Why I Fold.... Why Do You Fold?

[IanY]

Sorry this gets a little personal and teary eyed.

My beloved mother has advanced Alzheimer's. She is now 68 years old. She doesn't recognize anyone in the family and is frail. The first signs of Alzheimer's occurred very young in her late 30s to early 40s. The rate of progression was phenomenal and it wiped out the prime years of her life. I am myself entering my mid 40s and I am a prime candidate because Alzheimer's is genetic.

My son has a genetic kidney disease and received a kidney transplant when he was 10 months old. My wife gave my son her right kidney. My son is now 11 years old. Ironically, the hospital/people who transplanted my son and save his life were at.. Stanford.

Sorry that I felt compelled to share my story. Thanks for hearing me out.

[Movieman]

Iany: You have my sympathy.
I saw my grandmother die from cancer in 1966. A nasty death that I wouldn't wish on anyone.
I run WCG, a bit different than F@H but in many ways the same.
I've run F@H here to help the team a bit and what they do here has my utmost respect.
My best to you and your Mom..

[SparkyJJO]

My dad had cancer once, thankfully was cured. I was really little when he had it, I don't even remember. But my mom was worried that I'd grow up without a dad.

The pastor's wife of the church that my dad grew up in was killed by cancer. About a year ago the man who was sort of a second father to my dad died from cancer.

That is why I fold.

[Chapper]

My mother got alzheimers in her 70's & lived to be 85 with her last 5 years or so with virtually no awareness. Otherwise she was in good health. She died in her sleep peacefully. My sister and I looked after at her home till it simply became impossible. The constant pain & gut wrenching sadness of seeing the disease progress was as hard to bare as I hope anything in my life could be so my heart truly goes out to you. I'm tearful now just thinking about it.
Having experienced this is undoubtedly the main reason I'm folding for Stanford.
My prayers for you & your family & wish you much courage.

[citat3962]

Gramps had Alzheimer's and Parkinsons

Dads mom had skin cancer

I had testicular cancer

My brother has cystic fibrosis

Could I HAVE more reasons to fold??

Best of luck to you, your mother and son.

[phelan1777]

not so much personal, but as it is a good cause, because I can do something, that might make a positive difference...........maybe in the Karma aspect offset, some/all my screw ups in my past.

[IanY]

The Force be with all of you and give y'all the courage to face all adversity.

[jimwah]

My Grandfather died of cancer long before I was born, when my Dad was just 12. My Uncle was diagnosed with cancer when I was a nipper, I thought he'd just shaved his head for for the sake of a different hairstyle, but later learnt the real reason - after some years of treatment he has fortunately made a good recovery. Also more recently, FemFolder at EOC folding team, has reminded me why we do this. Best wishes Fem :up:

Fold on.

[embeejay]

I am truely sorry if this feels cold and heartless, but the only thing i really feel I have to offer in this situation (besides my most heartfelt, albeit useless, sympathy) is honesty.
The reasons I fold is that I am a sucker for stats - although I recognize that folding is a very good thing for humankind, I am doubtfull that I would participate if it wasn't for the stats (please remember I am being brutally honest right now - please don't hate me for it) - I am not proud of this fact, but I don't know what else to say. Your stories move me, but I have nothing similar to retaliate with.

[IanY]

I am truely sorry if this feels cold and heartless, but the only thing i really feel I have to offer in this situation (besides my most heartfelt, albeit useless, sympathy) is honesty.
The reasons I fold is that I am a sucker for stats - although I recognize that folding is a very good thing for humankind, I am doubtfull that I would participate if it wasn't for the stats (please remember I am being brutally honest right now - please don't hate me for it) - I am not proud of this fact, but I don't know what else to say. Your stories move me, but I have nothing similar to retaliate with.

Your honesty is extremely refreshing and you have my utmost compliments.

[SparkyJJO]

I am truely sorry if this feels cold and heartless, but the only thing i really feel I have to offer in this situation (besides my most heartfelt, albeit useless, sympathy) is honesty.
The reasons I fold is that I am a sucker for stats - although I recognize that folding is a very good thing for humankind, I am doubtfull that I would participate if it wasn't for the stats (please remember I am being brutally honest right now - please don't hate me for it) - I am not proud of this fact, but I don't know what else to say. Your stories move me, but I have nothing similar to retaliate with.

Don't feel bad about it, I am almost certain that most folders fold for the same reason. Stanford and the others know this, that is why they have the point system. I have a more personal reason to fold that I mentioned above, but I like the stats too :D My guess is that most of us wouldn't have the extra dedicated crunchers if it wasn't for the stats. I probably wouldn't, I'd just fold on my main rig. The stats are what makes all this fun (and makes us spend extra money lol).

Just think though, you may be folding for the stats, but you could be playing a part in something that could finally find a cure for some disease :toast:

[mad mikee]

I speak as Mad MikeE, just a component of XSTM, not the whole thing.

I feel that sharing my resources w/ various endeavors is a good idea while prices on raw materials (HW + electricity) are w/in my budget.

If some of my resources help to actually do something useful like saving people or giving insight into our universe in some way (which may also save people in the long run), that will also be good!.

The stats are fun also, but I use them mainly as an indicator of where I should be now.

F@H is where I am now, and XSTM is just our 'portfolio' of interesting projects for now, and can change @ any time, just like the rest of life's priorities :shrug:

[angra]

Well, I'm not quite as noble as some, but it's not quite just "points" for me.

I have the resources via my job - I do research involving ways to make commodity (i.e. PC) computing platforms usable for high performance computing, so I have a need for a decent number of relatively modern PC type compute systems for my work.

Since my computing resources are for software research rather than for running some huge app 24/7, they are idle a large portion of their life...so I have the resources, and rather than letting them sit in a corner useless while idle, I run F@H to do something useful. I picked F@H because I know several Stanford people (students and professors), and I trust Stanford to use the resources I provide wisely and for the benefit of humanity rather than to profit some specific company or people.

I assign my points to XS because I like XS as a community (though to be honest, I have to say this has faded a bit - topic for another post), and especially because I like the other people in the F@H team. We're not as boisterous as the WCG and other sub-communities, but I have always felt like the F@H people really felt like "my people" (ps I really miss UnG, I wonder whatever happened to him :( ).

I too have family and friends that have been killed by the diseases we hope to tackle with all of this, but for some reason, that doesn't really affect my drive to donate. I guess I feel like even my donation (regularly in the top 50 individually per day projet-wide) is such a small piece of the overall research that it doesn't feel like it makes an appreciable dent in the science. I think that Stanford could do a lot to cater to this issue, but that too is a topic for another post. This may also be impacted a bit by the fact that I am more optimistic of humanity-wide positive impact via my day job :).

I think all of the reasons and movitations mentioned in this thread are valid and commendable btw. The ultimate result is more and better science, no matter what drives any individual contributor. I think that personal satisfaction and gain are perfectly good and important motivators to the bulk of human advancement throughout the ages...

[[XC] moddolicous]

I am truely sorry if this feels cold and heartless, but the only thing i really feel I have to offer in this situation (besides my most heartfelt, albeit useless, sympathy) is honesty.
The reasons I fold is that I am a sucker for stats - although I recognize that folding is a very good thing for humankind, I am doubtfull that I would participate if it wasn't for the stats (please remember I am being brutally honest right now - please don't hate me for it) - I am not proud of this fact, but I don't know what else to say. Your stories move me, but I have nothing similar to retaliate with.
Your not the only on embeejay. That is the main reason I started actually. I was looking around the D2OL forums and it sounded like a fun competition. I realize that it is ultimately to get rid of diseases, but without the stats / competition aspect, I may never have joined. If the stats were to stop now though, I would still keep them running.

[phelan1777]

Yeah I have to chime in, I first started with F@H when I was on Sharlys Forum, and on Sharkys team, but I switched to XS and joined the team, but that fact that me, with one computer could potentially have a HUGE change on lives of others also got my attention more, more so then how many points I could earn in a day, which as I mention in my earlier post, I could also pay back to others for mistakes I have made in the past with good karma.

[mad mikee]

I remember trying F@H back on my 'new' 486 (guessing around late 90s) to do something w/ the computer (Hadn't heard or even imagined such a thing as XS yet :D)

[Ubermann]

After reading this posts i think life is very unfair!
My family and beyond father and mother is drinking problems and some drugs..almost everyone.
So far all have died of what comes with old age..no hospitals or strange diseases.
I just think its very unfair to the people that live a good life and then get cancer or some other painful death that ruins life long before they die.

[embeejay]

As a sidenote i'd like to mention, this forum is the reason i started folding in the first place.

I originally found this forum while researching my new rig (I'm the kind of person who spends months searching forums on the net for info about the various parts before he buys the hardware for his new rig), but the sense of community in here - the way people talk to each other just made me stay :)

As a long time user of the net (I started years before html was invented, using various bbs sites from dial up connections, later irc, gopher and whatnot) I am used to a much harsher tone that what I found in here, even today I find that this much courtesy between more or less anonymous strangers is far between.

So my reason for folding might be the stats, but it's also this forum - being part of something I respect and contributing to it in this way :)

I can't help but wonder how much better it has been tho from what angra writes - i think it's pretty spectacular as it is, but then i have only been here since October and thus missed the "even better old days" :D

[SparkyJJO]

Yeah I was here after those "good ol' days" as well. My friend - who actually is responsible for getting me folding, BugsBMD here - remembers the days with UnG and all. Guess it was a more lively crowd back then....

[angra]

I should clarify something because I think I implied what isn't true...When I said that my enthusiasm for XS has diminished somewhat, I was not referring to the folding communities at all...really, the hoopy froods in here are what keep me around :).

Sometime around a year ago...maybe 6-9 months...something changed a bit - the overall "vibe" of the community became less respectful and more antagonistic...more flamewars, more brand vs. brand cheerleading...stuff like that. none of that stuff has (as far as I can tell) ever sullied the distributed computing groups, so that's why I still check and participate in XS :).

[jimwah]

Yeah there's some crackpots out there :wth: ...

...I find it's best to stay in the warm & cosy safety of the DC forums :buddies:

[embeejay]

Angra: ahh then i have no trouble following you, i have read around in the other forums in here, but i pretty much stick to this one, for the same reasons you mention :)

[Goshawk]

1st post :)

Honestly, i've had a glut of hardware hanging around and sought to put it to good use while i had it.

My uncle had breast cancer ( yeah, RARE ) fortunatly they were able to remove it and he's been in remission since then.

I've seen people i've known personally for years wither and die from Alzeimers... it's just a horrible way to go, It changes you as a person. all the suffering involved...being left an empty shell of a human... it's heartbreaking.

Every C2D i own, My quad, and soon 3 955XEs are farming WUs for the greater good. I really don't give a rip about the electric bill, so long as stanford and humanity benefit from my crunching.

The points are merely a bonus to me. I see it as a friendly way to talk smack and get folks/rigs fired up. I talked so much smack the other day, my boss came really close to firing up his dual clovertown rig just to PwN me :)




~ Gos

[sc00p]

1st post :)

Honestly, i've had a glut of hardware hanging around and sought to put it to good use while i had it.

My uncle had breast cancer ( yeah, RARE ) fortunatly they were able to remove it and he's been in remission since then.

I've seen people i've known personally for years wither and die from Alzeimers... it's just a horrible way to go, It changes you as a person. all the suffering involved...being left an empty shell of a human... it's heartbreaking.

Every C2D i own, My quad, and soon 3 955XEs are farming WUs for the greater good. I really don't give a rip about the electric bill, so long as stanford and humanity benefit from my crunching.

The points are merely a bonus to me. I see it as a friendly way to talk smack and get folks/rigs fired up. I talked so much smack the other day, my boss came really close to firing up his dual clovertown rig just to PwN me :)




~ Gos

Great 1st post Gos. Great that you broke "radio-silence" as well ;)

Good decision to start F@H. You said Stanford and humanity benefits. I say it's more than that cause Stanford keeps all scientific advances and data public to the whole scientific community (keeping in mind scientific data integrity of cource).


[social pr0n]
Reason I started (&keep folding) is the day it was diagnosed my dad to have Parkinson's disease. Not sure about what's the right title of his profession but I believe it's Master Craftsman. He has been building private (luxury/high quality I might ad) houses for decades
and then the next thing happens: back then we have had been building our own house to our own family for about year and half and my father's condition started downgrade fast. Left foot and right arm were stiffening significantly. It was tough struggle to complete the house
and deal with all the depression we felt within our family few years back. We owe a lot to our friends and neigbours and my father's colleagues which came to help and give hand to us with the building without charging anything.
I cannot even think about how tough it must've been for my dad: what he was able to do with his hands in the past and now forced to stay at early retirement.
@IanY :teary eyes hasn't been rare.
[/social pr0n]

Want to also thank now jimwah who has cheering moods up once a while with PMs :)

All in all XS is still great place to do distributed computing.

[phelan1777]

1st post :)

Honestly, i've had a glut of hardware hanging around and sought to put it to good use while i had it.

My uncle had breast cancer ( yeah, RARE ) fortunatly they were able to remove it and he's been in remission since then.

I've seen people i've known personally for years wither and die from Alzeimers... it's just a horrible way to go, It changes you as a person. all the suffering involved...being left an empty shell of a human... it's heartbreaking.

Every C2D i own, My quad, and soon 3 955XEs are farming WUs for the greater good. I really don't give a rip about the electric bill, so long as stanford and humanity benefit from my crunching.

The points are merely a bonus to me. I see it as a friendly way to talk smack and get folks/rigs fired up. I talked so much smack the other day, my boss came really close to firing up his dual clovertown rig just to PwN me :)




~ Gos

WOW!


WELCOME TO XS btw, Thank you for your time and hardware invested in our team.

the hoopy froods in here are what keep me around :).


Umm I beg to differ, I am certifiably insane ;)

[WindForce]

I should clarify something because I think I implied what isn't true...When I said that my enthusiasm for XS has diminished somewhat, I was not referring to the folding communities at all...really, the hoopy froods in here are what keep me around :).

Sometime around a year ago...maybe 6-9 months...something changed a bit - the overall "vibe" of the community became less respectful and more antagonistic...more flamewars, more brand vs. brand cheerleading...stuff like that. none of that stuff has (as far as I can tell) ever sullied the distributed computing groups, so that's why I still check and participate in XS :).

Angra
I too have heard the last months how snob they can be @ the phase forum for instance etc..., but the truth is my main reason to come to XS are my friends at the folding forums, guys and gals that make me feel respected and honored. Whenever in need, i will post something specific in other forums, and generally got the answers i needed, but that comes in 2nd place for me. Overclocking is a hobby, whether the friendship and the "belonging" feeling are much more satisfying in the long run...