Happy New Year to everyone

Posted by Alexander Deliyannis
Jan 1, 2013 at 03:09 AM

I’m just back from a friend’s wedding party which began in 2012 and carried on into 2013 :-) I’m not used to staying up very late, and when I do I get a jet lag symptom where after a certain point it feels as if I don’t need sleep anymore. So let me take this opportunity to wish everyone in this forum all the best for 2013 whether you’ve already entered it or (across the Atlantic) you still have a couple of hours to go.

I expect that 2012 will be a memorable year for most of us. It may not have brought the end of the world some expected, but it has definitely brought the end of a certain world for many people across the globe. A lot of our accepted premises have been challenged, many still are, and some may be challenged even more in 2013. In the EU in particular, the dilemma of whether we should try to resolve our problems together or separately was posed as directly as it could. Yet similar dilemmas have been posed across the globe as well.

Within this (off topic) context, I’ve personally turned my back to some of my long established habits, and learned to appreciate others even more. This forum is part of the latter. Rarely will a day pass that I will not check it, either via web or RSS. In fact, checking the forum is one of my most regular activities during my 5’ pomodoro breaks—which probably explains why I often don’t actually respond.

There’s two reasons for this appreciation: One, all things considered, I enjoy the discussions here immensely; software itself seems secondary, particularly as I’m in the process of simplifying rather than expanding my setup. Two, it seems to me that the search for each one’s outlining holy grail is part of a broader effort to make sense of the world, through the organisation of information available about it.

I thus find it interesting that in 2012 the forum seems to have been revitalised, in particular with the active participation of many unknown long time ‘lurkers’. I hope this will continue.

‘nuff’ said; HAPPY NEW YEAR GUYS AND DOLLS!