Friday, December 12, 2008

The Easiest Way to Help Find a Cure


Hi Folks! Feel the urge to somehow ‘give back’ to humanity, but simply don’t have the time? Got a computer that’s powered on most of the day, but not always in use? Then let your computer(s) donate their time instead! Step on up and join The Unreal OC team on World Community Grid.

If you're already a member of WCG and want to join The Unreal OC team, then click HERE.

If you'd like to join WCG and become a team member of The Unreal OC, click HERE.

World Community Grid's mission is to create the largest public computing grid benefiting humanity. Donate the time your computer is turned on, but is idle, to projects that benefit humanity! The WCG (World Community Grid) provides the secure software that does it all for free, and you become part of a community that is helping to change the world. Once you install the software, you will be participating in World Community Grid. No other action must be taken; it's that simple!

As of this posting, there are over 417,000 members of WCG with over 1,130,000 devices (computers) donating time on the network, worldwide.

Ema and I are donating CPU cycles during the times our three home computers are on, but not in use, to Help Conquer Cancer, which is just one of the programs offered through the WCG. But, as you’ll see from the WCG Web site, there are other humanitarian and scientific projects that you can choose from as well.

Choose your cause, download the free software, and you’ll automatically become a member of The Unreal OC team!

I’ll post periodic status reports on this blog, but you can also visit the WCG site anytime to see how our team is doing and to check your individual contribution.

And by the way – tell a friend! Anyone can join WCG, and The Unreal OC team. Once we get about a dozen members we can join in on team challenges, but more on that later.

Ema and I will be talking more about this during our next podcast, but you can also send us an email with any questions and we’ll be happy to help.

Thanks!

~Tom


How Grid Technology Works
Making a difference has never been easier! Grid technology is simple and safe to use. To start, you register, then download and install a small program or "agent" onto your computer.

When idle, your computer will request data on a specific project from World Community Grid's server. It will then perform computations on this data, send the results back to the server, and ask the server for a new piece of work. Each computation that your computer performs provides scientists with critical information that accelerates the pace of research!

World Community Grid runs on software called BOINC (Berkeley Open Infrastructure for Network Computing,) developed at University of California, Berkeley, USA with funding from NSF (National Science Foundation).

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Wound Care - Looking Better Day by Day

That's the medi-cart that our wound care nurse brings with her each week. It's been seven months now since Ema's last operation. Just a little clue as to how long it takes for an open wound to heal after the area has been exposed to radiation therapy. The pain isn't as severe as it was a month ago - thank God for that. Her leg is still swollen though and the venous return issue is still with us. Fluid can't return up the leg like it once did, so it causes swelling throughout the feet and ankle. Elevating the leg helps some, but as soon as she stands up the swelling starts again. This is a long-term issue, and we hope to get physical therapy after the wound heals completely.

If you're at all interested in listening to Ema and I bantering about her cancer battle, and our lives in general, check out The Unreal OC.

Back soon - Tom