, fearful and ignorant
> of the knowledge contained within.
Hang on, I'm confused. Your are anti-freedom of expression and free-will, but you are pro-libraries? If you are going to troll people, try to be consistant.
> What is Mankind if he only looks to the ground?
The sort of person who looks foolish when he bumps into Womankind?
Bob.
I'm sorry. Did someone die because of this hoax? Did anyone lose money because of this hoax?
I think you're confusing a scam with a hoax. A hoax is meant to be a joke on people that results in no harm, except possibly to the pride of the humor-impaired.
A scam is meant to trick people into doing something, and usually results in financial loss for the victim.
Sorry, but S&L's were not hoaxes. They were either scams or simply bad businesses.I'm a leaf on the wind. Watch how I soar.
Damn
That link wasn't there when the original story was posted.
"Politicians are interested in people. Not that this is always a virtue. Fleas are interested in dogs." P.J. O'Rourke
One might go so far as to call it a good hack rather than a hoax.
:wq
Notice, the submitter of the story wrote "This has got to be the strangest piece of hardware I have ever seen"
There must have been some suspicion this might not be for real.
Slashdot also should have done what talks_to_birds did.
That said, Slashdot IS good about posting their errors. (And serving ads while replying to their posts of errors :) )
So close and yet so far from the world's perfect ID number
Picture this: Evil Group (who exactly they are doesn't matter) doesn't like Nice Computer Company. Nice Computer Company releases a 1.5GHz system with a nice configuration. Evil Group at the same time creates Bogus Computer Company and puts out a big advertisement that they have will be selling a 2Ghz system with an even nicer configuration. Nice Computer Company loses sales because people are waiting to buy Bogus Computer Companies' systems.
Granted, maybe this is a little far-fetched, but what's to prevent these guys from making up some other nifty-cool yet bogus toy if we just sit here and say "Ha, ha! You sure got us good! What geeks we are!"?
"Let your heart soar as high as it will. Refuse to be average." - A. W. Tozer
Of course the above poster has a point - there may be physics/tech that we just don't know about yet. Like 200 yrs ago, if you told someone you could talk into a little box and people hundreds of miles away could hear you on another little box using some mysterious "electromagnetic spectrum" they'd think you were crazy. And now we have all kinds of radios. Who's to say there isn't some other medium like that waiting to be discovered?
try { do() || do_not(); } catch (JediException err) { yoda(err); }
Do you have the Asbestos Armor of Light (flameproof and causes wearer's posts to automatically pop out in a thread) and 2-handed TrollSlayer sword?
OK, I'm going to shut up now and stop playing Diablo 2 for a few days...
A good hoax is a form of art that should be applauded. If it fools even the most educated and cynical in the field that it is directed to, it is a fanatistic joke.
/.ers, who have no sense of humor or egos the size of Nebraska, got suckered in too and had their egos harmed. I suspect that Mr. Steve Richards is one of these folks.
Simple fact is that there are very few good hoaxes. I had to read this one a couple of times before I was cynical enough to think it was a hoax. This one falls under no harm no foul. Very well crafted. A good bit of preliminary work put into it and designed to make you feel foolish if you fell for it; but gave you a chance to laugh at yourself for doing it. One of the biggest problems is the fact that a lot of
If you are upset with this hoax, GET A FREAKIN LIFE! The common every day scammer is too busy going after the weak and feeble minded around us, of which there are plenty, than to worry about doing such an elaborate hoax. Its not worth the effort in many cases. There are always exceptions, so buyer beware and take some personal responsibilty instead of whining about how dangerous this is.
Please note that I refer to good hoaxs. A good hoax does not include a chain email about some good times virus or some urban legend. Orginality is the key to a good hoax. My kudos to the gentleman who unleashed this one.
ICE
love is just extroverted narcissism
Actually, it was Julius Ceasar who burned Alexandria's library and it was a fire that spread from the docks after he set fire to his own ships in order to prevent the Ptolomey's forces from using them against him. He was buying time until his own forces arrived.
You really must read Plutarch.
--- Never hold a dustbuster and a cat at the same time ---
Setting his threshold to 5, Sparky eliminated most of the trolls on /.
Perhaps now everyone will understand the expression: "YHBT. YHL. HAND.. Trolls don't just live under bridges or hang around Slashdot, folks...
I registered my hate for Jon Katz
"What made it a good hoax..."
When I first read the news of the hoax, I thought, "that was a worthless hoax." And I'm still wondering what the point of it was.
I'd say a good hoax does one of two things:
1) Gets people to believe something that, in retrospect, is so ludicrous that it should have been obviously false.
2) Illustrates something useful about the behavior of certain people or organizations.
As for 1 - the concept behind the card was not ludicrous. It was essentially a DSP based on salvaged chips. DSPs have been available and used for years, and can be quite useful. So it didn't get us to believe in something totally outrageous.
For 2 - a good example of this was the mock post-modern English article that was written by a critical physicist filled with buzzword/jargon, which passed peer review and was published, thus showing the true vacuous nature of certain po-mo studies. What did the SETI card hoax show us? That geeky people will spend money on toys that have little (if any) practical value? Duh. We already knew that -- witness the sales of sports cars, large screen TVs, and $400 GeForce2 video cards (no slam intended on anyone - nothing wrong with owning these; but they are just expensive toys with little essential use, just like a SETI accelerator).
So again, what's the point of this hoax?
ShoutingMan.com
is it really that easy to take advantage of a community like this?
Yes. Especially when you're talking about increasing someone's coolness factor, which is why the SETI stats are there in the first place to be honest. Lets admit it, we're all shallow. Granted, I wouldn't ever dream of buying something like this, because I have plenty of high-spec hardware to run SETI on anyway. But before I realised it was a hoax I thought, cool, I wouldn't mind one of them...
how meaningless technical specifications really are. Think about it this way: If we, an enlightened (one would hope) group of tech-heads, fell for this almost completely, imagine an ordinary user's experience when he/she walks into a computer store. "K6-2? Is that better or worse than a Pentium? Is 64 megabytes fast enough, or do I want 600 megahertz instead? This one says 'multimedia ready'. That's good, right? I think I'll choose that one. Does it have the Internet?" Computer companies prey on this with mindless technobabble like "internet ready" or "fully RFC compliant", and customers are the ones that end up being swindled.
--
Friends don't let friends misuse the subjunctive.
I find these sorts of hoaxes amusing. As long as noone is hurt (Physically, emotionally or financially), and the hoaxer comes clean, then i can't see why people can't get a good laugh out of it all.
:)
If you can't get a laugh from it, then you're probably far to uptight and need to relax. Go home, watch some good TV, leave the computer alone for a day or two.
Syllable : It's an Operating System
I also able to invent a SETI accelerator by using manies electronics in my home. By passing parts of SETI Work Unit to my:
I have able to increase my processing from 1 unit every 22 hours on very fast Compaq Presario to 17 units every half hour. It is very fast.
Last week my street lose power (I don't know why) so I am forced to stop processing. And yesterday in the mails there is a letter with electric bill for $700 (US!) for one month! I think there is some mistake, but I keeps processing! I know one day we will find ET for science but I also very happy to make #7 in high scores list. Maybe if search continuing I will #1!
--
Have fun: Join D.N.A. (National Dyslexics Association)
Well, honestly, out of all the people who were contemplating buying one of these, I doubt that many were actually hoping to find extraterrestrial life quicker with it. It was mainly a bunch of tech-obsessed "geeks" with too much dotcom money in their hands, worrying about getting higher and higher stats. They couldn't care less about whether the data they were processing was real or false: they might as well be "crunching" possible combinations of formulas for Coca-Cola's secret recipe.
To the editors: your English is as bad as your Perl. Please go back to grade school.
What damages are there ? Bent your dignity by waxing ecstatic over it? Bought plane tickets to Russia so you could pick some up ? Did they intent to commit fraud by taking money and not delivering?
The more you know, the more jokes you get.
Is that what they feed the monitors, too? Come on, the guys responsible for this are germans and computer scientists, and what they did do was stir up a hell of alot of shit. Can't you guys take a joke? Apparently not.
"The 85 I fear they don't got a clue."
> Now if only someone would create a card that boosted my /. karma...
/. karma up for bids on eBay.
I'm still expecting to see
--
Sheesh, evil *and* a jerk. -- Jade
loev,
Axel
mhm23x3, alt.fan.karl-malden.nose
Thanks for the advertisment ;)
/.
As someone else has already pointed out, however, we are almost done -- 99.89% done last time I checked -- and we don't need any more computers right now (in fact, many computers are idling because the server can't find any work to assign them).
Hopefully when we finish the news will get onto
Tarsnap: Online backups for the truly paranoid
No, I was enjoying the action. When the article was first posted for just a moment I got really interested...then looked at the board and got confused. Then I laughed.
Monday Morning Quarterback? I assume this means judging an event after it has already happened? See my previous paragraph.
I was debating if I should point it out or sit back and watch when the first "this is a fake" post was made, at which point I wandered off 'cause I figured the gag was over. What amazed me when I came back is how many people kept talking about it and debating its use and possible features, when one glance should have told them it could not be real.
Of course a lot of people knew it was a fake! Not only did a lot of people post about it, but a lot of people probably just sat in their cubes and shook their heads like me.
My point was that it did should not need people looking up the DNS entry or the location of the city or anything else...from first glance the board should have been seen as a fake, which I'm sure many did. For those who did not, the whole Soviet-surplus concept should have set them straight. Nobody should ever have bought this for more than a few seconds.
I'm all for dreaming; it's not the "gee, this is neat" people I am teasing. There are many people on slashdot who spend a lot of time in serious psuedoscientific discussions making grand statements about subjects they don't begin to understand. This is one of the drawbacks of an open forum, but a decent tradeoff for the freedom. My point is that this should serve to remind the spouters and those who listen to them to think before they type.
So thanks for coming into the discussion so late and setting us all straight, but I think a lot of people already came to your conclusion, some time ago!I did not post to "set anyone straight", but to add my comments to the other posters in this forum who still bought the idea and were complaining about the cruel hoax from these clever guys.
The board was such an obvious fake
Agree. I didn't read the original post. Anyway, the CPU id they used does not match the Soviet standard. For future hoaxers - it should at least start with '1'. Conclusion - nobody from Russia actually read their site.
The Russian millitary is still using vacuum tubes, folks
This is true, but do you know, where and why ? Before saying that Russians can not make CPUs, take a look at http://www.elbrus.ru:8200/roadmap/e2k.html Or do you think this is another hoax ?
I thought it was fishy when they said that its NATO designation was "SAMOWAR", which is a woodburn-heated teapot in Russian... Last time I checked SAMOVARS didn't include hi-tech guidance chips, unless they were made on one of those converted ex-military factories... ;)
If you open yourself to the foo, You and foo become one.
[There so much trolling]... on slashdot, and has been going on for such a long tyme, that I find it sad that you don't realize that YHBT.
Nah... this is just the trigger for a well worn rant of mine - not the post is invalidated by that fact. I used usenet from the 80's through the mid 90's, and watched the rise of the trolls; sometimes they spark the best conversations (when everybody keeps the flame throwers away).
SETI is a damn fine organization doing the best they can to answer one heck of a question. The reason people want to see high stats is the purely competitive nature of people, particularly geeks (note the predominance of tech companies or hacker groups in the top brackets).
But... my reponse wasn't about that, because that wasn't what the Troll had posted. He did a "squishy" arguement that offended me. So, I addressed his "squishy", damn near off-topic point because it's an offense to see it sitting there, moderated up, with no counter-arguement.
Hell, had he been logical about it, I would have pointed out that pure science always leads to humanitarian benefits in the future. He would have countered with some soppy comment about some starving mother trying to feed her kids, and how does SETI benefit her directly. And then I would have had to point out that Senator Proxmire(?) was lobbying against the space program as he owed his life to a pacemaker (developed with spin-off technologies from the space program).
And then everyone would have been disgusted with Slashdot, stopped reading weblogs, and evilbill would have finished his borg implants without being detected, and enslaved the planet. :)
So instead, I just wrote a passionate, "touchy-feely" response rather than a logical one, just to set a counterpoint to his arguement.
IHBT, true, but IHW... Or at least set an even keel for the moment.
--
Evan "Signal to Noise... must raise the signal to noise" E.
"$30 for the One True Ring. $10 each additional ring!" -- JRR "Bob" Tolkien
I think you're confusing a scam with a hoax. A hoax is meant to be a joke on people that results in no harm, except possibly to the pride of the humor-impaired.
Where, exactly, are you supposed to draw this line? If play a prank that results in someone's death, you can be convicted for manslaughter, and if you run a hoax that results in someone losing money, you should be prosecuted for fraud.
"No, your honor, my blatantly fraudulent MLM scheme was a hoax! Honest! Funny, ha ha, get it?"
I do know that there were plans to design a DSP module for the Quicknet PhoneJACK PCI cards that would do exactly this (they have powerful onboard DSPs that actually would work quite well with the signal processing used by SETI@Home). But, as you said, the SETI@Home guys stated that there were just too many people, and not enough data to need any client speed-up. Would certainly be cool though.
Good point on the technology; I should have pointed out that I was speaking only about electronics. As I recall somebody else did notice and post a mention of the Adaptec logo on the board and the fact that the image was an obvious fake, yet people still droned on about how much they wanted one.
Should I have posted a "me too" about the Adaptec logo or chip? Perhaps. But it would not have done any good. People were screaming about it being a fake and people were still buying it!
BTW, the "1993" reference is just the oldest Adaptec card I own with that style of sticker. They still use the same style, and the one in the photo looks to be one of the newer ones. Finally, I covered the case of "what if you've never seen an Adaptec card" in the body of my message...
"A higher form of killing" by Jeremy Paxman.
Check it out.
Maybe. But whats the reason of listing stats on these type of projects unless its to generate competition amongst users?
I seem to recall SUN making a PCI board to put in the later SPARCs with PCI busses that had an AMD K6 chip on it, and some extra RAM all self contained for running windows on a separate processor, so you can get the best of both worlds...
mov ax, 13h
int 10h
...that the "upgradeable" board did not have any slots for adding new CPU's? I noticed that all six CPU's were soldered onto the board. It's kind of hard to upgrade a board that was built fully upgraded already... --guru
--guru
A very nice and well run ruse.
Congrats to the founders of KrasnoConv!
---
Interested in the Colorado Lottery?
Interested in the Colorado Lottery or Powerball games?
check out http://colotto.com
I have no sympathy for anyone who bought into the scam.
The board was such an obvious fake. First of all the "cpu" looks a lot like an Adaptec SCSI controller chip with an Adaptec part number sticker on it. In fact it looks exactly like one. I have boards dating back to 1993 that have stickers just like that...although only the newer ones have the bar codes.
Next, note the fact that the Adaptec logo appears on the PC board! I can't quite read the model number, but it is there. And a word that looks a lot like it says "adaptec" appears on the chips. And the board was angled in the photos so that you can't get a good look at it! Come on...
It was most amusing to watch so many people spout off about a product that was clearly a pasteup. The whole concept was laughable.
Russian millitary surplus?!? This is the same country that imported pinball machines into East Germany in the 1980s just to get their hands on the CPUs. The Russian millitary is still using vacuum tubes, folks. They don't have any high-performance vector processors. If they did, they would not be selling such a high-tech item on the surplus market.
Okay, say you really are an experienced user, but you (1) hate Adaptec, and have never even looked at their cards or logo (2) don't know about the state of Russian low-tech, (3) forgot to examine the photo to see if it was a fraud. Did it not strike any of the "victims" as a little strange that this Russian millitary component would be packaged in a gull-wing SMT plastic package? Don't you think it would be at least a rad-hardened component in a ceramic package? Did you never wonder about how Linux would be so easily ported to a radically different CPU yet still run standard binaries compiled for existing CPUs? Did you not think that since PPC Linux had different SETI binaries than Intel, that some ex-Soviet chip might just need SETI to be recompiled?
A lot has been said about these kids being "bad guys", but with a fake this obvious, I think the only people who should feel guilty are the self-described experts who were so quick to spout off about the "board" with no knowledge about the subject.
IF so - how many keys/sec. can it crack?
Or can I use it to rip MP3's? store pr0n? Hide from LARS on Napster?
[Connection closed by foreign host]
I can only come to one conclusion from your history of Slashdot posts: you, sir, are a complete asshole. All you can do is post flamebait on /., you can never find anything better to contribute, and THAT makes you no better than the "Richard Stallman is a goatfucker!" trolls.
And another thing: If you are so concerned about helping the poor in Third World countries, (and you obviously don't live in one, you arrogant asshole, or you wouldn't be posting this shit here), you wouldn't be sitting in front of the glow of your monitor all day typing up this elaborate flamebait to post on /., you would be out in the fields, providing vaccinations to migrant worker's children, or building a house for a poor family, or SOMETHING. Get a life.
Friends don't let friends use multiple inheritance.
Have I mentioned that you can put down your guns?
Your weapons don't work against me.
Forgive me if I am wrong, but first living in a state that has 80%-15% Rural/urban ration, I've noticed that a lot of farmers might be resistant to the idea of a computer telling them what crops to plant. I mean ... if a computer told them to flood their fields and only plant rice, what happens when the price of rice in the market they are selling in is insignificant next to corn. Are we going to force them out of thier houses because they can't pay the bills so we can send free food out of the country? Secondly, most farmers who don't mind having a computer help them already use the system that is available to them using infrared satellight imagery, GPS monitors in thier farm equipment, and computers designed to do nothing but work on making the farmers lives easier. And from my understanding .. a lot of this has been subsidized by the Department of Agriculture.
-------------
---RANT---
Finally lets look at the old antage:
If you give a man a fish he can feed himself for one day, but if you teach him how to fish he can eat for the rest of his life.
After having visitied many third world countries through work, I will say this much, between the corruption all along the different links in getting the handouts to the people, handouts should only be a temproary measure. What we need to do is help the people learn what and how to do in order to manage their own economies. I do contribute food to shelters and food kitchens, and I think this is a good thing .. and many people I know do this to make themselves feel better about themselves, that they do not feel completely selfish.
If some people wish to help farmer, let them help farmers, if some people wanna help SETI let them help SETI. It is ridiculous to flame people about it.
---/RANT---
Code softly but carry a big magnet.
How about a 32-bit ultrawide SCSI null device? That would be a lot faster than those pathetic software-emulated null devices.
---
As copyright owner of this comment, I authorize everyone to defeat any technological measure which limits access to it.
No, +2 isn't yours (Or any other posters) default. Its a +1 Bonus (It even says so on the checkbox) that you can use for posts that you woulds like others to really, really, see. If your post is worthy of a +2, it can stay there, if it's just drival that doesn't deserve a +2, it gets moderated down. This is what happened. Go read the FAQ for more information.
Syllable : It's an Operating System
Can't you guys take a joke?
Um, did you look at the link I posted? It wasn't exactly in-depth social commentary. Can't you take a joke?For more information, click here.
Notice that the hoax article say that they were indundated with 'orders'. While I can infer from the wording of the article that they weren't taking credit card numbers, it occurs to me that it would be simplicity itself to replicate this hoax (or just put up a phony online 'business') and get people to submit their card numbers. I guess one moral of the story is to watch out who you do business with. That, and don't believe everything you read online.
I wonder if it would be possible to use any of processing power of accelerated video cards to help crunch SETI, gamma flux, or some other floating point (or integer, like OGR and RC5) number crunching thing? I've never looked at programming specs for any video cards, so I don't know which, if any, would be flexible enough to do computing tasks other than 3d rendering.
The vector nature of video card processors makes them sound nice for crunching SETI's arrays, unfortunately, this sounds like wishful thinking, but maybe worth looking into. Maybe a lighting engine could help with dcypher.net's gamma ray projections?
Anyone out there intimately familiar with any particular video hardware? How could it be used for any of these projects?
#define X(x,y) x##y
#define X(x,y) x##y
Peter Cordes ; e-mail: X(peter@cordes ,
WHERE have you found information that they have too many people processing for them?! FALSE data?
Please tell me this is a troll, because otherwise I will be really disappointed in the people at UC Berk.
Thank you.
4920616D206E6F7420656C6974652E
Remove the obvious to email me.
+++ATH0
Apache-on-a-palm was posted to the Apache section, too.
I fail to see the significance between your link and my comment.
"The 85 I fear they don't got a clue."
Actually, the Slashdot story showed up at night in my timezone; the following morning, Technocrat already had the story. Funny thing is, a lot of people submitted "SETI accelerator is a hoax" since, yet CmdrTaco continued to refer to it (I remember him talking about it in at least one later story), either out of naiveté or just mere stupidity. And now he gives us "Duh". Riiiiight.
(To moderators: "Offtopic"? No, it's got to do with the subject. "Redundant"? Not at the time I posted it. "Troll"? No, it's a serious discussion. "Flamebait"? Not at all. If you feel the need to moderate something down, do it to AC's "Richard Stallman is a goat fucker", not to this post.)
To the editors: your English is as bad as your Perl. Please go back to grade school.
Slashdot should research their articles
Slashdot are stupid for believing the hoax
Slashdot have never acknowledged a hoax they wrote about before. Why are they doing it now?
Slashdot never gives any decent stories
Hemos sucks
To all of those who have complained about any of these things, i have one thing to say to you. Get over it. If you don't like Slashdot, don't come here. If you don't like a story, don't read it. If you're concerned about the validity of a story, check it up yourself.
Turning back to the topic at hand, I think this was a great hoax, considering the fact that it made various news pages, including this one, all around the world in the space of about a week. They managed to get 100,000 hits in a day, all as a result of one comment on usenet. It's success can be seen by the number of people acknowleging it on both this site and in other ways.
I also think that Slashdot should be commended for posting this article and having the ability to admit that they didn't entirely see it coming themselves.
Then why do you have to opt out of it every time?
--
"I have a good idea why it's hard to verify programs. They're usually wrong." --Manuel Blum, FOCS 94
He has defeated us numerous times, what makes him think he can do it again?
You are in a maze of twisty little passages, all alike.
But, if you think about it, the Good Times virus was a prophecy. Yet, even with the concept of this floating around so widely, and so far, Microsoft still shipped a product that allowed this to happen.
Perhaps the Second Coming is a 'hoax' too?
my sig's at the bottom of the page.
ummmm.... I'd be willing to bet that if not the majority, at least a large percentage of the people reading slashdot are doing it from Windows.
I personally run 12 linux boxes, but I've never viewed slashdot from any of them.
I did also link mersenne.org, which has LOADS of other distributed projects linked.
It would be nice if they at least did one or the other.
Information wants to be anthropomorphized.
To be fair, that is vaporware at the moment. It sounds impressive, but when I see one actually working on silicon then it will be newsworthy. But I wish them the best of luck.
I did not mean to suggest that Russia was somehow less-capable on some sort of intellectual basis; the nation has turned out many of the worlds best physicists and probably the majority of the mathematicians. The Russian people are also famous for their "kludge it with anything in a pinch" attitude that was once common among Americans, if not the their government. But fifty years of closed borders and minds in the government has put them rather behind the times. This is not all bad...programmers in Russia that learned in the 80s-90s are quite skilled as they had to learn how to work with the hardware they had instead of throwing new hardware at a software problem. I've been screaming about this in my country for the last 10 years and nobody takes any notice.
Until fairly recently, Russia did not have access to the tools to produce modern semiconductors; they could not have made them if they wanted to. I remember seeing photos of semiconductor production equipment in National Geographic that were seized while in the process of being smuggled to Russia. I'm sure some got in, and of course by now I imagine Russian companies are producing their own.
One "advantage" to using tube computers is that they are less sensitive to EMP, which is important if you are planning to be near a nuclear explosion. There are ways to shield semis from this problem, but that is fairly difficult.
My sincerest apologies. I am glad you knew what I meant regardless.
"If voting could really change things, it would be illegal. " - Revolution Books, NY
I wouldn't have paid $474.00 US for a 6 processor version of this PCI card in the first place. Why? #1. Its made from cheap outdated military processors you could probably pick up for $5 per unit. (not saying profit is good but,...) #2. The speed is not that great considering it takes 6 cpus to deliver 6 blocks in 16 hours. For $474 US ($600 canadian approx.) I could buy 2 P3 600s that combined would give you 8 blocks in about 24hrs, not much slower and youd have a much more powerful system overall :) Saving my quotes til I really need them
Wait a minute, wait a minute... did you even read what I wrote? Did you read your reply?
I appreciate the fact that people will do what people will do, but telling me that "That does not make it wrong (except to those who are so ethnocentric that they consider any culture other than their own to be inferior etc)."
so you don't think they feel superior to other people for having "accomplished" duping thousands of people??!!? you made my point for me Magic5Ball...
Also If you think lying is an accomplishment, you should try a day of hard work, and getting recognition for a job well done on for size... you wouldn't be able to go back.
As for "Suddenly, they are a 'sect' too?" uhh, did you read their statement?!? uhh, guy, from my perspective (it's the only one I own) they (obviously) aren't the most helpful people. If you had wasted your time trying to get in on this "good deal" you would have a different perspective (kinda like how you told me to take a look at it from an "aborigines" POV...eh?). Somehow I don't think that the aborigines uphold dishonestly above truthfulness...do you see the flaw in this staement? OK. Now, I really don't mean to rip on your opinion, it's just that there are quite a few holes in it(I didn't even touch the others...).
regards...
"If voting could really change things, it would be illegal. " - Revolution Books, NY
Thanks, I will take that as a compliment... I thought it was funney as hell, and they got me... I even bookmarked the page in case they came up with a way to make it work as an SMP unit.
Not everyone deserves a 320i
cognitive dissonance.
I guess this makes the search for intelligent life on other planets all the more pressing -- it seems we've looked far and wide on this planet and come up short!
Kook9 out.
i was a big mil buff back in the 80's but now i don't care so much--however do the russian's even *have* cruise missiles? I figure they would have sold them to the iraqi's and made our life HELL during the gulf war if they did have them. A patriot sure as hell couldn't shoot down a terrain following missile.
mov ax, 13h
int 10h
So, it took less than three hours for somebody to catch on that it was a hoax.
Given how remarkable and suspicious the story was, the /. staff should have had their guard up. They would have spotted the holes in the story right away had they bothered to look for them.
The fact that you were fooled after you saw the story from source you trust does not change the fact that their job, as news editors, is to be a little more critial and thoughtful.
Speaking of hoaxes, I do not believe for a second that your CEO ordered a "SETI Accelerator", unless your company thinks it has some strange plan for making money by evaluating random noise from space. :P
Information wants to be anthropomorphized.
Ok, I think it was pretty clear to those who checked into it that the board was a fake. However, are we really sure these guys weren't pulling a scam (not a fun-loving hoax)? If no one found out, would they have been collecting on those CODs? Their web page explaining the "truth" is fine and dandy, but who's to say they didn't write that after the world caught on to the trickery? I'm not talking about gathering a list of names for spamming, I'm talking genuine stealing of money. Did they think they could get away with it for long enough to make a small fortune? Even if 0.1% of the people fell for it, that could add up to some serious money. Let's not assume they were only pranksters.
--
dman123 forever!
--
dman123 forever!
Filtering out the -1s and 0s since 1999.
Here's why:
Over at this post it really looks like, at some point in time before it really started to blow up on them, they continued to attempt to take in 'customer' information for some purpose:
Dear Customer,
thank you for your order of SETI accelerator.
Due to the overwhelming response, we regret we can not process your order at the moment. The placed orders exceed our stock by far and further production will take about 10 weeks.
We are very sorry, but we had to cancel your order, as we can not be sure you would like to buy our product under these conditions.
If you still would like to order SETI Accelerator please place your order again and we will be glad to deliver your order as soon as possible.
We do apologize for any inconvenience.
kind regards
Andrej Schachnazarow
KrasnoConv Solutions
Note that this is a slight mis-spelling of the bogus name used for the domain registration, below...
When you poke around where some of the guys have come clean (aww... shucks! You guessed! Hey! We were just kiddin' around, guys!) you can find a faint trail:
Dirk S's email is to setigermany.de, where he's webmaster and domain registrant:
Domainname: setigermany.de
Domaininhaber: Dirk Schimansky
Frankenweg 15
D-53225
Bonn
Germany
And, although the two other guys only point themselves to email at krasnoconv itself, in fact they are all involved in setigermany.de, perhaps along with the mystical (... and the two 'men in black') mentioned at the bottom of the page..
The krasnoconv.com domain itself was set up right from the get-go to be totally fake:
It's registered to somebody completely bogus:
registrant-title: Herr
registrant-firstname: Andrej
registrant-lastname: Schachnasarow
registrant-organization: KrasnoConv
registrant-street: Au 5
registrant-pcode: 94140
registrant-city: Ering
Which is a city in Germany that doen't exist^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^Hcan't be found in the 1996 National Geographic Atlas of the World's index..
registrant-ccode: DE
registrant-phone: +49 8573 12345
And somebody used a fishy-looking phone number...
registrant-email: KrasnoConv@mail.ru
So somebody went to a fair amount of work to set up a bogus domain.
So I dunno.
Is this just what passes for good clean fun, in the eyes of today's German youth?
t_t_b
--
I think not; therefore I ain't®
I'm on PJ's "enemies" list! Are you?
So, how much money did you lose on this?
No replies made to AC posts. Please log in.
But of course! SETI is and always was a geek dick-measuring contest. There are people that really would have paid for one of these.
--
I think there is a world market for maybe five personal web logs.
is the best word for it, and I was.
... unless this is a total hoax," right? ;)
I apologize -- it seemed plausible at the time. (and really, *wouldn't* a parasite co-processor like this make sense for some things?)
From now on, I should end any story I post with "
timothy
jrnl: http://tinyurl.com/c2l8yr / foes: http://tinyurl.com/ckjno5
Anybody want my level 48 /. character with 784 karma points?
--
Wooden armaments to battle your imaginary foes!
Oh it cracks me up too. Some of the posts here the other day, almost religiously arguing why it was a good thing. Just classic.
I've built just such a card; you can have one for just $99.95! Send an e-mail to the above address (take out the NOSPAM part, obviously) with your name, shipping address, and credit card information, and your Slashdot KardMa(tm) PCI card will arrive in a few days.
--
$x='S24;r)>63/* h@<5+oZ)32"5cz';$me='phroggy'x$];
$x=~y+ -xz+\0-Tx+;print$_^chop$me for split'',$x;
sig:
sig:
See the "..for smart people" banners Wired runs here? Look elsewhere guys.
is this a hoax though?
thank God the internet isn't a human right.
It's always easy to take advantage of mugs. Anyone who's prepared to blow cash on this as a spur-of-the-moment purchase, they've obviously got so much money that it isn't an issue for them. So I'd not be too upset for them. ;-)
It's not like it's news, either. Web-based fraud (dummy websites fleecing customers) has been around for ages now. It just goes to prove the common sense rules of buying off the Internet - make sure that the company exists, that they can get what you're after, and that there's a real-world address or phone number to chase them with if the shit hits the fan. And never, ever, EVER buy stuff from companies in other countries unless you're prepared to lose that money.
Grab.
...and perhaps a life.
...and take a class in critical thinking...
>They amuse nobody but the hoaxer.
Dead wrong. I'm not the hoaxer and I am greatly amused. It's hard to type while holding your belly with both hands.
>They waste our time.
Waste your time perhaps, but this sort of entertainment is much more enjoyable than spending hours if front of a tv. Go download a good Steven King book!
>cause us to make plans based on false information
No, they cause you to make plans with out verifying data. That's your mistake, not mine, not theirs.
>those harmed by the hoax should have the
>power to sue the hoaxer for damages
Hahaha, this is a good one. I can see it now. You stand up in front of the court and say "I solemnly swear that yes I am stupid enough to be taken in by this scam, this scam that has done nothing but deflect me from my other stupid ideas and has prevented me from doing other stupid things." It's going to be interesting proving damage.
>Trust and credibility are very rare and valuable
> things these days, and those who abuse them
> should not be treated lightly.
Truth! Here we have some insight, but still lack depth. Trust and credibility really are rare and valuable. THAT IS WHY THEY MUST BE EARNED. You do not have my trust, nor do I give you any credibility. YOU HAVE TO EARN IT. I will doubt you from day one until you show me that I should change my mind.
You are the one that abuses trust and credibility by giving these valuable and powerful items away without regard for the consequences of your actions.
Good judgement comes from experience, and experience comes from bad judgement.
- W. Wriston, former Citibank CEO
...nor a contest of any type.
>The fact that this hoax was taken seriously only
> adds to the mass of evidence showing how SETI
> is profoundly symptomatic of what is wrong with
> Western values and culture.
Soorrry Martinez, western values and culture enabled you to be here. If you don't appreciate them, you are free to go away(that's another feature of my western values and culture, I value your freedom).
>somebody proposed a brilliant idea: instead of
>something useless like SETI or cracking RC5,
See, thanks to WVAC, you are free to think that SETI and RC5 are useless. Just as I am free to think otherwise.
> one could dedicate those cycles to analysing
> satellite data that could help farmers plan
> crops. Truly wonderful.
Sounds like a good idea, what are you doing to help implement it?
> Sad thing, though, is that in a tech world like
> the one we have, "sexy" useless projects like
> SETI demand all the attention, while worthwhile
> causes like the latter languish. Truly sickening.
Actually, SETI does not demand attention, it is given attention by users. Here in this tech world, which BTW also provides that satellite data to farmers, we build tools. How the tools are used is up to the users.
Just as you are free to whine about the waste and uselessness of SETI, I am free to rebuke you.
You are free to spend your cycles elsewhere. You are not free to decide how mine are to be spent.
You are free to critique WCAV, and I am free to laugh in your face as you take advantage of those very same WCAV.
Good judgement comes from experience, and experience comes from bad judgement.
- W. Wriston, former Citibank CEO
I'm going to start using my processor cycles to help farmers plan crop circles!
It'd be the anti-SETI - instead of looking for aliens, just make it look like they're here already.
(Spudley Strikes Again!)
"Ha haaa"
suckers
The real DunkPonch is user 215121. Everyone else is Bruce Perens.
Well, that last comment makes it flamebait. My sig has gotten me moderated down more times than I can count.
You just don't seem to understand.
Why sell the boards when by keeping them you could easily become number one in the SETI standings. Come on whats more valuable a billion dollars or SETI standings? I think all the true geeks here know the answer to this question standing on their heads with their eyes CLOSED!
Ummmm....who's to say a "legit" company (well, one with a real product) won't take your email address and sell it to spammers? Get a hotmail address for this kinda crap.
A newsgroup posting, a few glances... Then, in the wake of 7/23 slashdot article: 100,000 hits, orders, television coverage. It makes me wonder whether slashdot is becoming an "authoritative source" to less-net-savvy media, which makes me wonder whether the ethics of story posting should change.
We all know that we have to double check whatever we see here, but would Jane Pauley?
that you don't like me? ... sob
Oh well. I don't care. My karma is steadily going up, and it's all that counts.
As if the aliens will have the same tech as us,
sheesh! they probably have technology we have only dreamed about. anything is possible. plus even with odds that small, it is still a chance.
and a chance worth taking at that....
You know, this is the second time in recent memory that Slashdot has been caught posting rumors that turn out to be hoaxes (potato-powered PC anyone?). Perhaps this is a sign that our friendly rumormill admin team needs to do a little bit more footwork before anything hits the front page. I personally know I've seen hundreds of stories with interesting topics get trashed in favor of filth like a potato-powered PC or a Seti@Home PCI accelerator.
I know you guys made a pile off of your merger with Andover (and I'd assume even more when VA bought Andover), why don't you guys prove you are actually worth it and don't post up all of this stupid news that nobody really cares about.
-R
- Scott Kim
Can we get a "-1 Wrong" moderation option?
Electric sheep is an internet server and xscreensaver module that displays mpeg video of an animated fractal flame. In the background it contributes render cycles to the next animation. Periodically it uploads completed frames to the server, where they are compressed for distribution to all clients.
So maybe having a secondary board to run your screensaver off of isn't that far off :)
These people who performed this hoax are now acting like they should be comended for pulling one over on everyone, going so far as to post pictures of themselves. Hmm... should we think that they are some kind of geniuses? I think not. They have only shown their ability to create fantasy and to lie, having produced nothing.
They will post any story because it means one thing, more banner hits. Thats what its about now, making money for andover and the IPO.
Only the State obtains its revenue by coercion. - Murray Rothbard
I get a kick out of stuff like this. Slashdot posts something, everybody beleives it must be true if Slashdot posts it, and then we find out that it's complete crap.
Seems like a pattern is forming. It goes something like this:
Slashdot posts BS.
People beleive BS.
Somebody shows facts that show it's BS.
if(BS == Microsoft Stuff) {
People still beleive BS.
} else {
People laugh and stop beleiving BS.
}
luckman
luckman
I don't involve myself with flames, much less know how to bait one.
How Clever!!!
OpenGL screensaver on a Voodoo card. Need I say more?
A product that can significantly accellerate your SETI@Home rating has been available for some time anyways. You can get more info on it here.
What, me worry?
> I have plenty of high-spec hardware to run SETI on anyway
:->
A geek can never have too much hardware. What's wrong with you?
#define X(x,y) x##y
#define X(x,y) x##y
Peter Cordes ; e-mail: X(peter@cordes ,
what kind of sick mind cares more about SETI stats than about the very real problems of the very real world that surrounds them?
You disgust me. You are the kind of person who looks that the Sistine Chapel ceiling and sees wasted effort that could have been put into building homes for the poor. You are the kind of bastard that burned Alexandria's library, fearful and ignorant of the knowledge contained within. You are the jerk who makes fun of anybody who has spent serious effort and often serious money into any useless but personally rewarding hobby, like collecting Rocky Horror items.
What is Mankind if he only looks to the ground? We might as well be automated baby machines in your view - only caring about the basic necessities. We live set in a cosmos that is full of wonder, and if you can't feel that wonder, then I pity you.
Food, shelter - these are important for life. But they are not what life is for. I can't tell you the purpose of your individual life, but if you can't look up to the stars, don't scream that those who have loftier visions are foolish.
--
Evan
"$30 for the One True Ring. $10 each additional ring!" -- JRR "Bob" Tolkien
Hmmm, a post on Slashdot helps, too. The article was posted on Sunday....the day they started getting their visitors.
Seems these people were Slashdotted, and didn't even KNOW what hit them. They attributed the whole burst of traffic to ONE post on a newsgroup.
I don't think so. heh
-- Give him Head? Be a Beacon?
-- Give him Head? Be a Beacon? :P)
(If you can't figure out how to E-Mail me, Don't.
When I saw the story, I immediately thought of this. It was probably featured on Slashdot a few months back. Still, I thought the 6 processor board I read about had been real, not just proposed. Was there another 6 StrongARM PCI card project?
--
Fuck the system? Nah, you might catch something.
Oh, a screensaver.. uhm..
:)
I whink this has already been created -- they call it SGI Oxygen (O2)...
How to recognize one when you see it? Well, it runs IRIX, its netscape takes *ages* to render anything with frames, its OpenGL Xscreensaver is just screamingly fast!
Check sgi.com for prices
on more than one occasion I was asked to fudge the truth, and the final straw was when I was relocated to Minneapolis MN this past January, and my promotion was renigged.
Obviously I harbor some resentment, but I am very happy now at my current employer. I needed to respond to this article with some questions...
well, thanks for listening.
"If voting could really change things, it would be illegal. " - Revolution Books, NY
And _I_ knew it was a hoax after I first read the article. I was really surprised how many people in the comments section took it seriously. Even if people believed it, though, there was no harm done.
How many people really based business decisions off of this? Precisely no one. There was no commercial use for the supposed product, and even if there had been, it was evident that the idea was hacked together by a few fly-by-nighters. It's not like this was tarnishing some trusted brand name.
How much time did you waste on this? A few seconds to read the headline, and if you were more interested, maybe a minute or so to read the full article.
It may surprise you, but many of us consider humor a "legitimate" use of the internet. I like pranks every now and then, as long as there's no damage done. And I don't see any damage here, except possibly for some embarassment for the people who believed it.
And your boy-who-cried-wolf analogy is silly. This is far different than email chain letters about the Good Time Virus. As real news, this might have been interesting, but certainly not alarming. It does nothing to lower our guard. If anything, this puts people *more* on their guard for other, more dangerous hoaxes.
Wait! It just dawned on me! Your *post* is a hoax! I can't believe I fell for it. You naughty, naughty boy, making me type all of these counterpoints to an argument that wasn't even real.
Oh, my face is red...
--Lenny
SUCK ER
A couple of days ago, in this very messaging board, somebody proposed a brilliant idea: instead of something useless like SETI or cracking RC5, one could dedicate those cycles to analysing satellite data that could help farmers plan crops. Truly wonderful. Sad thing, though, is that in a tech world like the one we have, "sexy" useless projects like SETI demand all the attention, while worthwhile causes like the latter languish. Truly sickening.
Hey, if its such a great idea, go ahead, start it up and waste your idle CPU cycles on it.
Me, I'm going to use my idle CPU cycles on them there flying toasters...
DrLunch.com The site that tells you what's for lunch!
Or, since there might be, oh, say, one or two math geeks out there...
Check out PiHex at http://www.cecm.sfu.ca/projects/pi hex/pihex.html
Calculate pi further and further and further and further...
And yes, they even have a "top producers" thing for you crunchers.
There's also http://www.mersenne.org/ with a list of distributed projects...
...is that there were people willing to spend actual money on buying a device that would run a process that was intended to use just your spare CPU cycles. For their next hoax, I propose the create a Screensaver On A PCI Card. "Get 18 Million Triangle/sec!"
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Give us our karma back! Punish Karma Whores through meta-mod!
Linux MAPI Server!
http://www.openone.com/software/MailOne/
(Exchange Migration HOWTO coming soon)
When the story was first posted, there were many comments that pointed out that it was probably a hoax. After reading them, and considering the points they had, there was almost no doubt in my mind that it was a hoax. I thought that the general Slashdot audience would agree, had they read the comments.
Next time you are going to complain about how useless SETI is, you might want to leave your sig off - it kind of contradicts what you are saying.
Don't you think it would be important to find out more about Earth's neighbors? Well, that sig seems to indicate it is important.
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"It was people! People soiled our green!"
Poll: What do you think is most likely the next hoax to be posted on /.?
Poll Mastah
Hey, didn't /. post a story about REAL SETI accelerators a while back?
Of course, they can be used for accelerating OTHER things too... like the distributed.net client! =P
Hey, lighten up, people. I, for one, fell for this one hook, line, and sinker. Now that I think back on it, the graphics of the board did look a little hokey... a little too much like they were generated using the GIMP or Photoshop.
As a fan of comedy, I have to give these guys credit; they put one over on 95% of /. readers (I recall one or two saying it was hokey) I applaud them, and laughed my ass off when I saw the number of hits they got (100,000 in under 8 days, if I recall). Good work.
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thats because most ppl are forced to use windows on their jobs.
-- http://electronicintifada.net --
if people wanted reliable tech news, they would go to zdnet or cnet
so much beer, so little time
You disgust me. You are the kind of person who looks that the Sistine Chapel ceiling and sees wasted effort that could have been put into building homes for the poor. You are the kind of bastard that burned Alexandria's library, fearful and ignorant of the knowledge contained within.
Look!! Ayn Rand has set up a Slashdot account! For reasons I can only speculate on, the infallible Ms. Rand has named herself "Jabberwocky" and signs her posts "Evan". This must be part of some grand scheme to end collectivism everywhere, just like when Francisco D'Anconia started blowing up his own copper mines!
"Beware he who would deny you access to information, for in his heart he deems himself your master."
Same here. /. audience that believed it to be a hoax and provided analysis as to why, at least they should feel pretty good in the fact that their reasoning was proved to be accurate.
At least for the
-Vel
I couldn't wait for them to release it, so i went and bought the SGI Origin 3000.
Had I waited I would have lost vaulable blocks!!
Origin3k - Because anything less then 20 processors is uncivilized.
Are we gulliable, or is the idea of a slotting an add-on card with its own RAM and CPU(s) so totally normal-sounding that its above questioning? People have been doing that for ages. I remember the Z80 cards for Apple ][ machines, Dos Compatible PPC machines from Apple with PC-on-a-board add-ins. Most array controller cards are essentially independant computers on a card. The list goes on.
That somebody decided it would be a good way to climb the scoreboard of SETI isn't at all surprising to me. That somebody might actually buy one is, but what the heck.
I'd like to understand how you assume someone who sees wasted effort in SETI is the same sort of person who would destroy a library. Did he mention destroying anything? Did he mention he wants to go to your house and rip your computer out of the wall? He's talking about what he thinks is misguided effort and his alruistic views. Also, I think he's aware of what SETI does. It's not a complicated idea. So it's not ignorance, it's a difference of opinion. But then again, using your own character evaluation methods, you're obviously one of those people who makes that mistake often.
You are the kind of bastard that burned Alexandria's library, fearful and ignorant of the knowledge contained within
This is like saying to you based on your post, "You are the type of person who would kill someone for what they posted on Slashdot."
You know, usually it's Estanislao who has the chip on his shoulder, but gee, I think you got him beat.
By the way, I've run SETI and RC5 programs. So if you didn't get the point, it's your asenine mis-insight into someone's character that I'm attacking.
Defending Estanislao.. imagine that.
Technocrat ran the hoax story yesterday.
What made it a good hoax is that it sounded like something people might want to do, even though it was ridiculous.
What's the point of processing blocks faster anyway, doesn't SETI@Home have more processing power than they can practically use anyway?
I would argue that this experience is exactly why /. should stay the same. The fact that more people than ever are interested in /. topics, and the weirdness that comes with same, means that /. is doing something right. After all, if the only discussions were about Debian v. RedHat and KDE v. GNOME, it would be much less interesting, for hardcore nerds and wannabes alike!
sulli
sulli
RTFJ.
This is a good excuse to mention my favorite hoax. NPR has a long tradition of issuing just-barely-bogus news stories every April 1. These include classics such as a plan to pay people to tatoo product logos on their earlobes and a piece on spring clearance sales at the high-fashion shops in Paris. But the absolute best was when they solemnly announced the sale of Arizona to Canada -- complete with interviews with real Reagan Admin officials, and with the "Acting Governer-General of Arizona Province", Bruce Babbit.
Yes, that would be nice. Maybe interview their mothers, too. And neighbors. Have webmasters give 3 references to be able to lined to Slashdot. The whole nine, of course.
OK, I'm getting tired of correcting myself.
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Fuck the system? Nah, you might catch something.
hmm i heard it somewhere too, they were not sending false data but same units twice or more because reciever at areceibo was fucked up :(.
:)
anyway its known fact that seti has more processing power than units (over 2 million ppl), so get over to distributed.net, join slashdot.org team and search for coulumb rulers (ogr project)
-- http://electronicintifada.net --
Well, from a business sense, it wouldn't make sense if they had the boards but they weren't willing to manufacture and sell them. They received 100000 hits in a few days so there obviously was a target market for their SETI Accelerater.
So, exactly when did /. become an infallible forum of knowledge? So a hoax or two made it here. That's why we have a discussion forum. To -discuss- the news stories, and if one turns out to be a hoax, it usually gets discovered pretty quickly. With such a large audience, what better way to expose the truth?
> They amuse nobody but the hoaxer.
I was amused!!
In fact, I find it funnier as a total hoax than I did when I came to the realization that thousands of bored, lonely geeks are going to buy one. Shit, if ARS, Tom or Sharky had gotten their hands on one and declared it met or exceeded the claimed spec, I would have been a bit bummed..
Come on. Twain played along along with one death rumor, and Conan Doyle started a few. Hoaxes are nothing new. Now we have a few million people sharing a single medium, and they propogate a little farther than the days when print media were the rumormongers.
> have the power to sue the hoaxer for damages
You do. You can sue anyone, anythime, for anything. Real damages, compensatory, and punitive. Only problem is, not only are these hoax'ers German, and not really subject to US judicial decisions, but you'll be laughed out of court by a judge.
Why don't we sue Microsoft for vaporware? It is a hoax, meant to decieve it's customers and hurt its rivals. Big pockets, bad reputation..
.sig: Now legally binding!
Huh, and here I was thinking that the hoax had been broken the very day it was released on /. Must be that pesky precognition again...
- Michael Cohn
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Go ahead, blame me... I voted for Nader!
I knew it was hoax too... after they told us!
My hind-sight is 20/20.
"It's all right, it's ok. There's something to live for" - Uncle Bill
Granted this is a hoax, but the reason it made an impact is because it is feasable.
I remember a while ago reading about a PCI card that carried an Amiga computer (ie processor, chip set and rom), which could be operated independantly of the host system. IIRC, it was called Inside-Out, or something.
The point is that having a seperate computer on a card plugged into your main computer is perfectly feasable. The only real question here is: why bother?
(Spudley Strikes Again!)
Its true they have too many people processing for them - or at least that they don't particularly want more, or want to speed up the client. You can check the FAQ on their website There's only a limited amount of data coming from the radio observatories, and they have enough clients to process it.
I don't know of them sending out false data, but they've certainly sent out duplicate data. This, however, is partly a security precaution to catch people who modify the client (either for silly reasons (to get more points), or to speed it up) and break the core algorithms.
Film at 11.
it's one of those things that SOUNDS good prima facie, like "gets your message out to 25 million email addresses! Unlimited Income opportunity!!!" just a little thought (again see a recent SciAm) reveals that it's like trying to listen for fleas next to Niagra Falls - In a Universe of powerful quasars and other radio sources any intelligent signal (unless the ET's are modulating a pulsar or something and somehow beaming it our way) would be way too puny to detect. You stand about as much chance as winning the powerball, hitting 18 holes in one, getting hit by lightning AND a meteorite all on the same day.
try { do() || do_not(); } catch (JediException err) { yoda(err); }
Starting next month, I will be selling a PCI card that runs 6 user accounts in parallel to whore for karma. Any takers?
Well, if /. wants to bill itself as a News site, it should have some journalistic integrity.
It doesn't.
This isn't a news site. It's a links site. Links for Nerds, not News for Nerds.
Linux - Because Mommy taught me to Share.
I actually think this speaks well for the /. community. Yes, /. posted the link to the site, but it was the community that (overall) came to the conclusion that this was a hoax. When I read the article and the comments, I came to pretty much the same conclusion.
In Soviet Russia...michael would be rotting in Siberia!
This thing was useless from the start; SETI has had too *many* people processing data for them, to the point that they've complained and sent out false data in the past...
:)
Therefore, a SETI accelerator would be their worst nightmare (unless they could just get one for themselves, and give us all a screensaver that doesn't munch CPU instead...
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pb Reply or e-mail; don't vaguely moderate.
pb Reply or e-mail; don't vaguely moderate.
It seems that you can't go for ten minutes ago on the Internet these days without seeing a hoax. SETI Accelerator, the "Slashdot is suing me" hoax, email viruses, fake announcements of upcoming synthesizers (just ask the Analogue Heaven list how much they just loved that one) -- the list goes on and on.
What do these hoaxes have in common? One thing:
They amuse nobody but the hoaxer.
For the rest of us? They waste our time, cause us to make plans based on false information, and destroy the credibility of those who want to use the Internet for legitimate purposes.
What happens the next time somebody has a crazy idea for some new hardware? Or the next time there's a very real, very destructive virus that people need to be warned about? Nobody's going to believe it, and somebody's going to get hurt. Nobody will research or buy the hardware, nobody will believe the warnings, the list goes on.
This is destructive enough a phenomenon that I would suggest that those harmed by the hoax should have the power to sue the hoaxer for damages. Trust and credibility are very rare and valuable things these days, and those who abuse them should not be treated lightly.
Maybe they really have the board and want to save all the units for themselves?
Ever think of that one? They'd have tricked you all twice!
No this is not a conspiracy theory!
i had in my post, but i forgot to use "plain old text", therefore nobody can see im joking, but its pretty obvious i think. Anywho, i like slashdot because it is exciting, and, sure it may not be the most reliable source of news, it is definately the geekiest. And thats a good thing.
so much beer, so little time
My girlfriend tell's me, the night I read about the accelerator card, I talked in my sleep, which I don't normally do. I rolled over and said, "So, do you want me to speed up your main rendering computer?" Funny to me...
-=nft1999=-
"We must be the change we wish to see in the world." -Gandhi
It _is_ a bit disheartening though, to look at the pictures of the three guys at the bottom of the page and thing "these guys could have just swiped a few thousand credit card numbers". While they appear to be fun-loving people with a very original idea, you have to think.... is it really that easy to take advantage of a community like this?
Not a bad ploy for these guys to get their names in circulation. I wonder what the dollar value of the advertisement they have received is? "What else do you expect? These are the same people who gave us 99 Luft Balloons!"
Now if only someone would create a card that boosted my /. karma...
--
Wooden armaments to battle your imaginary foes!
Ahmen Brother!
I'm a culprit too, but for every time a geek says that computer users are dumb because they don't know this and that, the SETI PCI board can be brought back to our faces.
I'm a network engineer, and actually thought it was true at first. When I first started seeing posts about a possible hoax, then I had serious doubts that the actual card existed.
Needless to say, we can't know everything and be 100% sure of everything. So next time a user mentions that his 10 GB RAM is almost full, just nod and say "ok, I'll give you more RAM tomorrow".
The very crux of this issue is that many of these things are out of our control. Sometimes money is exactly the WRONG answer for things like this.
Yes, people go hungry. I don't run across them every day.
Yes, there are millions of starving people, but this is usually the fault of their poor methods, ignorance, their governments and organized crime. Yes, they could use more efficient agriculture, but keep in mind that if I go in and teach them better agriculture, they will shun it as a "foul western idea". Those willing to try it out become successful, become envied by their peers and become victims of violence. Trust me, this happens too often. I really doubt that farmers would be willing to be told what crops to plant and where.
Also, if we are too willing to help, it also puts the recipients into a dependency mode, where they won't do any public works projects for their own good unless it has international aid. This happens too, especially in Latin America, from what I hear from friends that go there.
It's fine to care, but emotional guilt trips really do little in the long run.
Really, the SETI@home idea was one made such that it uses spare cycles, otherwise they would just be wasted heat.
...how many people wanted to buy one?
...how much would such a device actually cost?
Hmmmmm...
"Never call a man a fool. Take his money." --P.T. Barnum
There are laws against false advertising.
[
They said it was on backorder!
This
I fail to see the significance between your link and my comment.
You replied to my link with your comment, thus associating them in a thread. The significance between them is so implied.
I hereby implore you to stop replying and just let me post links to pictures of a CS professor dressed up like a turkey. End of thread.
For more information, click here.
I can't imagine they have the time to check with every webmaster, or contact everyone needed to make sure EVERY article is completely factual. That's what newspapers are for, and even they screw up sometimes.
Did you look at the site, did you check it out? It look legit to me, nice site, tons of information. You would have to do ALOT of checking to find out that it was bogus. Do you really want to research if the MP-105-D processor or the PR-964 cruise missle existed?
Cut them a little slack. These guys pulled off a nice Orson Wells. Had everyone buying it, hell, the CEO of my company ordered one. About the only thing I thought strange was the COD only, but now it makes sense. No money ever changed hands, so it's not like people were getting scammed or something.
Dizzy
--Everynow and then we need to see exactly how gulible and ignorant we can be.
- Slashdot can NOT verify the validity of stories AND be up and to date
- Slashdot CAN destroy karma on both the submitter and poster of subsequently discovered hoaxes/errors and ultimatly remove their privileges
- I for one would like to see Slashdot take itself a bit more seriously, making an attempt to keep the posted stories real and relevent and NOT REPEATS.
- Why can't we all "meta-moderate" the story posters, if we all think one of them is a dumbass can we note vote him out?
- I do not want to see the whole site crippled in beuracracy or the removal of some of the more lively debates (lets face it any story that mentions M$oft is Flamebait).
- I would like to see a more useful moderation system including
- Why can't we view stories by Moderation class, there are so many stories on slashdot where all I would like to see are the "Funny" stories, and many others where I would just want the "Insightful&&Informative" posts.
just my E0.02- +1 Flamebait
- -1 Flamebait
and also remove the Under and Over rated options.Never underestimate the dark side of the Source
I thought parts of the library burnt down several times throughout its history. The sum total of human knowledge was always going to be in danger until some bright spark came up with the fire extinguisher.
:-)
Bob.
That was really hilarious. I'm glad they put all their time into such a hilarious joke. It reminds me of the absolute genius behind such classics as the Good Times virus, and other pointless bullshit that bore everyone to tears.
- I like pudding.
For anyone interested, check out the "SETI accelerator a HOAX" thread on the sci.astro.seti newsgroup. Some of them--probably the ones that mindlessly plunked their credit cards down--are apparently not very happy about being hoodwinked.
--
Have fun: Join D.N.A. (National Dyslexics Association)
Sounds like what we need CT & Co to do, is hire a crack team of investigators. And from now on, every submission should have someone dispatched in person to visit the company and verify all claims.
Short of that, occasionally stuff like this is going to slip through the system.
"Politicians are interested in people. Not that this is always a virtue. Fleas are interested in dogs." P.J. O'Rourke
And I was going to port NetBSD to this thing!
So what do you expect slashdot to do? Phone every every webmaster to verify content?
I don't really believe in spamming for charity, but since this IS the THIRD SETI posting in a just a couple days, I thought it would be appropriate to post this. (so please don't moderate this down)
There is a banner supported charity site that includes SETI@Home as one of its charities. They make a small donation for viewing ads, and a larger donation for clicking on them.
Click HERE to donate. SETI has already made at least $200 through this program.
Also, anyone interested in joining a SETI team, please see my user profile.
Work for Change & GET PAID!
The most expensive calculation is band-limited autocorrelation to pick out frequency periodicies which are then corrected for earth motion doppler. Billions of these have to be done for billions of spots in the sky. Custom supercomputers have been part of the SETI project for the past decade.
Ok, I admit it. I was caught up in the mad rush to see one of these cards. Heck, I even wanted to purchase the "workhorse".
But, it was too good to be true.
Now, how does the collection of interested people's personal information play out with the privacy advocates? The hoaxters state on their page that they have deleted all pertinent information. But, how are we to be sure of that?
I beleive that they did delete the information. However, if I needed to obtain a large number of email address and snail mail addresses for my marketing mailing list, this is how it would be done.