NR12: Happy Birthday To Us

Today, 26 April 2011, No Ripcord celebrates its twelfth birthday. Given that the website itself is technically just a bunch of files on a server in North Carolina, I expect it'll be a pretty quiet gathering, but then our dear friend has never really been one for the limelight. Still, I feel the occasion, like any landmark anniversary, warrants a few words from a proud parent. If I could be there today, in that dusty old server space in North Carolina, my speech would go something like this.

12 years. 144 months. 4383 days. There are several ways at describing this period, but there's no escaping the fact that it is a significant chunk of time. If I'd acquired a dog in April 1999 and managed to keep it alive to this day, I would be able to calculate the animal's equivalent age in human years. A pointless process, clearly, but indulge me for a moment here. If the dog was a Yorkshire Terrier, for example, its human age would be around 64 years. It would be regarded as a senior citizen of the canine world. There is no such calculator for a website's 'human' age, which is somewhat surprising given the online community's passion for all things pointless, but if there was, I suspect No Ripcord would be classed as positively geriatric.

But being old is no reason to stagnate or simply give up – the days of growing old gracefully are long gone. With this in mind, I have collaborated with our long-serving Drupal developer Ronny López to give No Ripcord a virtual facelift. A revamped NR website,  featuring both aesthetic and functional improvements, will be unveiled at some point in the next 48 hours.

No Ripcord has had its share of ups and downs over the past 12 years, but I can honestly say that I have never been more proud of this website than I am today. I look forward to celebrating more landmarks in the years to come and hope you will stick around to enjoy them with us.

David Coleman
Editor-In-Chief

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As well as launching a new look website, we will also be posting a series of birthday related features. No Ripcord: the gift that keeps on giving.