title: Christian mission

text: By the 1870s, Protestant missions around the world generally acknowledged the long-term material goal was the formation of independent, self-governing, self-supporting, self-propagating churches. The rise of nationalism in the Third World provoked challenges from critics who complained that the missionaries were teaching Western ways, and ignoring the indigenous culture. The Boxer Rebellion in China in 1899–1901 involved bloody attacks on Christian missions and especially their converts. The First World War diverted resources, and pulled most Germans out of missionary work when that country lost its empire. The worldwide Great Depression of the 1930s was a major blow to funding mission activities.


title: Christian mission

text: In 1910, the Edinburgh Missionary Conference was presided over by active SVM and YMCA leader John R. Mott, an American Methodist layperson, the conference reviewed the state of evangelism, Bible translation, mobilization of church support, and the training of indigenous leadership. Looking to the future, conferees worked on strategies for worldwide evangelism and cooperation. The conference not only established greater ecumenical cooperation in missions, but also essentially launched the modern ecumenical movement.


title: Christian mission

text: The next wave of missions was started by two missionaries, Cameron Townsend and Donald McGavran, around 1935. These men realized that although earlier missionaries had reached geographic areas, there were numerous ethnographic groups that were isolated by language, or class from the groups that missionaries had reached. Cameron formed Wycliffe Bible Translators to translate the Bible into native languages. McGavran concentrated on finding bridges to cross the class and cultural barriers in places like India, which has upwards of 4,600 peoples, separated by a combination of language, culture, and caste. Despite democratic reforms, caste and class differences are still fundamental in many cultures.


title: Christian mission

text: An equally important dimension of missions strategy is the indigenous method of nationals reaching their own people. In Asia this wave of missions was pioneered by men like Dr G. D. James of Singapore, Rev Theodore Williams of India and Dr David Cho of Korea. The "two thirds missions movement" as it is referred to, is today a major force in missions.


title: Christian mission

text: Most modern missionaries and missionary societies have repudiated cultural imperialism, and elected to focus on spreading the gospel and translating the Bible. Sometimes, missionaries have been vital in preserving and documenting the culture of the peoples among whom they live.


title: Christian mission

text: Often, missionaries provide welfare and health services, as a good deed or to make friends with the locals. Thousands of schools, orphanages, and hospitals have been established by missions. One service provided by missionaries was the "Each one, teach one" literacy program begun by Dr. Frank Laubach in the Philippines in 1935. The program has since spread around the world and brought literacy to the least enabled members of many societies.


title: Christian mission

text: During this period missionaries, especially evangelical and Pentecostal missionaries, witnessed a substantial increase in the number of conversions of Muslims to Christianity. In an interview published in 2013 a leader of a key missionary agency focused on Muslims claimed that the world is living in a "day of salvation for Muslims everywhere."


title: Christian mission

text: The word "mission" was historically often applied to the building, the "mission station" in which the missionary lives or works. In some colonies, these mission stations became a focus of settlement of displaced or formerly nomadic people. Particularly in rural Australia, mission stations (known as missions) became home to many Indigenous Australians.


title: Christian mission

text: Major nations not only send and fund missionaries abroad, but also receive them from other countries. In 2010, the United States sent out 127,000 missionaries, while 32,400 came to the United States. Brazil was second, sending out 34,000, and receiving 20,000. France sent out 21,000 and received 10,000. Britain sent out 15,000 and received 10,000. India sent out 10,000 and received 8000. Other major exporters included Spain at 21,000 sent out, Italy at 20,000, South Korea at 20,000, Germany at 14,000, and Canada at 8,500. Large recipient nations included Russia, receiving 20,000; Congo receiving 15,000; South Africa, 12,000; Argentina, 10,000; and Chile, 8,500. The largest sending agency in the United States is the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints who, at this date 2019, has 67,000 full time proselytizing young missionaries all over the world with many more elder missionaries serving in similar circumstances. The Southern Baptist Convention, has 4,800 missionaries, plus 450 support staff working inside the United States. The annual budget is about $50,000 per year per missionary. In recent years, however, the Southern Baptist foreign missionary operation (the International Mission Board) has operated at a deficit, and it is cutting operations by 15 percent. It is encouraging older missionaries to retire and return to the United States.


title: Christian mission

text: The Lausanne Congress of 1974, birthed a movement that supports evangelical mission among non-Christians and nominal Christians. It regards "mission" as that which is designed "to form a viable indigenous church-planting and world changing movement." This definition is motivated by a theologically imperative theme of the Bible to make God known, as outlined in the Great Commission. The definition is claimed to summarize the acts of Jesus' ministry, which is taken as a model motivation for all ministries.


title: Christian mission

text: This Christian missionary movement seeks to implement churches after the pattern of the first century Apostles. The process of forming disciples is necessarily social. "Church" should be understood in the widest sense, as a body of believers of Christ rather than simply a building. In this view, even those who are already culturally Christian must be "evangelized".


title: Christian mission

text: Church planting by cross-cultural missionaries leads to the establishment of self-governing, self-supporting and self-propagating communities of believers. This is the famous "three-self" formula formulated by Henry Venn of the London Church Missionary Society in the 19th century. Cross-cultural missionaries are persons who accept church-planting duties to evangelize people outside their culture, as Christ commanded in the Great Commission (, ).


title: Christian mission

text: The objective of these missionaries is to give an understandable presentation of their beliefs with the hope that people will choose to following the teaching of Jesus Christ and live their lives as His disciples. As a matter of strategy, many evangelical Christians around the world now focus on what they call the "10/40 window", a band of countries between 10 and 40 degrees north latitude and reaching from western Africa through Asia. Christian missions strategist Luis Bush pinpointed the need for a major focus of evangelism in the "10/40 Window", a phrase he coined in his presentation at the missionary conference Lausanne 1989 in Manila. Sometimes referred to as the "Resistant Belt", it is an area that includes 35% of the world's land mass, 90% of the world's poorest peoples and 95% of those who have yet to hear anything about Christianity.


title: Christian mission

text: Modern mission techniques are sufficiently refined that within ten to fifteen years, most indigenous churches are locally pastored, managed, taught, self-supporting and evangelizing. The process can be substantially faster if a preexisting translation of the Bible and higher pastoral education are already available, perhaps left over from earlier, less effective missions.


title: Christian mission

text: One strategy is to let indigenous cultural groups decide to adopt Christian doctrines and benefits, when (as in most cultures) such major decisions are normally made by groups. In this way, opinion leaders in the groups can persuade much or most of the groups to convert. When combined with training in discipleship, church planting and other modern missionary doctrine, the result is an accelerating, self-propelled conversion of large portions of the culture.


title: Christian mission

text: A typical modern mission is a co-operative effort by many different ministries, often including several coordinating ministries, such as the Faith2Share network, often with separate funding sources. One typical effort proceeded as follows:


title: Christian mission

text: The most crucial part of church planting is selection and training of leadership. Classically, leadership training required an expensive stay at a seminary, a Bible college. Modern church planters deprecate this because it substantially slows the growth of the church without much immediate benefit. Modern mission doctrines replace the seminary with programmed curricula or (even less expensive) books of discussion questions, and access to real theological books. The materials are usually made available in a major trading language in which most native leaders are likely to be fluent. In some cases, the materials can be adapted for oral use.


title: Christian mission

text: It turns out that new pastors' practical needs for theology are well addressed by a combination of practical procedures for church planting, discussion in small groups, and motivated Bible-based study from diverse theological texts. As a culture's church's wealth increases, it will naturally form classic seminaries on its own.


title: Christian mission

text: Another related mission is Bible translation. The above-mentioned literature has to be translated. Missionaries actively experiment with advanced linguistic techniques to speed translation and literacy. Bible translation not only speeds a church's growth by aiding self-training, but it also assures that Christian information becomes a permanent part of the native culture and literature. Some ministries also use modern recording techniques to reach groups with audio that could not be soon reached with literature.


title: Christian mission

text: For Catholics, “Missions” is the term given to those particular undertakings by which the heralds of the Gospel, sent out by the Church and going forth into the whole world, carry out the task of preaching the Gospel and planting the Church among peoples or groups who do not yet believe in Christ.


title: Christian mission

text: Vatican II made a deep impact on Catholic missions around the world. The Church's relations to non-Christian religions like Judaism and Islam were revisited.


title: Christian mission

text: A steep decline in the number of people entering the priesthood and religious life in the West has made the Church look towards laity more and more. Communities like Opus Dei arose to meet this need.


title: Christian mission

text: Inculturation increasingly became a key topic of missiological reflection for Catholics. Inculturation is understood as the meeting of the Christian message with a community in their cultural context.


title: Christian mission

text: Liberation Theology and liturgical reform have also been important in forming and influencing the mission of the Catholic Church in the 20th and 21st Centuries.


title: Christian mission

text: In relation to mission, Pope Benedict XVI made the re-evangelization of Europe and North America a priority in his own ministry, even while the upper leadership of the Roman Catholic hierarchy and the college of cardinals has more members from Latin America, Africa, and Asia than ever before.


title: Christian mission

text: Key documents on mission for Catholics during this period are "Evangelii nuntiandi" by Pope Paul VI and "Redemptoris missio" by Pope John Paul II.


title: Christian mission

text: Christian mission organisations have long depended on the printed word as a channel through which to do mission. At times when countries have been "closed" to Christians, great efforts have been made to smuggle Bibles and other literature into those countries. Brother Andrew, the founder of Open Doors, started smuggling Bibles into communist countries in the 1950s. Operation Mobilisation was established in 1957 by George Verwer. Other Christian publishers, such as Plough Publishing, provide free books to people in the UK and US as a form of mission. The Bible Society translates and prints Bibles, in an attempt to reach every country in the world.


title: Christian mission

text: The internet now provides Christian mission organisations a convent way of reaching people in the form of podcasts. Podcasts provide a way of dissemination for a message that has potential to endanger the recipient, since it is very hard to track who has downloaded a specific podcast. An example of this is the Crescent Project. Other podcasts, such as the Life Together podcast, The Sacred, and Harvest are aimed at both non-Christians and Christians in the home country.


title: Christian mission

text: The shift in world Christian population from Europe and North America to the non-Western world, and the migration of Africans, Asians, and Latin Americans to the West has given rise to what some have termed "reverse mission". It demonstrates a reversal of the missionary movement, in that it reverses the direction of earlier missionary efforts.


title: Christian mission

text: Globalization of the 21st century has served as a platform for opportunity for independent Christian organizations to unite together in cooperation for outreach missions and discipleship.


title: Christian mission

text: Some organizations are Christian consortiums which organizationally band together like 50,000 persons in the Illinois based Missio Nexus organization led by Ted Esler.


title: Christian mission

text: Other organizations are united by a common source of financial funding, cooperation in outreach projects and digital communications between internal missions personnel around the world and their partners like the 25,000 people united in the Global Missions Network Foundation, founded by Anton R. Williams of Kalamazoo, Michigan and Grand Rapids, Michigan


title: Christian mission

text: Still other organizations sign legal contacts with an agencies to join together for specific functions in missions like the SIMS organization.


title: Christian mission

text: In India, Hindu organisations such as the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh assert that most conversions undertaken by zealous evangelicals occur due to compulsion, inducement or fraud. In the Indian state of Tripura, the government has alleged financial and weapons-smuggling connections between Baptist missionaries and rebel groups such as the National Liberation Front of Tripura. The accused Tripura Baptist Christian Union is a member body of the Baptist World Alliance.


title: Christian mission

text: In mid-May, the Vatican was also co-sponsoring a meeting about how some religious groups abuse liberties by proselytizing, or by evangelizing in aggressive or deceptive ways. Iraq ... has become an open field for foreigners looking for fresh converts. Some Catholic Church leaders and aid organizations have expressed concern about new Christian groups coming in and luring Iraqis to their churches with offers of cash, clothing, food or jobs. ... Reports of aggressive proselytism and reportedly forced conversions in mostly Hindu India have fueled religious tensions and violence there and have prompted some regional governments to pass laws banning proselytism or religious conversion. ... Sadhvi Vrnda Chaitanya, a Hindu monk from southern India, told CNS that India's poor and uneducated are especially vulnerable to coercive or deceptive methods of evangelization. ... Aid work must not hide any ulterior motives and avoid exploiting vulnerable people like children and the disabled, she said.


title: Christian mission

text: In an interview with "Outlook" magazine, Sadhvi Vrnda Chaitanya said "If the Vatican could understand that every religious and spiritual tradition is as sacred as Christianity, and that they have a right to exist without being denigrated or extinguished, it will greatly serve the interests of dialogue, mutual respect, and peaceful coexistence."


title: Christian mission

text: European explorers in the Americas introduced Afro-Eurasian diseases to which Amerindian peoples had no immunity, leading to tens of millions of deaths. Missionaries, along with other travelers, brought diseases into native populations. Smallpox, measles, and common cold, have been blamed on their arrivals.


title: Christian mission

text: David Igler of the University of California, Irvine, includes missionary activity as a cause of spreading germs. However, he says that commercial traders were the main agents of disease.


title: Christian mission

text: While there is a general agreement among most major aid organizations not to mix aid with proselyting, others see disasters as a useful opportunity to spread the word. One such an occurrence was the tsunami that devastated parts of Asia on December 26, 2004.


title: Christian mission

text: "This (disaster) is one of the greatest opportunities God has given us to share his love with people," said K.P. Yohannan, president of the Texas-based Gospel for Asia. In an interview, Yohannan said his 14,500 "native missionaries" in India, Sri Lanka and the Andaman Islands are giving survivors Bibles and booklets about "how to find hope in this time through the word of God." In Krabi, Thailand, a Southern Baptist church had been "praying for a way to make inroads" with a particular ethnic group of fishermen, according to Southern Baptist relief coordinator Pat Julian. Then came the tsunami, "a phenomenal opportunity" to provide ministry and care, Julian told the Baptist Press news service. ... Not all evangelicals agree with these tactics. "It's not appropriate in a crisis like this to take advantage of people who are hurting and suffering", said the Rev. Franklin Graham, head of Samaritan's Purse and son of evangelist Billy Graham.


title: Christian mission

text: The Christian Science Monitor echoes these concerns: "'I think evangelists do this out of the best intentions, but there is a responsibility to try to understand other faith groups and their culture,' says Vince Isner, director of FaithfulAmerica.org, a program of the National Council of Churches USA."


title: Christian mission

text: The Bush administration has made it easier for U.S. faith-based groups and missionary societies to tie aid and church together.


title: Christian mission

text: For decades, US policy has sought to avoid intermingling government programs and religious proselytizing. The aim is both to abide by the Constitution's prohibition against a state religion and to ensure that aid recipients don't forgo assistance because they don't share the religion of the provider. ... But many of those restrictions were removed by Bush in a little-noticed series of executive orders – a policy change that cleared the way for religious groups to obtain hundreds of millions of dollars in additional government funding. It also helped change the message American aid workers bring to many corners of the world, from emphasizing religious neutrality to touting the healing powers of the Christian God.


title: Christian mission

text: Missionaries say that the government in India has passed anti-conversion laws in several states that are supposedly meant to prevent conversions from "force or allurement", but are primarily used, they say, to persecute and criminalize voluntary conversion due to the government's broad definition of "force and allurement". Any gift received from a Christian in exchange for, or with the intention of, conversion is considered allurement. Voice of the Martyrs reports that aid-workers claim that they are being hindered from reaching people with much needed services as a result of this persecution. Alan de Lastic, Roman Catholic archbishop of New Delhi states that claims of forced conversion are false.


title: Christian mission

text: "'There are attacks practically every week, maybe not resulting in death, but still, violent attacks,' Richard Howell, general secretary of the Evangelical Fellowship of India tells The Christian Science Monitor today. 'They [India's controlling BJP party] have created an atmosphere where minorities do feel insecure.'" According to Prakash Louis, director of the secular Indian Social Institute in New Delhi, "We are seeing a broad attempt to stifle religious minorities and their constitutional rights ... Today, they say you have no right to convert, Tomorrow you have no right to worship in certain places." Existing congregations, often during times of worship, are being persecuted. Properties are sometimes destroyed and burnt to the ground, while native pastors are sometimes beaten and left for dead.


title: Christian mission

text: Political scientist Robert Woodberry claims that conversionary Protestants were a crucial catalyst in spreading religious liberty, education, and democracy. While his historical analysis is exhaustive, the accompanying empirical evidence suffers from severe inconsistencies. Elena Nikolova and Jakub Polansky replicate Woodberry's analysis using twenty-six alternative democracy measures and extend the time period over which the democracy measures are averaged. These two simple modifications lead to the breakdown of Woodberry's results. Overall, no significant relationship between Protestant missions and the development of democracy can be established.


title: Christian mission

text: A major contribution of the Christian missionaries in Africa, China, Guatemala, India, Indonesia, Korea, and other places was better health care of the people through hygiene and introducing and distributing soap, and "cleanliness and hygiene became an important marker of being identified as a Christian".


title: Cee-lo

text: Cee-lo is a gambling game played with three six-sided dice. There is not one standard set of rules, but there are some constants that hold true to all sets of rules. The name comes from the Chinese "Sì-Wŭ-Liù" (四五六), meaning "four-five-six". In America it is also called "See-Low," "Four-Five-Six," "The Three Dice Game," "Roll-off!," and by several alternative spellings, as well as simply "Dice." In China it is also called "Sān Liù Bàozi" (三六豹子), or "Three-Six Leopards". In Japan, it is known as "Chinchiro" (チンチロ) or "Chinchirorin" (チンチロリン).


title: Cee-lo

text: The constants include the number of dice used, which is always three. All rules describe certain winning combinations that can be rolled, and 4-5-6 is always treated as a winning combination for the first player who rolls it (though in some variants without a banker, it may be possible for several players to make a "winning combination," requiring a second shootout). Besides the winning combinations, all Cee-lo rules include certain rolls that establish a "point," and there are situations where two or more players will roll and compare their points to determine a winner. If for any reason the dice were to leave the playing area (ex: rolling off of the table and hitting the floor) the player would be deemed an automatic loss.


title: Cee-lo

text: The various sets of rules can be divided into two broad categories according to how betting is handled. In "banking games", one player serves as a banker, who covers the individual bets of the other players, each of whom competes directly with the bank. In "non-banking games", each player has essentially equal status, and rules must exist for the players to pool their bets and attempt to win from a common pot.


title: Cee-lo

text: In 1893, Stewart Culin reported that Cee-lo was the most popular dice game played by Chinese-Americans in San Francisco, CA. The game remains popular in American inner cities, but is more prominent in various New York City neighborhoods such as Harlem, Brownsville, Crown Heights, South Bronx, and Washington Heights. Whereas “street craps” remains popular in other American cities such as Los Angeles, Atlanta, Chicago, and parts of the south. A deadly 2019 Brooklyn shooting was linked by police to a game of cee-lo.


title: Cee-lo

text: Many hip hop artists have referenced the dice game "Cee-Lo" in rap songs since the 1990s. The references usually come from east coast rappers, including Kool G Rap, Big L, Jadakiss, Nas and Notorious B.I.G. as well as many other hip hop artists, and Cee-lo has seen a resurgence in popularity in American settings. A 2003 Associated Press article presented by CBS News identified Cee-lo as a fad at schools in certain areas, "played for money even by preteens".


title: Cee-lo

text: Cee-lo can either be played with one central player (the bank) making individual bets with each other player, or as a winner-take-all game. The rules for play both with and without a bank are described below, including some common variants of each.


title: Cee-lo

text: Casual players can still play the game "with a bank", as it includes rules that dictate when the duty of "being the bank" should pass to a new player.


title: Cee-lo

text: By definition, Cee-lo is a banking game, meaning that the players bet against an established banker, and it is a "point game", meaning that some dice rolls establish a "point" for the player (similar to the popular dice game craps).


title: Cee-lo

text: In this game, one person is established as the banker, and all other players make even money bets against the bank. If a player makes a $10 bet, then they stand to either win or lose $10 depending on the roll of the dice. The Banker has an advantage relative to the other players (amounting to approximately 8.56% of the amount bet). When a player is established as the banker, they put up an initial stake known as the "bank", or "center bet". Once they have placed their stake, and announced the amount, the other players have a chance to cover or "fade" their bet. Starting with the player to the banker's left, and proceeding clockwise around the circle, each player in turn can fade a portion of the bank, as much as they like, until the entire bank is covered or every player has had a chance to make a bet.


title: Cee-lo

text: If the initial stake is $100, the first player might choose to fade $20, the next player $20, and the next player $60. Then the entire bank is covered and no more bets are placed this round. Or, if the initial stake is $100, six players choose to fade $10 each, and no one else wishes to bet, then the banker pockets the unfaded portion of the bank ($40) and plays for only the stakes that were covered.


title: Cee-lo

text: After all the bets are settled according to the roll of the dice (explained below), if the same player maintains control of the bank, he may add as much money as he wishes to his stake, or let the bank stand at whatever amount remains after all the bets are settled. A new round begins, the players fade again just as above, and so the game continues.


title: Cee-lo

text: Control of the bank can change under certain circumstances. If all the players beat the banker in one round, they break the bank, and control of the bank then passes to the next player to the banker's left, who establishes his own initial stake as above. Otherwise, the first player to beat the banker by rolling 4-5-6 or triples will become the new banker (after the existing banker settles the remaining bets and pockets whatever remains of his bank).


title: Cee-lo

text: When all the bets have been established, the banker rolls the dice. There are four outcomes: automatic win, automatic loss, set point, re-roll


title: Cee-lo

text: If the banker does not roll an automatic win or loss, they will have rolled a point of 2, 3, 4, or 5. Each player then rolls the dice to settle his individual bet against the banker. The player wins with a 4–5–6, triple, or any point higher than the Banker's. They lose with a 1–2–3, or any point lower than the banker's. If they tie the banker's point, then it's a "push", no winner or loser, and the player pockets his stake. If they don't roll win, loss, or point, they continue to roll the dice until they do so.


title: Cee-lo

text: The first player to win with a 4–5–6 or triple commonly gets the privilege of being the next banker after all the bets of this round are settled. It's also often the case that 4–5–6 pays double, triples pay three times, and triple 1s pay five times the wager, though different betting systems may be agreed upon.


title: Cee-lo

text: Some variants of Cee-lo have been described that reverse the rules of winning and losing rolls for the player who is not a banker, making a 1–2–3 a win for the player, and 4–5–6 a loss. If such a rule is followed to the extent that triples become a losing roll for the player, then this slightly increases the advantage to the banker.


title: Cee-lo

text: In this version of the game, each round involves two or more players of equal status. A bet amount is agreed upon and each player puts that amount in the pile or pot. Each player then has to roll all three dice at once and must continue until a recognized combination is rolled. Whichever player rolls the best combination wins the entire pot, and a new round begins. In cases where two or more players tie for the best combination, they must have a shoot out to determine a single winner.


title: Cee-lo

text: Any other roll is a meaningless combination and must be rerolled until one of the above combinations occurs.


title: Cee-lo

text: Some players rule that a 4-5-6 is an instant win for the first player who rolls it, and it cannot be tied. To see who picks the order, each person rolls a die and the person with the highest number chooses the order. If it is a tie, then those people roll again and again until one person has a higher number. Other rules allow for a 4-5-6 to be tied, which may be referred to as "catch up" rules but this is usually not the case.


title: Cee-lo

text: One variant rules that if a player wins with "trips" or 4-5-6, all players must pay double the original bet. This is known as "doubling down".


title: Cee-lo

text: Some players designate a limited surface where players can roll, instead of throwing the dice off a wall, such as a table or a cardboard box. If the dice roll off the surface, it is called a "loose roll" or "sloppy dice," resulting in an automatic loss for the player.


title: Cee-lo

text: Some rule that if a player rolls the dice 3 times without getting a meaningful combination, they are out.


title: Cee-lo

text: One variation assigns a point based on the pair rolled, rather than the singleton; i.e., a 5-5-2 gives a five (also known by various slang terms such as "fevers"), which beats a 3-3-6 three (a.k.a. "treys").


title: Cee-lo

text: A variation described as a "West Coast Version" ranks the combinations somewhat differently. It ranks pairs according to the highest pair, ignoring the singleton (as described immediately above), then treats all "trips" as an instant loss. 1-2-3 is treated as just another meaningless roll.


title: Cee-lo

text: Another variant treats triples as "high points" and doubles as "low points" (which are set in the traditional way). In this variant a "low six", e.g. 2-2-6, beats a "high five," 5-5-5, but a "high five", 5-5-5 beats a "low five", e.g. 3-3-5, and so on with other points


title: Cee-lo

text: In a two player game, dealer/player who rolls a "1" on the odd die is considered to have been "aced out", losing automatically. If the odd die is a "6", "trips", or "head crack", the player wins automatically.


title: Cee-lo

text: A variant of Cee-lo has been sold under the name "Chinchirorin". According to the rules of this game, "Chinchirorin" is a traditional Japanese game. Mainly played by older people in Japan, the game is reportedly gaining in popularity as a gambling game in that country.


title: Veena Malik

text: Zahida Malik (born 26 February), better known as Veena Malik, is a Pakistani actress, TV host, reality television personality and model who has appeared in Pakistani and Bollywood films. Veena made her film debut in 2000 with Sajjad Gul's "Tere Pyar Mein". In 2002, she starred in Akbar Khan's "Yeh Dil Aap Ka Huwa" and "Sassi Punno" and later played roles in female-centric films such as "Koi Tujh Sa Kahan" (2005), "Mohabbatan Sachiyan" (2007), "Kyun Tum Se Itna Pyar Hai" (2005), "Kabhi Pyar Na Karna" (2008) and "Ishq Beparwaah" (2008). In 2012, she was seen in Bollywood with a comedy film, "Daal Mein Kuch Kaala Hai". The following year, she appeared in the comedy-drama "Zindagi 50-50", "Supermodel" and the Kannada film "". She also appeared in 2014 horror film "Mumbai 125 KM 3D". She was a contestant on "Bigg Boss" in 2010.


title: Veena Malik

text: Veena was born as Zahida Malik on 26 February in Rawalpindi, Punjab, Pakistan, in a Punjabi family to Malik Mohammad Aslam and his wife, Zeenat Malik.


title: Veena Malik

text: In 2002, Veena hosted the Prime TV series, "Prime Gupshup" for them ushering a new direction for her comic skills and she improvised on the hour-long show occasionally mimicking actors.


title: Veena Malik

text: Veena hosted the Geo TV show "Hum Sub Umeed Se Hain", in which she was hailed for her comedic parodies.


title: Veena Malik

text: In 2007, she appeared at the Lux Style Awards and was awarded as being the "Most stylish celebrity on the carpet".


title: Veena Malik

text: She was evicted two weeks before the finals, and was one of the final six contestants out of the original fourteen who had participated. Veena was also part of the finale of the show. After her "Bigg Boss" stay, she was mentioned in the media as the voice of liberal Muslims, including leading dailies, "Daily Times", "Express Tribune", and "The Australian". Sabbah Hajim, from the Haji Amina Charity Trust in Jammu and Kashmir, writing in the magazine "Tehelka", when comparing her with liberal rector of Darul Uloom Deoband said, "these two newly public figures might teach Muslims to stop feeling eternally outraged."


title: Veena Malik

text: In February 2011, Veena became part of the Cricket World Cup reality show in Delhi, India, called "Big Toss." Big Toss was a reality game show with contestants and Veena as the captain of one team, against Rakhi Sawant and her team.


title: Veena Malik

text: In March 2011, Veena engaged in a passionate debate with a mufti, who claimed she had engaged in immoral behaviour as a contestant on "Bigg Boss", even though he admitted to not having watched the show. Veena countered pointing out the double standards of Pakistani media against women among other rebuttals.


title: Veena Malik

text: Another show "Veena Malik – Veena Ka Vivah" was planned where Veena would search for her soul-mate, but the show was cancelled when Imagine TV, the channel on which the show was being shown, announced that it was shutting down. Veena collected almost 71,000 entries from all over the world for the show.


title: Veena Malik

text: Before starting as an actress, Veena was a comedian for several television shows and series. She made her acting debut alongside Shaan and Zara Sheikh in Askari's "Tere Pyar Mein" (2000), which was a box office hit. She played a supporting role in the film and was barely acknowledged. Later on, she appeared in a supporting role in Javed Sheikh's "Yeh Dil Aap Ka Huwa" (2002).


title: Veena Malik

text: In 2003, Veena appeared in Indo-Pak cross venture Punjabi film "Pind Di Kudi" which failed commercially, however, it was the first Indo-Pak venture film with a budget of approximately 70 million rupees. She also appeared in Askari's "Sassi Punno" (2003) alongside Sana and Moammar Rana, however the film failed to do well at Lahore's cinemas and further screenings stopped in cinemas after a week of its release. She then appeared in Rafique's "Jageer". In 2005, she appeared in a short Punjabi film "Bau Badmash" (2005) which also failed to garner recognition. Her breakthrough role was in Reema Khan's "Koi Tujh Sa Kahan" which was a commercial success in Pakistan. In the same year, she played the parallel lead role of Farwa in fantasy film "Naag aur Nagin."


title: Veena Malik

text: In 2008, Veena appeared in Rafique's Punjabi film, "Mohabbatan Sachiyan", alongside ex-fiancée Babrik Shah and newcomers Maria Khan and Adnan Khan. The film went on to become a commercial success. The same year, she appeared in Raza's "Kabhi Pyar Na Karna" in a supporting role, but the film was a flop. Her last film of 2008 was Altaf's "Ishq Beparwah", which also failed to impress the audience. In 2010, she worked in Rafique's "Main Jeena Tere Naal", and Beyg's debut comedy film "Miss Duniya".


title: Veena Malik

text: In 2012, Veena debuted in Bollywood with an item song in "Gali Gali Mein Chor Hai" entitled "Chhanno" which was a big hit. Then in the same month she did another item song "Fann Ban Gayi" in "Tere Naal Love Ho Gaya". Then she made her acting debut with a comedy "Daal Mein Kuch Kaala Hai". The film didn't do well at the box office but Malik's performance was widely acclaimed. In 2013, her first film was Rajiv S. Ruia's social drama "Zindagi 50 50" in which she played a prostitute. She appeared in the music video "Ac Chala Garmi Badi Hai" sung by "Sukhdeep Grewal". Then she made a special appearance in Punjabi film, "Jatts in Golmaal" in an item song "Shabboo". She then made her Kannada film debut and appeared in "" in which she portrayed the life of actress Silk Smitha for which she gained 5 kg. The film was a success. Her last film of 2013 was "Super Model". Veena played a supermodel, a small town girl who becomes a success in the fashion industry. Her last Bollywood film was Hemant Madhukar's "Mumbai 125 KM 3D" that was released on 17 October 2014.


title: Veena Malik

text: Veena married businessman Asad Bashir Khan Khattak on 25 December 2013 in Dubai. Malik is Muslim and has stated that she has visited the Kaaba three times.


title: Veena Malik

text: Veena has worked as a representative at the World Health Organization for two years. She also sponsors a child at the SOS Children's Village, an NGO based in Pakistan working with orphaned children.


title: Veena Malik

text: Veena broke the Guinness World Records for getting maximum kisses on her birthday in a span of one minute beating Salman Khan who held the record achieved on the reality show Guinness World Records – Ab India Todega.


title: Veena Malik

text: In 2012 she was ranked at No. 26 on "FHM India"s "100 sexiest women list" which included Angelina Jolie, Megan Fox, Paris Hilton, Kim Kardashian, Shilpa Shetty and Sonam Kapoor.


title: Veena Malik

text: Controversy resulted in Pakistan over a nude image of Veena on the cover of "FHM" magazine India edition in which she had "ISI" written on her upper arm – the initials of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence spy agency. Veena says she was topless but did not pose completely nude, and has sued the magazine over the images.


title: Veena Malik

text: In November 2014, Veena and her husband Asad were sentenced to 26 years in prison by a Gilgit court for allegedly airing a blasphemous programme. The owner of Pakistan's biggest media group, Geo TV and Jang group, was accused of allowing the airing of the blasphemous programme by Geo television in May, which played a religious song while staging a mock marriage of Veena with Bashir. A fine of was also set. The judge sentenced Veena and Bashir and TV host Shaista Wahidi to 26 years each. She planned to appeal. They have yet to serve any time, as the ruling is not enforceable outside Gilgit.


title: Understanding

text: Understanding is a psychological process related to an abstract or physical object, such as a person, situation, or message whereby one is able to use concepts to model that object.


title: Understanding

text: Understanding is a relation between the knower and an object of understanding. Understanding implies abilities and dispositions with respect to an object of knowledge that are sufficient to support intelligent behavior.


title: Understanding

text: Understanding is often, though not always, related to learning concepts, and sometimes also the theory or theories associated with those concepts. However, a person may have a good ability to predict the behavior of an object, animal or system—and therefore may, in some sense, understand it—without necessarily being familiar with the concepts or theories associated with that object, animal, or system in their culture. They may have developed their own distinct concepts and theories, which may be equivalent, better or worse than the recognized standard concepts and theories of their culture. Thus, understanding is correlated with the ability to make inferences.


title: Understanding

text: Understanding and knowledge are both words without unified definitions so Ludwig Wittgenstein looked past a definition of knowledge or understanding and looked at how the words were used in natural language, identifying relevant features in context. It has been suggested that knowledge alone has little value whereas knowing something in context is understanding, which has much higher relative value but it has also been suggested that a state short of knowledge can be termed understanding.


title: Understanding

text: Someone's understanding can come from perceived causes or non causal sources, suggesting knowledge being a pillar of where understanding comes from. We can have understanding while lacking corresponding knowledge and have knowledge while lacking the corresponding understanding. Even with knowledge, relevant distinctions or correct conclusion about similar cases may not be made suggesting more information about the context would be required, which eludes to different degrees of understanding depending on the context. To understand something implies abilities and dispositions with respect to an object of knowledge that are sufficient to support intelligent behavior.


title: Understanding

text: Understanding could therefore be less demanding than knowledge, because it seems that someone can have understanding of a subject even though they might have been mistaken about that subject. But it is more demanding in that it requires that the internal connections among ones’ beliefs actually be “seen” or “grasped” by the person doing the understanding when found at a deeper level.


title: Understanding

text: Explanatory realism and the propositional model suggests understanding comes from causal propositions but, it has been argued that knowing "how" the cause might bring an effect is understanding. As understanding is not directed towards a discrete proposition, but involves grasping relations of parts to other parts and perhaps the relations of part to wholes. The relationships grasped helps understanding, but the relationships aren't always causal. So understanding could therefore be expressed by knowledge of dependencies.


title: Understanding

text: Someone who has a more sophisticated understanding, more predictively accurate understanding, and/or an understanding that allows them to make explanations that others commonly judge to be better, of something, is said to understand that thing "deeply". Conversely, someone who has a more limited understanding of a thing is said to have a "shallow" understanding. However, the depth of understanding required to usefully participate in an occupation or activity may vary greatly.


title: Understanding

text: For example, consider multiplication of integers. Starting from the most shallow level of understanding, we have (at least) the following possibilities:


title: Understanding

text: For the purpose of operating a cash register at McDonald's, a person does not need a very deep understanding of the multiplication involved in calculating the total price of two Big Macs. However, for the purpose of contributing to number theory research, a person would need to have a relatively deep understanding of multiplication — along with other relevant arithmetical concepts such as division and prime numbers.


title: Understanding

text: It is possible for a person, or a piece of "intelligent" software, that in reality only has a shallow understanding of a topic, to appear to have a deeper understanding than they actually do, when the right questions are asked of it. The most obvious way this can happen is by memorization of correct answers to known questions, but there are other, more subtle ways that a person or computer can (intentionally or otherwise) deceive somebody about their level of understanding, too. This is particularly a risk with artificial intelligence, in which the ability of a piece of artificial intelligence software to very quickly try out millions of possibilities (attempted solutions, theories, etc.) could create a misleading impression of the real depth of its understanding. Supposed AI software could in fact come up with impressive answers to questions that were difficult for unaided humans to answer, without really understanding the concepts "at all", simply by dumbly applying rules very quickly. (However, see the Chinese room argument for a controversial philosophical extension of this argument.)


title: Understanding

text: Examinations are designed to assess students' understanding (and sometimes also other things such as knowledge and writing abilities) without falling prey to these risks. They do this partly by asking multiple different questions about a topic to reduce the risk of measurement error, and partly by forbidding access to reference works and the outside world to reduce the risk of someone else's understanding being passed off as one's own. Because of the faster and more accurate computation and memorization abilities of computers, such tests would arguably often have to be modified if they were to be used to accurately assess the understanding of an artificial intelligence.


title: Understanding

text: Conversely, it is even easier for a person or artificial intelligence to fake a "shallower" level of understanding than they actually have; they simply need to respond with the same kind of answers that someone with a more limited understanding, or no understanding, would respond with — such as "I don't know", or obviously wrong answers. This is relevant for judges in Turing tests; it is unlikely to be effective to simply ask the respondents to mentally calculate the answer to a very difficult arithmetical question, because the computer is likely to simply dumb itself down and pretend not to know the answer.


title: Understanding

text: Gregory Chaitin, a noted computer scientist, propounds a view that comprehension is a kind of data compression. In his essay "The Limits of Reason", he argues that "understanding" something means being able to figure out a simple set of rules that explains it. For example, we understand why day and night exist because we have a simple model—the rotation of the earth—that explains a tremendous amount of data—changes in brightness, temperature, and atmospheric composition of the earth. We have compressed a large amount of information by using a simple model that predicts it. Similarly, we understand the number 0.33333... by thinking of it as one-third. The first way of representing the number requires five concepts ("0", "decimal point", "3", "infinity", "infinity of 3"); but the second way can produce all the data of the first representation, but uses only three concepts ("1", "division", "3"). Chaitin argues that comprehension is this ability to compress data.


title: Understanding

text: Cognition helps us gain knowledge which can affect our level of understanding or 'right view' as expressed in buddhism. Understanding also is seen in the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit helping an individual with their insight into God's providence.


title: Tony Kakkar

text: Tony Kakkar (born 9 April 1984) is an Indian singer known for his cringe pop songs. Kakkar made his debut in Bollywood in 2012, as a music director with the film "Mr. Bhatti on Chutti", for which he composed the song "Good Boys Bad Boys". He is the brother of singers Sonu Kakkar and Neha Kakkar. In 2014, he founded Desi Music Factory, a record label along with Anshul Garg.


title: Tony Kakkar

text: Kakkar has two sisters, Sonu Kakkar and Neha Kakkar. Both of them are singers in the industry. Hailing from Rishikesh, their family moved to Delhi in 1990s, where the siblings used to sing at "jagratas". In 2004, Kakkar and his sister Neha shifted to Mumbai. In Mumbai, he started learning the technical aspects of composing music. During this time, he also worked as a lyricist for composer Sandeep Chowta. He composed the song "Sawan Aaya Hai" for the film "Creature 3D". In 2015, he founded the record label Desi Music Factory together with Anshul Garg.


title: Tony Kakkar

text: Kakkar has been criticised and accused of copying visuals from K-pop songs on several occasions. The visuals for "Shona Shona," which was released in 2020, are similar to B1A4's "Like A Movie" and IZ*ONE's "Beware". "Booty Shake", released in 2021, is also heavily based on a K-pop song. The music video is being alleged to be similar to K-pop girl group Blackpink's music video called "Ice Cream".


title: Freenet

text: Freenet is a peer-to-peer platform for censorship-resistant, anonymous communication. It uses a decentralized distributed data store to keep and deliver information, and has a suite of free software for publishing and communicating on the Web without fear of censorship.<ref name="Peers in a Client/Server World, 2005">Taylor, Ian J. "From P2P to Web Services and Grids: Peers in a Client/Server World". London: Springer, 2005.</ref> Both Freenet and some of its associated tools were originally designed by Ian Clarke, who defined Freenet's goal as providing freedom of speech on the Internet with strong anonymity protection.


title: Freenet

text: The distributed data store of Freenet is used by many third-party programs and plugins to provide microblogging and media sharing, anonymous and decentralised version tracking, blogging, a generic web of trust for decentralized spam resistance, Shoeshop for using Freenet over sneakernet, and many more.


title: Freenet

text: The origin of Freenet can be traced to Ian Clarke's student project at the University of Edinburgh, which he completed as a graduation requirement in the summer of 1999. Ian Clarke's resulting unpublished report "A distributed decentralized information storage and retrieval system" (1999) provided foundation for the seminal paper written in collaboration with other researchers, "Freenet: A Distributed Anonymous Information Storage and Retrieval System" (2001). According to CiteSeer, it became one of the most frequently cited computer science articles in 2002.


title: Freenet

text: Freenet can provide anonymity on the Internet by storing small encrypted snippets of content distributed on the computers of its users and connecting only through intermediate computers which pass on requests for content and sending them back without knowing the contents of the full file. This is similar to how routers on the Internet route packets without knowing anything about files —except Freenet has caching, a layer of strong encryption, and no reliance on centralized structures. This allows users to publish anonymously or retrieve various kinds of information.


title: Freenet

text: Freenet 0.7, released on 8 May 2008, is a major re-write incorporating a number of fundamental changes. The most fundamental change is support for darknet operation. Version 0.7 offered two modes of operation: a mode in which it connects only to friends, and an opennet-mode in which it connects to any other Freenet user. Both modes can be run simultaneously. When a user switches to pure darknet operation, Freenet becomes very difficult to detect from the outside. The transport layer created for the darknet mode allows communication over restricted routes as commonly found in mesh networks, as long as these connections follow a small-world structure. Other modifications include switching from TCP to UDP, which allows UDP hole punching along with faster transmission of messages between peers in the network.


title: Freenet

text: Freenet 0.7.5, released on 12 June 2009, offers a variety of improvements over 0.7. These include reduced memory usage, faster insert and retrieval of content, significant improvements to the FProxy web interface used for browsing freesites, and a large number of smaller bugfixes, performance enhancements, and usability improvements. Version 0.7.5 also shipped with a new version of the Windows installer.


title: Freenet

text: As of build 1226, released on 30 July 2009, features that have been written include significant security improvements against both attackers acting on the network and physical seizure of the computer running the node.


title: Freenet

text: As of build 1468, released on 11 July 2015, the Freenet core stopped using the db4o database and laid the foundation for an efficient interface to the Web of Trust plugin which provides spam resistance.


title: Freenet

text: Freenet has always been free software, but until 2011 it required users to install Java. This problem was solved by making Freenet compatible with OpenJDK, a free and open source implementation of the Java Platform.


title: Freenet

text: Freenet served as the model for the Japanese peer to peer file-sharing programs Winny, Share and Perfect Dark, but this model differs from p2p networks such as Bittorrent and emule. Freenet separates the underlying network structure and protocol from how users interact with the network; as a result, there are a variety of ways to access content on the Freenet network. The simplest is via FProxy, which is integrated with the node software and provides a web interface to content on the network. Using FProxy, a user can browse freesites (websites that use normal HTML and related tools, but whose content is stored within Freenet rather than on a traditional web server). The web interface is also used for most configuration and node management tasks. Through the use of separate applications or plugins loaded into the node software, users can interact with the network in other ways, such as forums similar to web forums or Usenet or interfaces more similar to traditional P2P "filesharing" interfaces.


title: Freenet

text: While Freenet provides an HTTP interface for browsing freesites, it is not a proxy for the World Wide Web; Freenet can be used to access only the content that has been previously inserted into the Freenet network. In this way, it is more similar to Tor's onion services than to anonymous proxy software like Tor's proxy.


title: Freenet

text: Freenet's focus lies on free speech and anonymity. Because of that, Freenet acts differently at certain points that are (directly or indirectly) related to the anonymity part. Freenet attempts to protect the anonymity of both people inserting data into the network (uploading) and those retrieving data from the network (downloading). Unlike file sharing systems, there is no need for the uploader to remain on the network after uploading a file or group of files. Instead, during the upload process, the files are broken into chunks and stored on a variety of other computers on the network. When downloading, those chunks are found and reassembled. Every node on the Freenet network contributes storage space to hold files and bandwidth that it uses to route requests from its peers.


title: Freenet

text: As a direct result of the anonymity requirements, the node requesting content does not normally connect directly to the node that has it; instead, the request is routed across several intermediaries, none of which know which node made the request or which one had it. As a result, the total bandwidth required by the network to transfer a file is higher than in other systems, which can result in slower transfers, especially for infrequently accessed content.


title: Freenet

text: Since version 0.7, Freenet offers two different levels of security: opennet and darknet. With opennet, users connect to arbitrary other users. With darknet, users connect only to "friends" with whom they previously exchanged public keys, named node-references. Both modes can be used together.


title: Freenet

text: Freenet's founders argue that true freedom of speech comes only with true anonymity and that the beneficial uses of Freenet outweigh its negative uses. Their view is that free speech, in itself, is not in contradiction with any other consideration—the information is not the crime. Freenet attempts to remove the possibility of any group imposing its beliefs or values on any data. Although many states censor communications to different extents, they all share one commonality in that a body must decide what information to censor and what information to allow. What may be acceptable to one group of people may be considered offensive or even dangerous to another. In essence, the purpose of Freenet is to ensure that no one is allowed to decide what is acceptable.


title: Freenet

text: Reports of Freenet's use in authoritarian nations is difficult to track due to the very nature of Freenet's goals. One group, "Freenet China", used to introduce the Freenet software to Chinese users starting from 2001 and distribute it within China through e-mails and on disks after the group's website was blocked by the Chinese authorities on the mainland. It was reported that in 2002 "Freenet China" had several thousand dedicated users. However, Freenet opennet traffic was blocked in China around the 2010s.


title: Freenet

text: The Freenet file sharing network stores documents and allows them to be retrieved later by an associated key, as is now possible with protocols such as HTTP. The network is designed to be highly survivable. The system has no central servers and is not subject to the control of any one individual or organization, including the designers of Freenet. The codebase size is over 192.000 lines of code. Information stored on Freenet is distributed around the network and stored on several different nodes. Encryption of data and relaying of requests makes it difficult to determine who inserted content into Freenet, who requested that content, or where the content was stored. This protects the anonymity of participants, and also makes it very difficult to censor specific content. Content is stored encrypted, making it difficult for even the operator of a node to determine what is stored on that node. This provides plausible deniability; which, in combination with request relaying, means that safe harbor laws that protect service providers may also protect Freenet node operators. When asked about the topic, Freenet developers defer to the EFF discussion which says that not being able to filter anything is a safe choice.


title: Freenet

text: Like Winny, Share and Perfect Dark, Freenet not only transmits data between nodes but actually stores them, working as a huge distributed cache. To achieve this, each node allocates some amount of disk space to store data; this is configurable by the node operator, but is typically several GB (or more).


title: Freenet

text: Files on Freenet are typically split into multiple small blocks, with duplicate blocks created to provide redundancy. Each block is handled independently, meaning that a single file may have parts stored on many different nodes.


title: Freenet

text: Two advantages of this design are high reliability and anonymity. Information remains available even if the publisher node goes offline, and is anonymously spread over many hosting nodes as encrypted blocks, not entire files.


title: Freenet

text: The key disadvantage of the storage method is that no one node is responsible for any chunk of data. If a piece of data is not retrieved for some time and a node keeps getting new data, it will drop the old data sometime when its allocated disk space is fully used. In this way Freenet tends to 'forget' data which is not retrieved regularly (see also Effect).


title: Freenet

text: While users can insert data into the network, there is no way to delete data. Due to Freenet's anonymous nature the original publishing node or owner of any piece of data is unknown. The only way data can be removed is if users don't request it.


title: Freenet

text: Typically, a host computer on the network runs the software that acts as a node, and it connects to other hosts running that same software to form a large distributed, variable-size network of peer nodes. Some nodes are end user nodes, from which documents are requested and presented to human users. Other nodes serve only to route data. All nodes communicate with each other identically – there are no dedicated "clients" or "servers". It is not possible for a node to rate another node except by its capacity to insert and fetch data associated with a key. This is unlike most other P2P networks where node administrators can employ a ratio system, where users have to share a certain amount of content before they can download.


title: Freenet

text: The Freenet protocol is intended to be used on a network of complex topology, such as the Internet (Internet Protocol). Each node knows only about some number of other nodes that it can reach directly (its conceptual "neighbors"), but any node can be a neighbor to any other; no hierarchy or other structure is intended. Each message is routed through the network by passing from neighbor to neighbor until it reaches its destination. As each node passes a message to a neighbor, it does not know whether the neighbor will forward the message to another node, or is the final destination or original source of the message. This is intended to protect the anonymity of users and publishers.


title: Freenet

text: Each node maintains a data store containing documents associated with keys, and a routing table associating nodes with records of their performance in retrieving different keys.


title: Freenet

text: The Freenet protocol uses a key-based routing protocol, similar to distributed hash tables. The routing algorithm changed significantly in version 0.7. Prior to version 0.7, Freenet used a heuristic routing algorithm where each node had no fixed location, and routing was based on which node had served a key closest to the key being fetched (in version 0.3) or which is estimated to serve it faster (in version 0.5). In either case, new connections were sometimes added to downstream nodes (i.e. the node that answered the request) when requests succeeded, and old nodes were discarded in least recently used order (or something close to it). Oskar Sandberg's research (during the development of version 0.7) shows that this "path folding" is critical, and that a very simple routing algorithm will suffice provided there is path folding.


title: Freenet

text: The disadvantage of this is that it is very easy for an attacker to find Freenet nodes, and connect to them, because every node is continually attempting to find new connections. In version 0.7, Freenet supports both "opennet" (similar to the old algorithms, but simpler), and "darknet" (all node connections are set up manually, so only your friends know your node's IP address). Darknet is less convenient, but much more secure against a distant attacker.


title: Freenet

text: This change required major changes in the routing algorithm. Every node has a location, which is a number between 0 and 1. When a key is requested, first the node checks the local data store. If it's not found, the key's hash is turned into another number in the same range, and the request is routed to the node whose location is closest to the key. This goes on until some number of hops is exceeded, there are no more nodes to search, or the data is found. If the data is found, it is cached on each node along the path. So there is no one source node for a key, and attempting to find where it is currently stored will result in it being cached more widely. Essentially the same process is used to insert a document into the network: the data is routed according to the key until it runs out of hops, and if no existing document is found with the same key, it is stored on each node. If older data is found, the older data is propagated and returned to the originator, and the insert "collides".


title: Freenet

text: But this works only if the locations are clustered in the right way. Freenet assumes that the darknet (a subset of the global social network) is a small-world network, and nodes constantly attempt to swap locations (using the Metropolis–Hastings algorithm) in order to minimize their distance to their neighbors. If the network actually is a small-world network, Freenet should find data reasonably quickly; ideally on the order of formula_1 hops in Big O notation. However, it does not guarantee that data will be found at all.


title: Freenet

text: Eventually, either the document is found or the hop limit is exceeded. The terminal node sends a reply that makes its way back to the originator along the route specified by the intermediate nodes' records of pending requests. The intermediate nodes may choose to cache the document along the way. Besides saving bandwidth, this also makes documents harder to censor as there is no one "source node".


title: Freenet

text: Initially, the locations in darknet are distributed randomly. This means that routing of requests is essentially random. In opennet connections are established by a join request which provides an optimized network structure if the existing network is already optimized. So the data in a newly started Freenet will be distributed somewhat randomly.


title: Freenet

text: As location swapping (on darknet) and path folding (on opennet) progress, nodes which are close to one another will increasingly have close locations, and nodes which are far away will have distant locations. Data with similar keys will be stored on the same node.


title: Freenet

text: The result is that the network will self-organize into a distributed, clustered structure where nodes tend to hold data items that are close together in key space. There will probably be multiple such clusters throughout the network, any given document being replicated numerous times, depending on how much it is used. This is a kind of "spontaneous symmetry breaking", in which an initially symmetric state (all nodes being the same, with random initial keys for each other) leads to a highly asymmetric situation, with nodes coming to specialize in data that has closely related keys.


title: Freenet

text: There are forces which tend to cause clustering (shared closeness data spreads throughout the network), and forces that tend to break up clusters (local caching of commonly used data). These forces will be different depending on how often data is used, so that seldom-used data will tend to be on just a few nodes which specialize in providing that data, and frequently used items will be spread widely throughout the network. This automatic mirroring counteracts the times when web traffic becomes overloaded, and due to a mature network's intelligent routing, a network of size "n" should require only log("n") time to retrieve a document on average.


title: Freenet

text: Keys are hashes: there is no notion of semantic closeness when speaking of key closeness. Therefore, there will be no correlation between key closeness and similar popularity of data as there might be if keys did exhibit some semantic meaning, thus avoiding bottlenecks caused by popular subjects.


title: Freenet

text: There are two main varieties of keys in use on Freenet, the Content Hash Key (CHK) and the Signed Subspace Key (SSK). A subtype of SSKs is the Updatable Subspace Key (USK) which adds versioning to allow secure updating of content.


title: Freenet

text: A CHK is a SHA-256 hash of a document (after encryption, which itself depends on the hash of the plaintext) and thus a node can check that the document returned is correct by hashing it and checking the digest against the key. This key contains the meat of the data on Freenet. It carries all the binary data building blocks for the content to be delivered to the client for reassembly and decryption. The CHK is unique by nature and provides tamperproof content. A hostile node altering the data under a CHK will immediately be detected by the next node or the client. CHKs also reduce the redundancy of data since the same data will have the same CHK and when multiple sites reference the same large files, they can reference to the same CHK.


title: Freenet

text: SSKs are based on public-key cryptography. Currently Freenet uses the DSA algorithm. Documents inserted under SSKs are signed by the inserter, and this signature can be verified by every node to ensure that the data is not tampered with. SSKs can be used to establish a verifiable pseudonymous identity on Freenet, and allow for multiple documents to be inserted securely by a single person. Files inserted with an SSK are effectively immutable, since inserting a second file with the same name can cause collisions. USKs resolve this by adding a version number to the keys which is also used for providing update notification for keys registered as bookmarks in the web interface. Another subtype of the SSK is the Keyword Signed Key, or KSK, in which the key pair is generated in a standard way from a simple human-readable string. Inserting a document using a KSK allows the document to be retrieved and decrypted if and only if the requester knows the human-readable string; this allows for more convenient (but less secure) URIs for users to refer to.


title: Freenet

text: A network is said to be scalable if its performance does not deteriorate even if the network is very large. The scalability of Freenet is being evaluated, but similar architectures have been shown to scale logarithmically. This work indicates that Freenet can find data in formula_2 hops on a small-world network (which includes both opennet and darknet style Freenet networks), when ignoring the caching which could improve the scalability for popular content. However, this scalability is difficult to test without a very large network. Furthermore, the security features inherent to Freenet make detailed performance analysis (including things as simple as determining the size of the network) difficult to do accurately. As of now, the scalability of Freenet has yet to be tested.


title: Freenet

text: As of version 0.7, Freenet supports both "darknet" and "opennet" connections. Opennet connections are made automatically by nodes with opennet enabled, while darknet connections are manually established between users that know and trust each other. Freenet developers describe the trust needed as "will not crack their Freenet node". Opennet connections are easy to use, but darknet connections are more secure against attackers on the network, and can make it difficult for an attacker (such as an oppressive government) to even determine that a user is running Freenet in the first place.


title: Freenet

text: The core innovation in Freenet 0.7 is to allow a globally scalable darknet, capable (at least in theory) of supporting millions of users. Previous darknets, such as WASTE, have been limited to relatively small disconnected networks. The scalability of Freenet is made possible by the fact that human relationships tend to form small-world networks, a property that can be exploited to find short paths between any two people. The work is based on a speech given at DEF CON 13 by Ian Clarke and Swedish mathematician Oskar Sandberg. Furthermore, the routing algorithm is capable of routing over a mixture of opennet and darknet connections, allowing people who have only a few friends using the network to get the performance from having sufficient connections while still receiving some of the security benefits of darknet connections. This also means that small darknets where some users also have opennet connections are fully integrated into the whole Freenet network, allowing all users access to all content, whether they run opennet, darknet, or a hybrid of the two, except for darknet pockets connected only by a single hybrid node.


title: Freenet

text: Unlike many other P2P applications Freenet does not provide comprehensive functionality itself. Freenet is modular and features an API called Freenet Client Protocol (FCP) for other programs to use to implement services such as message boards, file sharing, or online chat.


title: Freenet

text: Law enforcement agencies have claimed to have successfully infiltrated Freenet opennet in order to deanonymize users but no technical details have been given to support these allegations. One report stated that, "A child-porn investigation focused on ... [the suspect] when the authorities were monitoring the online network, Freenet." A different report indicated arrests may have been based on the BlackICE project leaks, that are debunked for using bad math and for using an incorrectly calculated false positives rate and a false model.


title: Freenet

text: A court case in the Peel Region of Ontario, "Canada R. v. Owen", 2017 ONCJ 729 (CanLII), illustrated that law enforcement do in fact have a presence, after Peel Regional Police located who had been downloading illegal material on the Freenet network. The court decision indicates that a Canadian Law Enforcement agency operates nodes running modified Freenet software in the hope of determining who is requesting illegal material.


title: Freenet

text: Freenet has had significant publicity in the mainstream press, including articles in "The New York Times", and coverage on CNN, "60 Minutes II", the BBC, "The Guardian", and elsewhere.


title: Freenet

text: A "freesite" is a site hosted on the Freenet network. Because it contains only static content, it cannot contain any active content like server-side scripts or databases. Freesites are coded in HTML and support as many features as the browser viewing the page allows; however, there are some exceptions where the Freenet software will remove parts of the code that may be used to reveal the identity of the person viewing the page (making a page access something on the internet, for example).


title: Gustav Lindh

text: Gustav Lindh, (born 4 June 1995) is a Swedish actor. He is best known for his roles as Aron in "Älska mig" and Jörgen Olsson in "Jordskott". He is internationally best known for his role in "Queen of Hearts". In 2020, he plays a role in the Viaplay film "Orca".


title: AIM (software)

text: AIM (AOL Instant Messenger) was an instant messaging and presence computer program created by AOL, which used the proprietary OSCAR instant messaging protocol and the TOC protocol to allow registered users to communicate in real time.


title: AIM (software)

text: AIM was popular by the late 1990s, in United States and other countries, and was the leading instant messaging application in that region into the following decade. Teens and college students were known to use the messenger's away message feature to keep in touch with friends, often frequently changing their away message throughout a day or leaving a message up with one's computer left on to inform buddies of their ongoings, location, parties, thoughts, or jokes. AIM's popularity declined as AOL subscribers started decreasing and steeply towards the 2010s, as Gmail's Google Talk, SMS, and Internet social networks, like Facebook gained popularity. Its fall has often been compared with other once-popular Internet services, such as Myspace.


title: AIM (software)

text: In June 2015, AOL was acquired by Verizon Communications. In June 2017, Verizon combined AOL and Yahoo into its subsidiary Oath Inc. (now called Yahoo). The company discontinued AIM as a service on December 15, 2017.


title: AIM (software)

text: In May 1997, AIM was released unceremoniously as a stand-alone download for Microsoft Windows. AIM was an outgrowth of "online messages" in the original platform written in PL/1 on a Stratus computer by Dave Brown. At one time, the software had the largest share of the instant messaging market in North America, especially in the United States (with 52% of the total reported ). This does not include other instant messaging software related to or developed by AOL, such as ICQ and iChat.


title: AIM (software)

text: During its heyday, its main competitors were ICQ (although AOL acquired ICQ in 1998), Yahoo! Messenger and MSN Messenger. AOL particularly had a rivalry or "chat war" with PowWow and Microsoft, starting in 1999. There were several attempts from Microsoft to simultaneously log into their own and AIM's protocol servers. AOL was not happy about this and started blocking MSN Messenger from being able to access AIM. This led to efforts by many companies to challenge the AOL and Time Warner merger on the grounds of antitrust behaviour, leading to the formation of the OpenNet Coalition.


title: AIM (software)

text: Official mobile versions of AIM appeared as early as 2001 on Palm OS through the AOL application. Third-party applications allowed it to be used in 2002 for the Sidekick. A version for Symbian OS was announced in 2003 and others for BlackBerry and Windows Mobile


title: AIM (software)

text: After 2012, stand-alone official AIM client software includes advertisements and was available for Microsoft Windows, Windows Mobile, Classic Mac OS, macOS, Android, iOS, BlackBerry OS.


title: AIM (software)

text: Around 2011, AIM started to lose popularity rapidly, partly due to the quick rise of Gmail and its built-in real-time Google Chat instant messenger integration in 2011 and because many people migrated to SMS or iMessages text messaging and later, social networking websites and apps for instant messaging, in particular, Facebook Messenger, which was released as a standalone application the same year. AOL made a partnership to integrate AIM messaging in Google Talk, and had a feature for AIM users to send SMS messages directly from AIM to any number, as well as for SMS users to send an IM to any AIM user.


title: AIM (software)

text: As of June 2011, one source reported AOL Instant Messenger market share had collapsed to 0.73%. However, this number only reflected installed IM applications, and not active users. The engineers responsible for AIM claimed that they were unable to convince AOL management that free was the future.


title: AIM (software)

text: On March 3, 2012, AOL ended employment of AIM's development staff while leaving it active and with help support still provided. On October 6, 2017, it was announced that the AIM service would be discontinued on December 15; however, a non-profit development team known as Wildman Productions started up a server for older versions of AOL Instant Messenger, known as AIM Phoenix.


title: AIM (software)

text: The AIM mascot was designed by JoRoan Lazaro and was implemented in the first release in 1997. This was a yellow stickman-like figure, often called the "Running Man". The mascot appeared on all AIM logos and most wordmarks, and always appeared at the top of the buddy list. AIM's popularity in the late 1990s and the 2000s led to the "Running Man" becoming a familiar brand on the Internet. After over 14 years, the iconic logo disappeared as part of the AIM rebranding in 2011. However, in August 2013, the "Running Man" returned.


title: AIM (software)

text: In 2014, a "Complex" editor called it a "symbol of America". In April 2015, the Running Man was officially featured in the Virgin London Marathon, dressed by a person for the AOL-partnered Free The Children charity.


title: AIM (software)

text: The standard protocol that AIM clients used to communicate is called Open System for CommunicAtion in Realtime (OSCAR). Most AOL-produced versions of AIM and popular third party AIM clients use this protocol. However, AOL also created a simpler protocol called TOC that lacks many of OSCAR's features, but was sometimes used for clients that only require basic chat functionality. The TOC/TOC2 protocol specifications were made available by AOL, while OSCAR is a closed protocol that third parties had to reverse-engineer.


title: AIM (software)

text: In January 2008, AOL introduced experimental Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol (XMPP) support for AIM, allowing AIM users to communicate using the standardized, open-source XMPP. However, in March 2008, this service was discontinued. In May 2011, AOL started offering limited XMPP support. On March 1, 2017, AOL announced (via XMPP-login-time messages) that the AOL XMPP gateway would be desupported, effective March 28, 2017.


title: AIM (software)

text: For privacy regulations, AIM had strict age restrictions. AIM accounts are available only for people over the age of 13; children younger than that were not permitted access to AIM.


title: AIM (software)

text: Under the AIM Privacy Policy, AOL had no rights to read or monitor any private communications between users. The profile of the user had no privacy.


title: AIM (software)

text: In November 2002, AOL targeted the corporate industry with Enterprise AIM Services (EAS), a higher security version of AIM.


title: AIM (software)

text: If public content was accessed, it could be used for online, print or broadcast advertising, etc. This was outlined in the policy and terms of service: "... you grant AOL, its parent, affiliates, subsidiaries, assigns, agents and licensees the irrevocable, perpetual, worldwide right to reproduce, display, perform, distribute, adapt and promote this Content in any medium". This allowed anything users posted to be used without a separate request for permission.


title: AIM (software)

text: AIM's security was called into question. AOL stated that it had taken great pains to ensure that personal information will not be accessed by unauthorized members, but that it cannot guarantee that it will not happen.


title: AIM (software)

text: AIM was different from other clients, such as Yahoo! Messenger, in that it did not require approval from users to be added to other users' buddy lists. As a result, it was possible for users to keep other unsuspecting users on their buddy list to see when they were online, read their status and away messages, and read their profiles. There was also a Web API to display one's status and away message as a widget on one's webpage. Though one could block a user from communicating with them and seeing their status, this did not prevent that user from creating a new account that would not automatically be blocked and therefore able to track their status. A more conservative privacy option was to select a menu feature that only allowed communication with users on one's buddy list; however, this option also created the side-effect of blocking all users who were not on one's buddy list.


title: AIM (software)

text: AOL and various other companies supplied robots (bots) on AIM that could receive messages and send a response based on the bot's purpose. For example, bots could help with studying, like StudyBuddy. Some were made to relate to children and teenagers, like Spleak.


title: AIM (software)

text: Others gave advice. The more useful chat bots had features like the ability to play games, get sport scores, weather forecasts or financial stock information. Users were able to talk to automated chat bots that could respond to natural human language. They were primarily put into place as a marketing strategy and for unique advertising options. It was used by advertisers to market products or build better consumer relations.


title: AIM (software)

text: Before the inclusions of such bots, the other bots DoorManBot and AIMOffline provided features that were provided by AOL for those who needed it. ZolaOnAOL and ZoeOnAOL were short-lived bots that ultimately retired their features in favor of SmarterChild.


title: AIM (software)

text: AOL Instant Messenger's installation process automatically installed an extra URI scheme ("protocol") handler into some Web browsers, so URIs beginning "codice_1" could open a new AIM window with specified parameters. This was similar in function to the codice_2 URI scheme, which created a new e-mail message using the system's default mail program. For instance, a webpage might have included a link like the following in its HTML source to open a window for sending a message to the AIM user "notarealuser":


title: AIM (software)

text: To specify a message body, the codice_3 parameter was used, so the link location would have looked like this:


title: AIM (software)

text: To specify an away message, the message parameter was used, so the link location would have looked like this:


title: AIM (software)

text: When placing this inside a URL link, an AIM user could click on the URL link and the away message "Hello, my name is Bill" would instantly become their away message.


title: AIM (software)

text: AIM had security weaknesses that have enabled exploits to be created that used third-party software to perform malicious acts on users' computers. Although most were relatively harmless, such as being kicked off the AIM service, others performed potentially dangerous actions, such as sending viruses. Some of these exploits relied on social engineering to spread by automatically sending instant messages that contained a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) accompanied by text suggesting the receiving user click on it, an action which leads to infection, "i.e.", a trojan horse. These messages could easily be mistaken as coming from a friend and contain a link to a Web address that installed software on the user's computer to restart the cycle.


title: AIM (software)

text: Users also have reported sudden additions of toolbars and advertisements from third parties in the newer version of AIM. Multiple complaints about the lack of control of third party involvement have caused many users to stop using the service.


title: AIM (software)

text: On March 6, 2008, during Apple Inc.'s iPhone SDK event, AOL announced that they would be releasing an AIM application for iPhone and iPod Touch users. The application was available for free from the App Store, but the company also provides a paid version, which displays no advertisements. Both were available from the App Store. The AIM client for iPhone and iPod Touch supported standard AIM accounts, as well as MobileMe accounts. There was also an express version of AIM accessible through the Safari browser on the iPhone and iPod Touch.


title: AIM (software)

text: In 2011, AOL launched an overhaul of their Instant Messaging service. Included in the update was a brand new iOS application for iPhone and iPod Touch that incorporated all the latest features. A brand new icon was used for the application, featuring the new cursive logo for AIM. The user-interface was entirely redone for the features including: a new buddy list, group messaging, in-line photos and videos, as well as improved file-sharing.


title: AIM (software)

text: Version 5.0.5, updated in March 2012, it supported more social stream features, much like Facebook and Twitter, as well as the ability to send voice messages up to 60 seconds long.


title: AIM (software)

text: On April 3, 2010, Apple released the first generation iPad. Along with this newly released device AOL released the AIM application for iPad. It was built entirely from scratch for the new version iOS with a specialized user-interface for the device. It supports geo location, Facebook status updates and chat, Myspace, Twitter, YouTube, Foursquare and many social networking platforms.


title: AIM (software)

text: AIM Express ran in a pop-up browser window. It was intended for use by people who are unwilling or unable to install a standalone application or those at computers that lack the AIM application. AIM Express supported many of the standard features included in the stand-alone client, but did not provide advanced features like file transfer, audio chat, video conferencing, or buddy info. It was implemented in Adobe Flash. It was an upgrade to the prior AOL Quick Buddy, which was later available for older systems that cannot handle Express before being discontinued. Express and Quick Buddy were similar to MSN Web Messenger and Yahoo! Web Messenger. This web version evolved into AIM.com's web-based messenger.


title: AIM (software)

text: AIM Pages was a free website released in May 2006 by AOL in replacement of AIMSpace. Anyone who had an AIM user name and was at least 16 years of age could create their own web page (to display an online, dynamic profile) and share it with buddies from their AIM Buddy list.


title: AIM (software)

text: AIM Pages included links to the email and Instant Message of the owner, along with a section listing the owners "buddies", which included AIM user names. It was possible to create modules in a Module T microformat. Video hosting sites like Netflix and YouTube could be added to ones AIM Page, as well as other sites like Amazon.com. It was also possible to insert HTML code.


title: AIM (software)

text: The main focus of AIM Pages was the integration of external modules, like those listed above, into the AOL Instant Messenger experience.


title: AIM (software)

text: By late 2007, AIM Pages had been discontinued. After AIM Pages shutdown, links to AIM Pages were redirected to AOL Lifestream, AOL's new site aimed at collecting external modules in one place, independent of AIM buddies. AOL Lifestream was shut down February 24, 2017.


title: AIM (software)

text: AOL released an all-new AIM for the Mac on September 29, 2008, and the final build on December 15, 2008. The redesigned AIM for Mac is a full universal binary Cocoa API application that supports both Tiger and Leopard — Mac OS X 10.4.8 (and above) or Mac OS X 10.5.3 (and above). On October 1, 2009, AOL released AIM 2.0 for Mac.


title: AIM (software)

text: This feature is available for AIM 7 and allows for a user to see what the other is typing as it is being done. It was developed and built with assistance from Trace Research and Development Centre at University of Wisconsin–Madison and Gallaudet University. The application provides visually impaired users the ability to convert messages from text (words) to speech. For the application to work users must have AIM 6.8 or higher, as it is not compatible with older versions of AIM software, AIM for Mac or iChat.


title: AIM (software)

text: This feature allows text messaging to a phone number (text messaging is less functional than instant messaging).


title: AIM (software)

text: AIM Phoneline was a Voice over IP PC-PC, PC-Phone and Phone-to-PC service provided via the AIM application. It was also known to work with Apple's iChat Client. The service was officially closed to its customers on January 13, 2009. The closing of the free service caused the number associated with the service to be disabled and not transferable for a different service. AIM Phoneline website was recommending users switch to a new service named AIM Call Out, also discontinued now.


title: AIM (software)

text: Launched on May 16, 2006, AIM Phoneline provided users the ability to have several local numbers, allowing AIM users to receive free incoming calls. The service allowed users to make calls to landlines and mobile devices through the use of a computer. The service, however, was only free for receiving and AOL charged users $14.95 a month for an unlimited calling plan. In order to use AIM Phoneline users had to install the latest free version of AIM Triton software and needed a good set of headphones with a boom microphone. It could take several days after a user signed up before it started working.


title: AIM (software)

text: AIM Call Out is a discontinued Voice over IP PC-PC, PC-Phone and Phone-to-PC service provided by AOL via its AIM application that replaced the defunct AIM Phoneline service in November 2007. It did not depend on the AIM client and could be used with only an AIM screenname via the WebConnect feature or a dedicated SIP device. The AIM Call Out service was shut down on March 25, 2009.


title: AIM (software)

text: On November 4, 2014, AIM scored one out of seven points on the Electronic Frontier Foundation's secure messaging scorecard. AIM received a point for encryption during transit, but lost points because communications are not encrypted with a key to which the provider has no access, "i.e.", the communications are not end-to-end encrypted, users can't verify contacts' identities, past messages are not secure if the encryption keys are stolen, ("i.e.", the service does not provide forward secrecy), the code is not open to independent review, "i.e.", the code is not open-source), the security design is not properly documented, and there has not been a recent independent security audit. BlackBerry Messenger, Ebuddy XMS, Hushmail, Kik Messenger, Skype, Viber, and Yahoo! Messenger also scored one out of seven points.


title: Climate of New Zealand

text: The climate of New Zealand is varied due to the country's diverse landscape. Most regions of New Zealand belong to the temperate zone with a maritime climate (Köppen climate classification: Cfb) characterised by four distinct seasons. Winters are relatively mild and summers comparatively cool. The main contributing factors are the Pacific Ocean and latitude, although the mountain ranges can cause significant climate variations in locations barely tens of kilometres from each other. Conditions vary from extremely wet on the West Coast of the South Island to almost semi-arid in Central Otago and subtropical in Northland.


title: Climate of New Zealand

text: The Meteorological Service of New Zealand Limited (MetService), established as a state-owned enterprise in 1992, issues weather forecasts and official weather warnings.


title: Climate of New Zealand

text: Most cities receive between (as in Christchurch) and (Whangarei) of precipitation annually. Rainfall is normally distributed evenly throughout the year in most parts of the country, especially in the South Island. Northern and eastern parts of the country, including Auckland, Christchurch and Wellington see a slight winter maximum consistent with a Mediterranean climate. Summer and autumn maxima can be found in places closer to the southwest, such as Invercargill and Milford Sound.


title: Climate of New Zealand

text: How much rain a place receives is highly dependent on topography. The Southern Alps, the North Island Volcanic Plateau and surrounding ranges can produce large variation in rainfalls in places barely tens of kilometres apart. Milford Sound receives over 6,700 mm of the rainfall a year on average while barely 100 km away Alexandra in Central Otago receives only slightly greater than 300 mm annually, giving it a borderline oceanic/semi-arid climate. Air laden with water vapour from the ocean is pushed from the west in response to Earth’s rotation. This weather circulates the southern seas largely unimpeded by land until it reaches the Southern Alps. The humid westerly wind is forced up over the mountains, at cooler elevation water condenses and falls as snow or rain. This orographic rain explains the huge difference in conditions between the wet west and dry east of the South Island.


title: Climate of New Zealand

text: Snow falls in New Zealand's South Island and at higher altitudes in the North Island. It is extremely rare at sea level in the North Island. Snow is more common inland in both main islands, though snow to sea level does occur on average once or twice per year in the central and southern South Island.


title: Climate of New Zealand

text: As with many islands in the world, the influence of the ocean curtails any extremes in coastal temperature. The greater temperature ranges are found in the interior of the Canterbury and Otago regions, and especially Central Otago. Central Otago and inland Canterbury's Mackenzie Basin have the closest New Zealand has to continental climates, being generally drier (due in part to föhn winds) and less directly modified by the ocean. These areas can experience summer temperatures in the low 30s °C (high 80s/low 90s °F) and snow and severe frosts in winter, the latter exacerbated by hoar frosts in the river valleys and basins.


title: Climate of New Zealand

text: Mean annual temperatures range from in the south to in the north. The coldest month is usually July and the warmest month is usually January or February. Generally there are relatively small variations between summer and winter temperatures. An example of this is Auckland which has a variation of just 9 °C or 16 °F between the average mid-winter high temperature () and average mid-summer high temperature (). Temperature variation throughout the day is also relatively small. The exception to this is inland areas and to the east of the ranges with daily variations that can be over 25 °C and differences of up to 14 °C between the average summer and winter high temperatures. Temperatures also drop about 0.7 °C or 1.3 °F for every 100 m of altitude.


title: Climate of New Zealand

text: Northern cities such as Auckland, Whangarei, and Tauranga experience mean yearly maxima of between and mean yearly minima of around . Eastern cities on the North Island such as Gisborne, Napier, and Hastings also have mean yearly maxima of between but have slightly lower yearly mean minima of around . The two largest cities on the South Island, Christchurch and Dunedin, have mean yearly maxima of and and yearly mean minima of and respectively.


title: Climate of New Zealand

text: Daily maximum temperatures are normally in the mid to low 20s (°C) over most of the country. They are higher in northern, eastern and interior part of the country; Hastings is the warmest city on average with 25.5 °C followed by Gisborne with 24.9 °C and Napier with 24.5 °C. Eastern parts of the South Island are highly susceptible to the norwester, a Fohn wind which can result in temperatures going into the high 30s and even the low 40s. Rangiora in Canterbury holds the record maximum of 42.4 °C recorded in 1973, with Christchurch recording 41.6 °C in that same year. More recently, Timaru reached 41.3 °C on Waitangi Day in 2011. Due to these winds, the cooler South Island cities such as Dunedin, Christchurch and Invercargill have higher all-time record temperatures than places further north such as Wellington, Auckland and Whangarei.