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Space-Age Messages in Bottles

Want to get something off your chest? Or do you have a message that you think should be proclaimed to the highest heavens for all eternity? Paul Forte has established a Web site called EndlessEchoes.com just for you.

"[It] allows users to broadcast any message that they'd like into space where it will travel at the speed of light for all eternity," he says.

How it works is fairly simple. Users pay $24.95 for a 14-digit code and a toll-free telephone number they can call from any phone. The line is connected to "voice preparation center," where users punch in the code to access a massive radio tower in Pennsylvania.

Once users are connected, "They state their message and then once they're done they press the [No.] 3 button [on the dialpad] and the message, 30 seconds later will be broadcast up into space," Forte says.

Messages can be up to one minute in length and contain anything a person may want to say.

"We don't listen to the messages," says Forte. "They're private and we respect that."

And since these messages are broadcast out into space, they can literally go on forever.

"Even at the speed of light, it would take seven and a half years for the messages to get to the closest star," he says.

For an additional $9, EndlessEchoes will burn the message onto a CD and send it back to the caller.

Forte says he came up with the idea as a way to say "goodbye" to his deceased grandfather. And he says based on customer testimonials, many others have used his service for those kind of personal messages.

"Lot of people never had a chance to say goodbye [to loved ones]," says Forte. "And there are an awful lot of 'I Love Yous' sent this way. And these are 'I love yous' that you can't take back."

[original article]

Posted by thinkum at July 17, 2004 11:25 AM