RE: North and South: The Statistical Truth

["Thorpe, John" <thorpj@caepo1.columbiaSC.NCR.COM>]

Poster: "Thorpe, John" <thorpj@caepo1.columbiaSC.NCR.COM>


Greetings from Eldred!

     As the fool who opened this can of worms, I feel
compelled to make a few of statements and ask a question
or two in response to all the hubbub.

     His Excellency, Dafydd has graciously provided us
with the definition of the regions of the Kingdom, and some
vital statistics which really should kill the whinging about
"north vs. south".  8^)  Unfortunately, I'll be poking
holes in the statistics....Sorry, Your Excellency.

     Secondly, I did not intend for this thread to
blow up into a raging debate on north vs. south.  I stated
that if a meeting to discuss the future of the SCA was
to be considered "Kingdom-wide" that it should be held
in a more central region of the Kingdom.  NOT that it
should be at a Kingdom-level event in the middle of
the Kingdom(although that would be convenient in a lot
of ways).

     I don't mind Kingdom events being in the north
or the south or in the middle.  I expect it to go in
cycles.  That's the way it should be.  I only get upset
if a local group has a good bid for a kingdom event
and it gets rejected.  Since the north vs. south debate
has taken a life of its own, I guess I'll contribute....

Scripsit His Excellency, Earl Dafydd:
>NOW, the statistics.  Using the 1990 Definition of regions, the following
>data is accumulated from Jan 86 to last December 96 (11 years).  Note that
>Unevent was not held in 1990, so there are only 10 Unevents rather than
>11.

>                                Region
>Kingdom Events          North   Centr   South           Total
>Twelfth Night            2       8       1              11
>Crown Tourney            4      12       6              22
>Unevent                  1       9       0              10
>Coronation               6      13       3              22
> Total Kingdom Events   13      42      10              65

>Note that if you remove the Coronation numbers (Coronation traditionally
>being held in the home group of the Monarchs, or nearby), the numbers are
>even more clear:

>Non-Coronation Kingdom Events   7 North, 29 Central, and 7 South.
>
>Conclusions?  It is clearly impossible to support the premise that the
>South does not get its fair share of Kingdom events.

     Now to refuel the debate, _when_ were these
Non-Coronation events held?  The answer to that question
may shed some light on why there is a hue and cry.  With
all due respect to His Excellency, these raw statistics are
only a part of the picture--we some other input to figure
out what they mean.  For instance, I have been repeatedly
told that there is a big gap between Atlantian generations:
people have either been in for less than three years OR more
than six.  Those who have been in for less than three years may
perceive that more events have been held in the north (or the
south) since they joined.

     BTW, I noticed that University was not included in
the 11 year statistics (let's limit this to 11 years since we
have the stats).  I rather doubt that it will change the
raw statistics much.  Also, I noticed that the 1990 placed
Isenfir in the Central region, which skews the results
significantly--esp. since most of us in the South STILL
consider it to be in the North.  Let's look at the stats
when you use the pre-1990 regions....Isenfir alone will


     Now, just for more obfusication, it is easy to say
North, Central, & South.  I measure N,C, & S in relation to
the ease by which I can get to an event.  In an earlier
post, I noted that travel for folks on the coast line
(easy access to I-95) is much easier to any events along
that I-95 corridor.  When was the last time someone tried
driving from DC or even Baltimore down to Greenville (or
vice versa--Pointless War readily springs to mind)?  That's
a LONG trip! Especially when you consider that you have no
conveniently direct routes running from northeast to
southwest.  It actually is easier to get to Pennsic in
some ways!

     To further egg this on, let's look at the actual
physical location of those Kingdom event sites.  I know
that people travel to Charlotte (really King's Mountain)
for events.  A Sacred Stone event held at King's Mountain
is considered "central".  Actually, it isn't.  King's
Mountain is actually in Nottinghill Coill, which is
the western 2/3rds of South Carolina.  When Nottinghill
Coill holds an event there, it is considered "South".
The stats are looking a bit shaky in cases that involve
shared sites such as King's Mountain......Do people think
in terms of the hosting branch or the physical location?


     I need to quit adding to this and get back to work....

In service,
Eldred





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