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olePigeon · Dec 2, 2009, 02:54 PM

Alien-Hunting School Employee Resigns - Phoenix News Story - KPHO Phoenix

"We support educational research and certainly would have supported cancer research," said Higley superintendent Denise Birdwell. "However, as an educational institution we do not support the search for E.T."

Laminar · Dec 2, 2009, 03:30 PM

Whoever wrote that article clearly has no understanding of SETI@home.

The Final Dakar · Dec 2, 2009, 03:33 PM

Criminal charges filed? WTF

Doofy · Dec 2, 2009, 03:33 PM

The concept of "irony" not quite made it over there yet then?

SpaceMonkey · Dec 2, 2009, 03:37 PM

My favorite line is that he resigned after "allegedly downloading software that seeks out alien life forms." Somehow they made SETI@home sound retarded.

Nevertheless, I'm sure he violated some sort of school IT policy.

The Final Dakar · Dec 2, 2009, 03:39 PM

Except the previous administration supposedly signed off on it.

Laminar · Dec 2, 2009, 03:43 PM

I'm also really glad that they were able to calculate the cost of running SETI@Home on all of those computers for that amount of time.

SpaceMonkey · Dec 2, 2009, 03:45 PM

Originally Posted by The Final Dakar

Except the previous administration supposedly signed off on it.

And he supposedly "has better things to do to than look for aliens," too.

analogue SPRINKLES · Dec 2, 2009, 05:02 PM

I say he is at fault for installing any sort of software onto 5000 computers without asking and costing a ton of money in electrical bills and dead hard drives.

The Final Dakar · Dec 2, 2009, 05:04 PM

Originally Posted by analogue SPRINKLES

I say he is at fault for installing any sort of software onto 5000 computers without asking and costing a ton of money in electrical bills and dead hard drives.

Originally Posted by The Final Dakar

Except the previous administration supposedly signed off on it.

Do you people read?

Chuckit · Dec 2, 2009, 05:18 PM

Originally Posted by analogue SPRINKLES

I say he is at fault for installing any sort of software onto 5000 computers without asking and costing a ton of money in electrical bills and dead hard drives.

LOLWUT

Show of hands: How many people here have had their hard drives killed by SETI@Home?

Doofy · Dec 2, 2009, 05:20 PM

Originally Posted by Chuckit

Show of hands: How many people here have had their hard drives killed by SETI@Home?

</raises hand>
No, not really.

JoshuaZ · Dec 2, 2009, 05:56 PM

I guess they could argue that he did waste power and that it might have contributed to additional hardware replacements.

But on that same note... most schools have 'exclusive' deals with its computer supplier and have very extensive warranty systems setup. For example my college IT department ran its computers on a four year replacement cycle from a horrible no name computer company because it provided complete warranty for four years. Sure they broke down a lot, but they were always fixed for 'free.'

Plus from what I see in a junior high school every day, SETI is the LEAST destructive thing using those computers.

(Hell in my high school, years and years ago, they had to glue the mice shut because people kept stealing the balls. Then they complained about the high cost of replacing the mice because they got so insanely dirty that they wouldn't work. )

JoshuaZ · Dec 2, 2009, 06:11 PM

Oh, I'd also like to point out that in EVERY computer lab I've EVER seen at a public school, computers are shut off when not in use BECAUSE the school system wants to save power. So I don't see how SETI was using extra power... unless you count the time between classes or something.

(Another fun high school story. My high school got a 'special' rate for power from the local power company. In exchange, if the grid was ever maxed out the school would shut off everything electric. Meaning lights and computers and air con. When did the grid max out? At the beginning of summer and the end of summer. I can't tell you how many classes I had to sit in with no frickin lights on.)

Eug · 08:24 PM

It killed one of my CPUs.

I never run that stuff anymore.

P.S. In a small form factor computer, heat can most definitely kill a hard drive, but then again it might kill other stuff in the computer first.

Originally Posted by JoshuaZ

Oh, I'd also like to point out that in EVERY computer lab I've EVER seen at a public school, computers are shut off when not in use BECAUSE the school system wants to save power. So I don't see how SETI was using extra power... unless you count the time between classes or something.

Err... More computing = more power. Do you really not see that?

For example, my iMac uses 100 Watts MORE at full tilt than at idle.

Let's say it was just 25 Watts more, perhaps 5 extra hours per day.

25 Watts x 5 hours x 5000 computers = 625 kilowatt-hours extra per day. At say 4¢ per kilowatt hour (which is low), that's $25 per day. Over 10 years, that's over $90000, not counting hardware failures.

JoshuaZ · Dec 2, 2009, 08:34 PM

Five hours would be pushing it, as SETI is a screen saver. Especially if it was a public school computer lab. Those things are in use nearly all day.

Must we also forget that the guy had permission from the previous administration?

And again, hardware failure was probably covered under the massive warranty they have with whoever supplies their computers. (As I said before school systems usually get massive warranty coverage for their computers thanks to nice bulk purchases they do)

Eug · Dec 2, 2009, 10:05 PM

I betcha he just conveniently forgot to tell his new bosses when the administration switched. 5000 computers isn't something to sneeze at.

My university computer lab was open 24/7. People were on the machines 24/7 too, BUT most of the time the computers were near idle or running basic apps like word processing, coding apps, etc. We're talking 5% to 75% CPU usage. When SETI@Home is running the CPU is pegged at 100% all the time.

In fact, these apps are used by geeks in combination with other apps to test CPU stability. It's very easy for a computer to run business apps all day long, even if the CPU is marginal. However, you run these apps for 15 minutes, and a marginal CPU will crash. The reason is because all the extra work generates more heat, putting the CPUs under stress. Where does all that extra heat come from? Electricity of course.

The other thing to remember is that people don't run this program to find aliens. They run it to get work units done, adding to their user score, and therefore elevate themselves in the ranks. A person with 5000 computers would do very well in the rankings.

It also should be pointed out that even if stuff is under warranty, it still takes a lot of hours for the IT dept. to troubleshoot failing or failed computers. Is it memory? Is it the CPU? Is it the motherboard? If it's the CPU, who's going to do the CPU swap? Cloning the user data? Etc. etc.

olePigeon · Dec 2, 2009, 10:51 PM

Originally Posted by Eug

It also should be pointed out that even if stuff is under warranty, it still takes a lot of hours for the IT dept. to troubleshoot failing or failed computers. Is it memory? Is it the CPU? Is it the motherboard? If it's the CPU, who's going to do the CPU swap? Cloning the user data? Etc. etc.

I bind a new machine to my server and run Time Machine. Why, how do they do it on Windows?

olePigeon · Dec 2, 2009, 10:55 PM

I'm just amazed it took them 10 years to figure it out.

Eug · 11:17 PM

Originally Posted by olePigeon

I bind a new machine to my server and run Time Machine. Why, how do they do it on Windows?

To comment on the obvious...

Do you expect the average user to self-administer a fresh new replacement computer?

Or are you suggesting you're the admin doing that work and your time is worthless?