Profile: Earl Needham

Personal background
I grew up in a small town in South Texas, where the nights were so clear and dark that you could see so many stars it looked like dust from the roads. Upon graduating from high school, I went to college for a couple of years as a music major, and then dropped out to join the military. Now, some years later, I'm retired from the military and working in the civilian world in Clovis, New Mexico. Where the nights are so clear and dark that you can see so many stars it looks like dust from the roads.
Thoughts about SETI and SETI@home
Do I think extraterrestrial life exists? I really don't know, and I suspect not, but it seems awfully silly not to look! I mean, how would it look for someone to come for a visit and we didn't even know they existed?

Should we transmit a beacon? No, I don't think so. I would rather we meet any possible extra-terrestrials on OUR terms, not theirs.

I originally started running SETI@home just to be somehow connected to space flight, technology, exploration, science, etc. The screensaver just looked so neat, and people always asked what it was, giving me an opportunity to talk to them about what we're doing and what we SHOULD be doing in space. But then, I discovered the command-line version, and a new computer, and my work unit count exploded. I run it today because I have too many work units completed to abandon, and I STILL enjoy the program and the "quest".

--ADDED JUNE 26, 2007 -- And today, with over 11,000 "classic" WU's, it's REALLY too much to abandon.

--ADDED JUNE 8, 2011 -- And today, with over 93,000 total credit, it's REALLY too much to abandon.

I am still surprised that this project isn't funded by the United States government. I mean, we could easily be doing so much more than we are now, as an all-volunteer group, but -- we continue either way.

And suggestions for the project? KEEP THE FAITH!
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