The Legislature passed consequential reforms, including some long-fought changes to school construction funding and making free community college permanent.

Overwatch 2’s Rebrand Won’t Save It, But I Know What Will comicbook.com

A traveling artist, talented drummers and a typical Caribbean rain storm dotted the day's events at the World Baseball Classic.

BOUGHT: DC Finest: The Demon: The Birth of the Demon (DC Comics) As a long-time DC reader, I've long been acquainted with the character of Etrigan, The Demon, a more-or-less constant presence via guest-appearances and various event series, even when he's not starring in his own series or miniseries. That said, I had never actually read the character's original series, which writer/artist Jack Kirby and inker/letterer Mike Royer produced 16 issues of between 1972 and 1974. It was well before time; so much so, that I wasn't even born yet. So I was excited by this particular installment of DC's DC Finest collection, its 530 pages containing the entirety of the original series as well as the character's first appearances by hands other than Kirby's, taken from the pages of The Brave and The Bold, Batman Family, Detective Comics and Wonder Woman. What I found most remarkable about Kirby's Demon run was the extent to which so much of what I know of the character, from Alan Grant and company's 1990-1995 series and the Etrigan appearances in the 30 years to follow, was right there at the beginning. Kirby's original character design, apparently borrowed from Hal Foster's Prince Valiant* before being Kirby-ized, has barely changed over the decades, the only real changes being how big different artists might drawh is ears or horns or fangs, and whether his cape is scalloped around the edges or not (Kirby drew it both ways, first with the scalloping and then quickly abandoning it). Jon McCrea added some spikes to Etrigan's armbands in 1993, although their presence would depend on the artist. And as for the cast, were all Kirby's creations, and present in the earliest issues. There's the immortal Jason Blood, currently a Gotham City-based demonologist, who shares a body with Etrigan, The Demon, the result of a spell Merlin cast during the time of Camelot. There's Jason's friends, Harry Matthews and Randu Singh, the latter of whom has psychic powers. There's love interest Glenda Marks. There's villains Morgaine Le Fey and Klarion The Witchboy (and his cat Teekl, who is here male, although when Klarion transforms Teekl into a humanoid form during their second appearance in book, Teekl seems to be part cat and part woman).I was surprised that the comics also contained the disturbing little white, monkey-like monster The Kamara, which figured in Alan Moore and Stephen Bissette's Etrigan story from 1984's Saga of The Swamp Thing (and I had always just assumed was the creation of Moore and Bissette) and The Howler, which appeared in Alan Grant and Val Smeiks' 1992 The Demon #23, the first issue of that series I had ever read (thanks to the Robin Tim Drake appearance on the cover).The other surprise, for me at least, was how self-contained the book is. Maybe that shouldn't be surprising, given how singular a talent Kirby was, how much latitude DC seemed to be affording him and how relatively little connectivity there was between various DC books in the 1970s, but the first 16-issues are completely self-contained and cordoned off from the DCU. The fact that much of it is set in Gotham City is really the only indication that this is a DC comic at all, and Kirby never really exploits the setting in his book (Jason, Etrigan and company never encounter Batman, Robin or Commissioner Gordon, for example...at least, not in Kirby's original stories from the pages of The Demon). As for the character's most distinct trait, the fact that he speaks in rhyming dialogue, well, he doesn't seem to have started doing so in Kirby's series, nor anywhere else in the first decade or so of his fictional life. Kirby does have just about every single spell that is cast throughout the book written in rhyme, and so Jason Blood and/or Etrigan mostly only rhyme when reciting some version of the still somewhat fluid transformation spell, in which "Etrigan" apparently rhymes with "man." There are a few other points where Etrigan uses magic, and thus speaks in rhyme, but it's clear that he only does so when casting spells (I also noticed that Kirby's Demon neve breathes fire, another thing I've long since come to associate with the chracter, but only shoots it from his hands).Though the original series might not have lasted long, Kirby obviously created something pretty potent ad compelling, given that Etrigan and company are still around today and now thoroughly embedded in the shared setting of the DC Universe. Oh, and DC is set to launch a new Demon ongoing, the character's fourth, in the very near future. There's a rather charming sense of making it up as he goes along to Kirby's comic. Though it is supposedly about the occult, its somewhat Incredible Hulk-like hero a demonologist in his secret identity and a literal demon when in his "superhero"/monster form, Kirby didn't exactly seem to have spent a second researching the occult himself. There's a sort of extremely safe, Saturday morning cartoon version of Satanism about everything here, with Etrigan and the various demonic entities he encounters all being pulled directly from Kirby's imagination, and seem like, if they were scaled up slightly, are the sort of things one would find in a pre-Fantastic Four Marvel monster comic rather than medieval Christian legend.In the first issue, Jason Blood and a one-armed police officer encouter a strange creature, and officer screams, "LOOK-! BEHIND US!--- Is it a beast? ---or man---or BOTH?" Blood sizes up the orange creature, which looks like it could have stepped off a flying saucer to fight Thor in the early sixties, and declares, "The Gorla! A watchdog for witches!" Uh, if you say so, Jason.Likewise, Kirby engages in no real world-building beyond what he must have done when originally putting the series together. There's certainly no sense of a consistent Heaven, Hell or afterlife, or of the entities that might hail from such places. Rather, they are all random monsters, and realtively few of them seeming all that infernal (Asmodon from The Demon #10, who looks like a highly Kirby-ized version of the traditional cartoon Devil and seems to be able to be called upon and bargained with, is a rare exceptin.)The book open with Merlin clutching his Eternity Book in a flaming tower during the fall of Camelot. A turn of the page reveals a two-page splash in which Morgaine Le Fey's forces assault Camelot; the designs and renderings looking so purely Kirby that they evoke his work on the New Gods more than any other vision of King Arthur and company a reader might have seen. During the battle, Merlin summons his demon, Etrigan and then, with a sweep of his hand, Merlin "wondrous Camelo thundered, trembled and departed from the pages of history!!" Etrigan walks away from the ruined city, transforming as he does so into a man...and a man he would remain for centuries. (Unlike later version of the Demon's story, here it seems to be suggested that Etrigan became Jason Blood and, eventually, can switch back and forth, rather than being a demon from hell bonded by magic to an extant human being; also, Blood seemed to live all of those years as Blood, never once becoming Etrigan again, nor even knowing that he could transform).We then jump to 1970s Gotham City, where Jason Blood is a dashing young demonolgist, living in a swank apartment full of all the crazy occult objects Kirby can imagine, and practicing martial arts with his friend Randu Singh, who works for the United Nations and possesses ESP, while their friend advertising executive Harry Matthews looks on.The immortal Morgaine Le Fey's quest to restore her youth, beauty and power will eventually lead her to the Eternity Book, and thus call forth Etrigan to defend it. After two completely stuffed, action-packed issues, Blood will become aware of his own origins and start to settle into his new life, that of a man who can become a powerful demon after reciting a short rhyme.Kirby then pits Jason, Etrigan and friends against a cult that can devolve humans into their past selves to control them, the Kamara and its masters, The Howler and Klarion (twice), while riffing on The Phantom of the Opera and Pygmalion/Galatea in one story and Frankenstein in another (There is nothing subtle about either of these stories, either; the Frankenstein riff, for example, features a doctor figure named Baron von Evilstein and a man-made monster at least twice as tall as a man with gigantic electrodes protruding from it). The final issue wraps the story up, with Morgaine Le Fey returning (and being drawn with a lot more va-va-voom than is typical for Kirby's female characters) and Glenda finally learning the truth of Jason's double-life, a secret Randu and Harry had worked to keep from her throughout the series. Interestingly, the final issue ends with an all-text panel suggesting we've seen the last of Etrigan: This ends the adventures of The Demon...but not the efforts toward great and intriguing reader entertainment... See your dealer for a new and exciting comic from the DC Kirby-works! Coming very soon!Obviously, this was very much not the end of the adventures of The Demon, which like so many of the characters Kirby created or co-created for Marvel and DC, continue to this day. In fact, this very volume includes about 100 pages of comics featuring Etigan from after the cancellation of his series. Here are the other comics included:•The Brave and The Bold #109 (1973) The first creators other than Kirby to tackle The Demon were Bob Haney and Jim Aparo, in the Batman team-up title. This is also Etrigan's first and only appearance outside of the pages of The Demon before the character's home book would be cancelled. This is also the first time the fact that Batman and The Demon are both based in Gotham City is exploited, as Haney doesn't have to do all that much to bring the two characters together. A strange monster of sorts has clambered out of Gotham City Harbor where a new bridge is being built, and begins targeting seafaring men—or, in the case of Harry Matthews on his way to his yacht, men who look the part. A killing spree in which one of Jason's friends is almost a victim is enough to get both heroes involved. They cross paths when Batman catches Etrigan in a net meant for the killer, and then Randu, Harry and Jason immediately explain Jason's bizarre double-life to the Caped Crusader, something that even Glenda doesn't know at this point. Together, Batman and Etrigan figure out the supernatural backstory of the killer and defeat it.Like much of Haney's Brave and The Bold, his take on The Demon feels a bit...off, most notably in the narration and dialogue, which repeatedly refers to the character as simply "Demon," no "the" before it, as if "Demon" were his name. Aparo's take on the character honors Kirby's design, and makes Etrigan look far more realistic, resulting in a stiffer, less dynamic, less idiosyncratic hero.•The Brave and The Bold #137 (1977) Some three years after the cancellation of The Demon, Haney brought Etrigan back in the Batman team-up title, this time working with the art team of John Calnan and Bob McLeod. Batman is in Gotham's Chinatown to take a youth gang called The Savage Dragons (What are the chances that a young Erik Larsen read this issue, do you think?), but the supernatural threat of Chinese god Shahn-Zi from a previous issue of the series has returned. Luckily Batman bumps into Jason Blood ("In the well-stuffed flesh, old friend!") and Glenda, who he introduces here as his fiancee (Congratulations to the young couple, I guess...?). They were in the neighborhood for "the superb Peking duck in Lum Fat's establishment," Jason says, although Glenda adds, "Jason's here to observe the new year--hunting spooks as usual."Before the issue is over, Shahn-Zi will turn Etrigan into a fly and Batman into a vampire bat, while Etrigan will ask Merlin to grant him the power to change shape like Shahn-Zi himself does. He can only use the new power once though, and when the Chinese deity turns himself into a huge cobra, Etrigan becomes a mongoose to defeat him.•"There's a Demon Born Every Minute" from Batman Family #17 (1978) This is the Man-Bat/Demon team-up by Bob Rozakis and Michael Golden that I posted about fairly recently; in terms of the Jason Blood/Demon, I think it's probably most interesting in regards to Golden's highly-stylized art. Rozakis does bring Morgaine Le Fey back from the state in which Kirby left her...only to leave her in a similarly permanent-ish state of defeat at the end. Jason's square, paperweight-like Philospher's Stone plays a role as well.•Detective Comics #482-485 (1979) When Etrigan next surfaces, it's in another Batman book. Writer Len Wein has a weird-looking sorcerer named Baron Tyme, apparently previously seen in a Man-Bat story, employ a magically-created creature to steal Merlin's Eternity Book for him. Etrigan gives chase, and the pair end up at Merlin's tomb beneath Castle Branek in the European city of Wolfenstag. The first chapter is again drawn by Golden (and, on its opening splash, includes several visual call-backs to foes Blood and Etrigan fought in Kirby's series), while the remainder are drawn by Steve Ditko. Their styles don't match up in the least, but both are great. It's particularly fun to see Ditko, the other artist who helped build Marvel Comics, tackling a Kirby creation. His Etrigan has an off-kilter, ape-like gait, and seems to always be half-crouching. Tyme is afflicted with a weird state of being that seems tailormade for Ditko to draw, and there are lots of gorgeous and unusual depictions of magical powers and other dimensions...as one might expect from the guy who created Doctor Strange.The 46-page epic includes a panel in which Etrigan rhymes upon his entrance—"Thunder calls me from the sky-- --to save the book which dare not die!!"—and for a moment I thought maybe this was the point at which Etrigan's dialogue would start to all rhyme, but he drops it afterwards.Oh, and Randu is suddenly blind for some reason in this story. It's not until the second installment that an editorial note points us to where it happened, in an issue of the short-lived Kobra series. •Wonder Woman #280-282 (1981) Etrigan would next surface in the pages of Wonder Woman, of all places. The story is written by Gerry Conway, while Jose Delbo and Dave Hunt handle the art. (Len Wein, meanwhile, is the editor; I wonder if he was enough of a Demon fan to have suggested Conway use Etrigan here...?)A black mass summons a demonic entity named Baal-Satyr from a netherworld (the word "Hell" is never used here) that claims Etta Candy as a sacrifice, taking her back to his realm, where it seems he's going to cook her in a pot. A fortune-teller sends Wonder Woman to Jason Blood, and soon the demonologist summons The Demon, who takes her to Baal-Satyr's realm for an adventure. Once they successfully return, they find a man who has done a deal with Klarion the Witchboy. He serves Klarion in order to regain the ability to walk again, but there's an unforseen side-effect to the cure: It turns him into a minotaur. At the climax, Klarion transforms Teekl into a were-cat in order to fight Wondy, and once again Teekl's humanoid fom is female presenting. The script doesn't use any pronouns to refer to Teekl in this story at all. Will DC produce a second DC Finest volume, picking up with Etrigan where this one leaves off....? If so, that would seem to take us to the character's appearances in Alan Moore's Swamp Thing, Blue Devil, a John Byrne story in his Action Comics run, an issue of The Spectre, Matt Wagner's four-issue Demon mini-series and then we'd be into Alan Grant's tenure on the character, which started with a feature in Action Comics Weekly, a Batman team-up in Detective Comics (The first Demon story I ever read, and still one of my favorites, thanks to Grant and pencil artist Norm Breyfogle's take on the character as a mad demon and how he sees his reflection in Batman) and then the second The Demon series, which Grant would write for about 40 issues (minus Dwayne McDuffie's four-part 1992 arc, "Political Asylum" and Matt Wagner's one-issue fill-in). With the exception of that Detective Comics arc, I don't think any of Grant's Demon comics—from the pages of The Demon or elsewhere—have ever been collected, so I would love to see DC's keep publishing DC Finest: The Demon trades until they get to 1993's The Demon #39 (Garth Ennis would take over the title with #40, and his much shorter run has been collected in a pair of trades).BORROWED: Batgirl Vol. 2: Bloodlines (DC Comics) I wasn't overly enamored with Tate Brombal and Takeshi Miyazawa's first collection of their new Batgirl series (reviewed in this column). On one hand, the art was great, Brombal obviously did his home

Meta remains a critical growth channel for many DTC and ecommerce brands, but for a growing number of marketing teams, confidence in Meta reporting has steadily declined. Conversions look delayed, performance feels volatile, and attribution often does not line up with backend revenue. This is not because Meta stopped working. It is because the way that performance is tracked and measured has changed. In a privacy-first world, accurate Meta measurement requires more than installing a pixel and trusting default reports. It requires intentional setup, validation, and ongoing maintenance. Below is a practical checklist to help marketers understand what actually needs to be in place. Why Meta Tracking Needs a Checklist Now Over the past several years, signal loss has become the norm rather than the exception. Apple’s App Tracking Transparency, browser-level cookie restrictions, and consent requirements have all reduced the amount of user-level data available to advertisers. eMarketer has consistently reported that these changes have made it harder for platforms to attribute conversions with the same level of precision as before. As a result, Meta has leaned more heavily on modeled conversions and aggregated reporting. That makes tracking setup quality more important than ever. Small gaps in implementation can create huge blind spots in performance data. The Meta Ads Tracking Checklist This checklist will not guarantee perfectly tracked data 100% of the time. While perfection cannot be expected in today’s landscape, having a solid data foundation goes a long way to support reliable decision-making. Meta Pixel Is Properly Installed and Firing Correctly This sounds basic, but it is still a common failure point when new clients sign on with our team. Confirm that: The Meta pixel is installed on all relevant pages Core events like ViewContent, AddToCart, and Purchase are firing consistently Events are not duplicated, missing, or firing with incorrect parameters Meta’s Events Manager should show recent activity with minimal warnings. If events appear sporadically, or with significant errors, attribution quality is likely suffering downstream. That said, keep in mind that Meta has a tendency to surface error warnings that don’t reflect true issues, so it’s important to evaluate messages in your own context and validate your pixel setup independently. Conversions API is Implemented and Validated The Conversions API is no longer optional for serious advertisers. By sending server-side events directly to Meta, CAPI helps recover signals lost to browser restrictions and ad blockers. Meta has stated publicly that advertisers using both pixel and CAPI see more complete conversion reporting compared to pixel-only setups. Best practices include: Sending the same events via pixel and CAPI with proper deduplication Passing key parameters like event time, value, and currency Including hashed customer data where possible Forbes has highlighted server-side tracking as a critical shift for marketers adapting to privacy changes. While it does not restore full visibility, it materially improves algorithm signal quality. If manual server-side tagging is a large hurdle for your business, you may want to consider Meta’s simple plug-and-play alternative called CAPI Gateway. With this option, Meta handles the server-side connection for you and eliminates the need to set up and maintain a custom, complex server solution. Many advertisers find this to be the easier point of entry for server-side CAPI configurations. Attribution Settings Align With How Your Customers Actually Buy Meta’s default attribution settings may not reflect your customers’ real buying cycle. Review: Attribution windows for click and view conversions Differences between platform-reported conversions and backend sales timing Whether shorter or longer windows better reflect intent and action taken eMarketer research shows that customer journeys increasingly span multiple days. Attribution settings should reflect reality, not defaults. Dynamic Ads Are Properly Set Up and Managed Dynamic Ads let you retarget users with the exact products that they have already viewed or interacted with, but only if your catalog is correctly uploaded and mapped. Improper setup can cause broken ads, poor personalization, and wasted spend. Ensure that: Your product catalog is uploaded and complete, including all products you want to advertise Catalog products are mapped to your website’s content_ids field or contents array Dynamic ads are linked to the correct events, like ViewContent, AddToCart, or Purchase Product inventory is up to date to avoid broken or outdated ads Proper setup ensures that your dynamic ads serve relevant products to users, improving ROAS and maintaining accurate reporting. Product ID Match Rates are Accurate High match rates between your pixel or CAPI events and your product catalog are critical for reliable attribution and ad performance. Low match rates can reduce personalization, limit dynamic ad effectiveness, and distort your conversion data. Validate that: Product IDs passed via Pixel or CAPI match your catalog exactly Server-side product IDs align with your catalog if using CAPI Diagnostics in Events Manager or Commerce Manager show minimal mismatches Any recurring errors or unmatched products are addressed promptly Keeping product ID match rates high ensures accurate reporting, better ad targeting, and more effective use of dynamic ads. Together, these help your campaigns drive better results. The Bigger Picture: Meta Tracking is Only One Layer Even a perfect Meta tracking setup will not deliver perfect measurement. This is because Meta is just one channel within a much broader ecosystem. Modern measurement requires layering platform attribution with server-side data, incrementality testing, and higher-level modeling approaches. Solid Meta tracking is the foundation, not the finish line. Each item in this checklist reduces blind spots and strengthens your data foundation for advanced measurement. Want the Full Framework? This checklist covers one critical piece of modern marketing measurement. Our Modern Measurement Playbook goes deeper, outlining how Meta, Google, and other platforms fit into a broader measurement strategy that includes first-party data, incrementality testing, and marketing mix modeling. Download the Modern Measurement Playbook to see how all of the pieces work together. The post Meta Ads Tracking Checklist: What Marketers Need To Know in a Privacy-First World appeared first on ROI Revolution.

Ready for more of Marvel's 1982-1994 G.I. Joe, A Real American Hero? I hope so, as that's what today's post is about. When we left off last time, things weren't looking good for Snake-Eyes. He was in the midst of beating up Cobra's Doctor Venom in front of a small bunker on a rive island in the small, fictional South American country of Sierra Gordo when the Baroness dropped a bomb on the island. Was the mercenary Kwinn able to rush the pair into the door of the bunker in time? Who cares, says Stalker, floating nearby with Breaker and Gung-Ho in the panel above; the whole island seems to have been vaporized! And that's where we pick up today. Remember, I'm currently reading the series via Image Comics' gigantic 1,200+ page, three-inch-thick G.I. Joe, A Real American Hero Compendium One, though I'm pulling the covers from the Grand Comics Database, which is why they all still say "Marvel Comics Group" across the top and Spidey's head appears in a little box in the lower left corner so often. Oh, and as always, all each of the issues below are written by the great Larry Hama, unless otherwise noted. G.I. Joe, A Real American Hero #13 (1983)Art by Mike Vosburg and Jon D'Agostino •When The Baroness and the Cobra courier with the scar on his face fly over the wreckage of the river boat, Stalker and company dive under the water so that she won't be able to see them. That seems like quite enough excitement for a while, and now the Joes can--Oh shit! •Stalker continues to fight the crocodile with his knife while announcing its phylum, sub-phylum, class, order and family. When it pulls him underwater, we and the other Joes can't see what happens for a few panels, but eventually Stalker surfaces and the croc does not.•While Stalker recovers from his fight with the crocodile and Breaker watches over him, Gung-Ho heads into town and, is it me, or does Vosburg have him meeting with the Sierra Gordo equivalents of Laurel and Hardy...? •Back at Cobra's headquarters, Cobra Commander refers to the scar-faced courier as "Scar-Face", and at that point it seems to become his name, as he is henceforth referred to as Scar-Face.•I like this bit. Cobra Commander and The Baroness are talking about Scar-Face, like, right next to him, and he can clearly hear them, as he's looking right at them. Also, note the panel right below it; at this point, Destro's name and face have yet to be revealed, and he's still only appearing in this manner, so that readers only know that there's a mysterious Cobra agent wearing metal gauntlets. •A new Joe gets introduced this issue: Torpedo, a SEAL whose action figure came dressed in scuba gear, with detachable swim fins and a harpoon gun. While the Joe team mounts a dangerous and complicated rescue mission to extract Stalker and the others, Torpedo and Doc investigate the river where the island Snake-Eyes and company were on when it was bombed. At the bottom of the river, he finds that the bunker itself is still intact. Reasoning someone may have survived, he taps on the door but is called back to the surface almost immediately...and thus isn't there when someone on the other side of the door taps back. Could Snake-Eyes have survived? (I mean, yes, obviously Snake-Eyes survived).G.I. Joe, A Real American Hero #14 (1983)Art by Mike Vosburg and Jon D'Agostino •Oh. So, after three issues of playing coy with what Destro's face looks like (his head is encased in a steel mask, as you all know, as this "mystery" is 43 years old), Marvel went ahead and just revealed it on the cover of an issue. The cover, drawn by Herb Trimpe and Steve Mitchell, isn't even a particularly good image of the character, and his collar and mask look fairly off model here. Anyway, this issue will reveal Destro's face within, as well as his name, although even that reveal is somewhat spoiled, as the title of this story is "Destro Attacks."•The action in this issue is split between Snake-Eyes and company in Sierra Gordo and the G.I. Joe vs. Cobra conflict back in the states. Here we learn that Snake-Eyes, Kwinn and Doctor Venom all made it into the bunker and sealed the door before the bomb destroyed the island out from under it, sinking it to the river floor. As the water rises to their necks, they all agree that they all have a score to settle with Cobra now and make an uneasy truce to help get out of the river alive.Kwinn, the strongest, prays to the spirit of the otter to help him swim and the spirit of the bear to help him, as he plunges underwater and manually opens the door, despite the massive water pressure making doing so quite difficult. As soon is the door is open, Venom clobbers him with a wrench to the back of the head. For a very average-looking middle-aged dude, Venom seems pretty confident in his fighting prowess, immediately challenging Snake-Eyes (see above). Ultimately, they are both captured by Cobra soldiers disguised as local mercenaries.Here Venom reveals to readers his own treachery; he gave Baroness the asked-for bioweapon, but not the secret catalyst.•Oh, and Vosburg must have tired of drawing a mask-less Snake-Eyes in such ways so as to conceal his face, as this issue opens with him back in his mask. He must carry spares•Back in the states, there's an intriguing bit where the fact that The Baroness and Destro knew one another in the past is expanded upon slightly, and we finally see Destro's face, first as a reflection in The Baroness' glasses. I have to admit the "say my name" stuff was quite dramatic. I am 100% sure if this comic were published today, the panel in which she says "Destro" would have been a full-page splash:•There's lots of treachery in this issue. Though not strictly a superhero comic, Hama certainly engages in something that seems common to super-team comics I've read. Specifically, that the heroes often triumph because of teamwork, and the fact that they like, respect and trust one another. Meanwhile, the villains often fail because their egos and duplicity mean they are inevitably betraying one another, oftentimes before they've even achieved their goals.This is a little complicated, but Cobra Commander asked The Baroness to plant a microdot for the Joes to find in Sierra Gordo, which would have indicated that Cobra HQ is actually under the Chaplin's Assistant School at Fort Wadsworth (Which we know is actually the Joes' HQ, though Cobra doesn't; that's some coincidence!). But Destro had Scar-Face secretly switch the microdots, giving the Joe's the location of an actual base in Springfield, Vermont, all part of his plan to get Cobra Commander caught or captured, so that he can take over the Cobra organization as its new commander. (As for the Commander, he and The Baroness have gone there to inject a Cobra volunteer with Venom's toxin, which is supposed to be harmless to him, but make him a walking biological weapon to use against the Joes...but he dies instantly, at which point they realize Venom had betrayed them).Meanwhile, Destro's plot goes awry when he realizes that the Commander has taken The Baroness with him, and thus he has to hustle to get there in time to fight off the Joes and save The Baroness...and The Commander.•By the way, the Commander's supersonic rocket transport lands at the Arbco Furniture Company in Vermont. "Arbco" is, of course, an anagram of "Cobra"; that's some Joker-going-by-"Joe Kerr" level of subterfuge.•The issue ends with a big fight, albeit one in which no one seems to get killed, or even hurt. The Joes roll into town in their new APC (or Amphibious Personnel Carrier), a 1983 toy, and are immediately ambushed by Destro's forces. Hawk calls in a strike from another new toy, the Skystriker, which came packaged with its pilot Ace, who makes his first appearance here.G.I. Joe, A Real American Hero #15 (1983)Art by Mike Vosburg and Jon D'Agostino•Back in Sierra Gordo, Kwinn makes a very dramatic appearance, using his giant machine-gun to gun down all the Cobra agents-posing-as-mercenaries to rescue his kinda sorta allies Snake-Eyes and Doctor Venom, the latter of whom they will need to fly them out of the country. •Snake-Eyes immediately starts choking Venom and trying to drown him in the river, but Kwinn makes him stop.•There's a lot of action, as the trio have to steal a plane from hostile forces, take off while under attack and then get involved in an aerial battle. At one point, Venom manages to signal Cobra via morse code from the plane's controls, telling them he will forgive the attempt on his life in exchange for a lawyer waiting for him in Miami, and again attempts to kill Snake-Eyes and Kwinn by dumping them out of the plane...and again taking a wrench to Kwinn's head. Kwinn is about to throw him out of the plane, but this time Snake-Eyes stops him from killing Venom.So, when they crash-land on a beach in Miami, Venom is allowed to go free, while Snake-Eyes and Kwinn are put in a jail cell. It seems odd that Snake-Eyes wouldn't be able to prove he was a member of the military via some kind of I.D. or "talk" his way out using sign language...maybe the local law enforcement doesn't know anyone who speaks sign language? Maybe Snake-Eyes doesn't speak sign-language? And I guess if they did give him one phone call, he wouldn't be able to talk over the phone anyway, huh...? Anyway, kinda weird.•Vosburg seems to have forgotten to draw Kwinn's weasel skull necklace in this issue. •I like this scene featuring Destro and The Baroness. That's so many dots! I don't know if I would trust an answer preceded by that long of a pause, Destro!•This issue also introduces a new member of Cobra, the colorfully named mercenary (and poet!) Major Bludd. It seems Cobra Commander has hired him to help deal with Destro's treachery, which he apparently suspects.

Today’s websites are no longer simple; they function as enterprise applications and distributed systems composed of multiple layers, including microservices APIs (application programming interfaces that allow different software components to communicate), edge delivery networks (systems that deliver content to users from the nearest location), JavaScript-heavy frontends, analytics integrations, personalization engines, and third-party marketing scripts. As these systems grow in complexity, performance problems inevitably appear. Most organizations try to fix performance by running optimization initiatives, but the real problem is that performance is usually treated as a one-time optimization project instead of a continuous engineering discipline. This is the idea behind the Adaptive Edge-Native Performance Governance Framework (AEPGF) — the framework helps teams prevent regressions before they reach production.

Alex Drummond Gets Candid About One ‘Brutal’ Pregnancy Symptom The Pioneer Woman

‘Not a millionaire’: Ilhan Omar blames accounting error as reported net worth plunges from up to $30M to as low as $18K Yahoo Finance

If you’ve ever had a student finish a math worksheet in record time and immediately ask, “What do I do now?”, you’re not alone. In the primary grades, worksheets help build fluency, but they don’t always give students opportunities to think deeply or apply what they’ve learned. And with the growing emphasis on problem-solving and reasoning in early math standards, teachers are looking for simple ways to build critical thinking without adding hours of prep. The good news? You don’t need fancy manipulatives or complicated lessons to help young learners think more strategically. A few small shifts and the right types of activities can gently stretch their brains while keeping math fun and accessible. Read on for some classroom-friendly ways to build critical thinking in K–2… and how to make it easy on yourself while you’re at it. What Critical Thinking Looks Like in K–2 Math When we hear “critical thinking,” we sometimes imagine big, complex tasks. But in the primary grades, it’s actually pretty simple. Critical thinking shows up when students: Notice and extend patterns Compare and sort objects Work through a challenge step-by-step Explain their reasoning Eliminate choices based on clues Make predictions and check their thinking It’s less about “hard math” and more about giving kids opportunities to think, reason, and talk through their choices—even in small ways. In my early days of teaching, I always assumed critical thinking was something BIG, but as I’ve taught longer, I’ve realized there are LOTS of ways to sneak in this important skill! Add Quick, Low-Prep Logic Activities to Your Day Logic tasks are one of my favorite ways to build critical thinking without adding to my prep load. These activities look like games, which is why students love them, but they require careful thinking. A few examples you can easily add to your classroom: Simple picture-based logic puzzles “What doesn’t belong?” prompts Attribute sorting tasks Pattern block challenges Basic elimination puzzles These activities work perfectly during morning work, in math centers, or anytime you want students to warm up their brains. A bonus: they build academic vocabulary naturally as students explain their steps (“That can’t go here because the row already has one…”). Create Independent Math Centers and Early Finisher Choices If you want something that truly builds independence, logic puzzles are a dream. They’re quiet, self-guided, and help students build stamina without needing constant teacher support. For early finishers, especially, it’s helpful to have activities that feel like a challenge, not busywork. Logic puzzles check all the boxes: ✅ High Engagement✅ Easy cleanup✅ Themed Each Month I rotate puzzles monthly, but you can tie them to the seasons to keep things fresh. Students start to look forward to the challenge, and you don’t have to reinvent the wheel every time. Support Productive Struggle the Right Way A big part of critical thinking is allowing students to engage in productive struggle. This is where students learn to persevere {not rush!} and look for clues or patterns to guide them. You can support this by asking simple prompts during math time: “What else could work?” “How do you know that goes there?” “Can you show me another way?” “What clue tells you that answer makes sense?” These open-ended questions push students to verbalize their thinking, which helps them develop confidence and math language skills. A Simple Tool for Building Critical Thinking All Year: Seasonal Sudoku Puzzles One easy way to work all of these skills into your day—without spending extra time prepping—is by using picture-based Sudoku puzzles designed for young learners. The Sudoku for the Year set I created gives students a chance to apply logic, eliminate possibilities, and think through choices in a low-pressure format. Each puzzle uses seasonal pictures instead of numbers, which makes the challenge feel friendly and accessible for K–2 students. Teachers love using these puzzles for: Math centers Early finisher tubs Morning work Brain breaks Partner logic challenges Sub plans Digital learning days Because the resource includes both print and Google Drive options, you can use them in any classroom setup! Students catch on quickly and start explaining their reasoning without even realizing they’re doing it. The puzzles give them just enough challenge to build confidence and persistence, but not so much that they shut down. It’s the perfect mix. Try adding one logic activity to your week and see how your students respond. If you want a ready-made, year-long set of seasonal puzzles that build critical thinking in a fun, independent way, you can check out my Sudoku for the Year set right here. The post How to Build Critical Thinking in K–2 Math appeared first on Lucky Learning with Molly Lynch.

I am running a winter signed book campaign so folks can order the special edition of Only Bad Options, my other books, bookmarks, and more. Woot! 😎 The special edition includes: MORE SPECIAL EDITION DETAILS: If anyone has any questions, just let me know. Thanks for reading! ❤️❤️❤️ The post Winter Signed Book Campaign … appeared first on Jennifer Estep.

"Autonomous robot" and "chasing wild boars" were two phrases we never thought we would put together in our lifetime, and yet, here we are.The technology of today's world is pretty incredible. Almost every person on the planet has access to generative AI, we are developing the ability to alter people's genetics to avoid genetic disorders before birth, we now have reusable rockets that are dramatically reducing waste and energy in our space travel, and 3D printers are now a commonplace item in homes of tech nerds. We are curing incurable diseases left and right, and soon enough, we'll all have personal robot assistants to help us with daily tasks, like chasing wild boars out of our neighborhoods.Yes, you did read that correctly. In Poland, an autonomous robot was caught on camera chasing a pack of wild boars out of a Polish neighborhood. It sounds too crazy to be real, and yet, it is. The video starts with the boars (very large ones, at that) running away, followed soon after by a robot chasing after them. After the boars escape out of view, the robot seems to wave its arm, as if saying, "And don't come back!"From the boars' perspective, this must look like a scene out of The Terminator. Even to us, it looks like a scene out of The Terminator. As cool as it would be to have a robot that folds our laundry, cleans our dishes, and vacuums our house for us, it's not worth it if we end up in the boars' place instead.

New Jersey forest fire anniversary April 2026 Press of Atlantic City

As more merchants enter the Shopping auction each year, simply passing accurate product data is no longer enough to stand out. Competition has intensified across both paid and organic placements, and shoppers are evaluating value before they ever click through to your site. That’s where annotations come in. According to Google’s Merchant Excellence documentation, “activating annotations to influence decision making” is the 2nd most important initiative a merchant should tackle, even ranking ahead of title/description enhancements, image updates, or even categorization. Appearing on both Shopping ads and Free listings through Google Merchant Center, annotations help surface key details like discounts, shipping benefits, and ratings directly on the listing. These enhancements can influence click-through rate, improve traffic quality, and strengthen overall feed competitiveness. Google continues to test and evolve annotation formats, but several core enhancements consistently impact performance. Understanding how they work, and how your feed data supports them, is essential for driving stronger Shopping results. Price Based Annotations Price remains one of the most visible and most scrutinized elements in the Shopping auction. With multiple merchants appearing side by side in the same results, shoppers can compare pricing instantly. But competitiveness alone isn’t always enough. Shoppers aren’t just looking for the lowest number: they’re looking for confirmation that they’re getting a deal. Sale Price The Sale Price annotation appears when both a regular price and a discounted price are passed correctly in your feed. To be eligible: Your standard price must be submitted using the [price] attribute. Your discounted price must be submitted using the [sale_price] attribute. The [sale_price] must be lower than the [price]. However, eligibility requires more than simply submitting two numbers. Google evaluates historical pricing behavior to ensure authenticity. The base [price] must have been charged for at least 5 days in the past 30 days or at least 15 days in the past 200 days and the discount must generally fall between 5% and 90%. This helps prevent artificial or inflated “discounts” that don’t represent true value to shoppers. Price Drop The Price Drop badge functions differently. Rather than relying on the [sale_price] attribute, this annotation is triggered when the base [price] itself decreases relative to its recent historical average. If your current listed price is “significantly lower” than the average price submitted over approximately the past 60 days, Google may automatically display a Price drop badge. Two important distinctions: This is algorithmically determined. You cannot force it. It typically appears only when there has been a significant and sustained reduction from what was previously a stable price. In other words, short-term fluctuations or minor adjustments are unlikely to trigger the badge. Google is looking for real price movement that signals meaningful savings to the shopper. Price-based annotations are powerful, but they reward disciplined pricing strategy. According to Google’s MerchX case studies, triggering price-based annotations can improve CTR for affected items by nearly 8%. Frequent price volatility can dilute eligibility for both Sale Price and Price Drop badges. On the other hand, intentional promotional windows with stable base pricing can increase the likelihood that Google recognizes and surfaces the discount. Promotions While price-based annotations reflect structured changes to your product pricing, promotions introduce an additional incentive that can be layered independently from your pricing. Merchant Promotions allow sellers to surface time-bound or conditional offers directly within Shopping ads and Free listings. When implemented strategically, promotions can improve click-through rate (usually in the 5-10% improvement range!), increase average order value, and create urgency. Percent-Off & Dollar-Off Promotions Percent-off and dollar-off promotions communicate immediate savings to shoppers. Unlike the [sale_price] attribute, these offers are configured separately through Merchant Center and can be structured in multiple ways: Automatic discount applied at checkout Promo code required at checkout Applicable to all orders Triggered at a minimum spend threshold (e.g., 15% off $100+ vs 20% off sitewide) This flexibility allows you to align promotional strategy with business goals, whether that’s clearing inventory, increasing AOV, or driving short-term volume. Because these promotions are distinct from base pricing, they can stack strategically with sale pricing in certain scenarios, further strengthening the perceived value of the listing. Free Shipping (as a Promotion) Free shipping can also be configured as a promotion, but with an important distinction. To qualify as a promotional annotation, free shipping must require a code or represent a temporary offer. Google discourages merchants from labeling everyday free shipping as a “promotion,” since the intent of promotional annotations is to highlight incremental, time-bound value. If your business already offers standard free shipping, that should instead be configured within your shipping settings, which may trigger separate shipping-related annotations covered in the next section. Free Gift Free gift promotions allow you to indicate that a shopper will receive an additional item with their purchase. These offers can be: Automatically applied Triggered at a spend threshold Tied to a specific qualifying product Linked to another product in your catalog This format is particularly effective for increasing average order value or adding perceived value without discounting your core product. “Special Offer” Display When active, promotions may appear on your Shopping ads or Free listings as a “Special offer” link. Clicking this opens a pop-up with full promotional details, reinforcing transparency and clarity before the shopper ever reaches your site. As with all annotations, eligibility and display are not guaranteed. Promotions must comply with Google’s policy requirements and function as described at checkout. Shipping Annotations As consumer expectations have evolved, driven in large part by marketplaces like Amazon, free and fast shipping is no longer a differentiator in many verticals. It’s an expectation. While shipping annotations don’t always reflect a direct price reduction the way sale pricing or promotions do, they influence perceived total cost and delivery convenience, both of which materially impact click-through and conversion behavior. In competitive Shopping results, shipping clarity can be the deciding factor between equally priced listings. Free Shipping The Free Shipping annotation appears when Google determines that the shipping cost to the shopper is $0. This is calculated based on your shipping settings configured in Google Merchant Center or the [shipping] attribute in your product feed. If free shipping is conditional (e.g., free over $50), Google evaluates eligibility based on the product price and the configured threshold. Estimated Delivery Date In many cases, you’ll see annotations such as “Get by 2/23” or “Free delivery by Friday”. These delivery-date annotations are generated based on your handling time and transit time settings. Even in the absence of other enhancements, visible delivery timing can significantly influence shopper behavior, particularly for time-sensitive purchases. For shoppers comparing similar products, earlier delivery can outweigh small price differences. Fast & Free Shipping The Fast & Free Shipping annotation highlights products that meet both speed and cost thresholds. To qualify in the U.S., products must generally meet two conditions: Free: Delivered at no cost to the customer (or free once minimum order threshold is met) Fast: Delivered within 3 days or fewer When eligible, this annotation may appear as “Ships free & fast”, “Free 2-day delivery”, or “Free 3-day delivery”. This is one of the most impactful shipping-related badges because it combines cost savings and speed, reinforcing both value and convenience in a single annotation. Google verifies shipping accuracy by evaluating your site’s published shipping policies and your product landing pages. Consistent fulfillment performance is essential. Overpromising and underdelivering can jeopardize eligibility and diminish customer trust and satisfaction. Seller Ratings & Product Reviews If price signals communicate value and shipping signals reduce friction, ratings and reviews communicate trust. In competitive Shopping results, shoppers are often comparing unfamiliar brands side by side. When products look similar and pricing is within range, social proof becomes the deciding factor. Star ratings and review counts provide immediate validation: signaling reliability, service quality, and product satisfaction before the shopper ever clicks. Unlike discounts or shipping incentives, reviews cannot be manufactured or toggled on. They are earned signals, and when present, they can influence both click-through rate and conversion performance. Seller Ratings Seller ratings reflect your overall merchant experience, not a specific product. They aggregate feedback related to shipping reliability, customer service, returns, and overall purchase satisfaction. On Shopping ads and Free listings, they appear as a star rating and review count next to your merchant name, reinforcing credibility at the brand level. Seller ratings are compiled from multiple sources and surfaced through Google Merchant Center. These sources can include: Google Customer Reviews Approved third-party review partners Reviews collected across Google-owned properties Because seller ratings reflect merchant-wide experience, they influence how shoppers perceive your brand before evaluating any individual product. Product Reviews Where seller ratings validate the business, product reviews validate the item itself. Product reviews are tied to individual SKUs and evaluate attributes such as quality, performance, fit, and overall satisfaction. They appear as star ratings and review counts directly on product cards within Shopping results. Product-level ratings can be surfaced in Merchant Center through: Merchant-submitted product review feeds Structured review markup implemented on product pages Indexed third-party product review partners When Google can confidently match your product to a broader catalog listing using a universal identifier, it may aggregate review data from across merchants selling the same item. If you’re unfamiliar with universal identifiers, you can refer to our article about product identifiers for an overview. A 6-year-long case study conducted by Google revealed that having Product Ratings on the majority of eligible items leads to a 5% CTR improvement. Bringing It All Together: The Power of Annotations On Google Shopping, consumers make decisions in seconds, scanning listings and comparing multiple options at a glance. Annotations give shoppers the signals they need to make those choices confidently – highlighting value, convenience, and credibility. When these signals are accurate, consistent, and visible, they help your listings stand out in competitive auctions, attract higher-intent traffic, and improve overall performance across both paid Shopping ads and Free listings. Optimizing annotations isn’t just a technical exercise — it’s a strategic way to turn structured feed data into visible advantages that influence shopper behavior and drive better engagement, clicks, and conversions over time. If you have questions about improving your Google Shopping listings, contact us to talk with an expert! The post Google Merchant Excellence: Google Shopping Annotations appeared first on ROI Revolution.

Blizzard working on patch to fix Overwatch Nintendo Switch 2 performance issues My Nintendo News

The autographed dual Gold Logoman card is drawing comparisons to a card featuring two NBA legends that sold for more than $12 million.

Takeshi Miyazawa draws Batgirl on a horse in 2025's Batgirl #9, collected in Batgirl Vol. 2: Bloodlines.

The Artemis II astronauts pose for a group photo in front of Orion after splashdown in the Pacific Ocean. NasaThe Artemis II mission to the Moon is a voyage unlike any other in more than half a century. As the first crewed lunar flight since 1972, Artemis II marks the beginning of a new chapter in our relationship with the Moon. Nasa’s goal is to establish a sustained human presence on the Moon. As the Artemis II ten-day journey concludes, it will be remembered as a profound moment in the history of human spaceflight. Stunning photos and video downlinked to Earth have provided a human perspective on this historic encounter with our celestial neighbour. The experience has rekindled the optimistic spirit of the Apollo era for a new generation. The mission did not orbit the Moon. Instead, the Orion spacecraft carried the astronauts on a gravity guided loop around Earth’s natural satellite. During their flight, the crew – Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen – travelled further into space than any previous human mission. They reached a maximum distance of 252,756 miles from Earth, exceeding a distance record set by Apollo 13. Afterwards, mission specialist Jeremy Hansen challenged the next generation of explorers “to make sure this record is not long-lived”. This challenge underscores the current focus of human space exploration. After decades sending its astronauts to low Earth orbit, the US space agency is looking outward again, not just to the Moon, but also Mars. Nasa’s Artemis II mission launches from Kennedy Space Center (C-Span). The mission began with a textbook launch of the Orion spacecraft on the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. After a day in Earth orbit, Orion’s main engine performed a nearly six minute burn, known as the translunar injection (TLI), to send the capsule on its lunar trajectory. As Orion headed to the Moon, commander Reid Wiseman captured a stunning view of our home planet. The beautiful image, dubbed Hello, World, shows Earth at night, illuminated only by reflected sunlight from the Moon. Hello, World: Reid Wiseman captured this night-time picture of Earth on April 2, after Orion completed its translunar injection burn. Nasa / Reid Wiseman The mesmerising green light of auroras at the poles and the arc of zodiacal light (a faint glow of sunlight scattered by interplanetary dust) highlighted how thin Earth’s atmosphere is. The image immediately drew comparisons with the iconic Blue Marble photograph taken during the Apollo 17 lunar mission in 1972; the last time humans viewed the entirety of Earth with their own eyes. Lunar flyby On the morning of April 6, as the lunar flyby approached, mission control played the crew a special message from astronaut Jim Lovell, recorded before his death in 2025. Lovell is a link to Nasa’s trailblazing past, having flown on both the Apollo 8 mission, the first to reach the Moon, and Apollo 13. “Welcome to my old neighborhood!” Lovell said. “When Frank Borman, Bill Anders, and I (flew) on Apollo 8, we got humanity’s first up-close look at the Moon… I’m proud to pass that torch on to you.” His words must have inspired the four astronauts as they began scientific observations of 30 key sites on the lunar surface. These included impact craters and volcanic features on the Moon’s near side and its far side – the face pointed away from the Earth. Artemis II crew names a lunar crater after commander’s late wife (Video from Space). The astronauts found the time to name a crater after Reid Wiseman’s wife Carroll, who died of cancer in 2020. In a touching moment, Jeremy Hansen was overwhelmed with emotion as he informed mission control of their suggestion. Discovering Earth As Orion travelled behind the Moon, the crew witnessed the blue crescent of Earth setting below the lunar horizon. A photograph, named Earthset, has already become a classic space image. It recalls the legendary Earthrise photograph taken by astronaut Bill Anders during Apollo 8 in 1968. This view of Earth setting was captured from Orion on April 6 2026, as the Orion spacecraft flew around the Moon. Nasa Earthrise was a defining picture of the Apollo era – credited with inspiring the environmental movement in the 1970s. As Bill Anders commented: “We came all this way to explore the Moon, and the most important thing is that we discovered the Earth.” Anders may have been one of the first astronauts to articulate the “overview effect”. This affects some astronauts while viewing Earth from space. They describe being awestruck by our planet’s beauty and fragility. An enhanced sense of connection to humanity is often reported, as well as a profound feeling of responsibility for the environment. After Orion emerged from behind the Moon, the crew was treated to a spectacular hour-long solar eclipse. As a mostly darkened Moon blocked out our parent star, the astronauts photographed the Sun’s faint atmosphere, the corona, which was made visible by the eclipse. The Moon is seen here backlit by the Sun during a solar eclipse on April 6, 2026. The Orion spacecraft can be seen in the foreground, on the left. Nasa They also witnessed flashes of light from meteoroids (small space rocks) impacting the Moon – to the visible delight of scientists at mission control in Houston. Researchers want to understand the dynamics of these impact events, as well as the risk they could pose to future missions. In his message, Lovell had reminded the astronauts to enjoy the view during their busy flyby. The astronauts later described the strong emotions they felt. Christina Koch said: “I just had an overwhelming sense of being moved by looking at the Moon. It lasted just a second or two… but something just threw me in suddenly to the lunar landscape and it became real.” Victor Glover added: “I went straight where Christina went, and I was walking around down there on the surface, climbing and off-roading on that amazing terrain.” Artemis II has shared the astronauts’ sense of wonder with people around the world. Those who have followed the mission will be left with a new appreciation of humankind’s place in the cosmos. The incredible images and human moments offered an unprecedented window into a voyage of pure exploration. Earlier this year, Nasa’s administrator Jared Isaacman announced a bold new vision for the agency’s Artemis lunar programme, including an increased launch frequency for the SLS rocket and concrete plans for a permanent Moon base. That vision of the future is off to an extraordinary start. For humanity, a new adventure is just beginning. Ed Macaulay does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.