I better start out warning you, I'm afraid there will be no code examples in today's post. Because it's christmas, I think we all could use a little story - it comes from a thesis my lovely girlfriend just handed in, a couple of days ago - about the Umbraco Community.

I read her thesis to find something good to write about - she's an anthropologist, so it took quite some time. But my eyes stop when I read 'beer'.

So this post is going to be about beer and the Umbraco Community. For those of you who don't know what an anthropologist is - as my girlfriend puts it: It's the study of people and their culture.

Beer Economy

The story is collected by the antropologist Frederik Barth after living with the ancient African tribe - called the Fur-tribe. They lived a little more primitive than most of us do; they fetched water in a well, a few kilometers away; they milked the cow when in need of milk and their houses were more mud than bricks.

The Fur-tribe doesn't have a currency, but they can't either do everything by themselves. So when in need of help, they ask their family, friends and neighbors to come by and help out. You work together on getting the project done, as they have helped each other out for generations - but under one condition:

The host has to provide plenty of beer,
enough for the whole working crew.

So you can call it a beer-for-labor economy. And when there is no more beer,  the work comes to a halt - for who can work without beer?

We're a tribe

Our community is very much like the Fur-tribe, when you're in need of help - you call out to your family, friends - and in these world-wide-web times - neighbors, and you get help.

There is no currency that can pay for the friendliest community on the planet.

So for last words... CodeGarden better never run out of beer ;)