During some discussion at work today, we were discussing technology as a whole and the parts it played in our lives. Technology to me has always been the never ending puzzle I constantly try to solve; just when I figure one thing out I usually uncover more things to solve. I'm a learner, but I also love to apply what I learn to something that will make it worth while or make a difference.
My life, and the people who have been it, have seen the ugliness of cancer. It's taken both of my Paternal grandparents, and almost my Aunt (15+ year survivor). The worst for me was as a child seeing my grandmother, who was always very stoic, slowly get eaten away. Sheer stubbornness in the face of adversity always seems to be a hallmark of our family. My grandfather, also a life lost to the disease, always told people the missing part of his leg was due to a shark-bite while saving a damsel in distress. This was a man who won two bronze stars, and fought in some of the worst battles of WW2, and never said a word of it to his family. Like my grandmother, he also was slowly eaten by cancer, as well as other complications that caused his situation to worsen. He was 6'2" and 210 LBS before he got sick. He ended up being 5'3" and 130 LBS when he died.
I've done research in the past for a program called Folding@home. This is a project hosted by Stanford University, and is a program that borrows computer power from regular users to help solve complex data that helps the research of various genetic diseases. These include many forms of Cancer, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, as well as other symptoms and issues. They've tested several new methods and compounds due to the research done from this project and the donated computing power of users.
This is where the lightbulb clicked on in my head. I can use this as an outlet for my tech savvy, but also as an advocacy for a cause I believe heavily in. Paired with a new found knowledge of how things work and what would be involved with such a project, I think it would definitely be worthwhile. I just need the interest (and funding) to support it.
So without further ado, I announce
Project: Kick Cancer's Ass
Here's what I need to get:
- A server with a bunch of processing power to do the work for the Folding@home packages sent
- Hosting the server in a Datacenter
The raw number i've come up with is $4-5,000
I'm gonna host this project on Crowdrise.com to get possible funding and see if it would be viable. Of course, I'll do some more number crunching and see what will gather the most project interest. So, i'll be doing some market research as well.
Wish me luck, this is just the beginning!
