Pattern Of The Year 2022 Nominations

[dvgrn]

I also suggest that we keep the voting system that we have used for the last few years.

I second this, with one minor change: the star range will be changed from 0-3 to 0-5.

I had already sent this as a private message, but it might as well be accessible to everyone: here's a version of my awkward but effective counting script that allows up to five stars after each nomination.

EDIT: Found some rather mysterious ASCII code-page copy/paste problems while doing this year's count. Updated the script to version 0.8, with a description of what I found I had to do as a workaround.

Code: Select all

# This Python file uses the following encoding: utf-8
# vote-tally-v0.8.py
# Version 0.6:  update maximum number of stars to 5 at b3s23love's request
# Version 0.7:  account for changed format now that Nathaniel has updated to a new PHPBB version
# Version 0.8:  there can be any number of spaces (including zero)
#                     after the number and before the one, two, three, four or five asterisks.

import golly as g
votes = """PASTE PAGES OF HTML HERE --
just a copy of "View Source" for however many pages of votes there are,
leaving out everything after '<div class="action-bar bar-bottom">' toward the end,
saved as an ANSI text file and then re-opened and re-copied.
On current Windows Chrome at least, here's some Unicode ugliness
hiding in the copied text, which causes parsing errors -- not sure why yet.
<div>#01 *<br />#02 **<br />#03 ***<br />#04 ****<br />#05 *****<br />
"""
# remove all quoted text before parsing
while votes.find("<blockquote")>0:
  bqstart = votes.find("<blockquote")
  bqend = votes.find("</blockquote>",bqstart)
  if bqend == -1:
    g.note("found unmatched blockquote\n"+votes[bqstart:bqstart+1000])
    break
  votes = votes[:bqstart]+votes[bqend+13:]

# look at every HTML substring that might be a line in a message
# increase the 'index' pointer after each find until no more ">.*<" are found
votelist, maxnum, index, d, totals = [], 0, 0, {}, {}
while votes.find(">",index)>-1:
  g.show(str(index))
  linestart = votes.find(">", index)
  lineend = votes.find("<", linestart)
  if lineend==-1:
    index = len(votes)
  else:
    line = votes[linestart+1:lineend]+"[end]"
    line = line.replace("\n","")
    g.show(line)
    index = lineend

    # test whether the latest line is a canonical vote line
    if line[0]=="#":
      numind = 1
      while line[numind].isdigit(): numind+=1
      numstr = line[1:numind]
      if numstr != "":
        # g.note(line + " :: " + numstr)
        num = int(numstr)
        while line[numind]==" ":
          numind+=1
        voteind = numind
        # g.note(line[voteind:voteind+10])
        count = 0
        while line[voteind]=="*":
          count+=1
          voteind+=1
        if count > 0 and count < 6:
          if num > maxnum: maxnum = num
          votelist += [[num, count]]

# build the output table from the collected votes in votelist
for i in range(maxnum):
  d[i+1] = str(i+101)[1:] + ", "
  totals[i+1] = 0
for item in votelist:
  d[item[0]] += str(item[1])+", "
  totals[item[0]] += item[1]
patterns = []

for i in range(maxnum):
  data = d[i+1]
  if data[-2:] == ", ": data = data[:-2] # remove trailing comma
  patterns+=[str(1000+totals[i+1])[1:] + ", #" + data]
sortpat = sorted(patterns, reverse=True)

s = "Total, Pattern #, Votes\n"
for item in sortpat: s+=item +"\n"
g.setclipstr(s)
winner = sortpat[0]
wi = winner.find(",")
g.show("Copied CSV output to clipboard.  Winner is " + winner[wi+2:winner.find(",",wi+2)] + " with " + winner[:wi] + " stars.")

[Pavgran]

I second this, with one minor change: the star range will be changed from 0-3 to 0-5.

I'd prefer to keep the range the same.
It feels to me that 0-3 range is somewhat close to 'optimal' in the sense that it's big enough to enable granular choice, but small enough to keep the full weight of each option, without some options dominating the others during one's choice.

[Sokwe]

Here's finally a collection of pattern links that I will link to from the future POTY voting thread.

I feel the list of links for each entry makes the nominee links harder to read. The entries should also include the descriptions. I would prefer something more like previous years' lists. For example, see last year's voting thread.

[b3s23love]

Here's finally a collection of pattern links that I will link to from the future POTY voting thread.

I feel the list of links for each entry makes the nominee links harder to read. The entries should also include the descriptions. I would prefer something more like previous years' lists. For example, see last year's voting thread.

I meant that I will link to this list from the voting thread, and that only one link will be provided in the thread, just like in the previous years.

[Sokwe]

I meant that I will link to this list from the voting thread, and that only one link will be provided in the thread, just like in the previous years.

Okay. We still need a proper mock-up of the nominee list posted here in the nominee thread.

[b3s23love]

Here’s finally the mock-up of the nominee list.

EDIT by dvgrn: NOTE: For nominations of multiple related items, the links below are representative samples only. If you can't find all the details of the nomination in a given link, look up the nomination number in this comprehensive summary post.

1. 74P34 The first known non-trivial oscillator with period 34. (by Mitchell Riley)
2. Raucci's p38 The first known oscillator with period 38, made by adding copies of cvojan's traffic stop as fenceposts for a known wick by Jason Summers. (by David Raucci, Jason Summers and cvojan)
3. Unsynthesizable and limited-ancestor objects These discoveries include an unsynthesizable still life and unsynthesizable p2 oscillator, both based on "self-forcing" agars, as well as a generalized solution to the grandfather problem (patterns that have n-tick predecessors but no (n+1)-tick predecessors). (by Ilkka Törmä and Ville Salo)
4. Record lifespan puffer-based methuselahs This series of patterns with relatively small bounding boxes and initial populations set several new records for methuselah longevity. (by yaochen2, dani and gravity)
5. Explicit 15-glider reverse caber tosser A concrete construction demonstrating that any glider synthesis can be reduced to use just 15 gliders. The number of gliders was also reduced from its previous value of 17. (by Daniel Vargas, Adam P. Goucher, Pavel Grankovskiy, Simon Ekström, Dave Greene, AlbertArmStain, Oscar Cunningham, Chris Cain, dani and Goldtiger997)
6. Five new p23 engines At the end of 2021, only one period-23 oscillator was known, excluding variants: David Hilbert. As of the end of 2022, there are six. (by Nico Brown, James Pascua and Mitchell Riley)
7. The Great Oscillator Discovery Project This project continued 2022's increased focus on the discovery of new oscillators, partially to work toward filling in the remaining unknown oscillator periods to finally prove Life to be omniperiodic. Several new automated and semi-automated search techniques were introduced, resulting in a flood of new discoveries. For example, the introduction of symmetric CatForce has led to new oscillators of approximately 112 periods, including fifteen primes above 13. (by David Raucci, Mitchell Riley, Luke Kiernan, iNoMed, et al.)
8. Engineered diehards A series of diehard patterns with increasingly long lifespans, culminating in the discovery of a pattern that starts in a bounding box of area 9990, and yet lives for more than 10^10^10^10^10^10^10^10^10^10^10^10^10^10^10 generations before dying out completely. (by Dean Hickerson, Pavel Grankovskiy, toroidalet and Tanner Jacobi)
9. Quartermax A long sought-after pattern that fills one quarter of the Life plane with zebra stripes. (by Keith Amling, Hartmut Holzwart and Jason Summers)
10. Gliderless Gosper glider gun breeder A p48 puffer for Gosper glider guns that produces its output in a very unconventional way, with no glider collisions. (by Wojciech Kęsy)
11. New quadratic growth records The smallest known quadratic growth patterns, in terms of population, number of gliders and bounding box -- 20-cell quadratic growth, 6G quadratic growth and 23×13 quadratic growth. (by dani, Luka Okanishi and Rocknlol)
12. Self-synthesizing glide-reflecting loopship A pattern made entirely of gliders that synthesises a reflected and translated copy of itself. Thus it is an orthogonal spaceship travelling at a speed of 30985960c/144171206. (by Goldtiger997)
13. Speed Orthogonoid An adjustable spaceship capable at travelling orthogonally at any speed less than c/2. (by Goldtiger997)
14. Speed Orthogonal Loopship A pattern made entirely of XWSSes that synthesises a reflected and translated copy of itself. It travels orthogonally and is adjustable so that its speed can become arbitrarily close to c/2. Its population is much less than that of the Speed Orthogonoid. (by Goldtiger997)
15. Nico Brown's strictly volatile oscillators Nico Brown created a script that can create huge strictly volatile oscillators of any period 943+ except 944. Note that this entry does not include the strictly volatile p86, which coincidentally has Nico Brown as a co-discoverer. (by Nico Brown)
16. Taco The third known elementary c/7 orthogonal spaceship. (by Frank Everdij)
17. New honeyfarm catalysts Catalysts which perform new perturbations on honey farms. In particular the chucklebait, which has found considerable use in honey farm hasslers of various periods. (by Mitchell Riley and Luke Kiernan)
18. Component for adding a "crotchet" to a c/3 spaceship This is a new synthesis component that can repeatably extend a "waltz" section of c/3 orthogonal spaceship, allowing for the first known infinite series of synthesizable c/3 spaceships. (by Goldtiger997)
19. Small Max predcessors After an intermediate 127-cell, 27 × 23 new record set by iNoMed, Rocknlol found two different record predecessors of a Max spacefiller variant by population and bounding box of 112 cells and 21 × 21, respectively. (by iNoMed and Rocknlol)
20. p86 R-pentomino hassler The discovery of this oscillator added 86 to a fairly short list, making it the fourteenth period where a strictly volatile oscillator is known that doesn't make use of self-constructing circuitry. (by Nico Brown and iNoMed)
21. New spaceship syntheses Glider construction recipes were discovered for Orion 2, 33P4H1V1, 70P5H2V0, 58P8H4V0, 30P3H1V0, 29P3H1V0, Brain, 66P5H2V0, and 37P4H1V1, as well as the unbounded number of c/3 spaceships made possible by #18 above. (by Goldtiger997, Mark Niemiec, iNoMed, Tanner Jacobi, pipsqueek and Connor Steppie)
22. New reflector periods 90° reflectors for the previously unsolved periods of 23, 34 and 38. (by vivi, iNoMed, Matthias Merzenich, David Raucci, Mitchell Riley, MAP bot, Nico Brown, Tanner Jacobi and Noam Elkies)
23. Smaller p24 glider gun A new second-smallest glider gun after the Gosper glider gun, fitting in a 20 × 20 bounding box. (by cvojan, vivi and James Pascua)
24. Lisp in Life A Lisp interpreter implemented in Conway’s Game of Life, using technology similar to the Quest for Tetris project. This is the first implementation of a standardized high-level programming language inside Conway’s Game of Life. (by Hikaru Ikuta)
25. Completion of the 21-bit strict still life synthesis project and completion of the 20-bit pseudo still life synthesis project Glider syntheses for all 21-bit strict still lifes and all 20-bit psuedo-still lifes. (by Alex Greason, May13, wwei23, iNoMed, Daniel Vargas, Jeremy Tan, Adam P. Goucher, HotWheels9232, Carson Cheng, Goldtiger997 and Tanner Jacobi)
26. New stable conduits and converters Several new stable conduits and converters, including the Speed Tunnel, HRx65R, a small stable 180° reflector (the "Jubjub reflector"), F149, Lx129, HL224H, RSE14T117, and NW-2T16. (by Mitchell Riley, Simon Ekström, Evin, Entity Valkyrie 2, Tanner Jacobi and qqd)
27. p8 "functionally stable" glider reflector A period-8 180° glider reflector that works in every phase and hence can be used as if it were stable. (by Tanner Jacobi)
28. Soup search discoveries from distributed computing projects Thanks to the efforts of Darren Li, in 2022 Catagolue started receiving a much larger number of distributed-computing search results, especially for symmetric soups. This contributed to a large number of new discoveries; see the Charity Engine and Open Science Grid articles for examples. (by Darren Li / Charity Engine and Open Science Grid)
29. New gun periods Guns of five previously unsolved periods: 25, 27, 34, 37, and 43. (by David Raucci, iNoMed, Nico Brown, Mitchell Riley, goldenratio, Luke Kiernan, Gustone and cvojan)
30. New greyships A variety of new greyships, many of which were found with Keith Amling’s new search program, LLSSS. (by Hartmut Holzwart and Keith Amling)
31. New c/2 patterns from soup searches Ships, puffers and a rake found from 'unnatural' soup searches. The ship 58P8H4V0 and the p28 block puffer were found in symmetric soups; the ship 35P12H6V0, the p112 puffer and p12 rake were found in soups with the leading edge of the spaceships already present. (by mystical, Charity Engine and wwei23)
32. 232P7H3V0 A new record for the smallest 3c/7 spaceship. (by Keith Amling)

[Anivec]

When are we going to vote? It’s been half a year since 2022 ended. POTY 2022 might as well be the next “Belated Pattern of the Year 2012 voting”

[Sokwe]

Here’s finally the mock-up of the nominee list.

I haven't looked through this thoroughly yet, but the most immediate issue I see is that American Dream should be mentioned in the description of entry 3. The table on the wiki includes such a sentence. If you want to make it shorter, you could simply write the following:

These discoveries include an unsynthesizable still life and unsynthesizable p2 oscillator, both based on "self-forcing" agars, a generalized solution to the grandfather problem (patterns that have n-tick predecessors but no (n+1)-tick predecessors), and a finite pattern with an infinite-population predecessor but no finite-population predecessor.

I also think all entry names should be bolded and followed by a (bolded) colon, as has been done in past years. In the past we've also written the nominees as a bulleted list with the entry number as text at the front. Is there a good reason to prefer a bulleted list or the current mock-up's ordered list, or is worrying about such a detail just nitpicking?

For entries that require more than one link, is there a reason not to simply include the links in the description where appropriate? For example, entry 11 could be written like this:

New quadratic growth records: The smallest known quadratic growth patterns, in terms of population, number of gliders and bounding box -- 20-cell quadratic growth, 6G quadratic growth, and 23×13 quadratic growth. (by dani, Luka Okanishi and Rocknlol)

Alternatively, we could link directly to the entry in the wiki table like so:

New quadratic growth records: The smallest known quadratic growth patterns, in terms of population, number of gliders and bounding box -- 20-cell quadratic growth, 6G quadratic growth, and 23×13 quadratic growth. (by dani, Luka Okanishi and Rocknlol)

I'll probably have more suggestions, questions, and comments a bit later when I've looked through the list more thoroughly.

[Anivec]

Here’s finally the mock-up of the nominee list.

I haven't looked through this thoroughly yet, but the most immediate issue I see is that American Dream should be mentioned in the description of entry 3. The table on the wiki includes such a sentence. If you want to make it shorter, you could simply write the following:

These discoveries include an unsynthesizable still life and unsynthesizable p2 oscillator, both based on "self-forcing" agars, a generalized solution to the grandfather problem (patterns that have n-tick predecessors but no (n+1)-tick predecessors), and a finite pattern with an infinite-population predecessor but no finite-population predecessor.

Speed Orthogonoid and Speed Orthogonal Loopship could also be combined into the Omniship project. Also, the Omniship is completely unmentioned.

[dvgrn]

Speed Orthogonoid and Speed Orthogonal Loopship could also be combined into the Omniship project. Also, the Omniship is completely unmentioned.

Both of those spaceships are orthogonal, and assembled by Goldtiger997, though that's about all they have in common. It could be reasonable to combine them, if nobody objects.

But I don't see why "Omniship" should be mentioned. An omniship didn't get completed in 2022, did it?

[dvgrn]

For entries that require more than one link, is there a reason not to simply include the links in the description where appropriate?

One likely reason is sheer exhaustion with the whole project. If a second draft gets posted that has all of the links updated as suggested, that would be great. Otherwise -- not speaking for b3s23love or anyone else, but personally I'll be just fine with the "comprehensive summary link" at the top.

[Sokwe]

How long should the voting period be?

For entries that require more than one link, is there a reason not to simply include the links in the description where appropriate?

If a second draft gets posted that has all of the links updated as suggested, that would be great.

I've made a second draft incorporating this and other changes.

• Changed ordered list to unordered list with the entry numbers as part of the item text and made entry names bold.
• Added multiple links to entries #03, #11, #21, #25, #28, and #31
• Added mention of American Dream to entry #03.
• Added second sentence (from wiki table) to entry #04 because I think it's important for understanding the entry.
• Removed note on exclusion of p86 in entry #15 because I think it's unnecessary.
• Corrected link for entry #19 (previous link was for patterns found in early 2023).
• Changed name of entry #20 to note that the oscillator is strictly volatile and changed link to strictly volatile form.
• Replaced mention of crotchet in entry #21 with a method for adding a different c/3 component
• Changed link for entry #32 to show minimal form (previous link included a tagalong)
• Added serial commas and corrected some minor typos.

I may also try to write summary post for entries #04 and #17. (Edit: done, with links added below)

Below is the updated list:

NOTE: For nominations of multiple related items, the links below are representative samples only. If you can't find all the details of the nomination in a given link, look up the nomination number in this comprehensive summary post or in this wiki table.

• #01 74P34: The first known non-trivial oscillator with period 34. (by Mitchell Riley)
• #02 Raucci's p38: The first known oscillator with period 38, made by adding copies of cvojan's traffic stop as fenceposts for a known wick by Jason Summers. (by David Raucci, Jason Summers, and cvojan)
• #03 Unsynthesizable and limited-ancestor objects: These discoveries include an unsynthesizable still life and unsynthesizable p2 oscillator, both based on "self-forcing" agars, a generalized solution to the grandfather problem (patterns that have n-tick predecessors but no (n+1)-tick predecessors), and American Dream, a finite pattern with an infinite-population predecessor but no finite-population predecessor. (by Ilkka Törmä and Ville Salo)
• #04 Record lifespan puffer-based methuselahs: This series of patterns with relatively small bounding boxes and initial populations set several new records for methuselah longevity. Ordinarily patterns that include switch-engine outputs will produce unbounded linear growth and are not counted in the "methuselah" category, but these examples generate a lucky retrograde glider that shuts down the receding switch engines after thousands or millions of generations. (by yaochen2, dani, and gravity)
• #05 Explicit 15-glider reverse caber tosser: A concrete construction demonstrating that any glider synthesis can be reduced to use just 15 gliders. The number of gliders was also reduced from its previous value of 17. (by Daniel Vargas, Adam P. Goucher, Pavel Grankovskiy, Simon Ekström, Dave Greene, AlbertArmStain, Oscar Cunningham, Chris Cain, dani, and Goldtiger997)
• #06 Five new p23 engines: At the end of 2021, only one period-23 oscillator was known, excluding variants: David Hilbert. As of the end of 2022, there are six. (by Nico Brown, James Pascua, and Mitchell Riley)
• #07 The Great Oscillator Discovery Project: This project continued 2022's increased focus on the discovery of new oscillators, partially to work toward filling in the remaining unknown oscillator periods to finally prove Life to be omniperiodic. Several new automated and semi-automated search techniques were introduced, resulting in a flood of new discoveries. For example, the introduction of symmetric CatForce has led to new oscillators of approximately 112 periods, including fifteen primes above 13. (by David Raucci, Mitchell Riley, Luke Kiernan, iNoMed, et al.)
• #08 Engineered diehards: A series of diehard patterns with increasingly long lifespans, culminating in the discovery of a pattern that starts in a bounding box of area 9990, and yet lives for more than 10^10^10^10^10^10^10^10^10^10^10^10^10^10^10 generations before dying out completely. (by Dean Hickerson, Pavel Grankovskiy, toroidalet, and Tanner Jacobi)
• #09 Quartermax: A long sought-after pattern that fills one quarter of the Life plane with zebra stripes. (by Keith Amling, Hartmut Holzwart, and Jason Summers)
• #10 Gliderless Gosper glider gun breeder: A p48 puffer for Gosper glider guns that produces its output in a very unconventional way, with no glider collisions. (by Wojciech Kęsy)
• #11 New quadratic growth records: The smallest known quadratic growth patterns in terms of population, number of gliders, and bounding box -- 20-cell quadratic growth, 6G quadratic growth, and 23×13 quadratic growth. (by dani, Luka Okanishi, and Rocknlol)
• #12 Self-synthesizing glide-reflecting loopship: A pattern made entirely of gliders that synthesises a reflected and translated copy of itself. Thus it is an orthogonal spaceship travelling at a speed of 30985960c/144171206. (by Goldtiger997)
• #13 Speed Orthogonoid: An adjustable spaceship capable at travelling orthogonally at any speed less than c/2. (by Goldtiger997)
• #14 Speed Orthogonal Loopship: A pattern made entirely of XWSSes that synthesises a reflected and translated copy of itself. It travels orthogonally and is adjustable so that its speed can become arbitrarily close to c/2. Its population is much less than that of the Speed Orthogonoid. (by Goldtiger997)
• #15 Nico Brown's strictly volatile oscillators: Nico Brown created a script that can create huge strictly volatile oscillators of any period 943+ except 944. (by Nico Brown)
• #16 Taco: The third known elementary c/7 orthogonal spaceship. (by Frank Everdij)
• #17 New honeyfarm catalysts: Catalysts which perform new perturbations on honey farms. In particular the chucklebait, which has found considerable use in honey farm hasslers of various periods. (by Mitchell Riley and Luke Kiernan)
• #18 Component for adding a "crotchet" to a c/3 spaceship: This is a new synthesis component that can repeatably extend a "waltz" section of c/3 orthogonal spaceship, allowing for the first known infinite series of synthesizable c/3 spaceships. (by Goldtiger997)
• #19 Small Max predcessors: After an intermediate 127-cell, 27 × 23 new record set by iNoMed, Rocknlol found two different record predecessors of a Max spacefiller variant by population and bounding box of 112 cells and 21 × 21, respectively. (by iNoMed and Rocknlol)
• #20 Strictly volatile p86 R-pentomino hassler: The discovery of this oscillator added 86 to a fairly short list, making it the fourteenth period where a strictly volatile oscillator is known that doesn't make use of self-constructing circuitry. (by Nico Brown and iNoMed)
• #21 New spaceship syntheses: Glider construction recipes were discovered for Orion 2, 33P4H1V1, 70P5H2V0, 58P8H4V0, 30P3H1V0, 29P3H1V0, Brain, 66P5H2V0, and 37P4H1V1, as well as a method for adding a component to existing c/3 spaceships. (by Goldtiger997, Mark Niemiec, iNoMed, Tanner Jacobi, pipsqueek, and Connor Steppie)
• #22 New reflector periods: 90° reflectors for the previously unsolved periods of 23, 34, and 38. (by vivi, iNoMed, Matthias Merzenich, David Raucci, Mitchell Riley, MAP bot, Nico Brown, Tanner Jacobi, and Noam Elkies)
• #23 Smaller p24 glider gun: A new second-smallest glider gun after the Gosper glider gun, fitting in a 20 × 20 bounding box. (by cvojan, vivi, and James Pascua)
• #24 Lisp in Life: A Lisp interpreter implemented in Conway’s Game of Life, using technology similar to the Quest for Tetris project. This is the first implementation of a standardized high-level programming language inside Conway’s Game of Life. (by Hikaru Ikuta)
• #25 Completion of the 21-bit strict still life synthesis project and the 20-bit pseudo still life synthesis project: Glider syntheses for all 21-bit strict still lifes and all 20-bit pseudo still lifes. (by Alex Greason, May13, wwei23, iNoMed, Daniel Vargas, Jeremy Tan, Adam P. Goucher, HotWheels9232, Carson Cheng, Goldtiger997, and Tanner Jacobi)
• #26 New stable conduits and converters: Several new stable conduits and converters, including the Speed Tunnel, HRx65R, a small stable 180° reflector (the "Jubjub reflector"), F149, Lx129, HL224H, RSE14T117, and NW-2T16. (by Mitchell Riley, Simon Ekström, Evin, Entity Valkyrie 2, Tanner Jacobi, and qqd)
• #27 p8 "functionally stable" glider reflector: A period-8 180° glider reflector that works in every phase and hence can be used as if it were stable. (by Tanner Jacobi)
• #28 Soup search discoveries from distributed computing projects: Thanks to the efforts of Darren Li, in 2022 Catagolue started receiving a much larger number of distributed-computing search results, especially for symmetric soups. This contributed to a large number of new discoveries; see the Charity Engine and Open Science Grid articles for examples. (by Darren Li / Charity Engine and Open Science Grid)
• #29 New gun periods: Guns of five previously unsolved periods: 25, 27, 34, 37, and 43. (by David Raucci, iNoMed, Nico Brown, Mitchell Riley, goldenratio, Luke Kiernan, Gustone and cvojan)
• #30 New greyships: A variety of new greyships, many of which were found with Keith Amling’s new search program, LLSSS. (by Hartmut Holzwart and Keith Amling)
• #31 New c/2 patterns from soup searches: Ships, puffers, and a rake found from 'unnatural' soup searches. The ship 58P8H4V0 and a p28 block puffer were found in symmetric soups; the ship 35P12H6V0, the p112 puffer, and p12 rake were found in soups with the leading edge of the spaceships already present. (by mystical, Charity Engine, and wwei23)
• #32 232P7H3V0: A new record for the smallest 3c/7 spaceship. (by Keith Amling)

[b3s23love]

How long should the voting period be?

Is 1st September good for the end of the voting period?

I've made a second draft incorporating this and other changes.

Thank you very much!

I may also try to write summary post for entries #04 and #17, but I don't mind if voting starts without this being completed.

I’ll wait until this point will be completed.
Again, thanks for the help with running the POTY competition!

[dvgrn]

Is 1st September good for the end of the voting period?

How about July 31st? A month-long voting period seems plenty long enough to me -- surely there's no need to let this drag on into August, let alone September. (?)

[Sokwe]

Record lifespan puffer-based methuselahs
(by yaochen2, dani, and gravity)

On July 3, 2022 forum user yaochen2 found a pattern fitting in a 16x16 box that stabilizes after a 71,093 generations, the longest known time for such a small bounding box. It is based on a similar 30x16 pattern from 2019 by Paul Callahan and consists of two switch engines and an R-pentomino. The switch engines produce a puffer that emits a backwards glider stream which continually hits the debris field created by the R-pentomino. Normally, patterns producing switch engine puffers are not considered methuselahs, as they have unbounded linear growth. In this case, however, a lucky glider is eventually launched back at the switch engines from the debris field. Since the glider travels faster than the switch engines, it eventually collides with and destroys the puffer, resulting in a finite, albeit large, stabilized ash field.

Code: Select all

#C 71,093-generation methuselah
#C By yaochen2, 3 July 2022
x = 15, y = 16, rule = B3/S23
7bobo$6bo$7bo2bo$9b3o7$bo$3o2$3o9b2o$b2ob2o7b2o$3bo9bo!

Inspired by this, Dani ran some searches using the same switch engine puffer while replacing the R-pentomino with random debris. This resulted in a new methuselah that lasts 305,230 generations, soon followed by a staggering 4,764,364-generation methuselah:

Code: Select all

#C 305,230-generation methuselah
#C By Dani, 3 July 2022
x = 16, y = 15, rule = B3/S23
5b4o$9bo$9bo$10b2o4$13b3o$15bo$o13b2o$o12bo$o$b2o$b3o$b2o!

Code: Select all

#C 4,764,364-generation methuselah
#C By Dani, 3 July 2022
x = 16, y = 16, rule = B3/S23
5b4o$9bo$9bo$10b2o5$11bo$o9b2o$o10bo2bo$o10b4o$b2o5bo4b3o$b3o5bob2o2bo
$b2o7bobo2bo$9bobobo!

In October 2022 forum user gravity revived the project while allowing for 20x20 bounding boxes. This new search gave methuselahs with lifespans of 13,629,876 and 126,932,978 generations:

Code: Select all

#C 13,629,876-generation methuselah
#C By gravity, 20 October 2022
x = 20, y = 20, rule = B3/S23
5b4o$9bo$9bo$10b2o6$o$o$o11bob2o2b2o$b2o8bo3b3obo$b3o8bobo2bo$b2o11bo
4bo$12b3obo2bo$11bob4obo$15bo2b2o$13b5obo$13b2o4bo!

Code: Select all

#C 126,932,978-generation methuselah
#C By gravity, 21 November 2022
x = 20, y = 20, rule = B3/S23
5b4o$9bo$9bo$10b2o6$o$o$o10b2obobo2bo$b2o14bobo$b3o8b3o3b2o$b2o8b4obo
2bo$11bobo4bo$17b3o$14bobo2bo$11b2ob3obo$12b3ob4o!

[Sokwe]

New honeyfarm catalysts
(by Mitchell Riley and Luke Kiernan)

With the renewed focus on oscillator searches in recent years, there has been an interest in finding new catalysts, especially those that interact with the incredibly common honey farm predecessors. To this end Mitchell Riley wrote a new program, Barrister (inspired by Mike Playle's Bellman), that can find unusual still lifes catalyze various active regions. He used this program to quickly find three new honey farm catalysts, the first of which especially has been used in the construction of new oscillators:

Code: Select all

x = 57, y = 22, rule = B3/S23
26bo$25bobo3b2o$24bo2bo3bo$24bobob2obo$21b2obobobobo$21bo2bobo16b2o$4b
o2b2ob2o11bobobo16bo7b2o$2b3o3bobo11b2obobo16bobo5bo$bo3b3o3bo8bo2bob
2o18b2o3bobo$b2obo3b3o9b2o27bobob2obo$5b2obo40bobobob2o$ob2obobo42bo$
2ob2o$7b3o17b3o17b3o$6bo3bo15bo3bo15bo3bo$5bo5bo13bo5bo13bo5bo$5bo5bo
13bo5bo13bo5bo$5bo5bo13bo5bo13bo5bo$6bo3bo15bo3bo15bo3bo2b2o$7b3o17b3o
17b3o3bobo$55bo$55b2o!

Soon after, Luke Kiernan used Barrister to find the most significant new honey farm catalyst, chucklebait, which can act on its own or when combined with a fishhook can release a glider:

Code: Select all

x = 43, y = 16, rule = B3/S23
7bo25bo$6bobo23bobo$6bob3o21bob3o$3b2obo4bo17b2obo4bo$3bobobobobo17bob
obobobo$5bobob2o20bobob2o4b2o$4bobo23bobo8bo$5bo25bo7bobo$39b2o$2b3o
23b3o$bo3bo21bo3bo$o5bo19bo5bo$o5bo19bo5bo$o5bo19bo5bo$bo3bo21bo3bo$2b
3o23b3o!

Chucklebait proved to be such an effective catalyst that within 24 hours of its discovery it had already been used to find new guns of periods 34, 52, 60, and 74 and new oscillators of periods 43, 59, 70, 83, and 102:

Code: Select all

#C Guns and oscillators of periods 34, 43, 52, 59, 60, 70, 74, 83, and 102
#C found less than 24 hours after the discovery of chucklebait
x = 552, y = 53, rule = B3/S23
223bo50b2o21b2o$222bobo45b2obo25bob2o100b2o$222bob3o43b2o2bo2bo5b3o9bo
2bo2b2o100b2o5b2o$85bo133b2obo4bo47bobo4bo3bo8bobo113bo$85b3o131bobobo
bobo48bo4bo5bo8bo114bob2o$88bo132bobob2o4b2o48bo5bo108b2o14bobo48b2o
66b2o$87b2o118b2o11bobo8bo43b2o4bo5bo8b2o97bo2bo15bob2obo43b2o66b2o4b
2o4b2o$208bo12bo7bobo43b2o5bo3bo9b2o97bob2o14b2obob2o48b2o67b2o4b2o$
28b2o6bo121bo3b2o44bobo18b2o52b3o48b2o58b2o72b2o$29bo6b3o118bobobob3o
43b2o7b3o12b2o100bo57bo3b2o57b2o66b2o24b2o$29bobo7bo117bobobo4bo50bo3b
o11b2o8bo38bo7bo44bobo8bo47b3o2bo4b3o48bo2bo18bo45bo2bo23bo$30b2o6b2o
53b3o62bobobobobo49bo5bo18b3o37bobo5bobo44b2o2b2o4b3o48b2obo2bo3bo8b2o
6bo30bob2o16b3o45bob2o21bobo$4b2o86bo3bo63bobob2o4b2o44bo5bo17bo36b2ob
obo7bobob2o44b2o7bo46bo2bo2bo5bo7b2o5bobo28b2o18bo47b2o24b2o$5bo2b2o
23bo57bo5bo45bo8b2o5bobo8bo45bo5bo17b2o34bobobobobo3bobobobobo51b2o46b
2o4bo5bo14bob3o25bo3b2o15b2o45bo3b2o$5bobobo3bo12b2o21b2o40bo5bo4b2o
37b3o8b2o6bo7bobo46bo3bo54bo4bob2o3b2obo4bo91b2o12bo5bo11b2obo4bo25b3o
2bo4b3o18b2o35b3o2bo4b3o$6bo6b3o11bo21b3o39bo5bo2bo2bo29b2o5bo27b2o36b
2o10b3o56b3obo9bob3o38b2obob2o10b2o36bo13bo3bo12bobobobobo28b2obo2bo3b
o17b2o38b2obo2bo3bo$16bo10bobo9b3o4b2o2b2o40bo3bo2bob2o30b2o5b2o15b3o
46b2o71bobo9bobo40bob2obobo8bobo35bo4b2o9b3o15bobob2o4b2o22bo2bo2bo5bo
55bo2bo2bo5bo$2b2o11bo12b2o9bob2o2b3o2b2o41b3o4bo2b3o50bo3bo41bo77bo
11bo47b2o8b2o36b2o3b2o26bobo8bo23b2o4bo5bo55b2o4bo5bo$bo2bo10bo3bo23bo
2b2ob2o50b2o3bo48bo5bo40b3o217bo7bobo29bo5bo61bo5bo$bob2o14bo21b2o4b3o
54b2o26bo22bo5bo43bo15b2o4b2o7b3o147b4o40b2o31bo3bo63bo3bo$2o16bo17bo
11bo10b2o40b2obo26bobo21bo5bo42b2o15bo5b2o6bo3bo146bo2bo19bobo7b3o42b
3o65b3o$o2b2o30b3o4b2o14bo2bo39bo2bo27bo23bo3bo55b2o4b3o9bo5bo146bo21b
obo6bo3bo$b2o2bo4b3o21b2ob2o2bo14bo2b2o18b2o21b2o25b3o25b3o40b2o14b2o
6bo9bo5bo4b2o137b3o15b3o6bo5bo5bo123b2o$3b2obo2bo3bo4bo14b2o2b3o2b2obo
3b2o4bob2o19bo2bo47bo69bo2bo31bo5bo2bo2bo80b2o2bo28bo2b2o19bo32bo5bo
64b3o56bobo$b2o2bo2bo5bo4b2o5b3o4b2o2b2o4b3o3b2o5bo2b2o17bob2o56b3o32b
o25bob2o26b2o4bo3bo2bob2o81bo2bobo9b3o14bobo2bo37b2o13bo5bo63bo3bo26b
2o29bo$o2bo4bo5bo3b2o5bo3bo3b3o14bo6b2o2bo15b2o58bo3bo23b2o4bobo24b2o
18b2o8bobo5b3o4bo2b3o79bobobo8bo3bo13bobobo30b3o21bo3bo63bo5bo26bo29b
2o$b2o5bo5bo3bobo3bo5bo3b2o24b2o14bo3b2o54bo5bo21bobo5b2o23bo3b2o15bo
9bo15b2o3bo26bo50b2obob2o6bo5bo11b2obob2o28bo3bo21b3o64bo5bo4b2o20bobo
$9bo3bo5b2o3bo5bo19bobo4b2obo16b3o2bo4b3o46bo5bo22bo32b3o2bo4b3o5bobo
8b2o18b2o27b3o47bo3b2o3bo4bo5bo9bo3b2o3bo26bo5bo13b2o72bo5bo2bo2bo21b
2o$10b3o5b2o4bo5bo20b2o4bo2bo19b2obo2bo3bo36b2o7bo5bo58b2obo2bo3bo4b2o
26b2obo31bo45bob2o2b2o7bo5bo12b2o2b2obo25bo5bo69b2o17bo3bo2bob2o$20bo
4bo3bo2b2o11b2o4bo6b2o19bo2bo2bo5bo35b2o8bo3bo58bo2bo2bo5bo31bo2bo30b
2o45bobo2bobo3bo4bo3bo9bo3bobo2bobo16b2o7bo5bo5bo6b3o54b2o18b3o4bo2b3o
33b3o$26b3o3bobo10bo33b2o4bo5bo46b3o12b2o11bo33b2o4bo5bo9bo6b2o14b2o
51b6o22b3o2b2o9b3o14b2o2b3o17b2o8bo3bo6bobo21b2o49b2o15b2o3bo31bo3bo$
34bo11b3o6bo29bo5bo61bo2b6o3bobo38bo5bo9b3o4b2o66bo6bo25b2o3bo20bo3b2o
32b3o7bobo19bo2bo50bo18b2o31bo5bo$20bo13b2o12bo3bobobo29bo3bo46bo6b2o
8b2o6b4obo39bo3bo6b2o5bo15b2o40b3o10bo8bo18b5obob2o7bo8bo7b2obob5o58b
3o48b3o16b2obo32bo5bo4b2o$19bo32b2o2bo30b3o46bobo5b2o5b3o13bob2o37b3o
7b2o4b2o15bo40bo3bo10bo6bo19bo2bo2bobo7bobo6bobo7bobo2bo2bo25bo46bo36b
o18bo2bo32bo5bo2bo2bo$19bo3bo32b2o74b2obobo13bo2bobo5b2o2b2ob2o71b3o
36bo5bo10b6o25bo2bo3b2obobo8bobob2o3bo2bo29bobo26b2o3b2obob2o8bo55b2o
34bo3bo2bob2o$23bo107bobobobobo12b2o13bo76bo30b2o4bo5bo42b2o3bobobobob
o4bobobobobo3b2o26b2obobo15b3o9b2o4bob2obo6b3o43b2o47b3o4bo2b3o$22bo
108bo4bobobo18b2o4bobo71b2o34bo2bo2bo5bo47bo4bob2o4b2obo4bo30bobobobob
o12bo3bo14bo57b2o55b2o3bo$23b3o7bo98b3obobobo18b2o4b2o59b3o10b2o35b2ob
o2bo3bo49b3obo10bob3o31bo4bob2o11bo5bo12b2o62b2o27b2o24b2o$25bo5bobo
60b2o38b2o3bo85bo3bo43b3o2bo4b3o6b2o44bobo10bobo34b3obo14bo5bo4b2o70b
2o26bobo21b2obo$32b2o60bo110b2o17bo5bo41bo3b2o14bobo44bo12bo37bobo5b2o
7bo5bo2bo2bo98bo23bo2bo$95b3o108bo17bo5bo42b2o19bo96bo6b2o8bo3bo2bob2o
98b2o24b2o$97bo105b3o18bo5bo43bob2o16b2o113b3o4bo2b3o$203bo8b2o11bo3bo
44bo2bo139b2o3bo101b2o4b2o$212b2o12b3o7b2o37b2o143b2o102b2o4b2o4b2o$
216b2o18bobo157b2obob2o14b2obo115b2o$215bobo7bo12bo40b2o115bob2obo15bo
2bo$215bo8bobo11b2o40bo120bobo14b2o$214b2o4b2obobo51b3o121b2obo$219bob
obobobo49bo126bo$219bo4bob2o176b2o5b2o$220b3obo67bo118b2o$222bobo68bo$
223bo67b3o!

Kiernan continued to use Barrister to find a number of additional new honey farm catalysts:

Code: Select all

x = 106, y = 59, rule = LifeHistory
82.D$82.D$12.2E55.E12.D$12.E35.2E18.E.E11.D16.2E$14.E30.2E2.E19.E12.D
16.E$13.2E29.E2.2E33.D14.E.E$4.2A6.E21.2A9.E.E13.2A19.D8.2A4.2E$3.A2.
A5.5E16.A2.A7.2E2.E11.A2.A7.2E9.D7.A2.A$4.3A9.E17.3A9.2E13.3A8.E9.D8.
3A8.E$12.2E30.2E26.E.E7.D17.3E$11.E2.E30.E24.2E.E.E6.D16.E$12.2E.E28.
E24.E2.E2.E6.D16.2E$2.2A9.E.E27.E25.2E.E.E7.D17.E$3.A4.2E.E.E.2E25.E
27.E2.E8.D14.3E$3A5.2E.2E19.2A9.3E18.2E2.E.E11.D6.2A6.E$A32.A11.E18.E
3.2E12.D7.A7.E.E.2E$30.3A32.3E14.D4.3A7.2E.2E.E$30.A36.E14.D4.A10.E$
82.D13.E.E$82.D13.2E$72.E9.D$45.E24.3E9.D$44.E.E22.E12.D$11.2E3.E27.E
.E23.E11.D$11.E.E.E.E25.2E.E.E20.2E11.D19.E$13.E.E2.E24.E3.E.E32.D18.
E.E$4.2A7.E2.E.E15.2A8.2E.E2.E10.2A6.4E9.D8.2A6.E2.E2.E$3.A2.A7.2E.E
15.A2.A9.E.E.E9.A2.A5.E3.E8.D7.A2.A5.2E.E.2E$4.3A8.E18.3A7.2E2.2E11.
3A7.2E2.E6.D8.3A8.E$15.E29.E.E24.E.2E6.D16.2E.E$12.2E.2E28.E.E24.E.E
7.D15.E.E.2E$12.E.E31.E24.2E.E7.D16.E2.E$2.2A10.E55.E2.E8.D19.E$3.A
10.2E54.3E9.D18.2E.E$3A29.2A33.E14.D6.2A7.E.E2.E.E$A32.A33.4E11.D7.A
7.2E2.E2.E$30.3A37.E11.D4.3A13.2E$30.A38.E12.D4.A$69.2E11.D$82.D2$45.
E$44.E.E$44.E.E$13.2E28.2E.E.2E$12.E2.E27.E3.E.E$4.2A6.2E2.E17.2A8.2E
.E$3.A2.A6.E.2E16.A2.A9.E.E$4.3A6.E20.3A7.2E2.E$11.E.E31.E.E$10.E.E.
2E29.E.2E$10.2E2.E28.3E2.E$2.2A10.E27.E3.2E$3.A9.2E.E25.4E$3A7.E.E2.E
.E14.2A11.E$A9.2E2.E2.E15.A8.2E.E.E$15.2E13.3A10.E2.2E$30.A10.E.E$41.
2E!

[confocaloid]

Is 1st September good for the end of the voting period?

How about July 31st? A month-long voting period seems plenty long enough to me -- surely there's no need to let this drag on into August, let alone September. (?)

Obviously this is not up to me to decide, but personally I would not object to extending the voting period to 1st September, per the original suggestion.

One reason is that I think there were a bit too many events in the last month.

Another reason is that I think one month is not enough anyway, in an online community like this, where members are not all active at the same time.

[Sokwe]

Obviously this is not up to me to decide, but personally I would not object to extending the voting period to 1st September, per the original suggestion.

One reason is that I think there were a bit too many events in the last month.

Another reason is that I think one month is not enough anyway, in an online community like this, where members are not all active at the same time.

The voting has to end at some point, but I also don't see the harm in extending the voting for some amount of time beyond the current cutoff. Keep in mind however that as of this moment, the last person to vote did so several days ago so I'm not sure how likely it is that we would get any more voters. An alternative idea would be to extend the voting for a shorter time and send out reminder messages on Discord and the NewLifeCA mailing list that the voting will be closing soon. That might be enough to encourage any remaining interested users to vote.

[b3s23love]

Obviously this is not up to me to decide, but personally I would not object to extending the voting period to 1st September, per the original suggestion.

One reason is that I think there were a bit too many events in the last month.

Another reason is that I think one month is not enough anyway, in an online community like this, where members are not all active at the same time.

The voting has to end at some point, but I also don't see the harm in extending the voting for some amount of time beyond the current cutoff. Keep in mind however that as of this moment, the last person to vote did so several days ago so I'm not sure how likely it is that we would get any more voters. An alternative idea would be to extend the voting for a shorter time and send out reminder messages on Discord and the NewLifeCA mailing list that the voting will be closing soon. That might be enough to encourage any remaining interested users to vote.

I think this is the way to go, so I will extend the voting period to 1 September 2023 00:00 UTC.

[dvgrn]

I think this is the way to go, so I will extend the voting period to 1 September 2023 00:00 UTC.

Ow. I mean, I don't really object. But ... how many people are actually going to be interested in voting in August who weren't able to find a few minutes in July?

The idea originally was to get this POTY voting done in January or February. And now we had gotten so close -- we were within hours of finally being done with this interminable little project... Ah, well. Another month won't make any difference, I suppose.

[hotdogPi]

I strongly oppose the extension. Why do we need one?

[Anivec]

I too oppose the extension. I don’t see why there should be an extension if everyone who wanted to vote already voted and had enough time to vote.

[Sokwe]

Why do we need one?

I don’t see why there should be an extension if everyone who wanted to vote already voted and had enough time to vote.

confocaloid's main reason seems to be a concern that not everyone voted who might have wanted to, especially since people will often not visit for a significant amount of time and might miss the voting period. I don't really share this concern, as I think a month-long voting period would be plenty of time for the vast majority of users. I also don't personally see the harm in a longer voting period, but that's just my opinion. I'm mostly just glad I didn't have to moderate any aspect of the contest this year, even if it took longer to start the voting than usual.

I still think we could implement the following compromise: extend the voting period by a shorter amount of time (say, a week) and send reminder messages to Discord and NewLifeCA for anyone who might be interested to vote.

[confocaloid]

I don’t see why there should be an extension if everyone who wanted to vote already voted and had enough time to vote.

My concern is that not everyone voted who might have wanted to. I think Sokwe expressed it correctly in the above post.
In my opinion, one-month voting period is too short for POTY competitions.
(And for this year, the last month saw omniperiodicity, among other things. It is very easy to get lost.)

A month-long voting period seems plenty long enough to me -- surely there's no need to let this drag on into August, let alone September. (?)

And now we had gotten so close -- we were within hours of finally being done with this interminable little project...

Well, I'm finding these sentences rude -- unnecessarily sarcastic and belittling.
To be clear, there was no need for those "plenty long enough" and "surely" followed by a question mark.
There was no need for "interminable little project", either. Perhaps one would not want their project to be described in such a way.

Just because someone is tired, doesn't mean they should be rude.
Perhaps there was no need for this my post, either. Still, it is rather hard to understand rudeness coming from a moderator.

[Sokwe]

Keep in mind however that as of this moment, the last person to vote did so several days ago so I'm not sure how likely it is that we would get any more voters.

There were admittedly some "last minute" votes (based on the previous end date), so my earlier suspicion that no further votes would be cast ended up being unfounded. It may be that there are a few users who have forgotten to vote and would need a reminder. That's why I think it might be better to extend the voting period for a shorter time and send reminders to the relevant places. I suspect users who visit less often than once per month likely won't care much if they don't get to vote.

I'm finding these sentences rude

With that said, let's try to avoid any further discussion about whether or not users are being rude. Everyone should try from here on to use a careful and polite tone (sometimes hard to achieve with text over the internet, I know). Remember rule 1(a): assume the best of others. I don't think anyone here is trying to be rude. If we all take extra care to be respectful going forward, I think that we can avoid any more negative feelings over our disagreements.