Here is a way to postpone the New Year, via the crypt messaging service. To use this service, simply write the recipient’s address, followed by your message. The abstractmachine server will en-crypt your message for a random period between 1 and 365 days, after which it will be de-crypted and sent to the specified address.

This encryption service can also be understood as a device for postal deferral. It can be used for New Year’s resolutions, complicated lovers, or perhaps for news so terrible that you simply cannot bring yourself to announce it. Deferral can provide the necessary distance to deal with such difficulties.

The idea came from some far more elegant ideas Ragnar had, but lacking budget and time, we are currently in a little temporal deferral of our own. It can also be considered a response to Fabrice Gallis’ concept of the crypt as time-generating machine, i.e. another plot for slow real-time systems.