Dragi prijatelji / Dear friends,

An eventful first year of millennium is drawing to a close. Christmas is near, when we wish each other Peace and Joy. In this final issue for the year I will conclude with a brief report on my recent stay in Slovenia.

The time I spent in Slovenia was most productive and enjoyable. I have presented Literator.net to Slovenian media, made important contacts and gathered materials and collaborators for the webzine Sloveniana. I saw the flooded Planina Polje, discovered Planina Cave and the underground conjunction of rivers Pivka and Rak. I made the exciting discovery of the ancient hilltop place of worship - Svete gore, visited the church and monastery Olimje with its beautiful old pharmacy (est.1765, third oldest in Europe), walked through the great renovated castle Podsreda and took many hundreds of photos.

I also met and spoke to experts in fields of cultural and natural heritage: Dr. Peter Krecic (architect Joze Plecnik), Dr. Boris Juvanec (vernacular architecture), Prof Janez Bitenc (musical education), Prof. Dusica Kunaver (collector and publisher of folk-tales), Dr. Janko Rozic (architecture), Prof. Tomaz Stefe (geography), Prof. Mihael Toman (environmental science), Irena Vadnjal (geography), and many others. I have also collected additional invaluable resources. So the future of webzine Sloveniana is promising and I begin to compare Sloveniana to the never ending story cycle of Thousand and One Night.

Book Launches
My journey of discovery included a number of cultural events, which are a regular feature of Slovenian life - book launches. Slovenia is renowned as a great publisher of books. The book-launch is regarded as a significant media event. Invitations are sent to the media and both the publisher and the author hope for a good response and sufficient coverage with good reviews.

I would like to mention two events that I attended, the launch of Slovenian Pravopis (Slovenian Orthography) It took place on 15 November, at the great hall of SAZU (Slovenska Akademija Znanosti in Umetnosti), as a publication of ZRC (Znanstveno-raziskovalni Center/scientific research centre)

The other book launch that I would like to mention is the new publication of Ivan Cimerman, Uganke -Vašcanke. It is an extraordinary publication. A collection of photos reflecting the land and the people of Slovenian countryside, each image accompanied by a riddle - also a traditional literary form. The book reflects the writer/ photographer's love for Slovenian traditional life-style as it persists into the modern age. It is a book that every school and library should have on its shelves.

Promoting Thezaurus
After the presentation of Literator.net, which was widely reported in the media, I also made the round of the relevant ministries regarding the much needed financial support for our projects, and to a ensure proper evaluation of its importance to Slovenia. Thezaurus is now an acknowledged Slovenian language and culture resources site, with the top rankings on search engines such as Yahoo. Google, Alta Vista and other search databases. The number of hits for November has jumped to 41, 000, crowning a steady climb from 14, 000 monthly views in the previous year.

Thezaurus in 2002
We are in the process of evaluating and planing the content development for the next yearThere will be new items for our readers in January. We have been preparing topics for Web-classroom and articles for webzine Sloveniana. We are planning a new exciting project - Slovenian Connection, which has been envisaged as a portal of bilateral exchange between Australia and Slovenia.Stay tuned for the announcements of our projects for the year 2002 in next Thezaurus Newsletter.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year 2002
Želimo, da bi vam Novo Leto 2002 prineslo obilja, miru, in zadovoljstva!!!
May the New Year 2002 bring you prosperity, peace and contentment!!!