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SETI Finally Finds Something

QuatumCrypto writes "SETI@home is a distributed processing client from UC Berkeley that installs on the volunteers' home computers and harnesses their processing power in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence. So far nothing noteworthy has comeout of this massive project... that is until today! One of the volunteers was able to track down his wife's stolen laptop using the IP address that SETI@home client reports back to the server. After getting back the laptop his wife said, 'I always knew that a geek would make a great husband.'"

6 of 416 comments (clear)

  1. From the TFA: by ATAMAH · · Score: 4, Insightful

    "Kimberly's writings were safe, and the thieves didn't appear to have broken into her e-mail or other personal folders."

    How, exactly, do you break into a personal folder? Is double-clicking it called "breaking" in these days? I thought the conventional term was "opening"...

  2. Re:Does this mean by Anonymous+Brave+Guy · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Well, as Bill Watterson observed, "Sometimes I think the surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe is that none of it has tried to contact us."

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  3. Nothing noteworthy by whackeroony · · Score: 5, Insightful

    "So far nothing noteworthy has come out of this massive project"

    Dismissed a trend-setting project with just that one line. Of course, it does not matter that SETI@Home showed the power of volunteer computing for the first time, led to new advances in distributed computing, motivated Grid computing and PlanetLab among others and spun off BOINC, an open source project that serves as a base for similar @Home projects.

    But, of course, it no find me any ALIEN!!! Bah,

  4. Re:solution for everyone else by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Uhh. The first thing any idiot thief would do would be install Windows over my GNU/Linux system, not run it happily using a login/pass they don't have until I track her down.

  5. Re:Stop the headline grab-assing please by Cheapy · · Score: 4, Insightful

    That was a truthful headline. Something WAS found using SETI@home. If SETI@home had found evidence of intelligent life, the headline would've said so. As if the truth of the headline wasn't enough, the huge foot icon should've been a big indication that it's humorous. Furthermore, you are the exact kind of person who needs this kind of article. Laugh a little bit. Life's short, may as well enjoy it.

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    Would you kindly mod me +1 insightful?
  6. Re:Welcome by GeffDE · · Score: 4, Insightful

    No, someone copied the Wikipedia entry without citing...

    But then, that's typical slashdot...

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