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Attention Alien Hunters: Join Team Macenstein

November 7, 2009 by Dr. Macenstein
Filed under: Aliens are cool, News, Not Mac - But Cool, Slow News Day

Hello there! If you are new here, you might want to subscribe to the RSS feed for updates on this topic.

If there’s one thing we’ve learned from Hollywood, it’s that aliens are always friendly. And as someone who has been unable to make HUMAN friends, I’ve recently cast my lonely gaze skyward, in hopes of finding someone who shares my love of tech, my obsession with cheeseballs, and who can help me build my own light saber. So I decided to join the SETI@home program, which, for those of you who are unfamiliar, is a scientific experiment run by the University of Berkeley that uses Internet-connected computers in the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI). I assume the ultimate goal is to detect aliens so we can sneak up on them and steal their space oil, but I’m hoping to make a friend or two as well.

Basically the deal is you sign up, download the SETI program BOINC, and then set your computer to help search for ET whenever it is idle. You have full control over how much computing power you let SETI use, and when it uses it. So for instance, you can set it to only run at night, or you can set it to run whenver the Seti Screensaver runs. It’s up to you.

Never one to do anything half-assed (well, OK, I do everything half-assed) I decided to start my own Seti Team. So far the team consists of me and one faithful reader from the UK, Mr. Billy Cape of Yorkshire on Pudding. But I hoping by reaching out to my vast readership, we can make that number DOUBLE. So sign up (takes 1 minute) and join Team Macenstein. I have a feeling when we find alien life, everyone in the program gets a free jetpack or sex robot or some such other technological space wonder, so sign up now! (CLICK HERE TO JOIN OUR TEAM).

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OK, well if you are having trouble figuring out how to join our team, do this
1 - sign up, download the BOINC app.
2- give it an e-mail address and a password
3- launch it, and choose the SETI@HOME project under “attach project”
4 - Next, go here “http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/team.php”
5 - Search for “macenstein”
6 - Click JOIN TEAM (you’ll need to be logged into the SETI@home page first with the e-mail and password you set up in BOINC)

Every time you submit our site, an Angel gets its wings.

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Comments

8 Comments on Attention Alien Hunters: Join Team Macenstein

imalk13 on Sat, 7th Nov 2009 11:36 pm

doc…how do we join? there’s no way to join on the website.

Aldo Johnson on Sun, 8th Nov 2009 7:00 am

Sorry, I’m battling a bout of cold right now… how do I join the team? There is no “Join This Team” button on the team’s page?

Billy Boyd Cape on Sun, 8th Nov 2009 7:40 am

Well now I just really want a Yorkshire Pudding!
Thanks for the shout-out!

Dr. Macenstein on Sun, 8th Nov 2009 9:00 am

Thanks guys!
- The Doc

wigwamman on Tue, 10th Nov 2009 4:28 am

mmm. Yorkshire Puddings……. Still doesn’t beat a good old Lancashire Hotpot though!

m4tt on Tue, 10th Nov 2009 9:15 am

i got your back mac….i forgot how many packets i had done.

Frogmella on Tue, 10th Nov 2009 5:08 pm

If you’d really like to do something worthwhile with your Mac… SWITCH IT OFF! Leaving it running burns up precious fossil fuels, and contributes to greenhouse gas emissions. Set Energy Saver to sleep when its idle, or better still shut it down.

Teegan on Thu, 12th Nov 2009 5:17 pm

Frogmella’s comment FTW!

SETI is an, old, stupid program that will not achieve it’s goal - until humans are the intelligent life it’s finding…..life which may not be too intelligent….

Sorry folks, this just seems like a colossal waste of bandwidth and electricity.

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