https://marvelstrikeforce.com/updates/blog-update-6-9-23
WEEKLY BLOG: BIG TIME WEB-SLINGER
JUNE 9, 2023
Greetings Commanders,
Here's your Battle Plan for June 10th through the 16th - all dates are Pacific Time.
June 12th - Family Bedrock - Open Training Orbs and battle in War
June 12th - Classic Rock Web Milestone - Use Power Cores
June 12th - Tough Crowds - Battle with New Warriors in Cosmic Crucible and spend Iso-8 Campaign Energy
June 12th - Isotope-8 Hard Campaign Chapters 1 and 2
June 12th - Valkyrie Blitz
June 12th - Omega Red Legendary Event
June 15th - Thor (Infinity War) character shards and Red Stars available
June 16th at 2:00 PM (PDT) - Mojo's Mayhem new season
June 16th at 2:00 PM (PDT) - Moshpit Madness - Blitz with New Warriors
INFESTATION
Break out the bug repellant, because Helicarriers are about to have a severe bug problem in the form of the new Infestation team! This scrappy black ops squad will specialize in Alliance War Defense and consist of newcomer Spider-Man (Big Time) and S.T.R.I.K.E. veterans Ant-Man, Black Widow, Swarm, and Yellowjacket – all of whom will receive upgrades for their new role. Infestation will be a top Defensive team and bringing anything less than a top Offensive squad like Knowhere will result in your forces getting squashed. So beware, Commander! Let's meet the new face (mask?) of the Infestation team…
SPIDER-MAN (BIG TIME)
After losing his job as a photographer, Peter Parker took on a new role as a research scientist and engineer at Horizon Labs. There, he developed a new Spider-Man suit with upgraded tech, including a green camo mode that made him invisible to visual and audio means and a red anti-sound mode. Spider-Man utilized the updated suit to defeat the Hobgoblin and a new villain named Massacre, who was terrorizing the city.
Spider-Man (Big Time) swings onto the new Infestation team as a big-time Controller with high Health and Focus stats. He's the lynchpin of the team and is extremely powerful on War Defense. When he's with his full Infestation team, Spider-Man (Big Time) gains a Charged, which grants his Ultimate Ability a myriad of battle-changing effects, including applying 2 turns of Disrupted, Trauma, and Blind to all enemies, along with flipping all of their positive effects and stealing up to 2 Ability Energy.
Traits: Hero, City, Tech, Controller, Spider-Verse, Infestation
Speed: 128
Basic - Big Time Thwip
Attack primary target for 340% damage + apply +1 Defense Down, to a maximum of 3.
Bonus Attack for 280% damage + apply an additional +1 Defense Down, up to a maximum of 3.
When forced to attack an Infestation ally, this character deals less damage to Infestation allies.
ISO - 8/Counter Attack/Assists:
When forced to attack an Infestation ally, this character attack that ally for 10% Piercing.
Attack the target for 300% damage + 20% Piercing + apply an additional +1 Defense Down, up to a maximum of 3.
Special - Big Time Beatdown
Energy Cost: 3/3
Gain Anti-Sound Mode and clear Stealth Mode
Clear all Barrier and Revive Once on primary target and another enemy with the highest Speed.
Apply Offense Up for 2 turns and Defense Up for 2 turns to self and all Infestation allies.
This attack is Unavoidable and cannot be blocked.
Ultimate - Arachnid Assault
Energy Cost: 7/7
Gain Stealth Mode and clear Anti-Sound Mode
Attack all enemies for 300% damage.
Flip all positive effects into negative effects on the primary target + apply Disrupted for 2 turns.
Gain 2 Evade.
If Charged:
> Apply Disrupted for 2 turns to all enemies.
> Flip all positive effects into negative effects on all other enemies.
> Apply Trauma for 2 turns to all enemies.
> Apply Blind to 2 enemies with the highest Speed
> Steal up to 2 Ability Energy from every enemy. (This character can only gain a maximum of 2 Ability Energy from this attack).
> Lose 1 Charged.
This attack gains +1,000% Extra Focus, is Unavoidable, and cannot be blocked.
This attack cannot be Assisted.
Passive - Stealth Spider
On Spawn:
> Gain Speed Up.
> Apply Defense Up for 2 turns to self and all Infestation allies.
> On War Defense, if this character has 4 or more Infestation allies, gain Charged. This can only trigger once per War.
> On War Defense, apply Immunity to self and all Infestation allies.
When this character is attacked, fill Speed Bar by 20% for self and all Infestation allies.
When this character or any Infestation ally drops below 50% Max Health:
> Apply Stealth to that character.
> On War Defense, apply Evade to that character.
While in Anti-Sound Mode: Lower the Armor of all enemies by 20%.
While in Stealth Mode: Gain +20% Dodge Chance.
Gain +50% Max Health
Gain +150% Focus.
On War Defense:
> Infestation allies gain +50% Max Health.
> Infestation allies gain +150% Focus.
> All Speed Bar generated by any Controller enemy is reduced by 50%.
ANT-MAN UPDATES
Base stat increases
Health +131%
Damage +98%
Armor +71%
Focus +52%
Resist +68%
Speed +19%
Basic: Scrappy Fighter
Old:
Attack primary target for 300% damage + copy a positive effect from the target to Self + clear the copied effect.
If Wasp is an ally, she also gains the copied effect.
New:
Attack primary target for 340% damage + copy a positive effect from the target to Self + clear the copied effect.
If Wasp is an ally, she also gains the copied effect.
When forced to attack an Infestation ally, this character deals less damage to Infestation allies.
Special: Gum Up the Works
Old:
Attack primary target for 260% damage + apply Ability Block for 2 turns.
Gain an assist from an ally Wasp.
New:
Attack primary target for 260% damage + apply Ability Block for 2 turns.
On War Defense, if Spider-Man (Big Time) is an ally:
> Clear Revive Once from the primary target.
> This attack will also have the additional effects of this character's Ultimate - Stomp, targeting the primary target.
Ultimate: STOMP
Old:
Attack all enemies for 280% damage + apply Slow to primary target. If Wasp is an ally.
If Wasp is an ally, attack all enemies for 280% damage instead + apply Slow for 2 turns to primary target.
Apply Slow to all additional targets.
New:
On War Defense, if Spider-Man (Big Time) is an ally, clear Revive Once from the primary target.
Attack all enemies for 320% damage + apply Slow for 2 turns to primary target.
Apply Slow to all additional enemies.
If Spider-Man (Big Time) is an ally, this attack will also have the additional effects of this character's Special, Gum Up the Works, targeting the primary target.
Passive: Escape Plan
Old:
On Spawn, apply Evade to Wasp if she is an ally.
On non-Pym Tech, Hero ally turn, 20% chance to gain Assist Now.
On turn, 25% chance to gain Evade.
On Pym Tech ally turn, 40% chance to gain Assist Now. If this character does not gain Assist Now, apply Assist Now to Yellowjacket.
In Dark Dimension, on Spawn, apply Evade to self and all Pym Tech allies.
New:
On Spawn, apply Evade to Wasp if she is an ally.
On turn, 25% chance to gain Evade.
On non-Pym Tech or non-Infestation, Hero ally turn, 30% chance to gain Assist Now.
On Infestation or Pym-Tech ally turn, gain Assist Now.
In Dark Dimension, on Spawn, apply Evade to self and all Infestation and Pym Tech allies.
BLACK WIDOW UPDATES
Base Stat Increases
Health +83%
Damage +88%
Armor +34%
Focus +38%
Resist +100%
Basic: Sabotage
Old:
Attack primary target for 300% damage.
During Stealth, copy and clear all positive effects, excluding Taunt, on primary target to self.
New:
Attack primary target for 250% damage.
During Stealth, copy and clear all positive effects, excluding Taunt, on primary target to self.
When forced to attack an Infestation ally, this character deals less damage to Infestation allies.
Special: Camouflage Tech
Old:
Gain Stealth for 2 turns + clear all negative effects from self.
Clear 1 negative effect from Avenger and Skill Military allies.
Apply Speed Up to self and all S.H.I.E.L.D., Avenger, and Skill Military allies for 2 turns.
60% chance to apply Speed Up to all allies for 2 turns.
New:
Gain Stealth for 2 turns + clear all negative effects from self.
Clear 1 negative effect from Avenger, Skill Military, and Infestation allies.
Apply Speed Up to self and all S.H.I.E.L.D., Avenger, Skill Military, and Infestation allies for 2 turns.
60% chance to apply Speed Up to all allies for 2 turns.
Apply Immunity for 2 turns to self and all Infestation allies
Ultimate: Widow's Bite
Old:
Transfer 1 positive effect, excluding Taunt, from primary target to self and all Skill Military allies.
Attack primary target for 290% damage + apply Stun.
60% chance to Chain up to 3 adjacent targets for 220% damage + apply 2 Bleed for 2 turns.
If Hawkeye, Red Guardian, or Yelena are an ally, always Chain to 3 targets + gain 1,000% Extra Focus for this attack.
Counterattack breaks this Chain.
New:
Transfer 1 positive effect, excluding Taunt, from primary target to self and all Skill Military allies.
Attack primary target for 290% damage + apply Stun.
Chain up to 3 adjacent targets for 220% damage + apply 2 Bleed for 2 turns.
On War Defense, if Spider-Man (Big Time) is an ally, this attack will also have the additional effects of this character's Special Camouflage Tech.
This attack cannot be blocked and gains +1000% Extra Focus.
Counterattack breaks this Chain.
Passive: Saboteur
Old:
Gain +15% Speed. This is applied after any character has taken an action.
On self or ally Stealth, apply Offense Up to self and all Skill Military allies + apply Deathproof to all Hawkeye, Yelend, and Red Guardian allies.
On ally Hawkeye, Red Guardian, Yelena, or Infestation ally's turn, gain Assist Now.
New:
Gain +15% Speed. This is applied after any character has taken an action.
On self or ally Stealth, apply Offense Up to self and all Skill Military allies + apply Deathproof to all Hawkeye, Yelend, and Red Guardian allies.
On ally Hawkeye, Red Guardian, Yelena, or Infestation ally's turn, gain Assist Now.
On War Defense, on Spawn, if Spider-Man (Big Time) is an ally, gain Stealth and Speed Up.
SWARM UPDATES
Base Stat Increases
Health +56%
Damage +31%
Armor. Swarm previously had 0 Armor and now has a medium amount of Armor.
Focus +45%
Resist +41%
Basic: Bee Ball
Old:
Attack primary target for 220% damage + 50% Drain.
Rebound Chain to adjacent targets for 180% damage + 50% Drain.
If Charged, lose 1 Charged.
If not Charged, attack self for 300% damage.
Counterattack does not break this Chain.
New:
Attack primary target for 280% damage + 50% Drain.
Rebound Chain to adjacent targets for 240% damage + 50% Drain.
If Charged, lose 1 Charged.
If not Charged, attack self for 300% damage.
Counterattack does not break this Chain.
When forced to attack an Infestation ally, this character deals less damage to Infestation allies.
Special: Bee Scream
Old:
Attack primary target for 250% damage + apply Disrupted.
If the primary target has Disrupted, Bonus Attack for 190% damage + apply Defense Down.
If the primary target has Defense Down, Bonus Attack for 190% damage + apply Slow.
If Charged, lose 1 Charged. If not Charged, attack self for 400% damage.
New:
Attack primary target for 250% damage + apply Disrupted.
Bonus Attack for 190% damage + apply Defense Down.
Bonus Attack for 190% damage + apply Slow.
If Charged, lose 1 Charged. If not Charged, attack self for 400% damage.
On War Defense, if Spider-Man (Big Time) is an ally, this attack will also have the additional effects, without losing an additional Charged, of this character's Ultimate - Bee Gone, targeting the primary target.
Ultimate: Bee Gone
Old:
Attack all enemies for 300% damage + apply 2 Bleed for 2 turns.
If Charged, lose 1 Charged. If not Charged, attack self for 500% damage.
New:
Attack all enemies for 300% damage + apply 2 Bleed for 2 turns.
If Charged, lose 1 Charged. If not Charged, attack self for 500% damage.
This attack will also have the additional effects, without losing an additional Charged, of this character's Special- Bee Scream, targeting the primary target.
Passive: Buzzkill
Old:
On Spawn, gain 4 Charged.
On Turn, if Charged, Heal for 20% of this character's Max Health and flip 2 negative effects to positive effects.
Gain +3% Dodge chance per Charged.
New:
On Spawn, gain 4 Charged.
On Turn, Heal for 20% of this character's Max Health and flip 2 negative effects to positive effects.
Gain +3% Dodge chance per Charged.
Gain +25% Damage
On War Defense, Infestation allies gain +25% Damage
YELLOWJACKET UPDATES
Base Stat Increases
Health +57%
Damage +42%%
Armor +35%
Focus +46%
Resist +54%
Basic: Bio-Energy Blast
Old:
Attack primary target for 250% damage.
Bonus Attack for 230% damage.
New:
Attack primary target for 250% damage.
Bonus Attack for 230% damage.
When forced to attack an Infestation ally, this character deals less damage to Infestation allies.
Special: Spiteful Sting
Old:
Steal 30% Health from primary target and redistribute to self. Receive an additional 4,000 Health. This bypasses Heal Block.
Gain Evade + Regeneration.
In DARK DIMENSION, prolong all positive effects on this character by a duration of 1, up to a maximum of 4.
This attack ignores Deathproof and passives that trigger when a character drops below a certain Health.
New:
Steal 30% Health from primary target and redistribute to self. Receive an additional 4,000 Health. This bypasses Heal Block.
Gain Evade + Regeneration.
In DARK DIMENSION, prolong all positive effects on this character by a duration of 1, up to a maximum of 4.
This attack ignores Deathproof and passives that trigger when a character drops below a certain Health.
On War Defense, if Spider-Man (Big Time) is an ally, this attack will also have the additional effects of this character's Ultimate - Hostile Takeover, targeting the primary target.
Ultimate: Hostile Takeover
Old:
Gain +1 Offense Up, up to a maximum of 3.
Attack primary target for 400% damage + all adjacent targets for 350% damage.
On Kill, apply 2 random positive effects to self and all PYM TECH and VILLAIN TECH allies. Then repeat this attack targeting the most injured enemy.
New:
Gain +1 Offense Up, up to a maximum of 3.
Attack primary target for 400% damage + all adjacent targets for 350% damage.
On Kill, apply 2 random positive effects to self and all PYM TECH and VILLAIN TECH allies. Then repeat this attack targeting the most injured enemy.
On War Defense, if Spider-Man (Big Time) is an ally. this attack will also have the additional effects, without losing an additional Charged, of this character's Special- Spiteful Sting, targeting the primary target.
THOR (INFINITY WAR) STRIKES SOON
Prepare thyself for the glorious arrival of Thor (Infinity War), the Knowhere War Brawler who is poised to hammer down threats in Alliance War. Smite his character shards when they become available on June 15th at 2:00 PM (PDT) in the Axe Wielder Orb for 675 Power Cores, which gives you a chance to earn up to 180 shards for Thor (Infinity War).
Don't forget to check out the special offers in the Supplies Store that contains a ton of Thor (Infinity War) shards and unlock limited-time deals on Gold, Training Modules, and other resources, which become available upon your next login or visit. No matter how you recruit Thor (Infinity War), make sure you open Red Star Orbs starting on his release day, when he'll enter Red Star Orbs with an increased drop rate!
KNOWHERE REQUIRED FOR LEGENDARY CHARACTER
With the first run of the Nova Trials complete, we’re excited to announce that another Legendary character is coming later this year. A five-person Knowhere team (including Nova) will be a required trait to unlock that character, so be sure to participate in all the fun events that reward the team’s character shards.
KORG'S INTERGALACTIC TOUR EVENTS
FAMILY BEDROCK
Fury is calling for more training and an increased presence in War and to do that, S.T.R.I.K.E. is rewarding Commanders who crack open Training Orbs and unleash their Forces in War with the high-profile Ninny Nonny Tribute and plenty of Rock Concert Tickets. Flex your Knowhere team to gain more milestone progress and your efforts will gain powerful resources for roster improvements, including T4 Ability Materials and fragments for the Dark Dimension VI Countdown Orb. Quicksilver is still one the top priorities, so we're rewarding Commanders with 7 Red Stars for Quicksilver, along with T2 Level 5 Ions for the alphas that climb atop a leaderboard. Get ready to make Dad proud with your progress starting June 12th at 2:00 PM (PDT).
CLASSIC ROCK WEB MILESTONE
Cyber support is airdropping Family Bedrock Milestone Point payloads for utilizing your Power Cores during the Family Bedrock Event. Don't forget to log into S.T.R.I.K.E.'s website to claim your points starting June 12th at 2:00 PM (PDT).
MOSHPIT MADNESS
Throw your Roster weight around in the Quick Rumble Blitz ring to stuff your coffers full of Rock Concert Tickets and Orb Fragments for the Mega Orbs and Legacy Orbs. Fury wants more reps for the New Warriors team, so you'll get more points for using them in battle, more so if they're at 5 and 7 Star Ranks. The headbanging begins on June 18th at 2:00 PM (PDT).
TOUGH CROWDS
S.T.R.I.K.E. is ordering a solo mission separate from the Intergalactic Tour that requires the deployment of your New Warriors into Cosmic Crucible and the utilization of your Iso-8 Campaign Energy. Key mission milestones will score payloads of powerful resources like T2 Level 5 Ions, Elite 5 Credits, and Gold Promotion Credits, along with the slick costume for your Doctor Octopus operative. S.T.R.I.K.E. is also raising the stakes by putting new and very rare Skill Gear Tier 18 Mini-Uniques up for grabs in a Leaderboard for top Commanders. This operation kicks off on June 12th at 2:00 PM (PDT), so get ready to move out!
ISOTOPE-8 HARD CAMPAIGN CHAPTERS
Equip your roster with more T2 Iso-8 resources than ever before with the upcoming Isotope-8 Hard Campaign Chapters! Get your hands on T2 Crystals and T2 Level 1 Ions for roster upgrades starting on June 12th at 2:00 PM (PDT). Keep an eye out for Hard Campaign Chapters 1 and 2, and start fortifying your roster with T2 Iso-8!
CHARACTER AVAILABILITY
Skip the dark magic and opt for character shards to power up Agatha Harkness when she heads into Cosmic Crucible Store in the near future. She'll have a chance to appear alongside other characters in the Elite Crucible Credit Slots, so keep an eye out for her appearance.
PRIDE BORDERS CLARIFICATION
We’ve seen some questions regarding the long-term availability of the Pride Borders. To clarify, the Pride Borders will only be available to claim from the Inbox in the month of June, but they'll remain in your inventory indefinitely for you to use.
FRIDAY FREE CLAIM
Bring the milestone house down for Korg's Intergalactic Tour with Concert Tickets, fetch more rewards with To Infinity Event Campaign Energy, and power up your Knowhere team with this Free Claim that's available until June 10th at 2:00 PM (PDT):
6,000 Rock Concert Tickets
40 To Infinity Energy
5 Star-Lord (Annihilation) character shards
Until next time…
Good luck, Commanders!
**Please note that the information in this blog is subject to change before going live in the game.**

I’m not good at posting on social media, but I remember reading a story like this 5 years ago that gave me hope to keep pursuing my dream and I want to pay it forward.
Applicant profile

• ORM male, non SES
• 1st time applicant
• 1st generation healthcare worker with no connections to other doctors, hospitals, or med schools
• 3.4 uGPA - 3 Fs, 3 Cs in the first 2.5 years. 5 of these were prereqs (they had us in the first half not gonna lie). I retook all the Fs and one of the Cs and got 3 As and 1 B.
• Bio major. If you care, my undergrad was a somewhat prestigious school, and very STEM heavy. 5 years undergrad + 3 years SMP + 1 gap year. The SMP did not offer any linkage.
• 3.6 SMP gpa.
• 507 MCAT with 124 CARS (1st attempt, but could've done better).
• 480 clinical hours as a pct on a med surg floor - 980 by the time of my interview
• 200 hours as a secretary at the hospital (non clinical)
• 1400 research hours across 4 biochemistry/genetics labs and 3 middle author publications. ~2400 hours by the time of my interview and a poster presentation at an international conference right after the interview, which I included in an update letter
• 12 shadowing hours with a DO - 30hrs by the time of interview with 3 other MDs / DOs
• ~60 hrs tutoring + TA at my undergrad
• No listed volunteering hours (red flag).
• No listed clubs or leadership positions (red flag)
• Rec letters (in a committee letter from my SMP) from: a DO I work with, my grad school pre med advisor / PI, professoformer PI, psych professor. I didn't read them but they were probably all pretty good.
• No X factor that I'm aware of
• My interview was mid. Got asked pretty generic questions and I gave pretty standard answers. I'm just a boring dude.
• I have a very financially supportive family - I wouldn’t be where I am without their help.

10 MD secondaries submitted. 0 II
13 DO secondaries submitted. 1 II -> WL -> A ……at an OOS school with the highest average gpa of all the DO schools I applied to (>3.7, one of the “Big 5” DO schools)
Surprisingly, I wasn’t immediately screened out by any of the schools pre-secondary. Secondaries were submitted from mid-July through October. I tried to submit the MD ones sooner than the DOs. The secondary for my only A was sent around late July or early August IIRC. I received an II at the end of February and got off the waitlist in May.
​

So here’s my story

My first F was in gen Chem 1 because it was my first semester in college and I was immature and lacked self-discipline. I also got a C in intro to bio that semester. I later retook these classes and got As in both, and I got almost all As in the next 2 semesters. My spring sophomore and fall junior semesters were when things fell apart. I won’t get into the details but a mix of physical+mental health issues and unfortunate events in my social life made me lose focus, resulting in Fs in bio III and a university required rhetoric class, as well as Cs in orgo I & II. Then I was put on academic probation and “separated” from my university for 2 semesters.
At this point I was pretty devastated and started to consider switching career paths because I didn’t even know if it was still possible to get into any medical school with my grades. I ended my 3rd year with a 2.96 cumulative gpa - a number forever ingrained into my head. Even if I got all As the rest of the way and stayed a 5th year, my gpa would only be a 3.4, which would still make it very hard to get in. But I realized in my time off that nothing will be nearly as fulfilling to me as practicing medicine. I also knew that my grades in the past year were not indicative of my true abilities, I was just in a difficult situation. So I addressed all the issues that held me back in the past, and even started counseling as I prepared to start my premed track again.
Also, this was around the time when I started to focus on becoming a better person as a whole. Not that I ever had a history of doing anything seriously immoral, but having the time to finally be alone with no distractions granted me opportunity to be more introspective and think about the ideal person I wanted to be, rather than the person others wanted me to be. I remember browsing through a Reddit post some years ago asking suicidal people what quotes keep them going, and one reply that hit me hard was “one day someone’s going to need you, and you better be there for them”. Over time, I realized that the most important quality of my "ideal self", among others, is that I should always be available when people need me, and to put the needs of others above my own. I think this perspective I developed back then helped keep me motivated and focused on my path to become a physician, and still does to this day.
One of my biggest improvements after coming back was my work ethic. I came to terms with the fact that I simply am not as intellectually gifted as most of my peers. If they studied 6 hours for an exam, I would need to study 25 hours for a similar grade, and if that’s what it takes then so be it. If I were to be a doctor, my patients aren’t going to feel bad for me because I’m slow; what really matters are the results. With redemption on my mind I loaded my schedule for the next 2 years with rigorous medicine related classes such as immunology, dev bio, genetics, biochem, anatomy, etc. (I also retook the classes I failed and did well). I went to every lecture, every supplemental session, and spent almost every day of the school year studying at the library from ~5pm - 2am, and 11am - 2am on weekends. There were times when I didn’t take a day off for several weeks. One year during finals, I wouldn’t sleep more than 2hrs a night for the entire week because I studied so much. I also changed my studying methods to rely less on brute force memorization, and more on attaining a deep understanding of concepts. Luckily it all paid off. Disclaimer: I would NOT recommend this work schedule for anyone. I just hated myself at the time, threw away my social life, and am strangely good at working while sleep deprived and hungry. Please take care of yourself.
​

Noteworthy parts of my application

When applying to medical schools I used my past failures as a testament of my persistence and resilience. It’s not like I could’ve hid my hideous grades anyway so might as well try to turn it into a strength. It ended up becoming a talking point in all my 1:1 interviews too. Some were impressed with my growth, although 1 still seemed a little concerned.
Another strength of my application was conveying how much I love working in healthcare through my experience as a PCT. The job is already hard enough having to take care of patients with dementia, C. Diff, incontinence, terminal cancer, COVID, diabetic ulcers, GI bleeds, hip/knee fractures, violent psych disorders, patients that are rude and non-compliant, etc. But I worked through the pandemic which was a complete shit show for months on end. The patient: nurse/PCT ratios were so ridiculous that it was honestly unsafe working conditions at times. Lots of people were quitting too which made things even harder. But this heavy workload, stress, and chaotic environment motivated me even more to show up everyday. I always thought to myself “at least I’m here. I can’t image how bad it would for the nurses and patients be if there were no PCTs”, and that if someone had to suffer in this position, I’m really glad it was me and not someone else. Looking back, however, I think my PS sounded too “woe is me” and when preparing for a re-app I was planning on scrapping that one completely for a more optimistic one.
I do regret not talking more about research in my PS and secondaries, however, as that was by far the EC that I spent the most time in, it’s something I’m kind of passionate about, and I probably understand it better than most applicants. Perhaps I would have gotten more interest from research-heavy MD schools if I did.
I never explained the cause of my poor grades that year, I only cited “personal issues” which in retrospect probably hurt my application. With this wording, it’s easy to assume the worst, like having a drug addiction or debilitating mental health issues, which was not the case. I should have said “I had distractions and lost focus”.
​

Advice for future applicants

If you dug yourself a hole as deep as I did, your first and foremost priority is to take care of your mental and physical health, which is more important than your gpa. Taking time off from school to fix yourself and recalibrate is a much better option than maintaining your downward trajectory and risking even worse health and grades.
Secondly, be very careful about continuing premed. I took a huge risk by sticking to premed, and just because it worked out for me doesn’t mean it’ll work out for everyone else. You should consider going all in on your path only if:

1. You know exactly what went wrong and have a realistic plan on how to fix it. Be honest about your capabilities and weaknesses when making a plan. Ask yourself, if you were to retake classes you did poorly in, would you be confident in getting As in most if not all of them?
2. You know with 100% certainty that you want to be a physician more than any other career after considering all your options. This may be obvious, but the earlier you jump ship, the less money and time you’ll waste on a journey going no where.

You should at least know if you even want to work in healthcare. I’ve never heard any one of my coworkers say they had a good day at the end of a shift. This work is not fun and the money and clout (however much you think there is) alone are not worth it. My personal justification for choosing healthcare is that working in a hospital has been the only place where I feel like I fit in. I’ve never been good at making friends, always crawled my way through school, and it’s hard to find hobbies and interests. But being on the floor, helping my patients and the team, is comforting for me, in a way. I feel like giving away parts of my life so that others can live theirs is what I was meant to do. I’m at baseline a lazy person, but at the hospital I feel like I have endless energy even after a 16 hour shift.
Don’t be discouraged by others’ success. “Comparison is the thief of joy”. Not gonna lie, seeing some sankeys of an applicant with 4.0 & 528, 7 first author pubs in no gap years, 6000 clinical hours, CEO of 3 companies, and an A for every single T20 school made me feel like a loser at times because my application was not even the same league. But keep in mind - 1) you don’t have to go to a top ranked school to be a good doctor, and 2) the path from point A to point B is different for everyone. For some, it’s short and straight; for others, it’s slow, bumpy, loopy, and goes backwards at times. But getting to point B in the end is what matters most. Medicine is not supposed to be a competition. So just be happy for them and focus on improving yourself. We’re all going to be called Dr. ___ in the end anyway.
Don’t listen to everything that people say, especially if they haven’t even applied to medical school - such as premed advisors. The only time I ever talked to my undergrad premed advisor, he pulled out a chart with a bell curve showing the likelihood of a med school acceptance based on GPA and MCAT. He pointed to coordinate (0,0), approximately, and said “you are here” and that was pretty much the entire conversation. Take everything with a grain of salt, even from successful applicants. My friend who’s an M3 said my application had too many red flags, that I won’t get in with any community service, and that I should’ve waited another year to apply. Which honestly wasn’t even bad advice, but I ended up proving her wrong anyway.
I wouldn’t necessarily recommend this but I actually stopped talking about premed stuff irl, which improved my mood. When meeting new people I just told them I'm planning on going into research and teaching (which is still true), because if I mentioned premed, a lot of the ensuing conversations were just annoying asf - like when they ask me what my gpa is, or give me unprompted, unwarranted advice. I also kinda took a step back from my premed and med school friends because I already spend a lot of time each day worrying about my application, and the last thing I want to do is talk about it more in my free time. Another reason is because some friends would lose respect for me if I told them about my academic struggles. And personally, I absolutely hated when people told me to give up on med school, which happened a few times.
MD schools with relatively low average stat ranges are a little deceptive. I naively applied to them thinking they would be easier to get into but now I know it's not the case. Usually these schools just care more about "fit" and less about boasting high stats, and you can often tell what they value in their secondary essay questions. For example, Rush and Tulane seem to like applicants with a ton of service hours, and experience with addressing health disparities and helping underserved communities. UIllinois likes engineering students, so it’s no wonder their average GPA is lower. So even if I had better stats, I'd still probably have no chance of getting into these schools. You can also figure out good fits by going through sankeys of applicants with similar stats and ECs as you, and see which schools they had success with.
If you’re a high stat applicant that is wondering how I got in - I don’t know either. There is definitely always an aspect of luck (and unfairness, in my opinion) in the application process, and obviously I was very lucky. A lot of people have fantastic applications, do everything right, and will make great doctors one day, but still don’t get an A this cycle. Also, some adcom members are just chemistry professors, PIs, and people with an MBA degree, who hardly know anything about practicing medicine, and it’s crazy that they’re the ones deciding who’s going to be in the next generation of doctors. Just keep applying, and definitely apply to schools based on mission fit, not just their stat ranges.
​
There’s more I want to say but my post is already super long. You can DM me if you have any questions. I'm no expert in anything but I'll be honest and I'll try my best

Toxic Rats: DJ, Scott, Trent, Sammy, Sierra
Mutant Maggots: Anne Maria, Molly, Scarlett, Geoff
Episode 08: The Treasure Island of Dr. McLean
"Last time, on Total Drama Revenge of the Island!" The recap montage opened with several RCMP helicopters flying around before cutting to the Mutant Maggots entering the mining elevator. "The players went on an impromptu to environmental coveru-uh, clean-up challenge," Sammy, DJ, and Sierra were shown running down a mineshaft, then Scott and Trent tripped on a rail, "and tried not to get a toxic make-over like everything down there." Geoff was shown struggling with Molly, both looking sickly, and a few shots followed of various mutant gophers running and squealing.
"Max came back to the island," the host continued over clips of the super villain revealing herself to Scarlett, "and E-Clone wasn't far behind," the alien was shown tackling DJ, "and after overcoming his germ phobia," Chris said as Dave was shown hitting the gopher and saving his teammates, "he voluntarily took the old heave-ho," the normal guy was shown getting hurled.
"Makes you wanna reflect, don't it?" Chris asked as the last clips finished up. "Maybe...with a cup of Chris McLean Instant Coffee," he said as the scene cut to him standing on the docks holding a mug with his face on the side. He took a sip, his eyes went wide, and he spat it out. "Bitter...better!" he quickly corrected with a forced smile. "Better than the rest." He dumped the mug out into the lake, and a fish promptly surfaced where the drink had landed and vomited in disgust.
Chris held his awkward smile for a second before regaining his composure and walking to the side. "Who will survive? Who will wish they didn't? Find out right now, on Total! Drama! Revenge, of the Island!"
XXXXX
The episode opened to a shot of the sun rising over the lake, a few seagulls calling in the distance. The camera slowly cut from close-up to close-up of the sleeping campers – Sammy and DJ, Trent, Sierra, and Scott, Scarlett and Geoff, and Molly and Anne Maria. All nine of them were sleeping on wooden rafts in their usual clothes, until the shot cut to an alarm clock tied to a buoy with large acoustic horns next to the bell. The hands struck approximately 7 o'clock, and a loud ringing sang through the morning air.
DJ bolted awake with a gasping start, and so did the others a few seconds later.
"What? Where are we?" Anne Maria asked in confusion, the camera cutting outward to show the two rafts floating next to each other and the buoy-alarm amid a mass of debris mostly consisting of wood, furniture, and waste barrels. Each raft had a signpost with their respective team logo on it – the Rats on the left; the Maggots on the right.
"No!" Sammy griped, the camera coming out even further. "Chris must've set us adrift after we went to sleep!"
"Yeah," Scott said as the camera moved behind him and Sammy, showing the island of Wawanakwa off in the distance. "Wait, I don't remember anything after dinner."
Scarlett's eyes widened in realization. "Dinner! Of course!"
\
The footage flashed to a close-up of a meal tray, held by Scarlett as she collected her dinner. The meal was a slimy pile of spaghetti, tomato sauce, butt-shaped meatballs, and feathers, plopped down onto the tray without ceremony.
The shot zoomed out to show her eyeing Chef with mild disgust.
"Turkey buttolini," Chef explained with a grin. "Enjoy your na~ap!" he said before realizing his slip-up. "Err, meal..."
Scarlett just pursed her lips at the man as he laughed darkly to himself.
\
The scene flashed back to the Maggots. "Turkey makes you woozy, so mutant turkey can easily knock us all out," Scarlett deduced.
The focus moved to Trent, still sleeping peacefully on the raft.
"He can't be sleeping forever," Scott said as the camera moved to show him looking down on his teammate. "Come on! Get up!" he said as he bent down and picked Trent up.
Trent opened his eyes. "How did we even get here?" he asked before smiling at Scott. "Hey Scott."
Confessional: Trent
"Scott's really cool. I think we made a great connection these past few days. Either way, it'll be hard for me to vote anyone off the team," Trent said.
Confessional: Scott
"Trent makes me feel weird, and it feels good. I like the feeling, but it's distracting. I have to get rid of it somehow," Scott said.
Confessionals End
The scene cut back to the Mutant Maggots on their raft.
"I'm never gonna eat turkey again!" Geoff said to Anne Maria. "That food can knock you out!"
"Not as much as I'm gonna knock Chef out for serving us this," Anne Maria replied back.
"Take it easy. We're still alive and all," Geoff calmed her down.
Anne Maria took in a deep breath. "Alright, but I'm avoiding breakfast until further notice."
The shot cut over to Scarlett, who was pulling Molly aside. The indie chick raised an eyebrow and the quiet brainiac leaned in close and whispered "Have you noticed how close Anne Maria is getting with Geoff ever since he switched to our team?"
"I'd have to be blind to not notice," Molly remarked.
"With that as the matter of hand, I'd suggest us joining forces if they'll be cooped up with one another," Scarlett said.
Molly raised her eyebrow. "Even so, we have four members on the team after Dave's elimination last episode."
"I know that, and we'd have to convince them to vote individually for both of us," Scarlett strategized. "That way, we can easily target one of them."
"I do work alone, but I also want to save my butt from being eliminated," Molly said back. "You've got a deal."
Confessional: Molly
"Scarlett's not exactly my go-to as an ally, but given we're both closed off, and I don't have Dave to talk to anymore, we might as well stick together," Molly accepted.
Confessional: Scarlett
"We're nearing the merge, and that means I must analyze the remaining contestants and see their strengths and weaknesses," Scarlett smiled in satisfaction.
"Trent and DJ are major physical and social threats. The sooner they are eliminated, the better. Sierra and Scott are wild cards, though I sense Scott has more intelligence."
"Sammy and Geoff are fit and in good shape, but I'll save them for later as they can't outscore me in intelligence. And as for Anne Maria and Molly, they're average in every single way. Going up against them in the finale will be beneficial to winning," the brainiac finished proudly.
Confessional Ends
The static cut away to a shot of the rafts from a perspective a little higher, a little further away, and at a right angle to where the camera had been before. The roar of engines and the honk of a horn heralded the arrival of Chris and Chef from the right, the two men riding jet skis and wearing life jackets.
"Morning, suckers!" Chris greeted with an exuberant grin. "How'd you enjoy your turkey buttolini?"
"I've eaten better," Sierra said, irritated. "It tasted good and didn't knock people out cold enough for you to kidnap them."
"I'm sure you have," Chris replied teasingly.
"And what's with all the kidnappings?" Sierra continued. "You can simply ask us to meet you someplace like a normal person, not lock us in extremely cold trucks or do this."
"Because," Chris answered, "that wouldn't be good for ratings. As Total Drama's biggest fan, I thought you'd already know that?"
Sierra narrowed her eyes at the host.
Confessional: Sierra
Sierra was shown to be feeling furious. "Okay, mom? I know how hard it is to end a crush, but he's a total jerkface! When I come home, the Chris McLean museum/guest room better be destroyed!" the uberfan hissed lowly.
Confessional Ends
Chris regained his usual demeanor, "First thing's first: If any of you are still trying to find that McLean Brand Invincibility Sculpture I hid at the beginning of the season," he announced, taking out a photograph of the head in question, "you can stop now. Somebody's already found it," he said, dropping the picture into the lake.
The contestants were all upset and angry about the news. "And speaking of digging things up, today's challenge is all about winning the ultimate reward: Life, itself!" His tone became deeper and more dramatic as he made his declaration. "Your first challenge is to race to the shore, by any means possible." The camera panned over to the island in the distance. "First team there wins a handy reward. Last team gets a heinous penalty, before you embark on a quest for buried treasure."
"You're using us to dig up buried treasure?" Trent asked. "That's just weak."
"There was treasure here once, but I found it years ago," Chris emphasized. "How do you think I bought the island?"
"It must've been a small treasure," Trent mumbled to himself.
"I thought it was through all your movies and songs you put out before becoming a host, and I own a hundred of them," Sierra smirked.
Chris' brow shot up in shock, and Chef snickered behind him. "Just get moving already!" the host demanded, backing up his jetski then speeding away with Chef.
"I thought Sierra liked Chris, but now she's insulting him?" Sammy asked DJ.
"She must've seen how rotten he is both on the inside and outside," DJ quipped.
Confessional: Sammy
"Mocking someone who's the host of the show is definitely a risky move," Sammy admitted. "Sierra will be lucky if she doesn't get disqualified."
Confessional Ends
"Are you all just gonna stand there or are you gonna come help me pry this off?" Anne Maria asked, the shot cutting to her trying to break the rigid signpost.
"What? Oh, yeah. Sorry, Anne Maria," Geoff said, quickly turning around and moving to help her with Scarlett and Molly following right behind. All of them grabbed on to the sign and pulled, and after a moment of effort, the post snapped at the bottom.
"I use poles for canoeing back home," Molly said as she held the broken sign, "but we can use this to paddle to shore."
"I'll do the paddling, girls," Geoff volunteered, taking the broken sign from her. "I can kick this raft into high gear!"
"Be sure to take caution while you do so," Scarlett said. "There are sharks in the water."
The focus shifted over to the Rats, who were watching their rivals. "We have to do what they're doing," Sammy suggested.
Sierra put one hand on the top of their sign, bending it slightly, then snapped it with a swift kick.
"That was excessive, but we can row now," DJ said as he took the sign.
Confessional: Trent
"Using that sign will be much better than using my guitar as a paddle," Trent said. "It wouldn't flow well in water."
Confessional Ends
The focus cut back to the Maggots and it heralded the start of challenge music, and Geoff began to row with his sign-paddle. "We need to put some distance between us and the Rats!" Scarlett ordered. "Stroke like you mean it!"
The camera cut outward, revealing that DJ's own paddling was keeping the Rats about neck-and-neck with the Maggots, and the shot focused in on them. "Not to be a downer, but we need more than just DJ on this," Trent said.
"If we want to catch up, we'll have to get in the water and kick," Sierra realized.
"No way!" Scott protested. "Remember the shark?" He got shoved into the water courtesy of Sierra.
"The faster we get to shore, the faster we won't be eaten," Trent said, walking to the back of the raft and jumping into the lake. Sammy and Sierra then dived in as well.
"Fine," Scott gave in and pushed the raft with the other three.
\
The scene cut to the Maggots, Anne Maria and Molly and Scarlett standing near the back of their raft as Geoff continued to paddle them forward. A whoop of excitement caught their attention, and the shot zoomed out to show the Rats' raft moving ahead quickly in the foreground.
"That's it," Molly said in an upset tone. "We need to paddle and push the raft at the same time."
"Into the water!" Scarlett immediately commanded and dived into the lake alongside Molly while Anne Maria lingered with Geoff. "You too, Anne Maria."
"You know," Anne Maria said, "Geoff should be in the back with you guys. His legs are better suited for kicking."
The shot cut to Geoff as he paused his paddling. "My calves are toned now that you mention it."
"I'll agree to this, but you have to be the one that paddles now," Scarlett told Anne Maria.
Geoff handed Anne Maria the sign post and dived in shortly after and the camera lingered on Anne Maria paddling the raft.
Confessional: Geoff
"I do a lot of leg exercises, and my legs never let down if I need them for a race or for swimming," Geoff summarized.
Confessional Ends
"Keep kicking your feet and we'll be on shore!" DJ told his team, but stopped abruptly along with his team's raft as it smacked into something that sounded pink and fleshy. He looked warily ahead, the camera panning on to his reflection in the massive yellow eye of a truly gigantic octopus that was resting just below the surface with only the top of its head in view.
It shuddered, then bellowed deeply and angrily and lifted its tentacles out of the water. DJ and his teammates screamed in terror.
The shot cut to the sky above, where Chris and Chef were watching the challenge unfold in their helicopter. "Awww, it's playing with them," the host laughed.
\
The focus moved back to the Rats, all five now on the raft with Sierra holding their sign post and DJ being held captive in one of the octopus's many tentacles. The shot cut to Sierra as she screamed "Let go of my teammate!" and swung at the tentacle several times, only to repeatedly hit DJ in the face.
The camera focused on the captive brickhouse, and his face looked more bruised with each whack. "You're hitting me!" DJ wailed with every whack.
"Giant squid dead ahead!" Anne Maria yelled as the focus cut over to the Maggots' raft floating a little ways away.
"Keep it down," Scarlett hissed, her eyes still locked forward. "We should be able to sneak by it if it's focused on the Rats."
"You might want to look behind you," Molly fearfully pointed at a circling shark fin.
The shark circled around to the front and jumped onto the raft, revealing itself as Fang. As the mutant grinned menacingly at Anne Maria, she held up her sign-paddle in front of her.
The camera briefly cut to Geoff frozen in fear, and when Fang jumped into the water, he screamed and swam around the raft in a circle screaming "Shark! Shark!"
"This is just going to get us killed!" Molly hissed.
As this went on, Anne Maria became frustrated. She held the sign above her head and slammed it down on Fang, causing the shark to be sent flying off-screen.
"Thanks for the save," Geoff said as he got back on the raft.
"Now you owe me twice for saving you twice," Anne Maria replied.
Confessional: Anne Maria
"Technically, I didn't make the gopher go away, but I prevented it from attacking Geoff, so I'd consider that a save," Anne Maria prided.
Confessional Ends
The shot cut to the Rats, all of them being held captive by the octopus. Then, to the shock of the team, Fang flew into the octopus's eye. It shuddered and bellowed in pain, then dropped its captives into the water as Fang sank down.
The camera panned right to show the Rats resurfacing away from the octopus.
"Let's get out of here while we still can!" Sammy shouted, diving into the water with Trent following shortly after.
"Hurry!" Trent shouted as he and Sammy hastily swam off towards the right, with Scott, Sierra, and DJ quickly joining them.
\
The scene flashed back to the Maggots, all of them now on the raft.
"Okay," Molly whispered back to her teammates, "I think we're clear now."
Their raft promptly rammed into something. She turned around, and yelped as the shot zoomed out to reveal the angered giant octopus surfacing in front of them.
"That doesn't look clear," Anne Maria told her fearfully as they scrambled to the back of the raft.
"Now how are we going to escape this?" Scarlett griped.
Geoff was lost in thought until an idea came to his head. "Wait a minute! I have an idea! Get as far back as you can!"
Geoff made his way to the squid and faced him. "I bet you can't even smash us with your jelly fins, Octo-Guy!" the party boy mocked and grinned at the octopus.
The octopus raised a tentacle high and curled it almost into a fist while Geoff's teammates gasped and spoke in fear at the same time.
The curled-up tentacle suddenly sprouted several large spikes, and the three Maggots at the back of the raft screamed...
And then the footage and music ground to a halt, a 'pause' symbol appearing over the slightly-faded scene. "Will Geoff's shouting outsmart the octopus's punching?" Chris asked, standing up in front of the paused screen wearing a hat shaped like an octopus head and tentacles. "And what's up with Sierra? Find out, after the break," he finished, crossing his arms coolly.
\
(Commercial Break)
\

We are hiring! English Teaching Jobs at PAGODA Junior Mapo in Seoul
(Close to Ahyeon Stn. Line 2 and Aeogae Stn. Line 5)
PAGODA, an English education group with 40 years of legacy, is opening its main Junior Academy in Mapo. As we expand our expertise to Junior English Education, we are seeking teachers who will grow with us. Please join us and be part of a great team.
Teaching Positions starting at the end of July or in September.
A. Full-time position (M-F, 10:00-19:00) \Native or* Kyopo (Lower Elementary)
B. Part-time position (M-F, 14:00-18:00) \Kyopo* (Lower Elementary)
C. Part-time position (M-F, 15:00-21:00) \Korean* (Upper Elementary to Middle School)
D. Full-time Position, Vice Principal (M-F. 14:00-22:00 or 13:00-21:00)
\will primarily* be in charge of the Middle school program
*Full-time positions will start in September.
*Part-time positions will start in either the end of July or in September
Job Description
1. Roles and Responsibilities
•Teach classes as assigned (25-30 hrs. per week) •Prepare materials for classes and other duties (grading, reporting, etc - Full-time ONLY)•Attend staff meetings, training sessions, and special events
2. Qualifications:
Full-time Position (Native or Kyopo):
•Native - Citizen of the following countries: U.S.A, Canada, U.K, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, or South Africa and eligible for an E-2 visa•Kyopo - F4 visa holder•Apostilled Criminal Background Check and a Bachelor’s Diploma•Clean self-medical health check•At least 1 year of full-time teaching experience in Korea, preferably at a private academy.
Part-time Position (Kyopo):
•F4 visa holder•Apostilled Criminal Background Check and a Bachelor’s Diploma•Clean self-medical health check•At least 1 year of full-time teaching experience in Korea, preferably at a private academy
Part-time Position (Korean):
•Bachelor's degree•1+ year experience teaching elementary to middle school students
Full-time Position, Vice Principal (Korean):
• A yearly contract position
• Expertise & knowledge in the Korean GPA (내신), Korean CSAT (수능) and teaching middle school students.
• Salary is negotiable depending on experience
3. Salary
•Full-time: 2.7 – 3.0 million KRW (negotiable depending on experience)•Part-time: hourly rate
4. Housing
Housing provided or monthly allowance of 500,000 KRW
5. Benefits
•Insured with the 4 National Insurances (Employment Insurance optional)•Severance (equal to one month’s salary): paid upon completion of a one-year contract•Vacation: 10 days
3. Working Conditions
Working hours are described as the time you need to be present at the academy.
Teaching hours are the active amount of time you will be conducting classes or activities.
•Working Hours 10:00-7:00 M-F•Teaching Hours: 24-30 (max) per week•Weekend: Minimum 2 times; maximum of 4 times including special events
4. How to apply
Email your resume/CV to [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected]) including the following:
-Position you're applying for
-Current Visa status
-Available Start date
​

So I wrote this. Recycled ideas, but eventually all of this will be cited. It's basically my own CES Letter. The formatting is weird because this is coming over from Notion.
I had to write this out to start my own deconstruction anyway, but giving it to my spouse will be interesting. Read it if you want. Critique it if you want. I just had to get this out into the universe.
​

1. The concept that the Church can lie to you
   
   1. Rather than being told the entire truth about Joseph Smith’s death, we are told that he is innocent of any crime and that he went to deliver himself up. The truth of the matter is, Joseph Smith was in jail for destroying the property of William Law, who was creating a newspaper called the Nauvoo Expositor. He ordered the printing press be destroyed and violated the first amendment, as well as destroying another’s property. The newspaper exposed polygamy and many of the other immoralities of the Church. On the surface, this lie doesn’t seem egregious, but D&C 135 section mentions that Joseph was a martyr for the religion, and I was always taught this. However, he didn’t deliver himself up to be killed and it wasn’t because he was a “mormon”; it was because he broke the law and had angered a mob. All of this was a direct result of him practicing polygamy and yielding so much power.
   2. The method of translating the Book of Mormon was largely misrepresented to me as a youth, missionary, and young adult. I was always taught, whether through art or articles, that Joseph used the Gold Plates to translate the Book of Mormon.
   3. However, upon widespread discovery of further quotes and scrutiny, in 2014 the Church admitted that the translation was done through a rock and a hat. This is justified by quoting the Book of Mormon where it talks about bringing forth a stone to shine forth in the darkness. (Alma 37:23-24). The methods of translation accounts differ from each other. Martin Harris saying they were done by sitting across the table. Oliver Cowdery saying it was done by the urim and thummim or two stones and spectacles. To be clear, I am okay with some ambiguity surrounding the translation, or it being by the power of God. What I’m not okay with is the church deceiving how it was done until the internet era forced them to release the Gospel Topic Essays on this subject.
   4. The implementation of polygamy. a. Left ambiguous for a reason. How Joseph Smith, Brigham Young, Wilford Woodruff, Heber C. Kimball and many other high ranking church members took many wives including teenage wives. The church’s essay on this topic refers to Helen Mar Kimball, a 14 year old, as “several months before her 15th birthday.” In fact, they even say that Helen said it was for “eternity alone” but that is an out of context poem from Helen’s journal. There is no proof of sexual relations, but there are proof in many other relatoinships, including Fanny Alger, Joseph’s first “wife” that Oliver Cowdery called a filthy affair. He was excommunicated partly due to that statement. b. Joseph Smith wrote a letter to 19-year old Nancy Rigdon propositioning her to marry him after she denied his appeal in 1842. This letter is quoted in General Conference many times over the years, “Happiness is the object and design of our existence, and will be the end thereof if we pursue the path that leads to it; and this path is virtue, uprightness, faithfulness, holiness, and keeping all the commandments of God.” He then goes on to tell her that we cannot obey the commandments if we don’t know them and what seems wrong, can actually be right in certain circumstances. He quotes the times God has contradicted Himself in the scriptures. This letter is gross. Note that it comes right before the plural marriage revelation D&C 132. c. Joseph claimed that an angel with a drawn sword made him marry Zina Huntington Jacobs, despite her engagement to Henry Jacobs. He sent Henry on missions. She did stay faithful and was eventually sealed to Brigham Young, who also subsequently sent Henry Jacobs on missions. d. This doesn’t even take into account the actions of preceeding prophets who were married to dozens of women, sealed to hundreds, and many of them were underage. Wilford Woodruff for instance sealed himself to a 6 year old girl who had passed away, inexplicably. Maybe he didn’t know? Maybe he did? Who knows.
   5. D&C 132- Joseph Smith was sealed to over 20 wives before being sealed to Emma. He denied being polygamous publicly multiple times and the relief society (of which, Emma was president) wrote a letter condemning polygamy, while one of the presidency members was sealed to Joseph.
      1. Law of Sarah was violated before it was ever implemented
      2. Joseph performing a second marriage to the Whitney sisters after Emma approved it.
      3. Women must be virgins, while Joseph was married to other married women (at least 2).
      4. Abraham was not commanded by God to practice plural marriage, he was asked by Sarah to marry Hagoth because Sarah was barren.
      5. Additionally, Jacob condemns polygamy in the Book of Mormon but then God okays it in the D&C 132, both of them specifically citing the examples of Soloman and David.
      6. Plural marriage is the “new and everlasting covenant” implying that plural marriage in the celestial kingdom will be the new and everlasting covenant and required.
      7. 5. Historicity of the Book of Abraham There is an entire Gospel Topics Essay on this but the background is as follows. A guy named Michael Chandler shows up in Kirland with mummies and a bunch of scrolls. They were unearthed by Napoleon’s raiding of the Egyptian catacombs. Joseph believes that they are scrolls that contained writings of Abraham. He begins translation in 1835 and publishes it in May of 1842. The odds that these mummies, coming from a salesman who had a lot to gain, containing the written word of Abraham has always seemed really fortunate. In the Pearl of Great Price, the heading says they are penned by “the hand of Abraham” but according to scholars in and out of the church, they were written much later. “These fragments date to between the third century B.C.E. and the first century C.E., long after Abraham lived.” Not only is it not written by Abraham’s hand, it is also not anything to do with Abraham. In Joseph’s time, the Rosetta Stone had not been widely discovered. He began translating this book and now, experts know that these are standard funerary texts. The Facsimiles (pictures) have nothing to do with the sacrifice of Abraham. Everyone virtually agrees that what is on the remains of the scroll (most of which was lost in the Chicago fire but then recovered), is not what Joseph translated. This casts a large shadow of doubt on Joseph’s ability to translate. The Church is admitting that Joseph translated incorrectly. The only way to reconcile this is that Joseph used these scrolls to channel the Spirit to record what is in the Book of Abraham today. The doctrines in Abraham largely expand on the Genesis story but go deeper in doctrines about plurality of Gods and the creation of the universe and stars. Some of this goes against the Book of Mormon’s view of God. The Authenticity of the Book of Mormon
      8. This is arguably the largest domino that needs to stay in place. Here are a few quotes demonstrating the absolute necessity of the Book of Mormon being an authentic history of the peoples on this continent.
      9. “The Book of Mormon is God’s compelling witness of the divinity of Jesus Christ, the prophetic calling of Joseph Smith, and the absolute truth of this Church.” - Tad R. Callister
      10. “The Book of Mormon is the most important religious text to be revealed from God to man ‘since the writings of the New Testament were compiled nearly two millennia ago.’ Joseph Smith declared the Book of Mormon to be “the most correct of any book on earth, and the keystone of our religion.” It is the only book that the Lord Himself has testified to be true.” - President Nelson
      11. “I testify that one cannot come to full faith in this latter-day work—and thereby find the fullest measure of peace and comfort in these, our times—until he or she embraces the divinity of the Book of Mormon and the Lord Jesus Christ, of whom it testifies…and if he or she leaves this Church, it must be done by crawling over or under or around the Book of Mormon to make that exit. In that sense the book is what Christ Himself was said to be: “a stone of stumbling, … a rock of offence,” a barrier in the path of one who wishes not to believe in this work.” - Jeffrey R. Holland.
      12. "All that we have, all that we do hinge on the truth of that account of the boy Joseph Smith. If it is true, then everything that we have in this Church is true and is more precious and worth more than anything else on earth. If it is false, we are engaged in the greatest fraud that was ever perpetrated on earth.” - Gordon B Hinckley
      13. So with all that being said, this is my biggest stumbling block. I will begin with my own issues with the book that happened long before I was ever introduced to anything outside of approved Church material.
      14. The Sermon on the Mount given to the Nephites in 3 Nephi matches almost exactly to the one given in Matthew, with slight changes. He sets up a church similar to the one set up with Peter. But, the only issue is years later, Joseph Smith writes the JST and corrects different things in the Matthew version of the Sermon. But, if the Book of Mormon is the most correct book on earth, wouldn’t the writings have been exactly what the Savior meant?
      15. 2 Nephi 3 - Book of Mormon writes Joseph into the text relating a prophecy given to Joseph in Egypt, saying that a choice seer will be raised up and he will be named the Joseph after his father. 2 Nephi 3: 14-16
      16. There is a huge time lapse between Jarom and Omni to get us into Mosiah. 399 BC to 130 BC. The prophets basically write nothing and it seems like it’s just a transition to get to Mosiah.
      17. Ammon chopping off a ton of arms and all the people bring them to the king. The story of Ammon in general is crazy. The King is struck down for 3 days and his wife thinks he is dead. Then, Ammon converts this king who then goes and rescues Ammon’s brothers from another king.
      18. Other direct copies from the New Testament and Paul specifically found in the Book of Mormon. Moroni 7 is basically the same phrasing and concepts taught in 1 Corinthians 13. 2 Nephi 4:17 says “O wrteched man that I am” matches exactly to Romans 7:24.
      19. Alma the Younger’s story mirrors Paul the apostles history almost exactly. Both are destroying the church, get struck down by an Angel, go on to become amazing missionaries and even both appear before King’s and wicked people.
      20. The concepts taught in the Book of Mormon are basically christian. They are practicing Christianity as soon as middle of Mosiah, which is like 100BC. They are baptizing and confirming with the Holy Ghost. However, since Christ hadn’t fulfilled the law of Moses and they should’ve been practicing the Mosaic law. The book contains basically zero Mosaic and Hebrew traditions, which Lehi and his family would have been sharply familiar with. Instead, they practice Christianity before Jesus had even been born or practiced the Atonement.
      21. Joseph Smith almost never quotes from it. In fact, I’ve searched and searched and only found him reference it maybe once or twice. If this book is so important, shouldn’t it had been quoted from extensively. It doesn’t become a huge focus until basically the 1980s with Ezra Taft Benson started “flooding the earth with the Book of Mormon.” I’ve read Brigham Young’s entire Discourses of Brigham Young and he rarely mentions the Book of Mormon. While this proves very little, it just intensifies the idea to me that Joseph wrote it and did not consider it authentic scripture, even for himself.
      22. King Zedekiah Problem - The timeline of when Nephi left Jerusalem in the reign of King Zedekiah in preparation for the destruction of Jerusalem. But, King Nebuchednezzar had already invaded Judah twice by 599BC., two years prior to the Book of Mormon. He then Installed Zedekiah (formerly known as Mattaniah) as King of Jerusalem (2 Kings 24:11-18). So what does this mean?
      23. I will leave out the potential influences here because I do not think they are helpful nor likely to be true source material for the Book of Mormon. I think they are largely speculation and created just to create doubt without much validity or true sources. Do we know if Joseph accessed these works? Not really. But, it’s possible. There are a myriad of other problems with the Book of Mormon when examined scientifically, but that doesn’t really bother me so much. The church has an essay on DNA of Israelites not being in “Lamanite” or native american blood, despite many church leaders preaching that for years. It’s even included in the Book of Mormon title page until like 2006 or something. Additionally, Joseph Smith almost never quotes or teaches from the Book of Mormon. If it’s the most correct book of any on the earth, why is he not basing his sermons off these stories and scriptures?
      24. The Book of Mormon require that 3 key events from the Bible be literal events: a global flood in the times of Noah that covered the entire earth, Adam and Eve in the garden, and different languages occuring because God cursed people at the Tower of Babel.
      25. When I read the Book of Mormon, if I view it from a purely protestant view, it matches up doctrinally. In fact, it matches more purely with a presbyterian or methodist view of the atonement and doctrines (including the original trinitarian concepts taught in the Book before changes by Joseph Smith in 1837, eight years after the Book of Mormon was published and his first vision account that mentions God and Jesus being separate beings)
      26. The Charles Anthon Story is posed as a faith promoting story and prophecy fulfillment of Isaiah 29:11-12, where the learned wouldn’t be able to read a sealed book. So here’s the Church Narrative as found in JSH.
      27. Once i take off my believing member hat and look at this story objectively, it looks to me like complete and total BS. I am honestly insulted that this was taught and passed off to me as some amazing prophecy of Isaiah that was passed on to me.

Disavowed teachings and behavior of former prophets and leaders.

1. Brigham Young
   1. Adam-God theory was taught in the temple and considered straight doctrine by the “prophet” Brigham Young.
   2. Blood Atonement was also taught in the early Utah days
   3. Brigham taught that no man can receive the highest exaltation without taking on extra wives.
   4. Brigham young definitely was in approval (either before or after) of the Mountain Meadows Massacre, which is the slaughtering of innocent immigrants heading west. They luckily spared the smallest children and raised them Mormon. He scapegoated John D Lee who suffered the death penalty, despite being rewarded with “wives” by Brigham Young prior to that. Hmmmm
2. Blacks and the Priesthood
   1. So so so many quotes could go under here talking about how black people would never receive priesthood or temple covenants. The list could go on. I don’t need to repeat them all but in the Gospel Topics Essays, the Church disavows all racist teachings from the past.
   2. Book of Mormon and Abraham still talk about the curse of dark skin. The Lamanites are cursed but then will become “white and delightsome” as they repent (according to Spencer W. Kimball)
   3. How many prophets were completely wrong on this topic? Even after the Civil Rights movement which was going on 15 years earlier. The Church always seeems to be a step behind.
3. Polygamy
   1. Again, I could write a book on how much early leaders emphasized the heavenly requirement for a man to have multiple wives.
   2. Wilford Woodruff was sealed to like a 200 something wives on his birthday, including a six year old who had passed away. This can be found on FamilySearch
   3. The leaders of the Church didn’t stop practicing polygamy until around 1910, which is 20 years after the Manifesto, forced upon them by the US Government. This policy change wasn’t inspiration — to was a matter of the Mormons keeping their stuff or not.
4. Science
   1. Age of the Earth — Joseph Smith says that the earth has a temporal existence of 7,000 years before it will receive it’s eternal glory. This was a common thought back then and ties back into the Old Testament timeline. I was taught this in Seminary. Going back to Adam and Seth, then to Abraham and to modern day. It all lines up so that the Second Coming will be happening soon.
   2. Adam + Eve — This one is very hard for me to get past because the proof is indisputable: human life did not begin 6,000 years ago by two human beings. There was physical death long before it was introduced by the partaking of the forbidden fruit. It is fact. To deny it would be like denying that the Earth is round or orbits the Sun. So is this an allegory? Well Joseph Smith down to current general authorities have taught that this is LITERAL. The temple clearly emphasizes this. This is something BIG to get wrong. Considering Joseph Smith taught that it happened in the garden of Eden which was in Missouri.
   3. Noah’s Ark — This has to be literal as it is in the Book of Mormon as a fact. It’s also been “revealed” to have been a literal, global flood that covered the earth and cleansed the earth of all inhabitants. We also have doctrine in our church that says modern day revelation has confirmed this fact. But, this “story” is largely based on the Babylonian tale “The Epic of Gilgamesh.” It was recorded before the Hebrew Bible recorded the tale of Noah. The stories are earily similar and there are so many throughout other cultures of a great flood. Maybe that makes it more likely? Or maybe it was just a prevailing thought in that time period. Either way, scientific evidence knows that Noah’s Ark never happened because a huge flood never happened. And ask yourself, how in the world would they get all the animals on a boat? Is this really realistic?
   4. Tower of Babel — This is the genesis of the Jaredites. The Lord was confounding the language of the people, so the Brother of Jared goes and asks that they are spared. Eventually they are led to the Americas (which has a host of other problems). But, this story has to be literal because that’s exactly what’s happening in the Jaredite civilization to lead them to cross the ocean. But language evolved over tens of thousands of years and had nothing to do with a tower in around 2500 BC.
   5. Evolution — This fact goes along with Adam and Eve. Modern day prophets have disavowed this fact. In fact, Joseph Fielding Smit said “If evolution is true, the church is false” in Doctrines of Salvation, which was written while he was the prophet.

​

1. Sexual Assault Cover Ups - This one is pretty self explanatory. There are hundreds of occasions and the most recent ones in the news are pretty disgusting. The fact that the Church didn’t report, and had systems in place to protect itself rather than the victims, makes me sick.
   
2. First Vision Accounts - In many Church media films and the way I was taught at a young age, Joseph had the first vision and then was mocked by the people of Palmyra for believing in visions. I had not idea that this was not the case. In fact, Joseph never wrote anything down until 1832. The accounts from 1832, 1835, 1838, and 1842 paint a picture of someone who was expanding, molding, and letting this vision evolve. The reasons why he went out to pray in the trees changes. First, it’s to receive a remission of his sins. He also says in that account that he’s already concluded that the church’s of his day are fallen. Then it evolves. He also says the Lord appears. Then it’s angels. Then it’s the Lord and His Father. He mentions that it had never entered his heart that they were all wrong in the Canonized JSH we have in the Pearl of Great Price. But, then he says he already knew they were wrong in earlier versions? In fact, Asa Wild and Norris Stearns have visions in 1815 and 1823 in the same area as Joseph Smith and the verbiage used is similar. Norris Stearns says, “At length, as I lay apparently upon the brink of eternal woe, seeing nothing but death before me, suddenly there came a sweet flow of the love of God to my soul, which gradually increased. At the same time, there appeared a small gleam of light in the room, above the brightness of the sun, then at his meridian, which grew brighter and brighter: As this light and love increased, my sins began to separate, and the Mountain [of sin] removed towards the east. At length, being in an ecstasy of joy, I turned to the other side of the bed, (whether in the body or out I cannot tell, God knoweth) there I saw two spirits, which I knew at the first sight. But if I had the tongue of an Angel I could not describe their glory, for they brought the joys of heaven with them. One was God, my Maker, almost in bodily shape like a man. His face was, as it were a flame of Fire, and his body, as it had been a Pillar and a Cloud. In looking steadfastly to discern features, I could see none, but a small glimpse would appear in some other place. Below him stood Jesus Christ my Redeemer, in perfect shape like a man-His face was not ablaze, but had the countenance of fire, being bright and shining. His Father’s will appeared to be his! All was condescension, peace, and love!”
   

Ultimately, all of these issues paint a picture, right? The character flaws and mistranslations of Joseph Smith, along with the setting in which he was raised all take away from his prophetic ability. There are more issues that I haven’t even touched on. LGBT issues, the treatment of women, the kinderhook plates, etc. There are more issues touched on in the CES Letter. But, these are things that stick in my mind when I try to imagine believing the Church is true again.
I believe Joseph Smith started writing the Book of Mormon to make money. Then, when it got close to publishing, he decided to start a religion. With the help of Sidney Rigdon, the Church grew and he introduced different aspects of "the Restoration" and eventually the power went to his head.
Being "prophet" brought him three things key for cult leaders. Money. Sex. Power. He got his living taken care of and people built him a house. He had around 40 polygamous wives and preyed on underage girls. He was dubbed king of the world by the Council of the 50 and was Mayor of Nauvoo.
How can I conclude anything other than him being a cult leader? This barely even touches on Brigham and the subsequent prophets that made huge mistakes.

Full-Time Instructor of Language Education Center Kyungpook National University, Daegu, Korea
Position Details
JOB DESCRIPTION 1. The instructor is expected to teach English classes for conversational & academic purposes. 2. Beginning Salary: 2,900,000 KRW per month 3. A 7-week session (for 2 months as a unit) is run, totaling to 6 sessions a year.
※ may exceed one or two days depending on public holidays.

1. 140 hours per session
   
2. About 7 days following the completion of each session is allocated as a session break; usually, vacation is thus estimated to be about 30 days a year.
   
3. The contractual period of employment will be from September 1, 2023 to August 31, 2024.
   

QUALIFICATIONS:

1. Native speaker of English.
   
2. M.A. TESOL, M.Ed. and/or Linguistics preferred. B.A. in relevant field (ELT) with TEFL/TESOL Certificate considered.
   
3. Previous EFL teaching experience to adults (experience in Korea preferred). Over 2 years of English teaching experience is preferred (university experience is preferred).
   

The Application period: June 13-16, 2023. Decisions regarding hiring will be made as quickly as possible.
BENEFITS:

1. 100,000 KRW per month increase after 1st year renewal
   
2. Medical insurance & national pension(50% paid by the employer)
   
3. Free Housing: Furnished studio apartment(3 room apartment)
   
4. Contract is renewable based on annual performance
   

PROCESS:

1. Apply via email, post or hand delivery
   
2. Applicants who are selected for the interview process will be personally contacted by email
   
3. Must be available for in-person interviews for the final stage
   

Email PDF documents at [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected])
* Email Subject Box first name. family name
* PDF Cover Letter (file to be named: first name. family name. cover letter)
* PDF Resume (file to be named: first name. family name. resume)
Only the candidates who have been selected for the interview stage will be contacted.
Mailing Address:
Sunyoung Kim
Administrative Office 1st fl. Building No. 112
Language Education Center
Kyungpook National University
80 Daehak-ro, Buk-gu
Daegu, South Korea, 41566
The following documents are required ONLY upon job acceptance:

1. Copy of passport information and photo pages
   
2. Copy of ARC (back and front)
   
3. Copy of official transcript
   
4. Apostilled/notarized degree(s) from home country
   
5. Apostilled/notarized Criminal Record Check from home country valid within 6 month
   
6. Three(3) letters of recommendation
   
7. Letter of release
   
8. Copy of bankbook page
   

Important: The Criminal Record Checks must be dated within six(6) months of start date.
*Applicants are responsible for work related visa costs.

San Diego Padres (29-33) @ Colorado Rockies (26-38) Friday June, 9 5:40 PM

Pick-The-Stick Top 10

Sign up at Pick-The-Stick.com. Be sure to get your picks in before the first pitch.

Rank	User	Points	Total Picks	Position Change
1	ritchrock	206	57	0
2	Hammond89	202	62	0
3	Yungbillcosbii	201	62	0
4	M57drew	193	62	0
5	bbatardo	191	61	0
6	Dull_send	189	56	+2
7	SaveOurBolts	186	57	+3
8	jrobertson2204	185	55	-2
9	Speacialk333	183	59	+2
10	Nandobatflips	183	58	-3

Team	TV	Radio
SD	San Diego Padres	KWFN 97.3,XEMO 860 (es)
COL	ATT SportsNet-RM	KOA 850 AM/94.1 FM ,KNRV 1150 (es)

Starting Pitchers

Team	Pitcher	Record	ERA	IP	H	ER	BB	SO	WHIP
	Yu Darvish	4-4	4.10	63.2	53	29	18	68	1.12
	Austin Gomber	4-4	6.99	56.2	68	44	25	38	1.64

Starting Lineups - Season Stats

#	Player	Pos.	Avg	AB	H	2B	HR	RBI		#	Player	Pos.	Avg	AB	H	2B	HR	RBI
1										1	Charlie Blackmon	DH	.272	206	56	14	5	26
2										2	Jurickson Profar	LF	.247	219	54	14	5	25
3										3	Ryan McMahon	3B	.258	225	58	18	9	36
4										4	Elias Diaz	C	.302	189	57	13	6	29
5										5	Mike Moustakas	1B	.244	90	22	6	2	13
6										6	Randal Grichuk	CF	.325	114	37	11	1	10
7										7	Nolan Jones	RF	.366	41	15	4	2	10
8										8	Harold Castro	2B	.270	126	34	7	0	17
9										9	Ezequiel Tovar	SS	.248	210	52	18	4	25

Week 9! All madden 7min q Competitive gameplay
Open teams Bucs 0-8 Raiders 0-7 Browns 1-7 Seahawks 1-7 Texans 1-6 Chiefs 2-5 Eagles 2-5 Bengals 2-6 Panthers 2-6 Commanders 3-5 Colts 4-5
We run 4 leagues all active! No bs, no quitters.
https://discord.gg/nqvV9Nz8

Week 9! All madden 7min q Competitive gameplay
Open teams Bucs 0-8 Raiders 0-7 Browns 1-7 Seahawks 1-7 Texans 1-6 Chiefs 2-5 Eagles 2-5 Bengals 2-6 Panthers 2-6 Commanders 3-5 Colts 4-5
We run 4 leagues all active! No bs, no quitters.
https://discord.gg/nqvV9Nz8

May of last year I got the sickest I have ever been in my life and my throat swole up like a balloon. I went to urgent care and they told me my TSH was 0.24 and to go see a primary care doctor. Primary care sent me to an endocrinologist. Endocrinologist made me get an ultrasound and did antibody tests… said both were fine and to piss off. I went back to primary care and they told me to piss off because my TSH was normal. I went to a different primary care after that and they told me to piss off because my TSH was normal. My throat was still swollen and I was still sick as a dog, and no one did anything.
I have literally every single symptom of hyperthyroid. I had a massive amount of hair falling out all over my body, hot flashes, sweating, waking up at 2 AM every morning and not being able to go back to sleep or sleep during day, blood pressure through the roof, heart palpations, I went from 145 pounds to 130 pounds. The only symptom I have that didn’t match hyperthyroid is I am constantly freezing to death, even in the middle of Summer. I’m talking wearing sweats and socks and wrapped in a blanket.. in 90 degree weather. I can be shivering and pouring sweat at the same time.
And to be fair, my symptoms did get a lot better over Winter and I thought whatever was wrong with me was over with. Until May of this year it all came back again. I went to urgent care again and they said my TSH was normal but my T4 Total was 11.7 and to go to primary care. I can tell that my symptoms get 100% worse on sunny days and get better on cloudy days, which is why I think it went away during Winter. I am not a hypochondriac, I had never heard of a thyroid before they told me about hyperthyroid at urgent care last year. Something is seriously wrong with me and I don’t know what to do to get help. This has completely destroyed my quality of life and I have been full blown agoraphobic since I got sick. I honestly feel like someone has given me a shot of adrenaline with how bad my anxiety has gotten and how bad the physical affects are when the sun out. I am so tired though from not sleeping that I don’t have the energy to do anything, but my body feels like it’s going 100 miles per hour while I’m sitting in a chair.
I did go to primary care this week, and I am back on propranolol and buspar while I wait for my blood test results…. But I am so tired of trying to convince doctors I am sick and so tired of waiting for someone to finally do something about it. I honestly feel like it’s going to take me having a stroke or heart attack before anyone does anything. If one more doctor tells me it may just be anxiety I swear to God I’m going to start drinking. What in the heck do I do to get help?
Thank you guys for any input you can give.

In this post I go over, somewhat exhaustively, the events and aftermath of the Purple Wedding, examining our characters’ perspectives, statements, positions, and motivations to determine what object was poisoned, by whom, and who was meant to die. The title spoils my conclusion: Tyrion’s pie was poisoned, and Tyrion was the intended target.

Let’s Look at How we Know What Happened

1: Maester Cressen. From his chapter we learn exactly what the Strangler is and how it works.

“Dissolved in wine, it would make the muscles of a man’s throat clench tighter than any fist, shutting off his windpipe. They said the victim’s face turned as purple as the little crystal seed from which his death was grown, but so too did a man choking on a morsel of food.”

Cressen’s initial description of the Strangler’s effects already foreshadows the wine/pie debate. Cressen indicates that his chosen delivery method is via wine, but describes how the death the Strangler causes is meant to resemble a man choking on food.
With Cressen’s death, we see just how quickly the Strangler takes effect:

The wine was sour on his tongue. He let the empty cup drop from his fingers to shatter on the floor. “He does have power here, my lord,” the woman said. “And fire cleanses.” At her throat, the ruby shimmered redly. Cressen tried to reply, but his words caught in his throat. His cough became a terrible thin whistle as he strained to suck in air. Iron fingers tightened round his neck. As he sank to his knees…

In the time it takes for Melisandre to make a one-liner, Cressen has already begun to cough and has lost the ability to speak. His reaction to the poison begins immediately, and death arrives quickly.
2: Tyrion. All of our evidence at the scene of the crime comes from Tyrion’s perspective, so let’s analyze what he sees and what he doesn’t:
Tyrion is not seeing much. Joffrey dumped wine on his head, and

It drenched his hair, stung his eyes, burned in his wound, ran down his cheeks, and soaked the velvet of his new doublet. “How do you like that, Imp?” Joffrey mocked. Tyrion’s eyes were on fire. He dabbed at his face with the back of a sleeve and tried to blink the world back into clarity.

Afterwards, when observing Ser Illyn’s sword

Tyrion’s eyes still stung from the wine. He blinked and looked again.

Detailed vision is a process for him right now, and he is not exercising it much. After wine is poured on him, most of his observations are touch and sound-based

Joffrey laughed, and Cersei as well. Then others. He could not see who, but he heard them.

The two objects which Tyrion is paying close attention to are Joffrey’s wine goblet and the pigeon pie. So let’s follow the wine and pie’s journeys closely and hopefully come to a logistical conclusion as to which ones could have been poisoned.

Joffrey’s Death: The Supercut

1: “‘Your Grace,’ was all [Tyrion] had time to say before the king upended the chalice over his head”. If Joffrey’s wine was poisoned before now, that poison has been dumped out.
2: Joffrey has no wine, Tyrion is named his cupbearer. “He claimed a flagon from a serving girl and filled the goblet three-quarters full… Joffrey took the wedding chalice one-handed, drank deep, and set it on the table.” Joffrey is fine; the serving girl did not poison the flagon she gave Tyrion.
3: The pie arrives, and everyone is focused on it. The pie is cut very dramatically and the guests are served. “A serving man placed a slice of hot pigeon pie in front of Tyrion and covered it with a spoon of lemon cream.” If Tyrion’s pie is poisoned, it was done by the serving man and the strangler is dissolved in the spoonful of lemon cream. Neither Tyrion nor Sansa touch their pie. With everyone focused on the pie, now would be the time to poison Joffrey’s wine.
4: “The king’s chalice was on the table where he’d left it… Joff yanked it from [Tyrion’s] hands and drank long and deep, his throat working as the wine ran purple down his chin.” Joffrey just took a long drink of the wine, and is fine. He and Margaery exchange words:
5: ‘“My lord,” Margaery said, “we should return to our places. Lord Buckler wants to toast us.” “My uncle hasn’t eaten his pigeon pie.” Holding the chalice onehanded, Joff jammed his other into Tyrion’s pie. “It’s ill luck not to eat the pie” he scolded…”’ If Joff’s wine was poisoned, he should have started coughing during this exchange. As a reminder, Maester Cressen didn’t manage to get a single word out after drinking poisoned wine.
6: ‘... as he filled his mouth with hot spiced pigeon. “See, it’s good.” Spitting out flakes of crust, he coughed and helped himself to another fistful. “Dry, though. Needs washing down.” Joff took a swallow of wine and coughed again, more violently. “I want to see, kof, see you ride that, kof kof, pig, Uncle. I want. ..” His words broke up in a fit of coughing.’
There are two possible interpretations of point 6, one more likely than the other. Either
-The pie was dry and Joffrey’s first cough was due merely to that, and his swallow of wine to wash it down is what delivered the poison, resulting in a more violent cough. The wine was poisoned while Joffrey was holding it in his hand, when all eyes including Tyrion’s were on him, and neither Tyrion or Joffrey or Sansa noticed anyone walking up and to and putting something in the chalice, or
-The pie was poisoned, not just dry. This poison caused Joff’s coughing fit, which gradually escalated. Through Tyrion we saw where the poison came from, the serving man with the lemon cream.
7: Let’s see what Joff thinks he’s dying from. ‘“It’s, kof, the pie, noth - kof, pie.” Joff took another drink, or tried to, but all the wine came spewing back out when another spate of coughing doubled him over.’” The boy's last words were "It's the pie", and I think we ought to take this seriously.
8: “…the boy’s eyes met Tyrion’s… Joffrey was making a dry clacking noise, trying to speak. His eyes bulged white with terror, and he lifted a hand... reaching for his uncle, or pointing…” Tyrion thinks Joffrey is either begging his forgiveness or asking for his help, but I am more inclined towards Cersei’s interpretation. Joffrey is accusing Tyrion. It was Tyrion’s pie he choked on, after all.
10: “But his eyes fell on the wedding chalice, forgotten on the floor. He went and scooped it up. There was still a half-inch of deep purple wine in the bottom of it. Tyrion considered it a moment, then poured it on the floor.” What exactly was Tyrion’s consideration? This is one of the few moments in the entire series where our POV character thinks about something, but we do not hear their thoughts.
Conclusion: Joffrey began showing Cressen-like symptoms immediately after eating Tyrion’s pie, and when somebody besides Tyrion had the opportunity to poison Joffrey’s wine, nobody did.

Cersei’s Propaganda: Poisoned Wine, Clean Pie

In the immediate aftermath of Joffrey’s death, the witnesses do not suspect foul play from anyone present. Lady Alerie says to Margaery “He choked, sweetling. He choked on the pie. It was naught to do with you. He choked. We all saw.” The poison was delivered so as to make it appear that the victim died from choking on pie, and that is what the witnesses suspect. Like all the best poisonings, it was meant to look like it wasn’t poison. Alerie Tyrell doesn’t think this was an assassination attempt, and neither do the kingsguard who are “standing uselessly around her.” Nobody suspects foul play, nor do they suspect anyone of murder, until:

“Arrest my brother,” [Cersei] commanded him. “He did this, the dwarf. Him and his little wife. They killed my son. Your king. Take them! Take them both!”

Cersei blames Tyrion for this, thus it must be the wine that was poisoned. If the pie was poisoned then Tyrion was innocent, was the intended target, and Joffrey died of his own cruelty. Tyrion’s guilt and the wine being poisoned are unified concepts. One being true implies the other being true. However we know that Tyrion is innocent, which implies the wine was innocent as well.
Tyrion understands this. At his trial he never attempts to claim that someone else poisoned the wine, but rather asserts that “Joffrey choked on his pigeon pie.” It's obvious to him that nobody but himself could have poisoned the wine, so he accuses no one of doing so.
Because of Cersei’s accusation, Tyrion’s trial only considers two possibilities: Tyrion poisoned the wine, or Joffrey choked on pie. For this reason, when Maesters Ballabar and Frenken “found no morsel of pigeon pie nor any other food lodged in the royal throat” and concluded that “It was poison that killed him, my lords” it is logged as evidence that the wine was poisoned by Tyrion. Since we the readers know that Tyrion did not poison the wine, we ought to take this as evidence that pie was poisoned.
I believe that Cersei’s accusation of Tyrion (even though we the audience know it to be false) is the core reason that most readers believe that Joffrey’s wine was poisoned.
All of the characters who take Tyrion’s guilt for granted are directly influenced by Cersei. To find out who actually did cause Joffrey’s death (by trying to kill Tyrion), let us turn to the perspective of people who never heard Cersei’s accusation

Sansa and Dontos

Sansa: For most of the feast Sansa is lost in melancholy mourning the deaths of her family, and Once Ser Illyn pulls out his sword to slice the pigeon pie she becomes hyper-fixated on the blade she thinks is Ice.

Sansa stirred in her seat. “What sword is that?”... Sansa clutched his arm. “What has Ser Illyn done to my father’s sword?”

And Tyrion never answers her question. In the minutes leading up to Joffrey’s poisoning Sansa is not paying attention to any of her physical surroundings, so she is not a helpful source for determining who got their hands on the poison. When she eventually finds a stone missing from her hairnet, she ponders that

It must have been loose in the setting, that’s all. It was loose and it fell out, and now it’s lying somewhere in the throne room, or in the yard, unless…

Sansa clearly does not remember anyone taking an amethyst from her hair, and is willing to blame any suspect presented to her. When she meets Dontos in the godswood she blames him, and then upon learning that Tyrion has been arrested, Sansa immediately thinks its possible that Tyrion took it.

Could he truly have killed him? Did he know about my hair net, about the black amethysts? He brought Joff wine. How could you make someone choke by putting an amethyst in their wine?

Tyrion was sitting right next to her for the whole feast. If Sansa thinks that he could have snatched her amethyst without her noticing, then ANYONE could have without her noticing. My bet? The serving man who put lemon cream on Tyrion’s pigeon pie also snatched the amethyst.
Dontos also didn’t take the amethyst, but he did know the plan. He knew someone was going to die at that wedding, and he knew it was the pie that was poisoned. Dontos gives us proof that the assassination was intended to look like death by pie:

“Black amethysts,” he swore. “There was magic in them.”
“There was murder in them!”
“Softly, my lady, softly. No murder. He choked on his pigeon pie.” Dontos chortled. “Oh, tasty tasty pie. Silver and stones, that’s all it was, silver and stone and magic.”

Dontos has no way of knowing by observation of Joffrey’s death whether the poison was in his pie or his wine. However, unlike our other bystanders, Dontos knows for a FACT that there was poison (or death magic, if we grant him his style). Since Dontos’ story here is that Joffrey choked on his pie, he clearly knew beforehand that the poison was meant to be in the pie.
Dontos does raise one problem, however: If he knew that the poison was meant for Tyrion, and that they got the wrong guy, why wouldn’t he mention that to Sansa? I posit this simple solution: Dontos did not know who the target was. And why would he? Littlefinger only trusts him as far as the promise of 10,000 gold dragons can take him. If Dontos knew that the target was King Joffrey, or the Lannister Master of Coin, and had a whole moon turn to consider his options, he may well have considered outing the conspiracy as the more safe and more profitable alternative. The only faction who could potentially match Littlefinger’s 10,000 gold offer would be the Lannisters, after all.
With this in mind I think it is totally reasonable that Littlefinger only told Dontos that there would be a death at Joffrey’s wedding (so he wouldn’t be caught off-guard), that Sansa’s hair net was full of vengeance magic (to make sure he convinced her to wear it), and that the pigeon pie would be poisoned (so he would make sure Sansa didn’t eat any of it). With this information Ser Dontos knows everything he needs to be on time for the job and to keep Sansa safe, but cannot blab to anybody about the target.
Speaking of Littlefinger and what he did and did not tell people, let’s examine his plan and whether or not it makes more sense if he had intended to kill Tyrion:

Littlefinger had a Motive

Let’s look at what we know Petyr Baelish wanted out of the Purple Wedding:

1. He wants to obtain Sansa, without anyone knowing he wanted or had her. This much is obvious.
2. He wants Sansa to trust and be solely dependent on himself.
3. He wants Sansa to be unmarried so he can use her politically. “Widowhood will become you, Sansa.”
4. He doesn’t want anyone to suspect him of the murder.

So let’s look at what he gets out of Joffrey’s death:

1. Check. He gets Sansa.
2. Mostly check. Sansa is solely dependent on him, and is mostly grateful that he killed Joffrey, but she doesn’t really trust him. She considers that he might be worse than the Lannisters.
3. Fail. Sansa is still married to Tyrion Lannister, and will only become single if Tyrion is killed or sent to the Wall. Since Littlefinger had nothing to do with framing Tyrion for the murder, Sansa will remain married for the foreseeable future.
4. Check. Everyone suspects Tyrion of the murder because of Cersei, and if not for her they would suspect Obaryn Martell. Everyone thinks Petyr is far away in the Vale.

And let’s compare it to what he would get out of Tyrion’s death:

1. Check. Nothing about Dontos and Sansa’s plan changes if Tyrion dies.
2. Mostly check. Sansa is mostly grateful that Tyrion is dead and very grateful for being taken away from Joffrey. She is theoretically even more dependent on Petyr since she has no husband, but may be more suspicious of him since he killed her husband.
3. Check! Sansa is a widow immediately, no trials or frame job required.
4. Check. Petyr framed King Joffrey for the murder of Tyrion. He orchestrated the dwarf joust despite Joffrey’s objections because he knew Tyrion would hate it. He wanted to start a fight between uncle and nephew before the pie was served, causing Tyrion to die after repeatedly insulting/being insulted by the king. Anyone who did not suspect Joffrey would suspect the Tyrells, who also wanted Sansa widowed. Since Joffrey and Margaery are king and queen, and Tyrion was widely hated, there would probably be no investigation of the murder. “He choked on his pigeon pie.”If Littlefinger framing Joffrey for murder sounds totally off-hand to you, I will remind you that he’s likely already done it twice. First was Bran’s attempted murder, which Petyr framed the Lannisters for, and which Jaime, Cersei, and Tyrion Lannister all conclude that Joffrey was responsible for. Next was Ser Merryn Trant’s attempted murder of Tyrion during the battle of the Blackwater, which Littlefinger almost certainly orchestrated but which Tyrion and Cersei conclude was Joffrey’s doing. Again, the convenient thing about framing Joffrey is that he is known for violence, and that nobody will directly question or accuse him.

If Littlefinger framing Joffrey for murder sounds totally off-hand to you, I will remind you that he’s likely already done it twice. First was Bran’s attempted murder, which Petyr framed the Lannisters for, and which Jaime, Cersei, and Tyrion Lannister all conclude that Joffrey was responsible for. Next was Ser Merryn Trant’s attempted murder of Tyrion during the battle of the Blackwater, which Littlefinger almost certainly orchestrated but which Tyrion and Cersei conclude was Joffrey’s doing. Again, the convenient thing about framing Joffrey is that he is known for violence, and that nobody will directly question or accuse him.
Finally for Littleifnger: In Joffrey’s murder, he had no motive. Sansa and Littlefinger are both being honest here:

“My lord, I... I do not understand... Joffrey gave you Harrenhal, made you Lord Paramount of the Trident... why...”
“Why should I wish him dead?” Littlefinger shrugged. “I had no motive."

Then, in explaining why he would do something he had no motive to do, Littlefinger spouts some absolute bullshit. He had the time between when the bells began ringing a royal dirge to when Sansa arrived to come up with this crap:

• “Always keep your foes confused. If they are never certain who you are or what you want, they cannot know what you are like to do next. Sometimes the best way to baffle them is to make moves that have no purpose, or even seem to work against you. Remember that, Sansa, when you come to play the game.”

Which also serves as absolutely GARBAGE advice. As she comes to play the game, Sansa will be extremely ineffective if she thinks the best political strategy is to be confusing and do things which don’t serve your interests. If Sansa takes this to heart, Littlefinger can be assured that she will never become an effective enemy to him.
Finally, let us discuss:

Were the Tyrells in on it?

Lets go over what we do know about the Tyrells’ involvement:
We can quickly write off Olenna as the person who removed the strangler from Sansa's hair net because:

1. The hair net actually did need to be adjusted. It was applied by Shae, the notoriously inexperienced handmaid who had probably never even seen a hair net made of spun metal before. Olenna taking a long time futzing with it makes perfect sense.
2. If Olenna WAS stealing from Sansa, she was doing it in the most suspicious way possible. She spends a whole paragraph messing with Sansa’s hair, and Tyrion is watching her closely the whole time. He doesn’t see her pocket anything when she comes away from Sansa, and when Sansa initially thinks about where her amethyst could have gone this incident with Olenna does not come to mind.
3. Olenna fixed Sansa’s hairnet before the feast even began. If she’d removed a stone from it, guests had the entirety of the wedding feast to notice. It would be so obviously Olenna’s fault if she came away from fixing the hair net and something was found to be missing from it during the feast. Whoever took the amethyst did so while people were distracted, and shortly before the murder.

We watched Olenna NOT remove a stone from the hair net. Whoever did take it (probably the serving man), we didn’t see it happen.
Another thing we know is that Littlefinger wants Sansa to believe that the Tyrells were involved. As mentioned above, the Tyrells had reason to want Tyrion dead. I believe Petyr always planned on identifying them as part of the assassination plot to Sansa, in order to separate her from the idea of running away to them, but I have no proof of this. However, even if the story Petyr tells Sansa about the Tyrells’ motives about killing Joffrey were true, it in no way indicates that they coordinated the poisoning. In fact, the story sounds more like Littlefinger was scheming to add a self-destruct timer to the Western Alliance at the time he was forming it:

When I came to Highgarden to dicker for Margaery’s hand, she let her lord son bluster while she asked pointed questions about Joffrey’s nature. I praised him to the skies, to be sure... whilst my men spread disturbing tales amongst Lord Tyrell’s servants. That is how the game is played.
“I also planted the notion of Ser Loras taking the white… Lady Olenna was not about to let Joff harm her precious darling granddaughter, but unlike her son she also realized that under all his flowers and finery, Ser Loras is as hot-tempered as Jaime Lannister. Toss Joffrey, Margaery, and Loras in a pot, and you’ve got the makings for kingslayer stew.
Margaery will marry Tommen. She’ll keep her queenly crown and her maidenhead, neither of which she especially wants, but what does that matter? The great western alliance will be preserved... for a time, at least.”

What this comes off as is that Littlefinger really wanted Ser Loras to kill Joffrey and destroy the Western Alliance, and that’s the whole reason he pushed for Loras to join the kingsguard. This story also says nothing about a Baelish-Tyrell conspiracy to kill Joffrey. Rather, Petyr Baelish appears disappointed that the Tyrells have emerged innocent from Joffrey’s death. The one silver lining for Baelish is that Tyrion, while alive, is under arrest for Joffrey’s murder and is like to lose his head. We have zero evidence that the Tyrells were in any way involved with the poisoning at the Purple Wedding.
That about covers it. Sorry this is such a long post, but I wanted to address every angle. For those who scrolled to the bottom, here is a

TL;DR:

Nobody besides Tyrion had the opportunity to poison the wine; since we know Tyrion is innocent, the wine must not have been poisoned. The poison was meant to look like choking on pie, and the only reason most characters think that the wine was poisoned is because Cersei accuses Tyrion of being the poisoner. Littlefinger had no motive to kill Joffrey, but he did have motive to kill Tyrion. Dontos said the pie is what killed him, and Joffrey’s last words were “the pie”.