Between the Spaces

Since the website was not allowing logins even a few days after it’s gate’s were supposedly open, I had not checked back until today.  w00t!  They’re finally able to let us in.  I, of all people as a web developer, should understand the inescapable detrament of an insufficient web server, incapable of the load that is being thrown at it.

Nevertheless, I have been playing with the VM (Virtual Microscope) for the past 30 minutes or so and it’s actually a lot of fun.  I feel like I’m actually helping the project.

In the mere 30 minutes that I’ve been analyzing these movies (the slides), I’ve gone through 37.  Of these 37, 12 were Calibration Movies.  It’s not that difficult, turns out.  I have an accuracy score of 100% so far.  More to come, I’m sure…

The Stardust@Home project is less than a half hour away from opening their doors for the initial tutorial (available now), testing (which is not currently available) and finally, registration!

Per an e-mail I just received:

“We announce the launch of the Stardust@home project.  Data will be available starting at 11 am Pacific Daylight Time (1800 GMT),
Tuesday, August 1, 2006.”

And a little information on how it works:

“When a hypervelocity particle enters the top surface of an aerogel collector, it makes a track many times its own size as it slows and stops in the aerogel.

The particles themselves are too small to see. You will be using a Virtual Microscope (VM) to look for the tracks made by the particles rather than the particles themselves. The tracks are just below the surface of the aerogel.”

A sample slide used in the tutorial

So, if I were to give a suggestion about this to you, it would be this: “Check it out now, funk soul brother.” I’d at least suggest reading the About page!! In fact, the site just became unavailable as I am writing this… It’s starting… it’s all starting!!