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| Personal background |
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I'm Charles Bradford, from Parkersburg, West Virginia. I attended Concord College and West Virginia University. I taught in high schools in West Virginia for thirty four years before my retirement in 1997. My academic area was Spanish language and English language and literature. I continue in education as a substitute teacher in all academic areas.
As for hobbies, one of my favorites is reading. The book I am now reading is "The Life and Death of a Spanish Town," by Elliot Paul. But many hobbies appeal to me. Photography, horticulture, stereo and high fidelity, backpacking and camping--these are all interests of mine. I also want to study "The Bible".
My wife and I were fortunate to have travelled to several places in Europe and South America a few years ago. We may travel more if terrorism subsides.
Before living in Parkersburg, I grew up in the coal fields of West Virginia, ling in a small town named "Edwight". Edwight isn't on the map now, disappearing from official recognition at about the same time (1958) as the disappearance of the coal company that provided its life blood. Exploited then by a lumber company until the 1980's, it is now exploited (along with the people of the Coal River Valley and beyond) by a rapacious coal company, the like of which has never been seen by residents of Coal River. This coal company has established near-feudal control over the area and its people. Places that had traditionally been open for people to hike and to hunt are now off-limits. Gates deny access, and uniformed bullies threaten all who would enter with prosecution for trespassing. The company has bought, bullied, and subverted its way into the infrastructure of Raleigh Ccounty. Its latest desire is the closure of a high school because the school lies in the path of coal the company wants to extract. This coal company's favorite mining method is the ultra-destructive technique commonly known as "mountaintop removal". In "mountaintop removal," the soil and rock on the tops of mountains are removed by gigantic machines. |
| Thoughts about SETI and SETI@home |
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I do believe that extraterrestrial life exists. If such life doesn't discover us first, projects like SETI will discover that it does exist. It is only a matter of time until we encounter other life.
We all dream of the day when kindly aliens find us, and share some of their amazing technology with us. Of course, it would also be possible that an alien race would plunder our planet for its many kinds of resources. Who can say?
As far as transmitting a beacon, I believe we should not do that. An advanced, alien race will find us by other means anyway. I believe we should welcome the opportunity to make new friends, but that we should not totally trust that everyone would be unequivocally friendly.
I run SETI@home because I'm intrigued by the possiblility of our discovering life near one star out of a sea of stars. I do it out of a desire to know something and someone else. As Elvis Presley put it, "Are you lonesome tonight?" |
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