I am an independently employed software developer. I had several machines sitting idle and decided to put them to use. Contracting at large companies like Intel and Corillian also offered me the opportunity to use up those wasted idle cycles on some of their computers too! Although I enjoy sitting behind a computer I also get out quite a bit (as evident by the photos on my website - http://stafney.com/).
Thoughts about SETI and SETI@home
I run SETI@home because my computers like the software. It makes them all tingly inside. I think any distributed computing effort is excellent. It allows a huge group of otherwise non-contributors to give their "two cents" worth. I heard about the project on NPR -http://www.npr.org/ (go public radio!).
I know extraterrestrial life exists. The question is: to what level?
Hmmm, sending a message? I don't know about that. Saying "Hi" is real nice and all, but what if we muck up the translation and really tick off the Vogon's? Not good.
SETI@home and Astropulse are funded by grants from the National Science Foundation, NASA, and donations from SETI@home volunteers. AstroPulse is funded in part by the NSF through grant AST-0307956.
