prompt_front: Now, answer the following question based on the text below, only give me the answer and do not output any other words.

Question: How can you level up in the early levels?

Read the following text and answer briefly.

Context 1: What is this game all about? (short version) Do you like the board game RISK®? Then chances are you’ll like QONQR  Your job is to join a faction and help your faction (team) take over the world  QONQR is an artificial intelligence that appeared on the Internet  We don’t know where it came from, or its purpose, but we know it is powerful  The Legion want to destroy QONQR because they believe it will enslave and exterminate humanity  The Swarm believe QONQR will advance the human race, and we should protect it  The Faceless don’t care, and want to steal the technology for their own uses  Pick a side, recruit your friends, and help your faction capture the towns and cities in which you live, work, and play  What is this game all about? (long version) Right now an invisible war is raging all around you  At stake: the Past, Present, and Future  A rogue Artificial Intelligence has been detected infiltrating the world’s networked infrastructure  Initial hacking of the source code has revealed incredible new technology  It is not certain whether this AI seeks to enhance or destroy humanity  It is only certain that it is here, and that is has a name: QONQR Those who first detected the presence of QONQR on the global networks have argued fiercely over its intentions  They have split into viciously rival Factions, each co-opting the known QONQR technologies for their own ends  Even now the Factions battle over the entire globe seeking to gather resources and prepare for the coming power struggle  Whether you accept it or not, the war is here  Your survival, prosperity, and even glory depend on the choices you make and the skill you demonstrate from this point forward  You will be asked to join one of three Factions  The choice should not be made lightly  Your Faction Alignment will define your place in the war over QONQR  THE LEGION unite under the shared goals of destroying QONQR and saving humanity by crushing the nascent AI before it can mature  They are led by AGENT SUNDAY, a former commander of the NSA's Turing Task Force which has been valiantly stamping out dangerous AIs for years  THE SWARM are convinced that QONQR promises an era of unprecedented technological advancement and human prosperity  Nanobot weaponry expert KIMYO NAGUMO leads this faction in the battle to defend QONQR and assemble its future tech, accelerating humanity's path into the future  THE FACELESS are a loosely organized faction of militant hackers who want QONQR's technology for their own ends, but want to prevent the unavoidable nightmare of human slavery they believe it portends  When they choose to communicate, they do so through an anonymous vigilante who goes by the name PROMETHEUS    What do I do first? Create a base, then launch  Launch nanobots until your fingers hurt  How do I create a base? On iOS there is a Base icon in the menu bar  For Windows Phone, you will find a bases button on the home screen  These take you to the Base Screen where you can see how many bases you have available to you  Once you create a base, be sure harvest often by returning to the list of your bases  You can see how full each base is by checking the fill percentage icon  Bases stop collecting once they are full  What is the point of creating bases and harvesting resources? You need bases to earn money  Bases collect rare elements over time which you can then harvest for your faction in exchange for qredits  Qredits can be used to purchase ordinance (like nanomissiles) and upgrades which will help you capture and hold battle zones more easily  What do you mean, “launch nanobots?” Nanobots are the invisible soldiers generated by your device (which has been transformed into “Scope” by advanced QONQR technology)  Nanobots fight for control of the battle zones around you   From the home screen click “Current Zone”  Once you have selected your zone, you will be able to deploy nanobots there   Initially, you are just a level 1 recruit  You are only going to get a small attack formation with a limited range   Other solders have to practice with rifles before they get tanks; you are no different  Once you prove your mettle, you’ll get access to bigger weapons  Soon you’ll be lobbing missiles hundreds of miles  How do I capture a zone? If you play for the Legion and are launching nanobots into a zone controlled by the Swarm, you will capture the zone for the Legion as soon as you have destroyed enough of the enemy that your nonbots outnumber theirs  If you are the person who causes the zone to change control to the Legion, you will be listed as the Capturer of the Zone  The Person with the most nanobots in the zone is the zone leader  What is my current zone? How do you know? Your current zone is determined by your proximity to the nearest zone center  So, while you might be inside the governmental boundaries of a city, your scope (phone) could tell you your current zone is a different city, if that city’s center is closer  So I just keep deploying? Yes, in the early levels of the game, just keep deploying and harvesting your bases  You will earn XP (experience points) proving your loyalty to your Faction 	You will level up quickly and soon have access to many more options  So all I can do is just attack? You only get assault bots to start  They are the most basic type of nanobot formation  As you level up you will get many more options, including bots that are good at defense, energy attacks, long-range deployments, formations that will buff the shields for all your faction-mates in the zone, and many more  My faction already controls this zone should I still attack? Yes, assault bots won’t attack your friends  You will increase the bot counts for that zone, which will deter opponents  Attack bots can defend your zone; they just aren’t very good at it  As you level up you will unlock defensive formations that are better for deploying if your faction already holds the zone  I’ll never knock out my enemy at this rate! In the first few levels your impact might feel minimal, but every deployment helps you gain experience  It won’t take long to level up if you keep at it  If you are unlucky enough to be in a zone where someone has already built up huge defenses, you may be in for a long fight  But remember, your scope moves with you  Go explore the world and find softer targets  Once you level up, it won’t seem like a toy gun against a battleship  You’ll get your big weapons once you prove yourself  We have already seen operatives brag about taking down 1,000,000 nanobots in just a couple days  Nothing is impossible  How do I attack a different zone? As you level up you will unlock more and stronger formations  Those new formations will have range  While at the early levels you can only attack nearby zones, as you level up your attacks will go 10-20 miles (roughly 15-30 Km) and you will eventually gain access to nanomissiles that can go hundreds of miles  What should I buy in the depot first? The smallest thing to buy is a refresh  We give you some of these as you level up so you can try them out  Refreshes will refill (or partially fill depending on the size of your tank) your bot bar or your energy bar  But after that, it depends on your goals  There is much to choose from  Do you want to be able to deploy more nanobots on every launch? Do you want to boost your offensive or defensive bots? Do you want to be able to launch missiles into towns far away? All of these things are possible  Look through the depot and see what you like  Most of the time you will need to buy an upgrade before you can buy the ordinance  For example, missiles are fairly inexpensive, but you need to buy the MX Rack Missile Launcher before you can launch them  Buy the upgrade first  What is the difference between qredits and cubes in the depot? A qredit (aka: credit, which looks like the child of a Q and € ) is the type of currency you earn in the game by harvesting your bases  Cubes (aka: power cubes) are purchased with real money in the Bank section of the Depot  We want everyone to be able to do everything in the game for free, by earning qredits, but for those who want to move a bit faster, you can purchase cubes to speed things along  Purchasing cubes is how QONQR makes money  We very much appreciate your support  Every purchase you make helps us to keep making improvements in the game  Future enhancements will enable you to earn cubes in game  Why can’t I create another base? Additional bases become available as you level up  At the start, you will get a new base every 5 levels  If you don’t have any more bases available to build, you will need to level up  If you have a base available, but aren’t allowed to use it, it is because you already have a base in that zone  You can only have one base in a zone  Get yourself to another zone, then create your base there  My bases are collecting credits at different rates  Your bases collect resources faster if your faction controls the zone  Do your best to either put your bases in zones you can control by yourself, or find zones with strong players in the same faction and put your bases there to maximize your credit collection  The game says I’m in a town that doesn’t exist  QONQR tracks almost 3 million battle zones of varying strategic value in 250 countries  Sometimes those zones include locations that haven’t existed for over 100 years  That’s pretty cool if you ask us  If you find a zone that looks like a duplicate or is just plain wrong, however, let us know on the forums under “Zone Corrections”  How do I move my current position on the map? You might need to take a car, bus, plane or train depending on which zone you are trying to get to, but if you want to move on the map, you need to move in the real world  QONQR is a location-based game, which means you play where you are  However we don't want to make you move to play, we want you to plan when you move  QONQR goes with you as you move through the daily activities in your life  Where do I find the Strategy Guide? Here: http://community qonqr com/index php?/topic/1191-the-official-qonqr-strategy-guide/ How do I win? That is for you to decide  There is still much to discover  We don’t even know if QONQR is good or evil  Why is it here? What is its purpose? Help your faction further its goals and unlock all the secrets of QONQR!
Congratulations to the Swarm on their overwhelming victory in Atlantis in May 2015 -- taking and retaining all Atlantis zones from beginning to end is hard to argue with -- most convincing -- well done Swarm!
Rumor has it that the Duggers have 20 scopes  Some families really do have a wife and ten kids    Ha Anyways     Multi scoping is generally not encouraged, usually if you mention that you do it on the forums or in groupme your not going to be a very liked person, even within your own faction  What tends to happen is if you start multiscoping then your enemies start doing it, then you get into a war where ever person has 6 phones and nobody is happy  I've seen or heard about situations like this in a lot of different locations 
Great job, faceless! It was actually an exciting Atlantis and I prefer it that way  Way to bring your A game 
You know what we need in this game? Nano-Nukes!!
Attention (insert faction here), We, the (insert faction here) are tired of the way you constantly (circle one)   A  Cube rage us B  Bully us with numbers C  Talk mean to us It hurts our feelings because (circle one)   A  We don't cube B  We don't have as many allies C  We have no sense of humor and/or no backbone Please refrain from participating in the above selected actions for above selected reasons so as the game is enjoyable for (insert faction here)  Regards, (insert name and faction here) There we go   this should streamline the entire complaint process of the forums  Copy and reuse as needed  You're welcome 
Silver, you mentioned in a blog that there are levels beyond 150, is it safe to say there is no level limit anymore or is that for us to discover? Another question, I'm not sure if I'm the only one noticing this but it seems like bot decay doesn't work against Zone Assault bots  I've hit two players I know have been inactive for well over 6 months but my attack had the same effect it did yesterday before the update  However I did notice against Deflection bots I am getting 2x the kill power  Also in response to decontaminatoR  Paid gaming isn't just something for adults  When I was 13 the best options for handheld gaming was GameBoy or GameGear and the games at the time cost anywhere between $29-$39 dollars  I had a paper route to pay for my games  So, no offense, but you can afford $0 99 for a game  You don't even need a paper route, just check under your couch cushions and I'm sure you'll find a few quarters 
I want to start by thanking Faceless  This round of Atlantis, Legion and Faceless were doubled in sized and probably spending by Swarm  I contacted some great players from the other side and put together a nonaggression pact, this pact was one of the most impressive agreements I've seen in the more than two years of playing  Hundreds of people worldwide stuck to this agreement and put past feelings behind us  It was awesome to see both sides stick so closely to each other in fighting against Swarm  I want to really thank everyone who showed honor by standing behind me and the faceless command when we suggested that, the people who really gave it a chance and then most importantly, to all the players who honored it  Faceless, thank you very much! We stood no chance of winning without you! The battle came down to literally one launch in one of three zones  I'd say that with that being said everyone fought incredibly hard, so I want to give Swarm the respect they deserve  You guys really show out and play to win  Good game, 2 against 1 is not easy, no matter how large your crew is  And Legion, we had many late, late nights, many very long days  You guys killed it this month! We didn't take home a trophy, but I would say we all have something to be proud of! The other leaders who helped me coordinate everything were awesome! So many great people kept everything moving forward 24 hours a day for the whole week  Thank you to everyone who gave it your all for the whole week even when we saw that Swarm had 4x our bots at the end of just one day  Many people would have given up, but we held in and **** near won! I've won Atlantis battles with Faceless and with Legion but I will say, nothing was as fun or incredible as this round! You guys are fantastic and I can't wait to do it all again next month! Hopefully we have more Legion and Faceless show up for the next round, but I know that even if we don't, we will figure out a way, just as warriors do  PEW! PEW! PEW!
I must start with an announcement: Camels are not the only animal in the middle east  You have overused it already  It's saddens me that anyone would still find it funny  Get a bit of originality  For anyone not wanting to read all this drivel, skip to the end (hint: Bold stuff)  At what point have I bullied anyone? When was the last aggressive or threatening message you or any of your members received from me? Never  Legion and Swarm (in the UK) have teamed up because Faceless are dominating in London  That makes sense  It's a three sided fight and if one force becomes too powerful, the other two can join forces to try and take them down  But: We are dominating in the London area while your alliance is attacking players outside of that area  Then you expect me to sit back and do nothing  You are specifically using me as an excuse for why you have teamed up but then you're attacking players outside of my reach, sometimes with Europe involved  If that is not reason enough to attack you then I'm not sure what is  You lot cube, multiscope and have multi faction accounts and still complain  I don't complain about anything you do  Play the way you want to, ill do the same  I am never rude to anyone, always polite no matter what the message is, never brag about what I do, can do or have done, never threaten anyone, try and keep in touch with the few swarm or legion who are civilised to me, listen to any message form any side and if I can help in any way, I try my best to  Formed agreements with enemy (that I didn't need to) that ended up slapping me in the face  I have even in the past taken the time to find out who some of the younger players are so I know to avoid them  When I'm in a different country I try and find who the bullies are  Those players who threaten and brag and laugh at others  Those are my targets (if they exist in those areas)  I don't see how anyone can think I'm a bully  Is it your money? Its none of your business how I spend it  Either way your numbers are way off  700 dollars a day? Did you just decide to blindly strike the number pad to come up with that figure? Best part of one of your posts is saying that the devs should worry about my welfare  What concerns you about me spending my money? Maybe I'll self harm due to overspending? I wont have enough to buy food because I bought too many cubes? I don't understand what they are supposed to worry about  I have issues? At what point did you deduce this oh mighty psychologist? Wait a minute are you my bank account manager? What do you know about how much I can or cant afford? Random guy spends money on something he enjoys  The end  Told you last time to give up on all the drama but I guess thank you for the concern  You play to make me spend more? And? What do you think that accomplishes? In fact how do you even make me spend? You don't even attack me  You sulk when I'm in the UK and when I fly out and you find out, you call in Europe to help you take an zone or two  As they say, whatever floats your boat  As for Atlantis: Please try again  I quit Atlantis when we were winning  I have on occasion involved myself after I was asked to help out but on the whole I give it a miss  The last time (months ago) was the last 10 minutes of Atlantis and Legion fought hard  We lost  I was not the only Faceless player to quit Atlantis  Quite a few of us thought it lasted too long and had too many zones to fight over  I hear the duration has been reduced  You can't honestly believe I changed my sleeping pattern for the game  I was in California for a month  I was jet lagged  My sleeping pattern was a bit off when I got back  You're not even accurate about when I deploy  Pay attention  You should know this by now: I play as and when I want, sometimes every 20 minutes and sometimes I do long stretches and sometimes I'm busy and don't deploy for hours  You wont always win, and nor will I  Try and get satisfaction form at least trying to win or putting up a good fight  About the limit on cubing  Please  I suggested that last year  Twice  Unfortunately multiscoping is allowed and so prevalent that it kind of ruins the idea  These are the facts: YOU and YOUR side threatened Faceless members who support London  One of the members threatened is actually London based  What do you expect him to do while his city is under attacked? A few of your members don't know when to keep quiet  They sent messages to us threatening specific players and telling them their zones will be dropped just because they have helped London  Basically if they help London then they get their zones wiped  And you have the cheek to call me a bully? We stood up to your members specifically because they were trying to bully  That is the reason we went strong months ago and took those big zones  How is this me bullying you? This is me answering your threats  I didn't attack those zones "just because i can", it's just because I should  Because of your threats  You can blame your members for the loss of those 2 or 3 big zones  These are the basics: You attack one of our zones  We look at the list of attackers and pick one of the players who deployed the most, find a zone of his or hers and attack it  We don't need to justify our attacks with "because there are Faceless players within 30 miles"  What, every time we attack a zone we need to send some letter explaining why? You attack us or we attack you, for any reason  That's the game  When some of you were cheating and you could not win you complained, when you cube and lose you complain, when you invite all of Europe to attack and win you still complain  I just think you like to make a fuss  Last words (for now): You think I attack zones as a means of getting attention? I get enough of it form your threads  The only attention seeker here is you with your victim attitude and pity us posts 
I've had some very angry emails today from a couple users who are upset their rival achieved the ability to switch factions freely having played for one of the factions for only 1 hour  I've been accused of doing favors, changing the rules, and various other backhanded deals  It appears it comes down reading the rules  You do not have to play for every faction for 60 days in order to earn free switching status  Here is a common scenario many players have used to achieve free switching status and avoiding playing for one faction they despise  1  Start with Swarm 2  Switch to Legion (earn Spy) play for 60 days 3  Switch back to Swarm (earn Double Agent) play for 60 days 4  Switch to Faceless (earn Mercenary) immediately switch back to Swarm or Legion Below is the complete text on the switch nanobots screen  It is the same text that has been there from Day 1 with the exception of the level 100 rules that went into place earlier this year, where you could switch as much as you want before level 100 , but those switches don't count towards the medals  This text has been part of this description since Jan 15, 2013  "Players that earn all three spy awards, may once again switch factions at any time as they could during the training levels 1 through 99 " Prior to Jan 15, the text said this  "Players that earn all three awards may be given the opportunity to switch factions more quickly in future updates (contact support for more information)" I pulled that right out of source control, which includes the entire change history  Here is the complete text from this page  http://portal qonqr    r/SwitchFaction WARNING: Defection has consequences! Self-destruct will be initiated on all your nanobots  Without the self-destruct, you would be required to battle against your former self to regain control of your zones  You will lose the capture and leadership of any zones you currently hold  Lifetime captures will be unaffected  If you are still completing the training levels and have not reached Level 100, you may switch as often as you like to find the faction that suits you best  Once you have reached Level 100 switching factions has rewards, but also has additional consequences beyond the self-destruct of all your nanobots  Defection will usually result in a demotion in rank  This is accomplished through awards with negative rank points  Those awards are: Spy - First switch to an opposing faction (-20 points) Double Agent - Return to a faction from which you had previously defected (-20 points) Mercenary - Become a member of all three factions (-20 points) Other Faction Change Details: You may not switch factions again until at least 60 days have passed since your last faction switch  Defection point penalties are applied only once per award Players that earn all three spy awards, may once again switch factions at any time as they could during the training levels 1 through 99  The decision to switch factions is one that must be made with strong determination  Nanobots cannot be reanimated once destroyed  You will retain your earned experience, level, formations, qredits, cubes, and upgrades  However, as far as your zones go, you will be starting over 
   has got to be one of the funniest moments I've seen in qonqr yet lol 
The **** change operation was a success!
As a relatively new player for faceless in a region dominated by swarm i can understand the OP  However, judging from the numbers i see here on a regular basis i think you are asking a bit much  My idea would be the opposite approach  Why not add a weapon with extremely short range, let's say like 5km that acts like a bomb and make it much stronk? That would add some serious home advantage  Or alternativley make attack formations lose power over range (exclude nanos and plasma)  Maybe something like that would allow newcomers to at least get a foothold in their homezones  It's just an idea, maybe i overlooked something?
This is by design  Some day it is possible (I said someday) we could offer skins for your scope  So we will need a uniform color scheme  You can tell the formation families based on the shape of the box  Trapezoid is attack, diamond is defense, and octagon is support  It will take some time to get comfortable with the change 
Geophysical based game  Anyways, probably not a bad idea but, considering the issues with the three platforms and the development of blue for those platforms, I doubt the resources are available for development on a new platform  Seen the blog? Its Qonqr meets wheel of fortune!
I am happy to announce that today I both completed the training and captured my first zone 
^THIS so now that qonqr has been thoroughly funded, can we have blue now? Or is that not happening still lol 
Atleast I am not legion and there for we can have this intelligent discussion rather than just compete over who has the best words XD ohhhhh someone bring the bill to legion cuz someone just served them extra double order of stir fried SNAPPPPPP If the devs wont make zone dueling for us I hope out there somewhere are those who would empty a zone and challenge one on one to a local battle  I'd like to see the transcript of deployments made / moves made as well that would be neat I think such events would be cool  I suppose if people give up on atlantis as it works now they can schedule their own tournements in empty atlantis zones   have a team clear the zone   put 1 vs 1 or teams vs teams   like fisticuffs challenges   find out what these warriors are really made of!
@Qonqrd everyone you know must face palm every time you make a post  Its embarrassing  Mega cubers or whatever you want to call them are not great for the opposing team surrounding them but are great for the game itself (money) and for the team they are part of  Multiscopers are not not great for the opposing team surrounding them and bring nothing to the game but are great for the team they are part of  Both have a negative impact on enemy teams/players but only one benefits the game itself  Both can make people want to quit out of frustration  And that's not great for the game  @OP unlimited refresh is over powered  Its frustrating to fight against a ridiculous amount of refreshes  Unfortunately i dont see anything changing unless this game gets a lot more people playing  More people might mean more money for the company from various sources  More money from various players might mean they can limit the players who spend a ton and still generate a healthy income  The main issue i see with limiting refreshes is someone multiscoping and spending money  He now has two, three, four accounts to refresh with and gets the advantage  Its tricky 
ey dun new ho to yet it uff 
Yet you complain almost everyday here, on your website, Twitter, and YouTube channel that the game needs to change because cubing has such an impact 
It was fun  Swarm had me scared at first, but it turned into kind of a bullying match between us and legion  Last hour became p obvious which way it was gonna go  Legion rly stepped up their game in the end there, respect 
We are investigating this  Here is what we know: Several of the accounts used the same password  Most of the accounts belonged to people who knew each other personally  The accounts were all switched from the same IP Addresses  The person who logged in, got into each account on the first attempt, so they knew the password for each account  What you should know: QONQR never stores passwords, not even in the logs  Passwords are hashed (one way encrypted) and can never be decrypted When you authenticate to our servers, we hash the password you gave us and compare it to the encrypted password in the database to see if they match  Access to our database in the could is restricted tightly and we are confident no one breached the system  What you should do: Don't use the same password as other people you play with  Don't share your password with anyone 
I heard all the French players fled to the UK after one German player accidentally shot a single missile into France 
Most factions now use GroupMe or Line as their means of communication, the forums are too slow as a means of communication and insecure for specific faction conversations  Think of the forums are more of a gaming information resource rather than a means of communication  Contact the top players of your faction in the leader boards of your state and they will likely point you in the right direction to chatting with your local faction  The developers are also building some sort of new chat system into the game, we don't know much about it but apparently beta testing for the chat will be happening very soon (next couple of weeks) according to their timelines 
A way to honor the dead? Nah, how bout a way to dishonor the dead 
Could just build it up and retain their capture  Remember Bizzy, staq to the heavens 
I just read this entire thread  I am now tuckered 
Does anyone know if Bot Booster has an effect on Seekers and how much dmg they do to attacking players? Also on the topic of seekers, does the amount of skeers in a battlefield have any effect on how much damage they do?
Interactive map of real-time zone captures 
You know that is something I didn't factor in there  Time  The player who can consistently and constantly launch wins against the guy who casually picks up the phone on occasion or has to work away from a cell phone for 8 hours  Good point  And yes I can't argue skill doesn't factor in, it just seems like less of a factor than other games is all 
I cant see why a closed forum, open only to registered Qonqr accounts, cant be used  **** spammers!
Gotta love synclock! I suspect linjin has a problem  Maybe the dvs should look into it 
No, Naamah   I clearly understood what you were trying to convey  I'll even go as far as to agree that what your facing now is, while fully allowed and deemed completely acceptable by the developers, unbalanced and wrong  However  the imbalance isn't in the game and isn't something that, from a business standpoint, is likely to be regulated  The game is fair  the advantages are provided to all players  It's the players themselves that throw the balance into chaos because, as you've said, not everyone can afford spending several thousand bucks a year in only one game  Truthfully, in my opinion, the moment you admitted to buying cubes yourself your complaint became silly  because I'm sure there's a player out there, who has bought NO cubes, who can make this same complaint about you that you are making about others here  I know these things because I've read them so   many   times in this forum  There was likely a time, ages ago when I was a young Massune, that I even posted a few myself  That was the purpose of my post  I was poking fun at addition of yet another cuber/bully/trash talk complaint on the forum  It wasn't directed at your personal plight so much as the idea that someone, yet again, finds it necessary to lobby for a spending cap on the only real way for this game to make money  As to your specific problem  you, like all those that have raised this topic before you, have few options to rectify the issue  Here are a few that seem to have worked for others  fight harder, recruit better, spend less time complaining and more time organizing, budget for more cubes or quit  I'd rather not see you opt for the latter  but to each their own 
I agree, we should find a way to honor the dead, but I don't think keeping their towers infinitely is necessarily the solution  The game must go on  I'm pretty sure the point of bot decay was to clear the game of inactive player bots so that new players can have a chance to rise up, not to dishonor the bots of dead players 
The following are frequently asked questions about the new server update (so far) It still says Training Complete on my iPhone  -	Download the update from iTunes It still says Training Complete on my Android  -	Sorry, Android will not be updated again until the QONQR Blue beta is released My XP per launch keeps going down -	This is XP throttling and is intended to limit the ability for people to leve1 from 1 to 100 in a single day through heavy cubing  The XP throttle was introduced with the original version of QONQR in 2012,and the throttle formula is the same for levels above 100  The throttle resets at midnight UTC every day  How do I buy the Bot Regeneration Accelerator? -	Currently the Bot Regen Accelerator can only be purchased through http://portal qonqr com  Go to the Depot and review your scope upgrades  The new QONQR Blue clients will allow for this purchase to be made in the app using your mobile billing  I don’t have a PayPal account -	For users interested in purchasing the Regen upgrade, but who do not have a PayPal account, PayPal does give you the option to checkout using your billing information without creating an account  PayPal is not allowed in my country, or I don’t have a credit or debit card -	Please contact support@QONQR com for alternate options Is Bot Regen Accelerator counted as part of the 100% scope upgrades? -	Yes, but there is a bug that does not increase scope upgrade percent when you purchase this upgrade, that will be fixed in the coming days  For all other questions, please read the 7 blog posts prior to 7/29/2015 for information on what was included in the update today 
Bye Fack, its been a pleasure being allied and against you 
The two big issues that are both killing the game slowly and keeping it from growing exponentially are cube injustice and new player ramp  The game obviously also needs to provide a consistent and growing revenue stream as well  I think Silver needs to rethink how revenue is generated if he is going to address cube injustice and new player ramp  For revenue generation I would suggest a model that doesn't give a significant combat advantages  Download and play for free from level 0-99 Pay small monthly fee to get full functionality or play for free at 50% of offensive/defensive funtionality Still buy cubes, but cubes are used for following: - Credit Boost: harvest more credits for a period of time - Range Extension: ability to use standard attack/defense formations at extended ranges - Base Share: get 100% credit attainment even in bases owned by another faction - Purchase additional ordinance - Zone Name Change - ability to customize zone names  "Breggland" - Faction Change with Bots - pay for the ability to keep up to 50% of your bots with faction change - Experience Boost: %increase in experienced gained while leveling - Other: anything that helps grow a player or provides enjoyment, but doesn't tip the battle capability of a scope  New Player Ramp/Integration into Game - Offer paid immediate ramp package: one price to become 100 with full upgrades - Like the changes in Blue - Create new zones in Metro areas that only 0-99 level can launch into, with statewide ranges Understand that catering to those who have money and like to use it for an advantage is a good business model and for those people it might be ok to offer very expensive options: - Shield generators: temporary energy shield that adds X% increase to defense or stops X% of damage - EMP's: turns Absorbs off for X minutes  Does not destroy, just turns off - Chain Lighting: Does damage across multiple players in a zone From a development standpoint I have no idea what is possible, easy or hard, but the general idea is to make the playing field more fair for the standard player while maintaining and growing a business revenue stream 
You need to come to the Northeast US  We handle our business like no other 
Context 2: A Homily from Easter Sunday, 2017 
Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb  But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb  As she wept, she bent over to look[a] into the tomb; and she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had been lying, one at the head and the other at the feet  They said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him ” When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus  Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?” Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away ” Jesus said to her, “Mary!” She turned and said to him in Hebrew,[b] “Rabbouni!” (which means Teacher)  Jesus said to her, “Do not hold on to me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father  But go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God ’” Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord”; and she told them that he had said these things to her 
Early in the morning, while it was still dark, Mary wept in the throws of grief  Early in the morning, while it was still dark, Mary dragged herself out of bed after a sleepless night and walked to the tomb in a kind of trance  Early in the morning, while it was still dark, Mary cried—scared, confused, alone  Early in the morning, while it was still dark, Mary thought that the powers of death had the last Word  Early in the morning, while it was still dark, Mary heard a voice in the darkness calling her name—Mary 
Throughout this Lenten season, we’ve examined the ways that the powers and principalities hold us captive—how they push us towards securing our own survival, dominating others, using God for our own agenda  We’ve seen how in Jesus’ ministry, he’s constantly in resistance mode—exposing the powers for what they really are and envisioning an alternative way of living in the world  He describes this way as “the kingdom of God,” the living water we drink so we never thirst again, the light of the world  Jesus invites those who follow him into similar acts of resistance—to free us from the power money has on us by giving it away, to choose to see ourselves as Jesus sees us, resisting the shame that says I’m not enough, to practice Sabbath that contradicts productivity, to untie the grave clothes of someone who’s hands and feet are still tied in the trappings of death 
But all Jesus’ acts of resistance had a cost  All of the times he just wouldn’t shut up, all of the crowds he attracted because he actually noticed those who were normally ignored, the powers finally said enough is enough and put an end to his resistance the only way they could guarantee silence and division—by nailing him to a tree 
Just then, she turned and saw a man the shadow of a man behind her; a man she assumed was the gardener, his face unfamiliar in the darkness  He repeated the question—“Woman, why are you crying?” Thinking that perhaps he knew what happened or worse, that he was a culprit, she begged, “Sir if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him and I will get him ” But Jesus interrupted her pleading, interrupted her desperation, and called her by name from the darkness, Mary 
Mary  He calls her name  Her name  The name that captures the particularity of her life  To the gardener, she would just be the crying woman  At other points in her life, she was the possessed woman, the woman who wasn’t enough, the woman on the outside of the group  Never nameless—but still unnamed  Never not Mary, but still, not known 
Early in the morning, while it was still dark, God defeated the powers and principalities in the ultimate act of resistance—resurrection  The grave could not contain the Lord  Even death wasn’t enough 
In the resurrection, God defeats the powers of death and shows that it’s God who has the final Word  Nothing, not even death, can keep us from being fully known by God  The powers try to have the final say on our names, our identities, the markers by which we measure ourselves, the systems that hold people captive or keep people in oppression  But Jesus calls us out of the darkness by name 
On this Easter Sunday, we hear our Risen Lord calling our names from the darkness—Jesus, the resurrected one, the name above all names, the great I am, the Prince of Peace, the alpha and omega, the light of the world  The risen Lord has spoken 
This is the name unto which you were baptized  As you come forward and mark the sign of the cross on your forehead today, hear Jesus speaking your name from the darkness and drawing you into the light 
From our worship service on the fifth Sunday of Lent, April 2, 2017 
“Is the Lord really with us or not?” “Is the Lord really with us or not?” Why did you bring us all the way from Egypt to let us die of thirst in this desert? At least in Egypt, we had water  At least in Egypt, we weren’t so thirsty  At least in Egypt, we knew what tomorrow would hold  At least in Egypt, we weren’t so thirsty 
But no, that’s not the story they give us  They are hard on their ancestors  They tell how it is  The elders who sat and wrote down these stories understood something about our bodies, who we are and how we work  After all the generations these stories passed through, they tell the truth about how quickly we forget, about how quickly we complain, about how quickly we grow thirsty, about how much we need water 
It doesn’t take long, does it  By the end of this sermon, I will no doubt feel thirsty, not from walking on hard dusty ground in the heat of the day, but just from speaking with you  Most of us wake up in the morning needing a drink  Our bodies depend on water  We cannot live without it  Thirst, then, doesn’t happen only one time  When the Israelites panicked that they had no water, they weren’t only thinking of the present moment  They knew what was coming! We need water to live! Without water, we will die! Even if we have water for today, we will need water again tomorrow! We can drink until we are satisfied, only to know that we will eventually be thirsty for more 
The gospel of John tells a story about a woman who gave up on this question all together  She moved beyond wondering if the Lord was really with her, so confident God had forgotten her that she gave up wondering at all  Born a Samaritan into a world that valued other bodies as better than her body: male bodies, Jewish bodies, even married bodies  Even after encountering Jesus, she still leaves their conversation without a name, numbered as one of many, simply called, “Samaritan woman ” She too, was thirsty  Most believe that her shame led her to drink water in the heat of the day, when no one else would be at the rocky well, when she could get a drink alone, without experiencing the stigma and stares of others  When she came to get a drink, Jesus was also at the well, thirsty himself and in need of rest and water from the long journey through Samaria 
The Israelites complaint for water sends Moses to the only one who can satisfy, the only one who can meet this need  Moses turns to God, “What should I do with these people? How can I satisfy their thirst? I’ve looked around, I’ve checked far and wide, turned the house upsidedown, looked under the seats of the car, at the bottle of every bottle, I’ve even looked for dew on the ground and under the lids of jars and there is no water to be found  Where do we go for water? Is the Lord really with us or not?
The Israelites who wrote down this story and allowed the ancestors to look like desperate complainers who doubted God and tested God, they were onto something  They knew that we are thirsty people  Jesus knew also  All who are thirsty, come! All who believe in me, drink this living water! We are desperate to feel God’s presence, to be bathed in the water of the Spirit, to know that this is not all there is, to feel a sense of belonging to the One who is greater than I  We can only make it so long in the desert, so long wandering from one trial to the next, without a drink 
And yet, Jesus also says, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled  Notice with me: not blessed are those who are righteous, but those who thirst for righteousness  Not blessed are those who are righteous, but those who thirst for righteousness  Blessed are those who thirst for relationship with God, to know God, to see God 
I wonder, “Does Jesus want us to keep wanting?” Does Jesus want us to keep thirsting? Many faithful followers of Jesus throughout history have never claimed their thirst was quenched, never fully satisfied  You know that moment when you quench your thirst, when you sigh with relief when your throat is at ease once again, that’s the opposite of how many of God’s children have described the life of faith  They describe wanting more, being satisfied at times, while knowing they will be thirsty again 
What will be waiting for you at the rock? Will the water gush out, bursting forth, covering you from head to toe with God’s presence, drenching you in hope, cleansing you from the dust that’s caked to your feet and renewing you for a new day, a new hour, a new moment basking in the presence of God?
What will be waiting for you at the rock? Will the water drip slowly, quenching your thirst for but a moment, giving you just a glimpse of God’s spirit? Will it be so hard to get the water from the rock, that you’ll have to bend down, get underneath that dripping water to try and catch a drop? Will it be just enough for you to know, if only for a moment, that God is really with you? Will it be just enough to satisfy you for this hour, but keep you coming back for more?
What will be waiting for you at the rock? What if it seems like the water has run out, like there isn’t a drop left, the way that Mother Teresa described? What then? We follow her example  She still goes to the rock, over and over again, not to get water quench her own thirst, but to relieve the thirst of God’s other children 
This post was adapted from our sermon series on Interpreting Exodus  Pastor Megan preached this sermon at Butner Federal Prison complex on August 30, 2015 
On Father’s Day 2015, we gathered for worship at the labyrinth in front of UNC hospital, having devoted the month of June to exploring the question, “What happens after we die?” Many have watched their father’s die in this place or other similar spaces  We shared in a time of both remembrance and prayer/meditation, participating in the ancient spiritual practice of walking the labyrinth  A labyrinth is a kind of maze, laid out in a circle 
Tony graciously shared the following reflections from his experience at the labyrinth on the hot June day 
It’s smaller than I expected, stark and hard‐surfaced, with no landscaping for ornamentation or shade  I don’t know what to expect from it… or from myself  But that’s part of the appeal  I stand at the entrance, hesitating, trying to clear my mind  This doesn’t work very well, so I just start walking 
Almost immediately, the path presents itself as a linear and chronological symbol of my life’s journey  Like my physical lifetime, it has a beginning and an end, with an as‐yet undetermined amount between  This could be interesting  I like it so far… although I’m insecure about my style… and unsure about proper protocol  Is someone staring at me? Do I have to meditate? How slowly should I walk? Is it better to focus my thoughts… or to simply let them come? Will I control this thing, or allow it to control me?
I begin to see each step as an increment of elapsed time, an irretrievable expenditure of life energy  I equate my initial discomfort to the natural immaturity of my childhood years  I gradually move beyond it, into metaphorical adulthood  This is much better 
Most of the path is a series of gentle arcs  These are fairly easy to maneuver, like my comfortable life  But these segments are connected by intermittent sharp turns, mostly 180‐degree switchbacks  I see these as representing significant life changes or challenges, requiring more concentration and skill to negotiate  I notice that I am executing some of these turns mechanically, and some more gracefully  I begin to anticipate upcoming turns, and try to maintain good form around each one 
I can’t see much of the path ahead, nor the end  I spend a significant amount of mental energy dealing with this uncertainty, constantly wanting to know my real‐time ratio of “distance walked” to “distance remaining”  This is a recurring distraction 
Today is Father’s Day, and my Dad is on my mind  He recently completed his well‐walked journey, and is now watching me… even if as mere metaphor… or only as an element of my own (self‐) consciousness  I feel his presence embedded in his absence  I’m aware that it’s not only my turn to walk… it’s my only turn to walk 
I think about my children, grandson, soon‐to‐arrive granddaughter, and their descendants  The familiar succession of life, death and new life seems magical, divinely‐derived, and strangely better than living forever  My role is limited, but critical  I love the part, and embrace it 
I am acutely aware that others are journeying all around me  These are friends of mine  We meet, almost brushing, as we walk  The path seems purposefully narrow, perhaps perfectly so  I suddenly understand that it is impossible to walk this close to others without being affected by them  I affect them too… seen as small adjustments in their position or posture  As we meet, I try not to encroach too much, but making sure not to pull away  I put creative energy into maintaining the perfect degree of separation between our bodies  This feels like more art than science… each friend deserving a customized approach  This closeness seems good to me 
There is a much younger walker behind me, getting ever closer  I’m clearly holding her back  Maybe this means that the younger generation wants me to hurry up and get out of their way  I remind myself not to stretch the symbolism too far… as I pick up my pace 
I now see the end of the path ahead  I have been expecting this part to be emotionally complicated, but it is not  The final section is round… large and unrestrictive… a qualitative change from the narrow linear pathway  The circle opens up to welcome me  It is easy to step into, a perfectly natural thing to do at the end of my walk  Inside the circle, I am centered… comfortable… peaceful… thankful 
16 As Jesus passed alongside the Galilee Sea, he saw two brothers, Simon and Andrew, throwing fishing nets into the sea, for they were fishermen  17 “Come, follow me,” he said, “and I’ll show you how to fish for people ” 18 Right away, they left their nets and followed him  19 After going a little farther, he saw James and John, Zebedee’s sons, in their boat repairing the fishing nets  20 At that very moment he called them  They followed him, leaving their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired workers 
This is a story about 4 fishermen, Simon, Andrew, James and John  It’s a normal morning at the docks  Each one of them is going about business as usual  They arrived at dawn, bundled up in the cool morning air and started work without much conversation  Simon and Andrew are working on one fishing boat and see the Teacher approaching  “Hey  There he is,” says Andrew  Jesus from Nazareth  You can’t go anywhere without hearing about him lately  What’s he doing down here?” They paddle back to shore, not wanting to miss any trouble this Jesus fellow might stir up  Simon and Andrew get the beach and Jesus comes over to talk to them  It’s like he had come there that morning just to find these two guys  Jesus didn’t say much, “Come and follow me ” Jesus invited these 2 fishermen to be his disciples, to follow after him, to walk behind him, tracing his every step 
Further down the beach, the same scene repeats  This time, Jesus walks directly up to James and John who are focused on repairing their fishing net  Jesus says the same thing to them and now all four fishermen walk behind their rabbi with no idea of what’s ahead of them 
It’s a big deal! The four normal guys, working a normal job, on a normal morning, decide to follow Jesus  Maybe you’ve wondered like I have, how is it that Simon, Andrew, James and John do it? How do they drop everything to follow Jesus? What were they thinking? How did they feel?
It’s interesting  The story doesn’t tell us  There’s nothing about how they felt  It doesn’t say they were excited, or moved, or scared, or joyful or resistant  This story about four fisherman gives us only verbs  Jesus passed alongside the Galilee Sea  He saw two brothers  He said, Come, follow  Then, Simon and Andrew left and followed  Jesus saw James and John  Jesus called them  They followed him 
This is a story about four fisherman who decided to follow Jesus 
This is also a story about fishing  I’ve been fishing been fishing three or four times  Once I realized that fishing was primarily a crack of dawn activity, I knew it wasn’t really for me  Jesus uses a kind of puzzling image about fishing  He says, “Come, follow me, and I’ll show you how to fish for people ” I don’t know about you, but this I find this to be very strange  I realized this week why his image is so confusing to me  What do you imagine when someone talks about fishing? What I imagine when I hear the word “fish” or “fishing” is a fishing pole, the rod, reel, bait, tackle box, worms, that kind of fishing  So I’ve always interpreted what Jesus said this way 
I will make you fishers of men, fishers of men, fishers of men  I will make you fishers of men, if you follow me 
The road Jesus invites these four fishermen to follow him on will mean casting a net of love and welcome to people that they do not anticipate  Jesus will cast his net into the sea of a broken world, filled with sinners, people who have messed up, people who are outsiders, who don’t belong  Jesus will stay in the homes of poor, be guilty of associating prostitutes and touching the hands of people with communicable diseases  Jesus will throw his net into the sea and invite everyone in  Jesus will eventually be arrested and executed because those in power decided his fishing net included a few too many of the wrong people  This is a story about fishing 
This isn’t only a story about four fisherman, or only a story about fishing  It’s also, and perhaps, most importantly, a story about God



ground_truth: Keep deploying and harvesting your bases to earn experience points and level up quickly.

prompt_front: Now, answer the following question based on the text below, only give me the answer and do not output any other words.

Question: What did Mary tell the disciples?

Read the following text and answer briefly.

Context 2: 
If this is only a story about four fisherman who decide to follow Jesus, the pressures on you and me! After all, aren’t we too called to follow Jesus? Called to be his disciples? Wasn’t that the invitation you first heard when you first heard about Jesus? God has called us and we must decide  Jesus wants us all to follow him, to be like him, to walk in his footsteps, to do what he does  Of course this story is about that! And they do it, don’t they? Simon, Andrew, James, John, they do it! They decide and they do follow Jesus, imperfectly at that  Still, it’s a lot of pressure, a lot of responsibility  If life becomes all about what we do for Jesus, something is missing 
If this is only a story about fishing, have some of us failed? Is it too late for us? Some of us might not be the best at fishing, not all the great about casting Jesus’ loving net to our brothers and sisters  His net is sometimes, or maybe more than sometimes, a bit more expansive than we might be comfortable with  He calls us to be like him and fish for people, and yet, sometimes we can barely get the net into the water  Perhaps for others, we aren’t even convinced that Jesus would include us in the net at all, no matter how deep into the water he goes  He can really mean me? Would his net really reach me? There’s still more to the story 
This is a story about God, who God is, how God acts, what God does  Before Andrew, Simon, James and John follow Jesus, Jesus finds them  Before they follow Jesus, Jesus comes to them! They don’t have to go searching, they have been found  Jesus saw  Jesus spoke  Jesus called  Jesus said, “Come “ We don’t follow Jesus in order to find him, to prove our worthiness with what we do, or even by showing Jesus how big our nets are  We follow Jesus because he first came to us  He came down to the beach to meet these four fishermen  He came specifically for Simon and for Andrew, for James and for John, for you and me 
This blog post was adapted from Pastor Megan’s sermon at Butner Federal Prison on January 25, 2015 
The life of faith consists of seasons  One scholar suggests that we can categorize these seasons of life as seasons of being securely oriented, painfully disoriented, and surprisingly reoriented  These generalizations could apply to our self-acceptance, our relations to significant others, and our participation in public or private life  We might think about these seasons as passages of life, stages of growth, or even identity crises  Acknowledging where we find ourselves in a particular season can allow us to be honest about where we are at in our lives and where we are in relation to God 
The Psalms, a collection of prayers, songs, and poems addressed to God, correspond to these seasons of orientation, disorientation, and reorientation  As we read through the book, we find Psalms where the writer is full of thanksgiving to God, securely oriented in life  We also find Psalms that demonstrate disorientation, perhaps categorized by loss, transition, grief, suffering, or even anger  Finally, some Psalms are written from a perspective of reorientation, wherein the Psalmist transitions from a period of being disoriented to being reoriented in relation to God and others 
The Psalms can become our partner in prayer  Giving us words when we have none, we pray the Psalms joining with all those who have prayed them before us and all who will pray them after we are gone  As we pray the Psalms, we find permission to be utterly honest with God about our feelings and situation, free to speak openly and deeply to God about what we are experiencing  Praying the Psalms also helps us to envision God’s future when we can’t see it ourselves  Lastly, the Psalms guard us against religion or merely thinking about God  Using their words in prayer brings us into direct conversation with the living God, in language we may never have imagined would come from our lips 
-Pray the assigned Psalm from the daily lectionary, with set Scriptures to read each day  Click here to see today’s readings, subscribe to the daily readings by email, or download the app 
-Pray the Psalms using the practice of praying in color  Click here for an excerpt from Sybil MacBeth’s book that gives instructions for praying in color  I have the book available if anyone would like to borrow it  You can read more about praying in color on her website 
-Pray a Psalm, followed by journal writing  Consider these prompts: Where do I find myself in this Psalm? Where do I find my community? How am I being oriented to God in this prayer? What images or metaphors do I find striking? Explore the image more deeply 
-Pray through a list of Psalms, one per day or the same one each day for a week 
-Pray them as a family or with housemates at mealtime or bedtime 
-Pray abbreviated Psalms as breath prayers  A breath Ppayer rhythm is simple: Breathe in slow and deep as you whisper or think on a phrase… Hold your breath… Then exhale 
I will sing to my God as long as I am 
Psalm 8: Lord, our master, how great is your name in all the earth 
Psalm 104: Seek the Lord and his power; seek his face forever  Remember the wonders he has done 
-Pray the Psalms using lectio divina  For instructions on praying lectio divina individually or in groups, click here  There are also instructions for doing lectio divina in color from Sybil MacBeth’s book 
-Pray a Psalm from the category of life within which you find yourself—orientation, disorientation, or reorientation 
Psalms of Orientation: These Psalms reflect a confident belief that the world is well ordered, reliable, and life-giving to the person of faith 
Psalms of Disorientation: These Psalms reflect the brokenness of life, when it is no longer orderly but savage  Spoken out of the depths, they are still bold acts of faith 
Psalms of New Orientation: The pit is not the end of life; there is more  New orientation Psalms reflect the surprise of new possibilities that are experienced as pure gift from God  They are full of thanks 
Citations: The Message of the Psalms and Praying the Psalms by Walter Brueggemann and Getting Involved with God, by Ellen Davis 
Joseph’s story opens in Genesis 37 and it’s a long one  Joseph was one of 11 kids, the youngest son  In Genesis 37, the story says, “Now Jacob (Joseph’s dad) loved Joseph more than any of his other sons because he was born when Jacob was old  Jacob had made for him a long robe  When his brothers saw that their father loved him more than any of his brothers, they hated him and couldn’t even talk nicely to him ” Sibling rivalry, jealousy, family drama—maybe a little too familiar for some of us 
Just when you want to feel bad for Joseph, show him sympathy, “Poor kid—he can’t help that he’s the favorite,” Joseph makes himself quickly unlikeable  When Joseph’s head hits the pillow at night, he has vivid dreams about the future, dreams where he rules over his brothers  In one of these dreams, he’s in the field working with his brothers  They each tie a bundle of grain together…I imagine it like a hay bail  His bail rises up, towering and floating in the air above the others, while each of his ten older brother’s bails of hay, bows down to his bail, as if he’s ruling over them like a king  What’s worse—he didn’t keep his mouth shut about his dreams  Nope  He went ahead and announced them at the dinner table  When I imagine this scene, I’m reminded of the importance of friends  He seriously needed a friend to say, “Dude, listen, you have some dreams where you’re awesome and your brothers treat you like a king  They hate you, man  Keep your dreams to yourself ” Joseph lacked such a friend, so he bragged about his dreams—that combined with his fancy North Face jacket that Daddy bought for him only and the favoritism their dad showed him, brought his brothers to plot about how they might rid themselves of this pesky brat forever 
Joseph’s brothers considered killing Joseph, but they settled on kidnapping him and selling him into slavery instead  That way, they wouldn’t have his death on their foreheads, without having to put up with him anymore  They took Joseph’s fancy coat and destroyed it, making it look like a wild animal killed Joseph  This they showed to their father, so that he would assume that Joseph was dead; their dad would never suspect they had any part in his disappearance 
Meanwhile, Joseph was taken off to Egypt where he worked as a slave  Though he did well there and followed all the rules, he became a victim for a second time, when his master’s wife accused him of a crime he didn’t commit  Over a period of 13 years, Joseph worked as a slave and spent years locked up in prison  After a series of unlikely events, some terrible and some remarkable, Joseph rose to power and became the king’s right hand man, his adviser 
With the king’s blessing and support, Joseph led his country in preparing for a famine, putting food away on reserve during seven years of plenty  When a famine struck the land, Egypt was in a good position, able to lean on the reserved food that Joseph had put away  The surrounding lands, including Joseph’s homeland, had to lean on Egypt for food or else they would starve 
Joseph shows his brother’s enormous generosity  He has them go home, pack up and move their entire family, including their elderly father Jacob to Egypt to be near Joseph  Not long after making the trip to Egypt and being reunited with his father, their father, an elderly man at this point, Jacob dies 
And the final chapter of the story opens  Jacob is dead  Their father is gone  Now what?
Realizing that their father was dead, Joseph’s brothers said, “What if Joseph still bears a grudge against us and pays us back in full for all the wrong that we did to him?” 16 So they approached[b] Joseph, saying, “Your father gave this instruction before he died, 17 ‘Say to Joseph: I beg you, forgive the crime of your brothers and the wrong they did in harming you ’ Now therefore please forgive the crime of the servants of the God of your father ” Joseph wept when they spoke to him  18 Then his brothers also wept,[c] fell down before him, and said, “We are here as your slaves ” 19 But Joseph said to them, “Do not be afraid! Am I in the place of God? 20 Even though you intended to do harm to me, God intended it for good, in order to preserve a numerous people, as he is doing today  21 So have no fear; I myself will provide for you and your little ones ” In this way he reassured them, speaking kindly to them 
Fear is a powerful force  Fear motivates and fear paralyzes 
It’s a little funny how they phrase the words of their father  The brothers put a great deal of distance between themselves and Joseph  Instead of saying, “Our father told us to tell you…” they say, “Your father to us to tell you…” They distance themselves from Joseph and from the message that their dad supposedly gave them to pass along 
And then, they do it again  “Please forgive the crime of the servants of the God of your father,” his brothers say  They refer to themselves in third person—“the servants of the God of your father ” It’s not “our crime” that “we committed,” but the crime of these others 
Fear not only keeps them from confession, fear also keeps them from receiving forgiveness  They are scared for their lives the moment their father breathes his last, but haven’t they already been through this conversation with Joseph? At the dinner table, when Joseph revealed his identity to them, he tells them not to worry  “It’s ok  Yeah, it was awful, but look where I am! Look at how God has used me to help save those who would be starving now  I’m even saving you!” Joseph has already offered them forgiveness, but they haven’t fully received it  They haven’t believed what he’s said  Perhaps their views of themselves were so low that they didn’t see themselves worthy of forgiveness  Maybe they’ve carried the guilt for so long about what they’ve done, they fear what life will be like without it  It’s become so much an engrained part of their identity, they don’t know who they are apart from the guilt of what they’ve done  They fear receiving Joseph’s forgiveness  They fear forgiving themselves 
To the plea of the 10 brothers, to this made-up, manipulative, last cry for safety, Joseph has two responses  First, he weeps  His weeping—his display of vulnerability and emotion—causes his brothers to begin to weep also  There they are, 11 grown brothers, weeping on the floor of the house  Why did Joseph begin to weep? The story doesn’t say  Let’s notice, brothers and sisters—the road to releasing fear and offering and receiving forgiveness may not come without weeping 
Fear is a powerful force  Fear is an excellent motivator—moving us to do particular things and act in particular ways  But fear not only motivates, it can also paralyze, cause us to freeze right where we’re at, accept things for how they are  This final chapter begins with the brothers saying to one another, “What if…?” What if Joseph still bears a grudge against us…? Fear finishes the sentence, beginning in the words, “What if…?” Fear finishes the sentence  What if…he still bears a grudge against us? What if…we confess our evil to Joseph and he says that’s the end of us? What if…we ask for forgiveness and he denies it—if I say, will you forgive me, and he says, “no”?
“What if’s” sneak into our minds and hearts 
What if…I never get out of here?
What if I fail as a parent?
What if I don’t belong?
What if no one notices I’m gone?
What if I stand up for what I believe is right and it costs me my reputation?
What if I make a mistake at work and lose my job?
What if I risk opening myself up to someone and get hurt or betrayed again?
What if my body fails me?
What if I can never accept that the past can’t change?
What if I’m not worthy of God’s forgiveness or the forgiveness of those I’ve wronged?
What if I can never forgive myself?
We do not have to live in fear  We do not have to be motivated or paralyzed by it  Look at the God that we serve! Joseph explains how God has been with him  He says to his brothers, “Even though you intended to do harm to me, God intended it for good, in order to preserve a numerous people, as he is doing today ” Does this mean that God wanted or desired Joseph’s brothers to kidnap him, throw him into slavery and ruin his life to avenge their jealousy? No  God doesn’t desire that jealousy and revenge rule our lives  God doesn’t will for us to do evil or to harm other people  Rather, God is able to overcome evil and transform it  God can overcome evil! When Jesus was captured, tried as a criminal and sentenced to death, God overcame death, raising Jesus from the death 
This post was adapted from my sermon preached at Butner Federal Prison on September 14, 2014 
We were gathered at the plaza, right between the giant bull statue and the unattractive fences of a construction site  Luminary bags weighted with rice and lit candles marked the sacred space surrounding 30 of us, one to represent each person who died as a result of domestic violence the previous year in our state  The vigil began as planned, simple, but meaningful, to remember victims of this tragedy and raise awareness about the suffering that takes place behind closed doors  About halfway through the simple service, a woman stumbled into the vigil, interrupting the solemn mood without realizing that a group was gathered and someone was speaking  She stood silent for a few moments, listening to the speaker  When she realized that the speaker was talking about domestic violence, she began to interrupt, asking questions to the speaker, sharing details from her own experience with abuse  “What would you do…what would you do if…?” she cried  Then, as unexpectedly as she joined us and as abruptly as her interruption, she began to weep, uncontrollably crying for the rest of the vigil  A couple of women gathered around her and held her as she wept  Before long, it was my turn to pray  I barely got the words out…I could hardly project my shaking voice over her loud sobs 
“Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted,” Jesus proclaims in the second line of the beatitudes  Blessed are those who mourn  How is this weeping woman, this victim of abuse, blessed? She mourns the injustices she’s experienced, her suffering, the ways her life has been shaped by pain and her inability to free herself from her oppression  Jesus says that this woman and all her sisters and brothers that mourn with her are blessed 
The Jewish culture that Jesus was born into has a rich history of mourning or practicing lament, stretching back hundreds of years before he was born  The prophets and the Psalms include poems, songs, and speeches, recounting the words of people gathered together for public mourning  This mourning wasn’t a kind of crying about having a bad day or because of a frustration at home or work  The mourning Jesus is referencing is the kind of mourning that is a response to injustice and oppression, those who mourn the impact of the powers, both material and spiritual, on the lives of the most vulnerable 
Blessed are those who mourn  Another beatitude and another paradox  Once again, Jesus’ words are outlandish and nonsensical  How is it that those who mourn are blessed? Aren’t those who are happy and fulfilled, aren’t they the ones that are blessed? Yet, in this beatitude, in this paradox, Jesus once again exposes the powers and envisions an alternative  Jesus exposes the powers that cause people to mourn in the first place, those who experience unjust suffering and loss, the same injustices that cause people to be poor in spirit  It’s these people, the mourners, that are blessed, Jesus says  These are the people that Jesus came for  In God’s empire, mourners are not written off or ignored as uncivilized, uneducated, or badly behaved  Instead, in God’s empire, they are the ones who receive God’s comfort and consolation; God’s hears their cries 
Our culture tends to restrict mourning or public displays of emotion to something appropriate for home life or private time  Further, spending time in mourning may be quickly relegated to a waste of time or an inactive posture  The expression, “Don’t just cry about it, do something,” illustrates this clearly  But mourning is not a useless waste of time or an inactive practice  Mourn is a verb  In fact, mourning elicits action and engagement  Mourning exposes the powers, shows their true colors  Seeing people in mourning is disorienting  It interrupts the lives we lead that are detached from suffering and injustice, forcing us to take another look, to pause, to listen, and to join 
The woman who interrupted our solemn vigil for victims of domestic violence exposed the powers with her loud wailing  She made me feel uncomfortable, like I wanted to look away and get away from her as quickly as possible  And yet, her cries made it impossible for me to forget her  The sound of her weeping echoed in my ears for weeks following and if I try, I can still hear them now, over nine months later  Her mourning moves me to engage in seeking justice for others who have suffered like she has 
1  James Howell, The Beatitudes for Today  Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2005 , 45 
2  James Howell, The Beatitudes for Today, 46 
Context 3: South Dakota v  Wayfair, Inc  - Harvard Law Review
Fourth Circuit Invalidates Maryland Statute Regulating Price Gouging in the Sale of Generic Drugs 
South Dakota Supreme Court Holds Unconstitutional State Law Requiring Internet Retailers Without In-State Physical Presence to Remit Sales Tax 
Judicial junk, the Court has long thought, is easier to scrap when the erroneous precedent cannot be fixed by Congress, as in constitutional cases 1× 1  See Burnet v  Coronado Oil & Gas Co , 285 U S  393, 405–10 (1932) (Brandeis, J , dissenting); Lee Epstein, William M  Landes & Adam Liptak, The Decision to Depart (or Not) from Constitutional Precedent: An Empirical Study of the Roberts Court, 90 N Y U  L  Rev  1115, 1116 (2015) (“[Justice Brandeis’s] dissenting opinion       now has the status of black letter law ”)  On the flip side, whenever a bad precedent can be corrected by Congress, stare decisis applies with “special force ”2× 2  See Patterson v  McLean Credit Union, 491 U S  164, 172–73 (1989)  The Court, following Justice Brandeis, usually articulates the rule as distinguishing between “constitutional” and “statutory” precedents  See, e g , id  But the distinction is occasionally said to be between “constitutional” and “nonconstitutional cases ” See, e g , Glidden Co  v  Zdanok, 370 U S  530, 543 (1962) (plurality opinion)  Nomenclature aside, the Court has — until now — adhered to Justice Brandeis’s key insight that the important factor is whether or not the mistake may be legislatively corrected  Last Term, in South Dakota v  Wayfair, Inc ,3× 3  138 S  Ct  2080 (2018)  the Court tinkered with this thinking in overruling an outdated dormant commerce clause precedent  Dormant commerce clause decisions technically produce constitutional holdings, but Congress may override them at will 4× 4  See Prudential Ins  Co  v  Benjamin, 328 U S  408, 421–27 (1946)  Under the usual logic of stare decisis, it should take special force to dislodge such precedents  But Wayfair applied the weakened stare decisis of constitutional cases, asserting that the Court must “address a false constitutional premise         whether or not Congress can or will act ”5× 5  Wayfair, 138 S  Ct  at 2096–97 
Emerging from Wayfair is an odd and ominous development in stare decisis doctrine  Odd, because it turns on a formal classification instead of on Congress’s practical ability to fix the problem  Ominous, because the Court’s logic leads far past the dormant commerce clause  Wayfair grants only feeble stare decisis to precedents that set a “constitutional default rule,”6× 6  Id  at 2096 (“While       Congress has the authority to change the physical presence rule, Congress cannot change the constitutional default rule ”)  meaning constitutional decisions that allow for legislative adjustment or override  This new stare decisis analysis makes other precedents setting constitutional default rules more vulnerable — including, perhaps, mainstays of criminal procedure like Miranda v  Arizona7× 7  384 U S  436 (1966)  and Mapp v  Ohio 8× 8  367 U S  643 (1961) 
Since its 1967 decision in National Bellas Hess, Inc  v  Department of Revenue,9× 9  386 U S  753 (1967)  the Court has held that, under the “dormant” or “negative” implication of the Commerce Clause,10× 10  The dormant or negative commerce clause is a judicial derivation from the Commerce Clause “prohibiting States from discriminating against or imposing excessive burdens on interstate commerce without congressional approval,” which “strikes at one of the chief evils that led to the adoption of the Constitution, namely, state tariffs and other laws that burdened interstate commerce ” Comptroller of the Treasury of Md  v  Wynne, 135 S  Ct  1787, 1794 (2015)  states may not compel remote sellers with no physical presence in the state to collect and remit sales taxes 11× 11  See Bellas Hess, 386 U S  at 759–60  In Quill Corp  v  North Dakota,12× 12  504 U S  298 (1992)  the Court refused to overrule the “bright-line, physical-presence requirement” of Bellas Hess, leaning heavily on stare decisis 13× 13  Id  at 317–18  Three Justices joined a concurrence explaining that their decision rested solely “on the basis of stare decisis ” Id  at 320 (Scalia, J , concurring in part and concurring in the judgment)  So the physical presence test remained the law of the land while the internet conquered the earth  Justice Kennedy had joined the Quill majority and Justice Scalia’s concurring opinion emphasizing stare decisis, but by 2015 he had second thoughts  Writing separately in Direct Marketing Ass’n v  Brohl,14× 14  135 S  Ct  1124 (2015)  Justice Kennedy acknowledged that “[t]he Internet has caused far-reaching systemic and structural changes in the economy” and therefore “Quill now harms States to a degree far greater than could have been anticipated earlier ”15× 15  Id  at 1135 (Kennedy, J , concurring)  He concluded with the wish that “[t]he legal system should find an appropriate case for this Court to reexamine Quill and Bellas Hess ”16× 16  Id 
Seldom has a concurring opinion signed by a lone Justice prompted a state to officially declare an emergency  Yet in 2016, in response to Justice Kennedy’s overture, the South Dakota legislature passed a law, S B  106, “to provide for the collection of sales taxes from certain remote sellers       and to declare an emergency ”17× 17  2016 S D  Sess  Laws ch  70 pmbl  217 (codified at S D  Codified Laws § 10-64 (2017))  It required every remote seller to collect and remit sales tax if the seller’s business in South Dakota comprised either a “gross revenue” greater than $100,000 or at least 200 “separate transactions” within one calendar year 18× 18  Id  § 1  Significantly, the law did not apply retroactively 19× 19  Id  § 5  The “emergency” declaration was necessary to give the law immediate effect, for the purpose of “permitting the most expeditious possible review of the constitutionality of this law” by the U S  Supreme Court 20× 20  Id  § 8(8)  As Justice Alito put it, the “South Dakota law [was] obviously a test case ”21× 21  Transcript of Oral Argument at 27, Wayfair, 138 S  Ct  2080 (No  17-494), https://www supremecourt gov/oral_arguments/argument_transcripts/2017/17-494_7lho pdf [https://perma cc/8HYH-VU8N] 
Expeditiously, a group of remote sellers challenged the law  After being sued by South Dakota for refusing to register for the newly required sales tax license, Wayfair, Inc , Overstock com, Inc , and Newegg, Inc  moved for summary judgment in South Dakota circuit court on the grounds that S B  106 was unconstitutional under Quill and Bellas Hess — a point South Dakota conceded, indicating that it was seeking review by the U S  Supreme Court to overturn Quill 22× 22  State v  Wayfair Inc , 2017 SD 56, ¶¶ 9–11, 901 N W 2d 754, 759–60  Accordingly, the South Dakota circuit court granted the motion for summary judgment and South Dakota appealed to the state’s highest court 23× 23  Id  ¶ 12, 901 N W 2d at 760  The South Dakota Supreme Court unanimously affirmed, recognizing that South Dakota’s “arguments on the merits” may be “persuasive” but “Quill remains the controlling precedent ”24× 24  Id  ¶ 18, 901 N W 2d at 761  See generally Recent Case, State v  Wayfair Inc , 2017 SD 56, 901 N W 2d 754 (S D  2017), 131 Harv  L  Rev  2089 (2018) 
The U S  Supreme Court vacated and remanded 25× 25  Wayfair, 138 S  Ct  at 2100  Writing for the Court one last time, Justice Kennedy26× 26  Justices Thomas, Ginsburg, Alito, and Gorsuch joined Justice Kennedy’s opinion  pilloried Quill’s physical presence rule as “arbitrary, formalistic,” “anachronistic,” and “unfair and unjust” to both states and brick-and-mortar retailers 27× 27  Wayfair, 138 S  Ct  at 2092, 2095  After all, the rationale of Quill was that remote sellers lacked a sufficiently “substantial nexus” with the state to justify imposing a duty of tax collection 28× 28  Quill Corp  v  North Dakota, 504 U S  298, 311 (1992) (quoting Complete Auto Transit, Inc  v  Brady, 430 U S  274, 279 (1977))  This was wrong even in the mail-order catalog days of 1967 and 1992, but “the Internet revolution has made [Quill’s] earlier error all the more egregious and harmful ”29× 29  Wayfair, 138 S  Ct  at 2097; see also id  at 2092  The rule deprived the states of billions of dollars, since they could not force remote sellers to collect the tax and consumers hardly ever paid it on their own 30× 30  Id  at 2088 (“[C]onsumer compliance rates are notoriously low ”)  Quill “serve[d] as a judicially created tax shelter” for remote retailers who do a great deal of business online 31× 31  Id  at 2094 
Satisfied that Bellas Hess and Quill were wrongly decided, the Court then jumped the hurdle of stare decisis  The Quill Court had feared upsetting reliance interests 32× 32  Quill, 504 U S  at 317 (“Bellas Hess       has engendered substantial reliance and has become part of the basic framework of a sizable industry ”)  Wayfair shrugged off this concern, noting that “stare decisis accommodates only ‘legitimate reliance interest[s]’”; by contrast, reliance on the physical presence rule was largely due to consumers evading their use-tax obligations 33× 33  Wayfair, 138 S  Ct  at 2098 (alteration in original) (quoting United States v  Ross, 456 U S  798, 824 (1982))  Quill had also appealed to Congress’s ultimate authority over interstate commerce as a reason to abide by a precedent, even if wrongly decided 34× 34  See Quill, 504 U S  at 318–19; id  at 320 (Scalia, J , concurring in part and concurring in the judgment) (“Congress       can change the rule of Bellas Hess by simply saying so ”)  But Wayfair denied that Congress’s ability to change the law was a proper consideration:
While it can be conceded that Congress has the authority to change the physical presence rule, Congress cannot change the constitutional default rule  It is inconsistent with the Court’s proper role to ask Congress to address a false constitutional premise of this Court’s own creation  Courts have acted as the front line of review in this limited sphere; and hence it is important that their principles be accurate and logical, whether or not Congress can or will act in response 35× 35  Wayfair, 138 S  Ct  at 2096–97 
Having dispensed with the physical presence rule, the Court remanded the case to the South Dakota courts to determine in the first instance “whether some other principle in the Court’s Commerce Clause doctrine might invalidate the Act ”36× 36  Id  at 2099  But the Court listed “several features [of South Dakota law] that appear[ed] designed to prevent discrimination against or undue burdens upon interstate commerce ” Id 
Justices Thomas and Gorsuch each filed concurring opinions  Justice Thomas wistfully likened himself to Justice White — who voted for Bellas Hess but against Quill a quarter-century later — and confessed that he “should have joined [Justice White’s dissenting] opinion ”37× 37  Id  at 2100 (Thomas, J , concurring)  Justice Thomas added that the “Court’s entire negative Commerce Clause jurisprudence” is wrong and should be abandoned 38× 38  Id  Justice Gorsuch also wrote separately to express skepticism of the Court’s dormant commerce clause jurisprudence, raising “questions for another day” of whether the doctrine “can be squared with the text of the Commerce Clause, justified by stare decisis, or defended as misbranded products of federalism or antidiscrimination imperatives flowing from Article IV’s Privileges and Immunities Clause ”39× 39  Id  at 2100–01 (Gorsuch, J , concurring) 
Chief Justice Roberts dissented 40× 40  Justices Breyer, Sotomayor, and Kagan joined the Chief Justice’s dissent  Surprisingly, the dissenting Justices “agree[d] that Bellas Hess was wrongly decided, for many of the reasons given by the Court ”41× 41  Wayfair, 138 S  Ct  at 2101 (Roberts, C J , dissenting)  The dispute between the majority and the dissent turned entirely on the principles and application of stare decisis  Chief Justice Roberts argued that whether or how to reverse Quill should be left to Congress, which “has the flexibility to address these questions in a wide variety of ways” and “can focus directly on current policy concerns rather than past legal mistakes ”42× 42  Id  at 2104  He also pointed to the “baffling” burdens of compliance with the idiosyncratic tax codes of “[o]ver 10,000 jurisdictions,” particularly for small businesses, and doubted that new “software” — the majority’s proposed solution to this mess43× 43  Id  at 2098 (majority opinion) (“Eventually, software that is available at a reasonable cost may make it easier for small businesses to cope with these problems ”)  — would soon solve the problem 44× 44  Id  at 2103–04 (Roberts, C J , dissenting)  In Bellas Hess, the Court reasoned that the dormant commerce clause protects interstate business from being “entangle[d]       in a virtual welter of complicated obligations to local jurisdictions ” Nat’l Bellas Hess, Inc  v  Dep’t of Revenue, 386 U S  753, 759–60 (1967)  The dissent replied that the Court “vastly underestimate[d] the skill of contemporary man and his machines ” Id  at 766 (Fortas, J , dissenting)  The dispute in Wayfair over whether software is up to the task effectively reprised the old debate from Bellas Hess, only this time couched as part of the stare decisis inquiry’s concern for reliance interests rather than as a matter of dormant commerce clause doctrine  While Wayfair acknowledged that “[c]omplex state tax systems could have the effect of discriminating against interstate commerce,” 138 S  Ct  at 2099, the Court remarked that “[t]he physical presence rule is a poor proxy” for an inquiry into any actual burdens imposed on interstate commerce, id  at 2093 
Chief Justice Roberts emphasized that a “heightened form of stare decisis”45× 45  Wayfair, 138 S  Ct  at 2102 (Roberts, C J , dissenting)  applies when “Congress       can, if it wishes, override this Court’s decisions with contrary legislation ”46× 46  Id  at 2101 (first citing Michigan v  Bay Mills Indian Cmty , 134 S  Ct  2024, 2036 (2014) (tribal sovereign immunity); then citing Kimble v  Marvel Entm’t, LLC, 135 S  Ct  2401, 2409 (2015) (statutory interpretation); and then citing Halliburton Co  v  Erica P  John Fund, Inc , 134 S  Ct  2398, 2411 (2014) (judicially created doctrine implementing a judicially created cause of action))  In Quill, the Chief Justice noted, the Court had taken to heart that “Congress may be better qualified” and “has the ultimate power to resolve” the question47× 47  Id  at 2102 (quoting Quill Corp  v  North Dakota, 504 U S  279, 318 (1992))  while Justice Scalia had “recogniz[ed] that stare decisis has ‘special force’ in the dormant Commerce Clause context due to Congress’s ‘final say over regulation of interstate commerce ’”48× 48  Id  (quoting Quill, 504 U S  at 320 (Scalia, J , concurring in part and concurring in the judgment))  Moreover, “[i]f stare decisis applied with special force in Quill, it should be an even greater impediment” afterward since Quill effectively “tossed [the ball] into Congress’s court ”49× 49  Id  (alteration in original) (quoting Kimble, 135 S  Ct  at 2409); cf  Bay Mills, 134 S  Ct  at 2039 n 12 (“When we inform Congress that it has primary responsibility over a sphere of law, and invite Congress to consider a specific issue within that sphere, we cannot deem irrelevant how Congress responds ”)  Because the Court invited Congress to act and then “suddenly chang[ed] the ground rules, the Court may have waylaid Congress’s consideration of the issue ”50× 50  Wayfair, 138 S  Ct  at 2102–03 (Roberts, C J , dissenting) 
In Wayfair, the Court applied the flimsier form of stare decisis to a precedent that could have been overruled by Congress  It did so in the context of a dormant commerce clause case, but Wayfair’s logic extends to all constitutional default rules — that is, constitutional decisions that Congress remains free to change  Not only does Wayfair deviate from the Court’s decades-old stare decisis analysis, it also imperils other precedents that set constitutional default rules 
The Court’s reasoning in Wayfair departs from its prior stare decisis analysis  In 1932, Justice Brandeis posited that stare decisis must bend “in cases involving the Federal Constitution, where correction through legislative action is practically impossible ”51× 51  Burnet v  Coronado Oil & Gas Co , 285 U S  393, 406–07 (1932) (Brandeis, J , dissenting)  The Court has long since adopted his argument,52× 52  See, e g , Smith v  Allwright, 321 U S  649, 665 (1944)  as well as its corollary — that stare decisis commands “special force in the area of statutory interpretation” where “Congress remains free to alter what [the Court has] done ”53× 53  Patterson v  McLean Credit Union, 491 U S  164, 172–73 (1989)  For normative evaluations of heightened stare decisis for statutory precedents, see generally Einer Elhauge, Statutory Default Rules: How to Interpret Unclear Legislation 211–23 (2008); and William N  Eskridge, Jr , Overruling Statutory Precedents, 76 Geo  L J  1361, 1364–1409 (1988)  Justice Brandeis’s logic demands that dormant commerce clause cases, where Congress is free to act, be granted the weightier stare decisis 54× 54  Scholars have noted the curious fact that Justice Brandeis included many dormant commerce clause cases as examples of overruled constitutional precedents  See, e g , Earl M  Maltz, Commentary, Some Thoughts on the Death of Stare Decisis in Constitutional Law, 1980 Wis  L  Rev  467, 468–469, 469 n 11  One explanation for this is that Justice Brandeis sought the authority of Chief Justice Taney’s dictum that the Court’s “opinion upon the construction of the Constitution is always open to discussion” — which referred to the dormant commerce clause  See Burnet, 285 U S  at 408 n 3 (Brandeis, J , dissenting) (quoting The Passenger Cases, 48 U S  (7 How ) 283, 470 (1849) (Taney, C J , dissenting))  In Chief Justice Taney’s time, it was thought that Congress could not override the Court’s dormant commerce clause decisions, see Cooley v  Bd  of Wardens, 53 U S  (12 How ) 299, 321 (1852), so the context of Chief Justice Taney’s dictum does not conflict with Justice Brandeis’s theory of stare decisis  The Court applied this reasoning in Quill, as Chief Justice Roberts underscored 55× 55  Wayfair, 138 S  Ct  at 2102 (Roberts, C J , dissenting) 
Yet the Wayfair majority refused to consider Congress’s authority to legislate as a relevant factor for stare decisis 56× 56  Even Justice Kennedy’s earlier opinion in Direct Marketing contemplated judicially overruling Quill, conspicuously neglecting a possible legislative solution  See supra p  278  The Court even insisted that to do so “is inconsistent with the Court’s proper role,” since Quill embodied “a false constitutional premise of th[e] Court’s own creation ”57× 57  Wayfair, 138 S  Ct  at 2096 (emphasis added)  This refusal breaks from the practical Brandeisian wisdom that has guided the Court’s treatment of precedent for the better part of a century  The point is not that stare decisis should have ultimately propped up Bellas Hess yet again, as Wayfair’s dissenting Justices maintained  After all, a realistic approach that is alert to each branch’s institutional capacities might have led to the conclusion that Congress was actually ill-equipped to overrule Quill  In this vein, the Court could have sensibly pointed out that Congress is unlikely to stick its neck out with a tax hike (or a look-alike) from which only the states would benefit 58× 58  For two practical arguments to this effect, see Brian Galle, Essay, Kill Quill, Keep the Dormant Commerce Clause: History’s Lessons on Congressional Control of State Taxation, 70 Stan  L  Rev  Online 158, 160–62 (2018), https://review law stanford edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2018/03/70-Stan -L -Rev -Online-158-Galle pdf [https://perma cc/22YP-P4V5]; Edward A  Zelinsky, The Political Process Argument for Overruling Quill, 82 Brook  L  Rev  1177, 1191–92 (2017)  Indeed, South Dakota advanced such practical arguments in its brief 59× 59  See Petitioner’s Brief at 54, Wayfair, 138 S  Ct  2080 (No  17-494) (“Congress has little incentive to act here because it would be (or appear to be) authorizing new or greater tax collections from its constituents, while receiving none of the revenue in return ”)  More generally, the Court might have discussed the limits of the states’ influence in the federal system as a reason not to wait for congressional intervention, a topic it has debated on other occasions 60× 60  See Richard H  Pildes, Institutional Formalism and Realism in Constitutional and Public Law, 2013 Sup  Ct  Rev  1, 30–32; see also Galle, supra note 58, at 159 (“Congress is not a trustworthy guardian of state fiscal power, making continuing judicial involvement a more appealing prospect ”)  Or it could have argued that new facts on the ground — namely, the blast of e-commerce that hit like a comet after Quill — overpowered stare decisis of any force, special or plain 61× 61  Two recent studies of stare decisis highlighted the physical presence rule as exemplifying a precedent that may reasonably be overruled due to changed facts  See Bryan A  Garner et al , The Law of Judicial Precedent 364–65 (2016); Randy J  Kozel, Settled Versus Right: A Theory of Precedent 112–13 (2017)  It should be noted that the authors of The Law of Judicial Precedent classify the physical presence rule as a constitutional precedent for stare decisis purposes, thus anticipating the Court’s misstep in Wayfair  Garner et al , supra, at 354–65  Because even statutory precedents may sometimes be overruled,62× 62  See Patterson v  McLean Credit Union, 491 U S  164, 173–74 (1989) (discussing justifications for overruling statutory precedents)  Contra Lawrence C  Marshall, “Let Congress Do It”: The Case for an Absolute Rule of Statutory Stare Decisis, 88 Mich  L  Rev  177 (1989)  the Court could have killed Quill without first planting its constitutional kiss of death 63× 63  Cf  Thomas R  Lee, Stare Decisis in Historical Perspective: From the Founding Era to the Rehnquist Court, 52 Vand  L  Rev  647, 704 (1999) (“Justice Brandeis’       memorable prose has since become a mandatory part of the burial rite for any constitutional precedent ”) 
The Court resisted such arguments  Instead, Wayfair reasoned that Congress’s total ability to correct an erroneous decision counts for nothing when the Court gets the Constitution wrong  That such a theory sprouts from a case like Wayfair, which repudiated a “formalistic distinction,”64× 64  Wayfair, 138 S  Ct  at 2092  is ironic  Wayfair’s stare decisis analysis resorts to the formalism of making constitutional a “magic” word65× 65  See Transcript of Oral Argument, supra note 21, at 12  rather than asking whether Congress can step in 
Moreover, the Court’s new thinking on stare decisis threatens other constitutional default rules  Wayfair now stands for the proposition that a “constitutional default rule” — a term the Court apparently lifted from South Dakota’s reply brief on the merits66× 66  Reply Brief at 22, Wayfair, 138 S  Ct  2080 (No  17-494) (“Congress is polarized, which makes it critical       to get the constitutional default rule right ”)  — gets only weakened stare decisis  To appreciate why this holding matters, it is worth exploring the concept and scope of constitutional default rules  Contract theory describes default rules as legal rules that the parties may “contract around ”67× 67  See, e g , Ian Ayres & Robert Gertner, Filling Gaps in Incomplete Contracts: An Economic Theory of Default Rules, 99 Yale L J  87, 87 (1989)  Although “constitutional default rule” could be read broadly to include a variety of actors and contracting mechanisms,68× 68  See John Ferejohn & Barry Friedman, Toward a Political Theory of Constitutional Default Rules, 33 Fla  St  U  L  Rev  825, 826 (2006) (“When we speak of default rules in constitutional law, we typically are talking about specifications of ways the government can act (or modify its behavior) to get around a constitutional prohibition ”)  the Court’s use of the term for purposes of stare decisis may be narrowly defined as judicial precedents of constitutional law that “are ultimately subject to congressional control ”69× 69  Gillian E  Metzger, Congress, Article IV, and Interstate Relations, 120 Harv  L  Rev  1468, 1525 (2007) (describing judicially enforceable “constitutional default rules imposing obligations on the states in the name of union [that] are ultimately subject to congressional control”)  The dormant commerce clause is a paradigmatic constitutional default rule because what the Court does today Congress may undo tomorrow  Justice Scalia declared this fact “[t]he clearest sign that the negative Commerce Clause is a judicial fraud,” for “[h]ow could congressional consent lift a constitutional prohibition?”70× 70  Comptroller of the Treasury of Md  v  Wynne, 135 S  Ct  1787, 1808 (2015) (Scalia, J , dissenting)  But that’s what a constitutional default rule is  The Court has allowed Congress to overturn its dormant commerce clause cases since 1891 71× 71  See In re Rahrer, 140 U S  545, 560–62 (1891) 
Dormant commerce clause cases are not the only constitutional default rules  Professor Laurence Tribe’s treatise identifies two others 72× 72  1 Laurence H  Tribe, American Constitutional Law § 6-35 (3d ed  2000)  And in a groundbreaking article, Professor Henry Monaghan revealed “a substructure of substantive, procedural, and remedial rules” forming “a constitutional common law subject to amendment, modification, or even reversal by Congress ”73× 73  Henry P  Monaghan, The Supreme Court, 1974 Term — Foreword: Constitutional Common Law, 89 Harv  L  Rev  1, 2–3 (1975); see also Susan R  Klein, Identifying and (Re)Formulating Prophylactic Rules, Safe Harbors, and Incidental Rights in Constitutional Criminal Procedure, 99 Mich  L  Rev  1030 (2001) (further developing Monaghan’s theory in criminal procedure context)  What follows is a list of six lines of cases beyond the dormant commerce clause that may be fairly described as constitutional default rules  The first two are drawn from Tribe’s treatise while the next four are found in Monaghan’s article:
(1) State Taxation of Federal Instrumentalities: States may not tax instrumentalities of the federal government74× 74  McCulloch v  Maryland, 17 U S  (4 Wheat ) 316, 436 (1819)  — unless Congress consents 75× 75  See, e g , Helvering v  Gerhardt, 304 U S  405, 411 n 1 (1938) (“Congress may curtail an immunity which might otherwise be implied or enlarge it beyond the point where, Congress being silent, the Court would set its limits ” (citations omitted))  One court has described such judicial decisions as setting a “constitutional default rule ” United States v  Delaware, 958 F 2d 555, 560 n 9 (3d Cir  1992) (“[W]e must decide the constitutional default rule for this type of tax, fully aware that Congress could decide at any time to reverse our decision statutorily ”)  (2) Article I, Section 10 Cases: Article I, Section 10 provides that certain prohibitions on the states may be waived by Congress 76× 76  See U S  Const  art  I, § 10, cls  2–3  The Court has taken note of this when considering whether to overrule, for instance, an Import-Export Clause precedent 77× 77  See Hooven & Allison Co  v  Evatt, 324 U S  652, 668 (1945) (“In view of the fact that the Constitution gives Congress authority to consent to state taxation of imports and hence to lay down its own test for determining when the immunity ends, we see no convincing practical reason for abandoning the test which has been applied for more than a century        ”), overruled on other grounds by Limbach v  Hooven & Allison Co , 466 U S  353 (1984)  In Michelin Tire Corp  v  Wages, 423 U S  276 (1976), the Court left open the question whether “Congress may authorize, under the Import-Export Clause, an exaction that it could not directly impose under the Tax Clause ” Id  at 301 n 13  Metzger, however, argues that the Import-Export Clause is free of other clauses’ limits on congressional power  See Metzger, supra note 69, at 1500 & n 120  (3) Bivens Cases: In Bivens v  Six Unknown Named Agents of Federal Bureau of Narcotics,78× 78  403 U S  388 (1971)  the Court held that a violation of the Fourth Amendment gives rise to a right to sue for damages 79× 79  Id  at 397  But the Court has also held that “[s]uch a cause of action may be defeated       when       Congress has provided an alternative remedy which it explicitly declared to be a substitute for recovery directly under the Constitution and viewed as equally effective ”80× 80  Carlson v  Green, 446 U S  14, 18–19 (1980)  (4) Miranda Cases: The Miranda Court famously “encourage[d]” Congress and the states to explore alternative “procedures which are at least as effective in apprising accused persons of their right of silence and in assuring a continuous opportunity to exercise it ”81× 81  Miranda v  Arizona, 384 U S  436, 467 (1966)  In Dickerson v  United States, 530 U S  428 (2000), the Court struck down a congressional attempt to effectively abolish Miranda, holding that “Miranda announced a constitutional rule that Congress may not supersede legislatively ” Id  at 444  But Dickerson also stood by Miranda’s “invitation for legislative action” to replace Miranda with an adequate substitute  Id  at 440; see also Michael C  Dorf & Barry Friedman, Shared Constitutional Interpretation, 2000 Sup  Ct  Rev  61 (discussing legislative alternatives to Miranda)  (5) The Police Lineup Case: In United States v  Wade,82× 82  388 U S  218 (1967)  the Court created an exclusionary rule for evidence obtained from a police lineup in violation of the Sixth Amendment right to counsel but acknowledged that it could be replaced by “[l]egislative or other regulations       which eliminate the risks of abuse ”83× 83  Id  at 239  (6) The Exclusionary Rule Cases: Mapp v  Ohio made the Fourth Amendment “exclusionary rule” binding on the states,84× 84  367 U S  643, 655 (1961)  yet Congress is thought to have the power to replace it 85× 85  See Bivens v  Six Unknown Named Agents of Fed  Bureau of Narcotics, 403 U S  388, 422–24 (1971) (Burger, C J , dissenting) (inviting Congress to replace the Fourth Amendment exclusionary rule); Harold J  Krent, How to Move Beyond the Exclusionary Rule: Structuring Judicial Response to Legislative Reform Efforts, 26 Pepp  L  Rev  855, 864–71 (1999) 
All of the above are arguably constitutional default rules set by the Court that remain, to one degree or another, open to congressional revision  The list could be longer or shorter, depending on which default rules the Court will view as constitutional86× 86  A shorter list could be produced by whittling away at the constitutional status of the cases identified by Monaghan  While the Court has held that Miranda is a constitutional decision, Dickerson, 530 U S  at 444, some of the other cases may be viewed as nonconstitutional  See, e g , Collins v  Virginia, 138 S  Ct  1663, 1675–80 (2018) (Thomas, J , concurring) (arguing that Mapp is “nonconstitutional,” id  at 1678 n 5); Richard H  Fallon, Jr  et al , Hart and Wechsler’s The Federal Courts and the Federal System 775–77 (7th ed  2015) (discussing whether Bivens is constitutionally required)  Conversely, a longer list might include any constitutional right that can be waived by a party  See, e g , Daniel A  Farber, Another View of the Quagmire: Unconstitutional Conditions and Contract Theory, 33 Fla  St  U  L  Rev  913, 918 (2006) (describing the Eleventh Amendment as “just a contractual default rule that the states are free to barter away”)  Such a list might also include various constitutionally inspired judicial presumptions  See, e g , Jack Goldsmith & John F  Manning, The President’s Completion Power, 115 Yale L J  2280, 2299 (2006) (describing the Chevron presumption of delegated interpretive power to administrative agencies as “a constitutionally inspired default rule”); Nicholas Quinn Rosenkranz, Federal Rules of Statutory Interpretation, 115 Harv  L  Rev  2085, 2097–98 (2002) (describing clear statement rules as “constitutional default rules” reversible by Congress)  Many other decisions could likely be characterized as constitutional default rules; the list above is only an initial stab  and on how it will answer open questions about congressional authority over certain constitutional provisions 87× 87  See, e g , Thomas v  Wash  Gas Light Co , 448 U S  261, 272 n 18 (1980) (plurality opinion) (leaving unresolved whether Congress may limit constitutional full faith and credit obligations); White v  Mass  Council of Constr  Emp’rs, Inc , 460 U S  204, 215 n 1 (1983) (Blackmun, J , concurring in part and dissenting in part) (leaving unresolved “whether Congress may authorize       what otherwise would be a violation” of the Privileges and Immunities Clause); 1 Tribe, supra note 72, § 6-35, at 1243–44 (arguing that Congress cannot override judicial constructions of the Privileges and Immunities Clause); Metzger, supra note 69, at 1486–89 (arguing the opposite)  But the takeaway is clear: weaker stare decisis for constitutional default rules  Pre-Wayfair, one would have thought that stare decisis applies with special force to such precedents, given congressional power to set them straight  Not anymore  Why? Because it is improper to “ask Congress to address a false constitutional premise of th[e] Court’s own creation ”88× 88  Wayfair, 138 S  Ct  at 2096  The Latin for Wayfair’s doctrine is not stare decisis, which should reflect a realistic, working relationship between the legislative and judicial branches  It is mea culpa 
In its zeal to update the Constitution for “the Cyber Age,”89× 89  Id  at 2097  the Court deleted Congress from stare decisis doctrine in constitutional cases  The Court had better options  It could have left Quill on Congress’s doorstep, as the dissent argued  Or it could have justified overruling Quill notwithstanding the special force of stare decisis  Instead, the Court reasoned that it doesn’t matter whether Congress is willing and able to do the job: a constitutional mess calls for a judicial clean-up crew  For constitutional default rules — a category of decisions embracing the dormant commerce clause and sweeping far beyond — Wayfair’s new theory of stare decisis makes the Court’s precedents less sticky and Congress less relevant 



ground_truth: "I have seen the Lord.".

prompt_front: Now, answer the following question based on the text below, only give me the answer and do not output any other words.

Question: What did Justice Kennedy argue about Quill in Direct Marketing Ass'n v. Brohl?

Read the following text and answer briefly.

Context 4:  The process is repeated for all the couplings obtaining then a fully connected adjacency matrix  The results here presented are obtained with $\lambda = 0 01$ 
   For the minimization we have used the MATLAB routine \emph{minFunc\_2012}\cite{min_func}  
      
      \begin{figure}[t!]
    	\centering
    	\includegraphics[width=1\linewidth]{Jor11_2D_l2_JR_soJR_TPJR}
    	\caption{Top panels: instances of single site coupling reconstruction for the case of $N=64$ XY spins on a 2D lattice with ordered $J$ (left column) and bimodal distributed $J$ (right column)  
    	
    	Bottom panels: sorted couplings }
    	\label{PL-Jor1}
    \end{figure}

   
To produce the data by means of numerical Monte Carlo simulations a system with $N=64$  spin variables  is considered on a deterministic 2D lattice with periodic boundary conditions  
Each spin has then connectivity $4$, i e , we expect to infer an adjacency matrix with $N c = 256$ couplings different from zero  
The dynamics of the simulated model is based on the Metropolis algorithm and parallel tempering\cite{earl05} is used to speed up the thermalization of the system 
The thermalization is tested looking at the average energy over logarithmic time windows and
the acquisition of independent configurations
starts only after the system is well thermalized 

   For the values of the couplings we considered two cases: an ordered case, indicated in the figure as  $J$ ordered (e g , left column of Fig  \ref{PL-Jor1}) where the couplings can take values $J_{ij}=0,J$, with $J=1$, 
   and a quenched disordered case, indicated in the figures as  $J$ disordered (e g , right column of Fig  \ref{PL-Jor1})
   where the couplings can take also  negative values, i e , 
    $J_{ij}=0,J,-J$, with a certain probability   The results here presented were obtained with bimodal distributed $J$s: 
   
    $P(J_{ij}=J)=P(J_{ij}=-J)=1/2$   The performances of the PLM have shown not to depend on $P(J)$  
   
    We recall that in Sec  \ref{sec:plm} we used the temperature-rescaled notation, i e , $J_{ij}$ stands for $J_{ij}/T$  
   
    To analyze the performances of the PLM, in Fig  \ref{PL-Jor1} the inferred couplings, $\mathbb{J}^R_{\rm inf}$, are shown on top of the original couplings,  $\mathbb{J}^R_{\rm true}$ 
     The first figure (from top) in the left column shows  the $\mathbb{J}^R_{\rm inf}$ (black) and the $\mathbb{J}^R_{\rm tru}$ (green) for a given spin
     at temperature $T/J=0 7$ and number of samples  $M=1024$  PLM appears to reconstruct the correct couplings, though zero couplings are always given a small inferred non-zero value  
     In the left column of Fig   \ref{PL-Jor1},  both the $\mathbb{J}^R_{\rm{inf}}$ and the $\mathbb{J}^R_{\rm{tru}}$ are sorted in decreasing order and plotted on top of each other  
     We can clearly see that $\mathbb{J}^R_{\rm inf}$ reproduces the expected step function  Even though the jump is smeared, the difference between inferred couplings corresponding to the set of non-zero couplings 
     and to the set of zero couplings can be clearly appreciated 
     Similarly, the plots in the right column of Fig  \ref{PL-Jor1} show the results obtained for the case with  bimodal disordered couplings, for the same working temperature and number of samples  
     In particular, note that the algorithm infers half positive and half negative couplings, as expected 
     
     
\begin{figure}
\centering
\includegraphics[width=1\linewidth]{Jor11_2D_l2_errJ_varT_varM}
\caption{Reconstruction error $\mbox{err}_J$, cf  Eq  (\ref{eq:errj}), plotted as a function of temperature (left) for three values of the number of samples $M$ and  as a function $M$ (right) for three values of temperature in the ordered system, i e , $J_{ij}=0,1$  
The system size is $N=64$ }
\label{PL-err-Jor1}
\end{figure}

In order to analyze the effects of the number of samples and of the temperature regimes, we plot in Fig  \ref{PL-err-Jor1} the reconstruction error, Eq  (\ref{err}), as a function of temperature for three different sample sizes $M=64,128$ and $512$  
The error is seen to sharply rise al low temperature, incidentally, in the ordered case, for  $T<T_c \sim 0 893$, which is the Kosterlitz-Thouless transition temperature of the 2XY model\cite{Olsson92}  
 However, we can see that if only $M=64$ samples are considered, $\mbox{err}_J$ remains high independently on the working temperature  
 In the right plot of Fig  \ref{PL-err-Jor1},  $\mbox{err}_J$ is plotted as a function of $M$ for three different working temperatures $T/J=0 4,0 7$ and $1 3$  As we expect, 
 $\mbox{err}_J$  decreases as $M$ increases  This effect was observed also with mean-field inference techniques on the same model\cite{Tyagi15} 

To better understand the performances of the algorithms, in Fig  \ref{PL-varTP-Jor1} we show several True Positive (TP) curves obtained for various values of $M$ at three different temperatures $T$  As $M$ is large and/or temperature is not too small,  we are able to reconstruct correctly all the couplings present in the system (see bottom plots) 
The True Positive curve displays how many times the inference method finds a true link of the original network  as a function of the index of the vector of sorted absolute value of reconstructed couplings $J_{ij}^{\rm inf}$  
The index $n_{(ij)}$ represents the related spin couples $(ij)$  The TP curve is obtained as follows: 
first  the values $|J^{\rm inf}_{ij}|$ are sorted in descending order and  the spin pairs $(ij)$ are ordered according to the sorting position of $|J^{\rm inf}_{ij}|$  Then,
     	a cycle over the ordered set of pairs $(ij)$, indexed by $n_{(ij)}$, is performed, comparing with the original network coupling $J^{\rm true}_{ij}$ and verifying whether it is zero or not  The true positive curve is computed as
\begin{equation}
\mbox{TP}[n_{(ij)}]= \frac{\mbox{TP}\left[n_{(ij)}-1\right] (n_{ij}-1)+ 1 -\delta_{J^{\rm true}_{ij},0}}{n_{(ij)}}
\end{equation}
As far as $J^{\rm true}_{ij} \neq 0$, TP$=1$  As soon as the true coupling of a given $(ij)$ couple in the sorted list is zero, the TP curve departs from one  
In our case, where the connectivity per spin of the original system is  $c=4$ and there are $N=64$ spins, we know that we will have  $256$ non-zero couplings   
     	If the inverse problem is successful, hence, we expect a steep decrease of the TP curve when  $n_{ij}=256$ is overcome 

In Fig  \ref{PL-varTP-Jor1}
it is  shown that,  almost independently of $T/J$, the TP score improves as $M$ increases  Results are plotted for three different temperatures, $T=0 4,1$ and $2 2$, with increasing number of samples $M = 64, 128,512$ and $1024$ (clockwise)  
We can clearly appreciate the improvement in temperature if the size of the data-set is not very large: for small $M$, $T=0 4$ performs better  
When $M$ is high enough (e g , $M=1024$), instead, the TP curves do not appear to be strongly influenced by the temperature 

\begin{figure}[t!]
	\centering
	\includegraphics[width=1\linewidth]{Jor11_2D_l2_TPJR_varT_varM}
	\caption{TP  curves  for 2D short-range ordered $XY$ model with $N=64$ spins at three different values of $T/J$ with increasing - clockwise from top - $M$ }
	\label{PL-varTP-Jor1} 
\end{figure} 

\subsection{$XY$ model with complex-valued couplings}
For the complex $XY$ we have to contemporary  infer $2$ apart coupling matrices,  $J^R_{i j}$ and $J^I_{i j}$   As before, a system of $N=64$ spins is considered on a 2D lattice 
For the couplings we have considered both ordered and bimodal disordered cases 
In Fig  \ref{PL-Jor3}, a single row of the matrix $J$ (top) and the whole sorted couplings (bottom) are displayed for the ordered model (same legend as in Fig  \ref{PL-Jor1}) for the real, $J^R$ (left column), and the imaginary part, $J^I$   

\begin{figure}[t!]
	\centering
\includegraphics[width=1\linewidth]{Jor3_l2_JRJI_soJRJI_TPJRJI}
	\caption{Results related to the ordered complex XY model with $N=64$ spins on a  2D lattice  Top: instances of  single site reconstruction for the real, JR (left column), and
		the imaginary, JI (right column), part of $J_{ij}$  Bottom: sorted values of JR (left) and JI (right) }
		
	\label{PL-Jor3}
\end{figure}
 
 
  \section{PLM with Decimation}
 \label{sec:res_dec}
 

\begin{figure}[t!]
   	\centering
   	\includegraphics[width=1\linewidth]{Jor1_dec_tPLF_varT_varM}
    	\caption{Tilted Pseudolikelyhood, ${\cal L}_t$, plotted as a function of decimated couplings  Top: Different ${\cal L}_t$ curves obtained for different values of $M$ plotted on top of each other  Here $T=1 3$  The black line indicates the expected number of decimated couplings, $x^*=(N (N-1) - N c)/2=1888$  As we can see, as $M$ increases, the maximum point of ${\cal L}_t$ approaches $x^*$  Bottom: Different ${\cal L}_t$ curves obtained for different values of T with $M=2048$  We can see that, with this value of $M$, no differences can be appreciated on the maximum points of the different  ${\cal L}_t$ curves }
   	\label{var-$t$PLF}
   \end{figure}

\begin{figure}[t!]
    \centering
    \includegraphics[width=1\linewidth]{Jor1_dec_tPLF_peak_statistics_varM_prob eps}
    	\caption{Number of most likely decimated couplings, estimated by the maximum point of $\mathcal{L}_t$, as a function of the number of samples $M$  We can clearly see that the maximum point of $\mathcal{L}_t$ tends toward $x^*$, which is the right expected number of zero couplings in the system }  
    	\label{PLF_peak_statistics}
    \end{figure}
      
      For the ordered real-valued XY model we show in Fig  \ref{var-$t$PLF}, top panel, the outcome on the tilted pseudolikelyhood, $\mathcal{L}_t$ Eq  \eqref{$t$PLF}, of the progressive decimation: from a fully connected lattice  down to an empty lattice  The figure shows the behaviour of $\mathcal{L}_t$ for three different data sizes $M$  A clear data size dependence of the maximum point of  $\mathcal{L}_t$, signalling the most likely value for decimation, is shown  For small $M$ the most likely number of  couplings is overestimated and for increasing $M$ it tends to the true value, as displayed in Fig  \ref{PLF_peak_statistics}   In the bottom panel of Fig  \ref{var-$t$PLF} we display instead different 
 $\mathcal{L}_t$ curves obtained for three different values of $T$ 
  Even though the values of $\mathcal{L}_t$ decrease with increasing temperature, the value of the most likely number of decimated couplings appears to be quite independent on $T$ with $M=2048$ number of samples 
In Fig  \ref{fig:Lt_complex} we eventually display the tilted pseudolikelyhood for a 2D network with complex valued ordered couplings, where the decimation of the real and imaginary coupling matrices proceeds in parallel, that is, 
when a real coupling is small enough to be decimated its imaginary part is also decimated, and vice versa 
One can see that though the apart errors for the real and imaginary parts are different in absolute values, they display the same dip, to be compared with the maximum point of $\mathcal{L}_t$ 
     
       \begin{figure}[t!]
    	\centering
      	\includegraphics[width=1\linewidth]{Jor3_dec_tPLF_new}
      	\caption{Tilted Pseudolikelyhood, ${\cal L}_t$, plotted with the reconstruction errors for the XY model with $N=64$ spins on a 2D lattice  These results refer to the case of  ordered and complex valued couplings  The full (red) line indicates ${\cal L}_t$  The dashed (green) 
      		and the dotted (blue) lines show the reconstruction errors (Eq  \eqref{eq:errj}) obtained for the real and the imaginary couplings respectively  We can see that both ${\rm err_{JR}}$ and ${\rm err_{JI}}$ have a minimum at $x^*$ }
          	\label{fig:Lt_complex}
    \end{figure}

\begin{figure}[t!]
   	\centering
   	\includegraphics[width=1\linewidth]{Jor1_dec_JR_soJR_TPJR}
   	\caption{XY model on a 2D lattice with $N=64$ sites and real valued couplings  The graphs show the inferred (dashed black lines) and true couplings (full green lines) plotted on top of each other  The left and right columns refer to the
   		 cases of ordered and bimodal disordered couplings, respectively  Top figures: single site reconstruction, i e , one row of the matrix $J$  Bottom figures: couplings are plotted sorted in descending order }  
   	\label{Jor1_dec}
   \end{figure}
   
\begin{figure}[t!]
    	\centering
    	\includegraphics[width=1\linewidth]{Jor3_dec_JRJI_soJRJI_TPJRJI}
    	\caption{XY model on a 2D lattice with $N=64$ sites and ordered complex-valued couplings 
    		The inferred and true couplings are plotted on top of each other  The left and right columns show the real and imaginary parts, respectively, of the couplings  Top figures refer to a single site reconstruction, i e , one row of the matrix $J$  Bottom figures report the couplings sorted in descending order }
    	\label{Jor3_dec}
    \end{figure}
    
       







       \begin{figure}[t!]
     	\centering
     	\includegraphics[width=1\linewidth]{MF_PL_Jor1_2D_TPJR_varT}
     	\caption{True Positive curves obtained with the three techniques: PLM with decimation, (blue) dotted line,  PLM with $l_2$ regularization, (greed) dashed line, and mean-field, (red) full line   These results refer to real valued ordered couplings with $N=64$ spins on a 2D lattice  The temperature is here $T=0 7$ while the four graphs refer to different sample sizes: $M$ increases clockwise }
     	\label{MF_PL_TP}
     \end{figure}
    
    \begin{figure}[t!]
    	\centering
    	\includegraphics[width=1\linewidth]{MF_PL_Jor1_2D_errJ_varT_varM}
    	\caption{Variation of reconstruction error, ${\rm err_J}$, with respect to temperature as obtained with the three different techniques, see Fig  \ref{MF_PL_TP}, for four different sample size:  clockwise from top   $M=512,1024, 2048$ and $4096$ } 
    	\label{MF_PL_err}
    \end{figure}
    
     Once the most likely network has been identified through the decimation procedure, we perform the same analysis displayed in Fig  \ref{Jor1_dec}  for ordered and then quenched disordered real-valued couplings
and in Fig  \ref{Jor3_dec} for  complex-valued ordered couplings   In comparison to the results shown in Sec  \ref{sec:res_reg},
  the PLM with decimation leads to rather cleaner results  In Figs  \ref{MF_PL_err} and \ref{MF_PL_TP} we compare the performances of the PLM with decimation in respect to ones of the PLM with $l_2$-regularization  These two techniques are also analysed in respect to a mean-field technique previously implemented on the same XY systems\cite{Tyagi15} 
  
    For what concerns the network of connecting links, in Fig  \ref{MF_PL_TP} we compare the TP curves obtained with the three techniques  The results refer to the case of ordered and real valued couplings, but similar behaviours were obtained for the other cases analysed  
  The four graphs are related to different sample sizes, with $M$ increasing clockwise  When $M$ is high enough, all techniques reproduce the true network  
  However, for lower values of $M$ the performances of the PLM with $l_2$ regularization and with decimation drastically overcome those ones of the previous mean field technique  
  In particular, for $M=256$ the PLM techniques still reproduce the original network while the mean-field method fails to find more than half of the couplings  
  When $M=128$, the network is clearly reconstructed only through the PLM with decimation while the PLM with $l_2$ regularization underestimates the couplings  
  Furthermore, we notice that the PLM method with decimation is able to clearly infer the network of interaction even when $M=N$ signalling that it could be considered also in the under-sampling regime $M<N$   
 
 
In Fig  \ref{MF_PL_err} we compare the temperature behaviour of the reconstruction error 
In can be observed that for all temperatures and for all sample sizes  the reconstruction error, ${\rm err_J}$, (plotted here in log-scale) obtained with the PLM+decimation is always smaller than 
that one obtained with the other techniques  The temperature behaviour of ${\rm err_J}$ agrees with the one already observed for Ising spins in \cite{Nguyen12b} and for XY spins  in \cite{Tyagi15} with a mean-field approach:  ${\rm err_J}$ displays a minimum around $T\simeq 1$ and then it increases for very lower $T$; however,
 the error obtained with the PLM with decimation is several times smaller  than the error estimated by the other methods 



 
 

     
     \section{Conclusions}
     \label{sec:conc}


Different statistical inference methods have been applied to the inverse problem of the XY model 
After a short review of techniques based on pseudo-likelihood and their formal generalization to the model we have tested their performances against data generated by means of Monte Carlo numerical simulations of known instances
with diluted, sparse, interactions 

The main outcome is that the best performances are obtained by means of the  pseudo-likelihood method combined with decimation  Putting to zero (i e , decimating) very weak bonds, this technique turns out to be very precise for  problems whose real underlying interaction network is sparse, i e , the number of couplings per variable does not scale with number of variables 
The PLM + decimation method is compared to the PLM + regularization method, with $\ell_2$ regularization and to a mean-field-based method  The behavior of the quality of the network reconstruction is analyzed by looking at the overall sorted couplings and at the single site couplings, comparing them with the real network, and at the true positive curves in all three approaches  In the PLM +decimation method, moreover, the identification of the number of decimated bonds at which the tilted pseudo-likelihood is maximum allows for a precise estimate of the total number of bonds  Concerning this technique, it is also shown that the network with the most likely number of bonds is also the one of least reconstruction error, where not only the prediction of the presence of a bond is estimated but also its value 

The behavior of the inference quality in temperature and in the size of data samples is also investigated, basically confirming the low $T$ behavior hinted by Nguyen and Berg \cite{Nguyen12b} for the Ising model  In temperature, in particular, the reconstruction error curve displays a minimum at a low temperature, close to the critical point in those cases in which a critical behavior occurs, and a sharp increase as temperature goes to zero  The decimation method, once again, appears to enhance this minimum of the reconstruction error of almost an order of magnitude with respect to other methods 
 
The techniques displayed and the results obtained in this work can be of use in any of the many systems whose theoretical representation is given by Eq  \eqref{eq:HXY} or Eq  \eqref{eq:h_im}, some of which are recalled in Sec  \ref{sec:model}  In particular, a possible application can be the field of light waves propagation through random media and the corresponding problem of the  reconstruction of an object seen through an opaque medium or a disordered optical fiber \cite{Vellekoop07,Vellekoop08a,Vellekoop08b, Popoff10a,Akbulut11,Popoff11,Yilmaz13,Riboli14} 

 	



ground_truth: Quill harmed states more than anticipated due to the Internet.