Extra! Extra!
The Pinball Wizard in a miracle cure!
… and no. No Covid-19 ‘miracle cure’ that I know of. I am just keeping with my musical references from another era!
Apologies for this interruption - and breaking with my cadence of one newsletter a week. But I felt this was important.
Folding@Home
Think of it as SETI to fight Covid-19 - and you can help at no cost to you.
My thanks to John Maloney for sharing.
Folding@Home is a distributed computing project for disease research that simulates protein folding, computational drug design, and other types of molecular dynamics. As of today, the project is using the idle resources of personal computers owned by volunteers from all over the world.
Of course - the power here is to get as many people to sign up as possible, so why not forward this email. Now.
Folding@Home have turned their attention to 2019-nCoV. It is particularly good for people concerned about Covid-19 and would like to help. Like the doctor says, "This won't hurt a bit."
Modelled along the same lines as SETI @ Home - Stanford University has launched this project. You install a program on your computer and that then runs as a background process that uses idle computer power.
Micro Blog For Educators
Jumpstart your remote learning programs for free.
My thanks to Manton Reece for sharing.
About half of the world’s population are in what we have come to know as ‘lockdown’ and of course, that includes schools. If you have a child or grandchild you know that the schools are doing what they can, but they are stretched. And .. if you know anything about technology you will know that moving into a virtual is non-trivial. From a standing start to fully operational with hardly any warning is close to impossible. I am amazed by what I have seen and read about what some schools have achieved and are doing. But what are the best tools? What are the simplest tools? What are the safest tools?
Manton Reece - the founder of Micro.Blog - has announced that his company is offering full, no restrictions accounts that can host;
blog posts
podcasts
short videos
At no charge to Educators.
I know from experience that you will be up and running in minutes. I also happen to know that the community on Micro Blog are one of the friendliest and helpful bunch of people I have ever come across. If you get stuck - we will be there to help.
Of course - the chances that you are an educator are remote - but you will know educators - so why not forward this email right now.
Let’s Talk
A lot of us are at home doing those projects we have on our to-do list … right? Or trying to work from home? Maybe just twiddling our thumbs
Whichever it is, you probably need a break. A distraction.
Substack - the engine that drives this newsletter has introduced the writers to a new service; Throne. I have a few other initiatives in process for People First so was holding off on this - but what the hell …. if you want to join in - it’s pretty simple - the link follows. Who knows what might happen?
Each section above has a ‘Get Involved / Learn More’ link - but don’t hesitate to contact me directly if you have any questions or want a personal introduction to the people behind the offers. I will introduce you accordingly.
I hope you agree that this ‘bonus’ addition - more than any other - deserves sharing wide and far. Please do that and let’s make sure that as many people as possible are aware of that they can do - even at home - to help fight this virus.
Please like the post, share through your social channels of choice and forward the email to colleagues, friends and family.
