Greetings from the ICANN meetings in Lisbon – at present during the 
first GNSO event.

Those who have been reading this list will have realized that I was 
absent for quite some time – I myself feel like coming back form 
somewhere almost out of this world – having been away from cyberspace 
for an extended period of time. It started with the tsunami around 
Taiwan, which cut, then extremely slowed down, Internet access also in 
Cambodia, and the repairs dragged on beyond the number of weeks announced.

Then I had a sequence of computer problems which I never thought could 
happen in reality. Without going into details, I am now using computer 
number 4 – not mine – since last Friday – after one after the other was 
diagnosed to need repairs – and after repairs and having made to buy 
another harddisk and twice new sets of memory chips, I am still without 
a stable situation. In between, I had such experiences that after 
downloading 740 mails, which had accumulated on a webmailer account, 
onto a “repaired” machine, it ended in a new crash and the mail gone at 
both ends. Again some days of repair, next downloading only after some 
testing – and after the download I thought a backup should prevent a 
repetition of such problems. The backup ended with the “to be saved” and 
the “saved” directories both disappeared. Another set of memory chips 
bought...

I leave it at that, as an explanation for my long absence, which 
resulted obviously in some communication processes broken. In between, I 
had made some predictions or even promises that I would be on-line from 
now on again. I am not repeating this mistake – I lost the confidence to 
say that this computer will not opt out after I made such a prediction.

But I would like to be present again, and I will try.

Norbert Klein