https://www.thefreelibrary.com/Backlash%2c+parental+alienation+syndrome+and+co-construction.-a0179570828
Work on the issue of sexual abuse in children and adolescents lays bare the power relations between genders, generations and social classes. The issue of gender is seen in statistics from UN agencies that report that "one in four girls and one in nine boys will be sexually abused before they reach the age of 18."(1) Generational power relations are clear because the perpetrators are adults, and the power relations of class are evident in the backlash generated by powerful sectors that have attempted to prop up the myth that child abuse is only a problem among the poor and working classes.
Webster's Dictionary defines "backlash" as "a strong adverse reaction to a political or social movement." More plainly, backlash is a negative reaction to a positive and constructive step forward. Professor of law John Myers identifies the positive step as the progress made in the past two decades with regard to child abuse and the backlash as the escalation of criticism against professionals involved in child protection.(2)
David Finkelhor was responsible for pioneering work on the sexual abuse of children in the United States. In his 1979 book, Sexually Victimized Children, Finkelhor recognizes the important contributions of the women's movement and professionals involved in child protection lobbying in drawing attention to the realities of sexual violence against minors: "If the sexual abuse of children has risen to prominence as a social problem rather quickly, it is because it has been championed by an alliance of two constituencies by now rather experienced in the promotion of social problems."(3)
In the United States, a backlash began in the 1980s under the Reagan Administration's return to stale and reactionary values following the struggles of the women's movement and the children's rights movement the 1960s and 70s.
What was once secret was now openly debated, and controversy wracked the most idealized institutions, including church, family and school. Socially consecrated myths of long-standing were crumbling: "The home is the seat of love, support and safety for children"; "Good families don't talk about sexuality"; "Churches reflect the highest moral standard with regard to sexuality"; "Children are safe in school."
By drawing attention to the realities of child sexual abuse, a solid blow was dealt to the "powers that be"; hypocrisy was uncovered; and unquestioned assumptions were challenged. This frontal attack was met with denial by means of a range of strategies developed by the fundamentalisms of faith and the market.
One of these backlash strategists was prominent forensics expert Richard Gardner, who coined the term "parental alienation syndrome" in 1985 to describe a supposed psychological disorder that he had observed in lengthy and bitter custody battles. His original paper on the subject uses the following description:

"The term I prefer to use is parental alienation syndrome. I have introduced this term to refer to a disturbance in which children are obsessed with deprecation and criticism of a parent—denigration that is unjustified and/or exaggerated. The notion that such children are merely 'brainwashed' is narrow."(4)

However, supposedly citing his original work several years later, Gardner re-describes this phenomena somewhat differently.

"[t]he parental alienation syndrome (PAS) is a childhood disorder that arises almost exclusively in the context of child-custody disputes. Its primary manifestation is the child's campaign of denigration against a parent, a campaign that has no justification. It results from the combination of a programming (brainwashing) parent's indoctrinations and the child's own contributions to the vilification of the target parent. When true parental abuse and/or neglect is present, the child's animosity may be justified, and so the parental alienation syndrome explanation for the child's hostility is not applicable."(5)

The two different definitions demonstrate the changes in this argument over time with the goal of developing a different strategy for discrediting the hard research work and harder-won social gains of the women's movement and the professionals lobbying for child protection.
Maria Jose Blanco Barea has studied the many works that Gardner published up to his death by suicide in 2003, and she suggests that "perhaps the psychological causes that led to his suicide should be taken into consideration." With regard to Gardner's professional career, Blanco Barea recounts that "Gardner dedicated the first part of his professional life to working as a forensics expert in cases of sexual abuse brought by children against their parents, students against professors, members of the faithful against representatives of organized religions and within military families. Gardner often stressed that he was a former captain [in the U.S. Army Medical Corps] and as a psychologist treated members of the armed forces who had served in Korea. He specialized in techniques to 'deprogram' U.S. soldiers who had been prisoners of war. His methodologies and expert testimony were used to question the credibility of sexual abuse victims, to prove that the accused were innocent and that the accusers were guilty of perjury. Gardner testified in cases of sexual abuse in the context of hearings to determine custody, visitation and guardianship, and he himself explains that he developed his research over the course of his career. In other words, he directly applied the scientific method of trial and error in real-life court cases that were settled while he was still carrying out his research. When he decided to publish his theories in 1985, Garner failed to provide the scientific community with the necessary data to scientifically analyze his conclusions."(6)
Richard Gardner's books were published by Creative Therapeutics, which he himself owned. Some of his articles were published in Issues in Child Abuse Accusations, a publication of the Institute for Psychological Therapies, which is directed by Dr. Ralph Underwager who is well known for an interview in the Dutch journal Paidika […](7)
In the 1970s and 80s and prior to his publication of the parental alienation syndrome, Gardner developed the "Sex-Abuse Legitimacy Scale" (SAL Scale), which he used in his own courtroom testimony. Nonetheless, Gardner's ideological stance clearly shows that he did not view child sexual abuse as a problem, except when it is denounced.

"It is of interest that of all the ancient peoples it may very well be that the Jews were the only ones who were punitive toward [adults who had sex with children]. Early Christian proscriptions against [adult-child sex] appear to have been derived from the earlier teachings of the Jews, and our present overreaction to [adult-child sex] represents an exaggeration of Judeo-Christian principles and is a significant factor operative in Western society's atypicality with regard to such activities."(8)
"The child might be helped to appreciate the wisdom of Shakespeare's Hamlet, who said, 'Nothing's either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.'"(9)
"And her [the mother's] increased sexuality may lessen the need for her husband to return to their daughter for sexual gratification."(10)
"… except for a certain amount of sexual frustration that was not gratified, the four-year-old had not been significantly traumatized by these encounters."(11)

Elsewhere Gardner had the following to say about child sexual abuse: "The sexually abused child is generally considered to be the victim, though the child may initiate sexual encounters by 'seducing' the adult."(12) Gardner even proposes that [child sexual abuse] serves procreative purposes; he maintains that although the child cannot become pregnant, a child who is drawn into sexual encounters at an early age is likely to become highly sexualized and thus will crave sexual experiences during the prepubertal years. Such a "charged up child" is more likely to transmit his or her genes through his or her progeny at an early age. Gardner states: "The younger the survival machine at the time sexual urges appear, the longer will be the span of procreative capacity, and the greater the likelihood the individual will create more survival machines in the next generation."(13) He also recommended that the incestuous father "has to be helped to appreciate that, even today, it [adult-child sex] is a widespread and accepted practice among literally billions of people. He has to appreciate that in our Western society especially we take a very punitive and moralistic attitude toward such inclinations.… He has also had back [sic] luck with regard to the place and time he was born with regard to social attitudes toward [adult-child esx]."(14)
The two definitions of parental alienation syndrome are interesting because the first reveals that the intention of the original strategy was to minimize the devastating effects that child abuse has in the victims. However, the 2002 definition added: "When true parental abuse and/or neglect is present, the child's animosity may be justified, and so the parental alienation syndrome explanation for the child's hostility is not applicable."(15) But curiously, the indicators of parental alienation syndrome also coincide with the indicators of sexual abuse that have been established by international studies on this problem.
At the time of the revised definition, the international study of child abuse and the movement to prevent the victimization of children was much further advanced. Some examples are the five European seminars "Secrets that Destroy" held in 1998 by the Save the Children Alliance; the 1999 "Vision and Reality" reports that address women's and children's rights; and a series of later publications by experts in the matter.
Although the SAL scale has been widely disregarded as a tool for diagnosing sexual abuse, Gardner's real thoughts are evident in the above citations from his works. Both the SAL scale and parental alienation syndrome represent a scandalous violation of the human rights of women, adolescents and children.
In numerous publications, Gardner uses supposedly scientific but paradoxical arguments to rationalize his denial of violence against women, defined in the Belem do Para Convention as "a manifestation of the historically unequal power relations between women and men."(16) Making use of children, he creates a new and sophisticated form of violence against women that involves complicity of the justice system.
Gardner proposed a series of symptoms that reveal three types of parental alienation syndrome (severe, moderate and mild) and specific treatment for each type. The treatment that he proposes for parental alienation syndrome involves both legal and health-care professionals, who Gardner says should have the power to administer the appropriate treatment based on the coercion, threat, change in living arrangements and, as a last resort, the internment and "deprogramming" of the child. As Blanco Barea observes, "Parental alienation syndrome makes a fraud of the law. It makes use of the declarations against discriminations against women and of the rights of the child to protect the parent and escape the application of the Conference of Vienna that protects against torture and degrading treatment, especially in the case of women and girls, and to escape the application of the Convention on the Rights of the Child."(17)
As law professor John Myers explains, "Gardner is an outspoken critic of certain aspects of the child protection system. Apparently, Gardner believes America is in the throes of mass hysteria over child sexual abuse. He writes that 'sex-abuse hysteria is omnipresent' (True and False Accusations of Child Sex Abuse, 1992, p. xxv). In his 1991 book titled Sex Abuse Hysteria: Salem Witch Trials Revisited, Gardner is harshly critical of an unspecified portion of the mental health professionals, investigators, and prosecutors trying to protect children. For example, Gardner accuses some prosecutors of gratifying their own sexual urges and sadistic tendencies through involvement in sexual abuse cases. […] It seems clear that Richard Gardner cannot claim to be balanced or objective when it comes to allegations of child sexual abuse."(18)
Although Gardner and his theories can be questioned for their misogynist and perverse ideology, in Argentina former family court judge Eduardo Cardenas published "El abuso de las denuncias de abuso" (The Abuse of Claims of Abuse) in La Ley, on September 15, 2000. Cardenas's article supported Gardner's theories and sparked backlash in our country, which has provoked widespread reaction among well-known professionals.
Perhaps the best summary of what occurred in Argentina after 2000 is found in the book Maltrato infantil: Riesgos del compromiso profesional (Child Abuse: The Risks of Professional Commitment), a collection of essays by known specialists on the issue, edited by Silvio Lamberti. As the introduction to this book describes:

"As long as the problem was associated with the lower classes, more and more cases were reported. When it began to be suspected that family violence affected all social classes and the middle and upper classes were scrutinized, a reactionary movement used the guise of good intentions to put limits on professionals that supposedly 'abused the reports of child sexual abuse.'
"This was the reaction of:

1. Fathers who were engaged in custody battles or other legal disputes regarding visitation rights.
2. Lawyers who preached equanimity and warned against the feminist bias that they claimed had affected the reports.
3. Experts who tried to pass off the backlash literature from the U.S. as scientific evidence to support their own conclusions.

"This brutal attack tends to carry into an ideological realm a debate that crosses legal and psychosocial discourses, ethics and society as a whole and tries to undo the advances already gained, discouraging those who have worked to achieve these gains. In short, they intend to:

1. Discredit reports of child abuse.
2. Turn anyone who denounces abuse into a suspect.
3. Blur the boundaries between victim and victimizer.
4. Confuse the matter by citing the rare cases of violence against boys or adult men committed by women.
5. Discredit the specialized treatment services even though the law recognizes the value of their diagnosis.
6. Ignore constitutional norms from the Convention on Rights of the Child.

"Thus, the meaning of abusive conduct is inverted, with abuse being attributed to the person who reports the abuse and requests the fulfillment of the law.
"This reactionary backlash supports the persistence of family violence and condemns all girls and/or victims of the perpetuation of incest and abuse while attempting to stymie the legal system and the work of other professionals who until now have born the heavy burden of this process."(19)

This scientific alert went out over three years ago; nonetheless, today there are increasing obstacles to working on this issue. The notion of false reports of abuse is now firmly rooted in the courts. Sexual abuse trials are tremendous ordeals that seriously damage the children and the adults who report the crime and place a heavy burden on the professionals who take the children's part and who often face accusations of malpractice, libel or slander.
The discrediting of psychological experts is of serious concern. What started with Gardner has continued with followers who have discredited indicators, treatments, techniques and prevention campaigns. Brandishing the concept of co-construction on the part of the family members of the victims or the professionals, the testimony of the children is discredited, accused of being childhood fantasy and tale-telling.
The efforts of Gardner and his followers have been echoed by the hierarchy of the Catholic Church, an institution that claims to represent the social sexual moral but which has promoted a policy of smoke-screening sexual abuse.
The Red Latinoamericana de Catolicas por el Derecho a Decidir (Latin American Network of Catholics for the Right to Decide) has undertaken a study on the secret system of sexual abuse within the Catholic Church.(20) The ecclesiastical hierarchy always has been aware of these crimes and has implemented a policy of covering up the abuses committed by priests. This policy is summarized in the following ten points adapted from the studies carried out by the Spanish journalist Pepe Rodriguez(21) and corroborated in the studies of the Catolicas por el Derecho a Decidir:

1. Discreet investigation of the incident. The prelates of the diocese often have ecclesiastical informants, people who desire to rise in the esteem of the hierarchy through their reports. They keep the bishops abreast of the transgressions of the priests under their authority. These reports are given orally.
2. Initiation of actions to dissuade the aggressor and/or the victim(s). Once the prelate recognizes the situation of sexual abuse in which the image of the Church could be tarnished, the aggressor is rebuked. Then the bishops dedicate themselves to convincing the victims and their families, assuring them that the aggressor will be punished and that he has repented. They persuade the families to not report the crime so that no one in the Church or the family will suffer the consequences.
3. Covering up the incident and the identity of the aggressor so the case never becomes public. In this effort, acts are undertaken to confuse the matter, including transferral of the priest to another parish, bribery of the victim and their family members or the use of threats and suspension of benefits (for example, expulsion from school).
4. Measures to reinforce the cover up. When the case escapes the closed doors of the Church, the hierarch opens an internal investigation against the aggressor to defend against eventual accusations of passivity in case there is external pressure from the media or society or a civil suit. Generally, the investigation is paralyzed indefinitely. At this stage, the priest usually is transferred to another parish, another diocese or another country, depending on the situation.
5. Denial of the incident when the case becomes public, under the argument that the priest is a man of virtue heeding God's call, a holy figure who could never commit a crime of this nature. When denial is no longer possible, the matter is treated as an exception to this rule.
6. Public defense of the aggressor, stressing his good service to the Church and his personal merits. If he did do anything wrong, he is profoundly repentant and was not conscious of his acts. An appeal is made to the Christian sentiments of pardoning a repentant sinner.
7. Public discrediting of the victim(s). Rodriguez uses the metaphor of ants defending an anthill to describe the corporativist attitude of the clergy when one of its members is accused. The guilt is reversed; the victim(s) and/or their family members are blamed.
8. Paranoiac accusations of the denunciation being linked to campaigns orchestrated by "enemies of the Church." When the number of accusations is so high that discrediting the victims is not enough, the hierarchy complains that there are national or international powers or cults conspiring against the Church.
9. Possibility of negotiation with the victim. This negotiation frequently occurs before the case is made public when the intention of the Church is to buy the victim's silence to preserve the image of the institution. When there is a public scandal, the hierarchy tries to minimize the damage by trying to negotiate the withdrawal of the accusations against the aggressor.
10. Protection of the priest/aggressor. When the accused is found to be guilty, the hierarchy stands by him and in some cases even pays him homage or praises him, doing everything possible to erase the incident from the public memory.(22)

As the Church silences and covers up the abuses committed within its institutions, it resembles Gardner and his followers in that it denies the realities of domestic violence and the sexual abuse of children and adolescents and hampers investigation of these matters. Alliances with key judicial figures lead to perverse and scandalous rulings, such as the Melo Pacheco case in Mar del Plata, the Storni case Santa Fe or the stalling in the Grassi trial, to name the most notorious cases. Many others remain anonymous, which demonstrates the existence of a model that favors the impunity of the abusers, the suffering of the victims and the punishment of those who are working within the framework of human rights.
A sturdy thread connects those who deny, discredit, silence, minimize, distort and negotiate the rights of children: the perversity that has subordinated their ethics to systems of belief that are authoritarian, patriarchal and/or favor the domination of adults.
This ideological combination stacks the deck against victims who, for the most part, are children, adolescents and women. Women are the most discredited. In the cases in which priests are accused of sexual abuse, most people take their side, doubt the word of the victim(s) and even blame them or imply that the priests were victims of a conspiracy. Girl victims are not considered credible because they are presented as easily influenced, prone to fantasy or liars. If they are adolescents, their morals are questioned: it is argued that they already had had sexual relations before the abuse or are guilty of seducing their abuser.
In the case of domestic abuse, especially in cases of father-child incest, the mother is accused of maliciously attempting to distance the child from the father, inventing the abuse out of revenge or because she is hysterical or any other argument that serves to safeguard the figure of the father of the family or the Father of the parish. In both cases, the common sensibilities of the population are exploited: tolerance of male sexual behavior fed by the dominate sexual morality, which makes the argument of false reports even more credible than the martyrdom and accusations of the victims.
To compare the consequences that a child may suffer with the separation of his or her parents, even in a messy divorce, with the short- and long-term consequences of father-child abuse is a perverse strategy that denies the serious and profound attack on the victim's subjective integrity, which Jorge Barudy calls "attempted moral murder."
Parental alienation syndrome, the "malicious mother" and co-construction are non-scientific theories, and when used in the context of a trial, they violate the victim's constitutional rights as well as the Convention on the Rights of the Child, CEDAW and other agreements incorporated into our constitution in 1994.
We must remember that Richard Gardner's theories were developed in the United States through a method of trial and error that was applied directly in the courtroom in bitter divorce cases, which were ruled upon as Gardner was undertaking his research. In addition, the U.S. is one of the few countries that has neither ratified nor incorporated into its constitution the Convention on the Rights of the Child or CEDAW.
As Blanco Barea explains, in legal contexts based on human rights, those professionals who can carry out the therapy or treatment recommended by Gardner or his followers (such as "aversion therapy" plus the vicarious treatment of deprogramming and, as a precaution, the guarantee of visitation rights or the reversal of custody and/or total separation of the "alienating" parent and the "alienated" child) "are committing crimes of torture, obstruction of justice and legal fraud, and if they are related to the minors in question, they are also guilty of domestic violence."(23)
Child abuse, especially sexual abuse, is an alarming, universal problem. Increased attention and effective protection skills and prevention measures are necessary at family, local, national and international levels.
After a long tradition of silence, sexual abuse of children is being denounced more frequently and is becoming a topic for public and political discussion.
To alert governments and civil society organizations to the need to play a more active role in the promotion of and respect for the rights of the child (as put forth in article 19 and 34* of the Convention on the Rights of the Child) and to contribute to the prevention of child abuse, the Women's World Summit Foundation, WWSF, launched the World Day for Prevention of Child Abuse in 2000. The Day is commemorated every November 19 together with the anniversary of the International Day for the Rights of the Child (November 20). The objective of the World Day for Prevention of Child Abuse is to rally around the issue of child abuse and the urgent need for effective prevention programs.
To consolidate the global call for action, in 2001 WWSF launched an international NGO coalition that marks the World Day with appropriate events and activities to focus on and increase prevention education.
* For more information, visit the website of the Women's World Summit Foundation, https://www.woman.ch/children/1introduction.php.
* Art. 19 - States Parties shall take all appropriate legislative, administrative, social and educational measures to protect the child from all forms of physical or mental violence, injury or abuse, neglect or negligent treatment, maltreatment or exploitation, including sexual abuse, while in the care of parent(s), legal guardian(s) or any other person who has the care of the child.
* Art. 34 - States Parties undertake to protect the child from all forms of sexual exploitation and sexual abuse. For these purposes, States Parties shall in particular take all appropriate national, bilateral and multilateral measures to prevent:
(a) the inducement or coercion of a child to engage in any unlawful sexual activity;
(b) the exploitative use of children in prostitution or other unlawful sexual practices;
(c) the exploitative use of children in pornographic performances and materials.
The author is a psychologist, a founder of the Casa de la Mujer in Rosario, Argentina, and a longtime defender of the rights of women and children.
Notes
(1.) Selected facts and figures from various UN documents, part of the 2006 Open Letter from the Women's World Summit Foundation on the World Day for Prevention of Child Abuse, 19 November. Available online at http://www.woman.ch/children/1-openletter.php.
(2.) Alicia Ganduglia (2003) "El backlash: un nuevo factor de riesgo," in Maltrato Infantil. Riesgos del compromiso profesional, Silvio Lamberti, ed., Buenos Aires: Editorial Universidad, p. 75.
(3.) David Finkelhor (1979) Sexually Victimized Children. New York: The Free Press, p. 2.
(4.) Richard A. Gardner (1985) "Recent Trends in Divorce and Custody Litigation." Academy Forum 29:2, Summer, pp. 3-7.
(5.) Richard A. Gardner (2002) "Does DSM-IV Have Equivalents for the Parental Alienation Syndrome (PAS) Diagnosis?" American Journal of Family Therapy, 31(1):1-21. See also Richard A. Gardner (2003) "The Parental Alienation Syndrome: Past, Present, and Future," in The Parental Alienation Syndrome: An Interdisciplinary Challenge for Professionals Involved in Divorce. W. von BochGallhau, U. Kodjoe, W Andritsky and P. Koeppel, eds. Berlin, Germany: VWB-Verlag fur Wissenshaft and Bildung, pp. 89-125.
(6.) Maria Jose Blanco Barea (2006) "El sindrome inquisitorial estadounidense de alineacion parental," p. 11. This document may be downloaded from http://www.revistaiuris.com/MISC/8618/borrador%20el%20sindrome%20inquisitorial%20del%20sap.doc.
(7.) The interview with Dr. Ralph Underwager was originally published in Paidika, Issue 9, 1993, and has been reproduced online at http://www.nostatusquo.com/ACLU/NudistHallofShame/Underwager2.html.
(8.) Richard A. Gardner (1992) True and False Accusations of Child Sex Abuse. Cresskill, New Jersey: Creative Therapeutics, pp. 46-7.
(9.) Ibid. p. 549.
(10.) Ibid. p. 585.
(11.) Ibid. p. 612.
(12.) Richard A. Gardner (1986) Child Custody Litigation: A Guide for Parents and Mental Health Professionals. Cresskill, New Jersey: Creative Therapeutics, p. 93
(13.) Richard A. Gardner (1992) pp. 24-25.
(14.) Ibid. p. 593.
(15.) See note 5.
(16.) From the Preamble to the Inter-American Convention on the Prevention, Punishment and Eradication of Violence against Women, also known as the Convention of Belem do Para, adopted by the OAS General Assembly June 9, 1994; entry into force March 5, 1995.
(17.) Maria Jose Blanco Barea (2006) p. 219.
(18.) John E. B. Myers (n.d.) "What is 'Parental Alienation Syndrome' and Why Is It So Often Used Against Mothers?" an excerpt from a forthcoming book titled A Mother's Nightmare: A Practical Legal Guide for Parents and Professionals. Available online at http://www.gate.net/~liz/fathers/pas.htm.
(19.) Maltrato Infantil. Riesgos del compromiso professional. Silvio Lamberti, ed., Buenos Aires: Editorial Universidad, 2003. The contributing authors were Maria Ines Bringioti, Cristina Caprarulo, Julio Cesar Castro, Alicia Ganduglia, Norberto Garrote, Isabel Gens, Eva Giberti, Carmen Gonzales, Irene Intebi, Victoria Irazuzta, Silvio Lamberti, Patricia Paggi, Mirta Pirozzo, Carlos Rozanski, Diana Sanz, Juan Pablo Maria Viar, Maria Cristina Vila and Juan Carlos Volnovich.
(20.) Regina Soares Jurkewicz (2005) Develando la politica del silencio: Abuso sexual de mujeres por sacerdotes en Brasil. Brazil: Red Latinoamericana de Catolicas por el Derecho a Decidir.
(21.) Pepe Rodriguez (2002) Pederastia en la Iglesia Catolica: Delitos sexuales del clero contra menores: Un drama silenciado y encubierto por los obispos. Barcelona: Ediciones B.
(22.) Regina Soares Jurkewicz (2005) pp. 20-22.
(23.) Maria Jose Blanco Barea (2006) p. 219.

This week

Oh no, I'm late! I haven't tested the links yet, hopefully they're all good.

Introduction

The Stochastic maps are large randomly-generated maps that use population data to place locations where people live. Generally, locations will be in populated areas, though rural areas with even a few structures nearby appear as well. I made these maps because most maps tend to focus on rural locations and meta-learnable locations, but I generally find urban areas more interesting to roam around. And while World is much more urban than it used to be, its distribution is perplexingly strange. I hope other people find them interesting as well.
I welcome any feedback about maps to include, mode + time settings, standings, summary statistics of interest and how they're displayed - whatever. Particularly, with the rotating country maps, please feel welcome to suggest any country you would like to see added to the list.

Challenges

Map	Mode	Challenge Link
A Stochastic Populated World	Moving 2 Minutes	Challenge Link
An Equitable Stochastic Populated World	No Move 1 Minute	Challenge Link
A Skewed Stochastic Populated World	No Move / Pan / Zoom 1 Minute	Challenge Link
A Stochastic Populated France	No Move 1:30	Challenge Link
An Illuminated World	Moving 1 Minute	Challenge Link

Standings

The top 5 players on each game are awarded series points: 5 points to 1st place, through 1 point for 5th place. Ties are broken by the sum of scores from all games played. (I might not stick with this standing scheme.)

Player	# Games	Total Score	Series Points
CherrieAnnie	60	1153206	159
Wadim	62	1123219	112
d1e5el	28	520214	77
Cdt Lamberty	59	989326	76
charliebobo82	33	574547	62
FtoT TinOF	10	240380	45
László Horváth	55	888991	42
Jens_K	51	759655	35
Guybrush Threepwood	38	598800	32
solarsensei	13	231874	30

Last Week

Stochastic Sunday #14 - 2024-04-21

User	A Stochastic Populated World	An Equitable Stochastic Populated World	A Skewed Stochastic Populated World	A Stochastic Populated Colombia	A Rugged Populated World	Total
CherrieAnnie	19,715	24,335	15,914	19,452	20,935	100,351
pissman	14,463	24,827	10,757	21,305	19,500	90,852
Wadim	13,470	24,236	12,627	17,318	18,761	86,412
riri22	14,517	23,289	15,457	11,892	20,137	85,292
antarcticmatt	7,860	24,541	13,378	18,579	20,715	85,073
László Horváth	7,693	24,934	13,435	18,659	16,383	81,104
DashOneTwelve	11,715	22,240	14,290	14,095	15,197	77,537
Cdt Lamberty	5,789	24,924	13,392	13,236	19,395	76,736
MiraMatt	12,227	24,185	13,291	8,325	18,699	76,727
Guybrush Threepwood	11,121	19,992	12,398	15,242	16,720	75,473
EnchantingFjord241	7,983	24,024	9,764	16,355	16,612	74,738
Erwan C	15,352	24,668	13,247	---	18,255	71,522
Jens_K	6,127	20,245	13,178	8,926	19,443	67,919
Brigitta Horváth	7,080	17,860	14,891	7,645	17,569	65,045
Mclapham	12,266	23,249	---	---	15,852	51,367
robisco	11,245	17,983	6,391	---	13,583	49,202
Shanckhow	5,185	16,788	6,487	---	15,889	44,349
Lebedev Artyom	7,371	13,446	8,096	5,555	7,268	41,736
EnchantingGulf158	4,696	11,976	8,338	---	11,298	36,308
Lodisco	10,564	---	8,549	---	15,973	35,086
d1e5el	15,306	---	---	---	18,592	33,898
kofferbook	---	---	13,465	---	---	13,465

Average score per round

Round difficulty, based on the average score compared to all rounds in the series so far, regardless of map and type:

• A Stochastic Populated World - NMPZ 90s
  
  1. PT: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⬜️ - Avg: 1,777 (1,913.6 km); Best: 58.6 km
  2. AU: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⬜️ - Avg: 2,111 (5,855.3 km); Best: 11.0 km
  3. EC: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⬜️⬜️ - Avg: 2,456 (1,693.0 km); Best: 188.7 km
  4. US: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⬜️ - Avg: 1,608 (1,637.3 km); Best: 992.8 km
  5. US: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⬜️⬜️ - Avg: 2,608 (1,044.1 km); Best: 5.7 km
• An Equitable Stochastic Populated World - M 60s
  
  1. SN: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ - Avg: 4,162 (617.7 km); Best: 32 m - GG László Horváth!
  2. MK: ⭐️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ - Avg: 4,710 (105.0 km); Best: 687.2 m
  3. MC: ⭐️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ - Avg: 4,919 (27.3 km); Best: 4 m - GG László Horváth!
  4. FR: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ - Avg: 3,156 (3,370.5 km); Best: 860.5 m
  5. CH: ⭐️⭐️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ - Avg: 4,513 (166.1 km); Best: 24 m - GG Guybrush Threepwood!
• A Skewed Stochastic Populated World - NMPZ 75s
  
  1. US: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ - Avg: 847 (4,384.2 km); Best: 885.4 km
  2. JP: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ - Avg: 3,837 (482.3 km); Best: 125.5 km
  3. SE: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ - Avg: 3,161 (753.2 km); Best: 148.3 km
  4. MX: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ - Avg: 1,076 (5,669.5 km); Best: 8.2 km
  5. RO: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ - Avg: 2,946 (1,472.4 km); Best: 176.5 km
• A Stochastic Populated Colombia - M 180s
  
  1. CO: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⬜️⬜️ - Avg: 2,503 (360.3 km); Best: 7 m - GG CherrieAnnie!
  2. CO: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⬜️⬜️ - Avg: 2,446 (207.1 km); Best: 297.7 m
  3. CO: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ - Avg: 3,281 (177.5 km); Best: 2 m - GG pissman!
  4. CO: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ - Avg: 3,714 (116.3 km); Best: 744.9 m
  5. CO: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⬜️ - Avg: 2,098 (278.2 km); Best: 6 m - GG pissman!
• A Rugged Populated World - NM 90s
  
  1. CO: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ - Avg: 3,516 (1,080.0 km); Best: 981.0 m
  2. IT: ⭐️⭐️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ - Avg: 4,415 (196.1 km); Best: 2.4 km
  3. TR: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⬜️⬜️ - Avg: 2,381 (1,186.0 km); Best: 228.4 km
  4. AT: ⭐️⭐️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ - Avg: 4,366 (202.1 km); Best: 12.0 km
  5. PE: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⬜️⬜️ - Avg: 2,312 (1,628.1 km); Best: 110.1 km

More Information

• Distribution information, FAQ, and calculation details
• Population data source: WorldPop Population Counts - Constrained Individual Countries - 2020 - 100m resolution

Map descriptions

A Stochastic Populated World: This map uses unadjusted population data, to give every person on earth an equal chance of appearing in the game, if there is Streetview coverage where they live.
An Equitable Stochastic Populated World: This map uses an adjusted population designed to increase the variety of locations that appear, while still favoring more populous countries and more populated areas.
A Skewed Stochastic Populated World: A stochastic homage to the famous A Skewed World, this map turns the camera to the side of the road, hiding the more widely known street-based clues.
A Stochastic Populated France: A single-country map of France
An Illuminated World: Instead of using population data, this map uses nighttime light intensity as a more generic indicator of development. It's balanced between countries the same way as Equitable Stochastic.

Hi, I thought I'd share some of the review resources I have made, lmk if u have any questions
Quizlet - Key Vocabulary I went through my vocab lists and selected what I thought was the most important.
Other Quizlets I have a quizlet for each unit with the vocab words. It provides a lot more than the key terms one if u want a more in-depth review.
Google Sheets - Vocab This has the exact same terms/definitions as the Quizlets just on Google Sheets
Review Guide - Topics This provides a summary of all the info and vocab related to each topic. I actually used this to review content, filling out 1 or 2 a day, but it makes for a pretty good study guide too.
Review Guide - People This has slides for a bunch of important people. It provides a picture, lists their birth/death years, and says why they are important.
Review Guide - Comparisons I found some common things that are compared and contrasted and put their similarities and differences on there.

Demographics

• Gender: Male
• Race/Ethnicity: Asian
• Residence: CA, LA Area
• Income Bracket: Full pay
• Type of School: Competitive Public

Intended Major(s): Econ/Business Academics

• GPA (UW/W): 4.0 UW, 4.6 W, 4.8 UC GPA
• No Rank @ School
• Honors/AP/Dual Enrollment: (including senior yr courses) 15 APs, 2 Honors (AP Calc AB, BC, AP Stats, APWH, APUSH, AP Comp Gov, AP US Gov, AP Macro, AP Micro, AP Psych, AP Spanish, AP Lang, AP Lit, AP CSP, AP Physics 2, Honors Physics, Honors Spanish IV), 2 DE courses, Sociology and MVC
• Sr Yr Courses: AP Comp/US Gov (1 sem each), AP Micro/Macro (1 sem each), AP Lit, AP Psych, AP Spanish, Elective

Standardized Testing SAT: 1570 (800M, 770 EBRW) PSAT: 1500 (760M, 740 EBRW) APs: all 5s except for a 4 on Macro and CSP
Extracurriculars/Activities (Vague and details changed for privacy)

1. Independent Research Study: Presented as one of the only high schoolers ever at statewide conference, published in decent journal - 5h30wk (11, 12)
2. International Nonprofit: President, VP Led & expanded org to 600+ tutors & tutees; managed a team of 25+ leaders; raised $10k+ for schools in Africa & Asia - 5h42wk (9, 10, 11, 12)
3. Athletics: Competed nationally in tournaments; reached top 90 in US, top 10 in CA; won Regional Championships throughout high school; organized practices & coached players as team leader for regional club teams - 8h50wk (9, 10, 11, 12)
4. Street Musician/Busking: (this was by far my favorite EC and helped me write so many supplementals) Founded and organized an octet to play music on the street; donated proceedings of $4k+ to school band; led combo performances & composed arrangements - 4h35wk (11, 12)
5. Work - Starbucks Barista: (my second favorite EC, helped me write lots of essays too) Pretty self explanatory - 11h35wk (11)
6. Student Leader @ Local Church: Longest serving leader in youth group; organized Bible study for 30+ K-6th graders - 2h34wk (9, 10, 11, 12)
7. VP of Business Club: Hosted weekly meetings & trainings; created curriculums for econ competitions; ranked 5th & 9th in CA - 2h30wk (9, 10, 11, 12)
8. Founder & President of Statistics Club Recruited & managed 70+ members; hosted 2x/m lectures on game theory - 2h30wk (12)
9. Music - Instrumental: Section Leader Accepted into a couple competitive regional bands and combos as first chair, won soloist awards at 2 large festivals - 2h40wk (10, 11, 12)
10. VP of Local Branch of International Art NPO Organized monthly videos, educated 100+ youth on music history; collaborated w/ other branches to host meetups; edited videos to post on social media - 1h40wk (10, 11, 12)

Awards/Honors
Placed first place/50 teams in international stock trading competition, Team Leader, won $500 (International, 9)
4th in Regional Science Fair, Qualified for CSEF, Won most innovative project ($100) (Regional, 11)
Accepted to Competitive Regional Band (State, 12) Special Service Award within church for 4 & 6 years of service (National, 9,11)
PVSA Gold x2, Silver x1 (National, 9,10,11)
NMSQT Semifinalist (Later finalist then scholar for a corporation award)
Letters of Recommendation
Counselor: Decent probably, (8/10)
AP Lang: (6/10)
AP Stats: (5/10)
Looking back, LORs were definitely the weakest point of my application, I was a pretty bad talker in class in junior year and it definitely reflected in my LORs. If I could go back that would probably be the one thing I change and was probably a big reason why I did good in the non LOR schools (UCs) and bad in the privates that required LORs
Essays Common App: I focused this one on my job, thought it turned out decent at first but looking back it was meh (7/10) UCs: Thought they were decent, my Haas specific one I liked a lot (8.5/10) Supps: Generally thought I did really well on my RD supps, not so much on my EA looking back (8/10)
Decisions
EA/ED
UPenn Wharton (ED): Deferred Fordham Gabelli (EA): Accepted w/ 260k total full tuition/Presidential Scholar Santa Clara Leavey (EA): Accepted w/ 25k yr scholarship CWRU Business (EA): Accepted w/ 30k yr USC Marshall (EA): Accepted!! Later interviewed for scholarship and got Presidential Scholars which is half off tuition
UCs
UCSC/UCUCM: Didn't apply UCSB Econ: Accepted w/ 5k/yr Regents UCSD Econ: Accepted UCD Econ: Accepted UCI Merage Business: Accepted UCLA Biz/Econ: Accepted!!! UCB Haas Spieker Program: Accepted!!!
RD
NYU Stern: Waitlisted JHU Econ: Rejected Williams Econ: Rejected UChicago Econ: Waitlisted Northwestern Econ: Waitlisted Emory Goizueta: Waitlisted Brown Econ: Rejected Duke Econ: Rejected Dartmouth Econ: Rejected Cornell Econ: Rejected Columbia Econ: Rejected UPenn Wharton: Rejected after being deferred :( Harvard Econ: Rejected Princeton Econ: Rejected Yale Econ: Rejected Stanford Econ: Rejected
Summary:
Acceptances:
Fordham Santa Clara CWRU UCSB UCSD UCI UCD UCLA USC UCB
Waitlists:
UChicago Northwestern Emory NYU
Rejections: JHU Williams Brown Dartmouth Cornell UPenn Columbia Stanford Yale Princeton Harvard Duke
Additional Information and Thoughts: I was ngl pretty shocked after Ivy Day and getting 8 straight rejections but after looking back I realized I probably wouldn't have attended any of them for Econ and prefer business much more. Haas is honestly probably the best possible choice for me (also 2.5% AR btw for spieker 😶‍🌫️, my inner prestige whore is still alive) after taking finances and program strength into account. Up until recently I was debating between USC Marshall, UCB Haas and UCLA but recently committed to UCB after loving Cal Day! 🐻🐻🐻🐻🐻🐻🐻 Thanks for reading that entire post, lmk your thoughts and feel free to ask me anything!

Edit: after reading many replies, this may be a post more about bank secrecy than political neutrality.
TL;DR: How do Swiss residents view opinions that critize the behaviour of the Swiss government and the Swiss banks that make Switzerland look unneutral, like freezing Russian assets, joining EU to sanction Russia? How do Swiss residents view the claim that “Switzerland has lost its reputation as a neutral country” because of the aforementioned events?
Background (a potential source of bias): I am a Chinese international student currently studying in Canada. Ever since I might have gotten a chance to go on an exchange term at ETH Zurich, I started viewing this subreddit for some daily information intake.
Why I am asking this question: I recently read a post regarding a petition to restore a more strict neutrality status for Switzerland proposed by one of the political parties. Since Switzerland is famous for its political neutrality, I also looked around on the Internet regarding including the Chinese part of the Internet. By comparing the general sentiment between how Chinese people view the current neutrality status of Switzerland and how some Swiss residents view that petition, I observed that the difference is quite drastic. Therefore, I hope to learn more about how Swiss residents view some of the opinions made by Chinese netizens.
Link to the petition post on Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/Switzerland/comments/1c1hxk4/neutrality_initiative_submitted_with_almost/
Link to the forum answer I came across on the Chinese Internet on this topic (in Chinese): https://www.zhihu.com/question/592108019/answe2964607740
Summary of the Chinese forum answer (the post is quite long):
This forum post starts by introducing a brief history of Swiss banks.
It says that in 1713, Switzerland introduced the first Act around the world on banking secrecy that prohibits the disclosure of client information. Until 1987, Swiss banks have been allowing clients to open anonymous bank accounts, where the account names were simply a string of numbers such that even bank staff wouldn't know the true identity of the client (questionable claim, I can't find any supporting evidence). Thus, due to more than 200 years of hard-built credit, countries around the world believe that Switzerland can remain de facto neutral, and many international organizations like the Red Cross and WHO have their headquarters located in Geneva.
Then this post proposes their first opinion: this hard-built credit has been slowly dismantled by the United States in the past two decades.
Their supporting evidence is that after the Great Recession in 2008, the United States DOJ accused Swiss banks of helping rich people in the US to evade taxes. In 2009, the Swiss banks could no longer resist the political pressure from the US and provided a list of 4450 names to the US DOJ (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6295462/#:\~:text=Several%20Swiss%20banks%20were%20already,penalty%20of%20USD%20780%20million. whether it's 4450 or not, I am not sure). Thus, the post claims that this cracked the credit stronghold of Swiss banks, and the rich people in the US started to fear depositing money in Swiss banks. Due to this incident, other Western countries' DOJs also started requiring Swiss banks to provide, the most significant of which happened in 2019 when the French government required Swiss banks to provide a list of 40,000 tax evaders (https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSKBN2AX1CA/). After this Swiss banks just started to work with tax agencies, and this post declared the credit stronghold bankrupt.
This post further elaborates on their second opinion: the very last legacy of the Swiss banking system was completely demolished in 2022 and 2023.
The post claims that before this time period, the Swiss banks still did not disclose client information to non-Western countries, so clients of countries like Russia still regarded Swiss banks as somewhat safe. Then once again, this post claims that, due to political pressure from the US, Switzerland forcibly started to sanction Russia on Feb 28, 2022 (https://www.admin.ch/gov/en/start/documentation/media-releases.msg-id-87386.html#:\~:text=Bern%2C%2028.02.,on%2023%20and%2025%20February.). Further sanctions were adopted on Mar 15, 2022 (https://www.admin.ch/gov/en/start/documentation/media-releases.msg-id-87677.html). Some Chinese media reported this is a rare move to renounce neutrality by the Swiss government. This post claims that the Swiss government believes the meaning of neutrality refers to "not being used by an aggressor, protecting peace, and respecting the international law are the values Switzerland shares with neighbouring European countries and democratic countries".
This post thus argues that this move against Russia created doubt among non-Western riches, such that a large amount of capital flowed out of Switzerland. Then this post says, on Feb 14, 2023, once again due to political pressure from the US, Switzerland froze $8.0 billion of Russian assets, and Credit Suisse was sanctioned by foreign corporations (questionable claim, no source other than one Chinese media supports this claim, but there are definitely reports on Swiss banks freezing Russian assets, just not on that date). Now, this post develops that it is from these dates forward, an enormous amount of capital flowed out of Switzerland to Hong Kong and Singapore.
This post now describes the impact of such a capital movement.
In March 2023, the financial system in the US started to experience cash flow problems. Silicon Valley Bank declared bankruptcy on Mar 10 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collapse\_of\_Silicon\_Valley\_Bank). Because of this panic, Swiss banks also started to experience cash flow problems as more and more withdrawals were made. On Mar 14, 2023, Credit Suisse started to have "material problems" (https://www.reuters.com/business/finance/credit-suisse-says-outflows-have-stabilized-not-reversed-2023-03-14/) and asked for help from the Swiss government.
Here comes the most interesting and widespread part of this post, where I cannot seem to find Western media sources to support these claims by the post. This post claims on Mar 23, 2023, Switzerland reclaims neutrality, all sanctions on Russia are cancelled, no Russian assets are frozen any longer, and no weapons will be exported to Ukraine. The next day, the US DOJ threatened the Swiss banks helping Russian oligarchs to avoid sanctions. And six days later, on Mar 29, 2023, Switzerland once again abandons neutrality.
This post now makes fun of the Swiss banking system and the Swiss government saying "Oh, the so-called permanent neutrality only lasts six days, and you can announce or renounce it whenever you want?"
The post concludes with this claim, the US government is very satisfied with the Swiss government and declares Switzerland is still the original free, permanently neutral country.
Some obvious issues: the post made several questionable claims that I cannot seem to find sources for on the Western news outlet, but they are quite widespread on the Chinese Internet, especially the claim that the Swiss government reclaims neutrality and abandons it within a mere 6-day period. The other one is that this post is heavily ideological such that you can obviously see that it blames the US for many actions made by the Swiss government.
What I hope to get out of this discussion: I hope this discussion can be a civilized one. The main question I would like to ask is how do Swiss residents view opinion articles like this on the Chinese Internet, or other opinion articles like https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/04/06/switzerland-neutrality-europe-ukraine-wa, or https://www.rfi.fcn/%E6%AC%A7%E6%B4%B2/20230312-%E7%91%9E%E5%A3%AB%E9%80%90%E6%B8%90%E6%94%BE%E5%BC%83%E4%B8%AD%E7%AB%8B-%E4%BA%9A%E6%B4%B2%E5%8F%8A%E4%B8%AD%E5%9B%BD%E5%AF%8C%E4%BA%BA%E5%BC%80%E5%A7%8B%E5%AF%B9%E5%9C%A8%E8%AF%A5%E5%9B%BD%E5%AD%98%E9%92%B1%E6%9C%89%E6%8B%85%E5%BF%A7%E4%BA%86 (RFI, in Chinese)? Do people believe it is time for Switzerland to renounce neutrality, or should Switzerland maintain the current neutrality status where there are many critics from non-Western countries like China, do people believe it is beneficial for Switzerland to embrace a stricter neutrality so that it can offer a better negotiation opportunity for countries at war? The Reddit petition post I linked reflects that the opinions are rather divided, so another question is seeing this kind of critic, do you think you would support your current stance on neutrality even further or revert your stance?
Final words: I really hope to get some insight on this issue and I hope that this discussion can refrain from being ideological attacks as much as possible. It is also encouraged to identify your own bias in your opinion, but fear not expressing it with supporting evidence, I really look forward to seeing this discussion getting really in depth.

Calling all scientific thinkers and readers! Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman is our Quarterly Non-Fiction winner for the Medical/Scientific category. We hope you'll join us for reading this fascinating book! Joining myself to lead discussions are u/midasgoldentouch, u/Meia_Ang, u/eeksqueak, and u/Reasonable-Lack-6585. We will begin on May 1st, and we will have 7 check-ins so that the reading length is manageable, given the dense material.
Here is a summary of the book according to Goodreads:

In the highly anticipated Thinking, Fast and Slow, Kahneman takes us on a groundbreaking tour of the mind and explains the two systems that drive the way we think. System 1 is fast, intuitive, and emotional; System 2 is slower, more deliberative, and more logical. Kahneman exposes the extraordinary capabilities—and also the faults and biases—of fast thinking, and reveals the pervasive influence of intuitive impressions on our thoughts and behavior. The impact of loss aversion and overconfidence on corporate strategies, the difficulties of predicting what will make us happy in the future, the challenges of properly framing risks at work and at home, the profound effect of cognitive biases on everything from playing the stock market to planning the next vacation—each of these can be understood only by knowing how the two systems work together to shape our judgments and decisions.
Engaging the reader in a lively conversation about how we think, Kahneman reveals where we can and cannot trust our intuitions and how we can tap into the benefits of slow thinking. He offers practical and enlightening insights into how choices are made in both our business and our personal lives—and how we can use different techniques to guard against the mental glitches that often get us into trouble. Thinking, Fast and Slow will transform the way you think about thinking.

Helpful Resources:
Goodreads Page
Storygraph Page
Daniel Kahneman’s “Talks At Google” presentation (beware of spoilers for the theories and information in the book)
Nobel Prize biography of Daniel Kahneman
Obituary for Daniel Kahneman
Schedule - Check-ins are on Wednesdays:

• May 1: Introduction - Ch. 4
• May 8: Chapters 5-10
• May 15: Chapters 11-17
• May 22: Chapters 18-22
• May 29: Chapters 23-28
• June 5: Chapters 29-34
• June 12: Chapter 35 through the End (including the Conclusion and Appendices A & B)

We’re looking forward to having you join us for this deep dive into the way we think (and the ways we *should* be thinking). Are you planning to join in? Put on your thinking caps and get ready to find out more about the mysterious human mind!

edit: rewritten garbage summary, did what i could with formatting, press Ctrl+U to see what the page looked like before HTML ate it.
TLDR: 1. skeletons are better than sheks late game for combat and especially logistics reasons. 2. In terms of 1 battle perfomance, skeletons are better than shek in most builds. 3. when putting the same build vs same build: shek win at high damage, heavy armor builds ("high damage" means enough to trigger 4.5s stagger when hitting skeleton's head)(example: fragment axe + lifter arms) skeletons win at medium damage builds both equal at high damage, low armor builds 4. Skeletons have 1 big weakness: lack of stagger protection from helmet 5. for all races except skeletonVSskeleton there is no 1 best build, but a cycle of counterbuilds. Relationship between counterbuilds after 2 paragraphs.
hidden skeleton advantages: 60% shorter get up time untested: 23% more health on parts contributing the most to combat penalties when damaged (torso and stomach) untested: 43% less chance of getting hit on stomach which contributes huge amount of combat penalties when hit.
base loadout "tank": Crab helmet, crab armor, blackened chainmail, samurai legplates, edge 3 fragment axe, KLR legs, Lifter arms skeleton version of the "tank" loadout loses crab helmet and chainmail. All other loadouts inherit and replace parts from this set. "tankMerc" is "tank" with mercenary plate "tankMerc30mm" is "tankMerc" with polearm, skeleton arms and leather turtleneck
relationship between counterbuilds (shek vs shek): skeleArmPolearm + heavy or medium armor beats lifterArmFragaxe + heavy or medium armor skeleArmPolearm + light armor beats skeleArmPolearm + heavy or medium armor lifterArmFragaxe + heavy armor beats light armor (in group fights from AOE)
example: tankMerc30mm beats tankMerc on shekVSshek and shekVSskele and skeleVSshek 34:3 tankMerc30mm beats tankAssRags on shekVSshek 5:0
tankAssRags30mm beats tankMerc30mm on skeleVSskele 10:0
tankMerc beats tankAssRags30mm on skeleVSskele 8:0 tankMerc beats tankAssRags on skeleVSskele 5:0 and shekVSshek 7:3
relationship between counterbuilds (skeleton vs skeleton): lifterFragaxe mercenary plate. No counterbuilds
examples: tankMerc beats tankAssRags30mm on skeleVSskele 8:0 tankMerc beats tankMerc30mm on skeleVSskele 7:3 tankMerc beats tankAssRags on skeleVSskele 5:0
More theory after experiments. Link to testing environment: https://www.nexusmods.com/kenshi/mods/1375?tab=description
1 battle combat testing: new game each fight unless otherwise stated 100 all skills, except martial arts 21 vs 21 group on group, no player control ns=normal speed; ff=fast forward; 0c=0 in coma(winners); ls=loaded from save; bodypart healths in order: head, stomach, chest, arm, leg; (s=0.96)=Attack speed while goal: attacking; (d=17023)=Blunt weapon damageWeapon cutting damage. Can be seen when hovering over strengthdexterity. 5-4 = score. When all opponents from one team are unconscious winner's score gets incremented by 1. Round starts at 10:00 in game time. In chronological order from 010324 to 130424:
shek tank vs skeleton tank; (location:"1") 1-0 ns ~0-2c 2-0 ns ~0-2c 3-0 ns ~0-2c 4-0 ns ~0-2c 4-1 ff ~0-4c shek bodyparts below 0 health: 10 16 15 2 3 , skele: 9 2 18 3 3 5-1 ff 0c shek: 8 12 2 2 2; median head wound 50%; skele: 20 1 15 5 1 6-1 ff 0c ls 7-1 ff 0c ls 8-1 ff 0c ls 9-1 ff 0c ls 10-1 ff 0c ls 11-1 ff 0c 12-1 ff 0c location change to "Slope" 13-1 ff 0c 14-1 ff 0c 15-1 ff 1c 16-1 ff 0c 17-1 location change to "emptyV3" 18-1
shek tank with samurai helmet vs skeleton tank (location:"1") 1-0 0c 2-0 0c ls 3-0 ns 1c ls
shek tankSamurai with samurai helmet(s=0.96) vs skeleton tank; 0-1 ns 5c 0-2 ff 9c 0-3 ff 4c ls 0-4 ff 3c ls 0-5 ff 7c ls 0-6 ff 6c ls 0-7 ff 1c ls 0-8 ff 1c ls location change to "slope" 1-8 ff 5c 1-9 ff 5c tough fight 1-10 ff 1c reboot ability is a great advantage (2s unconscious time instead of 15s gives reinforcement during a fight instead of after) 1-11 ff 0c 1-12 ff 4c 1-13 ff 1c 1-14 ff 2c 1-15 ff 5c ls 1-16 ff 9-11c ls 1-17 ff ~3-5c ls 1-18 ff 1c ls there is a suspicion that with samurai armor, shek can't put skeletons into coma in 2 hits giving them one extra wave of reinforcement 1-19 ff 9c ls
shek tankSamurai with samurai helmet vs skeleton tankSamurai(s=1.03); 1-0 ns 0c 1-1 ff 6c 1 skeleton split off from the group and was getting beaten up by 5 sheks 2-1 ff 0c 3-1 ff 1-4c 3-2 ff 1c 3-3 ff 5c half of shek squad joined the fight 2 seconds too late 4-3 ff 0c 5-3 ff 2c 6-3 ff 1c 6-4 ff 1c 6-5 ff 4c
shek tankSamurai vs skeleton tank 0-1 ff 4c 0-2 ff 8c if they didn't get up in 2 seconds they would've lost 0-3 ff 11c 0-4 ff 9c 0-5 ff 5c avg losses 7.4 from 5 battles
shek tank(s=0.89x) vs skeleton tankAssRags(s=1.2x) 1-0 ff 0c complete victory; shek lowest health part: chest (average ~25+-25) 2-0 ff 0c complete victory; shek average bodypart health: 60%+-5 3-0 location change to "emptyV3";skeleton: chest -36 speed: 0.99, attack 108 4-0
shek tank vs shek tankSamurai with samurai helmet 1-0 ff 0c
shek tank vs shek tankSamurai 1-0 ff 1c
CONTROL1: shek tankAssRags vs clone (location:"slope") 0-1 0-2 0-3 1-3 1-4 1-5 2-5 2-6
CONTROL2: shek tankAssRags vs clone 1-0 location change to "emptyV3" 1-1 2-1 2-2 2-3 3-3 3-4 3-5 4-5 5-5
CONTROL3: shek tank vs clone 1-0 location change to "slope" 1-1 1-2 1-3 1-4 1-5 1-6 1-7
location change to "emptyV3" shek tank vs shek tankMerc(s=0.97) 1-0 ff 0c 2-0 ns 0c
shek tank vs shek tankDustcoat (s=1.04) 1-0 ff 2-0 ff 2c
shek tank with falling sun e3 vs shek tank with plank e3 1-0 ff 0c 1-1 ff 0c 1-2 ff 0c 2-2 ff 0c
shek tank with fragaxe e3 vs shek tank with fragaxe e1 0-1 ff 7c 1-1 ff 0c 2-1 ff 0c 3-1 ff 1c
shek tank with falling sun e3 (d=11674) vs shek tank with fragaxe e3 0-1 ff 0c 0-2 ff 0c
shek tank with falling sun e3 klr(s=0.91)(d=9678) vs shek tank with fragaxe e3 0-1 ff 0c 0-2 ff 0c
shek tank with fragaxe e3 klr(d=14325) vs shek tank with fragaxe e3 and lifter arms(d=17023) 0-1 ff 0c 0-2 ff 0c
shek tankSamurai with polearm and skeleton arms vs fragaxe 0-1 ff 0c 0-2 ff 0c superfast battle 0-3 ff 0c 0-4 ff 0c 0-5 ff 0c 0-6 ff 0c 0-7 ff 0c one dude with disabled arms
shek tankSamurai with polearm and skeleton arms vs shek tank with polearm 1-0 ff 0c 2-0 ff 0c 3-0 ff 0c 4-0 ff 0c
shek tank vs shek tank with polearm 0-1 ff 0c 0-2 ff 0-3 0-4 0c
shek tank vs shek tank with paladin's cross (s=0.89)(d=9354) 0-1 0c 0-2 0c 0-3 0c 0-4 0c 0-5 0c
shek tank with polearm and skeleton arms vs shek tank with polearm 0-1 0c 1-1 0c 2-1 <2c 3-1 <2c 3-2 <2c 3-3 <2c
shek tankSamurai with polearm vs shek tank with polearm 1-0 0c 1-1 0c 2-1 0c 3-1 0c 3-2 0c 3-3 0c 4-3 0c 5-3 0c
shek tankSamurai with polearm and skeleton arms vs shek tank with polearm and skeleton arms 1-0 0c 2-0 0c 3-0 0c 4-0 0c 4-1 0c close fight 5-1 0c
shek tankSamurai with polearm and skeleton arms vs shek tankSamurai with polearm 0-1 <2c 0-2 <2c 1-2 <2c 1-3 0c 2-3 <2c 3-3 <2c 4-3 <2c 4-4 <2c 5-4 <2c 6-4 <2c
shek tankSamurai30mm(s=1.15)(d=4159) vs shek tankSamurai with polearm 0-1 <2c 1-1 <2c 2-1 <2c winner with -22 chest(and negligible damage in other parts(95%)) has 73 46 str dext, looser with -24 chest has 112 24 str dext 3-1 <2c winner with -64 chest(and negligible damage in other parts(85%)) has 66 14 str dext, damage 64, speed 0.86 4-1 <2c 5-1 <2c quick battle: 11:21 end (new game starts at 10:00) 6-1 6-2 11:44 end 7-2 11:26 end 8-2 11:34 end
shek tankMerc30mm(s=1.13)(d=4153) vs shek tankSamurai30mm 1-0 11:14 end 2-0 11:08 end 3-0 4-0 5-0 12:43 end; close fight 6-0 6-1 12:00 end 7-1 10:47 end 7-2 11:50 end; super concentrated, ton of aoe 8-2 11:00 end
skeleton tankMerc30mm vs shek tankMerc30mm 1-0 2-0 3-0 4-0 5-0 11:00 end 6-0 10:40 end 7-0 10:50 end; skeleton average injury 50% 8-0 10:48 end 9-0 10:50 9-1 12:10; 11 skeletons with head injury 10-1 11-1 12-1 13-1
skeleton tankMerc30mm vs shek tank 1-0 ns 10:55 end; only 3 skeletons fell 2-0 10:47 end
skeleton tankMerc30mm vs skeleton tankMerc(s=1.02)(d=17028) 0-1 insane aoe and full clump 0-2 full clump 0-3 11:07 end; full clump 0-4 10:56 end; full clump 1-4 half clump 2-4 a bit tough 3-4 0c 3-5 0c 3-6 0c 3-7 0c
shek tankMerc30mm vs skeleton tankMerc 1-0 1-1 12:27end; tough battle; skeleton quick getup 2-1 3-1 4-1 5-1 high attack speed allows for multiple attacks during enemy stagger 6-1 6-2 7-2 no skeletons in coma; shek average lowest health: -40; skeleton average lowest health: -40 7-3 percieved power 5050
skeleton tankMerc with polearm vs skeleton tankDustcoat with staff 1-0 relative damage is shit 11 staff vs 28 polearm, range is shit, attacks 2 times more often
skeleton tankMerc30mm vs skeleton tankDustcoat30mm 1-0 little clumped up 1-1 sparse 1-2 sparse 1-3 full clump; similar damage; dustcoat is surprisingly competent protection
skeleton tankMerc30mm vs skeleton tankAssRags30mm 0-1 0-2 114 attack is no joke 0-3 10:52 end 0-4 0-5 0c 0-6 0c 0-7 0c 0-8 0c 0-9 0c 0 opponents in coma 0-10
shek tank vs skeleton tankAssRags30mm 1-0 very tough; 12:21 end, barely won, rags give shitty defence chance, getting hit stuns for a long time 2-0 2-1 3c 2-2 12c 2-3 4c 11:10end 3-3 3-4 3-5 3-6 3-7
skeleton tankMerc vs skeleton tankAssRags30mm 1-0 full clump 2-0 full clump 3-0 full clump 4-0 full clump 5-0 full clump 6-0 7-0 8-0
skeleton tankMerc vs skeleton tankAssRags30mm 1v1 1-0 2-0; 1.45:1 attack odds ratio(practically more due to stagger); ~1:3 per attack damage ratio; 96 vs 114 attack 2-1 2-2 3-2 4-2 5-2 5-3 5-4 6-4 6-5 7-5
skeleton tankWPJ vs skeleton tankMerc 0-1 1-1 2-1 3-1 4-1 5-1 16c 5-2 0c 5-3 2c 5-4 8c 5-5 0c 5-6 1c 6-6 2c 6-7 0c 6-8 1c 6-9 0c 6-10 0c 6-11 0c 6-12 4c medium armor makes it harder to survive beginning of the battle, but higher attack chance helps in later stages 7-12 0c 8-12 8-13 4c switched sides 9-13 0c 10-13 7c 10-14 0c 10-15 1c 10-16 0c 11-16 5c 11-17 1c 11-18 11-19 1c
skeleton tankWPJ vs skeleton tankDustcoat 1-0 2-0 4c 2-1 2c 3-1
skeleton tank vs skeleton tankWPJ 0-1 ns 13c 2 with disabled arms 0-2 ff 0c 1-2 2-2 3-2 4-2 barely won; 90% casualties 4-3 4-4 4-5 90% casualties 5-5 3c
skeleton tank vs skeleton tankMerc (same body size) 0-1 0-2 0-3 0-4 0-5 4c 0-6 2c 1-6 9c 1-7 1-8 1-9 9c
skeleton tankMerc (biggest body) vs skeleton tankMerc (smallest body) 1-0 1-1 2-1 3-1 4-1 5-1 6-1 7-1 7-2 8-2 8-3 switched sides 9-3 9-4 9-5 10-5 10-6 11-6 12-6 13-6 13-7
skeleton tank (biggest body) vs skeleton tankMerc (smallest body) 0-1 1-1 1-2 2-2 2-3 2-4
shek tankMerc vs skeleton tankMerc (same body size) 1-0 2-0 3-0; found one very hard to spot difference: when skeletons get hit in the face they get 60 damage, which staggers them (less than 52 don't), every other part gets 25 damage 4-0 5-0 6-0 7-0 8-0 9-0 10-0 10-1 10-2 switched sides 11-2 11-3 12-3 12-4 13-4 13-5 14-5 15-5 16-5 17-5
shek tankMerc vs skeleton tankMerc30mm 0-1 0c 0-2 0c 0-3 2c 0 shek in coma; average lowest shek health: -20 0-4 0c 0-5 1c 0-6 0c 0-7 0c 0-8 0c 0-9 1c 0 shek in coma; average lowest shek health: -15 0-10 0c 0-11 0c
shek tankMerc with spiked helmet vs skeleton tankMerc 1-0 tough battle 2-0 6c 3-0 2c 4-0 1c 5-0 4c 6-0 0c all skeletons in coma 7-0 0c 7-1 3c 8-1 0c 9-1 5c
shek tankMerc vs shek tankMerc30mm(s=1.13)(d=4153) 0-1 0c 0-2 0c 0-3 0c 0-4 0c 0-5 1c average damage -20
shek tankMerc with fragaxeE2 vs shek tankMerc30mm 0-1 0c 0-2 0c 0-3 0c 0-4 0c 0-5 0c polearms have pretty fast side swipe move. It ends as soon as it hits.
shek tankMerc (controlled by player(no pause)) vs skeleton tankMerc30mm 0-1 0-2 I think I made it worse. Clumping them together makes them receive more aoe damage from polearms and doesn't help much with formation 0-3 tough bastards, divide and conquering them for 10 seconds didn't help much. 0-4 I think I have a tactic 0-5 nope I'm not 0-6
skeleton tankAssRags vs skeleton tankAssRags30mm 1-0 0c what a nightmare, ended at 10:29 2-0 0c 3-0 0c 4-0 0c not a chance 5-0 0c 6-0 0c 7-0 0c 8-0 0c 9-0 0c 10-0 0c
skeleton tankMerc vs skeleton tankAssRags 1-0 0c not even close 2-0 0c 3-0 0c one at -83 4-0 0c one at -81 5-0 9c
skeleton tankMerc30mm vs skeleton tankAssRags 0-1 0c replacing fragaxe with polearm removed most of the advantage 0-2 0c 0-3 0-4 0c 0-5 0c
skeleton tankMerc vs skeleton tankArmoredRags and martial arts 1-0 0c 40 dodge penalty from samurai legplates kills this build
skeleton tankMerc vs skeleton tankArmoredRags with armored rag skirt and martial arts 0-1 0c 1 at -57 head; in the beginning tankMerc always shows promise, but then battle spreads out and MA win 1v1 0-2 0-3 extremely tough battle, if they couldn't get up after getting knocked out they would've lost 0-4 0-5 0-6 0-7 tough battle 0-8 90% of MA gets knocked out in the first 10 seconds, melee spreads out then MA wakes up and finishes them 0-9 0-10
skeleton tankAssRags vs skeleton tankArmoredRags with armored rag skirt and martial arts 0-1 much more damage 0-2 0-3 0-4 0-5
shek tankAssRags vs skeleton tankAssRags 0-1 3c 0-2 0c 1-2 spread out 2-2 0c 3-2 4-2 4-3 7c 5-3 0c 5-4 6-4 0c
shek tankAssRags with leather turtleneck vs skeleton tankAssRags 1-0 0c 1-1 0c 1-2 2c 2-2 3c 2-3 0c 2-4 2c 3-4 0c 4-4 3c poor coverage neutralizes skeleton helmetlessness weakness 4-5 0c 4-6
shek tankAssRags30mm vs skeleton tankAssRags30mm 0-1 0c 0-2 0c 0-3 0c 0-4 0c 0 sheks in coma ; average lowest damage for shek: -25 0-5 0c 0-6 0c 0-7 0c 0-8 0-9 0-10 ended at 10:34
shek tankConscript vs skeleton tankConscript 1-0 0c 2-0 0c 3-0 3c tough battle; 5 with crippled arm 3-1 4-1 0c 5-1 0c end: 11:09 5-2 0c end:10:30 5-3 1c 6-3 1c 7-3 0c
shek tankMerc vs shek tankAssRags 1-0 0c 2-0 0c 3-0 tight clump 3-1 1c spread out 3-2 1c spread out 3-3 1c 4-3 0c regular density 5-3 0c 6-3 0c 7-3 0c regular density ; feels 10:1
shek tankMerc30mm vs shek tankAssRags 1-0 2-0 3-0 4-0 5-0
shek tankMerc vs shek tankConscript 1-0 2c 2-0 3-0 11:13 end 4-0 <2c 5-0
skeleton tankNinja vs shek tankMerc 0-1 0-2 10:52 end 0-3 1-3 2c 1-4
HiveSoldierDrone tankMerc30mm vs shek tankMerc30mm 0-1 0-2 0-3 0-4 0-5
shek tankMerc30mm vs shek tankWPJ30mm 0-1 0-2 0-3 0-4 0-5 0-6 0-7 1-7 tough fight 1-8 1-9 1-10
shek tankAssRags30mm vs shek tankWPJ30mm 1-0 2-0 3-0 4-0 5-0 6-0 7-0 8-0 8-1 10:44 end 9-1 10:39 end
shek tankMerc vs shek tankWPJ30mm 0-1 1-1 1-2 1-3 1-4 2-4 tough battle 2-5 2-6 2-7 2-8
shek tankMerc vs shek tankConscript30mm 0-1 0-2 0-3 0-4 0-5
shek tankWPJ vs shek tankWPJ30mm 0-1 0-2 13 have parts at 0 health 0-3 0-4 1-4 1-5 1-6 1-7 1-8 1-9
shek tankMerc30mm vs shek tankWPJ 1-0 2-0 3-0 4-0 5-0
shek tankWPJ vs shek tankAssRags 0-1 1-1 1-2 1-3 2-3 3-3 every battle is tough 4-3 5-3 6-3 6-4
shek tankAssRags30mm vs shek tankAssRags 0-1 0-2 0-3 0-4 regular density 1-5 rare very sparse, almost 1v1
shek tankMerc vs shek tankWPJ 1-0 2-0 12:09 end 3-0 0c 4-0 5-0
shek tankAssRags30mm vs shek tankWPJ 1-0 2-0 2-1 2-2 3-2 4-2 5-2 6-2 7-2 8-2
shek tankAssRags30mm vs shek tankMerc30mm 1-0 2-0 3-0 4-0 5-0
shek tankAssRags30mm vs shek tankMerc 1-0 1-1 2-1 much more tougher than the skeleton version 3-1 4-1 10:40 4-2 5-2 5-3 6-3 6-4 based entirely on whether they are clumped up or spread out
shek tankWPJ30mm vs shek tankAssRags 0-1 0-2 0-3 0-4 barely, 5 characters standing during last kill 0-5 1-5 1-6 1-7 tough fight 1-8 1-9
75 loadouts +-1
shek tank with: plank + klr arms: (s=0.91)(d=9956.96) plank + lifter arms: (s=0.89)(d=11754) plank + skeleton arms: (s=0.94)(d=8762.08) polearm + klr arms: (s=0.91)(d=4840) polearm + lifter arms: (s=0.90)(d=5838) polearm + skeleton arms: (s=0.95)(d=4143)
shek tankSamurai with: polearm + skeleton arms: (s=1.07)(d=4154)
combinations: 15 (10-1 = 10 wins (left), 1 win (right)) sp = skeleton arms + polearm edge 3 + leather turtleneck lf = lifter arms + fragment axe edge 3 + blackened chainmail 1 = assassin's rags 2 = white plate jacket 3 = mercenary plate the rest is: crab helmet, klr legs, samurai legplates 1 sp1 sp2 9-1 shekVshek 2 sp1 sp3 5-0 shekVshek; 10-0 skeleVskele 3 sp1 lf1 1-5 shekVshek 0-10 skeleVskele 4 sp1 lf2 8-2 shekVshek 5 sp1 lf3 lf3 if grouped up shekVshek; 0-8 skeleVskele 6 sp2 sp3 10-1 shekVshek 7 sp2 lf1 1-9 shekVshek 8 sp2 lf2 9-1 shekVshek 9 sp2 lf3 8-2 shekVshek 10 sp3 lf1 5-0 shekVshek; 0-5 skeleVskele 11 sp3 lf2 5-0 shekVshek 12 sp3 lf3 10-0 shekVshek; 7-3 shekVskele; 17-0 skeleVshek ;3-7 skeleVskele 13 lf1 lf2 4-6 shekVshek 14 lf1 lf3 3-7 shekVshek; 0-5 skeleVskele 15 lf2 lf3 0-5 shekVshek 11-19 skeleVskele
"stagger long" ~271 frames (4.517 seconds) "stagger medium" ~67 frames (1.12 seconds) "stagger short" ~33 frames (0.55 seconds)
You have to see these two blocks in page source (Ctrl+U) because html collapses white spaces. armr = blunt resistance; armr h ch st ra la dext cspd atk def dam merc 59 0 100 70 90 90 0.8 0.97 -4 0 wpj 34 0 100 100 100 100 0.95 1 0 0 holy 53 0 100 100 25 25 0.7 0.96 -4 -2 crab 66 0 100 100 90 90 0.5 0.94 -10 0 samu 62 0 100 85 85 85 1 0.94 -8 0.85 attack damage cons 41 0 100 70 80 80 1 1 0 0 Adrg 51 0 90 20 80 80 0.9 0.98 0 -5 dust 28 25 100 100 100 100 1 1 0 4 ninj 26 50 100 100 60 60 1.1 1 4 0 assa 27 25 25 50 0 100 1.2 1.1 8 -4
(head + chest + stomach + right arm) coverage; final attack speed; 1+attack chance bonus per skill difference ; enemy block reduction from the attack skill bonus;coverage/100 * armor; CombinedArmorspeedattackblockReductiondefence cover fspd attk BlkR def CombArmr power notes merc 260 1.02 0.90 0.95 1 153 133 wpj 300 1.10 1 1 1 102 112 holy 225 0.99 0.90 0.95 0.97 119 98 (note: 25% on the right arm. Coverage is more valuable when distributed evenly with priority on critical parts) crab 290 0.93 0.78 0.88 1 191 122 samu 270 1.03 0.82 0.90 1 167 108 (127 * 0.85 damage) cons 250 1.11 1 1 1 103 114 Adrg 190 1.07 1 1 0.925 97 96 (20% on stomach) dust 325 1.11 1 1 1.06 91 107 ninj 310 1.14 1.095 1.06 1 81 107 (50% coverage on the head) assa 200 1.32 1.182 1.12 0.94 52 85 (1.2 attack speed cap)
conclusion: we focus our attention on exceptional while the most powerful are just consistently competent
armor adjusted HP for "tank" loadout 200 hp skeleton head 3.33 hits (from tank(60)) 597 hp skeleton chest 9.95 hits (from tank(60)) 597 hp skeleton stomach 9.95 hits (from tank(60)) = 1394 416 hp shek head 6.93 hits (from tank(60)) 483 hp shek chest 8.05 hits (from tank(60)) 483 hp shek stomach 8.05 hits (from tank(60)) = 1382
no armor: = 600 = 375
shek vs skeletons detailed difference: health: 125% 200% (compared to greenlander) armor. chest, stomach, arms: 100% 80% armor head: 100% 0% (same)damage: (same)skill: (95% sameish)attack speed: unconscious time: 80% 50% (from greenlander) hit chance head: (12%) (13.3%) hit chance stomach: (21%) (13.3%) hit chance chest: (21%) (23.3%) hit chance Larm: (12%) (13.3%) hit chance Rarm (9%) (10%) hit chance leg: (12%) (13.3%) hit chance Otherleg:(12%) (13.3%) post 0 health: 100% (50% head, 80% torso,arms) blood: 150 100 heal rate: 0.8 2 food: yes no weather immunity: no full(dust, acid, fire, gas) swimming: slow fast typical height: high average
unconscious time testing, bodypart hit chances are adjusted so that only chest can be hit, weapon: crossbow, race: shek unless specified health; seconds unconscious left; blood 100hp chest 257dmg bow (199.34 in fcs)(90dmg recieved) 0 starting hp, 1500blood -94 130 1336 -92 127 1338 -91 127 1337 -90 126 1338 -90 126 1338 -89 126 1334 429dmg bow (333 in fcs)(150dmg recieved), 1500blood -70 120 -54 93 1317 -53 102 -51 90 1319 -50 89 1319 -50 88 1319 -47 86 -46 85 1321 dmg bow (1.193 in fcs)(dmg recieved) 0 starting hp, 1500blood -1 42 1370 -1 41 1370 -1 41 1370 -1 41 1370
200hp chest, copy of vanilla skeleton race, full starting hp -87 84, dying -74 79 89 -72 78 89 -70 77 89 -67 75 89 -50 66 90 -37 60 90 -31 57 90 -27 55 91 -22 52 91 -16 49 -10 46 91 -3 42 91 -1 41 92
1000hp chest 3000dmg bow (2326 in fcs)(1050dmg recieved), 1500blood -76 58 984 -68 57 -64 57 988 -55 56 992 -49 55 993 -46 55 -38 54 257dmg bow (199.34 in fcs)(90dmg recieved) 0 starting hp, 1500blood -91 51 1338 -91 51 1337 -91 50 1337 -91 50 1337 -90 50 1338 -90 50 1338 ?dmg bow (1.193 in fcs)(?dmg recieved) 0 starting hp, 1500blood -1 41 1370 -1 41 1370 -1 41 1370 -1 41 1370
melee:(0 cut, 2.00 blunt damage written on the weapon, 33 dmg dealt in combat): health; seconds unconscious left skeleton: -65 19 -54 16 -24 8 -20 7
shek -92 46 -91 44 -82 41 -61 32 -53 28 -52 26 -36 21 -34 19 -29 18 -25 15 -10 9 -10 9 -10 9 -9 8
attack chance testing (1 = left character attacks, 0 = right character attacks): {result: block chance malus when block is lower than opponent's attack by 1 level: 1.5% block chance bonus when block is higher than opponent's attack by 1 level: 1.2% (base chance 70%) attack odds bonus when attack is higher than opponent's attack by 1 level: 2.5 (base odds 100:100)}
control: 100 vs 100 : 89/85 (174 total) 0.5115/0.4885 120 vs 100 attack (iron club with +20 attack): 339/222 (561 total) 0.6048/0.3957 110101010101010101010101011101010010110101101010101010101011101110101011010111010110101010101101010101110110101010101011010110101011010101111101011011011011111010110101110111101010110110111010101011011001011101010110101001110101101010110111010110101010110101101110111011011101110101101010101101101010101010110110101111011011110110110110101010101010101101010101010110101011010101010101101110101010101010101011101110101110110101010110111011011010111010101010101110101101101011010101010101101111011010101010110101001010101010101011110101100110101110111011011010101
110 vs 100 attack (iron club with +10 attack): 210/173 (383 total) 0.5483/0.4517 01010101010101101010101101001010101010110101010110101010110101010101010110110110101010101010101101010110101010101010101101011010111010101010111011111010101011010101010101011010101011110101010101101101101100101010101010101010101001010110100101010101010110101010110101010101011011010101010101010101110101010101001011010110101010101010101010101010101010101101011010110101010110101010101
100 vs 80 attack (no buffs/debuffs): 233/160 (393 total) 0.5929/0.4071 110101101101010101011101011010101010101101010101101101010111010101010101010101110110101101011110101011101111011101010101010101010110110101101110110101110101101110101010101110101101010101011101101010111010101101011010101010101011010101010101110111010101010101110101010101010101111010101010101010101010101011010101010101010101011010101110111010110101110101011010101110101010101101010101101011101
114 vs 96 attack (100 base for both, armor and weapons buffs/debuffs): 25/17 (18 attack difference) +47% attack chance (45% expected value) 101000100100100010100110111010100100110000
attack chance factor 1 (fcs default = 0.05) 100 vs 90 : 304/63 = 4.8225 ratio 1111011111111111111111010101111111110111011101011010111110111111111101111111101111110111111110110110101011111101111101111111101010111110111111111111101111110111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111101111111011101101110101110101110101101010111110101011011101110111110101111111111011111011111011111011111010111111110111111110110101111111111101110111110111110111011
testing block chance of a disadvantaged character (1 = block successful) 100 vs 80 attack, 80 defence : 99/133 (232 total) 0.4267 , expected block chance from fcs: 40%; 0010000010110001101101111011100110110111101110101101110101011010010110111100000001100001000100000110101001100000000000010000011011100010001000111110100000110100101010001001001100011010000000100010101011010010011000110001110100010001 100 vs 100 attack, 130 defence : expected approximately 90-95% with cap, 106 without 111111101111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111110111111111111111111101111111111101111111111111111111111101111111011111101111110111111111111111111111110111111111111111101111011110111111101111111111111111111111111111111101111111101111111111111111111111011111011010111111111111111110111111111111111111111111101111111111111111111111110111111111111111111111011111111011110111111110011111111011111111111101111 394/29 (423 total) 0.93
test attack frequency relation to skill level (1 = left character attacks, 0 = right character attacks) 100 vs 0 , 5 minutes : 123/46 (169 total) , 0.5633 attacks per second, 2.6739 ratio 1010111110101101011011101101111011101111110101011011111111110101110111010110110111011111110101101101111011111101111111101111101101010101101101011010111101101110101110101
100 vs 0 45/12 (57 total) 110111110110101111110101111110111111011111101101111110101
100 vs 0 , 5 minutes : 124/32 (156 total), 0.52 attacks per second, 3.875 ratio, 0.7949 110111011111110110111101101110111010111111101111010111110110111101111010110111111011110101011101111111111011111111110111101111101011111101111101111110111011
169+156/10minutes = 0.5416 attacks per second (note: if the game decides to give you attack turn again, you have to wait for the previous attack animation to finish) 124/32 + 123/46 + 45/12 = 292/90 (382 total), 3.244 ratio, 0.7644/0.2356
0 vs 0 , 5 minutes : 125/122 (247 total) 0.5061/0.4939, 0.8233 attacks per second 1010110101010101010101010101010101010101010100100101010101010101101010110101010101010101010101010101010101010101010101010101010101010101011010101010101011010101010101010101010101010101010101010101010101010101001010101010101010101010101010010101011
( 200 vs 0 , 5 minutes : 128/14 (expected:0.85714) (142 total) 0.9014/0.0986, 0.4133 attacks per second 0111110111111111111111111111111111011111110111011111111111111111111111111011111101111111101110111111011101111111111111111111111011110111111110
200 vs 0 , 5 minutes : 129/13 1111111011011111111101111111111111101111111111111011101111111111011111111111111111111010111111111111111111011111111111111011111011101111111111
200 vs 0 , unknown time : 166/19 11111111111111111111011110111111111111111111101111011111111111111111111111111111011101111111111111111111111011101111110111010111011111111011111111111011111111111101101101111101011111111
200 vs 0 , unknown time : 115/13 0.898 11111011101111111110101011111111111111101101111111111011111111111111111111111111111110111110101111111101111111111111111111101111
538/59 (597 total) 0.9012/0.0988, expected: 0.8571/0.1429 ) i think i overplayed this game

It started with my rust just randomly crashing so I factory reset my pc and now every thing crashed on start up. I ran a diagnosis and it says everything is failing.
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Diagnosis
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PC Specs

It started with my rust just randomly crashing so I factory reset my pc and now every thing crashed on start up. I ran a diagnosis and it says everything is failing.
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Diagnosis
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Pc Specs

Here are the results from S46 Episode 6 Day After Survey.
You can view Google's interactive summary of the results here.

Total Responses: 203

Overall Reactions

Average: 7.15 Standard deviations: 1.53

1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
0%	2%	2%	3%	4.9%	11.3%	28.1%	36.9%	9.4%	2.5%

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Contestant Reactions

The top 5 Survivors are listed below. In all questions, up to 3 picks were allowed.
Which Survivors played the best strategically?

1. Hunter (61%)
2. Tiffany (48%)
3. Q (47.5%)
4. Charlie (34.5%)
5. Tevin (28.5%)

Which Survivors were the most exciting characters to watch?

1. Venus (80.5%)
2. Hunter (62.5%)
3. Q (56.5%)
4. Moriah (19%)
5. Kenzie (13.5%)

Which Survivors gave the best confessionals?

1. Venus (69.3%)
2. Q (49.5%)
3. Hunter (27.1%)
4. Tevin (25.5%)
5. Moriah (24.5%)

Which Survivors gave the best challenge performances?

1. Hunter (89.2%)
2. Charlie (43.3%)
3. Q (30.9%)
4. Soda (23.7%)
5. Venus (19.6%)

Which Survivors gave the best Tribal Council performances?

1. Q (57%)
2. Venus (50.8%)
3. Moriah (41.9%)
4. Hunter (33%)
5. Charlie (24.6%)

Overall, which Survivors stood out to you the most in this episode?

1. Venus (81.4%)
2. Q (56.8%)
3. Hunter (51.3%)
4. Moriah (37.2%)
5. Charlie (10.6%)

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Gameplay

If you drew the grey rock, which team would you have bet on to win the immunity challenge?

1. Purple (Ben, Hunter, Kenzie, Q, Tevin, Tim) (96.1%)
2. Orange (Charlie, Liz, Maria, Moriah, Soda, Venus) (3.4%)
3. I don't know (0.5%)

If you were Yanu, who would you have voted for?

1. Charlie (45.8%)
2. Moriah (39.4%)
3. Venus (10.8%)
4. I don't know (3.9%)

What did you think of Venus trying to turn the vote onto Charlie?

1. It's alright (39.4%)
2. Great move (30.5%)
3. Bad move (28.6%)
4. I don't know (1.5%)

Should Moriah have flipped on her original Siga tribe?

1. Yes (90.1%)
2. No (7.4%)
3. I don't know (2.5%)

Should Venus have flipped on her original Nami tribe?

1. Yes (65.3%)
2. No (20.8%)
3. I don't know (13.9%)

In one word, describe Moriah, the sixth boot

1. Liz (27)
2. Jump (26)
3. Aubry (16)
4. Glasses (4)
5. Loyal / Naive / Smart (3)

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Editing/Production

Overall, how would you rate how this episode was edited?
Average: 7.17 Standard deviation: 1.58

1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
1%	0.5%	1.5%	2%	8.1%	14.6%	23.7%	30.8%	15.2%	2.5%

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Challenges

How would you rate the immunity challenge?
Average: 6.94 Standard deviation: 1.93

1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
2%	1.5%	2.5%	4.5%	9.5%	12.9%	23.4%	25.9%	10.9%	7%

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Next Time on Survivor

The top 5 Survivors are listed below. Up to 3 picks were allowed.
Which Survivors are in the most danger next episode?

1. Venus (81.4%)
2. Q (43.7%)
3. Tim (39.2%)
4. Soda (38.2%)
5. Charlie (22.1%)

The basic dispute surrounds whether the symbols of the Passover service, the bread and wine, what most churches would call "communion" or "the Lord's Supper," should be observed on the night of Nisan (or Abib) fourteenth, or on Nisan fifteenth. As it has been traditionally taught in the Church of God, the lambs were slain early on the fourteenth, at the same time of the day and year Christ ate a Passover meal with his disciples in 31 A.D., which should be the same time Christians today should footwash fellow believers, and take the bread and wine symbolizing their acceptance of Jesus' sacrifice for them.
First of all, certain complexities need to be admitted, before presenting the case for an early fourteenth Passover. One ever-present source of confusion is that the Hebrews (and in the Bible generally) the days begin and end at sunset, not at midnight as the Romans did. In the Bible, with the evident exception of the Gospel of John, the days BEGIN at sunset, which is not natural to the modern, Western mind used to reckoning days midnight to midnight. Notice how in Genesis 1 the "evening" preceded the "morning" for the six days of (re)creation. Similarly, the Day of Atonement began at sunset on the ninth day, even though it was considered to be on the tenth day: "On exactly the tenth day of this seventh month is the day of atonement . . . It is to be a sabbath of complete rest to you, and you shall humble your souls; on the ninth of the month at evening, from evening until evening you shall keep your sabbath" (Lev. 23:27, 32, NASB throughout, unless otherwise noted). Similarly, when Ex. 12:18 says, "in the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at evening," it refers to the end of the fourteenth in this case, to sunset, and the beginning of the fifteenth, because it refers Days of Unleavened Bread, which we know from Lev. 23:6 begin on the fifteenth. We always have to keep in mind how days end and begin at sunset in the Bible, especially when examining the implications of the Hebrew words ben ha arbayim, which literally mean "between the two evenings," for dating the Passover. It's important to note that the moment it's shown that ben ha arbayim means "twilight" and not "afternoon," that the festival of the fourteenth ceases to exist completely: If days end after sunset, and the sacrifice occurs at "twilight," after sunset, then the sacrifice really then is occurring on the fifteenth, and not at all on the fourteenth. Hence, those advocating a fifteenth/late fourteenth Passover have to say ben ha arbayim means "afternoon" to have a case.
THE PROBLEM OF THE GENERAL USE OF THE WORD "PASSOVER" IN SCRIPTURE
Another complexity that makes settling this debate difficult is how a general meaning of the word "Passover" is used in Scripture and by the Jews historically. The word "Passover" gets applied to Nisan fourteenth, Nisan fifteenth (the first Holy Day of the Days of Unleavened Bread), as well as the entire eight-day period, including all the Days of Unleavened Bread as well as Nisan fourteenth. For example, "Passover" is applied to the seven days of Unleavened Bread in John 2:23: "Now when He [Jesus] was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many believed in His name." In Matt. 26:2, the word "Passover" is applied to Nisan fourteenth only: "You know that after two days the Passover is coming, and the Son of Man is to be delivered up for crucifixion." In Mark 14:1, Nisan fourteenth and the beginning of the Feast of Unleavened Bread are joined together: "Now the Passover and Unleavened Bread was two days off, and the chief priests and scribes were seeking how to seize Him by stealth, and kill Him." "Passover" is applied to the entire eight (or seven?) day period in Luke 22:1: "Now the Feast of Unleavened Bread, which is called the Passover, was approaching." Nisan fourteenth is a Day of Unleavened Bread in Matt. 26:17: "Now on the first day of Unleavened Bread the disciples came to Jesus, saying, "Where do You want us to prepare for You to eat the Passover?" Similarly, there is Luke 22:7: "Then came the first day of Unleavened Bread on which the Passover lamb had to be sacrificed." A general use of the word "Passover" is not confined to the New Testament, for it is found in the Old as well: "In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month, you shall have the Passover, a feast of seven days; unleavened bread shall be eaten." While elsewhere the ancient Jewish historian Josephus (c. 37-100 A.D.) distinguishes Nisan fourteenth from the seven Days of Unleavened Bread that follow it, in one place he labels the whole eight-day period by one name, by saying "we keep a feast for eight days, which is called the feast of unleavened bread" (Antiquities of the Jews, II-15:1). Elsewhere, he effectively equates the two: "Now, upon the approach of that feast of unleavened bread . . . which is called the Passover, and is a memorial of their deliverance out of Egypt" (Antiquities, bk. 17, ch. 9, sect. 2). "As the Jews were celebrating the Feast of Unleavened Bread, which we call the Passover . . ." (Antiquities, bk. 18, ch. 2, sect. 2). The great medieval Jewish philosopher Moses Maimonides (1135-1204) reflects traditional Jewish thinking by effectively eliminating the fourteenth as a festival, and by calling the Days of Unleavened Bread and Passover by the term "Passover" alone: "The reason for the Passover is well known. It is kept seven days, because the period of seven days is the unit of time intermediate between a day and a month" (The Guide for the Perplexed, p. 352). Hence, whether we turn to scripture or to traditional Jewish thinking historically, we must admit to the generality of the term "Passover" as well as even "Day(s) of Unleavened Bread."
HOW THE FOURTEENTH "EVAPORATES" IN THE LATE FOURTEENTH/FIFTEENTH VIEW
The fundamental problem with the "late fourteenth" understanding of the Passover is how the festival on Nisan fourteenth basically evaporates, perhaps being composed of a few hours in its late afternoon (c. 3-6 PM). For all other festivals and holy days in Scripture, when a given day is listed as something to observe, it's to be observed for a twenty-four hour period, not just a few hours near its end. Hence, for the Day of Atonement, we have "from evening until evening you shall keep your sabbath" (Lev. 23:32). Only with the Passover do we suddenly employ a different procedure, without any clear text for justifying it. In Lev. 23:5-8, the fourteenth is clearly distinguished from the Days of Unleavened Bread: "In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at twilight ["between the two evenings"] is the Lord's Passover. Then on the fifteenth day of the same month there is the Feast of Unleavened Bread to the Lord; for seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. On the first day you shall have a holy convocation; you shall not do any laborious work. . . . On the seventh day is a holy convocation; you shall not do any laborious work." Similarly, the two are distinguished in Num. 28:16-18: "Then on the fourteenth day of the first month shall be the Lord's Passover. And on the fifteenth day of this month shall be a feast, unleavened bread shall be eaten for seven days. On the first day shall be a holy convocation; you shall do no laborious work." While the general use of the term "Passover" as used elsewhere in scripture and by the Jews historically favors the late fourteenth view, any move towards specificity favors the early fourteenth view. What matters is what scripture says when it is instructing us how and when to observe these days specifically, instead of when (especially in the New Testament) it is referring to the general festival season by (often) short hand means as a historical chronological/time marker during the events that led up to Jesus' crucifixion.
The principal dispute concerning the Passover's timing concerns exactly when the lambs were killed during the fourteenth of Nisan, and, by extension, when Israel left Egypt (c. 1446 b.c.). Were the lambs were killed early on the fourteenth, just after sunset ended the thirteenth, or did this happen in the late afternoon of the fourteenth? Ex. 12: 5: states: "And you shall keep it [the lamb or goat] until the fourteenth day of the same month, then the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel is to kill it at twilight." The battleground term, which the NASB translates "at twilight," in the Hebrew is "ben ha arbayim," which literally translated means, "between the two evenings." If this term refers to the period between sunset and full darkness, the early Nisan fourteenth view is triumphant. Since the day for the Hebrews begins and ends at sunset, then the Passover sacrifice had to have occurred just after sunset but before full darkness at the beginning of the day. On the other hand, if this term refers to the late afternoon (c. 3-6 PM), then the late fourteenth (or fifteenth) view is victorious. Then it could not possibly refer to the late afternoon of the thirteenth, since that would be another day.
EVIDENCE GENERALLY FAVORS "BETWEEN THE TWO EVENINGS" AS MEANING "TWILIGHT"
On which side are the standard Bible helps and lexicons? Here we face some divided opinion, but the general weight, especially more recently, favors the Church of God's traditional interpretation and practice. Gesenius' (1847) (p. 652) says about "between the two evenings" that:
i.e. according to the opinion of the Karaites and Samaritans (which is favoured by the words of Deut. 16:6), the time between sunset and deep twilight. The Pharisees, however . . . and the Rabbinists considered the time when the sun began to descend to be called the first evening . . . and the second to be the real sunset.
Brown-Driver-Briggs (1906) (p. 788) states: "Between the two evenings, i.e. prob[ably] between sunset and dark. . . . on form as poss[ibly] only expanded pl[ural] v. [see] Ges[enius] . . ." The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (1956) maintains: "'Between the evenings,' ben ha Arbayim, was the interval between sunset and darkness." Merrill Unger and William White Jr.'s Nelson's Expository Dictionary of the Old Testament (1980) remarks (p. 71): "The phrase 'between the evenings' means the period between sunset and darkness, 'twilight' (Exod. 12:6; KJV, "in the evening)." Noticeably, the more recent the lexicon or word dictionary, the more definite is the opinion towards a "twilight" interpretation of "between the two evenings." When a recent translation chooses to take a definite stand on what the meaning of "between the two evenings" means in Ex. 12:6, the "twilight" interpretation certainly has been winning. For Ex. 12:6, the NASB, NKJV, NRSV, NIV, and New Jerusalem have "twilight," the NAB has "during the evening twilight," the New Century has "in the evening before dark," and the Revised English Bible and Moffatt have "between dusk and dark." Mr. Edwards cites the Chumash, a 1995 Jewish translation of the Old Testament, which renders "between the two evenings" as "afternoon." No translation I have does this in Ex. 12:6. This translation certainly appears to be reading mainstream Jewish tradition back into its interpretation of this term. Even the Jewish Publication Society's Holy Scriptures uses "dusk" in Ex. 12:6, which can't refer to the mid-afternoon. The Jewish Socino Commentary defines ben ha arbayim as the "period of approximately one-and-a-third hours between sunset and the disappearance of the light which subsequently penetrates through the clouds." While I can't read Hebrew at all, a layman's look (hopefully aided by the Holy Spirit) at this idiomatic phrase is still worth some consideration. Does it not make more sense that the two "evenings" would refer to a definite break or event of the day? That one "evening" is sunset, while the other is complete darkness? How is 3 PM, in the mid-afternoon, a clear break in the day, or "evening"? There is no definite "event" that occurs in the day between mid-afternoon and sunset as the sun gradually sinks towards the horizon, so looking for an "evening" at 12:01 PM or 3 PM certainly seems dubious. Additionally, one can see from the Brown-Driver-Briggs (p. 787) that in other Semitic languages (such as Arabic, Ethiopic, and Assyrian, which are related to Hebrew) that the root word for "evening" is strongly tilted towards "sunset" in meaning, as the place the sun goes down, in contrast to another Arabic word that means "depart" or "withdraw." So while scholarly opinion displays some division on the meaning of "between the two evenings" (ben ha arbayim), in recent decades it certainly appears to be tilting towards the Church of God's traditional understanding, in favor of a early Nisan fourteenth interpretation.
Mr. Edwards runs through a number of texts that use "between the two evenings" while attempting to say they refer to the late afternoon. None of these are terribly persuasive, largely due to the texts' ambiguities. For example, Ex. 30:8 mentions Aaron trimming (making brighter) his lights at "twilight" (NASB). Was the tabernacle--a large tent that was not especially tall‑‑in the wilderness so large that at 5 PM this operation was necessary? On a non-cloudy day, probably not. The language of Ex. 29:42-43 is ambiguous enough that its not clear whether the meetings at the tabernacle had to occur "at twilight" (v. 41). God may have just been saying, "This is where I will meet with the sons of Israel," i.e., at this spot in front of the tabernacle, regardless of when they are called (especially note v. 43). The crowd that assembled after Ezra started praying to God, if from Jerusalem alone, could easily have found its way back after the prayer ended during the period of "one-and-a-third hours" between sunset and the disappearance of sunlight, especially if there was a reasonably full moon that night (see Ezra 9:5-10:7). The prayer, at least as recorded, certainly wouldn't have taken all that long to say (easily under five minutes, if spoken continuously). So even if it really was much longer, with what is in Ezra 9 being a mere summary, the crowd of men, women, and children still could have found their way home in time by sunset. Even in the case of Elijah and his "empirical test" (v. 24) before Israel as to whether Yahweh and Baal was the true God in Kings 18, it appears that much of the described activity occurred before the time of the evening sacrifice. It says the prophets of Baal (v. 29) "raved until the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice." While Baal's prophets ranted, it seems, much of what Elijah did in fixing the altar to Yahweh, digging a trench around it, cutting up the ox, drenching it with water, etc. occurred before the time of the evening sacrifice . Notice what time he prayed at (v. 36): "Then it came about at the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, that Elijah the prophet came near and said . . ." All these preparations occurred beforehand, so it appears. So, depending on how long it took to kill the prophets of Baal (v. 40), and assuming Elijah's exchanges with Ahab about rain coming occurred on the same day, there still could have been enough sunlight left to be able to tell whether many black clouds were in the sky after that time. In none of these texts does any compelling evidence exist to prove that "between the evenings" means "mid to late afternoon."
WHAT THE WORD "EVENING" MEANS BY ITSELF
We should also consider what the definition of the word "evening" (ereb) (6153) is by itself. Wilson's (p. 150) has "to be or grow dark . . . the evening, when the day begins to be obscured." Nelson's Expository Dictionary of the Old Testament (p. 71) says: "This word represents the time of the day immediately preceding and following the setting of the sun . . . In its first biblical appearance, ereb marks the 'opening of a day': 'And the evening and the morning were the first day' (Gen. 1:5). . . . Second, in a late poetical use, the word can mean 'night': 'When I lie down, I say, When shall I arise, and the night be gone? And I am full of tossings to and fro unto the dawning of the day' (Job 7:4)." Brown-Driver-Briggs (p. 787) has, for various forms: "(sun)set, evening . . . 1. a. evening, orig. sunset, and hence perh. . . . at the time of sunset . . . time of sunset, evening . . . at the turn of evening." Since the word "ereb" is definitely tilted towards meaning sunset or even darkness, it seems dubious to follow Jewish tradition, and maintain that, somehow, in the plural, idiomatic form ben ha arbayim that one of its "evenings" means "anytime after 12 PM (noon) and before sunset in the afternoon."
THE LATE FOURTEENTH/FIFTEENTH VIEW TRIES TO CRAM TOO MUCH INTO ONE NIGHT
Now let's look at the events at the start of the Exodus, to see whether they could basically all have occurred in a single night (Nisan 15). Another basic, fundamental problem with the late fourteenth understanding of the Passover is that it crams too much into a single night, in particular in the approximately six hours occurring between midnight and daybreak. Both sides agree that Israel left on a night, and that that night was the fifteenth. Notice Deut. 16:1: "Observe the month of Abib and celebrate the Passover to the Lord your God, for in the month of Abib the Lord your God brought you out of Egypt by night." In the late fourteenth view, Israel sacrificed the lambs in late afternoon of the fourteenth, and stayed in their homes until midnight on the fifteenth, because the death angel would kill any first born outside his or her home that night (Ex. 12:12-13, 23, 29). Then they left between midnight and six o'clock in the morning on Nisan fifteenth. The early fourteenth view sees Israel as staying in their homes all night on the fourteenth, and as having left on the night of the fifteenth because of the command of Moses in Ex. 12:22: "None of you shall go outside the door of his house until morning." During the daytime of the fourteenth Israel loaded up their animals, got organized as a collective, and left on the night of the fifteenth. So now‑‑which view is right?
Consider what the Israelites had to do before leaving Egypt. Some 2.5 to 3 million men, women, and children had to be evacuated, with all their possessions, including animals. This had to be done without the aid of newspapers, radio, television, or any other modern means of communication. Furthermore, this all occurred at night in the late fourteenth view, without any modern means of lighting. To give an example of the numbers involved, let's consider the population of some modern American cities. Let's take the example of the Detroit metro area, since I have cruised down its freeways on a number of occasions. According to the 1990 census, there are about 4.66 million people in this area, a number not wildly higher than ancient Israel's population in Egypt. How easy would it be to evacuate all these people, say as part of some civil defense measure, in twenty-four hours today? Let alone six? Even with modern means of communication, they would be hard pressed.
THE MEANING OF THE WORD BOQER ("MORNING") POINTS TO AN EARLY FOURTEENTH PASSOVER
There are other problems with saying the Israelites left in the six hours during the night of the fifteenth. First, the Israelites had to burn the uneaten leftovers of the Passover lambs: "And you shall not leave any of it over until morning, but whatever is left of it until morning, you shall burn with fire" (Ex. 12:10). Doing this would not only take up a certain amount of time, but points to departure occurring after daybreak, since the word here is boqer. Another command about the morning occurs in Ex. 12:20: "None of you shall go outside the door of his house until morning." This text remains one of the strongest arguments for an early fourteenth Passover. It renders moot all the discussion above about whether Israel was capable of leaving in six hours between midnight and daybreak: They weren't allowed to leave then anyway. Mr. Edwards replies to this argument by saying this was a temporary command God soon changed, comparing it to how Moses' command to "stand by" was canceled by God telling Israel to "go forward" in crossing the Red Sea (Ex. 14:13-15). The problem with this argument is that no place in Ex. 12 does God cancel the command of Ex. 12:20 to stay inside all night. While Pharaoh did command them to get out (Ex. 12:31-32), this can't be seen as an inspired command of the Eternal like the words of Moses, a prophet of God. Furthermore, even with his command, since it contradicted God's, they may have chosen to disobey their "civil government" for a few hours until dawn arrived, and then left. Arguments by others that the Hebrew word for "morning" (boqer) here can include anything from 12:01 AM to 6 AM at night are not credible. It imputes to the Hebrew mind the Roman (and modern) mentality of starting days at midnight, making anything after midnight and before noon "morning." Gesenius' (p. 137) has for boqer: "morning, daybreak, dawn ['and even before light, Ruth 3:14'], so called from the breaking forth of light; see the root No. 2." Brown-Driver-Briggs (p. 133) similarly has: "morning (N[ew] H[ebrew] id.; from split, penetrate, as the dawn the darkness, light through the cloud-rifts, etc.) . . . 1. morning (of point of time, time at which, never during which, Eng. morning=forenoon):‑‑a. of end of night . . . b. implying the coming of dawn, and even daylight . . . c. of coming of sunrise . . . d. of beginning of day." Wilson's (p. 279) has for this word: "the first breaking forth of light,; dawn of prosperity and happiness." Nelson's Expository Dictionary of Old Testament Words (p. 152) explains: "This word means 'morning,' though not the period of time before noon. Rather it indicates the point of time at which night is changing to day or that time at the end of night . . . Boqer can represent the time just before the rising of the sun. In Judg. 19:25 we read that the men of Gibeah raped and abused the Levite's concubine "all the night until the morning: and when the day began to spring, they let her go" (cf. Ruth 3:13). . . Boqer can mean 'daybreak' or 'dawn.' . . . Sometimes boqer appears to mean 'early morning,' or shortly after daybreak." They maintain only in the term "morning watch" does it mean something potentially useful to the cause of the late fourteenth Passover advocates (2 AM to sunrise). Both of these commands concerning the morning in Ex. 12 point to Israel's departure occurring later, not on the night they ate the Passover, since boqer doesn't mean, or include in its meaning, "anytime between midnight and dawn," but normally refers to a specific point or moment in time when night ends or is about to.
NUMBERS 33:3-4‑‑A MAJOR OBSTACLE TO THE LATE FOURTEENTH VIEW OF THE PASSOVER
Then we come to one of the most problematic texts for the late fourteenth view of the Passover. Note Num. 33:3-4: "And they journeyed from Ramses in the first month, on the fifteenth day of the first month; on the next day after the Passover the sons of Israel started out boldly in the sight of all the Egyptians, while the Egyptians were burying all their first-born whom the Lord had struck down among them." Here we get the simple statement that the day after the Passover is the fifteenth, which means the fourteenth is the Passover then. It can't be, by a strict definition, a festival that extends over two days, in which the fifteenth also is the "Passover." The word translated "next day" literally means "morrow." This word, Mahorat, is said to mean in Brown-Driver-Briggs (p. 564): "the morrow (the day following a past day)." Under its heading for "tomorrow," the Nelson's Expository Dictionary of the Old Testament (p. 264) says: "'the next day.' . . . About 28 times Mahorat is joined to the preposition min to mean 'on the next day.' . . . In 3 passages this adverb is preceded by the preposition le, but the meaning is the same." Gesenius' (p. 466) has: "(1) the morrow . . . to-morrow, Nu. 11:32; hence‑‑(2) . . . to-morrow . . . the next day, the day after . . . until the next day . . . the morrow of that day." Wilson's (p. 279) has a similar definition: "to-morrow, the morrow." Then, notice the ominous implications for the late fourteenth/fifteenth advocates stemming from v. 4 above: The Egyptians were burying their dead when Israel left Egypt. Now‑‑did the shell-shocked Egyptians rush out at night between midnight and six o'clock on the fifteenth to bury their dead husbands, wives, children, parents, etc.? Obviously not. Instead, after their dead had been killed between midnight and six o'clock on the fourteenth at night, they were burying their dead on the fourteenth during the daytime on into the evening. During the daytime on the fourteenth, after Israel had gathered all their possessions together and arrived at Ramses to leave Egypt for the night of the fifteenth, one could say "the sons of Israel started out boldly in the sight of all the Egyptians" since they could easily see them go to Ramses in the daytime. Num. 33:3-4 is easily the most problematic Old Testament text for the late fourteenth view, after Ex. 12:22.
HOW DEUT. 16:6 ACTUALLY SUPPORTS AN EARLY FOURTEENTH PASSOVER [!?!]
Traditionally, the best text for the late fourteenth/fifteenth view of the Passover has been Deut. 16:6 (KJV): "Thou shalt sacrifice the passover at even, at the going down of the sun, at the season that thou camest forth out of Egypt." Mainstream Jewish tradition interprets the phrase "at the going down of the sun" very literally, and says it can mean any time between noon and sunset, since the sun during this entire period gradually sinks towards the horizon before the day ends. However, note the expression of a parallel thought in this verse, similar to the standard refrain of Hebrew poetry in the Psalms or Proverbs. The sacrifice was to be made "at even, at the going down of the sun." Can "evening" (ereb) be 12:01 PM or 3 PM? As noted above, ereb does not have this meaning. So then, why does mainstream Jewish tradition interpret "at the going down of the sun" to mean "any time between noon and sunset" when the parallel, redundant word means "evening" in this verse? When translators do opt for a less literal translation of the Hebrew words translated "at the going down of the sun," "sunset" is the preferred translation. Hence, the NRSV has "you shall offer the passover sacrifice, in the evening at sunset, the time of day when you departed from Egypt." The NASB, NAB, Jerusalem, Moffatt, Amplified, and New Jerusalem have "in the evening at sunset," the New World Translation "in the evening as soon as the sun sets," the TEV has "Do it at sunset," and the CEV "Kill the sacrifice at sunset." Even such a translation as the New Century Version, while more literal in this passage, clearly ties "evening" and the sun going down together into referring to the same time period: "Offer it in the evening as the sun goes down, which is when you left Egypt." And when did they leave Egypt? It wasn't during the daytime, but was at night (Deut. 16:1), so stretching "as the sun goes down" to refer to the entire afternoon is ridiculous.
The standard Jewish interpretation of Deut. 16:6 resorts to an overly literalistic interpretation of the phrase "at the going down of the sun" in order to justify their traditional date for the Passover. The verb translated "at the going down" in Deut. 16:6 has the strong tendency to refer to include where something has or will arrive at, at some destination, not just "go" (i.e., "move"). Hence, Gesenius' (pp. 106-7) has for the word bo: "to come in, to enter . . . to enter into . . . to enter into the house of a husband . . . to come in, to be brought in . . . to come . . . to bring to." While it can mean "go," simply put, that is not its main meaning. Nelson's Expository Dictionary of the Old Testament (p. 39) says about bo: "to go in, enter, come, go . . . First, this verb connotes movement in space from one place toward another. . . . Sometimes bo refers to the "going down" or "setting" of the sun (Gen. 15:12)." Consider the implications of bo's main meaning when used to describe the sun's motion: It refers to where the sun will arrive at, its destination, i.e., the horizon, making it a way to refer to sunset. This word is used in Amos 8:9: "'And it will come about in that day,' declares the Lord God, 'that I shall make the sun go down at noon and make the earth dark in broad daylight.'" Notice how the sun going down is directly tied to darkness‑‑which is hardly a good description of 12:01 PM or 3 PM at most latitudes most of the year! (See also Gen. 17:12; 28:11; Lev. 22:7; Deut. 23:11; 24:13, 15; Josh. 8:29; 10:12-13; Judges 19:13-14; II Sam. 3:35; I Kings 22:35-36; II Chron. 18:34; Eccl. 1:5; Jer. 15:9; Micah 3:6. In each of these texts, some form of the word bo is used in reference to the sun). Citation of other texts using the word bo about the sun's motion decisively destroys the idea that in Deut. 16:6 the going down of the sun can refer to the whole afternoon. It properly refers to the time of, at, or perhaps around, sunset. Furthermore, since Deut. 16:6 refers to the Passover sacrifice being done "in the evening, at sunset," the view that our old friend, ben ha arbayim ("between the evenings") can possibly refer to the late afternoon (3 PM to 6 PM) takes a major, perhaps mortal blow. If it is "in the evening, at sunset, at the time that you came out of Egypt," "twilight" becomes a much more sensible translation for this term, instead of "afternoon." Again, notice what Gesenius' said about ben ha arbayim: "according to the opinion of the Karaites and Samaritans (which is favoured by the words of Deut. 16:6), the time between sunset and deep twilight." Hence, ironically, the text-‑Deut. 16:6‑‑most often cited to support a late fourteenth/fifteenth Passover actually becomes, upon some systematic word study, one of the best proofs for an early fourteenth Passover!
But someone may object saying, "Deuteronomy 16:5-6 says the Passover sacrifice occurred at "the time that you came out of Egypt. Therefore, since Israel left on the night of the fifteenth, it has to be a reference to the fifteenth." In reply to this seemingly crushing point, there is the brilliant analysis by the Ann Arbor, MI UCG congregation, which maintains for several reasons that this text is referring to the first Day of Unleavened Bread. The sacrifice includes animals from the "herd," which clearly excludes goats and sheep, but refers to cattle (see Num. 28:17-25, which concerns Israel's collective offerings on Nisan 15th). Note also that the specific calendar date for this observance is not listed in Deut. 16:1-8. Again, it's necessary to remember that Scripture uses the word "Passover" often in an inclusive sense that also incorporates the Days of Unleavened Bread. Similarly, the command not to leave any of the flesh until morning (Deut. 16:4) can't be necessarily equated with the commmand in Ex. 12:10 about burning the Passover's lamb or goat's remnants with fire. Note that in Lev. 7:15; 22:29-31 the leftovers of peace and thank offerings weren't to be allowed to remain until morning either. Deut. 16:5 notes Israel wasn't to sacrifice their offering within their "gates" (i.e., cities, which were symbolized by the large gates providing entrances and exits in the walls surrounding them). Since Moses moved the tabernacle outside the camp (Ex. 33:7-11), what Deut. 16:1-8 describes has to be the collective, national offerings Israel gave on the Passover through the Aaronic priesthood, not what they did within their homes or cities (in later centuries) as families. These offerings were made at a centralized location, "in the place which the Lord your God chooses" (Deut. 16:6), where offerings were made to God for the three Holy Day seasons each year (see Deut. 16:16). The word translated "roast" (bashal) in Deut. 16:7 is a mistranslation in the KJV--it really means "boil," and more generally "cook" (NASB). Hence, if the Passover wasn't to be boiled but roasted (tsacah in Hebrew) instead (Ex. 12:9), Deut. 16:7 can't be referring to the domestic (home) sacrifice of the Passover either. For further information on this point, see the paper by Ken Miller, "Passover in Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy."
Again, to reiterate, the basic problem with the late fourteenth view is that the fourteenth basically vaporizes; the Passover proper becomes just a few late afternoon hours going into the First Day of Unleavened Bread. Where is the compelling scriptural evidence that this particular festival should receive special treatment and be just (say) three hours long, and the other festivals be observed for twenty-four hours on each day they occur?
THE PASSOVER BRIEFLY CONSIDERED IN THE NEW TESTAMENT
Now we should turn to the Passover in the New Testament. What is obvious is that Jesus and His disciples had their Passover meal a day before the rest of the Jews had theirs. Notice John 18:28, concerning events on the day Jesus was crucified while He was being tried before Pilate: "They [the Jews] themselves did not enter into the Praetorium in order that they might not be defiled, but might eat the Passover." So, according to John, the Passover had not yet occurred. But in Matt. 26:17, 19 we find this: "Now on the first day of Unleavened Bread [here clearly the fourteenth, not the fifteenth. This bears witness to how the two festivals were becoming merged in people's minds, for the day of the fourteenth was a day to clean out leaven and prepare for the first holy day (John 19:31)‑‑EVS] the disciples came to Jesus, saying, 'Where do You want us to prepare for You to eat the Passover?' . . . And the disciples did as Jesus had directed them; and they prepared the Passover." Then there's Luke 22:7: "Then came the first day of Unleavened Bread on which the Passover lamb had to be sacrificed. And He sent Peter and John, saying, 'Go and prepare the Passover for us, that we may eat it." See also Mark 14:12, 14; Luke 22:11, 13, 15. Through the use of such straightforward language it becomes hard to say this was just a Passover meal just because it fell on the fourteenth early on the day during an eight-day festival often just called "the Passover," as opposed to being the Passover meal for the disciples and Jesus, since no qualifications are made in the terms used. So then‑‑how do we explain this discrepancy?
​
TYPOLOGY: THE BEST ARGUMENT FOR A FIFTEENTH PASSOVER REBUTTED
So then we face this conclusion: If Jesus took the symbols on the night of the fourteenth, and Christians are to follow in His footsteps (II Pet. 2:21; I John 2:6), shouldn't we take them at the same time He did? But then comes the rebuttal, the seemingly the best argument for taking the symbols on the fifteenth: Jesus died on the fourteenth, in the late afternoon, at the same time the lambs were being killed at the temple for the Passover the Jews at large were observing (note Mark 15:34-39). Furthermore, since the Passover lambs in type represented Jesus' death long in advance, His death had to be when they died, which then shows ben ha arbayim means "afternoon," not "twilight." As good as this argument appears on the surface, it suffers from two major flaws. First, the Passover observes the time of Jesus' death, and that death occurred on the fourteenth, not the fifteenth. To make a proper annual memorial of it, the symbols should be taken on the day He died, the fourteenth, not the day after, on the fifteenth. Second, consider Vance Stinson's point that Jesus' sacrifice was not something just occurring at a single moment in time ("Essay: Why We Take the Bread and Wine Early on the 14th," The Journal, March 26, 1997, pp. 14-15):
But when the Bible speaks of the "death of Christ" and of Christ as a "sacrifice," it is not speaking of that single sliver of time when His bodily organs ceased to function and His consciousness faded into oblivion. The truth is that the sacrifice of Christ entails far more than that. It included His suffering, which began during the night of His betrayal. Yes, the sacrifice of Jesus Christ began the very night He gave His disciples bread and wine and said, "This do in remembrance of me." How appropriate that we should commemorate His sacrifice on the very night His sacrifice began. . . . [After quoting from Isa. 53:3-7] Read the prophecy of Isaiah 53 and see if you think the sacrifice of Jesus Christ was restricted to the moment of His death. In truth, His sacrifice was a life-long experience, but His final offering, commemorated in the Lord's Supper, began in the evening He was taken from His disciples.
Interestingly, although Stinson believes the Passover lambs were sacrificed late on the fourteenth, and Israel ate them early on the fifteenth, he still says the symbols should be taken on the fourteenth, just as Jesus did so with His disciples before His crucifixion.
From the above, it becomes evident that Mr. Edwards' innovations concerning when the Passover occurred and how often to take communion (the Passover) have been found wanting. Grammatical study of ben ha arbayim ("between the two evenings") certainly appears to undermine, even destroy, a late fourteenth/fifteenth understanding of when the Passover lambs were killed. Cramming Israel's evacuation from Egypt into a mere six hours or less simply doesn't seem very plausible. Ex. 12:22 and Nu. 33:3-4 constitute major stumbling blocks to the later fourteenth/fifteenth view of the Passover. His claim that at the Last Supper Christ did not partake of the food certainly seems to contradict texts he himself cites in other connections (such as Mark 14:14 and Luke 22:8, 11). His detaching of the taking of the symbols from the festival of the Passover doesn't appear to be warranted. And his argument about taking communion weekly (if we wish to) doesn't recognize the part of speech Paul used. What we need to consider, although I'm hardly a dogmatic Gerald Flurry/PCG conservative on the matter, is that we should be careful about changing from what HWA taught at the time of his death, unless we have clear scriptural evidence presented to prove he was wrong. This certainly has been done concerning church government, although his errors here have been exaggerated. While we shouldn't become complacent in our knowledge, as Mr. Edwards notes (p. 13), neither should we have an unnecessary bias towards innovation either. So, let us now do as we have done in the past, and take the Passover symbols on the night of the fourteenth, confident there are good reasons for doing so. After all, if is was good enough for Christ and his disciples the night before He died for our sins, shouldn't it be good enough for us today?

⟳ f-droid.org from Wed, 20 Mar 2024 13:53:50 GMT updated on Mon, 25 Mar 2024 10:55:12 GMT contains 4343 apps.

Added (3)

• Libre Memory Game: A memory game
• Flying Carpet: Cross-platform AirDrop between Android/iOS/Linux/macOS/Windows via ad hoc WiFi
• MedTimer: Med reminders and history with full offline privacy

Updated (144)

• Gauguin (version 0.23.0): A Sudoku-like logic game
• Blitz: Fischer chess clock (version 1.5.4): A minimalist Fischer chess clock for Android.
• baresip (version 60.0.0): VoIP User Agent app for Android based on baresip SIP library
• TodoTree (version 1.5): The tree based todo and note taking app
• Freebloks (version 1.4.5): Strategy board game similar to the famous board game Blokus.
• Les Pas - Photo Album for Nextcloud (version 2.9.8): A photo album that saves all your precious memory in your private cloud
• Feeder (version 2.6.20): An awesome Libre and Open Source RSS feed reader
• DAVx⁵ (version 4.3.15-ose): CalDAV/CardDAV Synchronization and Client
• Tasks.org: Open-source To-Do Lists & Reminders (version 13.7): Private, ad-free task lists! Optional sync with Google Tasks, CalDAV or EteSync!
• Inure App Manager (Trial) (version Build100.2.6): An elegant multi-purpose app manager for all rooted and non-rooted devices.
• Copy SMS Code - OTP Helper (version 1.13.4): an open-source app that can detect and copy any code for you
• WG Tunnel (version 3.3.9): An alternative VPN client app for WireGuard with additional features
• WiVeWa (version 1.4.1): Client for the WiVeWa system
• Wikipedia (version 2.7.50479-r-2024-03-21): Official feature-rich viewer of the free online encyclopedia
• Simple Time Tracker (version 1.39): Track how much time you spend on different activities during the day.
• PlainApp: File & Web Access (version 1.2.41): Manage your phone on the web! Access files, contacts, videos, music & more.
• MuPDF mini (version 1.24.0a): Minimalist viewer for PDF, XPS, CBZ, unprotected EPUB, and FB2 documents
• Xtra (version 2.30.4): a Twitch player and browser
• MRepo (version 2.4.5): A Manager for Magisk & KernelSU Modules
• Husky (version 1.5.4): Husky is a client for Pleroma and Mastodon social networks.
• trale (version 0.6.1): privacy-respecting body weight-diary
• Compass (version 1.14.0): Simple and beautiful compass
• Orion Viewer - Pdf & Djvu (version 0.90.0): Orion Viewer is pdf, djvu, xps, cbz and tiff file viewer
• Magisk (version 27.0): The Magic Mask
• WallpaperExport (version 1.1.1): Export the current and the default wallpaper
• Nextcloud Dev (version 20240321): Synchronization client
• Quillpad (version 1.4.14): Markdown notes, task lists, Nextcloud sync and more. A fork of the Quillnote app
• sing-box (version 1.8.9): The universal proxy platform
• WallFlow Plus (version 2.4.3): Beautiful wallpapers from wallhaven.cc and Reddit with object detection feature
• Xed Editor (version 1.1.1): Advanced Text Editor for Android
• Gurgle (version 1.28): Word game
• mLauncher (version 1.4.1): Forked from Olauncher, +minimalization, +customizability
• Voice Audiobook Player (version 8.2.3): Simple audiobook player
• Léon – The URL Cleaner (version 39): Removes tracking & other redundant parameters from web links for sharing
• 拷贝漫画 (version 2.2.7): Third-party client for copymanga with better reading/downloading experience
• Terminal Emulator (version 4.7.1): Turn your device into a computer terminal
• Wulkanowy (version 2.5.2): Client for the Polish school register VULCAN UONET+
• Mull (version 124.0.0): Privacy oriented web browser
• Mattermost Beta (version 2.14.0): Secure, self-hosted workplace messaging
• Simple Counter (version 1.1.4): Keep track of things
• Kotatsu (version 6.8): Manga reader with online catalogues
• Obtainium (version 1.0.6): Get android app updates directly from the source
• Arcticons Day & Night (version 9.0.0): A monotone line-based icon pack for dark & light themed setups.
• Logseq (version 0.10.8): A privacy-first, open-source platform for knowledge management and collaboration
• Mumla (version 3.6.8): Voice chat on Mumble servers
• Alexandria (version 0.3.0): Download and convert EBooks.
• Tournant (version 2.5.0): Recipe manager with Gourmand compatibility
• Binary Eye (version 1.63.4): Yet another barcode scanner
• Circles (version 1.0.27): Secure social sharing for friends and families
• PixelDroid (version 1.0.beta33): Client for Pixelfed, the federated image sharing platform
• Xray (version 6.4.0): Xray GUI Client For Android
• Trekarta (version 2024.03.13): Simple, responsive map for your trek
• Tabletop Tools (version 1.29): Handy tool collection for tabletop games
• openHAB Beta (version 3.11.2-beta): Vendor and technology agnostic open source home automation
• Ameixa (version 4.11.1): Port of TwelF CMTheme for many launchers
• Acode editor - Android code editor (version 1.10.0): A lightweight but powerful text/code editor.
• Oinkoin (version 1.0.56): Oinkoin Money Manager makes managing personal finances easy and secure.
• App Manager - Android package manager (version 3.1.5): A full-featured open source package manager for android.
• MoLe (version 0.21.7): Convenient front-end to hledger-web
• Squawker (version 3.7.8): An open-source privacy oriented TwitteX client
• WallFlow (version 2.4.3): Beautiful wallpapers from wallhaven.cc and Reddit
• LibreTube (version 0.22.1): Alternative YouTube frontend for Android built with Piped
• Dollphone Icon Pack (version 1.1.0): Cute icon pack that isn’t overly hyperactive
• Fennec F-Droid (version 124.0.0): Browse the web
• Arcticons Black (version 9.0.0): A monotone line-based icon pack for light themed setups.
• moreDays (version 1.0.23): A motivation app with journaling
• SaveTo… (version 1.15.10): Save shared image or pdf to selected directory
• Custom Uploader (version 1.3.0): Upload files to a file host of your choice
• Cache Cleaner (version 1.11.1): Clean cache of installed user and system apps using Accessibility
• Next Actualités informatiques (version 2.7.6): Check out french Next computer news (even without an Internet connection)!
• Tuta Mail (version 220.240319.2): Encrypted email & calendar service - easy to use, secure by design.
• ProtonVPN - Secure and Free VPN (version 5.1.51.3): Free Swiss VPN with advanced security and privacy features.
• Passman (version 1.5.0): Allow you to manage the credentials stored in your Nextcloud Passman app.
• ColorBlendr (version v1.3): Express yourself with colors
• Fossify Phone (version 1.1.1): Unlock a secure, open-source calling experience with Fossify Phone
• Chip Defense (version 1.33): A tower defense game with a microprocessor theme
• OpenMensa (version 1.1.1): Show meal plans for more than 150 university canteens in Germany.
• Fossify File Manager (version 1.0.1): Handy, lightweight, open-source file explorer with essential features.
• Candle (version 1.3.2): A display flashlight
• whoBIRD (version 2.5): Recognize birds by their sounds, anywhere in the world!
• Petals (version 3.21.1): Take control of your weed consumption
• Notesnook - Private notes app (version 2.6.18): A fully open source & end-to-end encrypted note taking app
• Screenshot Tile (NoRoot) (version 2.8.2): Quickly take screenshots from the quick settings panel
• Pain Diary (PFA) (version 1.3.1): (SECUSO) Record condition, intensity, location, nature and time of your pain.
• Boxcars (version 1.3.2): Play backgammon online via bgammon.org
• Share via HTTP (version 2.0.15): File sharing tool
• DuckDuckGo Privacy Browser (version 5.193.1): Privacy, simplified
• TKCompanionApp (version 7.1.0): A short and small helper for Toyota Kata practitioners
• Shitter (version 3.5.8): Lightweight Mastodon client
• Activity Manager (version 5.4.11): Advanced activities and shortcuts launcher
• MuPDF viewer (version 1.24.0a): Lightweight document viewer
• Open Stable Diffusion (version 1.10): An app for generating images using AI
• PhotoChiotte (version 1.53): media gallery and comic reader to handle huge device and online collections
• Welefon (version 1.3.2): Phone with API
• M3U (version 1.14.0-beta08): FREE stream media player for android.
• Sayboard (version v4.2.0): An open-source on-device voice IME (keyboard) for Android using the Vosk library
• Ameixa Monochrome (version 4.11.1): Icon pack
• FTPClient (version 2.9.2): A simple FTP, FTPS and SFTP client for Android
• Migraine Log (version 0.11.2): A simple headache diary that respects your privacy
• Arcticons (version 9.0.0): A monotone line-based icon pack for dark themed setups.
• FlashCards (version v1.7.1): Make cards with csv files as input to memorize things
• FairEmail (version 1.2169): Fully featured email client. Neat, intuitive user interface. Privacy friendly
• Immich (version 1.99.0): This is a client app for the self-hostable Immich Server
• Quadermas (version 7.3): View school marks, topics, timetable
• RadarWeather (version 6.4): Lets you watch the weather for cities and locations you are interested in.
• Audile (version 1.4.1): Music recognition app
• Trail Sense (version 5.9.0): Use your phone's sensors to assist with wilderness treks
• AniHyou - AniList client (version 1.2.5): Another unofficial Android AniList client
• FlashDim - Dim your flashlight (version 2.3.3): Modern flashlight app with dim functionality on Android 13+
• P2Play - Peertube client (version 0.5.2): Unofficial client for Peertube
• YtAlarm (version 0.1.5): A simple alarm application using ytdl-android.
• Voyager for Lemmy (version 2.0.0): Join the discussion
• BTC Map (version 0.7.1): See where you can spend your bitcoins
• Arcticons Material You (version 9.0.0): A line-based icon pack with a Material You color palette.
• Symphony (version 2024.3.110): Offline music playback is now a breeze
• Tremotesf (version 2.10.2): Remote-control Transmission BitTorrent client
• Suntimes (version 0.15.13): Sunlight and moonlight times (and alarms)
• TopoSuite (version 1.4.0-beta.3): Tool for land surveyors
• Syncthing-Fork (version 1.27.4.1): File synchronization
• OpenCalc (version 3.0.0): Simple and beautiful calculator for Android
• Open TimeLimit (version 6.9.0): Simply limit the usage duration
• Text Tools (version 1.0.5): Useful text related functions that can be done on the selected text
• Infomaniak Mail (version 1.2.3): The secure messaging service for your emails
• Dark Mode Live Wallpaper (version 1.6.5): Live wallpaper that respects dark theme mode
• Deku SMS (version 0.43.0): Deku is an SMS app that supports end to end encryption and photo sharing
• Forkyz (version 52): Crossword puzzles application, download and play.
• ntodotxt (version 0.7.0): Manage your todos in a todo.txt file
• AELF - Bible and day's reading (version 2.8.3): A simple and discrete daily reading application
• Jellyfin for Android TV (version 0.16.7): Television client for Jellyfin, the free software media system
• uNote microNote (version 1.7.0): Lightweight and minimalist notepad
• BLE Radar (version 0.24.1-beta): A tool to monitor, analyze and find BLE devices around you.
• Box, Box! (version 0.7.2): Unofficial app for Formula 1 lovers!
• SiYuan (version 3.0.4): A privacy-first, self-hosted knowledge management app
• Alovoa (version 1.9.1): Open-source online dating application
• Het Saldo (version 1.1.0): A cross-platform De Lijn "smart"ticket saldo checking application.
• Infomaniak kDrive (version 4.4.7): The most secure cloud in Europe for SMEs and private individuals.
• Canta (version 1.4.1): Uninstall any app without root!
• neutriNote CE (version 4.5.1b): A hub of written thoughts in fast searchable plain text
• baresip+ (version 47.0.0): VoIP User Agent app for Android based on baresip SIP library
• Unciv (version 4.10.21): Open source 4X civilization-building game
• SexyTopo (version 1.8.1): Assist in cave surveying
• Material Files (version 1.7.1): Open source Material Design file manager
• Metronome (version 1.5.0): Simple and beautiful metronome
• BOINC (version 8.0.0): Use your device to advance scientific research.

^{2024-03-25T11:23:06Z}

This week

This marks the debut of A Stochastic Populated Europe, which I made mainly because I find myself making a lot of country mistakes in Europe.
I'm taking Rugged Populated out of the weekly list, and putting it into the 'rotating world map' list.
Next week I'll bring the challenge count back up to 5, by including a rotating country map. I don't have that many single-country maps, so I'll probably start generating more as time goes on. If anyone has any requests for their favorite countries, let me know!

Introduction

The Stochastic maps are large randomly-generated maps that use population data to place locations where people live. Generally, locations will be in populated areas, though rural areas with even a few structures nearby appear as well. I made these maps because most maps tend to focus on rural locations and meta-learnable locations, but I generally find urban areas more interesting to roam around. I hope other people find them interesting as well.
I welcome any feedback about maps to include, mode + time settings, standings, summary statistics of interest and how they're displayed - whatever.

Challenges

Map	Mode	Challenge Link
A Stochastic Populated World	Moving 2 Minutes	Challenge Link
An Equitable Stochastic Populated World	No Move / Pan / Zoom 1:15	Challenge Link
A Stochastic Populated Europe	No Move 1 Minute	Challenge Link
A Skewed Stochastic Populated World	No Move / Pan / Zoom 1 Minute	Challenge Link

Standings

The top 5 players on each game are awarded series points: 5 points to 1st place, through 1 point for 5th place. Ties are broken by the sum of scores from all games played. (I might not stick with this standing scheme.)

Player	# Games	Total Score	Series Points
CherrieAnnie	38	732247	97
Wadim	38	692681	68
charliebobo82	33	574547	62
d1e5el	16	313686	51
FtoT TinOF	10	240380	45
Cdt Lamberty	35	579161	35
solarsensei	12	218807	30
Emil_Alexandersson	10	181809	29
Jens_K	38	581245	25
zoidbergeo	10	197674	21

Last Week

Stochastic Sunday #9 - 2024-03-17

User	A Stochastic Populated World	An Equitable Stochastic Populated World	A Rugged Populated World	A Stochastic Rejected Panorama	A Skewed Stochastic Populated World	Total
MiraMatt	18,362	19,066	23,375	15,386	16,226	92,415
Wadim	17,883	19,536	23,384	11,865	18,472	91,140
CherrieAnnie	15,570	19,035	24,087	9,750	18,468	86,910
Cdt Lamberty	16,674	18,218	20,236	8,835	19,903	83,866
Jens_K	14,630	19,439	16,409	16,422	15,667	82,567
Brigitta Horváth	13,438	17,470	20,119	10,183	17,197	78,407
László Horváth	12,630	16,792	20,134	12,909	14,766	77,231
d1e5el	17,839	17,518	---	17,635	20,812	73,804
EnchantingFjord241	9,949	18,237	19,850	14,517	10,352	72,905
Shanckhow	8,600	14,268	21,404	14,815	12,112	71,199
zoidbergeo	19,753	---	21,686	18,928	---	60,367
Vajik91713	11,597	15,145	---	10,931	14,928	52,601
Emil_Alexandersson	22,600	19,392	---	---	---	41,992
GeoCornish	6,747	8,912	11,261	---	12,501	39,421
Guybrush Threepwood	17,885	19,976	---	---	---	37,861
The Gothfather	---	16,511	---	7,595	8,599	32,705
FtoT TinOF	---	---	23,800	---	---	23,800
Totoradio	20,092	---	---	---	---	20,092
6969696969	---	---	---	---	18,291	18,291
ForestedFjord829	---	---	---	---	14,100	14,100

Average score per round

Round difficulty, based on the average score compared to all rounds in the series so far, regardless of map and type:

• A Stochastic Populated World - NM 60s
  
  1. RU: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⬜️⬜️⬜️ - Avg: 2,015.9 km; Best: 305.8 km
  2. PH: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⬜️⬜️ - Avg: 3,017.8 km; Best: 2.2 km
  3. PL: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ - Avg: 1,465.0 km; Best: 204.2 km
  4. MX: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ - Avg: 674.4 km; Best: 5.5 km
  5. GB: ⭐️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ - Avg: 173.0 km; Best: 75.4 km
• An Equitable Stochastic Populated World - NM 30s
  
  1. BG: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ - Avg: 1,546.2 km; Best: 129.7 km
  2. UA: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ - Avg: 978.9 km; Best: 108.6 km
  3. GB: ⭐️⭐️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ - Avg: 465.7 km; Best: 6.5 km
  4. IT: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ - Avg: 1,048.0 km; Best: 138.1 km
  5. GR: ⭐️⭐️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ - Avg: 553.7 km; Best: 54.1 km
• A Rugged Populated World - M 180s
  
  1. NO: ⭐️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ - Avg: 298.9 km; Best: 4 m - GG zoidbergeo!
  2. JP: ⭐️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ - Avg: 185.2 km; Best: 124 m - GG FtoT TinOF!
  3. PE: ⭐️⭐️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ - Avg: 467.9 km; Best: 53.7 km
  4. JO: ⭐️⭐️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ - Avg: 487.9 km; Best: 661.6 m
  5. IT: ⭐️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ - Avg: 258.5 km; Best: 11.9 km
• A Stochastic Rejected Panorama - NM 60s
  
  1. US: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⬜️⬜️ - Avg: 2,732.0 km; Best: 322.8 km
  2. DE: ⭐️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ - Avg: 293.5 km; Best: 5.7 km
  3. US: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⬜️ - Avg: 6,772.2 km; Best: 155.3 km
  4. IT: ⭐️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ - Avg: 261.3 km; Best: 28.8 km
  5. BO: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⬜️ - Avg: 6,493.3 km; Best: 720.7 km
• A Skewed Stochastic Populated World - NMPZ 60s
  
  1. CH: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ - Avg: 1,029.7 km; Best: 99.7 km
  2. MT: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ - Avg: 1,191.8 km; Best: 2.8 km
  3. ID: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⬜️⬜️ - Avg: 3,921.5 km; Best: 212.4 km
  4. BO: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ - Avg: 1,209.2 km; Best: 9.2 km
  5. NL: ⭐️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ - Avg: 284.7 km; Best: 10.2 km

More Information

• Distribution information, FAQ, and calculation details
• Population data source: WorldPop Population Counts - Constrained Individual Countries - 2020 - 100m resolution

Map descriptions

A Stochastic Populated World: This map uses unadjusted population data, to give every person on earth an equal chance of appearing in the game, if there is Streetview coverage where they live.
An Equitable Stochastic Populated World: This map uses an adjusted population designed to increase the variety of locations that appear, while still favoring more populous countries and more populated areas.
A Stochastic Populated Europe: A map of European countries, including the European portion of Turkey
A Skewed Stochastic Populated World: A stochastic homage to the famous A Skewed World, this map turns the camera to the side of the road, hiding the more widely known street-based clues.

Day 1 Review
Auckland Aces vs Canterbury (Ground Delay)
Scorecard YouTube
Venue: Eden Park Outer Oval, Auckland

Auckland Aces (1st)	216	Canterbury	67 overs
Quinn Sunde	41 (85)	Zak Foulkes	16-4-38-5
Angus Olliver	27* (14)	Michael Rae	12-0-36-2
Canterbury (1st)	242	Auckland Aces	59.5 overs
Mitch Hay	54* (96)	Jordan Sussex	18.5-1-71-8
Sean Davey	53 (74)	Sean Solia	7-2-10-1
Auckland Aces (2nd)	143/2	Canterbury	42 overs
Sean Solia	84* (137)	Sean Davey	9-2-24-1
Robbie O'Donnell	27* (53)	Angus McKenzie	8-2-31-1

Auckland lead by 117 runs
Northern Districts vs Wellington Firebirds
Scorecard YouTube
Venue: Seddon Park, Hamilton

Wellington Firebirds (1st)	323	Northern Districts	103.5 overs
Tom Blundell	103 (157)	Joe Walker	28-1-95-4
Gareth Severin	80 (152)	Freddy Walker	36.5-10-112-4
Northern Districts (1st)	152/4	Wellington Firebirds	58 overs
Bharat Popli	60 (144)	Michael Bracewell	23-4-60-2
Henry Cooper	44 (59)	Logan van Beek	7-1-23-1

Northern trail by 171 runs
Central Stags vs Otago Volts
Scorecard YouTube
Venue: McLean Park, Napier

Otago Volts (1st)	309	Central Stags	84.5 overs
Dale Phillips	144 (210)	Will Clark	14-2-54-3
Jamal Todd	45 (82)	Liam Dudding	17-1-92-3
Central Stags (1st)	361/5	Otago Volts	105 overs
Greg Hay	137* (331)	Luke Georgeson	18-4-36-1
Will Young	90 (113)	Travis Muller	16-3-46-1

Central lead by 52 runs
Today's Honour Roll

• Tom Blundell 50 100
• Will Young 50
• Greg Hay 50 100
• Mitch Hay 50
• Sean Davey 50
• Brad Schmulian 50
• Sean Solia 50
• Bharat Popli 50
• Joe Walker 4 Wicket Haul
• Jordan Sussex 4 5 6 7 8 Wicket Haul
• Freddy Walker 4 Wicket Haul
• Freddy Walker 5 10 Maiden Overs

Start of play is 10:30am NZDT unless otherwise stated. Playing XIs to be updated as they come in. Endeavours will be made to update scores at lunch, tea, end of day & close of innings. For live scores, click on the scorecard.