I really think it is important to note the mental health of people in Chicago. It obviously goes under the radar because of the stigmas around it. I know how challenging it’d be to collect data and such but I would really love to study or have a group of psychologists study the untreated mental illnesses in these young men to get a better understanding of them and (maybe) create change. How many of them are suffering from things like OCD, anxiety, PTSD, antisocial personality disorder, narcissism, schizophrenia etc. which is affecting their everyday life. Just a thought I felt like discussing because I suffer from this and I couldn’t imagine how it would feel to go through this in a place as dangerous as Chicago. What do y’all think?

Rookie Performance Evaluation 4

With so many players in the MLB, some of the newest players get lost behind some of the high profile names. We are here today to evaluate every rookie who has played this year and highlight the top performances of the last two weeks and for the entire year. This week Josh Jung murdered some baseballs, Grant Anderson struck out seven in his debut out of the bullpen, and Bobby Miller shut down the Braves (and Nats).

Top Bi-Weekly Performances

American League:

1. Josh Jung (TEX 3B): Josh Jung continues to dominate at the plate, winning back to back AL rookie of the month awards in April and May. Josh Jung ended the month of May by slugging for 5 doubles, 1 triple and 4 home runs. Jung leads all third baseman in runs and batting average and leads all rookie batters in runs (4), hits (61), home runs (12), and RBIs (37). In his last 10 games, Jung had 9 extra base hits. Offensively, Jung is already worth 2 WAR and has only gotten better throughout the year. Jung sees the ball well, hitting 50.5% over 95 mph (top 90% in the league) and has been able to barrel 12.2% of pitches seen (top 81% in the league). Defensively Josh Jung is in the bottom half of 3rd baseman, having negative -2 defensive runs saved and -1 outs above average. Despite his below average defense, Josh Jung has been one of the best third baseman in the majors all season.
2. Masataka Yoshida (BOS LF): The Japanese superstar is doing all he can to keep the Red Sox afloat. Yoshida continues his hot streak, batting .348/.412/.500 in the the last 15 days. After a somewhat slow start to the season, Yoshida has emerged as one of the two big favorites for AL rookie of the year (along with Josh Jung). Yoshida still only has 21 strikeouts and walks on the year through 48 games on the season. Yoshida will put the ball in play and will rarely kill a batting rally with a strikeout. He hardly chases the ball and is top in the league on whiff rate. Yoshida has adapted to MLB pitching very quickly and will remain a superstar for years to come.
3. Logan Allen (CLE SP): The Guardians have a loaded starting pitching staff with the return of Aaron Civale and Triston McKenzie. Logan Allen, along with rookies Tanner Bibee, Hunter Gaddis, and Peyton Battenfield, has shined in the starting rotation. Allen had his best game of the season, going 7 innings against the Baltimore Orioles allowing only 3 hits, no earned runs, and striking out 10. Through 7 starts in the year. In his last three starts, Allen has only allowed 4 earned runs through 18.2 innings. Of the four rookie starting pitchers for Cleveland, Allen has pitched the most innings (39.2) and holds the lowest ERA (2.72). Allen’s next start is scheduled on June 3rd against the Minnesota Twins.
4. Louie Varland (MIN SP): Varland pitched seven shutout innings against the Houston Astros. Varland has pitched back-to-back quality starts in 4 of his last five starts. The only game Varland did not get a quality start was against the Angels, where he gave up only 2 earned runs in 5 innings. Varland primarily throws a 4-seam (42%) and cutter (30%) and goes to his slider (12%) and changeup (12%) to put batters away. Varland hardly walks batters but gives up a lot of hard contact. Nonetheless Varland has pitched effectively, limiting the damage done in most games he has started. Varland's next start is projected to be on June 6th against the Tampa Bay Rays.
5. Ryan Noda (OAK 1B): Ryan Noda powered a three-run home run to snap the Athletic’s 11-game losing streak. In the last 15 games, Noda has batted .256 with 3 home runs and 3 doubles on 11 hits. Noda hits 48.2% of balls 95 mph or higher and barrels 16.9% of pitches. Despite this, Noda ranks in the bottom percentile in whiff rate. Noda whiffs on 36% of fast balls, 42% in breaking balls, and 38% of offspeed pitches. Noda has struck out in 33% of his plate appearances (61 strikeout total) but simultaneously ranks in the top percentile in walks taken (35 walks total).
6. Zach Neto (LAA SS): Despite all the preseason hype for Anthony Volpe and Gunnar Henderson, Zach Neto has quietly emerged as the most consistent bat for rookie AL shortstops. Only 22 years old, Neto was the first player from the 2022 MLB draft to make the majors. Defensively, Neto has been steller. In 44 games, Neto has already racked up .8 defensive war and has generated 2 more outs above average than other shortstops. In the last 15 days, Neto has 11 hits with 4 doubles and a home run. Neto had small injury scare against the Marlins with a finger contusion, but has already made it back into the starting lineup.
7. Grant Anderson (TEX RP): Grant Anderson has only played in one game this season but I figured he deserved a special shoutout. In his major league debut, Anderson pitched 2 and 2/3rd innings out of the bullpen striking out 7 of the 9 batters. Anderson only gave up one hit and earned the win against the Detroit Tigers.

Pitchers	W / L	GS	ERA	IP	SO	BB	H / R / ER	HR	WHIP	HBP	GDP
Allen, Logan	1 - 1	7	2.72	39.2	43	11	41 / 13 / 12	3	1.31	0	1
Varland, Louie	1 - 0	7	3.51	41	39	8	39 / 16 / 16	9	1.15	1	2
Batter	Team	Games	At Bats	AVG/OBP/SLG	HR	RBI	SB / CS	SO/BB	2B / 3B / HR	Off WAR	Def WAR
Jung, Josh	TEX (3B)	52	207	.295/.341/.531	40	37	1 / 2	63K / 14BB	11 / 1 / 12	2	0.3
Yoshida, Masataka	BOS (LF)	48	186	.312/.389/.500	26	31	3 / 0	21K / 21BB	12 / 1 / 7	1.1	-0.6
Neto, Zach	LAA (SS)	44	147	.245/.319.374	15	18	3 / 0	32K / 7BB	6 / 0 / 6	1.2	0.8
Noda, Ryan	OAK (1B)	53	143	.231/.393/.448	28	19	2 / 1	61K / 35BB	11 / 1 / 6	1.3	-0.1​
Relief Pitcher	G	W - L	ERA	IP	SV / SVO	SO / BB	WHIP	H / R / ER	HR	GDP	HLD
Anderson, Grant	1	1 - 0	0	2.2	0 / 0	7K / 0BB	0.38	1 / 0 / 0	0	0	0​

National League:

1. Bobby Miller (LAD SP): The Dodgers #2 prospect has done nothing but impress. In his first two starts on the season, Miller has posted a 1.64 ERA through 11 innings. Miller equally throws a sinker, changeup, slider, and 4-seam fastball. On his fastball, Miller averages 99 mph on his sinkers and 4-seam and sometimes will go to his curveball to strike out batters. In his debut, Miller went 5 innings and only one earned run on 4 hits against the Atlanta Braves. He followed his debut by going 6 innings, allowing only 1 earned run on four hits. Bobby Miller's next scheduled start is June 4th against the New York Yankees.
2. Spencer Steer (CIN 3B): Spencer Steer uses every side of the field. In the last 15 days, Steer has batted .389/.424/.667 with 4 doubles, one triple, and three home runs. Steer currently leads NL rookies in hits (59), RBIs (T28 with Outman), and doubles (T15 with Tovar). Steer has recently returned to his 2022 self hitting 8 home runs on the season and putting the ball consistently in play. Steer has struggled greatly defensively with -8 outs above average at both first and third base and generating -.4 WAR on the season. He ranks in the bottom 1% of outs above average and, when fielding, is completely 7% of plays as expected at both first base and third base. Despite these struggles, Steer’s production at the plate has lead him to be named the National League Rookie of the month for May.
3. Matt McLain (CIN SS): The Red’s #5 prospect made his major league debut after TJ Friedl was moved to the 10-day injured list . In the last 15 days, McLain has the most at bats (57), hits (T21 Steer) and runs (T11 Steer) in the National League. McLain won this week’s player of week and continues to bat .329/.390/.486 in 16 games. McLain is primarily causing damage against fastballs and breaking balls, batting over .400 on such pitches. Defensively, McLain has been stellar. In only 16 games, he has generated 2 outs above average at shortstop and has added 5% success rate at the position off 43 attempts. If McLain can continue his success at the plate, along with fellow ROY contender Spencer Steer, then they can help Cincinnati compete for a relatively week NL Central division (who knows what may happen if the Reds call up fellow shortstop Elly de la Cruz).
4. Corbin Carroll (ARZ LF): Corbin Carroll continues to impress and at this point I feel like I am repeating myself. The 22 year old left-fielder has power, defense, and speed. Carroll has helped the Diamondbacks to take control (or at least tie) in the National League West. In the past 15 days, Carroll has slugged for 4 doubles and three home runs on 15 hits. He leads the national league in stolen bases and has a real shot at joining the 20 / 20 club as a rookie. On the year, Carroll’s slash line is .287/.372/.516. Of all rookies, Corbin Carroll leads in WAR, already accumulating 2.1 on offense. On the defensive side of the ball, Carrol has generated 2 outs above average and has added 2% to the expected fielding average in left field. Expect to see Carroll on these lists for the rest of the season.
5. Patrick Bailey (SF C): Joey Bart was thought to be the replacement at catcher for the San Francisco after the departure of Buster Posey. With everyone’s focus on Bart, Bailey went under the radar. In 11 games, Bailey has batted .333/.350/.564 with 12 hits, of which 3 were doubles and 2 were home runs. In the minor’s. Bailey was praised for his framing abilities behind the plate. If Bailey can continue his success at the plate, San Francisco may be posed well at the catcher position for years to come.
6. Will Brennan (CLE RF) - Although he is not a batter that consistently hits the ball hard, Will Brennan, in the last 15 days, has 12 hits in 12 games including 3 doubles and 1 home run.. He is batting .364/.400/.515 and has been reliable at the plate when batters are at first base. Brennan has a batting average of .318 with a runner at 1st (23 plate appearances) and batting .500 with runners at 1st and 2nd (6 plate appearances). Though Will Brennan did kill a bird on a ground-ball single last week. So… he has that going against him.

Pitchers	W / L	GS	ERA	IP	SO	BB	H / R / ER	HR	WHIP	HBP	GDP
Miller, Bobby	2 - 0	2	1.64	11	9	2	8 / 2 / 2	0	0.91	0	0
Batter	Team	Games	At Bats	AVG/OBP/SLG	HR	RBI	SB / CS	SO/BB	2B / 3B / HR	Off WAR	Def WAR
Steer, Spencer	CIN (1B)	53	204	.289/.358/.500	30	28	1 / 2	47K / 21BB	15 / 2 / 8	1	-0.4
McLain, Matt	CIN (SS)	2	65	.354/.417/.523	13	9	1 / 1	20K / 6BB	5 / 0 / 2	0.9	0.2
Carrol, Corbin	AZ (LF)	54	188	.287/.372/.516	27	24	16 / 2	43K / 23BB	14 / 1 / 9	2.1	-0.3
Bailey, Patrick	SF (C)		39	.333/.350/.564	4	12	0 / 0	11K / 1BB	3 / 0 / 2	0.6	0.2
Bae, Ji Hwan	PIT (CF)	51	149	.275/.329/.360	19	12	15 / 5	40K / 10BB	8 / 0 / 2	0.1	-0.4​

Worst Bi-Weekly Performances:

1. Brice Turang (MIL 2B) - In the last 14 games, Turang is batting only .077/.122/.154. In his last seven games, Turang only has one base hit. In his last 15, Turang only has 3. Turang, on the season, has struck out in 27% of his plate appearances and barrels on only 3.6% of pitches. Turang primarily is struggling in making contact with offspeed pitches, whiffing on 40% of those seen.
2. James Outman (LAD OF) - After starting the season hitting everything out of the park, Outman bat has cooled off immensely. In his last 10 games, Outman only has two singles and is batting .074/.182/.074. Outman hits the ball hard when he makes contact, but has whiffed on 40.4% of pitches seen. Outman has striked out in 35% of his at bats. Outman leads all rookies in strikeouts and 5th in the majors. Defensively, Outman has been above average in furling in the outfield. He is converting 3% more outs than estimated success rate and has created 3 outs above average in the outfield.
3. Anthony Volpe (NYY SS) - Defensively, Anthony Volpe has been phenomenal at shortstop. The Yankee’s #1 prospect is only 22 years old and already has .7 defensive war. Volpe has recently struggled at the plate. He is second among rookie pitchers in strikeouts (68) and 8th in the majors. On the season, Volpe is only batting .192/.270/.355. But when Volpe does get a hit, he hits for power and brings speed on the basepaths. Volpe has 13 steals on the season and has yet to be caught stealing.
4. Karl Kauffmann (COL SP) - Kauffmann made his major league debut on May 19th and has not had a good time. In three starts, Kaufman has posted an 11.37 ERA and earned 3 losses. In his first start, Kauffman went 4.1 innings against Texas and allowed 4 earned runs off seven hits. In his next start, Kaugment again went 4.1 innings against Miami ang gave up 5 earned runs on 6 hits. In his final game, he went 4.0 innings against Arizona and allowed 7 earned runs on 9 hits. In all three games combined, Kauffman only struck out 7 and walked 8. Kauffman is only averaging 90 mph on his fastball and has left too many pitches in the middle of the strike zone.

Shout out to Miles Mastrobuoni as well who is batting .053 in 9 games (19 plate appearances) and for having an ERA of 108.

Pitchers	W / L	GS	ERA	IP	SO	BB	H / R / ER	HR	WHIP	HBP	GDP
Kauffmann, Karl	0 - 3	3	11.37	12.2	7	7	22 / 17 / 16	3	2.29	1	4
Batter	Team	Games	At Bats	AVG/OBP/SLG	HR	RBI	SB / CS	SO/BB	2B / 3B / HR	Off WAR	Def WAR
Turang, Brice	MIL (2B)	53	156	.205/.253/.301	13	12	7 / 3	46K / 10BB	4 / 1 / 3	0	0.4
Outman, James	LAD (CF)	55	175	.234/.323/.469	28	29	6 / 1	70K / 19BB	8 / 3 / 9	0.7	-0.2
Volpe, Anthony	NYY (SS)	58	201	.194/.272/.358	20	24	13 / 0	68K / 21BB	5 / 2 / 8	1	0.7
Casas, Triston	BOS (1B)	48	149	.188/.301/.349	23	16	0 / 0	49K / 25BB	4 / 0 / 6	-0.7	-0.6​

My Early Rookie of the Year

American League:

1. Masataka Yoshida (BOS LF) - See my blurb above
2. Josh Jung (TEX 3B) - See my blurb above
3. Esteury Ruiz (OAK CF) - In 58 games, Ruiz is already at 28 stolen bases. ALthough Ruiz is not hitting for extreme power, his speed is turning almost half of his base hits into what is essentially a double. In most offenses that are not the Oakland Athletics, this would typically translate to more runs and have them take leads early on balls just put in play. Among qualified rookies in the American league, Ruiz ranks 3rd in batting average, T1st (with Jung) in hits, and 1st in doubles. Ruiz does rank in the bottom percentile for hard hit percentage (1%), barrel rate (5%) and walk rate (5%).
4. Hunter Brown (HOU SP) - In 11 games, Hunter brown has a 3.64 ERA and recently overtaken Kodai Senga for the lead in strikeouts for rookie pitchers. Brown struggled in his last start against Minnesota, giving up 5 earned runs on 6 hits. This was after Brown had pitched back-to-back quality starts against the Oakland As (7 IP 2 ER and 6 IP 1 ER).
5. Logan Allen (CLE SP) - See my blurb above
6. Bryce Miller (SEA SP) - The Mariners #2 prospect dominated the league in his first five starts going at least 6 innings in each and allowing only four runs in total. Miller only had one hiccup game in which he allowed 8 earned runs in 4.2 innings against the New York Yankees. Miller's success has been largely in part in limiting walks and throwing many strikes for weak contact. Miller is top in the league in walk rate only allowing walks in 2% of at bats. Miller primarily throws his fastball 68% of the time and goes to his offspeed pitchers to put batters away. Miller is set to start on June 4th against Nathan Eovaldi of the Texas Rangers.
7. Yennier Cano (BAL RP) - In his first 9 innings of the year, Cano did not allow a single base hit. Can has 30 strikeouts on the season through 30 innings of relief. In 5 save opportunities, Cano has successfully earned 4 saves with a 0.93 ERA and a WHIP of 0.59. Cano remains the secondary closer behind Felix Bautista, used primarily to maintain leads in close games and as the set-up man for the 9th inning.

Pitchers	W / L	GS	ERA	IP	SO	BB	H / R / ER	HR	WHIP	HBP	GDP
Allen, Logan	1 - 1	7	2.72	39.2	43	11	41 / 13 / 12	3	1.31	0	1
Brown, Hunter	4 - 1	11	3.61	62.1	74	20	57 / 29 / 25	4	1.24	4	6
Miller, Bryce	2 - 0	6	3	36	31	3	24 / 12 / 12	2	0.75	2	0
Batter	Team	Games	At Bats	AVG/OBP/SLG	HR	RBI	SB / CS	SO/BB	2B / 3B / HR	Off WAR	Def WAR
Yoshida, Masataka	BOS (LF)	48	186	.312/.389/.500	26	31	3 / 0	21K / 21BB	12 / 1 / 7	1.1	-0.6
Jung, Josh	TEX (3B)	52	207	.295/.341/.531	40	37	1 / 2	63K / 14BB	11 / 1 / 12	2	0.3
Ruiz, Esteury	OAK (CF)	57	223	.269/.335/.350	24	24	28 / 5	44K / 10BB	13 / 1 / 1	0.4	-0.9​
Relief Pitcher	G	W - L	ERA	IP	SV / SVO	SO / BB	WHIP	H / R / ER	HR	GDP	HLD
Cano, Yennier	23	1 - 0	0.93	29	4 / 5	30K / 1BB	0.59	16 / 3 / 3	0	3	11​

National League:

1. Corbin Carroll (ARZ LF): See my blurb above.
2. Spencer Steer (CIN 3B): See my blurb above.
3. Kodai Senga (NYM SP): In his last start, Kodai Senga pitched 7 innings of 1 hit baseball against the Philadelphia Phillies. Senga ranks first among national league pitchers in strikeouts and second in innings pitched (behind Ryne Nelson). Kodai Senga strikes out 29.8% of batters but gives up lots of hard contact. Batters are still only batting .125 against his ghost fork and strikes out 59.1% of batters as a putaway pitch. This is primarily because batters have a 59.1% whiff rate on his forkball (66 PA) and his slider (7 PA). Senga is scheduled to pitch on June 4th against the Toronto Blue Jays’ Yusei Kikuchi.
4. Ezquiel Tovar ( COL SS): In 55 games on the season, the Colorado shortstop has accumulated 46 base hits in 55 games. Tovar leads all NL rookies in doubles (16) and is currently slashing .241/.286/.398. Defensively, Tovar has been exceptional at shortstop accumulating 0.9 defensive war. Tovar has 6 outs above average at shortstop and has successfully converted 3% more plays than the estimated success rate.
5. James Outman (LAD CF): See my blurb above.
6. Francisco Alvarez (NYM C): The Mets #1 prospect has taken the league by storm. Alvarez has been above average in framing especially above the zone and has 5 blocks above average. Alvarez however has struggled in maintaining run control having -3 CS above average. At the plate, Alvarez has 6 doubles and 8 home runs on the season in 35 games with a slash line of .252/.308/.523.

Pitchers	W / L	GS	ERA	IP	SO	BB	H / R / ER	HR	WHIP	HBP	GDP
Senga, Kodai	4 - 2	10	3.44	55	70	31	43 / 21 / 21	6	1.35	0	4
Batter	Team	Games	At Bats	AVG/OBP/SLG	HR	RBI	SB / CS	SO/BB	2B / 3B / HR	Off WAR	Def WAR
Carrol, Corbin	AZ (LF)	54	188	.287/.372/.516	27	24	16 / 2	43K / 23BB	14 / 1 / 9	2.1	-0.3
Steer, Spencer	CIN (1B)	53	204	.289/.358/.500	30	28	1 / 2	47K / 21BB	15 / 2 / 8	1	-0.4
Tovar, Ezequiel	COL (SS)	54	187	.241/.286/.396	19	23	2 / 1	57K / 10BB	15 / 1 / 4	0.8	0.9
Outman, James	LAD (CF)	55	175	.234/.323/.469	28	29	6 / 1	70K / 19BB	8 / 3 / 9	0.7	-0.2
Alvarez, Francisco	NYM (C)	35	111	.252/.308/.523	14	19	0 / 0	29K / 7BB	6 / 0 / 8	1	0.3​

MLB Debuts

• 5/19 Karl Kauffmann (COL SP) - u/TEX 4.1 IP, 4 ER, 7 H
• 5/19 Patrick Bailey (SF C) - Mia 0-0
• 5/23 Bobby Miller (LAD SP) - u/ATL 5 IP, 1ER, 4 H
• 5/26 Randy Vasquez (NYY SP) - SD 4.2 IP, 2 ER, 4H
• 5/28 Andruw Monasterio (MIL 2B) - SF 0-1

Pitchers	W / L	GS	ERA	IP	SO	BB	H / R / ER	HR	WHIP	HBP	GDP
Kauffmann, Karl	0 - 3	3	11.37	12.2	7	7	22 / 17 / 16	3	2.29	1	4
Miller, Bobby	2 - 0	2	1.64	11	9	2	8 / 2 / 2	0	0.91	0	0
Vasquez, Randy	0 - 1	1	3.86	4.2	6	3	4 / 2 / 2	1	1.5	2	0
Batter	Team	Games	At Bats	AVG/OBP/SLG	HR	RBI	SB / CS	SO/BB	2B / 3B / HR	Off WAR	Def WAR
Bailey, Patrick	SF (C)	11	39	.333/.350/.564	4	12	0 / 0	11K / 1BB	3 / 0 / 2	0.6	0.2
Monasterio, Andruw	MIL (2B)	3	4	.375/.444/.375	0	0	0 / 0	3K / 1BB	0 / 0 / 0	0.1	0​

The stats I used for this analysis were prior to any games on Friday May 2nd. If you want to see all the rookies I reviewed and their stats as of me writing this I have attached a (google sheet link here)[https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1hMB-Eu4fowNgdKSRHoBorhtCOKr8KaTx3kYXfcUvZvc/edit?usp=sharing\]. I am primarily a Chicago Cubs fan so you will likely know more about your team than me, so I apologize if I may have overlooked or underlooked anything. Let me know if there are any memorable moments I may have missed or your own hot takes.

​
Full story link here
First part of the story:
Years before the hit FX show, “The Bear” made the humble Italian beef suddenly hip last year, I’ve been hunting for Chicago’s best version. I’ve scoured classic beef stands, waited in line at numerous Italian delis and even spotted some creative interpretations from our city’s best chefs.
One place I never thought to look? Navy Pier. The tourist mecca offers tremendous views, and the food options have improved over the past decade, but the notion that a great Italian beef lurked near a Ferris wheel was not on my radar.
Yet halfway down the pier, Ciccio Italian Beef dishes out a version unlike any in town. While most shops shave the beef paper thin, Ciccio’s beef is slightly thicker, yet stunningly tender and almost steak-like. Instead of a soft and squishy roll, this one features a crackly crust that gives way to a supremely tender interior that soaks up the beefy juices without turning to mush. Whether or not it’s the best in the city is debatable, but it’s a fascinating new option.
Turns out, Ciccio owner Mario Ferraro is no newbie to the Italian beef game. In the 1970s, Ferraro even ran Mia’s Beef and Sausage at 1729 N. Cicero Ave.

On his latest episode Bill defends keeping the Jays together with one of his reasons being the east will be weaker next season. He says something like Bucks and Sixers have a lot of roster uncertainty and prob take a step back. Cleveland isn’t ready. Then he starts listing off other teams that he just doesn’t seem worried about. NY, BK, ATL, Toronto, Miami, Chicago, etc.
Thought it was hilarious how Miami was swept under the rug as a non-threat on a podcast entirely about how the Heat just ended their season and are now 2-1 in the last 4 years vs the Celtics. Really!? especially after Bill was one of the few who had the Heat on his radar for sneaky playoff killers.
I think his point is mostly fair and agree Boston should keep the Jays together but thought the Heat overlook was crazy.

Update 4.2.5 is now live on Steam, Paradoxplaza and ModDB.

Major Features

- Restored Lone Star’s Hand Warband path’s previously incomplete Legion events and decisions. The additions from this include access to a small number of wargoals, a modest branching chain of new events and decisions for marching to Castra Sol Rubrum, the alternate ability to join Lanius’s Horde should Lanius form the Eastern Legion and the choice to serve as a subject rather than being annexed into Lanius or the Legion proper should Lanius be alive and loyal to Caesar.
- Made a round of touch ups to tech balance. More significant changes include melee equipment buffs, Knight and Scribe changes, small adjustments to many industry techs. The full details can be found here: https://pastebin.com/aUdD7DPU
​

Added

- Added several new character bios to Baudelio Ranchers, Guardians, Iron Alliance and Slags
- Added unique pictures to some downfall events
- Added 2 achievements “Judgement Day” and “Through the Fire and Flames”
- Added Mojave Territories back to the West Coast bookmark
- Added a leader description to Jack Vickers in Baudelio Ranchers
- Added 2 additional crossings between Rapids and Tohono Nation
- Added starting coastal forts, outposts and bunkers to parts of southern NCR and western Legion states
- Added a line of forts to NCR’s focus “The Crimson Caravan Routes” and two different lines to “Protecting the Boneyard”
- Added a line of forts to the Legion’s focus “Uniting the Wastes”
- Added a starting debuff to Washington BoS and The Cause lost when one annexes the other
- Added an army buff spirit to Hand Warband’s “The Masters of Texas” focus
- Added a spirit to the Legion’s “Legionary Training”
- Added a tech reducing Infantry Combat Width to the Legion’s “The Tip of the Spear”
- Added a starting timed debuff for Vault City tied to the 2275 Selection
- Added 10% starting stability to Vault City to partially offset the above
- Added a starting idea debuff for Shi which is gradually lessened by and related to the debates
- Added a temporary idea given to Shi by their early Navarro news event
- Added war support to the options for Shi’s Navarro Intervention event
- Added starting -10% Construction Speed to the NCR Economy modifier in exchange for -1% Consumer Goods
- Added 5% starting war support to TV Town
- Added 5% starting stability to Nuevo Aztlán
- Added 5% starting stability and war support to Tlaloc
- Added 5% starting stability in exchange for 10% war support to Shi
- Added 15% starting war support in exchange for 5% stability to Petro Chico
- Added starting Tool Procurement, Resource Production and 5% war support to Stormmongers
- Added more building slots and resources to a handful of Legion states
- Added a starting radar station to Weather Monitoring Station
- Added starting ports to: Ocotillo in Rapids; Needles in Mojave Territories; Dry Wells, Kingsman and Poston in the Legion; Tacna in Tohono Nation; and Santa Rosa plus both islands in Valle Bandits
- Added Reservation to the Legion research group at gamestart
- Added 1 military and civilian factory; 5% war support; and slightly more resources, infrastructure and building slots to Baudelio Ranchers at gamestart
- Added 1 starting civilian factory and slightly more resources, infrastructure and building slots to Cowboy Country and Tohono Nation
- Added 1 starting dockyard to Cowboy Country
- Added 1 starting anti-air and radar station to Rusty Hooks
- Added 1 more level of Air Base to Flagstaff, North/South Phoenix and San Antonio
- Added 1 starting outpost to New Canaan and New Jerusalem
- Added 1 starting outpost to Arroyo’s victory points
- Added more starting forts to Monterrey
- Added starting Scout Kit and Anti-Tank Rifle tech, 5% war support, +10% trade opinion,
Wasteland Militias law and 250 manpower to Arroyo
- Added additional influence and coercion for Arroyo as AI
- Added starting Anti-Tank Rifle tech and 3 more Naval Module techs to Gente Del Sol
- Added Asymmetric Warfare tech, Assault Canoes and a Spec Ops template to Navajo at gamestart
- Added Industry Planning, Construction Basics, Crowd Gear, the Wasteland Survival Training law, slightly more building slots and 10% stability to Iron Alliance at gamestart
- Added Mobile Maintenance Crews and more fuel to Two Sun at gamestart
- Added starting Power Armour Frame Hardening tech to Heaven’s Gate
- Added starting Lightweight Metals tech and more energy to Eagle Rock
- Added starting Caravan tech to Standing Rock
- Added 1 military factory, 10% war support and 450 manpower in exchange for 8% stability to Mad Trains at gamestart
- Added 1 starting military factory to Two Sun and Withered Dogs
- Added 1 division, full division equipment and the Funding the Army law to Scorpion’s Bite at gamestart
- Added starting Slashing Melee to Cypher’s Warband
- Added a scientific tech research bonus to NCR Hayes’s first expansion focus
- Added starting production to Californian Way and Baudelio Ranchers
- Added descriptions to Ejército Mexicano’s Cartel and Militia Blues spirits
- Added positive AI strategies for Arroyo and the choice in their 3rd event
- Added AI scripting for Mojave Territories to prepare for the First Dam Battle better
- Added localization for “Anti Air Weaponry Research Speed”
​

Changed

- Changed the icons for vehicle techs Mobile Assault Weaponry and Improved Turrets
- Changed the localisation and icon for Wasteland APC’s to Great War APC’s
- Changed the localisation and icon for Wasteland Bus to Wasteland APC’s
- Changed maximum and minimum opinion from +/-100 to +/-200
- Changed high stability factory and dockyard output from up to +12% to up to +15% and mobilization speed from up to -20% to up to -15%
- Changed high war support mobilization speed from up to +100% to up to +50% and Core Attack and Defense from up to +8% to up to +10%
- Changed base monthly population gain from 0.016 to 0.015
- Changed base suppression needed per 1% resistance from 0.38 to 0.35
- Changed the wartime building destruction cooldown from 25 to 20 days
- Changed the scale of land unit experience gain from 0.07 to 0.06
- Changed the maximum shore bombardment bonus from 0.25 to 0.3
- Changed base damage output in Air Combat to be 25% higher
- Changed maximum planes in air combat simulation from 500 to 750, making the peak lethality of air combat higher
- Changed enemy bombing war support penalties to have a lower cap (60% to 50%), but scale 33% faster
- Changed the base enemy air superiority penalty from -18% to -20%
- Changed outpost and coastal fort construction cost from 700 to 800
- Changed Naval Base construction cost from 3000 to 2500 and added a per-level cost of 500
- Changed the modifiers on some industry techs slightly
- Changed the base coring cost from 25 to 30
- Changed “Large Territorial Administration” factory output from +10% to +5%
- Changed Trade Law levels to give +5% less Trade Tariffs
- Changed decision State Funded Radio Programming’s effect slightly
- Changed the start caps for established organizations from 50k to 25k
- Changed the AI to produce more aircraft under some conditions
- Changed the Scorched Earth operation to be cheaper
- Changed Reno and Vegas tourists to add 1k more caps and 2k more bonus
- Changed traits Fortification Expert and Fortification Engineer to be weaker
- Changed trait Armaments Organizer to be stronger
- Changed effects of some Settler and Raider start events to be weaker
- Changed NCR, Shi, Valle Bandits, Three Rivers, Vault City and Washington BoS starting resources to be slightly lower
- Changed some Arroyo crisis events to occur slightly sooner
- Changed Tlaloc and Diana’s “God from the Machine” to be slightly weaker
- Changed Lost Hills’s Knight and Scribe intros to grant a stronger final modifier and be auto completed soon after “The Paladins” rather than requiring manual completion
- Changed Lost Hills Training Facilities to now affect all units
- Changed some Lost Hills decisions to last longer
- Changed Lost Hills’s “Council Reforms” and “Preparing for the Ceasefires End” to add 1 more Administration Center capacity
- Changed Lost Hills’s “Our Right” branch to have more flexible prereqs
- Changed Lost Hills’s NCR cooperation decision to cost 100 less
- Changed Lost Hills’s Paladin Sway idea to add +5% more political power
- Changed some Lost Hills foci in the NCR War, WMD and Scavenging branches to be stronger
- Changed Lost Hills’s starting resources to be higher
- Changed two Lone Star advisors and some Hand Warband foci to be slightly stronger
- Changed the shared Attis Army capstones to be slightly stronger
- Changed Cerberus’s resistance and compliance bonuses to be in their modifier--rather than traits--alongside added -50% trade opinion
- Changed Cerberus’s Attis and Shale Traits to grant supply consumption -15% and production efficiency base +15%
- Changed Ironmongers’s Mastersmiths law to grant 1% less conscription and its starting debuffs to be slightly higher
- Changed The Cause’s ATA focus to also upgrade Glorious Purpose and changed other foci very slightly for balance
- Changed Washington BoS starting -20% compliance and +10% war support modifiers to -5% political power and +10% war stability
- Changed some Washington BoS foci to be weaker
- Changed a Washington BoS unit to start on Capitol Hill
- Changed Ejército Mexicano’s Cartel and Militia Blues ideas to be added at gamestart and changed the events that start their branches to add 5% stability or war support
- Changed Ejército Mexicano’s Zapata Alamo Chapter event to be 40 days later
- Changed Ejército Mexicano’s “Superior Mechanization” and “The Liberation of Texas” foci to be weaker
- Changed Ejército Mexicano’s Ironmongers wargoal to be locked till Tlaloc’s death
- Changed some Standing Rock foci to be stronger and added intermediate electronics and construction tech to the tree
- Changed Shi’s starting production and templates to be slightly better
- Changed some Shi foci slightly for balance - Changed Shi’s “Big Trouble in Little California” to need 2 prereqs instead of 1
- Changed Two Sun’s vehicle bonuses to be stronger
- Changed Legion AI to be far more likely to avoid the civil war for a leader with max glory rather than choosing randomly
- Changed the Legion’s “Raider Rumble” to only raise resistance temporarily
- Changed the Legion’s Dam Loss branch to be much stronger and have some added effects
- Changed the Legion’s Legion Training spirit to no longer buff speed in exchange for buffing all special forces rather than only spec ops
- Changed the Legion’s autonomy laws to reduce license cost more
- Changed the Legion’s “Commercial Dock Development” to reduce invasion penalty more
- Changed the March West event to make any subject of Lanius’s be Caesar’s rather than being freed and removed from the faction
- Changed the Lanius Caesar’s Warden trait to be weaker
- Changed Lanius and Vault City to get the “Prioritize Consumer Technology” decision instead of “Basic Hygiene Education”
- Changed some Vault City pre-election and Lynette foci to be slightly weaker
- Changed some New Mexico states to have slightly less water
- Changed Lynette’s “The Patrolmen” recovery rate buff to infantry defense
- Changed TV Town’s starting infantry and militia templates to have 2 more battalions
- Changed TV Town’s “Stopping the Sandman” to take 15 less days
- Changed TV Town’s starting spirit to add -15% lack of resources penalty and no longer add -15% division experience
- Changed New Vegas’s Jewel of the Mojave spirit modifiers slightly and changed its percentual conscription malus to be flat
- Changed New Vegas’s Robotics Genius to grant 10% less fuel capacity in exchange for -2.5% securitron cost
- Changed New Vegas’s starting securitron template to be better
- Changed New Vegas’s starting event factories to be slightly less
- Changed NCR AI to pick Kimball 5% more (now 40%) and Hayes 5% less (now 20%)
- Changed NCR Dollars to give +5% less Trade Tariffs
- Changed NCR’s Self-Sacrifice Myth to be weaker
- Changed NCR’s Military Complex debuff event option somewhat
- Changed the NCR’s Hub crisis debuff to be slightly higher
- Changed NCR’s “The Sentries of Shady Sands” to grant a stronger, more specific fort line
- Changed some NCR government laws; some Moore spirits, traits and expansion branch foci; and some Hayes expansion branch foci to be slightly weaker
- Changed NCR’s Dornan general and advisor, Oscar Stone advisor and Admiral Doherty advisor to be slightly weaker
- Changed some NCR Hayes main branch foci to be stronger or shorter
- Changed NCR’s “Roaring Economy” to take 60 days and add 5% less war support
- Changed NCR’s “Retool the Ranger Corps”, “Denounce Kimball’s Rhetoric” and some post-election Kimball and Allgood foci to be slightly weaker
- Changed NCR Moore’s BoS decisions to cost more
- Changed the NCR Civil War “Ranger Divide” idea to grant more debuffs and be removed in Calhoun’s main tree instead of the expansion tree
- Changed Californian State and Californian Way to get -10% stability at the Civil War’s start
- Changed Californian Way to get slightly more of the NCR’s units and stockpile in the civil war
- Changed Mojave Territories’s starting spirit to add 5% less war support
- Changed some Mojave Territories’s civil war branches to be slightly weaker
- Changed some NCR puppet tree shared and country unique foci to be weaker
- Changed MacArthur’s upgraded Salvatore advisor to be slightly stronger
- Changed MacArthur’s Chicago foci to bypass if a people nation
- Changed some MacArthur advisors and lower foci to be weaker
- Changed MacArthur’s APA/Vertibird stockpile from 50 and 20 to 30 and 15 respectively
- Changed some MacArthur focus prereqs slightly
- Changed MacArthur’s APA purchases to cost 2 more energy
- Changed MacArthur’s starting Outsider Law to add +1% more resistance target
- Changed some The Last Patrol foci to be slightly stronger
- Changed the TAA’s Rio rebellion branch to add 5% less net war support
- Changed some early Texan BoS ideas slightly for balance
- Changed Alamo Chapter’s Emergency Production spirit to be slightly stronger
- Changed Alamo Chapter’s Alamo Defenders to have less battalions but more support companies
- Changed Alamo Chapter to have 300 less extra guns
- Changed Alamo’s “United Texan Front” focus to require all 4 of its prereqs rather than only 1
- Changed some Reservation Willem main path foci to be slightly stronger
- Changed New Canaan’s Defender Priest advisor to be stronger
- Changed some later White Legs foci to be slightly weaker
- Changed Mojave Chapter’s starting research speed bonus from 5% to 2.5%
- Changed Mojave Chapter’s “Raw Poseidon Energy” and “Walking Artillery” to give 1 less factory
- Changed Mojave Chapter’s Aggressive Policy buff to be for Hardin rather than Veronica
- Changed Mojave Chapter’s manpower from Veronica’s path to be lower
- Changed Mojave Chapter’s “Victory at Sunburst” focus to add 5% less stability and war support
- Changed some of Mojave Chapter’s weaker post-sunburst foci to be shorter or stronger
- Changed Mojave Chapter’s “Enlist the Families” to add 3 less civilian factories
- Changed Mojave Chapter’s Securitron Vault decision to have higher cost and duration
- Changed a small number of Mojave Chapter’s strongest Big MT and Sierra Madre foci to be slightly weaker
- Changed Montana Chapter’s post Fort Verity foci to take 5 more days
- Changed Montana Chapter’s “No Problem is Too Great” to add less infrastructure
- Changed some Montana Chapter foci to have slightly more prereqs
- Changed a few Eagle Rock industry and blimp bonuses to be slightly weaker
- Changed Eagle Rock’s starting blimp stockpile from 24 to 15
- Changed a few Shale’s Army foci to be slightly stronger
- Changed Three Rivers’s “Buy The Latest Model” to add sophisticated power armor tech and APA schematics rather than free APA
- Changed two Three Rivers doctrine buffs to be smaller
- Changed Hangdogs’s “Open The Box” to take 40 less days
- Changed Hangdogs’s “Big Wrenches” and “The Army of Denver” to be slightly weaker
- Changed many Desert Rangers NCR foci and Snake Vargas’s leader trait to be weaker
- Changed Desert Rangers’s capstone to take 30 more days
- Changed some Maxson Chapter advisors and foci to be weaker
- Changed Maxson Chapter’s Vault 0 capstone effect to be smaller
- Changed some Gente Del Sol advisors and early ideas slightly for balance
- Changed Gente’s 3rd event to add 1 less arms factory in one option
- Changed two Gente research bonus foci to be weaker and two weapons foci to be stronger
- Changed the strength and order of Eighties’s “Life is a Highway” branch foci slightly
- Changed “The Devils of Utah” for Eighties and “The Eternal Quest of the Pure” for Rotpurgers to grant -5% more Trade Opinion
- Changed start spirits for Baron’s Eyrie, Bismarck, Coal Consortium, Metal Mouths, Niitsitapi and The Pursuant to be weaker
- Changed Max Sec’s tiered NCR spirit to be weaker
- Changed Overwatch Tock’s description to be shorter
- Changed the NCR Baggers unique puppet branch to be disabled
- Changed the Snowmads and Mad Trains formables to have slightly weaker effects
- Changed the New Mariposa formable to add compliance and reduced resistance rather than coring every respective state
- Changed the Legion’s Phoenix branch tithe foci to add more caps - Changed some top-half Navajo foci to be slightly stronger
- Changed Snowmads’s leader trait to be weaker
- Changed Iron Alliance’s formables to grant stronger, slightly altered effects
- Changed Lanius’s focus “A False Goddess” giving wargoals on Twin Mothers even after they’ve fled to Paradise
​

Fixed

- Fixed the assign medal unitview GUI quick button not being visible
- Fixed the retain cores popupwindow GUI checkbox for releasing countries not being visible
- Fixed sphere state ownership checks for subject countries not accounting for the state being owned by another subject with their same overlord
- Fixed an error leading certain coring related modifiers to have been dramatically increase
- Fixed the Steal Army Supplies operation not rewarding equipment properly
- Fixed the NCR getting locked into the Bull’s Demesne if the Legion Civil War occurs and they are unable to capture all of Caesar’s core territory
- Fixed Culto Al Sol having no advisors and no caps income
- Fixed some Reno/Vegas tourism localisation
- Fixed Mojave Chapter’s Legion targeted defense modifier not applying due to a coding error
- Fixed some Mojave Chapter foci having lower durations than intended
- Fixed Gente Del Sol’s 3rd event having an option with no effect
- Fixed an exploit where Troll Warren could take its Bone Dancers and Chemult Station wargoals despite taking the non-aggression pact
- Fixed the Lone Star and Hand Warband theorists having swapped bonuses
- Fixed various NCR, Caesar’s Legion, Standing Rock, Stormmongers and Montana Chapter foci and decisions which lacked wargoal alerts/triggers or proper state control triggers
- Fixed some compliance or resistance effects which mistakenly used decimal values
- Fixed Honduras’s AI Defense Focus being erroneously high
- Fixed an oversight which made AI weights for certain sets of manpower laws too high or low
- Fixed a bug that led certain nation AI scripts for diplomacy or armies to malfunction
- Fixed the Hand Warband focus “A Slave To Be Admired” not giving a commander
- Fixed the NCR being able to try and push investments on the Mojave Territories
- Fixed Troll Warren being unable to progress in their tree if the Marrow Drinkers annex the Carcass Walkers before they do
- Fixed Eclipse Uprising receiving generic advisors
​

Removed

- Removed 5% starting stability, 2 military factories and 1 civilian factory from MacArthur
- Removed starting Automation tech and 1 infrastructure from Vault City
- Removed starting Ohm’s Law from Ejército Mexicano
- Removed 1 starting infrastructure in 10-Signs for the Legion and Fort Lyon for Maxson Chapter
- Removed 1 starting infrastructure and 1 of each factory from a Manitoba state
- Removed 2 starting infrastructure from Los
- Removed 1 starting infrastructure and military factory from Bitter Springs in Mojave Territories
- Removed 1 starting infrastructure from: Eden, Ashton, Hopeville, Arroyo and some states for Shi and Sky Reavers
- Removed 1 of each starting factory from Timberline
- Removed 1 starting civilian factory from Navarro Territories, Sky Reavers, TAA, Stormmongers, Rupertsland Trading Co. and Old Believers
- Removed 2 starting civilian factories from Batford Brigade
- Removed 1 starting military factory from Hangdogs, The Pursuant, Baron’s Eyrie, Three Rivers and Whitecourt
- Removed 5% starting stability from Vault City and Whitecourt
- Removed 5% starting war support from Mojave Chapter and New Vegas
- Removed 3% starting war support from Lanius
​

Technical Changes

- Added more AI event choice scripting for NCR, MacArthur and Texan BoS
- Added a debug decision to spawn Alamo Chapter for Texan BoS
- Changed Alamo’s AI focus plan to be more optimal
- Changed minor parts of some nation starting production for quality of life
- Changed minor parts of AI army composition and research behaviors to be more optimal
- Fixed misc. localisation errors for many nations
- Fixed missing bypasses for select wargoal foci
- Fixed some unused and inaccessible NCR focuses still being enabled in the code
- Fixed missing localisation for certain modifiers

I'm probably going to get a job offer from a company that while it is remote, California is a state that is 100% off the table due to employment/tax things. Sooooooo back to the drawing board!
I was hoping that Sacramento would be a good fit. I know Reno is nearby in NV, but I wonder if it would be too small at 268K population. I was previously thinking Las Vegas, so now it's on my radar again. I'm currently not drinking, and I'm not sure how hard it would be not drinking in NV. I'm also scared of the dating scene in Reno and Vegas, I already have a hard time in Austin.
Washington and Portland would be too cloudy/cold for what I'm going for, same with Minneapolis.
Original post: https://www.reddit.com/SameGrassButGreenecomments/135vlqm/35f_looking_to_settle_down_and_start_a_family/
I've been in Austin, TX the past 10 years. I love it here; it's a fun city with always something to do, but I don't want to get pregnant or raise children in Texas. I've had a horrible time dating here as well. I work remotely in tech/marketing.
My must-haves:
- 400K - 1MM population
- Over 230 (not below 200) days of sunshine/year. I prefer heat over cold or snow (bleh), but I could deal with cold/snow if there is sun (rules out OR, WA and MN)
- Blue or purple state, but where abortion is legal (I know AZ is more limited than CA, so please correct me if I'm wrong what what the current laws are)
- Things to do, events, festivals. Also, I'd love a place that isn't centered around drinking. I'm currently not drinking alcohol, and in Austin alcohol is very predominant in the culture
- I like driving, so I don't mind if a city is spread out
- A decent number of single men in their mid-late 30s
Phoenix vs. Sacramento: edit: Omaha?
Phoenix: This was actually my first choice a few years ago. I visited in October 2021 and loved it, and the surrounding areas. I'd want to visit in July or August to see if I can deal with the heat. Actually in 2022 I was almost planning on moving there, but then Roe was overturned and several abortion bans happened. It looks like as of now it's 15 weeks? Still better than Texas. And I like how they have Democrat governor now
Sacramento: This has been recommended several times, and I've always been hesitant to go to California, however I've been warming up to the idea. It has good schools, a decent population, lots of greenery, things to do. But I've heard air quality might not be the best
Omaha: Just did some quick Googling. Abortion is legal under 20 weeks in NE? Are there things to do here? Are there a decent amount of singles in their 30s? HOW BAD IS THE COLD AND SNOW?
Past cities I've considered:
Las Vegas/Summerlin: Visited and really liked it, but I don't think I want to raise a family there, and not drinking might be hard
Tucson: Also visited here on my trip to Phoenix. I did like the city and I think it would be a fine place to raise a family in, but it seems like there aren't many single people aged 30 - 40
Tampa: Too humid
Denver: I lived here briefly about 10 years ago. I didn't vibe with it as much as Austin
Chicago: Grew up there, don't want to go back
I looked at https://app.wheremightilive.com/map, and it came back with cities in AZ, CA, CO and NM. I had to do some evaluating and where it would be fun to live vs. where I'd actually want to raise a family.
_______________________________

The mysterious man behind the bid for Knight Capital Vincent Viola, CEO of Virtu Financial, wants to take Knight Capital private in a deal that would remove transparency from one of the market’s largest trading hubs.
BY LEAH MCGRATH GOODMAN December 12, 2012 1:41 PM EST FORTUNE — Vincent Viola, the chairman and CEO of Virtu Financial, the closely held New York firm reportedly making an all-cash offer of up to $1.6 billion for Knight Capital Group, is a man who strongly prefers to stay out of the limelight.
Yet if Virtu wins the deal, this former gasoline trader may soon be steering a colossus that will serve as one of the main pillars of the U.S. stock market – not to mention foreign exchange, derivatives and even a smattering of dark pools. However, unlike Chicago-based Getco LLC – Viola’s chief competitor in the bidding war for Knight – he reportedly hopes to take the merged company private, which would put a substantial portion of the nation’s key markets behind closed doors where they will be much harder to monitor. Knight alone handles roughly $20 billion of shares a day through the New York Stock Exchange, while Virtu is one of the top five global high-frequency trading firms.
Given the transparency issues already dogging U.S. markets – which have increasingly channeled orders into high-frequency algorithms and private trading pools – the stakes are high.
But just who is Vincent Viola? Despite quietly becoming a Wall Street mover and shaker, he is not one to affix his name to projects or avail himself of the press. He works below the radar.
A brief glance at Viola’s resume reveals a string of businesses and executive posts swiftly taken up and swiftly abandoned. Indeed, while Knight is 17 years old and Getco was founded in 1999, Virtu, in its current incarnation, was formed in 2008. “Vinnie is for Vinnie,” says a former colleague intimately familiar with Viola’s career. “He a master at leveraging people; he’s very smart and he’s very charismatic. It is very difficult to not want to be on Team Vinnie. But if you think you’re going to be the one person who he’ll need past your utility for him, shame on you.”
At the same time, Viola is described as a phenomenal businessman, a trailblazer able to identify market trends well in advance and capitalize on them before anyone else. “Vinnie is not a details guy,” says a fellow trader who watched Viola execute his first trade at the New York Mercantile Exchange, the world’s dominant energy and metals market. (It was for five platinum futures contracts). “He is a macro thinker. He finds the best people in the business to carry out his vision and he pays them well.”
Though counted as one of the most fearsome traders in the history of Nymex (Viola, a kung-fu fighter, cloaked himself in a Mafia-esque mystique, according to a number of Nymex traders) he is also a devout Roman Catholic and committed philanthropist. Working his way up the chain of command at Nymex, he eventually became the market’s chairman, serving from 2001 to 2004. His biggest accomplishment: reopening the market just days after the September 11 attacks.
Those who know Viola describe him as chameleonic and temperamental, a master of both masquerade and reinvention. The son of a truck driver, Viola rose from a rough patch of Brooklynto attend the military academy at West Point in 1972, serving as an infantry officer in the 101st Airborne Division before ascending to the rank of major. He returned to civilian life in 1993, after some of his neighborhood friends from Brooklyn introduced him to the world of trading.
Viola was brought down to the hardscrabble commodities-trading pits of Nymex in the 1980s and there cut his teeth as a trader. “He started out nervous, like all the other guys risking their own capital,” says the fellow trader. “I mean, it is not monopoly money you’re working with – it’s the real thing and you could lose everything.” But Viola’s friends looked out for him and he soon learned, the trader says, that “if you know the order flows, you can make a lot of money.”
This early revelation, according to the trader, has been the cornerstone of Viola’s financial success. Virtu, which risks its own money as a proprietary trading firm, in addition to making markets for others, will stand at the helm of a wellspring of billions of order flows if it acquires Knight (KCG). “If Vinnie gets Knight, he’ll literally be the largest trader in the world,” the former colleague says. “And he’s very, very aware of that. He is not a technology guy and he’s not into this as a technology play. He will be focused on the trading and the intelligence it will give.
The fellow trader who worked alongside Viola in the pits agrees. “The true underlying value of Knight isn’t its platform. It’s the macro view of the market it will give to anyone who owns it. Whoever gets it will be able to see huge sections of the market and trade on it. If Knight goes private and loses all transparency, that’s not going to be a good thing for the nation’s investors.”
While a recent filing indicates Getco’s cash-and-stock offer for Knight would not lead to shareholders owning more than 20% of the merged company and few owning more than 10%, that failsafe is not assured by Virtu, which enjoys financial backing from part owner Silver Lake Management, a Menlo Park, Calif., private-equity firm. Virtu is reportedly talking to Credit Suisse (CS), Barclays (BCS) and Citigroup (C) about providing financing for the deal. Buyout firm Cerberus is also reportedly interested in joining the bid.
Both Viola and Silver Lake declined to comment.

Yes, former Brooklyn Nets head coach and Canadian men’s national team star Steve Nash did get a formal interview recently and impressed both with his preparation and his apparent determination to get back on an NBA bench after a weird two-plus year run with various mixes of Kyrie Irving, Kevin Durant, James Harden and Ben Simmons to draw up game plans for -- a task made more difficult because none of the stars on the ‘super team’ Nash was hired to coach could stay healthy for any significant length of time.
No, Las Vegas Aces head coach Becky Hammon did not formerly interview with Toronto, though there were conversations. Ultimately the sense was the coach of the defending WNBA champions wasn't in a rush to leave her current role. She is starting a season with a hand-picked team, the richest coaching salary in the history of the league and working for an organization that had just invested $40 million in a world-class practice facility.
Yes, the Raptors will consider coaches with current NBA experience, with recently fired Suns head coach Monty Williams on Toronto’s radar.
Yes, long-time Raptors assistant Adrian Griffin remains the leading internal candidate.
No, head coaching experience -- or even coaching experience -- is not required: 15-year NBA veteran and current broadcaster and podcaster JJ Redick remains in consideration after he predictably impressed in his interview.
While Raptors president Masai Ujiri said in the aftermath of firing Nurse that having someone in place before the June 22 draft, where the Raptors are slated to choose 13th overall, was his preference, there is no timeline otherwise.
The focus internally is ‘no stone unturned’; the emphasis being to find the right candidate rather than the timing of the decision.
With most NBA front offices are in California this week to see many of the projected lottery picks in agent-run showcase workouts after the pre-draft combine in Chicago, the impression is the Raptors could still be a couple of weeks away from getting down a short list, which would take the process to the first week of June.
There are a couple of ways to interpret that: one is the Raptors are zeroed in on some assistants on teams that are still playing – Chris Quinn on the Miami Heat’s staff and David Adelman with the Denver Nuggets have each been linked to the Raptors' opening. Presuming the Heat join the Nuggets in the NBA Finals, that would conceivably leave a decision on either of those candidates until after June 18, if the Finals go seven games.
https://www.sportsnet.ca/nba/article/raptors-dont-appear-to-be-in-any-rush-to-hire-a-new-coach/

Alright, we all know the subreddits and social media's outside Reddit are plagued with shills. Over time they are evolving, but their traits are starting to put together a puzzle I think I may have solved part of. This is all tin foil just so you know. TLDR at end.
At the beginning, in early 2021, they used bot accounts. They were failures. Bots simply cannot deliver their narritvive properly and those issues were proving to people that their sheer existence meant Apes were correct. The coding script errors after comments, the profiles and names of the victims from the Vegas shooting, the word-for-word identical text string from 10+ bots, etc... bots were unreliable at best, but they contained one major flaw - liability. Someone has to be programing them, which is a direct and liable action to comit market fraud. One cannot simply say, "It's all the bots opinion, they did it themselves". No. They are directed to do what they did, and the liability risk was too much untop of the bots unreliability, so they moved on to people. The big non-conformance here is Liability
Shortly after, in 2021, they were making offers to just about anyone with a Reddit account to downtalk AMC using their words. We have multiple screen captures of these and they were rampant in 2021. Because a lot of people were innocent and confused, Apes are loyal, and well-versed people did not like the manipulation attempt, these messages got shared and made visible. This once again was a proof of their position and the threat against AMC. They didn't know who they could reach out too and trust with this kind of information, and even if someone agreed, how could they police them? They couldn't! The big non-conformance here is Trust
A small time frame after they stopped getting those with characteristics mentioned above, they targeted and made new accounts to diatract people from AMC. The most apparent ones at this time were Clove and Blackberry. Accounts out of nowhere started fueling up reasons to buy these for a squeeze. Blackberry got crushed and Clove was a pump and dump coordinated by them to detract money away from AMC. I think they quickly learned it was far too much effort for a distraction that can't be measured? How would they know how much money left AMC and if Apes made money on the pump and dumps, they would invest it back into AMC! The effort was not worth the intrinsic return and once the canary in the coalmine was dead, they couldn't do the trick with other stocks. The big non-conformance here is time required to manage shills and coordinate a direction for them. Micromanagement is a nightmare.
Approaching 2022, they started reaching out to accounts with longer histories, broader subredit use and put effort into either buying profiles or simply paying with bitcoin to have people say what they wanted. They seemed to go after profiles with people commenting on posts about their money issues. That's just what I noticed. They then used these accounts to build rapport, posting pictures of Apes and memes and basically being a plant in the community. Staying off the radar so they have the illusion of community. Then, when they needed too, they skilled. This is still common now, I believe, but the main non-conformance with this is 'all-or-none' risk. Once the account is marked as a shill, it's useless. They block people and use the clown emoji as a response, but this is a high risk account tactic because it takes a long time to build rapport and it can all be a waste in seconds. People have an incredibly developed sense of 'who is in our tribe, and who isnt'. The SHF shills are fighting two of the most developed senses we have as humans - pattern recognition and our tribe mates.
Further into 2022, they started simply making new accounts and blasting everything negative on the shotgun approach. If an account that's 5 days old gets burnt, oh well. Go after everyone and cause strife in the community. Guns blazing! The non-conformance with this is that with no rapport, and a new account, the battle hardened Apes know within seconds that people are shilling. This is why they changed their tactic to 'loving AMC, but wanting to leave because_____'. This was most noticeable with company events because they had time to instill fear. That's their main tactic. That's what their play is with the lawsuit, buy time and instill fear. They know endurance is hard for people, but they dont know how tough you millenials and Gen Zs are. All of you tough 'children of tragedy' have experienced is 9/11, dot-com bust, Swine flu fears, 2008 great recession, 2011 recession, housing bubble, university/college bubble, Ebola fears, Healthcare expense bubble, Microcephaly for the pregnant women in 2017, pandemic in 2020, inflation in 2021/22 and the disappearance of so much good in-between... good fucking luck scaring you people! Haha man, I would not want that job! You simply can't be scared of whatever they can use the fake news and shills to say. Anyway, the non-conformance here is that these accounts come and go and can be spotted a mile away, only scaring off the new Apes and inexperienced people who don't have accounts. Note that they are still doing this.
So! They maintain the shotgun shills, but for the evolved shill of 2023! Their big struggle is this:
'How does one find a shill that they can transfer liability too, instill trust in a new person to not report the act of them paying for malicious intent, have that person policed and managed, build rapport with the community, potentially have karma with a broad account to seem 'real', and shill' for payment off record?
I believe the answer is SHF and Market Maker employees' family members.

• The liability is on their employees - "This staff member acted alone". "We don't condone these actions and that member has been released. The SEC can deal with them accordingly". They say this verbally to their staff and the staff take the risk on their family memebers.
  
• The trust is subcontracted to their staff - Blood is thicker than wine and family will not rat you out. "If you say anything, I will get fired or fined or charged". The potential family memebers will keep their mouth shut. Especially if they are getting paid because then they have added liability now!
  
• Family memebers would be policed and managed by the staff memebers themselves. So quality remains constant to a degree without the requirement for additional management.
  
• Build rapport and have a broad range of their account complete with Karma to appear 'real' - Many people probably had Reddit accounts before, now they simply redirect them. If one gets flagged as a shill, they dont give a fuck? "It's ______'s brother's time, account and effort that was wasted! Not ours!"
  
• Payment - that is probably a bonus on the staff memebers cheque that they can pay out to their family memeber. This cuts down on accountant time and adds to the risk of liability being pushed onto their staff.
  

That's my 2 cents. If anyone is in the Chicago area or knows people who are related to anyone in the SHF or Maker industry, you should ask then if they have been talked to about anything pertaining to this. I am sure at least 1 Ape knows someone who can add fact-based evidence to this theory and slip up. That's the risk with this to them!
Cheers Apes!
TLDR: The new shills are SHF and Maker employees' family members because they transfer risk and human resource management to the employees and make the payment process easy with no liability.

Today's anniversaries are:
2010

• Cynic - Re-Traced (death, fusion, metal, progressive, Los Angeles)

2012

• Mendel - Subliminal Colors (metal, progressive metal, technical metal, instrumental, neo-classical, Netherlands) Read our review.
  
• Omar Rodríguez-López - Un corazón de nadie (experimental rock)
  

2013

• Daft Punk - Random Access Memory (Pop)

2015

• Mendel - Oblivion (djent, mendel, metal, progressive metal, progressive metal, shred, technical metal, instrumental, neo-classical, Netherlands)

2016

• Colored Moth - Fragmenting Tensions (90ies post-hardcore, experimental, noise rock, twisted chords records, noise, post-hardcore, post-rock, punx, Berlin) Read our review.
  
• Zygoma - The Highest Court (black metal, death metal, metal, math metal, mathcore, progressive metal, Gent) Read our review.
  

2017

• 7 Nights at Sea - Terra firma (ambient, ambient, ambient rock, experimental rock, instrumental, mathrock, post-hardcore, post-metal, post-rock, shoegaze, singapore, Singapore)
  
• Accordo dei contrari - Violato intatto (rock, improvised music, jazz rock, progressive, psychedelia, Bologna)
  
• Canada - Undanceable (experimental, philadelphia, progressive rock, ambient, indie, math rock, mathrock, noise, post-rock, progressive, technical, Philadelphia)
  
• Cloud Rat & Disrotted - Split (metal, doom, extra heavy metal, noise, sludge, Chicago)
  
• Darkenhöld - Memoria sylvārum (medieval black metal, metal, Roquefort Les Pins)
  
• The Elusive Tree Ensemble - The Elusive Tree Ensemble (Jazz)
  
• トリコ (Toriko / Tricot) - 3 (Pop)
  

2018

• Aphelion - Opposites Rendered (death metal, melodic metal, metal, technical death metal, Seattle)
  
• Desert Vows - 久しぶり (Hisashiburi / Long Time, No See) (acoustic, alternative, avant-garde, brooklyn, experimental, indie, instrumental, japanese, math, math pop, math rock, post-rock, New York)
  
• Ikea Mutilation Manual - Construction of Compulsive Chagrin (experimental, metal, avant-garde, free jazz, grindcore, math metal, mathcore, Halen)
  
• Slother - Die Slowly (metal, québec, doom, sludge, stoner, supersludge, Canada)
  
• Turtle Skull - Turtle Skull (alternative, doom, fuzz, psychedelic, psychedelic rock, stoner, Sydney)
  
• 畝り (Uneri / Uneli) - 1 (metal, metalcore, mixture, deathcore, experimental, hardcore, noisecore, Japan)
  

2019

• 88 Fingers Edward - The Hash Slinging Slasher (rock, emo, indie, instrumental, math rock, post-hardcore, prog, progressive metal, rock, roll, Charlotte)
  
• André Carvalho - The Garden of Earthly Delights (jazz, jazz., composition, free jazz, modern jazz, New York)
  
• Angles 9 - Beyond Us (Jazz)
  
• Artificial Language - Now We Sleep (metal, progessive metal, progressive rock, rock, California)
  
• Beat Movement - Silent Rain (electronic, electronic jazz, experimental jazz, jazz-tech, techno, techno jazz, electronic jazz, electronica, Berlin)
  
• Big Big Train - Grand Tour (rock, prog rock, progressive rock, United Kingdom)
  
• Car Made of Glass - Every Song Is a Good Song (punk, ambient, avant garde, concept, contemporary, electro-acoustic, free jazz, harsh noise, modern composition, musique concrete, noise, other, post-grind, Fortuna) Read our review.
  
• Dan Tepfer - Natural Machines (jazz, contemporary jazz, experimental, improvisation, jazz, piano, post bop, solo, New York)
  
• David Hush & Hamed Sadeghi - Harmony (persian classical, classical music, fusion, iranian, piano, traditional, world fusion, world music, Sydney)
  
• Dawn of Nil - Culminating Ruins (black metal, blackened death metal, boss hm2, death metal, metal, post black metal, melodic blackened death metal, Marseille)
  
• Encoffination - We Proclaim Your Death, O Lord (death metal, metal, death doom, death metal, doom metal, experiemental, United States)
  
• Evan Parker & Kinetics - Chiasm (Jazz)
  
• Fox Capture Plan - コンフィデンスマンJP (Konfidensuman JP) (Films/Games, Film Scores)
  
• Full of Hell - Weeping Choir (death metal, grindcore, hardcore, metal, noise, Ocean City)
  
• Gabriel Ferrandini - Volúpias (Jazz)
  
• Gabriele Mitelli & Rob Mazurek - Star Splitter (Jazz)
  
• Genetics - Cynosure (alternative, australian, metal, rock, spoken word, djent, instumental, jazz, progressive, Sydney)
  
• Gentiane Michaud-Gagnon Trio - Wonderland (jazz, jazz., original music, Montreal)
  
• Harbinger - Compelled to Suffer (death metal, deathcore, metal, tech metal, thrash metal, harbinger, heavy metal, London)
  
• Hifiklub & Mike Cooper - Aran Stories (Alternative)
  
• Ilia Belorukov & Gabriel Ferrandini - Disquiet (Jazz)
  
• John Zorn - The Hierophant (jazzcore) Read our review.
  
• Joshua Catania - Open to Now (creative jazz, jazz, modern creative, avant garde jazz, jazz and improvised music, modern jazz, nu-jazz, piano jazz, Minneapolis)
  
• Laurence Pike - Holy Spring (jazz, drums, improvisation, improvising, instrumental, percussion, Sydney)
  
• Lee Ranaldo, Jim Jarmusch, Marc Urselli, and Balázs Pándi - Lee Ranaldo, Jim Jarmusch, Marc Urselli, and Balázs Pándi (free jazz)
  
• Linda May Han Oh - Aventurine (jazz, australian, bass, chamber jazz, electric bass, groove, jazz, upright bass, New York) Read our review.
  
• M Geddes Gengras - I Am the Last of That Green and Warm-Hued World (electronic, fourth world, synth, synthesizer, techno, zones, Chicago)
  
• Michael Hersch - Carrion-Miles to Purgatory (chamber music, contemporary chamber music, piano and violin, string duo, violin and piano, New York)
  
• Monopiece & Jaap Blonk - Monopiece & Jaap Blonk (Jazz)
  
• Power Glove - Playback (electronic, vhs, cyberpunk, soundtrack, synthwave, vhs, Melbourne)
  
• Psychic Graveyard - Loud as Laughter (experimental, hot nerds, arab on radar, avant-garde, doomsday student, liars, math rock, no wave, noise rock, progressive, some girls, the chinese stars, St. Louis)
  
• Rammstein - Rammstein (Rock)
  
• Scheen jazzorkester & Thomas Johansson - As We See It (Jazz)
  
• Sutekh Hexen & 夢遊病者 (Muyūbyō-sha / Sleepwalker) - Split (experimental, death metal, grind, psychedelic, thrash, Osaka)
  
• Sylvie Courvoisier & Mark Feldman - Time Gone Out (jazz, brookyln, classical, free jazz, improvisation, intakt records, mark feldman, new music, new york, new york jazz, swiss jazz, sylvie courvoisier, Brooklyn)
  
• Vale of Pnath - Accursed (black metal, death metal, metal, death metal, melodic death metal, technical death metal, Denver)
  
• 声抑えめ (Koeosaeme) - おばにけし (Obanikeshi) (experimental, japan, internet, other, United States)
  

2020

• Hachoo - On a Thin Rope with a Shaky Smile (modern jazz, progressive rock)

2021

• François Thollot - Tensions (progressive rock)
  
• Gûlgûta - Andzia (blackened grindcore)
  
• IH3 - Grismask (free improvisation)
  

2022

• Eating Shit - Effondrement gravitationnel (cybergrind)
  
• Mendel - Equilibrium (progressive metal)
  

Index
I - Sound Techniques, Trident Studios
II - Cherokee, Quad Sound, Smart Studios
III - Le Studio, Bennett House, New Monkey
IV - Sweet Silence, Avast!, Bomb Factory and more
V - The Barn, American Recording/Emblem Studio
​
Cherokee Studios, CA
Bruce Robb phoned Trident Studios after hearing Harry Nillson records and bought a Trident A-Range from them. Even though those albums were recorded on the Sound Techniques A-Range.
Cherokee owned 4 of 13 consoles
3 were bought direct from Trident
1 from a broker, which came from South Africa (Source)
​
Cherokee's first Trident started in Studio 1, moved to Studio 3 until it closed (Source)
​
Cherokee bought the original Trident A Range desk from Trident Studios in 1983
David Bowie, Rod Stewart, and Frank Sinatra are among the first artists to record hits on Cherokee’s first A-Range console.
Albums
1975 - David Bowie - Station to Station
1975 - Frank Sinatra - Sinatra Christmas Album
1976 - Hall and Oates - Bigger Than Both of Us
1976 - Rod Steward - A Night on the Town
1979 - The Cars - Candy-O
1979 - Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers - Damn the Torpedoes

recorded at Sound City Studios, Van Nuys. mixed at Cherokee (Source)

1979 - Michael Jackson - Off the Wall
1980 - Harry Nilsson - Flash Harry
1982 - Weird Al Yankovic - Self-titled
1983 - Mötley Crüe - Shout at the Devil
1985 - Mötley Crüe - Theatre of Pain
1986 - The Del-Lords - Johnny Comes Marching Home (Source)
1985 - Pat Benatar - Invincible (Source)
2000 - Jimmy Eat World - Bleed American

tracked only drums. Record finished at Harddrive, North Hollywood (Source, Source)

​
Quad Sound Studios (formerly Quadrafonic), Nashville, TN] '83-99
Sold to Norbert Putnam @ Quadrafonic (Source, Source)
Old Blue 1983 - 1999?
https://www.reddit.com/audioengineering/comments/exdmkt/comment/fgahdh8/?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=web2x&context=3
​
Smart Studios, Madison, WI
Purchased from Quad Nashville in 1999 (Source)
until closing in March 1st 2010 (Source)
Sold to a private buyer in LA in around 2012/13 (Source)
Albums
1999 - Rainer Maria - A Better Version of Me -
2000-2001 - Garbage - Beautiful Garbage
2002 - Rainer Maria - Ears Ring EP
2003 - Rainer Maria - Long Knives Drawn
2003 - Fall Out Boy - Take This to Your Grave

• 2002 demos recorded for a split EP with 504 Plan that was scrapped: Dead on Arrival, Homesick at Space Camp and Saturday (Source)
• Grenade Jumper and Grand Theft Autumn (Where Is Your Boy) were recorded sneaking into Gravity Studios at night to use their u47 (Source: URM Podcast 224 @ 58:30)
• Last 7 songs recorded back at Smart Studios: Tell That Mick He Just Made My List of Things to Do Today, Sending Postcards from a Plane Crash (Wish You Were Here), Chicago Is So Two Years Ago, The Pros and Cons of Breathing, Calm Before the Storm, Reinventing the Wheel to Run Myself Over, The Patron Saint of Liars and Fakes (Source: URM Podcast 224 @ 1:00:00)

2003 - The Lovehammers - Murder on My Mind
2003 - Split Habit - Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is
2003 - Spitalfield - Remember Right Now

"tracked drums, bass, & guitars on that board" (Source)

2003-2004 - Garbage - Bleed Like Me
2004 - As Tall as Lions - Lafcadio
2004 - Hawthorne Heights - The Silence in Black and White (Source)
2005 - Death Cab for Cutie - Plans
2006 - Various Artists - Under the Radar Vol. 1
2006 - Sparklehorse - Dreamt for Light Years in the Belly of a Mountain
2006-2007 - Jimmy Eat World - Chase This Light
2007 - Tegan and Sara - The Con
2007 - Hotel Lights - Firecracker People
2007 - The Leftovers - On the Move
2007 - Charlemange - We Can Build An Island
2007 - Death Cab for Cutie - Narrow Stairs
2006 - Spitalfield - Better than Knowing Where You Are

• tracked only drums (Source)

​
And:
Dangermouse
Chris Walla
Rascal Flatts
Kate Pierson
Talib Kweli
Against Me!
Company Of Thieves
Skybox
https://vintageking.com/trident-a-range-console-13-of-13-vintage

I saw someone make a post about this yesterday, but didn't quite agree with the list so I made my own.
 

• Stanford - Hermes: Well-known for impeccable quality and timeless designs. The Birkin/Kelly are some of the most desired models in the handbag world. Have to spend $$$$ at one of their stores before being “offered” the chance to buy a bag just like how you have to wait 6-8 months for a Stanford decision.
  
• Yale - Chanel: The top of the luxury bag world and absolutely iconic, as even people with zero interest in fashion will recognize the name/logo. Paying full price for one is always worth it, given how good of an investment it can be. Nazi spy Coco Chanel’s controversial past mirrors that of slave trade administrator Elihu Yale.
  
• Chicago - YSL: Can be described as “classic minimalist” or “boring and uncreative” depending on your point of view. Surprisingly common in the corporate world and ever more suprising to the wallet every year.
  
• Penn - Prada: An extensive history of quality leather goods, but never really considered top-of-the-line until recently. Chanel/Hermes stans would never.
  
• Duke - Bottega Veneta: Pretty under the radar partly because they choose not to brand/monogram like how Duke isn’t as well-known since it’s not an Ivy. Made waves with their recent revival and focus on quality.
  
• Harvard - Louis Vuitton: Probably the most well-known bag brand and iconic in every way, but vastly overrated partly due to ubiquity and partly due to inconsistent quality. Every Asian mom wants the LV monogram as a status symbol, just like how every Asian mom wants to brag to their friends that their kid goes to Harvard.
  
• NYU - Balenciaga: More well-known through their shoes and apparel (like Tisch/Stern), but still a long history of innovative bag designs. Its controversies these days reflect the antisemitism scandals that rocked the law school the last few years.
  
• Columbia - Gucci: One of the most recognizable brands in the world (although maybe not as much with bags), but questionable decisions and their ridiculous price tags have buyers second-guessing these days. Believes they’re on the same tier as Chanel.
  
• UVA - Goyard: “Goyard? That’s designer..?” 250 years and still unknown to most people.
  
• Northwestern - Celine: Nice quality and eye-catching designs. A bit less recognizable than other luxury houses despite similar prices.
  
• Berkeley - Valentino: Edgier designs and high standards of quality. Promotes sustainability by turning off its lights, but doesn’t address greenhouse gas emissions from manufacturing.
  
• Michigan - Dior: Was once a “top 3” fashion house in terms of handbags. Still considered top-tier despite falling off since then.
  
• Cornell - Fendi: Elegant and timeless with a tad of snootiness. Maybe not as well-known as LV/Gucci but nonetheless huge. Got really famous in the 90s because of Sex and the City similar to how Cornell Law makes its name by sending their entire class to NYC.
  
• UCLA - Margiela: The new kid on the block. A bit unconventional design-wise but the quality is stunning.
  
• Georgetown - Burberry: Proof that mass producing bags isn’t a surefire recipe for success, even with a long history and prestige in other areas. Still among the most recognizable brands on this list.