On Sat, 02 Sep 2006 16:56:43 GMT, "David Martel"
<marte005@earthlink.net> wrote:

Plus, the "water hole" is one of the few things we can assume common with 
an intelligence we know absolutetly nothing about...

  Sorry, I don't buy this. While water may seem important to Earth based 
life we have no idea what is important to life elsewhere. The water hole 
seems pretty anthropomorphic to me.
  The whole microwave window might be a better choice but it's pretty 
broad. And it assumes that that intelligence and technology go hand in hand. 

The whole microwave windows is defined by the existence of water in the
atmosphere, and, for that reason, *is* one definition of the water hole.
I believe that that is what project Phoenix searches, although constrained
by other technical limitations and available equipment.

The definition of "water hole" typically used by people talking about
SETI@Home has only a metaphorical association with water.  It is actually
associated with hydrogen, which is fundamental to the whole universe.
The metaphor is that of the place where all the animals come together, i.e.
a single point common to everyone.

The only definition that is does have some association with water is that
of the frequencies between the hydrogen hyperfine line and the group of
hydroxil lines at around 1.6GHz.  Although project SERENDIP does cover a 
significant part of this, it also covers about a similar range below
the hydrogen line.  I'd say there was no SETI search that was truly 
defined by this definition.