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If you are an adult that has participated in conventional k-12 education, there is a very high chanceyou have encountered science related material (ie biology, chemistry and/or physics).
So a very high percentage of people have had some science education.
People use the word "science" often.
So one would think the most elementary question in science would be more common place, but for some reason, every non- scientist I have ever asked this elementary question to gets the answer wrong.
The question is, "what is science?"
It has an exact defintion and isnt open for interpretation.
Im not saying people are unintelligent because they don't know the answer, but I am saying that something must be fundamentally wrong with how we approach intro level science in education.
I have spent A LOT of time taking about science, like it's pretty much my sole focus for the last 21 years and literally 100% of scientists get the right answer and 100% of non- scientist give the wrong answer, with not one exception in 21 years.
This is a problem and something about science education at early levels seems like it is to blame.
Im sure some non- scientists know the defintion, but from my sample size, that population is crazy low.
The main thing that doesn't get taught correctly is that Science is a "process" or "systematic study".
Science is a very specific set of actions to get from a question about reality to a level of confidence in the answer to that question.
Science is not an art, or a set of beliefs, or things made from the scientific process. It IS the process itself. More like a ritual than a book of knowledge.
People say science is not perfect, when they mean humans using science aren't perfect. The process itself is not to blame for those faults.
I don't really know why early science education is extremely poor at relaying the most important aspect.
If anyone has interesting ideas about how this disconnect occurs or why it occurs so overwhelmingly often I'd be interested to hear.

Global Info Research announces the release of the report “Global Float Glass Cutting Table Market 2023 by Manufacturers, Regions, Type and Application, Forecast to 2029” . The report is a detailed and comprehensive analysis presented by region and country, type and application. As the market is constantly changing, the report explores the competition, supply and demand trends, as well as key factors that contribute to its changing demands across many markets. Company profiles and product examples of selected competitors, along with market share estimates of some of the selected leaders for the year 2023, are provided. In addition, the report provides key insights about market drivers, restraints, opportunities, new product launches or approvals, COVID-19 and Russia-Ukraine War Influence.
According to our (Global Info Research) latest study, the global Utility Distribution System(UDS)(UDS) market size was valued at USD million in 2022 and is forecast to a readjusted size of USD million by 2029 with a CAGR of % during review period. The influence of COVID-19 and the Russia-Ukraine War were considered while estimating market sizes.
Key Features:
Global Float Glass Cutting Table market size and forecasts, in consumption value), sales quantity, and average selling prices, 2018-2029
Global Float Glass Cutting Table market size and forecasts by region and country, in consumption value, sales quantity, and average selling prices, 2018-2029
Global Float Glass Cutting Table market size and forecasts, by Type and by Application, in consumption value, sales quantity, and average selling prices, 2018-2029
Global Float Glass Cutting Table market shares of main players, shipments in revenue, sales quantity, and ASP, 2018-2023
The Primary Objectives in This Report Are:
To determine the size of the total market opportunity of global and key countries
To assess the growth potential for Float Glass Cutting Table
To forecast future growth in each product and end-use market
To assess competitive factors affecting the marketplace
This report profiles key players in the global Float Glass Cutting Table market based on the following parameters - company overview, production, value, price, gross margin, product portfolio, geographical presence, and key developments.
Request Free Sample Copy Or buy this report at:
https://www.globalinforesearch.com/reports/1535351/float-glass-cutting-table
The Float Glass Cutting Table market is segmented as below:
Market segment by Type
Manual Float Glass Cutting Table Semi-Automatic Float Glass Cutting Table Automatic Float Glass Cutting Table
Market segment by Application
Automotive Industry Construction Industry Furniture Industry Electronics Industry Solar Energy Industry Art and Decoration Industry Other
Major players covered
Hegla CMS Glass Technology prolim Caamano CZ Macotec Bottero Bavelloni Intermac LiSEC Turomas GFP Meccanica Sipro Yinrui Feroprofil Bremner Glass Equipment 2M GLASS DIVISION
The Main Contents of the Report, includes a total of 15 chapters:
Chapter 1, to describe Float Glass Cutting Table product scope, market overview, market estimation caveats and base year. Chapter 2, to profile the top manufacturers of Float Glass Cutting Table, with price, sales, revenue and global market share of Float Glass Cutting Table from 2018 to 2023. Chapter 3, the Float Glass Cutting Table competitive situation, sales quantity, revenue and global market share of top manufacturers are analyzed emphatically by landscape contrast. Chapter 4, the Float Glass Cutting Table breakdown data are shown at the regional level, to show the sales quantity, consumption value and growth by regions, from 2018 to 2029. Chapter 5 and 6, to segment the sales by Type and application, with sales market share and growth rate by type, application, from 2018 to 2029. Chapter 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11, to break the sales data at the country level, with sales quantity, consumption value and market share for key countries in the world, from 2017 to 2022.and Float Glass Cutting Table market forecast, by regions, type and application, with sales and revenue, from 2024 to 2029. Chapter 12, market dynamics, drivers, restraints, trends, Porters Five Forces analysis, and Influence of COVID-19 and Russia-Ukraine War. Chapter 13, the key raw materials and key suppliers, and industry chain of Float Glass Cutting Table. Chapter 14 and 15, to describe Float Glass Cutting Table sales channel, distributors, customers, research findings and conclusion.
The analyst presents a detailed picture of the market by the way of study, synthesis, and summation of data from multiple sources by an analysis of key parameters. Our report on the Float Glass Cutting Table market covers the following areas:
Columnar Sediment Sampler market sizing
Columnar Sediment Sampler market forecast
Columnar Sediment Sampler market industry analysis
Analyze the needs of the global Float Glass Cutting Tablebusiness market
Answer the market level of global Float Glass Cutting Table
Statistics the annual growth of the global Float Glass Cutting Tableproduction market
The main producers of the global Float Glass Cutting Tableproduction market
Describe the growth factor that promotes market demand
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    This story began with my discovery of the greatest era of music of all time, the classic rock era. The very first “classic rock” music that I remember hearing was The Beach Boys. I came from a somewhat culturally stifled exposure to the “secular” music of mankind, growing up. So, upon hearing The Beach Boys for the first time, I simply could not fathom the pure, raw, jubilant and harmonic energy I was hearing. I believe it was in 1998 or right around the time that I was in 6th grade, and I was up at my grandparents’ cabin in Siren, Wisconsin. I remember our next-door neighbor at the cabin had a cute girl named Jenny that my cousin Josh and I were both chasing after. I think my cousin was more interested in the girl, while I was keen on getting another chance at listening to The Beach Boys on her CD player. At any rate, I remember being instantly fascinated with the sport of surfing and I wanted to know more about it. I remember downloading or looking up a video of the 1966 “The Endless Summer” documentary directly because of having listened to The Beach Boys. It was a revolutionary moment in my cultural expansion as a young boy and that was a very memorable summer for me.       As time wore on to the early 2000’s era when music downloading was only in its infancy, I once upon a time downloaded a Deep Purple song: "Hush" because I had heard about Deep Purple whisperings from my dad. I liked this “Hush” song so much I played it for my dad, asking him if he had heard of this song before as I knew it was from his era and this might trigger an interesting response or memory from him. My Father responded affirmatively. My Dad then proceeded to tell me a story, it was a story about himself; about a Deep Purple concert he had attended when he was younger. He didn't give me too many details and I’m not sure what age he was, or I can't remember all of the details, but he told me about how, somehow; during this concert-which must have been at the Met-he had ended up at the front of the speaker stacks at Deep Purple’s front stage. He told me that he continued to spend the entire show plugging his ears as hard as he could, he said it was the most awful concert he had ever been to in his life. I’m not sure if he couldn’t get away from the speakers or why he allowed himself to be subjugated to such an incessant onslaught of auditory pain, but that’s just what transpired, I guess. He told me that afterward, he was in pain and that his ears were ringing for weeks, and he told me he believed his hearing was noticeably impaired in the months and years that followed.       So naturally, having heard my dad tell this story I was instantly even more fascinated with this powerful band called: Deep Purple. And, if you didn't know or weren't aware, Deep Purple is or was considered at one point: "The Loudest Band in the World", or something to that effect. Of course, I didn't know that at the time and my dad; I’m guessing, also did not know that at the time he attended the Deep Purple concert. So, upon hearing that story as a young man-I think I might have been in junior high school at the time-again, I was intrigued with this mysterious band: Deep Purple, that had ruined my dad’s hearing at one point in his life. Unfortunately, I didn't get too many other details about that show from him at that time, as I could tell he wasn't really too fond of the experience or memory altogether and maybe he was also little embarrassed that I was so interested and fascinated having heard about it. It is really a hilarious memory.  
    Anyway, this story my father had told me really fascinated me as a young man and I knew that- whatever I did; I must remember the name of the band Deep Purple.  
    Music was somewhat difficult to acquire at this time in my young life, unless I wanted to drop $15 for a new CD at Best Buy or perchance find it discounted at Half-Priced Books, Cheapo or the like. This was far too expensive a price to pay simply to explore the music that was out there, now yes, I did have KQRS, but the scope of KQRS, like many modern classic rock radio stations; the playlists are always limited to the five-hundred or so blue-chip hits. So, what I discovered was that used records could be acquired for much cheaper, in fact only $.99 at Goodwill, but Goodwill had limited options. Also, another problem I ran into during this time was that I didn't have a vast mental capacity quite yet built up for what the “good” classic rock era albums were. Bands or artists’ knowledge hadn’t yet really accumulated in up in my head at least not enough for quick album art recall, so it was difficult to know what was good at the time. The particular Goodwill that I frequented the most as a young man was located in Hopkins, MN and it was somewhat dingy, but I loved it. One day I discovered a very used, worn-out white ring around the sleeve of a golden “Deep Purple: Live in Japan” record, which was recorded over three nights in the late summer of 1972. I remember during those days when my classic rock album knowledge wasn’t so good, but I had a crude system of helping me “guess-timate” on what might be a good album. I would tell myself that the closer an album was in year to the late 60’s and early 70’s the better chance it was good. Because I knew, classic rock sort of lost its way and got bombastic in the 1980’s, for better or for worse. At least, this was the rock n’ roll historical narrative I had created in my head at the time. So I checked the date of the Deep Purple album: 1972, not bad. So, I bought that record because this was my chance to experience Deep Purple for myself for the first time.  
    I remember biking home with the record in a plastic bag over the handlebars of my bike and it kept bumping into the bike as I rode home getting even more scuffed up. When I got home, I put the record on my parents Onkyo (ironically also Japanese) turntable and a Genesis sound system, this was a pretty decent sound system. I remember, when I got home, I was all alone in the house, so I really had the opportunity to crank up the volume to air this album out a bit. And when I listened to that album, my life and conception of rock and roll; whatever I thought that was, flipped on its head and changed me, fundamentally as a person. Granted, I had listened to some of Led Zeppelin’s material to be sure, but I had never ever heard a band rock out so fucking hard like this in my life. It was a truly amazing experience. I highly recommend that album to everyone.  
    But what you have to appreciate is that during this time it was somewhat difficult for me to know which albums were "good" and to be sought after. I just happened to hit this one time on the motherlode with this live Deep Purple album. The knowledge was out there, yet difficult to attain for a young, sheltered midwestern Christian boy. So, I spent a lot of my time seeking out records at Goodwill after this experience, where no one could filter the music, I was listening to and naturally I developed a very steeled, rebellious, pretentious and opinionated stance on my right as a human to listen to whatever the heck I wanted to around this time as well. Plus, Goodwill had the added bonus of consistently being populated with lots of interesting people to watch, not to mention lots of fun clothes to try on and just mess around and have fun. I remember one day at Goodwill, I saw these two very particular middle-aged gentlemen, guys I would call “greaseballs”; seedy types who waited at the doors from the warehouse sorting areas, in order to get their greedy hands immediately upon the incoming records from the back sorting warehouse. They took immediate authority over sifting through the records, and it was clear to me that I was going to have to wait to get sloppy seconds after these record campers. I asked myself a question:  
“Who were these music gate-keeping fucks?”  
    Of course, I didn't know how to feel at the time, and I was just sort of annoyed and confused as a young guy. I wanted a chance at checking out the records, but these two guys clearly had the goods staked out for first dibs. At any rate, I watched over their shoulders and made note of the ones that they picked from their fast-paced sorting, trying to remember the album artwork. While they were thumbing through, I even recognized the man carrying sticks on the cover of Led Zeppelin IV and reached out for it in desperation, but one of them instantly blurted out, something to the effect of:  
“Nuh, uh uh.”  
    Or something to that effect and gobbled it up into their stack of collections…It was from that point on I realized how cutthroat this mystic, esoteric knowledge accumulation about music and attaining music was, and I think it made my purpose ever more steeled and resolved from that point forward.  
    I had only begun to scratch the surface of my quest for discovering the depths of the greatest music of all time, classic rock. This quest had another nuance I will now attempt to explain. You see, classic rock is profane music of the secular world. Therefore, it was forbidden to me as a young man, or sometimes it was begrudgingly tolerated. So naturally, this created within me a burning need to rebel. I had to listen to classic rock if it meant shaking the fucking heavens and the earth. For some reason I really felt it necessary to rebel and to rebel hard. And somehow, coupling that with a saga to discover forbidden music, it had now become in the mind of this young man, a somewhat spiritual prerogative to fulfill this discovery quest, some way, somehow.  
    Why am I writing all of this? I guess I was bored during the pandemic and put a lot of thought and energy into thinking about this while at work. Music has always been a companion to me during the toughest times in my life, conversely music has also consistently been a celebration of exuberance and happiness during the good times. The music that existed during the mid-1960’s though the late 1980’s; otherwise known as the classic rock era, has always held a special place in my heart. However, I never could find a playlist that truly encapsulates or effectively represents all of the great music from this era. Most of the classic rock playlists out there were somehow for some reason exclusionary of certain groups, genres and styles for one reason or another. I have spent over a decade working with programs like Pandora and iHeartRadio doing research attempting to compile a comprehensive, inclusive and fully representative playlist, that faithfully showcases the music from the classic rock era. I used Pandora at first because I was lazy. I attempted to use Pandora’s algorithm to build this playlist for me, I spent years attempting to get the algorithm to do what I want, but it never could never be a truly random shuffle among other drawbacks.  
    Fast forward to Summer of 2020, I had finally had enough with Pandora and with the pandemic in full swing, I decided that I had to build this playlist by hand if I wanted to do it right. That meant taking on the herculean task of digging into every single notable band, group, singer-songwriter, “super-group”, ensemble and the like that existed during the years circa 1964-1989. Why those years? Chosen rather quickly and arbitrarily. Also, this task consisted of the inclusion factor, that meant digging expressly deeper into the deepest, darkest lairs of obscurity and obtusity that this musical era had to offer. The pandemic was this playlist’s ultimate inspiration, music was going to get me through this pandemic like it had all the other tough times in my life and I was resolved to utilize my classic rock knowledge over the years to build the best playlist I could. But what does the “Best” mean? To me, it meant a playlist that was as fully representative of this era in music as possible, without superfluous and capricious exclusion of artists, no matter how difficult or esoteric the listening experience may be. This was my formula. Therefore, the term “Rock” is used loosely when defining this playlist; this music certainly “rocks” but not all of it is strictly “Rock ‘N Roll”, however all of it was certainly influenced and indeed inspired by the burgeoning “rock” movement of the 50’s and 60’s. I hope that makes some sense. Also, I was sick of the corporate KQRS DJs of the Twin Cities, who play the same recycled 500 or so hits over and over with no room for pushing those boundaries, as was the original intention of the music to begin with.  
    At any rate, I decided I would use Spotify as the custodian for this playlist, simply because their catalog is the vastest compared to most music platforms, it is free to download and their prices are reasonable for subscriptions. I realize Spotify does have some scummy business practices for paying artists royalties and it’s a shame not to have Joni Mitchell and Neil Young among others on here, but it is what it is, and I had to make this playlist somehow. Just the same, I worked on this playlist almost every single day through the pandemic, researching hundreds of bands while I did it; all from that pristine era of music that had captivated me early on. In years past, I have put tremendous amounts of mental energy into reading up on band biographies and discographies before, but during the pandemic I researched music from that era more exhaustively than I ever have before. I really went at it with everything I had, even purchasing “The Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock & Roll” to assist me referencing bands not covered much online. I guess this is what my history major B.A. degree brain remnant does for me these days. I’m going to be honest with you, this is not your dad’s or your mom’s classic rock playlist. It took me the entire first year of the pandemic to fill the playlist to Spotify’s 10,000 song threshold, but the playlist was still just a rough blueprint at that point. I spent the following two years honing, polishing, adding and removing songs in order to continue to attempt to make this playlist as representative of the era as possible, with a heavy leaning on “rock”.  
    So, with the pandemic finally coming to a close recently, I am finally beginning to feel confident that this playlist is finally finished after three long years of amazingly illuminating research and lots and lots of listening.  
    Without further elaboration or story time, here it is after three long years of hard work; 10,000 meticulously curated and extensively researched with zero dead or duplicate tracks as Spotify frequently adds and removes music. Consisting of, but not limited to the following genres: Folk, Country, Progressive, Early Metal, NWOBHM (New Wave of British Heavy Metal), Space Rock, Fusion, British Invasion, New Wave, Punk, Pub, Blues, Psychedelic, Garage, Reggae (just Bob Marley), International, Krautrock, Funk, Soul, Disco, Art-Rock, Experimental, R&B and AOR (Album Oriented Rock) from circa 1964-1989 (dates chosen arbitrarily). This playlist is inclusive of race, gender and nationality. Be aware, this playlist is intended to expand your horizons and challenge your listening experience. Admittedly, this era did generate A LOT of challenging music that pushed the boundaries of numerous musical conventions, that was the point. I recommend putting this playlist on shuffle and just listening, thank you for your time reading all of this, I hope you enjoy listening as much as I have. Below is the link for the playlist, I hope you all will enjoy it:  
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4syEv4GeWCOv9LAQlKzq1K?si=341f43e85dfe4ff8

August Maniaci Link: https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=95092#relPageId=11&search=caminiti_rockford)
History of the Milwaukee Outfit
-Al Capone was a camorrista and an associate of Masseria and Capone had a large scale gambling and bootlegging operation
-Joe Aiello would gamble at Capone's places, but when he would lose, he would have the gambling operation raided and Aiello's men would take much more money than was lost
-Capone was paying protection to Masseria
-A dispute arose between Masseria and Aiello and Masseria than brought Capone in and made him a capodecina and told Capone to kill Aiello
-In 1926 or 1927, there was a "Appalachian type meeting" (Generale assemblea?) in Pewaukee, Wisconsin. The meetings purpose was to make peace in Chicago, but other families attended
-Tough Tony Capesio was one of the shooters in the St. Valentine's day massacre
-Jack Zutta, a Jewish Aiello associate, was murdered by Capone's gang
-The Milwaukee mafia banned people from helping Aiello.
-Sam Aiello, Joe Caminiti, and Migele Mineo were former Aiello members who fled Chicago to join the Milwaukee family
-Sam Aiello wasn't sympathetic about his brother. Sam returned to Chicago later and was in Jim DiGeorge's crew
-Carl Caputa left Chicago and went to Madison where he became boss. Joe "Joe Pizza Pie" Aiello (unspecified relation to the Joe Capone wared with) went with Caputa to Madison
-Milwaukee didn't try to extort any gamblers until Sam Ferrara
-Al Capone was Neopolitan, the next boss was Tony Accardo who was "Thelast Sicilian to be an important boss," Accardo was succeeded by a Neopolotan Sam Giancana (Pretty sure this info is wrong)
-Chicago outfit was a "Money grabbing operation" where only a few leaders profit "at the expense of the general membership" this had an effect on Milwaukee
-Chicago took over Milwaukee in 1952
-Sam Ferrara wanted to have a piece of the Ogden social club which was a gambling place that Frank Balistrieri had a piece on and Balistieri was Son-In-Law to John Alioto. Balistrieri said no to Ferrara and then Ferrara shelved Balistrieri. Milwaukee then asked Chicago to help them with all the trouble.
-A general meeting was held in 1952; Tony Accardo, Rocco Fischetti, and Sam Giancana attended. Sam Ferrara was taken down as boss and replaced by John Alioto
-Alioto reinstated Balistrieri and made him a capodecina
-While Alioto was boss, no gamblers or businessmen were extorted
-John DiTrapani was a capodecina who didn't like Alioto, so he said he would spend $90,000 and even was willing to finance some murders
-One of DiTrapani's friends "Pasternak" lost a lot of money gambling with the outfit and DiTrapani made it known he was very upset
-Furthermore, Alioto heard about Ditrapani's plans to become boss and this sealed DiTrapani's fate
-Chicago were the ones who ordered DiTrapani's murder, not Alioto
-DiTrapani and Frank LaGalbo (a member and DiTrapani associate) were called to a meeting by the Chicago outfit. The meeting was going to be in Milwaukee though.
-LaGalbo warned DiTrapani not to go. LaGabo himself wasn't going to go.
-DiTrapani went anyway and on March 16, 1954 he was murdered. the following day he was found shot in his car
-LaGalbo was very well connected to Chicago and he set up a transfer where he would be in the Chicago family in the decina of Frank LaPorte
-LaPorte was centered in Chicago Heights
-Jack Enea was also apart of the faction that wanted Alioto taken down as boss. he wasn't killed until November, 1954 (Chicago authorized it)
-In January of 1962, Joe Alioto retired and Frank P. Balistrieri took over, Alioto was upset about this. Alioto apparently felt it should've gone to an older man
-furthermore, Alioto was upset that Balistrieri had an affair with his wife's cousin
-Balistrieri began shaking down gamblers and businessmen
-Balistrieri was collecting $500-$600 from Bruno Ramazini and John Volpe who ran the Holiday House
-Despite not collecting from Frank and Jimmy Fazio who ran restaurants, there was an incident where a bomb went off. After this, Balistrieri went to Florida and when he came back he said that they had a piece of Jimmy Fazio's place in Fort Lauderdale
-Balistrieri was not liked by older members because he never consulted with anyone before making decisions and Maniaci even said it would not surprise him if Balistrieri was murdered. Maniaci said if anyone were to kill Balistrieri, it would be the outfit
II. Organization and Leadership -The 1957 Apalachin meeting was due to Albert Anastasia taking forcible action which affected other bosses without telling them.
-Anastasia was killed due to the disappearance of two unnamed men
-John Alioto and Frank Balistrieri were going to go to Apalachin but didnt at the last moment. Also, attendance was not mandatory at Apalachin
-Maniaci didn't know too much about the commission or its structure, but he said it had around 7 members and though he doesn't know if there is a "boss of bosses," if anyone was it would be Giancana (clearly shows his midwest bias)
-Giancana had control over Madison, Rockford, and Springfield
-Balistrieri went to Chicago periodically for meetings with Giancana, Battaglia, or capodecina Felix "Milwaukee Phil" Alderisio. These meeting were at the underboss Sam Battaglia's farm
-occassionally, Balistrieri would meet with Alderisio, Battaglia, and Marshal Caifano in a Milwaukee hotel
-Ralph Capone of Mercer, Wisconsin isn't connected with Milwaukee or Chicago
-At one point, the Pfister hotel manager Marvin Billet made a deal and Kansas City member Sebastian "Buster" Balestrere (who was "imported" to Milwaukee along with Joseph Gurera for the purpose of shaking bookmakers and businessmen down) found out and this led to Balestrere having leverage over Billet. Eventually, the Fox Head Brewery bought a hotel in Jamiaca and Buster made Billet manager. Balistrieri asked Giancana if he wanted to "take over a large gambling casino in the hotel." Billet lost the managorial position and their plan didn't work.
-Balistrieri is involved in the Continental Music Company.
-The chicago outfit may have 500 members (this is wrong as they may not have had 100 at their peak, though it shows how the smaller families saw them)
-Sam Giancana is the boss, Sam "Teets" Battaglia is the underboss, and the following are capodecina: Felix Alderisio, Marshal Caifano, Frank LaPorte, Tony Maccalucci (ph), and Ross Prio
-Ross Prio is a north side leader who was originally in Jim DiGeorge's crew
-Maniaci heard complaints that people are upset in Chicago that only a few are making money. Also, they are upset that Sam Giancana "is too much of a playboy." CI also advised that John Cerone may be Giancana's successor. Cerone is very close to Tony Accardo
-Frank Balistrieri is related to former Kansas City boss James "Big Jim" Balistrieri (It appears his real last name was Balestrere, though his fathers last name was Balistrieri)
-Joseph Cusimano and Joe Jellosa (or Jealouso) are two Kansas City members who have visited Milwaukee in the past
-The Kansas City import Joseph Gurera was said to have killed two politicians (clearly referring to the infamous hit that left Charles Binaggio and Charles Gargotta dead)
-Balistrieri made Gurera a capodecina and Buster Balestrere worked under him. Both members went back to Kansas City in 1963 after pressure was put on Milwaukee for Anthony Biernat's murder
-On April 18, 1964 Peter Balistrieri's (Frank's brother) daughter married Leonard Drewek, a non-Italian. John Molle, Buster Balestrere, and Jim Balestrere (Not made) all went to the wedding
-Peter Balistrieri is a capodecina
-Rockford's boss is Joseph Zummutto, the underboss is Frank Bucemi, and the consigliere is Joseph Zitto. (FNU) Caltegerone is a member who's old and used to be close to Milwaukee capodecina Pasquale Migliaccio. Caltergerone may be a reference to Carl "Charlie Vince" Caltegerone
-Madison, Wisconsin has 10-15 members. The boss is Carl Caputo and Joseph "Joe Pizza Pie" Aiello is a member. Both are wealthy with real estate investments.
-Benny DeSalvo was a capodecina in Madison, but died in February of 1964 at 84 years old. He was buried in Chicago
-The following is the boss succession of Milwaukee: Vito Guardalabene (Nicola Gentile reported Joseph Vallone was the underboss in 1915) Peter Guardalabene (Son of Vito) Joseph "Big Joe" Amato Joseph Vallone (Boss from mid 1920's-mid 1930's) Joseph Gumina was the underboss to Vallone (also says Gumina was capodecina, maybe he controlled a crew along with being consigliere) Charles Zarcone was the consigliere Pasquale Migliaccio was a capodecina Migele Mineo was a capodecina Tom Lucua (ph) was a capodecina Sam Ferrara (Mid 1930's-1952) Joe Gumina was the underboss (again lists him as capo too) Charles Zarcone is listed as consigliere Pasquale Migliaccio was a capodecina Migele Mineo was a capodecina Joseph Caminiti is also a captain (may have been captain under Vallone as well) John Alioto (1952-1962) Joe Gumina was the underboss (again lists him as capo too) Migele Mineo was a capodecina John DiTrapani was a capodecina until his murder in 1954 Pasquale Migliaccio was a capodecina Frank Balistrieri was a capodecina as well Frank Balistrieri (1962-time document was typed) appears he had no underboss Charles Zarcone would be consigliere if Balistrieri had one, Maniaci doesn't know if he actually was though John Alioto was a capodecina and had the older members in his crew Peter Balistrieri was a capodecina "who has active members under his direction" -Older members are displeased with Balistrieri for not consulting any members and making Joseph Gurera (Kansas City) a capodecina instead of a local member
-Older members blame Balistrieri for the publicity LCN is getting due to Anthony Biernat's murder also there's resentment because no one is making money
-Maniaci said he wouldn't be surprised if they killed Balistrieri one day
-On January 4th, 14th, and the 31st Balistrieri held parties at Gallagher's restaurant in an attempt to get the opposite faction to like him. He planned to have another similar meeting a month later. He also assured the members that jobs would soon open up and he gave Vito Aiello, John Aiello, and Maniaci himself jobs at gambling places.
-Balistrieri is very cautious in regards to his personal movements
-Another CI reported the meeting at Gallagher's was to fix the bad feelings between Myron Jennaro and Paul Bogosian who are both associates of the Milwaukee family
-the following is the structure according to Maniaci: capo: boss sottocapo: Italian not Sicilian term for underboss "consuleri": (see previous comment about spelling) the consigliere is the counselor who is usually an older member capodecina: heads a crew, means "head of ten", but members sometimes have 50 members in their crew (or in some cases zero members) No mention of soldiers
-the following are popular terms used by members: Amico Nostro: friend of ours; used by fellow members to indicate someones a member avugad: means lawyer, Maniaci said there's no significance as a term in Milwaukee, but it probably was just not for low level members. Normally the avugad is a representative on the commission. for example, Milwaukee's avugad would've been Chicago's boss cumpare: means godfather; used to show closeness to someone don: Italian term of respect, not a mafia term onorata: means honor, Maniaci said he's never heard the mafia called onorata society which many sources have reported omerta: Maniaci said it's to express any qualities in the word "manly" sagia: "chair, committee of boss, underboss, consuleri [sic], and capodecina [sic] Tourna: general meeting where all members attend; for an important reason
-the following are members of Milwaukee identified by Maniaci: John Aiello: made under Ferrara Vito Aiello: Made under Ferrara John Alioto: Made under Guardalabene, was boss then capodecina Albert Albana: Suspect in Biernat's murder and was made a month after in January 1963 Mike Albano: Runs Angelo's Pizzaria, long time member
III. Membership -John Alioto did not make any members, but Vallone, Ferrara, and Balistrieri did. (which must've happened when the books were closed either suggesting the midwest didn't follow this or he did it on the sly)
-To be made originally, you had to be Sicilian, but they switched it to just be full Italian
-Members don't have to kill, but this has been a rule in the past, to be made
-Associates are proposed by a made member who knows the associates potential. In the past, the name would go around to all members and if they objected, he couldn't be made
-the associate could cooperate with law enforcement to be made
-in the past, all members had to be present at the initiation ceremonies (Maniaci calls them "tourna" meaning a general membership meeting). They no longer do that though
-The Biernat murderers were alleged to be Steve DeSalvo, Dominic Principe, and Albert Albana. DeSalvo contacted Biernat before the killing
-during the making ceremony, both the proposed member and his sponser's fingers are pricked and their blood is mixed. Then everyone present joins hands and a picture of a saint is burned (presumably in the proposed members hand) and the proposed member takes an oath in Italian to put the organization over everything including family and religion
-Members must obey all orders under threat of death
-No members can deal drugs or they will be killed
-Members need permission before engaging in something that may affect another member
-In the past disputes between members were taken before the "Sagia" (This is also called the Seggia, consiglio, or the Sicilian term consignu)
-The "Sagia'' was composed of a boss, underboss, "consuleri", and the capodecina (the term "consuleri" suggests multiple consigliere, but the document has used the singular and plural terms interchangeably. traditionally, the consiglio had multiple consigliere though. Also "capodecina" suggests one captain, which wouldn't really make sense in the context so it can be assumed they mean all capidecina in the family)
-Balistrieri no longer consults anyone except Chicago and only for big issues
-Maniaci named the following as members of the LCN family in Milwaukee (these are just from memory): John Aiello: Made under Ferrara Vito Aiello: Made under Ferrara; John Aiello's brother John Alioto: Made under Vito Guardalabene; capodecina Albert Albana: Made in early 1964, after the murder of Anthony Biernat Mike Albano: Runs Angelo's Pizzaria; long time member Tony Albano: Mike's uncle; retired Frank Balistrieri: boss; made with John DiTrapani; in Joe Ferrara's crew?; Made capodecina under John Alioto Joseph Balistrieri: Frank's dad; longtime member Peter Balistrieri: Frank's brother; capodecina Joseph Caminiti: Secretary treasurer of Local 257; made in Chicago under Joe Aiello; came to Milwaukee during Aiello-Capone war; bootlegger during prohibition; capodeinca under Vallone and Ferrara; Balistrieri's closest confidant even closer to Frank than Peter; Married to John Alioto's daughter Harry DeAngelo: Ferrara didn't like him; made in 1963; works sanitation or garbage department; 55 years old Carl Di Maggio: long time soldier Salvatore DiMaggio: Carlo's son; burglar eith extesnive record; made under Ferrara Benny DeSalvo: Made in 1963; nephew of old Madison boss Benny DeSalvo who died in 1964; lived in New York for a while but moved back to Milwaukee and went into construction Steve DeSalvo: Close to Balistrieri; primary suspect in Biernat murder; made one month after the murder Sam Ferrara: former boss; operates liquor store; inactive Joseph Gumina; underboss and capodecina under Vallone, Ferrara, and Alioto; he was a boxer after coming to America; bootlegger and then worked at A.O. Smith corp.; capable of murder; his son married Ferrara's daughter August Maniaci: Long time soldier Santo Marino: Brother-in-law to Ferrara; not active; operates tevern Migele "Mike" Mineo: Made in chicago; came to Milwaukee during Aiello-Capone war; capodecina under Vallone, Ferrara, and Alioto; employed by Schlitz Brewery John Pernice: former bootlegger; unemployed; not known to hold leadership position Dominic Principe: Another Biernat murder suspect; made following murder; lives in Illinois Joe Rizzo: inactive; worked as bartender in multiple places Vito Seidita: inactive; 55 years old; works for city of Milwaukee, maybe in street department Joseph Spero: inactive; works for city of Milwaukee, maybe in garbage department Charles Zarcone: consigliere during Vallone, Ferrara, and Alioto; may be consigliere under Balistrieri, but Maniaci doesnt know
Maniaci also listed the following as members affiliated with other families that live in Milwaukee: Frank LaGalbo: runs Chico's restaurant; was supposed to be killed along with DiTrapani; transfered to Chicago under Frank LaPorte John DiBella: member from Italy; close to Joe Bonanno; head of Grande Cheese Company Ralph "bottles" Capone: Chicago member; no importance in the underworld James DiGeorge: operates stock farm; owns land in Adams county, Wisconsin; former capodecina of North Chicago; years ago he was supposed to be killed, but got a pass; lives in exile in Wisconsin (likely shelved)
-Maniaci said that even your immidiate family may not know your made and it's typical for people to keep their sons out of the mafia
Maniaci named the following as people not members of Milwaukee, but closely associated with Milwaukee: Walter "Walter Blackie" Brocca: worked forvarious businesses on behalf of Frank Balistrieri Tony Bruno: No member of Bruno's family has ever been a member Sam Cefalu: gambler; lives at 1606 North Jackson; employed by Balistrieri Sam Cefalu: lives at 3461 North Cramer; not related to the other Sam Cefalu; worked for Balistrieri in a gambling office Anthony "Sheriff Cefalu" Cefalu: Brother of Sam (doesnt say which one); employed as gambler Gus Chiaverotti: Working for Frank Balistrieri in Continental Music Co.; closely associates with Balistrieri Sam DaQuista: No other DaQuista family member has been connected Joe Dentice: No Dentice has been a member Dominic Frinzi: Lawyer for Milwaukee mafia Nick Fugarino: closely associates with LCN Ted Gagliano: Gambler Nick Gentile (Doesnt specify if its Nicola Gentile, the one who wrote a book): not a member, but associates with LCN Joseph Guarniere: not a member Dr. Vito Guardalabene: Son of former boss Pete; no living Guardalabene is a member of mafia Danny Lampone: No Lampones are made Tony LaRosa: associated with LCN, not member Sam Librizzi: Gambling LCN associate Tony and Tom Machi: gamblers John Mandella: not a member Vincent Mercurio: not a member John Percurio: creditor to Frank Balistrieri who he's related to Tom Piscitello: not a member John and Joe Piscuine: Gamblers; no Piscuine's have been members Bruno Ramazini: former operator of Holiday House Frank "Big foot Hogan" Sansone: gambler; runs a restaurant Joe Sardino: no other Sardino's are connected with LCN Tom Sorce: Gambler Frank Stelloh: Close to Frank Balistrieri and Steve DeSalvo; non Italian, so couldn't be made Nick Tarantino: "very close" and trusted by Frank Balistrieri; couldn't be made because he helped police in a burglary investigation, this was well known to LCN John Triliegi: LCN associate Sam Vermiglio: former head of a counterfeit cigarette stamp ring; deals drugs; murdered John Volpe: runs the Holiday house
-An informant, possibly Maniaci, advised in 1964 tht Frank Balistrieri has a share in William Covelli's gambling operation (CI doesnt say, but Covelli may have been made)
-Aforementioned informant said Balistrieri also has a share in John Rizzo's bookmaking operation. Al Albana is the one who brings the money from Rizzo and Covelli to Balistrieri
-Both Maniaci and another CI reported that Balistrieri, Rizzo, and Covelli thought about buting a Key Club in Park City, Illinois. Maniaci said that if Balistrieri was serious, he would have to talk to Chicago first since its their terretory
-On April 5, 1964 CI (aforementioned informant, probably not Maniaci) advised that he expected Buster Balestrere and Joe Gurera were expected to come back to Milwaukee before June of 1964. They are coming back to act as hosts in a big crap game. Nick Tarantino would be a treasurer in the game. Frank Balistrieri will own the game and Buster Balestrere will be pit boss and host. The reasoning for starting the game was it would make a lot of money and wouldn't violate a federal law.
-Sam Cefalu and Sam Librizzi run a gambling office recieving a line from out of state, this is the only out of state line. Sam Dentice is a runner for the operation. Anthony "Sheriff Cefalu" Cefalu used to be involved, but is inactive
-a CI advised that 70% of gamblers are represented by Dominic Frinzi. Frinzi has represented Anthony Cefalu, Charles Piscuine, Robert Pick, William Cole, Steve Halmo, and Harvey Wach
-A CI advised on March 7, 1964 members of "Chicago and Miami outfits" (maybe meaning Tampa) were trying to build a motel in the bahamas. Balistrieri was going to have a 5% interest in it
-A different CI advised that Giancana was interested in a casino at Cat Cay in the Bahamas.
-Ben Novac owned the Fountainbleu Hotel in Miami and was a close associate of Chicago and New York LCN. He applied for a license to operate a casino in the Bahamas in April of 1964 and was denied due to his financial ties to gangsters
-a CI (probably Maniaci) reported on April 3, 1964 that Balistrieri and former capodecina, but current soldier Joe Caminiti had a meeting where they discussed the Milwaukee Police Department (MPD). Balistrieri said he helped get cheif of police Harold Breter into office. Blaistrieri said he felt the MPD was trying to put heat on him by arresting young people who frequented Gallagher's restaurant and they surveilled LCN members. Balistrieri met with inspector Kremsreiter who was the number 3 man in the MPD. Kremsreiter and Balistrieri met at Fazio's and had lunch. At lunch, Balistrieri suggested that the MPD should stay away from his kind and that there are not enough police to be just focusing on him. Balistrieri told Caminiti that he was happy with how it went.
-Frank Ranney is a secretary-treasurer of Teamsters local 200 and is very close to Balistrieri even working together at Atomic Industries, a bubble gum company
-An informant advised on March 24, 1964 that Balistrieri, Frank Ranney, and Joe Caminiti met at Fazio's. The informant said Balistrieri had "some form of domination over Ranney"
-One CI stated that Balistrieri is connected to Jimmy Hoffa and could get a multi-million dollar loan to build a motel in Milwaukee.
-Tony Volpe is connected with Chicago and has access to the money from the welfare and pension fund of the teamster union in Chicago and that many Las Vegas casinos have been financed with the money.
-On April 3, 1964, a CI (or wiretap) reported that Joe Caminiti and Frank Balistrieri had a meeting where they discussed "the disposition of money supplied by the Teamsters to Frank Balistrieri for distribution to some of the candidates for Alderman in the City of Milwaukee." Caminiti told Balistrieri he'll advise the candidates that they are backed by the teamsters.
-During the same meeting Caminiti insuled Robert Kennedy saying he operated a gestapo. They also talked about a speech Congressman Alvin O'Konski gave talking good about Jimmy Hoffa. The Teamsters gave money to O'Konski and Senator Morse (ph) for political purposes
-Caminiti said Robert Kennedy infringes on civil liberties, this was after O'Konski told him about an investigation coming by the DOJ
-Caminiti also said that the Teamsters had trouble getting the poney to pay for Jimmy Hoffa's legal expenses. Out of 35 locals in Wisconsin, 20 wouldn't pass anything in support of paying. Because of this, they decided they would take the money out of the joint counsil, meaning every member will pay .05-.10 cents
-Joe Caminiti told Frank Balistrieri that Frank Ranney said to be careful giving money to Alderman Allen L. Calhoun. This was due to when Calhoun once moved districts, he came into conflict with Al Hass who was close to the Milwaukee LCN. Balistrieri already knew and met with Calhoun and told him that Hass is who they're most loyal too, but they will support whoever won. Balistrieri gave cash to Calhoun as an unreported donation
-Balistrieri gave a donation to Art Else, who's opponent was Henry Maier. Balistrieri gave Else the donation at Gallagher's restaurant.
-Angelo Provinzano was a member of the city service commission who was mobbed up. Balistrieri gave money to Provinzano who then donated money to mob backed candidates. Provinzano donated $995 to mayor Henry Maier. Provinzano also was used in the past to get Italians in positions in the city government and police department. Informant said Provinzano wasn't made
-On April 17, 1964, Dominic Frinzi (mob attorney) was going to run for governor and the mafia backed him. Frinzi himself wasn't confident he could win, but it would give him publicity which he could later use to become a judge
-Anthony Biernat was found buried in a cellar of an abandoned farm sprinkled with lime, but it wasn't the right kind which would disintegrate a body
-Frank Balistrieri partly owns The Pitch Specialty Co. Balistrieri's relative Peter Picciuro operated the business. His father John Picciuro also has a piece or co-owns it.
-Carl Dentice has a jukebox operation in his name for Frank Balistrieri
-Sam Dentice got a jukebox license under his name for Balistrieri
-Peter Sciotino's bakery was targeted in a bombing because of Balistrieri's shakedown campaign. Sciortino was personally connected to Joe Bonanno in some way and ended up not having to pay. Sciortino himself wasn't a LCN member
-Balistrieri's shakedown campaign began in the summer of 1962 with Joseph Gurera and Buster Balestrere shaking businessmen and gamblers down. Some people did resist so Balistrieri wanted to send a message. They were going to kill either Bill Cole or Bobby Pick, but when LE found out they stopped trying.
-An informant though Tony LaRosa might be killed because it was said the Milwaukee family heard he gave information to LE
-In may of 1964, an informant said that Steve DeSalvo and Frank Stelloh now operated as musclemen for Balistrieri. They even planned to murder someone who the informant didn't know.
-The informant thought the murder target may have been Izzy Tocco who was a booker for Sam Cefalu and got in trouble, but the informant thought that this would be too little a reason to murder someone
-A different informant supplied information suggesting the murder target may be Joe Beck. Beck was making complaints against the Continental Sales Co. Balistrieri made comments to the acting manager Gus Chiaverotti where he expressed his anger against Beck.
-An informant advised on April 10, 1964 that he heard a story about a Milwaukee gangster being offered $5,000 by the Chicago LCN "to make a hit" on a prominent businessman who was made. The reasoning was because the man owed the Chicago family between $18,000-$20,000. The man either stole the money or bet and lost the outfit's money

Let's jet set off to Paris, mes petits choux! Fortunately for Paige but unfortunately for all of you, my healthcare coverage is really doing the most, by which I mean doing the least, and a lot of my snarky energy after work had to go into fighting with them to cover the same prescriptions they've been covering for the past over a decade, hooray for America. And then Paige topped this off by really putting out a half-assed turd sandwich of a vlog where 80% of it is her laying foundation on top of bronzer on top of foundation on top of bronzer. But for you, my little cabbages, I will do my best to recap any relevant points.
As always, here's the vlog Bingo card for playing along at home. I add stuff to it every week as new trends emerge, your prize for winning is... something I haven't figured out yet. By doing everyone's birth charts I learned there's a ton of Virgo energy in this subreddit, though, so astrologically speaking you should all be satisfied with a virtual shoulder pat and being told you did a good job and you're the smartest person I've ever met.
​

• We open on Paige "typewriting" on screen that she went to Paris for 48 hours to see her boyfriend play tennis and here's how it went, which I don't think she intended to but inadvertently gives off the sense that we're about to enter into footage of a hostage negotiation? It's almost like if you don't consume art and instead magpie various aesthetic details and cobble them together, you ignorantly imply a lot of things you don't mean to imply, but what do I know!
• The first four minutes of this vlog are unspeakably boring. I can try to make them interesting for you, but what's the point? Paige opens up a brand new notebook and writes PARIS in it with a Sharpie. It's intially unclear why she does this, but then it becomes abundantly clear as this goes on that it's because Paige thought she'd be there way longer and didn't bother getting much or really any footage of anything, and now is desperately trying to pad this sucker out so she can get a midroll ad. It's a bunch of out of focus nonsense. Here's the only things that happen that are of any note:
  • One of her giant checked suitcases when she packs is just labelled "work". I'm now entertaining wild speculations about what could take up an entire checked bag that she just had to bring to Paris under the assumption that she'd be there longer than 48 hours. My personal bet is that it's half denim samples, half reams of paper that she had Amanda print out with random graphs or pictures of generic clothing pieces and the text under it just reads "BUSINESS BUSINESS BUSINESS"
  • When she gets to Paris Tommy comes downstairs wearing a green t-shirt. Later we see Paige wearing the same shirt but she dresses it up with a black bow in her hair. It looks dumb.
  • Paige says hi to us from the bathroom mirror wearing a face mask after moisturizing her whole body because the airplane left her soooo dry. This is only notable because she claims she's going to rest for a bit by "reading some of her book" (we get it, Paige, you read my recaps, but I still don't believe you read anything besides that) before she unpacks, and also because she can't actually get the sentence out so it cuts every two words, and because it's handheld footage it's not steady, which means you kind of get this weird, jostly experience watching her try to form a sentence.
  • Paige and Tommy go to the great shopping mecca that is Paris and appear to go to Kith and Sephora
  • The food they eat does actually look pretty good
  • The time breakdown of this is two minutes on the plane, two minutes in Paris, and then we get into the bulk of the video
• Getting ready time! Okay here's where it gets mildly more interesting, and by interesting I mean there's more to discuss besides half-assed B-roll. Before we start I should make clear, we're about to embark on a getting ready that is 15 minutes of a 20 minute video, and in this time the end result will be Paige looking almost identical to how she looks at the start of it. This detail stuck in my brain because I put this on for a first watch-through this morning while I was getting ready for work and putting on my own makeup. At first I was convinced she had done her makeup beforehand and was just mimicking putting it on because she was too vain to be seen without makeup, but re-watching it now that I'm home I don't think that's the case. I think she's had a lot of work done to make it look like she's always wearing makeup (semi-permanent makeup procedures, eyelash extensions, etc) and then genuinely spends a long time caking layers upon layers upon layers to look exactly the same. Which honestly makes me kind of sad. But I suppose Paige is contractually obliged to have at least one unwitting self-own she stumbles into every vlog where the curtain is pulled back and we gaze upon the vast chasm of insecurity inside her that comes from her being just aware enough to know that she knows nothing about what she's talking about at any given time and if she stopped being pretty to look at more people might point that out.
  • Paige is really tan, you guys, and she feels like makeup doesn't work as well on her skin when she is. This is probably because not once in this entire routine does she PUT ON SUNSCREEN (even though she says prepping your skin before sitting in the sun all day is super important), like not even a BB cream with sunscreen in it. I have no hope of reaching Paige but girlypops! Wear! Your! Sunscreen! Get a spray tan if you want later, but skin cancer is real and not fun and even if you avoid skin cancer, being out in the sun like that makes you look like a leather raisin by middle age. Like she's sitting on a clay court? What are we doing here.
  • If you were wondering if this is in fact a very long undisclosed ad roll, sure is
  • Ah, one of the serums is so good, she actually got it while on a skiing trip. you know, because she's a skier.
  • The reason Paige didn't come to Tommy's first match is because she had "a lot going on at home". Really essential stuff like paying other people to install a pre-built shed for her, buying a second horse, eating unwashed vegetables - important stuff.
    • Oh my apologies she had a denim sample to approve. Not just any denim sample, a WHOLE denim sample, and that is what was in her "work" suitcase. Because idk international mail doesn't work? I mean I sound like I'm advocating she follow Tommy around and I actually think it's better that she doesn't, but also I'd rather she said "I missed Tommy's first match because it was really important to me to spend time seeing friends and family and recharging and resting" instead of pretending she was soooo busy being a Serious Business Girl. Like just be honest that following a man around isn't exhausting and boring and I wouldn't care.
  • I will give it to Paige, she does admit her contour routine with like a dozen products is over the top, and if she left it at that it'd just be that she enjoys the ritual of that and it's fine, but she's like "I swear guys it's so good it makes such a difference" and that is where I draw the line. Contouring is the greatest scam the Kardashians have ever pulled and I do not trust anyone who says otherwise. Like we all did that exercise in middle school art class where we had to shade in shapes different ways, and it didn't ever change the shape, it just made it look like the light was coming from different directions. Paige says this is because contour "adds light and dimension and makes your skin look more healthy" but you know what else does that? Hydrating, wearing sunscreen, and NOT PUTTING ON FIFTEEN DIFFERENT TYPES OF FOUNDATION AND BRONZER. The same concept of "you can change where the light hits but not how the shape looks" that applies to drawing an egg applies to makeup - contouring does absolutely nothing unless you're a drag queen and also you're Trixie Mattel (hallowed be her name AND her commitment to producing really quality orange blushes. If you have warm-toned skin at all, use bronze, peach, and orange blushes this summer and thank me later).
    • Also Paige clearly has not been paying attention because contouring looks and this cakey, Meredith Duxbury, early aughts Beauty YouTuber look is very much not the vibe? The hot thing right now is really natural, light, dewy stuff a la Rare Beauty or Glossier, and it's heavily inspired by K-Beauty and C-Beauty looks. Even I know this and my makeup looks better on me than Paige's does and it's not even my job to wear makeup or know about this stuff! No one's paying me to do this! Maybe they should be, I guess! (It shouldn't be, I'm very good at doing my face and my face only.)
    • Honestly it looks a lot of the time here like Paige is putting mud on her face, and everything she shows and applies to her face is mud-colored, and it's just dingier and dingier and she would look so much better if instead of all of this she just did a nice warm terra cotta sort of blush and some highlighter. My kingdom for something to bring actual warmth or color to her face and not just look like she's smearing sparkly dishwater on herself.
  • Paige blathers more about travelling and authenticity and how she travels a lot but also doesn't travel that much? I don't know it's all so meandering and nonsensical and I give up. The tl;dr is what I said before: she's a homebody who hates travel but knows if she just did the things that made her happy and let herself be boring, people would stop watching her, so she's trying to straddle an impossible line and since she can't admit that's what's happening, her explanations get increasingly convoluted and her definition of "authenticity" or us "getting it" comes to mean "whatever I like at the time is authentic and if it doesn't work out or backfires on me it's because I was feeling forced to be inauthentic, because I am authentically perfect and always right".
    • See it's because she's NOT A CITY GIRL, it's not that she doesn't like TRAVEL, it's that she doesn't like travelling to CITIES because she's such a COUNTRY GIRL AT HEART, that's why she lives in a FARMHOUSE in CONNECTICUT, which is practically the sticks.
    • "I got some really funny comments about this from you guys, I was actually cracking up" Paige says and then shows us comments of people kissing her ass for no reason, which she probably directly or indirectly paid for telling her how much better her home vlogs are.
  • Paige puts on some MAC setting spray and this is where we get into Peak Paige, she tells us this story about how when she lived in NYC she made friends with a girl who worked at MAC and at first Paige didn't believe that the setting spray did anything but then her friend told her that unlike other setting sprays, the MAC stuff "leaves a layer over your skin that like... helps your makeup combine smoothly, so that's why if you love the MAC Fix Plus more than other setting sprays, it's because it actually has science behind it"
    • I call this Peak Paige because it's something that's so obviously rich with lies while simultaneously very likely being an undisclosed advertisement that you could spend hours unpacking this. Like which part is the lie, that Paige made a friend? Was this "friend" someone she talked to more than once at the MAC store? Why did Paige say "combine" like it had a d in it? What does she mean by "it has science behind it", like, how does Paige think other setting sprays, or for that matter other makeup works? Does Paige think about any of this at all? Does this not make sense because it came as part of an ad read Paige got in her many, many PR packages we've seen her get from MAC? We may never know! It's a mystery lost to the sands of time!
  • There are chunks of glass in Paige's palette because it broke but they're just going to have to ~make it work~ because she's so tough and roll with the punches and quirky like that! I mean she literally made Tommy take her to Sephora in the vlog the day before and it's a totally brown palette which there's no way she couldn't find another of at a Sephora in Paris, but sure Paige.
  • Paige while using the Benefit brow stuff: "I strayed away from this stuff for a second, don't know why, think it's because I get sent so many products" really had to add that in there.
  • Oh thank god she finally added blush and it makes her look a million, trillion times better
  • "Don't worry" says Paige as she applies stuff, "I'm going to leave links to everything I use for you guys". Oh you're going to try to make money off this by using undisclosed affiliate links? You don't say! It was super subtle, the clearly narrated ad copy and pop-ups every time you used a new product didn't give you away at all.
  • I will say this for Paige, the girl does do a good cat eye.
  • Okay this is insane, Paige uses a powder to cover up her roots? What is this, 1776 the musical? ROOT COVER UP POWDER???? I don't color my hair, is this a normal product???? I still say it's giving Founding Father. Powdering roots. Unbelievable. I hate everything about it.
• Paige shows us two dress options, the set she wore and a much more modest, much cuter dress that's essentially an a-line pink polo shirt. I really, really liked the first one on her, but she vetoes it for being too "casual". The second one that's a set, on the other hand, doesn't ook as coherent because it's a three piece and requires a cami underneath the jacket, it looks hot and itchy, and the shorts in that heavy material look ridiculous and don't fit her body well so it's giving diaper. She of course went with the second one.
  • She's wearing it with her new Chanel loafers. They were a gift (she doesn't say from who) and she's obsessed with them, hashtag not a designer girl.
• Anyway Tommy loses and they go out to dinner, the end. On a 1-10 scale with ten being the most, I give it a 2 for actually being a well put together vlog, a 3 in terms of Paige being a privileged unhinged weirdo. She can do better on all fronts.

Valid theories as to why Nine Mile Hole was so very special to Forrest Fenn are out there, if one cares to look carefully enough. But nobody yet to my uncertain knowledge has pointed to hints in The Thrill of the Chase or other evidence that explain why Fenn might have been so emotional about his journey to the special place that he cryptically described in the poem. Yes, it was the place he wanted to die, and that alone would be a good enough reason for emotion. Yet the sort of sentimentality that Fenn betrayed about the place – for example when he read the poem out loud – suggests something even deeper and more sorrowful: a sense of loss that is larger than the man himself.
It so happens that there truly is a source of information that reveals why Nine Mile Hole was so sacred to Forrest Fenn: an emotional connection had been forged as a result of dual tragedies. It is contained in poetry masquerading as prose written by Ernest Schwiebert, an expert on flies and flyfishing, in his seminal Nymphs: Stoneflies, Caddisflies, and Other Important Insects including the lesser mayflies, Volume II (2007).
The existence of this text and its importance to the chase was originally revealed by Vertigo, who first shared it on The Hint of Riches forum. Later, Vertigo reposted the excerpt from the Schwiebert text on Medium here along with the other results of his excellent research. All the Vertigo entries are a must read if you want to try walking in the shoes of Forrest Fenn. I won’t repeat that portion of the Schwiebert text previously shared by Vertigo in its entirety although I will include a few of the most relevant excerpts to help tie everything together.
What I want to focus on here is the emotional and motivational parts of the tragic story that Schwiebert eloquently told in the paragraphs that Vertigo did not quote. This material is critical in my opinion to understanding the importance of Nine Mile Hole and what happened there to make it the place where Fenn wanted to die.
To summarize, the fires that devastated Yellowstone in 1988 were in part the result of government mismanagement of forest fires on Federal land, much of which was due to political games (e.g. to discredit members of the other political party). These fires created havoc and destruction in the Madison watershed and its fisheries that went largely unacknowledged by environmentalists and the public at large. Only those who had fished those flywaters in the decades before the fires could truly understand the extent of the negative impact on the river and its riparian ecosystem.
Among other casualties, the brown trout hideout at the famous Nine Mile Hole was spoiled, and the spring-fed pond secreted in the woods nearby was literally wiped off the map. Its crystal clear waters – a quarter mile up a cold rivulet from the legendary hole on the Madison – had once rewarded the most tenacious Brown with the perfect spot to spawn. Now there was only brown sludge in its place. To someone who had intimately known Nine Mile Hole, its matronly crystalline pond, or any other riverine wonder of the Madison watershed in Yellowstone, it was enough to utterly break their heart.
Forrest Fenn's feelings about the ordeal were very much in the same vein as those expressed by Ernest Schwiebert. The difference was that the latter man did not need to keep a secret and therefore could lay bare his emotional injuries.
Indeed, the 1988 fires must have devastated Fenn similarly if not more so. But this grand tragedy was not quite as catastrophic to him as being diagnosed with cancer and given slim odds of surviving it. The year 1988 was not particularly kind to the man.
Fortunately, the forests and rivers of Yellowstone always seem to recover from the worst tribulations that nature could manage to throw at them, and so did Fenn. But not without a profound impact. The battle for survival and the scars left behind had connected Fenn to his special place at a level so primal and emotionally raw that it was almost umbilical. How could there ever be another consideration when it came to the somber task of choosing the place to take his last breath?
And then came the FBI raids in 2009. The Feds had had a hand in destroying his Shangri-La in Yellowstone in 1988, and now it seemed they wanted to finish robbing him of treasure while desecrating his reputation and castle in Santa Fe.
ENOUGH IS ENOUGH, he said to himself through sublime gritted teeth and with a resolve that only the gravely aggrieved can muster. I'm going to carry out my plan. In Yellowstone Park, damn the consequences!
The following is taken from Nymphs: Volume II, starting on page 237. Unless noted otherwise, boldface is mine for emphasis.
I note that Vertigo excluded an important portion of the first paragraph of the story so I will re-quote this paragraph in its entirety. He then faithfully reproduced the next 7 paragraphs, which I won't repeat but will highlight a few excerpts. See Vertigo's Medium post for the full text of the 7 paragraphs, or "DYODD" and buy the book.
Schwiebert's account contains several additonal paragraphs beyond the 7 quoted by Vertigo that are just as important in my opinion, plus there is a footnote that helps enormously to shed light on things. I quote these in their entirety as fair use in order to support the theory being advanced in this entry.

But the entire Yellowstone was ravaged by a series of wildfires in the drought of 1992, and one of the worst of these fires had crossed into the park from Bridger National Forest in Wyoming, just north of Grand Teton National Park.⁶ The great lodgepole forests of the Bechler and Firehole watersheds had become a tinderbox, and vast acreages of primeval timber were surrendered to the fire. Magnificent stands were transformed into fire-blackened cemeteries of snags. Entire mountainsides were utterly scorched as steep timber-filled ravines became incandescent chimneys filled with fire. Slopes of unstable volcanic soils were stripped of their trees and rendered vulnerable to the erosive impacts of winds, rains, and melting snowpacks. Frightening shrouds of talcum-fine soil and ash were carried aloft as storms worked across the Yellowstone Plateau. Gullies were quickly cut into unstable hillsides, and large alluvial fans of gritty clay and ash were formed at many places along the Madison, Gibbon, and Firehole. Such fans were visible immediately below Seven Mile Bridge on the Madison, and there was much worse damage at its famous Nine-Mile Hole, which had been the most popular pool.

Schwiebert makes an error here: the great drought and fires were actually in 1988 as he correctly states in Footnote 6; see near the end of this post.
The next 7 paragraphs are faithfully reproduced in full by Vertigo … I highlight a few key lines. Following this, I start to quote the paragraphs that are excluded from Vertigo's work.

Nine-Mile lay just below the highway, in a beautiful corridor of primeval lodgepoles and ponderosas …
It was a striking place with secrets. There was a crystalline springhead pond across the water, about a quarter mile beyond the river, and completely hidden behind a dense screen of intervening conifers.
Large brown trout were known to enter this minor lodgepole tributary in October to mate and lay their eggs …
I once caught a good fish in the little pond itself … a handsome five-pound hen that had apparently spawned and wintered, and then elected to stay.
The cold spillages of the crystalline creek entered the river in the uppermost shallows at Nine-Mile …
It was a spring-hole worth knowing. Large trout often gathered there in hot weather, basking in its cool temperatures where the ledge rock shelved off into a secret pocket. I could usually count on at least one good fish there, because most anglers simply fished the primary currents of Nine-Mile without covering the pocket below its aquatic weeds.
The fate of Nine-Mile, however, was a terrible surprise.

Compare to page 141 in TToTC with the following words bolded and in red: "Cancer is a terrible word." Boldfaced and redlined text is used within the memoir in only four places, twice in reference to cancer and twice to suggest a warning that something is scalding hot: "DO NOT TOUCH!". The reason for this editorial oddity should be obvious: red for fire, and the red boldface connects cancer to fire.

The fish-filled secret below the weeds was smothered with silt and trash, and the spring-hole itself was gone. I became curious about the fate of the forest pond, and forded the river to inspect it. Dour rivulets of slurry came spilling through the trees, and I was astonished when I reached the tarn.
Its crystalline shallows were completely filled with slurry and trash. A tiny paradise had been destroyed. The outlet was clogged with refuse and silt, and the barrage of trash had raised the water in the lake until its overflows were forced into several braided channels farther downstream. No trout could ascend such gritty rivulets to spawn, and no freshly hatched juveniles would use its spatterdock riches to reach smolting size. Nine-Mile itself had been irrevocably changed, and after dutifully suiting up, I found myself angry and unable to fish.

Compare to "There'll be no paddle up your creek, Just heavy loads and water high."
Consider why Schwiebert was "angry": the full extent of the devastation was perhaps preventable if Forest Service management had actually cared about the ecosystem within their purview instead of trying to score political points.
Schwiebert continues the story as follows, not quoted by Vertigo.

Some ecologists have argued that postfire impacts have largely proved beneficial because natural lightning-strike fires are obviously implicit in our natural forest ecosystems. The science of such truths remains clear. Lodgepole cones do not surrender their seeds without exposure to hot temperatures associated with natural fires, and the argument that ancestral fires have played a substantial role in the ecological history of such forests is sound.
Such apologists further contend that once-dangerous thickets of deadfalls and dry tinder in these lodgepole forests had healthily been purged, and argued that these Yellowstone fires had cleansed its historic forests. The new grasslands created were alleged to have improved bison and elk habitat because both are grazing species, but both bison and elk lacked major predators then and had become much too plentiful before the fires. The ecosystem did not need more bison and elk. Other apologists waxed poetic about the beneficial impacts of the fires on avifauna and their prey within the boundaries of the Yellowstone, but none mentioned their horrendous impact on the famous Yellowstone trout streams.
Some fishing writers have written pieces echoing the doubtful thesis that everything had been improved through the purging of the fires, and that the fishing had also been helped. One reported unusual numbers of larger fish in the Firehole. This was irresponsibly wishful conjecture on the part of observers who lacked a fifty-year perspective on the Yellowstone and its fisheries, and were not competent to pass such judgment. The truth is much less felicitous. Several key tributaries had become so choked with postfire sedimentation, ash, and charred debris that their fish, including large trout that had never seen anglers, had been displaced from their headwaters to find refuge in the Firehole itself.
Such fish were not a happy portent.

Compare the above paragraphs to Fenn on page 141 of TToTC where he follows up the redlined and bolded "Cancer is a terrible word" with "The disease it defines represents nature in its most repellent form."

Fires also ravaged the hillsides along the lower Gibbon. Steeper slopes had quickly eroded, forming labyrinthine networks of raw gullies and wounds leaving the narrow highway below Gibbon Falls buried under great alluvial fans of mud, gritty precipitates, and trash. Heavy equipment had cleared the right-of-way, leaving great windrows of marl in many places, and the Gibbon became choked with waist-deep strata of raw sediments and ash. The great beauty of the box canyon below the Gibbon Falls had been charred and scarified by fire, leaving a river littered with postfire trash and mud winding through cemeteries of charred lodgepoles. I did not attempt to fish, and decided to investigate the fire damage along the Firehole.
The fires had decimated its remarkable lodgepole forests in many places between the Cascades of the Firehole and the Fountain Flats above Nez Perce Creek. I turned south on the old freight road toward Ojo Caliente, and found more fire damage there, but worse burns had overwhelmed the shores of Goose Lake. Its trees had been killed in fires of such temperature and intensity that their fire-seared trunks looked like they had been coated with shiny black lacquer. Fire had smoldered in the great mattresses of dead needles that once carpeted the entire forest floor, and when I used a tire iron to root deep into the burned earth, I found that fire had festered into its thick mattresses of pine needles to depths of eight and ten inches. Goose Lake was now encircled with skeletal lodgepoles that had been killed and charred by fire, although damselflies were still emerging from its shallow margins, swimming ashore to climb the blackened deadfalls and split their nymphal skins.
The scars were much worse beyond the lake.

Compare to cancer as above and to the poem words "Tarry scant": the word tarry could also mean covered by tar in addition to its more common interpretation of delay.

I reached the river and simply sat in the car, staring at its crippled forests with tears in my eyes, remembering the circling seasons I had enjoyed in these uncommon meadows. There were decades of happy memories from this place. I had shared a number of wonderful picnics at Feather Lake with old friends like the late John Hemingway, the late John Daniel Callaghan, and Bud Lilly. I particularly remember awakening from a post-lunch nap on the lodgepole bench at Feather to find Hemingway looking upstream toward the geyser plumes at Midway.
"Know what's wrong with this place?" Hemingway said with a sigh.
"No," I confessed.
"We don't own it," he said.
The narrow trace and cul-de-sac were no longer sheltered in a theatrical corridor of lodgepoles and big ponderosas, and a place of remarkable beauty had been utterly sacrificed and lost. The Firehole still flowed under the fire-blackened bench, a glittering necklace of bright water, with great billows of steam still rising from the geyser basin upstream. I had shared this place with a long parade of people across more than fifty years, and the morning was filled with echoes. I left the car and was surprised by the silence. There were no birds, no brash camp robbers arrived to beg for table scraps, and no skittish chipmunks scuttled across the forest floor. There was nothing for buzzards to scavenge, and no voles to interest circling hawks. The pale September sky was empty. Wind stirred in the blackened snags, which groaned and creaked. The meadow had offered some remarkable sport over the years, and I had hoped to fish, but there was no thought of fishing now.
I drove slowly back along the washboard trace toward Ojo Caliente, through its fire-scarred mausoleum of trees, as a big storm was starting to gather and build along the Pitchstone Ridge. Its conifers had also been ravaged as the wildfires crossed into the Firehole watershed, leaving its summits a raw wasteland of charred earth and gritty ash. The sun had quickly surrendered to an ominous gunmetal sky, and as the storm finally broke along its battlements, immense clouds of loose soil and ash billowed high into the darkening gloom. Such spiraling squalls of silt and windmilling ash would eventually reach the little Firehole itself, and further despoil its hyaline currents. I suddenly understood how profoundly its watershed had been changed.
And it utterly broke my heart.

😪
Footnote 6 on page 735 is revealing. It reads:

There is much credible evidence that these fires had begun outside Yellowstone Park, in the Absaroka headwaters of the Yellowstone in the Shoshone National Forest, and in the Teton National Forest north of Jackson Hole. The fires were fought on national forest tracts, but firefighters were withdrawn once the fires entered the national park itself. The fires were permitted to burn inside the national park for short-term political purposes, because 1988 was an election year. Our natural-fire policy had actually emerged under Presidents Nixon and Ford, and was based on sound forest science, but its application became a regional political issue when both Nathaniel Pryor Reed and Cecil Andrus refused to extinguish a number of controversial fires on federal land. Political opponents fought the Yellowstone fires aggressively outside the national park because the blazes had apparently begun in campfires and lightning strikes on the national forests. Firefighters had been deployed while these fires were still burning on tracts of commercial saw timber, but were stopped once the fires had crossed into Yellowstone. Some of the worst damage occurred on the Firehole and Thoroughfare, and these fires were not fought until they threatened park installations at Canyon and Fishing Bridge, and the historic art sauvage hotel located at Old Faithful. Andrus was no longer Secretary of the Interior when I met him, but during an interview in his office at Boise, I sought his opinion of the Yellowstone fires. Andrus still believed that the bipartisan natural-fire policy had been supported by good science, and pointed out that more than twenty petrified forests within park boundaries suggest that Yellowstone had survived worse destruction, although that perspective is little comfort to anglers who will never again enjoy the pristine Madison and Firehole of recent memory. He agreed that Yellowstone itself was not large enough to protect its aggregate ecosystem, and further conceded that a zealotry that had continued to advocate natural-fire policy in the worst drought summer in recorded history had perhaps been unwise. But he shook his head over the political tactics of appointees in the Forest Service, who had protected tracts of commercial saw timber while later permitting the Yellowstone itself to burn, and had further attempted to discredit the Carter Administration during the election of 1980.

From TToTC page 26: "One day my father gave me a spanking at school for running across some stupid desks, then that night he gave me a spanking at home because I got a spanking at school. The more I thought about that the more I felt put upon. When I explained to him that I'd been double jeopardized he told me that those things didn't count in a dictatorship. That's when I started to mistrust governments."
From TToTC page 147: "Now I feel that my father is sitting on the edge of a cloud somewhere watching. If he knows everything about me he's pretty busy lighting candles, some of them on both ends. But I hope he knows that I've been sometimes guilty only by innuendo, and that's why I wrote my epitaph with such profundity: I wish I could have lived to do, the things I was attributed to."
In 2009, the FBI raided Fenn and several other art dealers – and alleged looters – of Native American artifacts in the Southwest. The raid resulted in the confiscation of just four items from Fenn (none of which could be proven as having been obtained by him illicitly).
https://www.sfreporter.com/news/coverstories/2009/08/19/stealing-the-past/
This was more than just a nuisance … Fenn's reputation had been impugned and two other dealers who were arrested after the raids committed suicide. These guys were likely people he knew or may have even been his friends. A third man arrested in the case also committed suicide; he was a government informant who essentially helped the federal agents entrap the Four Corners dealers.
https://www.santafenewmexican.com/news/local_news/dealer-blame-fbi-for-seller-suicides-in-four-corners-looting-case/article_f8613507-1b71-513a-ba21-43a6b0622c0b.html
Fenn was supposedly very angry and threatened Tony Dokoupil with legal action when the reporter spoke with old "pothunting" acquaintances and revealed some unsavory information about Fenn's artifact-collecting past, for example: "... Fenn wasn't just taking a treasure or two but returning to caves and stripping them clean …" In the end, the publicity of appearing in Newsweek magazine at such an early stage in the treasure hunt must have overridden Fenn's desire to keep some of those things that he "was attributed to" under wraps.
https://www.newsweek.com/forrest-fenn-wants-you-find-his-treasure-and-his-bones-64427
The FBI raids – based on purchases of artifacts by a government informant using government money to entice dealers to specifically sell him contraband, and which were conducted by multi-agency SWAT teams – were highly controversial for many locals. No doubt Fenn was pissed off at the Feds more than ever at that point. Despite the epitaph he wrote for himself, he certainly did not want to be remembered as "the old guy in Santa Fe raided by the FBI".
Less than a year later, he published his memoir with its treasure hunt poem. Little chance the timing was just a coincidence.
Finally, does anybody find it intriguing that Fenn rarely if ever talked about the 1988 fire in Yellowstone? It happened the same year he got cancer (or did it?), and he talked plenty about that personal ordeal. The fire and its aftereffects utterly destroyed some of his most cherished places where he had fished for trout and melded with nature since he was a young boy, including his (probably) favorite fishing hole at TOP SECRET "Nine-Mile" and not to mention the magical wood on the far bank of the river with its secluded crystal pond to which he would have gone alone and sat under pine trees, napping, daydreaming, watching wildlife, marveling at the mountain and river vistas, and writing poems or love notes to his wife. Yet not a peep from him about the conflagration that ravaged all of that? Curious.

I feel like there are legit criticisms for LoU2 that get lost in the woke / culture wars debate and wanted to know what others thought?
Here's my take:

• Promo material / game cd case.

The promo material and the fact that only Ellie and Joel are on the cd case art made it seem like it was another Ellie and Joel adventure. So the fact that Joel isn't really in it much and HALF of the game is an entirely new character made me feel slightly cheated. I felt like I brought the game under false pretences.

• LoU2 narrative doesn't follow on well from LoU.

The first game very clearly ends with moral questions about whether Joel should have lied to Ellie or not and whether he should have saved her at the cost of a cure.
The second game really doesn't follow on from that or explore it at all. You get some story in flashbacks in how the lie affected Ellie and Joel's relationship, but it was a shame not to play through that, and then the importance of the potential of a cure is just entirely ignored.

• The narrative of the game wants you to empathise with Abby, but the fact is you can't.

Abby literally hunted down Joel in a premeditated revenge murder, and when you compare that to how Joel killed her father... how can you empathise when comparing the two?
Joel kills Abby's father because he is trying to stop Abby's father from killing Ellie. Abby's father, the guy literally trying to cut open a child's head knowing the child won't survive.... it's not murder if its in the name of protecting a child, and Abby straight up just murdered Joel.
Whether you agree or disagree with Joel saving Ellie and lieing to her, you can at least empathise with it, especially when you add the context of how he lost his daughter.
With Abby's murder of Joel, you're being asked to empathise with someone who commited murder in revenge over killing a man who was ok with killing a child.
So for me, the game fails in what it tries to achieve with this sadly. This was massively apparent to me when I played as Abby and you get to the boss battle Vs Ellie, and I just wanted Ellie to kill me and the game to end lol.
I've heard some people say "well maybe Abby was indoctrinated into killing Joel" well if that was the case, the game didn't show that. Also if Abby had any sense of basic critical thinking she would ask "why did this guy bring Ellie to us from all the way across America to save the world, only to then kill everyone and take her away" it makes no sense. Before killing Joel, surely Abby would want answers as to why Joel killed her dad and would want to get to the truth. At that point, a character worthy of empathy would have said "ok well I understand you did what you did to save someone you love".
I think it would have made more sense to forget the incident with Joel saving Ellie and focus on Joel's past. It's clearly hinted that Joel had a blood thirsty past, killing people in other communities when doing jobs etc. We could have had an Abby character from one of those communities seeking to kill the "monster called Joel" who killed and robbed her community for fuel/fool and weapons and we could have empathised with that.

• A massive part of the game doesn't relate to Ellie/Joel and the game doesn't care about Ellie being immune and the potential for a cure anymore.

Seperate from the Ellie/Joel/Abby plot, the Abby/Lev plot where by Abby recognises the WLFs brutality and changes her alligence to save Lev is endearing and well written in my view, but it literally has nothing to do with Ellie/Joel. It's almost like that part of the game is a separate game. This is a minor criticism, I was happy to see the wider world opened up, but this plot should have had a seed planted earlier on.
The game starts clearly focusing on resolving the conflict between Ellie and Abby, and then all of a sudden we are asked to focus on a conflict between the WLF and the Seraphites? It's just a bit jarring.
Also this part also misses an obvious parralell between her seeking to protect Lev the same way Joel sought to protect Abby, the characters never explore that. We should have seen Abby start to be more understanding to Joel and therefore Ellie.

• Ellie's character development and questions about a cure.

I will say that Ellie's character development was right in so far that we see her potential for violence in the first game and so seeing a young adult version of Ellie growing further into that violence makes sense, but her violence was always in the name of self defense. The rampage she ends up going on in retaliation to Joel's murder at the cost of everything needed a little bit more context for me. I just didn't believe her character was the kind of person to go that far based on what I'd previously seen. Also she never questions her capability for being a cure? That literally what the original story was about. The Lord of the Rings equivalent would be if the story stopped being about the one ring to rule them all?
Well that's my take anyway! Thanks to anyone who read, feel free to critique! Hope people will offer there thoughts also!

Hello everyone, and welcome to the Weekly Dev Log for June 5th, 2023, detailing all the changes that have happened since May 30th, 2023. Note: Devs that don't appear in the weekly log are not necessarily away or not doing work, but may be working on things currently not announced or backend work that doesn't need to be detailed.

May 2023 Art Contest - Game Worlds - Concluded

https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/11783817/589a0120c00d76818b1decc6cb95c55d004a60ca.png
The results are in! As usual, thank you to everyone who voted and participated! There were 173 responses this time.
The winners are:
1st Place (1,000,000 Units) - @KPM
https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/11783817/856af518e1750491f40933f5bc870274f240e480.gif
2nd Place (750,000 Units) - @CheesyMint
https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/11783817/c3e0cb745a05f5a43f1633b90cd64056ef457458.jpg
3rd Place (500,000 Units) - @JennyJackal
https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/11783817/d557b46d490e613974e5be7a983bdd7f48420526.jpg
4th Place (250,000 Units) - @nephco
https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/11783817/0e7796e160440871f2f726cc6acca738de998cce.jpg
5th Place (175,000 Units) - @Herobrine
https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/11783817/a18fc8bdac9241ef70da504027158b00b3475fa3.jpg
Extra Bonus Winners:
https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/11783817/fdbb4b75ff2f00ac0b5d8aeb56ddb868b32a8bcb.jpg https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/11783817/e0603ce96a3ad21f9ac3b7aaa16e965583aa8ef0.jpg
@RoyalitySky and @TheGuyWithAHat both scored really close to 5th place, so they'll get a 25,000 Unit bonus to their participation prize.
Thank you all again for participating in the vote and the contest itself, and we hope to see you again in the next contest.
You can check out all the entries for this contest here.

SDNL: New Game World

@Johanna continued adding the finishing touches to "Frostbite". She also continued working on the art pass for "Meadows", while also re-texturing a bunch of the weapons, along with adding destructables in the maps.
@joshua worked on weapon models, namely the UZI and MAC-10.
@Lifeless continued working on "Hinderance".
@macdguy worked on touchups to the flamethrower weapon, while also tweaking all of the other weapons. He improved the recoil system, added a bullet spread system, and improved the scope systems for the magnum and bullpup.
@Nuclearxpotato continued working on "Disposal".
@Sketchman worked on weapon prediction for some of the weapons.
@Wheezwer worked on some art for "Hinderance".
@Will continued working on music for SDNL maps.

SDNL: Hinderance WIP

https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/11783817/ac2902bccf7d9fe54a8afedb3779b29b7883a6e0.png https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/11783817/a5591fd40d46fbd535c64a066393016e93a17fb6.png

SDNL: MAC-10 WIP

https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/11783817/6c37c196c4a32e281ef80e29eeb2a21f9545411d.png

Miscellany

@Lifeless worked on fixes for issues found with "Heavenscape".
@macdguy worked on a massive networking overhaul for movement based features.
@Nuclearxpotato worked on updating the "bedroom door" model, allowing for the number of inset panels to be configured. The door has also been renamed to "Paneled Door".
@madmijk continued working on MIDI support.

Network Improvements

Movement based features have had a massive networking overhaul. Prediction was added to Jetpacks, Jump Pads, Teleporters, Rocket Jumps, Trampolines, Push Volumes, Fans, Survivor's Shield (in Zombie Massacre), ramps in Accelerate, Air Dash, etc. Basically anything that moved players around was tweaked and predicted with improved networking and huge reduction in netlag issues throughout. We tested with 250-300ms ping and found these types of interactions are much smoother now.

Condo: Paneled Door

https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/11783817/8cf486f5cac8202936035b3640349bc4f66cc100.png

Condo: Canvas Texture Rotation Setting

Also works with most regular surface materials.
https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/11783817/65c2b699f797aa6e3f841193a8307c5c805fd868.png https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/11783817/6c7c984845b1b9b601d4cb41191b1e3c89fca5de.png

Wrap It Up

That about covers everything that happened since May 30th, 2023 at PixelTail Games.
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