Barred From Each Other: Why Normative Husbands Remain Married to Incarcerated Wives—An Exploratory Study – page 2
You’ve got to understand, what we’re talking about here is great love. That’s the whole story. The idea of leaving her never came up. It was never mentioned or discussed. Our romantic life could never be dismantled just because one of us did something wrong. Separation is totally irrelevant. [After exposing her crime] I never felt as if I don’t love her or want her less. It’s all a matter of pure commitment—built on pure love—and this is something you do not abandon. (A., 53)
I decided to stay with her for two reasons: great love and great commitment. I swear that [after her incarceration] it never crossed my mind to leave her. I’m with her until the end. Our love is priceless. I don’t care for other women; I’m just waiting for her. I always knew from the second I met her that we will be together until death. I will not desert her regardless of the situation. She is the best thing that ever happened to me. (D., 34)
I told myself, you’re not going to leave her no matter what happens. We’ve been together since we’re 17, we love each other a lot and we’re committed to each other. Let it be clear—I decided to stay with her just because of us, and not because of the kids and the house. I love her very much. She is the love of my life and my best friend and I’m staying with her no matter what happens. (S., a 53-year-old Jewish husband, married to an inmate sentenced to a period of 27 months in prison, continues in the same vein.
Interestingly, in addition to the decisive description of all research participants of their marriage in terms of love and devotion, six participants related to these relations and their spouses in adorable and admirable ways. These participants perceive their women partners as being unique and exceptional, each a veritable femme fatale, and describe the relations with them in various flattering and admirable ways.
She is everything to me. When I look to the right—I see her. When I look to the left—I see
her. I see her and no one else but her. I admire her. She is pure gold. There is no one like her
in the world and that’s why our love is so strong. (Y., a 60-year-old Jewish husband, married
to a first-timer sentenced to 4 years)
And this sentiment is echoed in two other statements:
I admire my wife. She is bigger than life itself. I can only thank God that she’s mine/that I have her. (S., 53)
She is a very special woman and a friend. She is special, not like any other woman. (A., 53)
While these quotations illustrate the high appreciation and admiration of the women spouses, the next ones portray the specific personal characteristics that make the women so admirable:
She is the most clever, intelligent, and lovely woman in the world. She is energetic, active, and dominant. An amazing woman. (T., 52
She is a good soul. She is warm and emphatic, [mentally] stronger than any man I know, very reliable. She has so many virtues: understandable, intelligent, supportive, funny, and very ethical. (D., 34)
She is [mentally] a very strong woman. She is remarkable . . . outstanding. She knows everything—regardless of the fact that she’s in prison. (Z., 55)
She is a good human-being: She takes care of everyone . . . pays attention to everyone . . . she loves to help people. (A., 53
All the participants love and admire their partners and perceive them as an attached and inherent part of their past, present, and future married lives. These statements clearly demonstrate that love is perceived as an essential component for the preservation of good marital relations—in general and in times of crisis. Moreover, regardless of female-spouses’ criminal conduct and imprisonment, most partners describe them as ideal and wonderful women, using words of admiration. As such, continuation of the marriage to them may be perceived as an obvious and rational act.
Perception of Wife’s Criminal Conduct
Numerous studies have argued that most female inmates are abandoned by their male counterparts, be it because of the forced disengagement and/or the shame in their “betrayal” of the law, their families, and their “traditional gender roles” (McGowan & Blumenthal, 1978; Stanton, 1980). Evidently, such desertion is solely dependent on men’s discretion, irrespective of the female inmates’ desires (Dodge & Pogrebin, 2001; Pelka-Slugocka & Slugocki, 1980).
Somewhat in contrast to these studies, our findings indicate that although all participants acknowledge that their spouses committed various criminal offenses and morally reject it, they do not perceive them and their criminal conduct as shameful and disgraceful. Specifically, the participants (deliberately or unintentionally) describe their spouses’ criminal behaviors in a forgiving manner, explaining it as a “sad tale” (i.e., an outcome of harsh and complicated life-story; Scott & Lyman, 1968). By doing so, they invalidate the female inmates’ moral and criminal responsibilities, detach their criminal conduct from their character, and defend their dignity and importance:
My wife did not do all these things. She meant to do no bad. I know that she doesn’t act out of evilness . . . she is a good person . . . a victim of herself. She didn’t really want to kill me . . . It is not her fault . . . her friends are bad . . . they pushed her to act this way. I can’t believe and I don’t believe that she did what she did independently. (A., 53)
They [the police] found some financial inconsistencies in the bank and instead of exposing the truth and framing her brother, she took responsibility. I knew she did everything in order to save her brother. She is a good soul and her family members abused her. All she did was done in order to protect her family and not because she’s bad. She is a good soul . . . a queen who made a mistake in order to save her brother. (S., 53)
She did not take it [the money] for herself . . . She gave it to her family. She has a big family and someone had to take care of them. Looking back, I think she had no choice. (I., 47)
Six participants use neutralization techniques (Sykes & Matza, 1957) to support their contention of their partners’ morality. The men resort to “denial of injury” and “denial of responsibility.” In their simplest form, the former technique suggests that this was a no-victim crime and the latter proposes that the criminal actions were caused by forces beyond the perpetrator’s control (Enticott, 2011).
After all, what did she do? What crime had she committed? It’s not that she enjoyed the money. It’s not that she is walking around wearing lots of jewelry. She’s a modest individual and all in all she did not take big sums of money. Maybe they [justice system] can define her as an offender, but for me she is P., my beloved wife, and that’s that. (C., 37)
n fact, what did she do? She got involved with the gray market, something that could happen to anyone, and they forced her to do what she did. It could happen to me, to you, to anyone. She made a mistake but she is only human. But it’s not a crime and she’s not a criminal. (Z., 55)
No! My wife is not a criminal. She didn’t break the law. In my opinion, all she did was make a single mistake. The fact that she’s in prison does not make her a criminal. (I., 47)
Difficulties in Marital Relationships With Incarcerated Wife
Numerous studies have repeatedly argued that three factors underlie most crises in marital relationships: diminished (or extinguished) love, reduced (or lack of) intimacy, and weakened (or nonexistent) commitment (Mace, 1982; Sabatelli & Cecil-Pigo, 1985; Sharlin, 1996; Sokolski & Hendrick, 1999; Surra et al., 1988). Our findings deviate somewhat and indicate that regardless of lengths of imprisonment and/or marriage, the major difficulty experienced by most (n = 7) participants relates to lack of physical intimacy. All other inconveniences and difficulties characterizing marital relationships in crisis (Huston, Caughlin, Houts, Smith, & George, 2001) appear to be irrelevant to the interviewees:
During the last six months [time of spouse’s incarceration] everything has obviously changed, because of her physical absence. We meet once a month [conjugal visits] and it is not enough. I miss the physical intimacy, the physical togetherness. I miss it. It is difficult. I currently and practically live with no romantic relationships. I miss her body and her smell.
(I., 47)
I miss her smell. She has amazing smells, nothing I experienced with other women. I miss having sex with her. I miss being hugged by her, feeling her head on my shoulder. (D., 34)
[You can’t believe] how much I miss her. I miss her hugs, I miss the physical contact with her, I miss going to sleep with her. (T., 52)
An additional difficulty, raised by six (75%) participants, relates to lack of support by family members, friends, and acquaintances. In some cases, participants report that people totally ignored or terminated relationships after the incarceration. The participants view this kind of behavior as an outcome of shame and/or disappointment:
It wasn’t easy with my family [because] they wanted me to divorce her. They didn’t understand how she could do that and didn’t accept her. They were really furious. They decided to break off relations with her. My reaction, by the way, was to completely break off my relations with my family. (Z., 55)
Some family members and all my neighbors told me that I should be ashamed of my wife. In school, my children suffered daily harassments from other children, from the teachers, and even from the headmaster. All of them wanted us to forget her as if she were dead. They think she should be “dead” . . . deleted! (S., 53)
Two very close friends of ours were informed [by us] about the trial and the offense. It was very embarrassing. Yet, their reaction was even more embarrassing and made us want to bury ourselves deep in the ground: In the most difficult moment of our life, they deserted us. They had a very dramatic discussion with my wife on the phone with lots of shouting and yelling and then, decided to stop talking to us. These people are not human-beings. You cannot call them friends. (Y., 60)
None of her friends called or asked us how we feel. None of our friends came to visit her in prison. Is this friendship? This is disgusting. It’s very difficult to live with the notion that suddenly, when you are in trouble, everyone disappears. Suddenly, no-one wishes to be your friend. (A., 53)
Preconditions for the Continuation of Marital Relationships Between Normative Men and Incarcerated Wives
All research participants have pointed out two central factors that could have had a negative effect on the marriage, perhaps even leading to their termination of this relationship: (a) length of prison sentence and (b) length of marriage prior to the imprisonment.
Length of prison sentence. Most (n = 7) participants assert that because their spouses were sentenced to relatively short terms of imprisonment, they did not consider leaving them. However, they also state that if the sentence had been longer, they may have considered terminating the marriage and finding a new relationship:
I don’t know what would have happened to our romantic relationships if she’d been imprisoned for, let’s say, 20 years. I believe I would have separated from her. It’s like disappearing from someone’s life for a very long time. Time is definitely a significant factor.
(I., 47)
On the day of the verdict, when the judge said “4 years,” I felt as if my hands were freezing. If it were 10 or 15 years, then I’d probably acted differently. I doubt if I would have stayed with her . . . with all due respect to love. (Z., 55)
These findings strengthen previous findings (Holt & Miller, 1972; Walker, 1983) revealing a decline in visiting patterns among wives of long-term prisoners compared with wives of short-termers, as well as deterioration of marriages over long periods of incarceration.
I had a very dramatic discussion with my wife on the phone with lots of shouting and yelling and then, decided to stop talking to us. These people are not human-beings. You cannot call them friends. (Y., 60)
None of her friends called or asked us how we feel. None of our friends came to visit her in
prison. Is this friendship? This is disgusting. It’s very difficult to live with the notion that
suddenly, when you are in trouble, everyone disappears. Suddenly, no-one wishes to be your
friend. (A., 53)
Preconditions for the Continuation of Marital Relationships Between Normative Men and Incarcerated Wives
All research participants have pointed out two central factors that could have had a negative effect on the marriage, perhaps even leading to their termination of this relationship: (a) length of prison sentence and (b) length of marriage prior to the imprisonment.
Length of prison sentence. Most (n = 7) participants assert that because their spouses were sentenced to relatively short terms of imprisonment, they did not consider leaving them. However, they also state that if the sentence had been longer, they may have considered terminating the marriage and finding a new relationship: I
I don’t know what would have happened to our romantic relationships if she’d been imprisoned for, let’s say, 20 years. I believe I would have separated from her. It’s like disappearing from someone’s life for a very long time. Time is definitely a significant factor.
(I., 47)
On the day of the verdict, when the judge said “4 years,” I felt as if my hands were freezing. If it were 10 or 15 years, then I’d probably acted differently. I doubt if I would have stayed with her . . . with all due respect to love. (Z., 55)
These findings strengthen previous findings (Holt & Miller, 1972; Walker, 1983) revealing a decline in visiting patterns among wives of long-term prisoners compared with wives of short-termers, as well as deterioration of marriages over long periods of incarceration.
Length of marriage prior to incarceration.
The men’s decision to remain married was determined, to a significant degree, to the duration of the relationship prior to the woman’s incarceration. Our findings show that all participants perceive the total length of the relationship prior to spouses’ incarceration to be positively correlated to their decision to remain married:
If we’d been married for a year and then she’d begun committing crimes, I would have separated from her. But now, after so many years of marriage, there is no way I would leave her. The length of our romantic relationships is a critical factor. That’s why I couldn’t see any option of leaving her. (I., 47)
Please don’t forget that I didn’t meet her yesterday, we’ve been together for almost 10 years. We went through many things together. It’s a lot of time and obviously, I won’t leave her. (D., 34
Ways of Preserving the Marital Relationships With Incarcerated Wives
All participants (N = 8) report that to deal with their pain of separation and maintain marital relationships, they use two tactics—frequent phone calls and making all visits
that the prison allows.
The men receive four or five phone calls a day from their imprisoned partners. Both partners await these phone calls and cherish them, as the frequent and continuous delivery and receipt of information create a semblance of the exchange of information that occurs when living under the same roof. Symbolically, the ongoing communication, and hearing the partner’s voice, signifies a continuation of everyday [dyadic and nondyadic] normal life:
We constantly maintain telephone contact. I’m like a child, again and again waiting for her phone calls. It doesn’t matter whether I am with friends, at work, or at a restaurant, I wait for her to call me all the time. She calls me three times a day, in the morning, noon, and in the evening hours. (T., 52)
We talk on the phone all day and every day. We actually do everything through the phone: We talk about her feelings, what happened to her in prison during the day, what happened to me at work, and how we miss each other. That’s basically it. (D., 34)
I love it when she calls me. I look forward to her phone calls. That’s how I really know what is going on with her in prison. (S., 53)
The second tactic is routinely coming for the bi-weekly 30-min visits to which all prisoners are entitled, whether or not they are also allowed home furloughs (IPS, 2012). The visits take place on Saturdays and Sundays, and all families gather in a relatively small, closed, and sealed space. There are open visits in which the inmate can be in physical touch with the visitors and closed visits, conducted through an armored-glass division. All participants welcome the visits, perceive them as the best temporary way of realizing their marriage, and look forward to them:
I visit her every two weeks. Up to now, I haven’t missed a single visit. We were limited to 30 minute in-person visits every two weeks during her first year. After that they let us have a 12 hour conjugal visit each month. Now she can come home [on furlough] for 24 hours every month. That time of being together in the home refreshes our love. In addition, we talk on the phone four times a day. I wait for these calls because I love talking to her. We talk about her day, about my day, about things that happened to both of us at work, about intimate thoughts. (A., 53)
I visit her every two weeks, sometimes with her parents and sometimes alone. We sit together, talk, laugh, and try to make use of our [joint] time. (Y., 60)
I come to visit her every two weeks. I never missed a single visit. Occasionally, I bring our son with me. We wake up at 5 in the morning and drive 4 hours just to see her for 30 minutes. And then we have to drive 4 hours back. But I wouldn’t have missed it for the world. (C., 37)
Discussion
Incarceration affects all aspects of family life, including the health and well-being of inmates’ spouses and children, and the maintenance of family attachments. It can also lead to marital dissolution (Comfort, 2007; Goffman, 2009; Lopoo & Western, 2005; Western & Wildeman, 2009). Most studies concerning the impact of imprisonment on inmates’ marriages have focused on the effects of men’s incarceration (Chui, 2010; Wildeman, Schnittker, & Turney, 2012), whereas only scarce attention directed at the effects of women’s incarceration on their families. This appears to be quiet odd [and disturbing] in light of research findings showing that most incarcerations of men rarely result in marital breakup (Dodge & Pogrebin, 2001; Travis et al., 2003), whereas most women sentenced to prison are abandoned by their partners and their pre-incarceration romantic relations are terminated (Hairston & Addams, 2001; Sergin & Flora, 2005).
The current study provides important information about the characteristics, motivation, and justifications of men to preserve marital relationships with their imprisoned spouses. Out of 180 prisoners incarcerated in the single Israeli female incarceration facility, Neve Tirza Prison, only nine (of whom eight took part in the study) maintain stable marital relationships longer than 3 years. All these inmates except one, who was sentenced to 264 months, had no criminal records prior to current imprisonment, and were only sentenced to a relatively short time of incarceration (M = 21.8 months). Interestingly, all spouses (but one) have no prior criminal record and therefore can be considered normative (i.e., law-abiding).
The interviews yielded five overarching themes: (a) perceptions of marital relations with incarcerated spouse, (b) perceptions of wife’s criminal conduct, (c) difficulties in marital relationships with incarcerated spouse, (d) preconditions for the continuation of marital relationships between normative men and incarcerated wives, (e) and ways of preserving the marital relationships with incarcerated partners
The discovery that the wife had committed a crime, the following arrest, initial stages of incarceration, and mainly the concealment of the crime from family and community members are experienced as stressful crises. Yet, participants describe incarceration as a challenge that brought the couple even closer, enhancing mutual responsibility and commitment.
This study elucidates the shock and devastation that comes with the discovery that one’s wife had committed a crime, and then with the following arrest and the initial stages of incarceration. The psychosocial effects of finding out about the crime linger well beyond the time of initial shock. Thus, although four (50%) of the participants were interviewed 2 years or more after they had first learned of their wives’ criminal actions, they still referred to the great difficulty of discovery and its long-lasting negative impact. Specifically, all participants testified that the incarceration of their female partners raised frustrations, tension, and lack of trust that led them to reconsider their motivation to preserve their marriages. They clearly described the disruption the revelation caused and the resulting strain on their marital relationship.
Although the romantic relationship was undoubtedly stressed by the discovery of the crime, the arrest, and the incarceration, all participants seemed to have had the resources to meet this challenge or found appropriate support to do so. Our findings indicate that the incarceration led the husbands to recognize their obligation to their partners and to their relationship. Similarly, clinical experience and several empirical studies suggest that some couples facing hospitalization, critical illness, or serious injuries perceive their marital relationship to be improved since the medical episode (e. g., Dorval et al., 2005). The trauma often creates a powerful intensified family bond and feeling of mutual empathy (Eggenberger & Nelms, 2007) and intensifies the desire to protect each other (Burr, 1998). Whether this kind of interaction may stabilize and strengthen a relationship after arrest is to be determined in future research.

The great desert spanned before me endlessly. It seemed so desolate, so lonely. There was nothing, nothing but red rocks and red dust, until the horizon put an end to the expanse. And yet, I could not help but feel a sense of excitement. It was empty, true enough, but it was here, tangible. And I was here, just as tangible.
I turned and looked up above, taking a moment to pinpoint that distant, twinkling light that I knew was home. I waved. Silly, I knew, but even so. It felt right. With a sigh, I turned back to my objective, the great empty wasteland stretched in front of me like a rusted Sahara. With a low groan, I lurched forward.
The terrain was not exactly smooth, but it was simple to navigate, all the same. Every so often, I stopped to examine a large rock, or a patch of particularly red dust. I would photograph the sample and take a few notes, such as where and when the sample was found. Sometimes, if there was a particularly interesting rock, like one that bore a stunning resemblance to the profile of Elvis Presley, I would keep it. I would place it in a mesh bag hanging from my side and carry on with my journey, one friend heavier.
And so, I carried on like this, exploring, cataloging, and collecting. If I were to take poetic license, I might say that I lost track of time, but in truth, I was aware of every moment that passed. I remembered each rock I photographed, and I recalled every red patch of dust I trundled by.
For some, this might be considered a cruel form of torture, to play wildlife photographer on a world where the only wildlife was rocks. But not to me. To me, it was bliss. It was a unique perspective on the universe, and best of all, it was paving the way for the future. My mundane little pictures of rocks would one day lead humanity across the stars.
But, it was then I realized I might never live to see that universe. The surrounding shadows had grown and morphed into monsters. I glanced up, and to my dismay, I saw no blazing star hanging in the sky. I could not see home, either. I was so tired, but I knew I must be brave. And, I am proud to say I was, to the very end. The dust storm that blotted out the sky had blinded me, but I still had one chance. I sent one last message, one final note to home.
“My battery is low, and it is getting dark.”

Introduction:
Globalization, characterized by increased interconnectedness and integration of economies, cultures, and societies, has brought about profound transformations in the modern world. While globalization has led to economic growth, technological advancement, and cultural exchange, it also has significant downsides, particularly in its impact on population ecology. This essay delves into the downsides of globalization and its intersection with population ecology dynamics, highlighting the challenges posed to biodiversity, ecosystem stability, and human well-being in a globalized world.
The Downsides of Globalization: Disruption and Degradation
Globalization has been associated with a range of negative consequences for the environment, ecosystems, and populations worldwide. One of the primary downsides is environmental degradation, as increased industrialization, urbanization, and resource extraction have led to habitat destruction, pollution, and loss of biodiversity.
Globalization has also facilitated the spread of invasive species, diseases, and pollutants across continents, disrupting ecological balances and threatening native species and ecosystems. Invasive species outcompete native species for resources, alter habitats, and disrupt ecological processes, leading to declines in biodiversity and ecosystem resilience.
Furthermore, globalization has contributed to overexploitation of natural resources, including forests, fisheries, and freshwater sources, as increased demand for commodities drives unsustainable extraction and consumption patterns. Deforestation, overfishing, and water scarcity have negative impacts on ecosystems, species populations, and the livelihoods of local communities dependent on natural resources.
Population Ecology Dynamics: Interactions and Adaptations
Population ecology is the study of how populations of organisms interact with each other and their environments, including factors such as population size, distribution, growth, and regulation. Population dynamics are influenced by a variety of biotic and abiotic factors, including resource availability, predation, competition, and environmental conditions.
One of the key concepts in population ecology is carrying capacity, which refers to the maximum population size that a particular habitat or ecosystem can sustain over the long term. Population growth may be limited by factors such as food availability, space, and predation, leading to density-dependent regulation of population size.
​
Population ecology also encompasses the study of population interactions, such as competition, predation, symbiosis, and disease transmission, which shape population dynamics and community structure. These interactions influence the distribution and abundance of species within ecosystems and can have cascading effects on ecosystem functioning and stability.
Intersection of Globalization and Population Ecology
Globalization intersects with population ecology dynamics in various ways, influencing patterns of population distribution, abundance, and interactions across different spatial and temporal scales. The movement of people, goods, and organisms across continents has led to the spread of invasive species, diseases, and pollutants, with implications for population dynamics and community structure.
Globalization also affects population dynamics through its impacts on habitat loss, fragmentation, and degradation, which can disrupt breeding patterns, migration routes, and food availability for wildlife populations. Fragmentation of habitats can isolate populations, reduce genetic diversity, and increase the risk of local extinctions, particularly for species with limited dispersal abilities.
Furthermore, globalization influences human population dynamics through its effects on urbanization, industrialization, and socio-economic development. Rapid urbanization and population growth in urban areas can lead to habitat destruction, pollution, and resource depletion, affecting both human and wildlife populations.
Challenges and Opportunities for Population Ecology in a Globalized World
In the face of globalization's downsides, population ecology faces numerous challenges, including habitat loss, fragmentation, overexploitation of resources, and the spread of invasive species and diseases. Addressing these challenges requires interdisciplinary approaches that integrate ecological, social, and economic perspectives to promote sustainability and resilience.
Conservation efforts must focus on protecting and restoring habitats, mitigating the impacts of invasive species and pollutants, and promoting sustainable land and resource management practices. Strategies such as habitat restoration, protected area management, and community-based conservation initiatives can help to conserve biodiversity and ecosystem services in a globalized world.
Furthermore, efforts to address global environmental challenges, such as climate change, deforestation, and biodiversity loss, require international cooperation and collaboration. Global agreements, such as the Convention on Biological Diversity and the Paris Agreement on climate change, provide frameworks for collective action to protect and sustainably manage the planet's ecosystems and resources.
​
Conclusion
Globalization presents significant challenges for population ecology, including habitat loss, fragmentation, overexploitation, and the spread of invasive species and pollutants. However, it also offers opportunities for collaboration, innovation, and conservation on a global scale. By addressing the downsides of globalization and promoting sustainable development practices, we can work towards a more resilient, biodiverse, and equitable world for both human and non-human populations. As we navigate the complexities of globalization and population ecology, it is essential to embrace the principles of sustainability, stewardship, and interconnectedness to ensure the health and well-being of present and future generations.

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First and foremost; thank you for giving this a read! I'll try and keep this nice and brief. I apologize in advance for my flowery speech.
My name is Sean, or DebonairDenizen on most platforms (including Discord). I like to fancy myself a writer (though I think you have to write in order to be a writer, but that's neither here nor there), an arm chair philosopher, and a generally pleasant man to pal about with- if I may be so bold. I've been stuck at home these last two years due to chronic illness which, when I'm feeling up to gaming, has left me with quite a lot of time for it. Truthfully, there's only so many times I can replay Red Dead 2 before I start to feel a tad lonely, y'know?
I'm looking for friends to play with (as I imagine we all are, on this subreddit). At this point, I don't care about the game, but I'll bullet point some of the games I own and am interested in below. Be it one friend or a community of friends, I'm not picky; I just kinda miss those middle school days where I balanced both an online and an offline circle of companions.
If I don't own one of the games you're playing, I'm- within reason- not above getting it. I wouldn't mind broadening my gaming horizons a tad. But as it is, here's some of the games I own and play;

• Helldivers 2
• Amogus
• League of Legends (kill me)
• Valheim
• Abiotic Factor
• Magic: Arena (also kill me)
• No Man's Sky
• Rust (well, I own Rust, at least)
• Hell Let Loose
• Rising Storm: Vietnam 2
• Red Orchestra 2
• Planetside 2
• Foxhole
• Stellaris
• Starship Troopers
• Tabletop Simulator (it's been a while but I dabbled in 40k, much to by chagrin at times)
• Minecraft (of course)
• Splinter Cell: Conviction (great co-op, been years since I played)
• Battlefield: 1
• Dungeons & Dragons (or any TTRPG really)

Those are some that come to mind, though again, if there's anything you're into that isn't listed, don't let that be what stops you from reaching out. I've been interested into getting into games not currently in my wheelhouse (like Overwatch, perhaps; haven't played that since highschool).
Look forward to hearing from you!

I am bored out of my mind and want new friends. It's not possible to start friendships from scratch in real life and organic ones seem like a fantasy. I want a platonic relationship because I want to fucking talk!! It gets lonely when "I don't need anyone" mindset fades away and mobile is as dry as Sahara desert. I am delusional enough to believe that I'll make friend(s) here and maybe meet and have fun and the friendship will bloom and it will be a story I'll tell grandkids on my deathbed. I am rank SS daydreamer. Text me if you are ready for tons of drama and message upon message. I am a bothersome person tbh. I can get along with anyone as long as they don't aim for my Achilles heel.I have Penpal experience as well. Ping me and we'll see how things fly or drift away.

Come What May
Now ever since 2020 I've been paying extra special attention to the date of May 3rd (1700 GMT) because that was the date when I first saw the shape of things to come. I can't believe I was the only one paying attention to life , the universe and everything on that day since the signs were clearly there that something BIG was going to happen. The BBC played a very big part in my perception of these particular events which means they were deliberately broadcasting clues as information that was meant to be heard and therefore understood by those with ears to hear. And that means that there was a conspiracy at work long before I finally joined the game.
Anyway, this year on the fourth anniversary I half expected to hear some more earth shattering news that could be interepretted as being a sign that things were still running pretty much on (or rather off!) course since the science of planetary level events must have a timescale that is measured not in months, bbut in orbits (or as I call them cosmic units). Nature has her own calendar you know.
Anyway. Whilst the news on that day did have a fair few horror stories, there was nothing so outstanding that it deserved to tick my conspiracy factor box satisfactorily. Nothing that wasn't man made anyway.
What I was waiting for didn't really make any waves in the BBC news since it happened far, far away from modern civilization and affected pretty much nobody but the fish. But I monitor other sites as well and discovered that on May 4th out in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, planet Earth experienced a pretty significant and very deep rooted 7.5 earth(sea)quake meaning that deep underground, something went CRACK.
Now earthquakes are, by nature, unpredictable things that can strike anywhere, at anytime. Hell, even New York suffered an extremely rare but still pretty good 4.5 quake just a day before they suffered their recent solar eclipse. But that was clearly an example of just a nice cosmic coincidence showing us that accidents do happen. Most earthquakes however will strike around our Techtonic plate edges since that is where the earth rubs and stretches itself until something pops and so geographically speaking the fault lines the most likely place for any quake to occur. What makes This quake so outstandingly noticable imho was not that it was the joint third largest quake of 2024 so far but rather that it struck exactly on the axis point where the great central Atlantic north/south tectonic divide crossovers with the classic east/west line of the Equator.
Now of course I don't know exactly why this is important but Atlan has long been top of my list as to the most likely place where the end of things will actually begin. That is where I have placed my jot and so I have long followed news of the fault line and what with Mount fag up in Iceland still burning away merrily to the north and then factor in Mount Michael doing likeways equidistantly far away to the south then playing join the dots draws us some rather too regular looking data for my liking. More like Orion's belt than a triangle. I therefore am going to take the quake as being the cosmic sign that I was looking for and write that down for poserity as being Important. Its far too close a shot to the bullseye to my eye not to be important and if we discount this years extra leap day (a manmade invention) from the ever ticking cosmic calendar of time and nature then it becomes apparent that the incident occurred at a much too significant time and place for me to call it an accident and that makes it a pretty decent sounding mystic portent imho.
You heard it first here. Everything is on track. Time came knocking and nature did answer. Tick Tick Tick.
Whilst I'm here I should use this opportunity to briefly offload the past few months worth of mad weather notes from my disaster diary for those of you who may still be looking out for any other potential patterns in historical data long after the event.
April in England was cold wet and windy. It was thirty days of unpleasantness which also bought us three more named storms (tho only one UK named storm officially) No snow though but that might be because the the polar vortex also apparently went into reverse!
There has been a huge swathe of flooding events striking the globe over the past two months, each one being much more unusually severe or unseasonally powerful than anything that could have been reasonably predicted using lassical historical weather records. These flood events are actually just rain events gone wrong and might even be considered to be all part of the same atmospheric river if you plot the dates of the outbreaks accordingly onto your globe. What the world is facing today won't be admitted until it's obvious to everyone . The current method of monitoring long range changes in established patterns is to wait around for twenty years collecting more and more comprehensive data before finally releasing a report admitting what was blatantly obvious from the start. And that is how slowly our governments operate too. Too slowly.
The first of the rain reports were from Southern China with what they are now calling a 1/100 year event. The Russian Urals were next followed by Tajikstan, Khazikstan and of course Pakistan who are starting to get used to their annual flooding season now. Not quite so used to flooding is Eastern Africa, especially across Kenya and Tanzania whose as I type are also expecting to get hit by their first ever cyclone , something which is usually the province of the 3M's down at a far more southerly latitude. But it was Dubai that grabbed the best headlines after some seriously off the charts rainfall figures formed great lakes across the the dry gulf city and that was an incredibly unlikely dot to be able to put onto on our map.
Some reporters suggest that this unprecedented Dubai weather event was actually a man made attempt at cloud engineering. I just know that it never usually rains in the desert and that brings me round to another rather strange event when Sahara dust painted the sky orange all the way up in Scandinavia.
Further afield and it is now Brazil grabbing the rain disaster headlines by suffering a deluge of truly biblical proportions with more than a months worth of rain falling in a single day...every day.... for a full seven days... and still counting.
At the other end of the weather scale and it is far too much sunshine making up the rest of my weather notes. Rio recorded a new seasonal record temperature of 42º whilst heatwaves in Mexico, Mali, and South Sudan have also made headline news. In Zimbabwe and Iraq the heat problem has now turned into drought problems. All of these clearly seperate and therefore obviously unrelated events have all been achieving new 'worst since records began' status in their countries history records and I fully expect these freshly updated records to be broken again in the near years to come, come what may.
Same time next year?

20F Despo for new friends!!! Not the one liners please...
I am bored out of my mind and want new friends. It's not possible to start friendships from scratch in real life and organic ones seem like a fantasy. I want a platonic relationship because I want to fucking talk!! It gets lonely when "I don't need anyone" mindset fades away and mobile is as dry as Sahara desert. I am delusional enough to believe that I'll make friend(s) here and maybe meet and have fun and the friendship will bloom and it will be a story I'll tell grandkids on my deathbed. I am rank SS daydreamer. Text me if you are ready for tons of drama and message upon message. I am a bothersome person tbh. I can get along with anyone as long as they don't aim for my Achilles heel.I have Penpal experience as well. Ping me and we'll see how things fly or drift away.

HI guys I would like to share my story here as I got benefits from this group and want to do the same. 4 months ago in Dec of 2023 I got Covid and at the same time my anxiety levels were high due to various factors. Over the past 8 years I was somewhat constipated and sat in the potty for 20 mins at a time. I thought everybody did that never realized I was the "odd" one. When Covid hit me it hit me right on the Pelvic Floor and the Pudendal nerve which I figured out after 4 months of pain and agony. Added to that my anxiety levels were so high, I was peeing every 20 mins and I was peeing a lot. As usual I was tested for Urinary, bladder infection and put on Anti biotics. There was no bladder urinary infection. The culture came clean. Then I was told it was prostititis and was put on that medication for a month. Still no relief. Finally I took anxiety pill which instantly stopped the continuous peeing. 1 problem solved. The other problem which was the constant urge to pee or the pain in the Penis, Scrotum and rectum was constant. It was brutal. The only time I was free was when I slept. I did not get up once I slept.
Finally after 4 months plus using thes reddit group and talking to experts in other countries, I concluded that it has nothing to do with Urinary infection or Prostatitis. It was Pudendal Nerve entrapment coupled with a Pelvic floor weakness from the many years of constipation. Not all Physio therapists can help you. You need the Pelvic floor dysfunction expert with Pudendal nerve entrapment expert to treat you and that is giving relief. This is one area that is mis diagnosed and many Dr's don't even recognize Pelvic Floor dysfunction in men or Pudendal nerve neuralgia or entrapment problem. They always say its Prostititis due to a bacteria that cannot be cured form antibiotics. Meaning you are on your own. I'm feeling much better now after 4 months of this constant onslaught. The physical problem impacts you mentally too. Please note: For women it is a bit different compared to men when it comes to the treatment even though the problem could be the same. If you get tingling, burning, throbbing feeling or pain in your penis and scrotum and rectum on and off and your pubic area then you need to definitely check your Pudendal nerve as that is the one damn nerve that goes from s2, s3, s4 vertebra becoming pudendal nerve on both sides of your pelvis and connects all the 3 parts. If my experience and findings helps even 1 person in this world I'm happy as I don't want this suffering for the worst of my enemies. Good luck to all of you R

I am bored out of my mind and want new friends. It's not possible to start friendships from scratch in real life and organic ones seem like a fantasy. I want a platonic relationship because I want to fucking talk!! It gets lonely when "I don't need anyone" mindset fades away and mobile is as dry as Sahara desert. I am delusional enough to believe that I'll make friend(s) here and maybe meet and have fun and the friendship will bloom and it will be a story I'll tell grandkids on my deathbed. I am rank SS daydreamer. Text me if you are ready for tons of drama and message upon message. I am a bothersome person tbh. I can get along with anyone as long as they don't aim for my Achilles heel.I have Penpal experience as well. Ping me and we'll see how things fly or drift away.

I really enjoyed Valheim when it came out, and these past few days I've been really into Abiotic Factor, but I haven't explored this genre much other than these two.
I'm familiar with some of the popular survival type games but a lot of them seem to be horror-themed, whereas I'm looking for something a little more relaxing.
Any hidden gems in this genre? Maybe something that is on the simpler side in terms of game mechanics?
Thanks in advance!

20 F. I am bored out of my mind and want new friends. It's not possible to start friendships from scratch in real life and organic ones seem like a fantasy. I want a platonic relationship because I want to fucking talk!! It gets lonely when "I don't need anyone" mindset fades away and mobile is as dry as Sahara desert. I am delusional enough to believe that I'll make friend(s) here and maybe meet and have fun and the friendship will bloom and it will be a story I'll tell grandkids on my deathbed. I am rank SS daydreamer. Text me if you are ready for tons of drama and message upon message. I am a bothersome person tbh. I can get along with anyone as long as they don't aim for my Achilles heel.I have Penpal experience as well. Ping me and we'll see how things fly or drift away.

We need fun. In the game, only difference from EIC to France to Sweden to Socoto is starting position. Other than that you always try to go for same laws, same communist path and high SOL and no fun. You just try to reach higher gdps and that s it. You are like AI just playing better. We dont have any interesting gameplays and specific wars like Crimean war or Franco Prussian war. Or even most importantly GREAT WAR. Such as Spanish American war started over demand of people inside country. We dont have any demand of war by the people or wars dont effect politics. Such as ITF ( 3 pashas gov) risen up just because of HIF losing Balkan wars including Edirne. We dont have any fun colonization and a race, we just click and hope game chooses to close seaside to other powers so they wont start colonizing the region. There is no scramble for africa, no one really tries to shape africa and develop it for mainland. Social mechanics are so slow and they just demand for some specfic law if you are lucky. Nationalists dont try to rise up and contact with rivals of the country. Your own people dont demand you to get somewhere back or a revolt will occur. Also current idelogies are not enough. There were many more ideologies around the world and even problems around the world doesnt effect other countries much. Such as Agadir crisis also started a problem in Ottomans due to them being a muslim country and it is being annexed by Catholics. Bedoin treaties doesnt exist in the game while even name of protectorate of GB in the region is "Trucial States". There is no plays during war to declare on someone, like Ottomans and Italy joined ww1 later like Belgium and UK, but they joined same war not a different war. You cant join at the middle of any war. We need more fun during the game and we need faster colonization for a place like eastern sahara. ALGERIAN DESERT COLONIZATION TAKES LONGER THAN UBANGI SHARI. Colonization system must change and include things like Polish and Hungarian revolutionaries refugeing to Ottoman Empire, later a Polish Pasha offered Ottomans different colonization by finishing off Socoto sultanate at the region, we could expand and reach all the lands from Moritania to Eritrea since it is Caliphate. And it included all the cheap market of Sahara to the Ottoman market, like luxurious items (it must be a thing in the game) such as pearl. Yeah that s all coming to my mind. It would be nice if you guys share your opinions about that

I had to move out my city of 20 years because the housing market was just too insane. How can any person who isn’t financially supported by someone or something even have a chance? Kind of sucks to realize that everything you knew and loved is gone because of whatever factors. I don’t even care anymore. Gentrification, housing market, low income, etc. doesn’t make a difference I will never be able to afford to live there unless I can get an amazing career and even then what’s the point? I’ll be into my 30’s by then. Half of the city is renovated for tech companies and filled with unfamiliarities and I can’t control it. Having to leave my friends after high school and what little family I had because I can’t express to them I can’t afford a 1 bedroom for 2,800$ and my parents aren’t around is a depressing outlook that is sadly the truth. Even though I had amazing grades and followed everything my peers told me I still could not keep up with the progress of time or whatever. I’m not surprised people my age are killing themselves because what the fuck am I supposed to do. Guess I’ll move to a nicer city! Oh wait I live in a fucking desert and my career field is in exodus but I guess I should have predicted that when I was 17.

Hey farmers! What are some genuinely useful tips and tricks you've picked up along your journeys? I'll start by sharing some of the ones I've learned after almost 1500 hours of playtime!

1. If you want to un-till large sections of land all at once, without having to waste energy, just have Robin move some buildings on top of the soil, then move it back. It will automatically un-till all soil under the structure!
   
2. If you want to move buildings outside of Robin's store hours, remember that you can do so at the Wizard's tower as well after you've finished his post community center completion questline! You can even access his tower after 11 PM if you get into it via the witch hut teleport.
   
3. As of recent updates, it's possible to move the starting shipping bin, the greenhouse (once restored) and the farmhouse.
   
4. In multiplayer games ONLY, it's possible for a farmer to lay in bed, select "no" when asked if you're sleeping for the night, then just lay there and restore energy. Unfortunately, this does not work in single player.
   
5. Once you've upgraded your hoe or watering can to at least copper, you can hold the tool button down to charge their power. (This one was very obvious to me but I'm learning it wasn't for some, so I included it)
   
6. I don't know if there's an equivalent button to do this on PC, but on most game controllers, pressing the R button with a chest open will snap the cursor to the "add all to same stacks" button.
   
7. It's possible to get to the skull cavern entrance as early as 6 AM by arranging chairs in straight line patterns from the warp obelisk to the cave entrance, and using a desert totem. For some reason, time pauses while you're hopping from chair to chair, making this possible.
   
8. It's also possible to glitch past the stump blocking the secret woods using a one tile wide chair. You can do the same with a double wide, but you won't be able to get back out!
   
9. The Skull Cavern seems really hard, but you can do many things to mitigate the challenge. Crystalariums can be used to duplicate diamonds, rubies and jades en masse, which can be traded in to the desert trader for triple shot espressos, spicy eels and staircases respectively (the latter of which on Sunday only). You can have a food buff and a drink buff active simultaneously, on top of bonuses from rings and equipment. Stacking all of these factors in your favor makes it much easier, and once you can start reaching the good treasure rooms, it becomes exponentially easier to progress each subsequent time.
   
10. Prismatic Shards seem rare on the surface, but they have a 4% drop chance from all iridium nodes. That doesn't seem like much until you go skull cavern mining on a good luck day and make it down past level 100 and can blow up 5-10 iridium nodes per floor. I routinely bring home 2-8 shards per good luck day, and you can take advantage of the tips above to consistently get that deep.
    

I encourage others to add their tips as well! :)

Picked up Abiotic Factor on Thursday when it came out after playing the demo and I love it. It’s a Survival Base Building game set inside a Half Life-esque office and it just feels cozy like I’m building my little nook/base in the little corner of the office and discovering new crafting recipes and cooking soup and watering plants and there’s a little creature thing you can befriend and pet. Just wanted to make a little post because I’ve not heard much about this game from others and thought some people might like it. Similar feel to 7 days to die if you liked that

There is now an NBER working paper on this topic:
This paper presents the results from a hypothetical set of questions related to mask-wearing behavior and opinions that were asked of a nationally representative sample of over 4,000 participants in early 2022. Mask mandates were hotly debated in public discourse, and though much research exists on benefits of masks, there has been no research thus far on the distribution of perceived costs of compliance. As is common in economic research that aims to assess the value to society of non-market activities, we use survey valuation methods and ask how much participants would be willing to pay to be exempted from rules of mandatory community masking. The survey asks specifically about a 3 month exemption. We find that the majority of respondents (56%) are not willing to pay to be exempted from mandatory masking. However, the average person was willing to pay $525, and a small segment of the population (0.9%) stated they were willing to pay over $5,000 to be exempted from the mandate. Younger respondents stated higher willingness to pay to avoid the mandate than older respondents. Combining our results with standard measures of the value of a statistical life, we estimate that a 3 month masking order was perceived as cost effective through willingness-to-pay questions only if at least 13,333 lives were saved by the policy.
That is by Patrick Carlin, Shyam Raman, Kosali I. Simon, Ryan Sullivan, and Coady Wing. A few comments:

1. Willingness to be paid magnitudes are often _much_higher than willingness to pay numbers. Especially when issues of justice and desert are involved. I know some people who might say: “I have a right to refuse a mask. I’m not going to pay anything not to wear one, but you would have to pay me a million dollars to put it on.” There are less extreme versions of this view, noting that even in quite normal laboratory circumstances WTBP can be 5x higher than WTP.
   
2. For many people the value of masking — either positively or negatively — depends on what others do. Some might feel “I guess I can wear a mask, but if you make everyone do that, that is a gross Orwellian dystopia.” Others, perhaps leaning more to the political left, might say: “I am willing to do my share, but of course I expect the same from everyone else. Let us sing this collective song and with our masks dance to the heavens!”
   
3. Why not just look at what private sector establishments chose when the force of law was not present? Don’t they have the best sense of how to internalize all the different factors behind what their customers want? Of course the answer here will vary, depending on what stage of the pandemic we are in.
   

The post Mask Mandate Costs appeared first on Marginal REVOLUTION.
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Welcome back to the Reformed UPG of the Week!
Gonna leave this here because reddit is still a massive pain these days

Slight update, the new reddit UI has made it almost impossible for me to quickly do these, like I used to be able to do. Thus, theres a chance it becomes UPG of the every other week until the problem is fixed. I can't spend every one of my entire Monday mornings working on this for hours with stupid formatting issues.

Last week I was reminded just how many Unreached People Groups there are in America. So today we are doing the largest unreached people group in the US, Jewish peoples of America.

Region: United States

map of Jewish peoples in the United States
Stratus Index Ranking (Urgency): 34
It has been noted to me by u/JCmathetes that I should explain this ranking. Low numbers are more urgent, both physically and spiritually together, while high numbers are less urgent. The scale is 1-177, with one number assigned to each country. So basically on a scale from Afghanistan (1) to Finland (177), how urgent are the peoples physical and spiritual needs.

The Stratus Index - Synthesizes reliable data from different sources to clearly display the world’s most urgent spiritual and physical needs.The vast majority of missions resources go to people and places already Reached by the Gospel, while only 3% of missionaries and 1% of missions money are deployed among the Unreached. This is the Great Imbalance. As a result, there are more people without access to the Gospel today than a decade ago. Stratus seeks to equip the global church with fresh vision to accomplish the Great Commission by addressing some of the factors that perpetuate the Great Imbalance. We hope this tool allows the church to better understand what steps will be required to overcome the barriers that prevent needs from being met, spurring informed and collaborative missions strategy. Stratus Website

New York City
Climate: With its large size and geographic variety, the United States includes most climate types. To the east of the 100th meridian, the climate ranges from humid continental in the north to humid subtropical in the south.
Frozen Great Lakes
LA, California
Terrain: Measured by only land area, the United States is third in size behind Russia and China, and just ahead of Canada. So its hard to get a bead on all the types of Terrain. The coastal plain of the Atlantic seaboard gives way further inland to deciduous forests and the rolling hills of the Piedmont. The Appalachian Mountains and the Adirondack massif divide the eastern seaboard from the Great Lakes and the grasslands of the Midwest. The Mississippi–Missouri River, the world's fourth longest river system, runs mainly north–south through the heart of the country. The flat, fertile prairie of the Great Plains stretches to the west, interrupted by a highland region in the southeast. The Rocky Mountains, west of the Great Plains, extend north to south across the country, peaking at over 14,000 feet (4,300 m) in Colorado. Farther west are the rocky Great Basin and deserts such as the Chihuahua, Sonoran, and Mojave. The Sierra Nevada and Cascade mountain ranges run close to the Pacific coast, both ranges also reaching altitudes higher than 14,000 feet (4,300 m). The lowest and highest points in the contiguous United States are in the state of California, and only about 84 miles (135 km) apart. At an elevation of 20,310 feet (6,190.5 m), Alaska's Denali is the highest peak in the country and in North America.
30A in Florida
Denver, CO
Mississippi River
Wildlife of US: There are 311 known reptiles, 295 amphibians and 1154 known fish species in the U.S. Known animals that exist in the US include white-tailed deer, bobcat, raccoon, muskrat, striped skunk, barn owl, American mink, American beaver, North American river otter, red fox, American Black Bear, Hawaiian Monk Seal, Black-Footed Ferret, Gila Monster, Groundhog, Pronghorn, American Alligator, Crocodile, American Bison, bald Eagle, wolves, mountain lions, Grizzly bears, polar bears, lynx, muskox, caribou, and now I'm tired of searching for lists that include all the animals. We have tons of venomous snakes, we have invasive pythons in the everglades.
Unfortunately, there is an invasive but existing population of wild monkeys in Silver Springs Florida.
Bison in Yellowstone
Pigeons in New York
Environmental Issues: Environmental issues in the United States include climate change, Ohio, species conservation, invasive species, deforestation, mining, nuclear accidents, pesticides, pollution, waste and over-population.
Languages: While many languages are spoken in the United States, English is the most common. Although there is no official language at the federal level, some laws—such as U.S. naturalization requirements—standardize English, and most states have declared English as the official language. Three states and four U.S. territories have recognized local or indigenous languages in addition to English, including Hawaii (Hawaiian), Alaska (twenty Native languages), South Dakota (Sioux), American Samoa (Samoan), Puerto Rico (Spanish), Guam (Chamorro), and the Northern Mariana Islands (Carolinian and Chamorro). In Puerto Rico, Spanish is more widely spoken than English. According to the American Community Survey, in 2010 some 229 million people (out of the total U.S. population of 308 million) spoke only English at home. More than 37 million spoke Spanish at home, making it the second most commonly used language. Other languages spoken at home by one million people or more include Chinese (2.8 million), Tagalog (1.6 million), Vietnamese (1.4 million), French (1.3 million), Korean (1.1 million), and German (1 million). The Jewish Peoples of America speak English.
Government Type: Federal presidential constitutional republic

People: Jewish Peoples of America

Jewish man of America
Population: 4,596,000
Estimated Foreign Workers Needed: 92+
Beliefs: The Jewish peoples of America are 2.7% Christian, but only 1.6% Evangelical. That means out of their population of 4,596,000, there are roughly 73,000 believers who share their faith. That slightly more than 1 believer for every 100.
Like all those who deny Christ, the Jewish peoples are deceived and follow a false god. For religious Jewish peoples, God (not the true God at this point) is the Supreme Being, the Creator of the universe, and the ultimate Judge of human affairs. Beyond this, the religious beliefs of the Jewish communities vary greatly. Orthodox Jewish peoples generally follow the traditional religious beliefs and practices found in the Jewish literature that interprets Scripture regarding ethical, religious, civil and criminal matters. Conservative Judaism is less traditional than Orthodox and combines different ethical, philosophical, and spiritual schools of thought. Reform Judaism is the most liberal form and interprets Jewish beliefs and practices in light of contemporary life and thought. Reform Jewish peoples do not believe that the Jewish Law is divinely revealed. They are not restricted to kosher (traditional, approved) foods, nor do they wear the skull cap (yarmulke) when praying or use Hebrew in prayer. All religious Jewish peoples believe in the coming of a Messianic Age, but only the Orthodox Jewish peoples look for a personal Messiah.
Not all Jewish peoples are religious. Some understand their "Jewishness" only as a social and cultural identity. American Jewish peoples are more likely to be atheists or agnostics than most Americans.
The Wilshire Boulevard Temple, known from 1862 to 1933 as Congregation B'nai B'rith, is a Reform Jewish congregation and synagogue, located at 3663 Wilshire Boulevard, in the Wilshire Center district of Los Angeles, California, in the United States. Founded in 1862, it is the oldest Jewish congregation in Los Angeles.
History: Jewish peoples were present in the Thirteen Colonies since the mid-17th century. However, they were small in number, with at most 200 to 300 having arrived by 1700. Those early arrivals were mostly Sephardi Jewish immigrants, of Western Sephardic (also known as Spanish and Portuguese Jewish) ancestry, but by 1720, Ashkenazi Jewish peoples from diaspora communities in Central and Eastern Europe predominated.
For the first time, the English Plantation Act 1740 permitted Jewish peoples to become British citizens and emigrate to the colonies. The first famous Jewish person in U.S. history was Chaim Salomon, a Polish-born Jewish person who emigrated to New York and played an important role in the American Revolution. He was a successful financier who supported the patriotic cause and helped raise most of the money needed to finance the American Revolution.
Despite the fact that some of them were denied the right to vote or hold office in local jurisdictions, Sephardi Jewish peoples became active in community affairs in the 1790s, after they were granted political equality in the five states where they were most numerous. Until about 1830, Charleston, South Carolina had more Jewish peoples than anywhere else in North America. Large-scale Jewish immigration commenced in the 19th century, when, by mid-century, many German Jewish peoples had arrived, migrating to the United States in large numbers due to antisemitic laws and restrictions in their countries of birth. They primarily became merchants and shop-owners. Gradually early Jewish arrivals from the east coast would travel westward, and in the fall of 1819 the first Jewish religious services west of the Appalachian Range were conducted during the High Holidays in Cincinnati, the oldest Jewish community in the Midwest. Gradually the Cincinnati Jewish community would adopt novel practices under the leadership Rabbi Isaac Meyer Wise, the father of Reform Judaism in the United States, such as the inclusion of women in minyan. A large community grew in the region with the arrival of German and Lithuanian Jewish peoples in the latter half of the 1800s, leading to the establishment of Manischewitz, one of the largest producers of American kosher products and now based in New Jersey, and the oldest continuously published Jewish newspaper in the United States, and second-oldest continuous published in the world, The American Israelite, established in 1854 and still extant in Cincinnati. By 1880 there were approximately 250,000 Jewish peoples in the United States, many of them being the educated, and largely secular, German Jews, although a minority population of the older Sephardi Jewish families remained influential.
Jewish migration to the United States increased dramatically in the early 1880s, as a result of persecution and economic difficulties in parts of Eastern Europe. Most of these new immigrants were Yiddish-speaking Ashkenazi Jewish peoples, most of whom arrived from poor diaspora communities of the Russian Empire and the Pale of Settlement, located in modern-day Poland, Lithuania, Belarus, Ukraine, and Moldova. During the same period, great numbers of Ashkenazic Jewish peoples also arrived from Galicia, at that time the most impoverished region of the Austro-Hungarian Empire with a heavy Jewish urban population, driven out mainly by economic reasons. Many Jewish peoples also emigrated from Romania. Over 2,000,000 Jewish peoples landed between the late 19th century and 1924 when the Immigration Act of 1924 restricted immigration. Most settled in the New York metropolitan area, establishing the world's major concentrations of the Jewish population. In 1915, the circulation of the daily Yiddish newspapers was half a million in New York City alone, and 600,000 nationally. In addition, thousands more subscribed to the numerous weekly papers and the many magazines in Yiddish.
At the beginning of the 20th century, these newly arrived Jewish peoples built support networks consisting of many small synagogues and Landsmanshaften (German and Yiddish for "Countryman Associations") for Jewish peoples from the same town or village. American Jewish writers of the time urged assimilation and integration into the wider American culture, and Jews quickly became part of American life. Approximately 500,000 American Jewish peoples (or half of all Jewish males between 18 and 50) fought in World War II, and after the war younger families joined the new trend of suburbanization. There, Jewish peoples became increasingly assimilated and demonstrated rising intermarriage. The suburbs facilitated the formation of new centers, as Jewish school enrollment more than doubled between the end of World War II and the mid-1950s, while synagogue affiliation jumped from 20% in 1930 to 60% in 1960; the fastest growth came in Reform and, especially, Conservative congregations. More recent waves of Jewish emigration from Russia and other regions have largely joined the mainstream American Jewish community.
Eastern European Jewish immigrants arriving in New York ca 1887?
Culture: Typical qualification that all people groups can't be summed up in small paragraphs and this is an over generalization.
In North America, most Jewish peoples live in urban areas on the east or west coasts. New York City has the largest Jewish population in North America, with over a half million Hassidic Jewish peoples alone. In South America, they also live in cities, but keep themselves as a distinct religious and ethnic minority.
While maintaining a Jewish identity, the majority of North American Jewish peoples conform to the mainstream American culture. "Jewishness" is often defined in more secular terms such as the use of Yiddish words and family traditions, rather than in religious aspects, such as the following of Jewish laws regarding dietary restrictions. Not all Jewish peoples are religious. Some understand their "Jewishness" only as a social and cultural identity. Understanding what it means to be a Jewish people begins in childhood. It takes place in the home through storytelling and by taking part in Jewish rituals and festivals such as Rosh Hashanah (New Year), Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement), and Passover. Socialization also takes place through participation in Hebrew school or synagogue youth groups. At the age of 13, the Bar Mitzvah ceremony for a boy (or Bat Mitzvah for a girl) is an important rite of passage, which marks him or her as an adult member of the community. While these ceremonies were more spiritually focused in the past, they have become equally important as social events.
Marriage and family relationships among Jewish peoples are much the same as other Americans. While Jewish families have fewer children, they are child-oriented, indulgent, and permissive. Although wives generally take on their husbands' surnames, Jewish identity is traced through the mothers. That is, if one's mother is a Jewish people, then he is, according to Jewish law, Jewish. He or she is entitled to all the rights and privileges that status brings, including the right to immigrate to Israel and settle there as a citizen.
I couldn't not include a pic of the notable cultural event of the American Hasidic Jewish peoples who dug a tunnel in New York
Cuisine: Popular dishes in American Jewish cuisine include:

• Bagel – A doughnut-shaped bread roll. The dough is first boiled and then baked, resulting in a dense, chewy interior with a browned exterior: A bagel and cream cheese is a popular pairing.
• Bialy – A bread roll similar to a bagel, but without a hole, and somewhat less chewy as the dough is not boiled before being baked.
• Blintz – A fried crêpe, usually filled with farmer cheese and served with various toppings.
• Brisket – An inexpensive cut of beef that is braised as a pot roast.
• Challah – A light bread made with eggs, used as regular food, and on ritual or holiday occasions.
• Chicken soup – Chicken broth with herbs like parsley, dill, or thyme, and often with egg noodles added.
  • Matzah balls are sometimes added to the soup instead of, or in addition to, noodles.
  • Kreplach are small dumplings that are another common addition to chicken soup.
• Chopped liver – A liver pâté made with hard-boiled eggs, salt, and pepper. Served as a side dish, hence the expression, "What am I, chopped liver?"
• Corned beef – Beef brisket that has been cured with brine and spices and then sliced.
  • Corned beef sandwich – A common use of corned beef.
• Gefilte fish – Ground fish – often a combination of carp, pike, and whitefish – that is mixed with other ingredients, formed into patties or balls, and poached; usually served as an appetizer.
• Kishke – A large, starchy sausage made with grain, vegetables, beef or chicken fat, and spices.
• Knish – A type of savory baked turnover; various fillings are used, such as potatoes or ground beef.
• Kugel – A baked casserole made with egg noodles or potatoes.
• Latke – A pancake made with grated potatoes and other ingredients, fried in oil.
• Lox – A sliced fillet of cured salmon. Belly lox is cured with brine and is therefore rather salty. Nova lox is cold-smoked. Lox is often eaten as a sandwich, on a bagel with cream cheese.
• Mandelbrot – A crunchy cookie, sometimes made with almonds, formed by baking a loaf which is then cut into small slabs and twice-baked.
• Pastrami – Beef brisket that has been cured with brine, rubbed with pepper, garlic, and other spices, smoked, and then sliced. Like corned beef it is usually served as a sandwich.
  • Pastrami on rye – Pastrami on rye bread topped with spicy brown mustard.
• Rugelach – Small baked pastries made by wrapping dough around a filling.
• Whitefish – Smoked freshwater whitefish, either filleted or made into whitefish salad.

New York Bagels

Prayer Request:

• Ask the Lord of the harvest to send forth loving Christians to work among the Jewish communities.
• Ask the Holy Spirit to grant wisdom and favor to the missions agencies that are focusing on the Jewish peoples of North and South America.
• Pray that the Jewish people will understand that Jesus is the long-awaited Messiah.
• Ask the Lord to soften the hearts of the Jewish peoples towards Christians so that they might hear and receive the message of salvation.
• Pray that God will grant Jewish believers favor as they share their faith in Christ with their own people.
• Pray that strong local churches will be raised up in each Jewish community.
• Pray against Putin and his insane little war.
• Pray for our nation (the United States), that we Christians can learn to come alongside our hurting brothers and sisters and learn to carry one another's burdens in a more Christlike manner than we have done historically.
• Pray that in this time of an upcoming election and insanity that the needs of the unreached are not forgotten by the church. Pray that our hearts continue to ache to see the unreached hear the Good News.

Brothers, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for them is that they may be saved. (Romans 10:1)
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Here are the previous weeks threads on the UPG of the Week for Reformed from 2023 (plus a few from 2022 so this one post isn't so lonely). To save some space on these, all UPG posts made 2019-now are here, I will try to keep this current.

People Group	Country	Continent	Date Posted	Beliefs
Jewish peoples	United States	North America	05/06/2024	Judaism
Jordanian Arab	Jordan	Asia	04/29/2024	Islam
Bouyei	China	Asia	04/22/2024	Animism
Arab Libyans	Libya	Africa	03/25/2024	Islam
Gafsa Amazigh	Tunisia	Africa	03/18/2024	Islam
Hindi	South Africa	Africa	03/04/2024	Hinduism
Arabs	Iraq	Asia	02/26/2024	Islam
Bagirmi Fulani	Central African Republic	Africa	02/12/2024	Islam
Gujarati	Portugal	Europe	02/05/2024	Hinduism
Western Cham	Cambodia	Asia	01/29/2024	Islamc
Yadav	India	Asia	01/22/2024	Hinduism
Thai (updated)	Thailand	Asia	12/18/2023	Buddhism

a - Tibet belongs to Tibet, not China.
b - Russia/Turkey/etc is Europe but also Asia so...
c - this likely is not the true religion that they worship, but rather they have a mixture of what is listed with other local religions, or they have embraced a liberal drift and are leaving faith entirely but this is their historical faith.
Here is a list of definitions in case you wonder what exactly I mean by words like "Unreached".
Here is a list of missions organizations that reach out to the world to do missions for the Glory of God.