Help Fight Cancer & Win a 3 month OLS premium membership

As many of you may already know, our site has a United Devices distributed computing team. Those of us who participate install a program on our computer(s) that crunches data that helps researchers search for drugs to treat cancer. By splitting amazingly complex problems up into tiny work units, and dividing those work units among millions of personal computers, researchers are able to do things today that were impossible to even imagine until recently.

Grid.org (United Devices)
http://www.grid.org/

Online-Sweepstakes.com Team Page (click to join)
http://www.grid.org/services/teams/t...E-3132B0D67079

Top 1000 UD Teams
http://www.statsman.info/udstats/html/

Online-Sweepstakes.com Team Stats (another source)
http://www.statsman.info/udstats/html/1800.html

Our own self-maintained stats page in the Announcement forum (updated every week or two)
http://www.online-sweepstakes.com/fo...ad.php?t=45426


Here's a great article about distributed (or grid) computing in general. United Devices is mentioned specifically:

Virtual Supercomputers Join Hunt for New Drugs
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmp...c&sid=95573503

"When you turn on so much power, science guys who have limited their science based on real budgets and departmental boundaries and everything else really have to rethink what is truly possible," said Paul Kirchoff, vice president of marketing at United Devices, a Texas firm whose software makes grids run. United Devices (UD) rents out time on a commercial grid which it assembled from 7,000 personal computers, a network that Kirchoff said ranked among the world's top eight supercomputers. That is dwarfed by the 2.5 million computers hooked up to a global grid (www.grid.org) run by UD that crunches numbers for purely humanitarian causes, including the search for drugs to treat cancer, smallpox and anthrax. A lot of the grid's machines -- half at big companies, half in individual homes or offices -- get turned off at night or are portables that go on or off the network, Kirchoff said, but the grid in theory has peak power of just over three petaFLOPS. "To put that into perspective, it would be about 23 times the top 10 supercomputers in the world combined in terms of power. It is truly phenomenal," he said. UD accepts only non-commercial projects for that giant grid, which depends on corporate sponsors to help defray costs. The grid approach works especially well for screening tens of millions of known chemicals compounds to see if their shape lets them attach themselves to -- and thus effectively switch off -- proteins that are known to cause disease. This whittles down huge chemical libraries to a few dozen promising compounds to be tested in animals and humans. The grid.org search for smallpox drugs, for example, reduced Oxford University's library of 35 million compounds to 45 likely molecules in five months, a task that would have cost up to $75 million on the cheapest conventional hardware, Kirchoff said.

I don't know about anybody else, but I feel very proud of ourselves for participating. As a team, we have combined for more than 90 years of CPU time, more than 70,000 work units completed, and more than 13,500,000 points which currently ranks us #129 out of 38,000+ teams. On any given day, our team alone is responsible for about 1 out of every 1,000 hours of CPU time, points and results returned over the entire grid- a fairly significant contribution, IMO.

Half of our points come from one person, firehawk915 who installed the UD Agent on a whole network of computers (100+) he administers at a school district. Currently, 200,000 of the ~300,000 points our team earns in a typical week come from firehawk915 alone. The rest of us are only pulling in about 100,000 points a week combined.

It's a good cause and I'd like to see our team continue to move up strongly in the rankings. In order to encourage more people to join our team and as a way of saying thanks to everyone who participates, I'm going to start giving away a 3 month OLS membership once a week to an active team member.

Every Sunday night, I'm going to randomly select a team member. Then, using the publicly available stats on the UD web site (Grid.org), I'm going to check and see if that team member has returned a result (work unit) in the last 2 weeks (the last 336 hours). If they have, that member will win a 3 month OLS membership. If not, another team member will be randomly selected. The process will continue until a winner is found. The weekly winner's name will be posted in the Announcement forum underneath this original post and will have 1 year to claim their prize by sending me a PM.

Sound good?


Online-Sweepstakes.com Team Page (click to join)
http://www.grid.org/services/teams/t...E-3132B0D67079


How to Join Instructions (thanks to amann1 & Dreama):
1. Go to http://www.grid.org/services/teams/t...E-3132B0D67079
2. On the left-hand side, click on Join Grid.org Now and download and install the software.
3. Register using the screen that pops up after you install.
4. Then go back to the OLS team page and click on the Join This Team link.


To discuss this post please go here:
http://www.online-sweepstakes.com/fo...d.php?t=118976


Brent

Drawing Date - UD username ~ OLS username [once claimed]


3/21/2004 - twoplants ~ quantum
3/28 - MonCherie ~ MonCherie
4/4 - Styflan ~ Styflan
4/11 - Susitravl ~ susitravl
4/18 - Rikostan
4/25 - LauraS

5/2 - Xanax* ~ Xanax
5/9 - amyann16 ~ amyann16
5/16 - midnite_a ~ midnite_a
5/23 - Linda Ballard
5/30 - Dolphee ~ dolphee

6/6 - Debs_SC
6/13 - binski33 ~ binski
6/20 - terrigogo ~ territot
6/27 - debbies

7/4 - stewystarr ~ stewystarr
7/11 - detweilermom
7/18 - gflsilver ~ Silver
7/25 - firehawk915 ~ Firehawk915

8/1 - heiblume ~ heiblume
8/8 - Dolphee ~ dolphee
8/15 - jrg635 ~ jrg635
8/22 - redjen ~ redjen
8/29 - gbred ~ gbred

9/5 - redjen ~ redjen
9/12 - jasonchicago ~ jasonchicago
9/19 - Styflan ~ Styflan
9/26 - jst0269

10/3 - sunlife9
10/10 - Susitravl ~ susitravl
10/17 - lindydnil ~ lindydnil
10/24 - April Vrugtman
10/31 - Mythadical ~ Mythadical

11/7 - akellyacct ~ akellyacct
11/14 - heiblume ~ heiblume
11/21 - twoplants ~ quantum
11/28 - akellyacct ~ akellyacct

12/5 - kiertred
12/12 - Judy004 ~ Judy004
12/19 - curtis36
12/26 - beebopjkm ~ beebopjkm

-------------------------------------------------

1/2/2005 - Indy1212 ~ Indy
1/9 - Dolphee ~ dolphee
1/16 - slcrose ~ SLCRose
1/23 - Susitravl ~ susitravl
1/30 - awayfrmitall ~ awayfrmitall

2/6 - tfacey ~ tfacey
2/13 - Chancoli ~ Chancoli
2/20 - auntputz ~ auntputz
2/27 - Pambanter ~ pambanter

3/6 - beebopjkm ~ beebopjkm
3/13 - fruity40 ~ fruity40
3/20 - Mythadical ~ Mythadical
3/27 - mkeith911

4/3 - heycraig
4/10 - Tjwor ~ Tjwor
4/17 - erinjoi
4/24 - rockysjewel ~ RockysJewel

5/1 - Sweethart79 ~ Sweethart79
5/8 - wss4 ~ wss4
5/15 - overkillgirl ~ overkillgirl
5/22 - rikwrybac ~ rikwrybac
5/29 - cirqueskier

6/5 - cathugz ~ straycat
6/12 - detweilermom
6/19 - BTFLRSBD ~ jeanniemarie
6/26 - Willitara

7/3 - smellycat00 ~ smellycat
7/10 - kiertred
7/17 - MonCherie
7/24 - starry1st ~ starry1st
7/31 - tfacey ~ tfacey

8/7 - overkillgirl ~ overkillgirl
8/14 - josiern
8/21 - CatLover26 ~ CatLover
8/28 - elfburn ~ elfburn

9/4 - SuzieBee20 ~ suziebee20
9/11 - Susanspry ~ susanspry
9/18 - venus_de_milo ~ venus_de_milo
9/25 - kiertred

10/2 - erinjoi
10/9 - redjen ~ redjen
10/16 - TammyLyne ~ Tammylyne
10/23 - bbbwalker ~ bbbwalker
10/30 - rikwrybac ~ rikwrybac

11/6 - sweeppanda ~ sweeppanda
11/13 - cord1466 ~ cord1466
11/20 - pisces12 ~ pisces12
11/27 - clebar ~ clebar

12/4 - joe55555 ~ joe55555
12/11 - Smitchathome ~ smitchathome
12/18 - babyboo099 ~ babyboo099
12/25 - pisces12 ~ pisces12

-------------------------------------------------

1/2/2006 - dolphee ~ dolphee
1/9 - erinjoi
1/16 - duknuk ~ duknuk
1/23 - akellyacct ~ akellyacct
1/30 - Dobies2005 ~ Dobies

2/6 - clebar ~ clebar
2/13 - jrg635 ~ jrg635
2/20 - juspeachi ~ juspeachi
2/27 - chefflizz ~ chefflizz

3/6 - Cugirl ~ CUgirl
3/13 - clebar ~ clebar
3/20 - lfainma ~ lfainma
3/27 - ktfusa2000 ~ ktfusa2000

4/3 - lmdurham ~ Leon
4/10 - bojotx ~ bojotx
4/17 - Dobies2005 ~ Dobies
4/24 - vcwins ~ Vicky

5/1 - lilyk ~ lilyk
5/8 - cord1466 ~ cord1466
5/15 - twoplants ~ quantum
5/22 - joe55555 ~ joe55555
5/29 - ljjeffrey ~ kmg365

6/5 - Markslady ~ Markslady
6/12 - Melissa1959 ~ melissa1959
6/19 - torioloco ~ torioloco
6/26 - ktfusa2000 ~ ktfusa2000

7/3 - Indy1212
7/10 - claytaylor ~ claytaylor
7/17 - amann1work ~ amann1
7/24 - itsmej ~ ItsMe
7/31 - M Segars ~ Embee

8/7 - robotmad
8/14 - joolzie ~ joolzie
8/21 - tjbinno ~ tjbinno
8/28 - Mythadical ~ Mythadical

9/4 - clebar ~ clebar
9/11 - mallory miller ~ malobx
9/18 - luvs2win ~ Luvs2Win
9/25 - Tjwor ~ Tjwor

10/2 - JustGeek2U ~ JustGeek2U
10/9 - Maxner ~ Tesla
10/16 - luvs2win ~ Luvs2Win
10/23 - debbielaptop
10/30 - Darbygill ~ Darbygill

11/6 - debbielaptop
11/13 - ljjeffrey ~ kmg365
11/20 - Leah Be ~ JustBe
11/27 - angi261 ~ angi261

12/4 - robotmad
12/11 - bmerrell1224 ~ bmerrell1224
12/18 - pisces12 ~ pisces12
12/25 - DragSweep ~ dragsweep

-------------------------------------------------

1/1/2007 - ljjeffrey ~ kmg365
1/8 - gcomstock1_ ~ gcomstock
1/15 - lfainma ~ lfainma
1/22 - ky2here ~ ky2here
1/29 - Jkloosterman ~ jkloosterman

2/5 - Markslady ~ Markslady
2/12 - alliecorey
2/19 - scanrps2 ~ scanrps
2/26 - Susanspry

3/5 - jrg635
3/12 - Tracyb107 ~ tracyb107
3/19 - amann1work
3/26 - eerienight

4/2 - Delilya ~ delilya
4/9 - clallen1971 ~ clallen1971
4/16 - cord1466 ~ cord1466


Congratulations to all winners!



To claim your prize, a 3-month premium subscription, send a PM (private message) to Brent with PRIZE CLAIM in the subject line. Please include your United Devices username. If you would like to transfer your prize to another OLS member, you must include their username along with your PRIZE CLAIM. Winners have up to one (1) year following the drawing date to claim their prize.

Just to bring it to everyone's attention, new winners have been drawn.

Brent

..

Out of the 442 OLS UD team members, at most there are only about 100 eligible to win this drawing each week (to win, you must have returned a result within the last 2 weeks or so). Every week, I have to draw ~5 names before I find a winner. There are several members who have won several times.

With about 100 eligible members and 52 drawings a year, the odds of winning are very good for anyone who's actively participating.

Don't forget that you can also help science search for a cure for cancer at the same time. Now that's what I call a win-win situation!

And all you really have to do is sign-up and forget about it:

Detailed How to Join Instructions (thanks to amann1 & Dreama):
1. Go to http://www.grid.org/services/teams/t...E-3132B0D67079
2. On the left-hand side, click on Join Grid.org Now and download and install the software.
3. Register using the screen that pops up after you install.
4. Then go back to the OLS team page and click on the Join This Team link.