u/CarlCasper

Every time I watch the scene where Al chooses Silas to be his delegate to Hearst, I am reminded of The Godfather.

Early in The Godfather, the Don decides to send his most loyal, feared henchman (Luca Brasi) to approach the Tattaglia family under the guise of being open to hire and not being happy with how the Corleone family is treating him. Problem is, Brasi was well known to be fiercely loyal to the Don, and it was unthinkable that he would turn on him. Solozzo and Tattaglia see right through this and eliminate Brasi, a huge loss for the Don. This has widely been regarded as a poorly calculated decision by the Don.

When Al needs to choose a delegate to Hearst, he explains to Adams that his second has to be perceived as capable of disloyalty, which Silas bristles at but goes along with. Al also explains to Dan later that despite his hurt feelings, that was exactly why he chose Silas for the role over him - no one would ever believe Dan as capable of turning on Al.

I often wonder if Milch thought actively about this parallel. Anyway, thanks for attending my Ted talk on Al performing better risk management than the Don in a similar scenario.

I've been doing some research on Extira MDF, and its biggest selling point seems to be water resistance, but it is also touted as being significantly stronger and more dense than regular MDF.

Setting aside water resistance for the moment - does anyone have experience milling this material that can give an opinion on whether Extira MDF has significant advantages over regular MDF with this increased density in its ability to hold detail - is it any better than regular MDF in that regard? Thinking of using some for project work, housings, that sort of thing, and any additional strength and ability to hold detail is welcome.