I dumped my 30th SETI result into the pool. E.T. hasn't phoned me yet, but then I'm on-line a lot, eh, so maybe he/she/none-of-the-above couldn't get through.

There's over 1.8 million of us now involved in the SETI@home project, the Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence. I like the thought that there are that many people scattered over this planet who are willing to give over some of their spare 'puter time to tilt at windmills.

We set our machines to comb through a snippet of sound, wondering if one day we'll get that magical bit--the one sent to us by someone out in space, the one buried in amongst the buzzes and crackles all the other stuff in the universe emits. So far no one has.

I live deep in the country. The night skies here are impossibly awash in stars. Tonight, as I sat shivering slightly on my front step, a steaming cup of coffee warming chilly fingers, I looked up into that sky and wondered again whether we are alone.

There are so many glittery bits there in the night sky. From the other side of the sky our sun would look like a glittery bit, don'tcha think?

--Marn