Farewell to the Almanac Yahoo! Groups ezine, for a while

To the members of Wilson's Almanac ezine group,

We've done the ezine http://groups.yahoo.com/group/WilsonsAlmanac/ every day for five years!

As I announced in the Almanac last week, today completes five years of daily posting (1,929 posts) and from today I'm taking a break from sending the daily Almy -- just the ezine, as the rest of the project will be uninterrupted. I can't promise how long, but it will be at least 3 months while I complete my novel http://www.wilsonsalmanac.com/novel.html which I hope you will read and enjoy. No need to unsubscribe, as we'll be back.

Here's a potted history of the Almanac:

How it began
On about December 29, 2000, I suddenly decided that January 1, 2001, would be the perfect time to launch an Almanac ezine from my two decades of hobby research into calendar customs. I had two days to work out how to do it, but we launched on the first day of the millennium as planned.

On January 1, 2001, the Almanac was launched with one reader. Soon I learned how to make a website http://www.wilsonsalmanac.com/ with the plan of having two pages: an entrance, and a subscription page. It just kinda grew and now there are thousands of pages with millions of words.

By March, 2001, we had 22 members. Discouraged? Hmm, maybe a bit.

Growth soon became rapid, doubling every 70 days on average. By 2002 there were more than 1,500 members.

In 2001 we launched the Articles page http://www.wilsonsalmanac.com/articles.html which now has several hundred original articles.

December 27, 2001, saw the first in the series of Essays for a New World http://www.wilsonsalmanac.com/essay.html -- inspirational essays by friends of the Almanac.

On February 2, 2002, we launched the word 'scungeous' on the Internet http://groups.yahoo.com/group/WilsonsAlmanac/message/429 -- we are humbly convinced still that the English-speaking world needs this word.

In February, 2002, we launched the FeelGood Manual http://www.wilsonsalmanac.com/manual.html , uploading a chapter a week for 17 weeks, thereby creating an online book on how to Feel better * Think better * Act better * Dramatically * easily * quickly. Readers say it is useful; some say it has changed their lives. (We still need a book publisher or even an agent.)

On March 15, 2002, we started building The Wall of Divine Almaniacs http://www.wilsonsalmanac.com/support.html -- let me give you a customised brick!

On August 2, 2002 Wilson’s Almanac ezine No 650 http://groups.yahoo.com/group/WilsonsAlmanac/message/650 posted the following notice to members: "The government of my country, Australia, and several others apparently, are planning an invasion of Iraq". Some scoffed. On this day the Almanac announced its opposition to war as a method of combatting terrorism, and the rates of membership growth immediately dropped to a level that has remained slow (but steady) to this day. Gone was the bacterial doubling every 70 days, which (an econometrician mate of mine kindly calculated) would have given us more members than the population of the world in 4.25 years.

Before the invasion of Afghanistan (and therefore of Iraq), in a poem http://www.wilsonsalmanac.com/poetry3.html we predicted that Bush and Blair's misguided "crusade" would increase terrorism around the world. Sorry about that.

A world scoop
On February 13, 2003, http://www.wilsonsalmanac.com/bin_laden_tape.html we scooped the world's media with the story that Colin Powell, in order to aid the war plans of the George W Bush administration, had misinformed the UN Security Council that Osama bin Laden was friendly to Saddam Hussein. We showed that in fact, bin Laden was calling for the assassination of Hussein, on the very tape that Powell was using to pretend the opposite. On the same day, we sent the information to hundreds of media outlets in Australia and about 80 other nations. Despite our most intense efforts, we could not get this story into mainstream media, and again many scoffed -- for 32 months, that is. Then, in September, 2005, Colin Powell admitted that this event was a "blot" on his record http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=viewArticle&code=KHA20050911&articleId=931 . Now the accepted fact is as we stated it before the war.

On February 8, 2003, before the invasion of Iraq, we also showed many other lies and myths being promulgated by the pro-war lobby: http://www.wilsonsalmanac.com/myths.html -- most if not all of our assertions (ferociously attacked by many at the time) are now the accepted facts.

In April, 2003, we broke the story of President George W Bush's conversion to the cause of non-violent conflict resolution: http://www.wilsonsalmanac.com/summit.html Of course, it was just wishful thinking and a bit of fun with the worst President in US history.

Also in April, 2003, we launched the Blogmanac http://wilsonsalmanac.blogspot.com/

May, 2003, saw the nascence of the Yellow Pages http://yellow_pages.blogspot.com/

At about this time, we unveiled our remarkable Search Engine http://www.wilsonsalmanac.com/search.html which is very efficient for finding what you want from more than 6 million Almanac words.

On January 1, 2004, we launched the Book of Days http://www.wilsonsalmanac.com/book/book_of_days.html , adding each day's folklore and history just a day or two ahead of the members' reading of it. Today (December 31, 2005) it has 405 pages and 3,454,778 words -- more than 9,000 words for your birthday and Uncle Herbert's.

Sometime (I don't know when), we launched Daily Planet News http://www.wilsonsalmanac.com/news.html -- I still think it's our best-kept secret, with 150 news sources on one page. All the other news agencies seem to have very few sources, and usually only one. I invite you to bookmark it and use it instead of TV news as it is much broader.

On January 1, 2005, A Sandy Beach Almanac http://sandybeachalmanac.blogspot.com/ had its birth. In it we try to show that one does not have to be a beachcomber or an anarchist hippie bum, as the two are not mutually exclusive. Other blogs were to follow.

Naturally, I haven't recorded here the blunders and errors, and their numbers are legion, often generously pointed out by dedicated members of this project, to whom thanks and blessings.

Of course, there's been much more, like Toonimations, podcasts, poetry pages for adults and kids, a tagboard, games, resources and all sorts of things you can find at the SiteMap http://www.wilsonsalmanac.com/sitemap.html -- and all of it fun for me and a great learning experience. I hope you will stay with the Blogmanac http://wilsonsalmanac.blogspot.com/ and subscribe http://www.wilsonsalmanac.com/blogmanaczine.html to its regular posts. You'll find the free Blogmanaczine similar to what you've been getting in the Almy.

Don't go back, we'll be right away!
Thank you for your support and friendship over five incredible years. Don't go away, because the ezine will be back, as soon as I can do it, gods willing. Your continuing support is always invited http://www.wilsonsalmanac.com/subs.html

This has been a privilege for me.

Abundance and gratitude, bright blessings, and, as always, "Carpe diem!" -- "Seize the day!".

Pip