Brainstorm! (But I Need Help ...)

[Alan C. Lawhon]

I've just had a stroke of near genius! The icrontic.com "Team 93" flash video that mmonnin posted a few days ago.

http://icrontic.com/files/team93/videos/foldflash2.html

There's a local university close to where I live. (I took many of my undergraduate classes there 35 years ago.) The Student Union and the break area of the library are full of college age students. Most of these students are sitting around tables with their computers plugged in. So what do I do? I bring my notebook computer with me, sit down at a table and power it up, then invite a bunch of students to gather around me by proclaiming: "Hey, take a look at this!" I then proceed to show them the Team 93 flash video - which just happens to have been downloaded to my computer's [Windows XP] desktop. After they watch the video and (hopefully) say things like "Wow, that's neat!" I pass out copies of the "business card" I'm fixing to have printed. (Of course I'll point out that the web address to the flash video is right there on the card - along with the FAH home page URL.)

I've been in the Student Union (and the library) when there were fifty to a hundred students, so there's a gold mine of potential folders. There's only one little problem ... I'm such a klutz that I don't know how to get the Team 93 flash video downloaded from the internet to my computer's desktop. (Hey, give me a break! I'm not as "software savvy" as you younger folks. I'm almost 60 years old, so I'm doing the best I can ...)

So I need help - as in "How do I get the icrontic.com "Team 93" flash video from the internet down to my desktop so that I can double-click an icon [on my desktop] and have the video run from my computer? (I need simple step-by-step instructions.)

[bollix47]

In IE you can click on the tool button (looks like a gear) and select File > Save as.

In Firefox you can right-click near the edge of the screen and select View Page Info. In the box that appears select the Media tab and Save as.

[Alan C. Lawhon]

Thanks bollix. (I'm embarrassed I couldn't figure that out.)

[k1wi]

Knowing university students I wonder whether this will work in such an ad-hoc manner. There could well be a generation gap...

You might do better to post flyers around campus or place something to the student newspaper (placements are often free or cheap if the cause is just). Developing a 'student group/club' would be possibly more beneficial as they can often gain university funding if they have enough members, and students are more motivated by fellow students than older members of the general public.

Just thinking like the student in his 20s that I am (granted a little past undergrad now).

[Alan C. Lawhon]

Knowing university students I wonder whether this will work in such an ad-hoc manner. There could well be a generation gap...

You might do better to post flyers around campus or place something to the student newspaper (placements are often free or cheap if the cause is just). Developing a 'student group/club' would be possibly more beneficial as they can often gain university funding if they have enough members, and students are more motivated by fellow students than older members of the general public.

Just thinking like the student in his 20s that I am (granted a little past undergrad now).

k1wi:

I appreciate your "student in his 20s" perspective as I think you're probably right! My perspective on this is I want to do whatever works - whatever gets us new folders. The university has a student newspaper that has been around since the early 1970's. Maybe the best way to approach this is to visit the student newspaper and invite the editor out to lunch. I'll explain what Folding@Home is about and offer to write an article that can be published in the paper. In fact, to avoid this "generation gap" thing, I can offer to write the article anonymously - or have it published as a general interest type article by one of the students on the newspaper's staff. (I don't care about taking credit or blowing my own horn - I just want new folders.) If the editor allows me to write a general article, I'll compose a draft and run it by you first. I'll post the draft in this thread and be sure to emphasize that students can form their own team - or even a team specific to the university. I'll also hope that "bruce" proofreads my draft since I want to avoid any errors or misstatements of fact. (If the editor really likes the article, maybe they'll republish it once a year for incoming freshmen to read.)

This university has several thousand students. (I'm not positive about this, but I think they have an enrollment of between five and ten thousand students.) A lot of those students read the newspaper, so there's a potential to pick up hundreds of new folders. Accordingly, this appeal will have to be written very carefully and get our message across in just the right manner. The students at this university are very bright - you have to score high on the ACT and the SAT to be accepted - so I'll have to be careful in how I write the article. (Right off the bat I'm thinking I should incorporate the icrontic "Team 93" video into the article since I have a feeling people - both young and old - who watch that video will be more likely to join the team and become new folders. There should also be links to the Stanford FAH web page as well as the Wikipedia Folding@Home article.) This is something where I will really need constructive comments and criticism (on the draft) from all of you. Considering the potential payoff, we really need to get this nailed down. But I'm getting a little carried away and getting the cart before the horse. I need to have a talk with the newspaper editor first and go from there ...

Thanks for your suggestion. I'm glad you pointed out the thing about the generation gap. When I was 20 I thought people who were 40 were "old" - and now I'm nearly 60! (LOL ...) Hopefully something really good will come of this.