text:
INVESTMENT PROFESSIONALS
Why Hotchkis & Wiley
Firm at a Glance
Marketing & Client Service Team
Research Advantage
Value Equity Strategies
Large Cap Diversified Value
Large Cap Fundamental Value
Mid-Cap Value
Small Cap Value
Small Cap Diversified Value
Global Value
International Value
Value Opportunities
Capital Income
Value Equity
Diversified Value
Large Cap Value
How to Reduce Sales Charges
Mutual Funds / Value Equity / Large Cap Value Fund
Large Cap Value Fund (HWLIX)
I SHARES A SHARES C SHARES
The performance data quoted represents past performance and does not guarantee future results. Current performance may be lower or higher. Investment return and principal value of the fund will fluctuate, and shares may be worth more or less than their original cost when redeemed. Click quarter-end or month-end to obtain the most recent fund performance.
Manager Commentary
Period ended December 31, 2019
For much of calendar year 2019, the United States engaged in a trade war with its largest global trading partner. Near the end of the year, the House of Representatives impeached the President for just the third time in history. US equity markets shrugged off the tumultuous political environment and the S&P 500 Index returned an impressive +31.5%; there have been only 16 calendar years since 1926 that have been better. The economy has been supportive with real GDP modestly positive, inflation range-bound around 2%, and unemployment at a 50-year low.
The S&P 500's forward P/E ratio went from 15.4x at the beginning of the year to 19.8x at the end of the year; the 28% multiple expansion explains nearly all of the market's performance. The market's average P/E over the past 30 years is 17.1x, so it went from about 10% below average to about 15% above average over the course of the year. Importantly, however, interest rates are considerably lower than they have been for most of that period—the 10-year treasury yield is just 1.9% compared to its 30-year average of 4.4%. Technology was the top-performing sector by a large margin, returning +50% over the 12 months. Energy was the worst-performing sector for the third year in a row, returning +12%. All other S&P 500 sectors returned between +20% and +33%.
For the third year in a row, the Russell 1000 Growth Index outperformed the Russell 1000 Value Index (+36.4% vs. 26.5%). Growth outperformed value in 7 of the last 10 calendar years with cumulative outperformance of more than 100% (+312% vs. +205%, or +15.2% vs. +11.8% annualized), nearly all of which occurred in the last three years. The lopsided performance has resulted in a wider-than-normal valuation spread between growth and value. Over the past 25 years, the average forward P/E for the Russell 1000 Growth has been 20.2x compared to 15.0x for the Russell 1000 Value, which represents an average valuation spread of 5.2x. As of 12/31/19, the forward P/E for the growth and value indices were 25.6x and 16.6x, respectively, or a spread of 9.0x. This valuation gap has only been wider 7% of the time, all of which came during the tech/internet bubble from 1999 to 2001. Using price-to-book instead of price-to-earnings, the current valuation gap has been exceeded only 1% of the time historically, with the tech/internet bubble again representing the lone exception.
Investors' increasing preference for low stock price volatility explains at least a portion of the valuation gap's widening. The S&P 500 Low Volatility Index is composed of the 100 index stocks that exhibited the lowest volatility in the previous 12 months (i.e. the least volatile quintile of the S&P 500). Over the last decade, the low volatility index's forward P/E averaged about 1.0x multiple points higher than the broad index (18.8x vs. 17.8x). The average premium over the first 8 years was 0.4x multiple points, however, while the average premium over the last 2 years was 3.1x multiple points (the spread as of 12/31/19 was also 3.1x). This has caused a substantial divergence between certain industries whereby many non-cyclicals exhibit rich risk-adjusted valuations relative to their cyclical counterparts. As an example, the forward P/E ratio for S&P 500 Utilities Index has risen by more than 60% over the last decade; the forward P/E ratio for S&P 500 Banks Index has fallen by 5% over the same period. We have nothing against utilities, consumer staples, or REITs, other than the seemingly high prices currently required to purchase them.
While the overall equity market appears fully valued compared to history, we believe the valuation disparities across the market create an investment environment highly conducive to long-term focused active management, particularly in relative terms. The spread between the growth and value indices is wide, suggesting a promising outlook for value. The spread between the portfolio and the value index is also wide, suggesting a promising outlook for the portfolio. The portfolio trades at 9.0x normal earnings (historical average of 9.3x) compared to the Russell 1000 Value at 15.4x (historical average of 13.4x) and the Russell 1000 Growth at 26.6x (historical average of 19.5x). The considerable valuation advantage combined with good underlying businesses and healthy balance sheets leaves us confident about the portfolio's prospects.
ATTRIBUTION: 2019
The Hotchkis & Wiley Large Cap Value Fund outperformed the Russell 1000 Value Index in 2019. Positive stock selection across a broad array of sectors caused the outperformance in the year; stock selection in financials, healthcare, industrials, utilities, and energy each contributed in a meaningful way. The overweight exposure to technology and the underweight exposure to healthcare also helped. Negative stock selection in technology and communication services, along with the overweight position in energy were the largest performance detractors in the year. The largest positive contributors to relative performance over the year were Microsoft, General Electric, Citigroup, Hess, and AIG; the largest detractors were Corning, Marathon Oil, Vodafone, National Oilwell Varco, and Apache.
LARGEST NEW PURCHASES: 2019
Halliburton (HAL) is a leading diversified provider of oilfield services with leading market share in most of its North American product/service lines. The downturn in energy prices has reduced oilfield activity below sustainable levels, hurting Halliburton's sales and profitability. As activity rebounds, the majority of its product lines should experience significant increases in volumes and pricing. Furthermore, Halliburton's scale advantage and vertical integration in North American pressure pumping, we believe, could allow it to earn attractive returns even when marginal competitors are struggling to earn their cost of capital.
UnitedHealth Group (UNH) is the largest and most diversified managed care organization in an industry where scale is a significant competitive advantage. UNH has the largest and fastest growing share in Medicare Advantage, the biggest opportunity in managed care. UNH is also well positioned in Medicaid, another growth opportunity. UNH is a high quality business with above average growth prospects, sticky and stable earnings, and a good balance sheet.
Mutual fund investing involves risk. Principal loss is possible. The Fund may invest in foreign securities which involve greater volatility and political, economic and currency risks and differences in accounting methods. The Fund may invest in American Depository Receipts ("ADRs") and Global Depository Receipts ("GDRs") which may be subject to some of the same risks as direct investment in foreign companies.
Fund holdings and/or sector allocations are subject to change and are not buy/sell recommendations. Current and future portfolio holdings are subject to risk. Certain information presented based on proprietary or third-party estimates are subject to change and cannot be guaranteed. Portfolio managers' opinions and data included in this commentary are as of 12/31/19 and are subject to change without notice. Any forecasts made cannot be guaranteed. Information obtained from independent sources is considered reliable, but H&W cannot guarantee its accuracy or completeness. Specific securities identified are the largest contributors (or detractors) on a relative basis to the Russell 1000 Value Index. Securities' absolute performance may reflect different results. The "Largest New Purchases" section includes the three largest new security positions during the quarter/year based on the security's quarter/year-end weight adjusted for its relative return contribution; does not include any security received as a result of a corporate action; if fewer than three new security positions during the quarter/year, all new security positions are included. The Fund may not continue to hold the securities mentioned and the Advisor has no obligation to disclose purchases or sales of these securities. Attribution is an analysis of the portfolio's return relative to a selected benchmark, is calculated using daily holding information and does not reflect the payment of transaction costs, fees and expenses of the Fund. Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Diversification does not assure a profit nor protect against loss in a declining market.
Investing in value stocks presents the risk that value stocks may fall out of favor with investors and underperform other asset types during a given period. Equities, bonds, and other asset classes have different risk profiles, which should be considered when investing. All investments contain risk and may lose value.
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This is a re-post from 2011, written on a personal blog I kept years ago. Prayer is a gift given to every Christian. We might wrongly assume it is set aside for the more holy or just for the pious people. But that is not so! Prayer is a gift for every believer!
Yet could it be, that the degree to which we utilize this gift of prayer is the degree to which we will actually grow and be made more holy?
My friend Wendy (thank you, Wendy) has introduced me to a treasure in J.C. Ryle. He pastored an English church in the mid-1800s, and though that was ages ago now, his words are no less poignant today.
There are some of the Lord's people who seem never able to get on from the time of their conversion. They are born again, but they remain babes all their lives. You hear from them the same old experience. You remark in them the same want of spiritual appetite, the same want of interest in anything beyond their own little circle, which you remarked ten years ago. They are pilgrims, indeed, but pilgrims like the Gibeonites of old; their bread is always dry and mouldy, their shoes always old, their garments always rent and torn. I say this with sorrow and grief; but I ask any real Christian, Is it not true?
There are others of the Lord's people who seem to be always advancing. They grow like the grass after rain; they increase like Israel in Egypt; they press on like Gideon, though sometimes faint, yet always pursuing. They are ever adding grace to grace, and faith to faith, and strength to strength. Every time you meet them their hearts seem larger, and their spiritual stature taller and stronger. Every year they appear to see more, and know more and believe more, and feel more in their religion. They not only have good works to prove the reality of their faith, but they are zealous of them. They not only do well, but they are unwearied in well-doing. They attempt great things, and they do great things. When they fail they try again, and when they fall they are soon up again. And all this time they think themselves poor, unprofitable servants, and fancy they do nothing at all. These are those who make religion lovely and beautiful in the eyes of all. They wrest praise even from the unconverted, and win golden opinions even from the selfish men of the world. It does one good to see, to be with, and to hear them. When you meet them, you could believe that like Moses, they had just come out from the presence of God. When you part with them you feel warmed by their company, as if your soul had been near a fire. I know such people are rare I only ask, Are there not many such?
Now how can we account for the difference which I have just described? What is the reason that some believers are so much brighter and holier than others? I believe the difference, in nineteen cases out of twenty, arises from different habits about private prayer. I believe that those who are not eminently holy pray little and those who are eminently holy pray much….I believe that spiritual as well as natural greatness depends in a high degree on the faithful use of means within everybody's reach….And I assert confidently that the principal means by which most believers have become great in the Church of Christ is the habit of diligent private prayer.
To be hungry. To be thirsty. Not for the crusty moldy bread cast off by the world, but to be full-up with manna and living water that quenches a soul. And this promise says, they will be filled. We seek it through disciplined, spirit-filled, private prayer. Longer than a sentence on the way into the grocery store and more needy than a few wandering requests as I drift off to sleep.
But to hunger and to go hungry in prayer. To be driven to our knees because we know where our needs are met. Seek first the kingdom of heaven and all these things shall be added unto you.
We seek it not for our own glory–not for the favor of man, but to know God's glory. Because He is the essence of a life, and he sustains eternally.
I came across a video Revive our Hearts posted today. It is a wonderful testimony of prayer!


text:
The Happy Hour Talk Show
LGBT Rappers
YoLGBT Raps x Gaye
Big, Black Gaye Christmas
Luther V. Wade
Rickey Smiley Says Society Will Not Allow Black Boys to Wear Dreads But Applaud For Wearing A Dress
Comedian and morning show host Rickey Smiley feels that society likes to down
play black boys masculinity. He was outraged that a high school black teen from Texas was suspended from his own high school graduation for refusing to cut off his dreadlocks.
He states that society likes to make criminals out of black boys and men but advocate for them wearing female clothing.
The issue arose when 16-year-old Deandre Arnold from Belvieu, Texas made nationwide news after refusing to cut off his locks for his graduation. The controversy caught the eye of power couple Dwyane Wade and Gabrielle Union who invited Deandre and his mother, Sandy, on a trip to the 2020 Oscars. The couple also had a short film titled "Hair Love", which was nominated this year, so they had a lot to look forward to.
Smiley took to social media to post the following photo:
Now for those of you who might not know, Smiley got his come up from pretending to be an old lady wearing dresses. A lot of fans and non-fans soon after took to social media to state that he was being a hypocrite. His most famous character he is known for playing is Ms. Bernice Jenkins which he also played in First Sunday. He has performed the Ms. Bernice character on many stages throughout the country and on his Morning show. Smiley soon after deleted the post but not before fans got wind of it.
A follower on Twitter tweeted, "This funny considering we all know you got rich from wearing a dress."
Queer actor Daryl Stephens tweeted, "A "society" of Queer Black folks stood up and made sure the child who couldn't graduate because of ashy ignoramuses is currently trying to vilify queer black folks for existing. Which society are you here to represent?"
This comment from Mr. Smiley is shocking knowing that he has LGBT listeners and also a gay co-host known who segments "Gary With the Tea".
Young Buck Claims 50 Cent Used Him Being "Catfished" by Trans Woman to Distract from Legal Battle
Rapper Young Buck Confirms He Saw Birdman and Lil Wayne Kiss, "Baby Never Played With Me Like That"
Nicki Minaj Shares First Photos of Her Baby Boy, "I Want a Cute Little Fat Baby"
© 2020 Gaye Magazine All Rights Reserved.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Water Conference Ends With Declaration
YURI KAGEYAMA
Delegates from around the world approved a declaration Sunday to tackle the global water crisis, but some criticized the agreement as short on action.
The two-day meeting in the western Japanese city of Kyoto drew representatives from nearly 100 nations, united in recognizing a need for worldwide partnerships on water problems but divided over solutions.
Participants said the World Water Forum was an open meeting for a free exchange of views rather than an attempt to make policy.
The issue is vast, spanning farming, sanitation, climate changes, floods and droughts and even sexual inequalities that force women to fetch water in some nations.
The declaration adopted Sunday with only minor changes from a draft circulating over the weekend says water is key to the development of nations, encourages financing for managing water resources and supports regional approaches to water problems.
The United States praised the agreement and congratulated host nation Japan.
"We are very pleased with the outcome," said Paula Dobriansky, the U.S. undersecretary of state for global affairs. "The declaration attests to action."
But many delegates, including the European Union, the Marshall Islands, Bangladesh and Latin American nations, expressed dissatisfaction with the document, although none rejected it outright.
Most said the declaration needed more specific commitments to action and its language was not strong enough.
Others said it should include concerns about climate changes that are raising sea levels dangerously and threatening nations with droughts and floods.
Several Latin American nations said the importance of protecting the rights of indigenous people needed to be mentioned.
"We sound tentative, halfhearted," said Monyane Moleleki, minister of natural resources from Lesotho, told the ministers gathered in a hall.
He said the document uses the word "should" when a better phrase would have been "we will."


text:
Don't Be Fooled by Brackish Bow Ties
Published April 19, 2017 by Michelle Kretzer.
Brackish, purveyor of $275 feather bow ties for men, makes a lot of grand claims about the way that it sources its feathers, but its promises—just like its products—are all just for show.
The company declares that the feathers it uses are "humanely" sourced and states, "No bird has been harmed for their feathers." PETA has sent a letter to the company asking it to stop claiming that its materials are "humane," as this is deceptive, unethical, and potentially fraudulent.
There's no such thing as "humanely obtained" feathers. Even birds on "free-range" farms spend much or all of their time confined to crowded sheds, just as animals on conventional factory farms do. Investigations have repeatedly shown that horrific abuse is part of standard agricultural practice, even on so-called "humane" farms. Animals are often left exposed to extreme weather conditions, handled roughly, and forced to endure mutilations such as debeaking and detoeing. And birds from "free-range" farms may be transported hundreds of miles to the same slaughterhouses used by factory farms, where they're hung upside down and their throats are cut—often while they're still conscious and struggling to escape.
Brackish claims that feathers from "free-range" farms are "simply thrown away as a waste product," but that, too, is false. Up to 15 percent of farmers' total profits come from the sale of feathers. They aren't simply dumped into the trash, because they're highly profitable.
The company uses feathers from a number of species, including pheasants, partridges, turkeys, roosters, bobwhite quails, geese, peacocks, and others. And you can bet that every feather in Brackish's bow ties came from an animal who suffered so that the brand could profit from selling high-priced neckwear.
Don't be fooled by Brackish or any other company that swears that it robs animals of their body parts "humanely."


text:
package org.uva.sea.ql.interpreter;

import java.awt.AWTEvent;
import java.awt.event.ActionEvent;
import java.awt.event.ActionListener;
import java.awt.event.FocusEvent;
import java.awt.event.FocusListener;
import java.io.File;
import java.util.LinkedHashMap;
import java.util.List;
import java.util.Map;

import javax.swing.BoxLayout;
import javax.swing.JButton;
import javax.swing.JComponent;
import javax.swing.JFrame;
import javax.swing.JLabel;
import javax.swing.JOptionPane;
import javax.swing.JPanel;
import javax.swing.SpringLayout;
import javax.swing.border.EmptyBorder;

import org.uva.sea.ql.ast.form.Form;
import org.uva.sea.ql.ast.stmt.AnswerableQuestion;
import org.uva.sea.ql.ast.stmt.Block;
import org.uva.sea.ql.ast.stmt.ComputedQuestion;
import org.uva.sea.ql.ast.stmt.IfThenElseStatement;
import org.uva.sea.ql.ast.stmt.IfThenStatement;
import org.uva.sea.ql.ast.stmt.Question;
import org.uva.sea.ql.ast.stmt.Stmt;
import org.uva.sea.ql.checker.visitor.IStmtVisitor;
import org.uva.sea.ql.interpreter.value.Bool;
import org.uva.sea.ql.interpreter.value.Value;
import org.uva.sea.ql.interpreter.visitor.ExprEvaluator;
import org.uva.sea.ql.interpreter.widget.AnswerableQuestionWidget;
import org.uva.sea.ql.interpreter.widget.Label;
import org.uva.sea.ql.interpreter.widget.Widget;
import org.uva.sea.ql.vendor.SpringUtilities;

public class FormGUI extends JFrame implements FocusListener, ActionListener, IStmtVisitor {

	private static final long serialVersionUID = 1L;

	private Form form;
	private Controller controller;
	private Map<String, Widget> widgets;
	private Map<String, String> labels;
	private JPanel content;
	private JButton saveBtn;

	public FormGUI(Form form, Map<String, List<String>> map) {
		this.form = form;
		controller = new Controller(this, map);
		widgets = new LinkedHashMap<String, Widget>();
		labels = new LinkedHashMap<String, String>();
		content = new JPanel();
		content.setBorder(new EmptyBorder(0, 0, 5, 0));
		saveBtn = new JButton("save");
		saveBtn.addActionListener(this);
		setContentPane(content);
		setDefaultCloseOperation(EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
		setLayout(new BoxLayout(this.getContentPane(), BoxLayout.Y_AXIS));
	}

	public void build(){
		widgets.clear();
		content.removeAll();
		form.getBlock().accept(this);
		layoutWidgets();
		content.add(saveBtn);
		this.setTitle(form.getIdent().getName());
		this.pack();
		this.setLocationRelativeTo(null);
		this.setVisible(true);
	}

	private void layoutWidgets() {
		JPanel questionPanel = new JPanel(new SpringLayout());
		for(Map.Entry<String, Widget> row : widgets.entrySet()){
	        JLabel label = new JLabel(labels.get(row.getKey()), JLabel.TRAILING);
	        questionPanel.add(label);
	        label.setLabelFor(row.getValue().getWidget());
	        questionPanel.add(row.getValue().getWidget());
        }
        SpringUtilities.makeCompactGrid(questionPanel, widgets.size(), 2, 5, 5, 5, 5);
        content.add(questionPanel);
	}

	private void addWidget(Question question, Widget widget){
		widgets.put(question.getIdent().getName(), widget);
		labels.put(question.getIdent().getName(), question.getLabel());
	}

	@Override
	public void visit(AnswerableQuestion stmt) {
		Map<String, Value<?>> values = controller.getValues();
		AnswerableQuestionWidget widget = null;
		if(values.containsKey(stmt.getIdent().getName())){
			widget = new AnswerableQuestionWidget(stmt, values.get(stmt.getIdent().getName()));
		}else{
			widget = new AnswerableQuestionWidget(stmt);
		}
		widget.getWidget().setActionListener(this);
		addWidget(stmt, widget.getWidget());
	}

	@Override
	public void visit(ComputedQuestion stmt) {
		Value<?> computed = stmt.getComputation().accept(new ExprEvaluator(controller.getValues()));
		if(computed.getValue() != null){
			Widget widget = new Label(stmt, computed);
			addWidget(stmt, widget);
		}
	}

	@Override
	public void visit(IfThenStatement stmt) {
		Value<?> condition = stmt.getCondition().accept(new ExprEvaluator(controller.getValues()));
		if(condition.getValue() != null){
			Bool boolValue = (Bool) condition;
			if(boolValue.getValue()){
				stmt.getBody().accept(this);
			}
		}
	}

	@Override
	public void visit(IfThenElseStatement stmt) {
		Value<?> condition = stmt.getCondition().accept(new ExprEvaluator(controller.getValues()));
		if(condition.getValue() != null){
			Bool boolValue = (Bool) condition;
			if(boolValue.getValue()){
				stmt.getBody().accept(this);
			}else{
				stmt.getElseBlock().accept(this);
			}
		}
	}

	@Override
	public void visit(Block stmt) {
		for(Stmt s : stmt.getStatements()){
			s.accept(this);
		}
	}

	private void exportResults(){
		Map<String, Value<?>> values = controller.fixResults(form);
		WriteXML results = new WriteXML(form, values);
		File file = results.writeFile();
		if(file != null){
			JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(this, String.format("Results saved to: %s.",file.getPath()));
			System.exit(0);
		}
	}

	private void eventFired(AWTEvent e){
		JComponent c = (JComponent) e.getSource();
		widgets.get(c.getName()).setWidget(c);
		controller.change(widgets.get(c.getName()));
	}

	@Override
	public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
		if(e.getSource().equals(saveBtn)){
			exportResults();
		}else{
			eventFired(e);
		}
	}

	@Override
	public void focusGained(FocusEvent e) {
	}

	@Override
	public void focusLost(FocusEvent e) {
		if(!e.isTemporary() && e.getOppositeComponent() != null){
			JComponent c = (JComponent) e.getSource();
			if(!c.getName().equals(e.getOppositeComponent().getName())){
				eventFired(e);
			}
		}
	}

}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


This nettle soup is really delicious, particularly if you use the new and tender shoots.
Rinse the nettles thoroughly and pick the leaves off the stems.
Peel and roughly chop the shallots and garlic.
Clean the leeks and finely slice them.
Heat a bit of olive oil, then cook everything until the onions start to soften.
Add the stock, bay leaves, and let the soup simmer for 15 minutes.
Serve the soup with warm baguettes and homemade herb butter.


Search engine algorithms are constantly evolving and becoming smarter. Long gone are the days where keywords are the most important factor in Search Engine Optimisation (SEO). Nowadays search engines are taking a much more human approach to search results, using machine learning and artificial intelligence to read web pages and gauge the topic and quality of the writing. It is because of this that a scattergun approach to blogging is inefficient, ineffective and more work than a strategy based on topic clusters. Find out how you can use topic clusters to improve your school's content marketing efforts below.
Topic clusters, also known as silos, are a method of planning and grouping blog subtopics into a few main topics. The main topic should be quite broad, something that someone might search for in a search engine, and then each blog subtopic should cover, in detail, an element of the main topic. For each main topic on your website you should have an information page, known as a pillar page, that broadly covers everything to do with that topic, enough to give your user a basic understanding of the topic. Throughout the pillar page, there are also links to the relevant subtopic blogs so your user can delve deeper into specific areas of the main topic.
Why are Topic Clusters Effective?
The topic cluster method of creating pillar pages for your main topics and then linking to your blogs from them not only works well for both the user and SEO, but, once the strategy is up and running, it is also much easier to manage and maintain.
For the user, it is much easier for them to find the information they need by giving them a broad overview in the pillar page and then linking to detailed information where relevant. The user can consume the information in their own time and are more inclined to properly read the blogs after being introduced to the topic on the pillar page, rather than randomly in a blog list.
For SEO, it very clearly indicates to Google's algorithms that you are an authority on clearly defined topics. By keeping your blog subtopics clearly defined within your clusters, only blogging on relevant subtopics, not doubling up on subtopics and not covering more than a single main cluster topic in a blog, you'll get a much stronger ranking for your main topics, rather than an average ranking across many blogs without a main focus.
And for you writing and managing the blog, there is more of a focus on quality rather than quantity so you reduce the number of blogs you have to write; when you plan your topic cluster and pillar page you also plan out all of its subtopics, so you spend less time trying to establish topics; there is more focus on refreshing old content rather than constantly producing new content.
Firstly, you must identify what your main topic clusters will be. Use Google Analytics and Search Console to see what keywords people are already using to find your website and try to identify which of these could become topics. Next, determine what topics you want people to find you with, considering the search terms people might use and how popular it is. You can compare the popularity of different search terms using Google Trends. There is nothing wrong with starting with one main topic and focusing on that.
Once you have determined your main topics, list out your subtopics and create your pillar page. The subtopics should each cover a specific detail of the main topic and should not overlap each other too much. The pillar page may end up being quite long. It should cover each subtopic, but not go into too greater detail − it should give the user a basic understanding of the main topic and link to blogs to provide further detail. As you write more blogs based on your subtopics, you can add these links to the pillar page to further build your authority on the main topic.
The pillar page should also be evergreen content – that means it should always be relevant and never out of date – you may need to update the page as necessary. You should also create a schedule for reviewing and refreshing older blogs. This is a good way to improve lower-performing blogs.
Once you have created all of the blogs for a particular topic cluster, then you will need to assess your situation. Is it time to create a new topic cluster and pillar page? Are there more subtopics that you can create for your topic cluster? Are all of your blogs performing as well as they can or is it time to refresh or rewrite some?
This is a very basic overview of topic clusters and pillar pages. Initially, it can take some time researching and planning out your topics and strategy, and even more so if you're adapting it to an already established blog. In the end, you'll save a lot of time and quickly start seeing the benefits of this strategy, both in analytics and in your user's experience.
Do you know what topics would make up your topic clusters? If not, maybe you need to identify how to communicate your school's message more effectively. Check out our Message Architecture Program (MAP) ebook.
Kristian is a digital specialist and a bit of a nerd. He is a master problem solver who gets a satisfying high from finding bespoke solutions for his clients. This combined with a design and web development background means he brings unique and effective ideas to the table. Away from the office, he can be found perfecting his homemade pizza dough or watching Doctor Who.


Colour and its use is always carefully considered in the work Nock does in OOH, experiential and in-store environments. Not only as it relates to attention-grabbing calls to action, but also the subtler conveyancing of key ideas and engendering of certain emotions.
Different colours can elicit specific moods. As such, the strategic employment of colour can be used to set the tone and influence users' behaviour, whilst amplifying the crucial elements of a campaign.
Below is an image from an experiential campaign we activated for Al Jazeera, making subtle use of the colour orange in order to convey a sense of innovation, thought leadership and ideas.
Whether enticing certain demographics or positively affecting mood, simply drawing the right kind of attention or creating lasting memories; the choice and use of colour should be given as much thought as the choice of fonts and pictures.
Further reading: How the Human Brain Experiences Your Brand by Chris Bolman.


This article appeared in a 2015 issue of the student newsletter.
North Lake has been named an Achieving the Dream's 2015 Leader College, a national designation awarded to community colleges that commit to improving student success and closing achievement gaps. Only 19 colleges earned this honor in 2015.
"We are so pleased to have been honored as an Achieving the Dream Leader College. This distinction signals that North Lake has been recognized nationally as a college that directs attention, support and resources to helping more students be successful," said Dr. Christa Slejko, North Lake president.
North Lake College joined Achieving the Dream in 2010, committing to student success and institutional improvement. With support from the Meadows Foundation, NLC has implemented strategies to improve student success, close achievement gaps and increase retention, persistence, and completion rates.
The 2015 Leader Colleges are making strides in the national movement to increase student completion and close achievement gaps, demonstrating the power of the Achieving the Dream Approach. With the guidance of Achieving the Dream Coaches, colleges not only systemically change the way they operate, but also implement key student supports that align with their overall policies and institutional systems, such as college readiness programs, mandatory new student orientation, student-success courses, developmental course redesign, curriculum redesign, and intensive, individualized advising.
Achieving the Dream grants Leader College designation for three-year cycles. After three years, institutions must undergo a recertification process to maintain Leader College status.
For the rest of the 2015 Achieving the Dream Leader Colleges and for more information on the Achieving the Dream program, visit http://achievingthedream.org.


text:
Roisin Healy
KBC bank manager challenges alleged 'contrived redundancy'
A manager with KBC Bank has launched a High Court action challenging an alleged "contrived redundancy". The action against KBC Bank Ireland plc has b(...)
Group calls on Government to halt children's hospital project at St James's
February 6, 2019, 18:49
A campaign group has renewed its call for the current plan for the national children's hospital at a site at St James's Hospital to be abandoned and f(...)
Four female lecturers promoted after NUIG gender discrimination dispute
Carl O'Brien
Four female lecturers who say they were discriminated against on gender grounds are set to be promoted as part of a settlement with NUI Galway which i(...)
NUIG urged to resolve issue of four women seeking promotion
Lorna Siggins
The chair of NUI Galway women's staff network has called on the outgoing university president to resolve the situation of four academics taking legal (...)
Galway lecturer promoted by university after agreement
One of five female academics who initiated action against NUI Galway over lack of promotion has reached an agreement after an initial Labour Court hea(...)
Young women urged to enter careers in 'Stem' subjects
Ciara O'Brien
An initiative aimed at encouraging women to enter careers in science, technology, engineering and maths (Stem) hopes to reach 5,000 secondary students(...)
Verdun: hell and patriotism
On a train journey across north-eastern France during the first week of August 1926, Joseph Probst, a German Catholic peace activist from the Baden re(...)
Unions back female NUIG lecturers in court actions over promotions
Four female lecturers at NUI Galway (NUIG) have secured trade union backing for two court challenges which they are pursuing over lack of promotion.Th(...)
Five female academics to take legal proceedings over gender imbalance against NUI Galway
Five female academics have said they are instituting legal proceedings against NUI Galway (NUIG) over gender imbalance at the university.The five wome(...)
Sheehy Skeffington to use equality award to help colleagues
Scientist Dr Micheline Sheehy Skeffington says she plans to use a €70,000 award ordered by the Equality Tribunal to help five other female academics w(...)
Lobby to press politicians over referendum on right to home 00:05
Wed 22/1/2020


University of Ottawa students now have easier access to a range of mental health services since SASS - Counselling and Coaching launched a new stepped service model.
When they feel the need, students can now choose from seven therapy options, including a helpline, informative apps and podcasts, counselling sessions (via a walk-in clinic), an online therapy system, intensive group counselling or intensive individual counselling.
This new service model was introduced on campus for the start of the fall term. More proactive and preventive, it has unblocked the SASS system and allowed it to respond faster and more effectively to student needs. "There's no waiting list to meet a counsellor," says Brabant.
In putting this system in place, SASS was inspired by the "stepped care" approach created in Britain 20 years ago and adapted to the post-secondary environment by Professor Peter Cornish of Newfoundland's Memorial University.
To publicize this new University mental health approach, which will better integrate resources available on and off campus, SASS is holding an open house on January 28, 2019. Information sessions on the stepped care model will be available.
Students will also be invited to take part in a contest to name this new mental health services system.
Anxiety and stress are the most recurrent mental health conditions for postsecondary students. Problems are often linked with exams and academic performance.
Going from high school to the next level may also be an issue, as students, newly arrived on campus, try to adjust to a new academic setting. It can sometimes be even more difficult for those who come from elsewhere in Canada or from abroad.
Depression symptoms, lack of motivation, interpersonal conflicts, grief and low self-esteem are also common among students.
Mental health problems tend to appear between the ages of 16 and 25, roughly the age group of students at the University.
This is also the age group where students are the most reluctant to seek help. Either they have other concerns and put off looking for help or they think they don't need help at all. Some also think that the problem will go away by itself.
SASS has acquired an online therapy platform. Therapy Assistance Online (TAO) gives members of the University community access to help online.
SASS has also invested in translating many mental health resources, because few exist in French.
A new website has been created with resources on mental health and well-being at the University.
The most important change at SASS has been the introduction of a walk-in clinic. Students can now show up and have an appointment with a counsellor the same day.
The Counselling and Coaching unit has 15 professional mental health counsellors to support students. Four of them are exclusive to student living in residences.


Hamilton has been the recipient of the M.S. Tswett Chromatography Memorial Medal, Gold Winner of the MassEcon Team Massachusetts Economic Impact Award, and Silver Award Winner of the 2015 IBO Industrial Design Award.
Success stories from around the world and how Hamilton has helped shaped the way people work.
Hamilton is a privately owned company that employs over 2,500 people around the world who thrive in a fast-paced environment and are equipped with the drive to sustain successful growth year after year.
Automated liquid handling incorporates several key technologies in order to optimize performance, accuracy, and utility for the user.
Learn about the many Hamilton and Third-Party trademarks.
View and download certificates or find out more about our facility certification.
Access terms and conditions for purchase and sale/delivery.


text:
Q: How to pass data from uitableview to detail view in storyboard I'm creating my first app in iOS 5 using storyboards. I have a tableviewcontroller embedded in a navigation controller and when you click on the cells in the tableviewcontroller some detail about that cell topic & a URL should be passed to a detail view. I use a PList to populate the tableview. I failed to pass the detail to detail view...
Here is  my code (4 classes):
//  NormalDataCell.m
#import "NormalDataCell.h"

@implementation NormalDataCell

@synthesize image = _image;
@synthesize nameLabel = _nameLabel;
@synthesize category = _category;
@synthesize webSiteURL = _webSiteURL;

@end

//  normalData.m
#import "NormalData.h"

@implementation NormalData

@synthesize name = _name;
@synthesize image = _image;
@synthesize webSiteURL = _webSiteURL;
@synthesize category = _category;

- (id)initWithItem:(NSDictionary *)item {

    self = [super init];
    if (self) {
        _name = [item objectForKey:@"name"];
        _image = [UIImage imageNamed:[item objectForKey:@"image"]];
        _webSiteURL = [item objectForKey:@"webSiteURL"];
        _category = [item objectForKey:@"category"];
    }
    return self;
}

@end

@implementation NormalCategory
@synthesize category = _category;
@synthesize normalList = _normalList;

- (id)initWithArray:(NSMutableArray *)normalList {

    self = [super init];
    if (self) {
        NSMutableArray *list = [[NSMutableArray alloc]init];
        for (NSDictionary *item in normalList) {
            NormalData *data = [[NormalData alloc]initWithItem:item];
            [list addObject:data];
        }

        NormalData *data = [list objectAtIndex:0];
        _category = data.category;
        _normalList = list;
    }
    return self;
}

@end

//  normalViewController.m

#import "NormalViewController.h"

#import "NormalData.h"

#import "NormalDataCell.h"

#import "NormalDetailView.h"

@interface NormalViewController ()

{

    @private

    NSMutableArray *_cellContentList;

}

@end

@implementation NormalViewController

@synthesize tableView; // Add this line of code

@synthesize roleArray;

- (void)viewDidLoad

{

    [super viewDidLoad];

    NSURL *url = [NSURL URLWithString:@"http://vfttx.web.fc2.com/normal.plist"];

    NSMutableArray *array = [NSMutableArray arrayWithContentsOfURL:url];

    _cellContentList = [[NSMutableArray alloc]init];

        for (NSMutableArray *item in array)

    {

        NormalCategory *category = [[NormalCategory alloc]initWithArray:item];

        [_cellContentList addObject:category];

    }

   }

//How do I pass the name & webSiteURL to DetailView?
- (void)prepareForSegue:(UIStoryboardSegue *)segue sender:(id)sender {
    if ([[segue identifier] isEqualToString:@"TableToWebSegue"]) {

    NSIndexPath *path = [self.tableView indexPathForSelectedRow];
    NSString *cellName = [[_cellContentList objectAtIndex:path.row] objectForKey:@"name"];

    [segue.destinationViewController setDetailItem2:cellName];

        NSString *urlPath = [[_cellContentList objectAtIndex:path.row] objectForKey:@"webSiteURL"];

        [segue.destinationViewController setWebSiteURL:urlPath];

}
}

#pragma mark - Table view data source

- (NSInteger)numberOfSectionsInTableView:(UITableView *)tableView

{

    return [_cellContentList count];

}

- (NSString *)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView titleForHeaderInSection:(NSInteger)section {

    NormalCategory *category = [_cellContentList objectAtIndex:section];

    return [category category];

}

- (NSInteger)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView numberOfRowsInSection:(NSInteger)section

{

    NormalCategory *category = [_cellContentList objectAtIndex:section];

    return [category.normalList count];

}

- (UITableViewCell *)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView cellForRowAtIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *)indexPath

{

    static NSString *CellIdentifier = @"normalDataCell";

    NormalDataCell *cell = [self.tableView dequeueReusableCellWithIdentifier:CellIdentifier];

    // Configure the cell...

    if (cell == nil) {

        cell = [[NormalDataCell alloc]initWithStyle:UITableViewCellStyleDefault reuseIdentifier:CellIdentifier];

    }

    NormalCategory *category = [_cellContentList objectAtIndex:[indexPath section]];

    NormalData *data = [category.normalList objectAtIndex:[indexPath row]];

    [cell.nameLabel setText:data.name];

    [cell.image setImage:data.image];

    cell.webSiteURL = data.webSiteURL;

    return cell;

}

@end

//  NormalDetailView.m
#import "NormalDetailView.h"

@interface NormalDetailView ()

@end

@implementation NormalDetailView

@synthesize webSiteURL;
@synthesize webView;
@synthesize name = _name;
@synthesize detailItem2;
@synthesize testNameLabel;

- (void)viewDidLoad
{
    [super viewDidLoad];

    testNameLabel.text = detailItem2;

//If the URL is right, it will work.
    NSString *strUrl = webSiteURL;
    strUrl = [strUrl stringByAddingPercentEscapesUsingEncoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding];
    NSURL *url = [NSURL URLWithString:strUrl];
    NSURLRequest *request = [NSURLRequest requestWithURL:url];
    [webView loadRequest:request];
}

@end

A: Presumably you're using segues to move between the different views.
Implement - (void)prepareForSegue:(UIStoryboardSegue *)segue sender:(id)sender on the view controller containing your table view and it will be called after the user taps the cell. It contains a reference to the segue object which you can use to find the sourceViewController and the destinationViewController, you can use these to set the data in the destination.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Publication Archives
Outline of the Michigan Tax System
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Citizens Research Council Centennial
2011 Individual Income Tax Policy Change Will Cause Individual Income Tax Burden to Rise in 2013
crcforum
The Citizens Research Council of Michigan recently published 2009 Tax Revenue Comparison: Michigan and the U.S. Average, an analysis of state and local government finance data recently released by the U.S. Census Bureau for 2009. The report shows that Michigan's 2009 state and local individual income tax revenue of $18.91 per $1,000 of personal income ranked 35th highest in the nation. Only 6 states who levy an individual income tax generated less individual income tax revenue per $1,000 of personal income than Michigan, which was challenged more by the Great Recession than most states.
Michigan's individual income tax revenue per $1,000 of personal income fell from 11 percent below the U.S. average in 2008 to 17 percent below the average in 2009. The decline was due to several of the wealthier states, including New York and Maryland, implementing tax policy changes in 2009 that prevented their individual income tax revenues from falling as severely as other wealthy states, such as California and Massachusetts, which kept the U.S. average from falling even further from 2008. Notably, New York's tax burden (relative to the U.S. average) increased by 17 percentage points from 2008 to 2009.
Due to changes in individual income tax policy in May 2011, Michigan's individual income tax burden will increase by 2013. Michigan's individual income tax rate was frozen at 4.25 percent and the tax base was expanded by eliminating a number of reductions and exemptions and repealing or reducing a large number of credits. These tax policy changes are expected to increase revenue by $1.3 billion in fiscal year 2013,which will cause Michigan's individual income tax revenue per $1,000 of personal income to rise relative to the U.S. average (from 35th highest in 2009 to 31st highest in 2013). Michigan's individual income tax burden will be 2 percent above the U.S. average in 2013 compared to 17 percent below the average in 2009.
These individual income tax policy changes, combined with replacement of the Michigan Business Tax (MBT) with a state corporate income tax (CIT) in January 2012, will shift the tax burden from businesses to individuals by 2013 in an attempt to make the state more economically competitive.
Rising School Retirement Contribution Rate Erodes Value of Foundation Grant
Michigan's Comparative Tax Burden Relatively Unaffected by Great Recession
When is a tax not a tax? When it's an ad valorem special assessment, and Michigan has a lot of them
Testimony to Michigan House Select Committee on Reducing Car Insurance Rates re No-Fault Auto Insurance
Eric Lupher
Redistricting: the scourge that (still) haunts Michigan government
When comparing the state's income tax burden in 2013 did you reduce the additional revenue by the amount generated by freezing the tax rate? That does not raise collections but prevents them from falling as much as they would have were the rate to fall as previously scheduled. If the level of economic activity continues to accelerate across the country, it is likely that other states will experience more rapid growth in income tax collections than we will see in Michigan since the other states have more income elastic tax structures with graduated tax rates.
Scott Darragh
March 1, 2012, @ 10:18 am Reply
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"There is no prayer so quickly heard as the prayer whereby a man asks to be reconciled with those who are wroth with him. For when he charges himself with the offence, this prayer is immediately answered."
Do not talk with everyone about piety and good life. I say this, not out of jealousy, but because I think that in the eyes of a foolish man youwill appear ridiculous. Like accords with like, and listeners for such conversations are few, or rather very rare.
"...a person becomes humble and grieves because he is a sinner. In consequence of this he begins to practise self-control and patient endurance in the face of afflictions sought and unsought. What comes from the demons he endures through ascetic discipline, and what comes from men he endures as a test of his faith. In this way it becomes clear whether he puts his trust in God, or in man, or in his own strength and judgment."
Baptized in Christ by the Spirit, we have received the first incorruptibility of the flesh; we await the final incorruptibility of Christ in the Spirit, that is, in keeping undefiled the first incorruptibility by a free gift of good works and by a voluntary death; according to this final incorruptibility no one who enjoys it will lose the benefits he has acquired.


The Centre for Particle Physics Phenomenology, dedicated to the understanding of the origins of bright and dark matter in the universe (CP3-Origins), is one of the new generation of centres of excellence chosen by the Danish National Research Foundation (DNRF) to receive significant funding for the next 5 + 5 years.
The application must include the following: * A curriculum vitae. * A full list of publications. * A brief survey of the applicant's most important research results and research plans. * At least three letters of recommendation. CP3-Origins encourages all interested persons to apply, regardless of age, gender, religious affiliation, or ethnic background.


Clay wakes up daily with Southwest Florida as co-anchor on the area's top-rated morning show--weekdays from 4:30 to 7:00 a.m.
Clay previously worked as the weekend sports anchor for WTOK-TV in Meridian, MS and Sports Director for WALA-TV in Mobile, AL.
Clay came to NBC2 as Sports Director in 2004. In little over a year, Clay decided to transition to the news desk and has been a fixture there ever since.
Having grown up in nearby Bradenton, Clay feels right at home in Southwest Florida. He majored in Education at the University of Florida, but always had an interest in broadcast journalism.
In his free time, Clay enjoys spending time with his wife Leigh Anne, daughter Annaleise and son Tyler.
Send him a news tip and connect with him on Facebook.


text:
← Ophite: Gnosis (cover)
Sword of God: Friends, p. 6 →
The context for me – this is 1987-1989, between college and graduate school, which I've written about in Who is Coyote and The orgasm that saved the world. It's also my second step into "the river" as I described in, surprise, The river. Addled by mainlining eight years of X-Men at once, I was buying that and related titles, but my real commitment was to the new companies – First Comics, Eclipse Comics, and Comico, for which, in addition to Elementals, I bought Mage, Grendel, and Fish Police, and the odd issue of this-or-that if I was interested. Very few were firmly rooted in the bright-outfit superhero concept. I didn't know anything about Marvel ownership or editorship at the time, but I sure saw the effects – as I watched the X-titles descend into the textual equivalent of a schizophrenic break, these few became the only such comics I was reading, in desperate hope.
Furthermore, as described in Moses and the Mosquito, I'd returned to the role-playing hobby via Champions, and encountered the tie-in between Elementals and the game Villains & Vigilantes. I knew about the game since its release five years previously while I was in high school (see Vee and Vee). Its earliest supplemental materials included Deathduel with the Destroyers and its sequel, written and illustrated by Bill Willingham. All of us in that scene bought as many supplements for both games as we could afford, and Willingham's contributions here as well as his earlier work for Dungeons & Dragons were gamer faves. [For the sort of thing we 'zoids find endlessly fascinating, see also the contemporary Champions adventure module, The Island of Doctor Destroyer.]
Elementals as the comic was therefore very exciting to role-players. A full fathom of its appeal, no pun intended, was that to quite a few readers, Willingham was one of us. [Quick note: co-creator and frequent writer Jack Herman clearly needs to be acknowledged as well, but aside from the credits, I don't know to what extent and in what details.]
Don't even think about what 15-year-old gamers admired in this sequence
Also, the geeking-out gold standard is to play role-playing games based on a favored medium, generate brilliant content, and then take it to the medium in question and produce it there which will astonish the world and make it sorry it didn't appreciate role-playing. Frankly, the result is typically dreadful, but the subculture's optimism thereto knows no bounds, and back then we did not have the putrid Wheel of Time and its wretched ilk to show us what could go wrong. Bill Willingham had provided intriguing, well-drawn, original-looking superhero and supervillain work in these modules, with just enough homage to existing characters to curl readers' toes, and then – O Mamie mama of God ! – was now doing his very own comic featuring clear derivations of those characters!
Now I'll put gamerdom aside and stick with the comic as such. Consider this twofer:
It had utter independent sensibility and credibility: created, written, and drawn by these one or two guys; published by a creator-ownership type company, given the standards of 1985.
The concept stayed with unitard-wearing, high-powered superheroes without trying to demolish it, especially in the aftermath of The Dark Knight Returns.
I had been badly let down by my first pulse-pounding issue! experiences of "the Marvel Age of Comics" in the mid-late 1970s, and I had no investment in – none of the entrainment by – the Official Universe. Therefore upon returning as a comics customer in 1987-1989, my desire re-surged to see "this is the first issue of the Fantastic fucking Four" happen in my reading-lifetime too, completely within my generational way of seeing and referencing things. As things turned out, it was that feeling's last gasp.
If you don't know, here are the basics – four relatively ordinary if vivid people are super-powered, cleanly and understandably based on the four elements, with perfectly excellent names (Vortex, Fathom, Morningstar, and Monolith). They're mystical in origin, having been resurrected from elementally-appropriate deaths by the Earth Spirit to oppose a villainous sorcerer-guy, more on him in a moment, who commands a bevy of similarly-costumed and thematic villains. Everyone's named using solid Lee logic (Shapeshifter, Ratman, Annihilator, Behemoth) and characterized by distinctive personalities, quick screentime bits, and understandable responses. I stress again: if this were merely "dark supers," you wouldn't be seeing those Kane-Kirby leaping fights, blazing powers, and bright spandex-y outfits for everyone, middle-aged Saker included. This isn't opposing traditional super-comics, it's delivering them.
It's easy to focus on how the content deviated from then-standardized details of superhero comics, specifically the fantasy/magical context, the crunching-splatter violence, the medical details, the occasional nod to Newtonian physics, and lines like "You bitch!" However – to me and everyone I knew who was really into this title, these weren't deviations at all, but exactly how we were already positioning costumed superheroes vs. costumed superheroes in our games. Willingham was our age or a hair older, writing in ways that the older Boomers could not. This was our early-twenties role-players' superhero idiom.
It was attractive reading, too – the art was possessed of that energy that only comes across from someone who means it, but up to professional grade in clean execution. Exactly how good, issue by issue, was flatly a matter of the time he was able to work on it prior to deadline and who was available to ink it. More on that in just a minute as well.
Here's a good summary of what the first issue (not counting the characters' first appearance in Justice Machine) looked like in Year of the Artist, Day 134. I'm seeing some retrospectives which explain how it's not mere homage and retread, but took certain things for which Marvel had dropped the ball for the prior decade and brought them where we knew they should go. The story focused strongly on the daily life, unusual physiology, and varying degrees of disconnectedness for the heroes. The big hit for me was the notion of superhero-dom as celebrity or at least cultural phenom which the characters simply could not avoid, and had to adopt out of pure expectation, for which this Retro Review nails it despite my quibbles with its final paragraphs.
There remains so much interesting 80s-ness to talk about, from the contemporary music references (Jethro Tull, Golden Earring) to the all-white cast (Becky is Jewish, that's about the only ethnic or culturally-specific touch) to the great mix of determination with touchy vulnerability for both men and women protagonists. Now that I think of it, that latter – an absolute staple of modern superheroes – may have been represented best in this one title than in any other media output I can think of from the time.
I always did like Shapeshifter … for some reason …
I've been saying for a while that sex and relationships were big parts of the superhero stories long before anyone acknowledges, but it is true that the 80s brought us more open visuals about it. The larger matrix for discussing this is too much to go into at the moment. Suffice to say there were two big trends:
The standard version of dialing all such things back for the acknowledged "really superhero" material, with a fetish-y, winking undercurrent, and not in a good way.
The oh-so-edgy version which took the visuals and cussing up to OMG PG-13 levels and posed a dichotomy of relationships neatly divided between confused vs. abusive.
Elementals has its place in the latter trend but I submit it did so with a valiant attempt to write reasonably dramatically: first with the three-cornered not-quite-happening triangle among Fathom, Ratman and Porter Scott; and second with the fraught very-much-happening between Shapeshifter and Morningstar. The latter became more complex when the story jumped into the future a couple of times to show that their current-day violence and torment would somehow become a committed relationship. But hold onto that whole "in the future" concept for a moment.
The 80s are also with us in Lord Saker, who isn't alone in tapping into Magneto, with his minion villains who even more literally owe their existence to him. But the politics are different and very important, embedded as they are in religion – specifically, the shock and horror experienced by many Americans during Reagan's first term regarding his evangelical base and the corresponding administrative staff picks. Willingham's case is important due to his relatively conservative politics – to understand this decade, you must grasp that many conservatives, counter to current stereotype, were no less shocked by these things than anyone else.
Briefly, Saker is Lazarus, not only resurrected by Jesus Christ but also inadvertently made immortal, now resentful and jaded to the point of ushering in Armageddon to get the whole fucking thing over with. He's always been a horrible person, gravitating toward the Inquisition and the Third Reich, so superficially one might pose his hatred of Jesus as part of his evil- dom … but it's subtler than that. In this construction, Jesus was blasphemous, effectively a sorcerer, whose miracles were against the natural order, and also irresponsible – whether Lazarus was a horrible person to begin with or became that way because he'd been used and ignored, either way. The whole point of the Elementals' existence is to stop Saker, but in the larger picture, to restore the metaphysical world back to where it was before Jesus messed it up. It's really pagan.
Keeping it going proved troublesome. After the initial "final battle" storyline is over, the stories refine the characters' psychological and social situations, then resort to wumpus hunting, with the weak justification that the Shadowspear weapon unleashed by Saker causes anomalies. This is common among 80s titles too: a strong opening story with a showdown climax, then casting about for some reason to keep going.
I have to de-romanticize a little to admit this, to remove the "genius title" fan-vapor from my mind and see the danger signs from the beginning. Saker lacked real-world relevance; his secular activities were strange and incoherent, resembling a G.I. Joe level blend of Qadafi and Castro, leaving no content to deal with following the metaphysical climax. Focusing on the heroes' psychological "deadness" was interesting but ultimately numbing, yielding little plot. It's possible that the on-again-off-again multi-contributor credits for writing and pencilling were no big deal, but such things often indicate stress at the production level.
I was still buying mainly out of sunk-cost loyalty when a solid reason to keep going arrived, consistent with the book's deepest conceptual underpinning: the Rapture, introduced in #22. It may strike you as old hat now, but this is the first time supervillains were named after Bible verses, which was kinda shocking then. All of us creative-type readers were deeply engaged in whatever evangelical villainy we could find, e.g. Brother Blood in The New Teen Titans, Reverend Stryker in God Loves, Man Kills, Reverend Hatch a bit later in The Question, and many more. They were ubiquitous in superheroes role-playing, with my games no exception. Conceivably the Rapture was just what the Elementals needed: ruthless, righteous villainy born in modern Christianity, just as Saker had been born in its origins.
However, it went nowhere. The Rapture turned out to be a dud, quickly beaten in a fight, over before it began. It's contra fan-fave thinking, but Elementals' driving content had run out of gas by the mid-teens or so, such that new ideas and conflicts became completely isolated and usually dropped. By this point the character conflicts had simply fallen too far apart; any structure and momentum for plot was gone. There's some parallel with my points in Fizzle: it was never as good as "it was about to be." You can click through the credits issue by issue to see the scripting and art tasks bounce around. You can see the universal signs of super-writing starting to flail – the intimations of a far-future conflict among the protagonists, the appearance of a vast menace using a soon-in-the-future introductory piece, the revealing of hordes of super-characters not hitherto-seen, and the death-knell of crossovers with other inch-from-cancellation titles.
I've extensively criticized the over-planning and the Universe-izing at Marvel (the New Universe, Stillborn), Eclipse (the Liberty Project, Give me liberty), Innovation (the Hero Alliance, Striking twice, some day), and DC (Impact, I, said the Fly). But look, Elementals is the one example of the Right Way According to Ron! It started with a bang and then added stuff and refined it to see how it goes. And it falls apart too.
What's going on? Is there is a terrible pit awaiting between "plan it all out from the beginning" and "start with just one thing and trust your gut?" Is it unavoidable? Must we resort to the Back When Magic Worked argument and say that Stan-and-Jack-and-Steve were at the mythic origin, never to be repeated?
No, because economics and ownership matter a lot, and again, this is the 80s we're talking about. Comico had initially been an investment by an owner of health clubs, if I understand correctly, and by 1988 or so the investor decided it wasn't returning. The property was picked up by the inimitable Andrew Rev, whom I've mentioned before. Let's see, might there be any more internet info on … ah yes, there we go, This is what happens when you work for a cocksucker. I find myself reevaluating, with sympathy, the consistent negativity, bitterness, and crankiness in Willingham's scripts and text pieces in that period. It puts a much simpler light on the "fizzle," too – you're gonna expect a guy waiting on a three-pay-periods-past check to keep putting out 22 monthly pages, plus special bonus fan materials whenever?
I briefly met Willingham at about this time, 26-27 years ago (I guess?), and I recall that he was very nice and easy to talk with. Maybe it was because I didn't demand "more Elementals!" or go on about "why isn't it as good as it was," or try to debate what he chose to write in the editorials, which some of you might remember. I know now that he would soon be almost homeless, with no ownership over the property!
With Rev in charge, Elementals continued to appear more-or-less regularly from 1989 through 1992, with pinch-hit appearances until 1997 when Comico folded and Rev found a rock to scuttle under. Its most visible presence from this time was in the Sex Specials, which I disliked, not morally (not from this reader of XXXenophile) but purely aesthetically. Most of them were simply lousy work, e.g., that 1993 cover's crap anatomy and off-model faces, with Becky looking curiously Asian and Jeanette looking … dead. I don't know whether the notion played into Willingham recovering his situation with Ironwood. His saga since then seems like a triumph of raw determination, and his success with Fables is well-deserved after a long hard road, regardless of my disagreement with the politics.
People really ought to talk more about that success thing in comics, which has seen several re-definitions and bizarre cognitive twists during my reading lifetime. Willingham would be a primary source for such a conversation. Elementals was a beloved cult title for all the right reasons, and if you know it, you also know where a lot of features in more well-known comics came from. It also left him destitute, relying on the last check for the ink and paper to do the next pages, not knowing when the check for that might come in, and as a property, it ended up on the scrapheap of Ponzi scheming, bankruptcy, and IP limbo.
I wish it were true, even axiomatic, that being a good comic would be good for the comic and also the creator. But it isn't.
Links: A bit of 1974 to consider, In the shadow of Comico's sins, and very informative, an extensive 2006 Comics Journal interview 1, 2, 3, 4
Next comics: Sword of God, Friends, p. 6 (Nov 22); One Plus One, Two, p. 9 (Nov 24)
Next column: God's privy parts (Nov 27)
About Ron Edwards
Game author and publisher via Adept Press / Biology author and former professor
View all posts by Ron Edwards »
Posted on November 20, 2016, in Supers role-playing, The 80s me, The great ultravillains and tagged Andrew Rev, Behemoth, Bill Willingham, Comico, Deathduel with the Destroyers, Diana Schutz, Dungeons & Dragons, Elementals, Fathom, Jack Herman, Jesus Christ, Lazarus, Lord Saker, Monolith, Morningstar, Rapture, religion, Shapeshifter, snake fetish, The Island of Dr. Apocalypse, Villains & Vigilantes, Vortex. Bookmark the permalink.	4 Comments.
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Roman emperor
Alternative Title: Marcus Aurelius Carus
Carus, in full Marcus Aurelius Carus, (died 283), Roman emperor 282–283.
Carus was probably from either Gaul or Illyricum and had served as prefect of the guard to the emperor Probus (276–282), whom he succeeded. Like his predecessors, Carus adopted the name Marcus Aurelius as a part of his imperial title. After a brief Danube campaign he led his troops against the Sāsānians, penetrating beyond the Tigris, where he died suddenly and mysteriously, allegedly struck by lightning. His sons Numerian and Carinus succeeded him.
This article was most recently revised and updated by Amy Tikkanen, Corrections Manager.
ancient Iran: Conflicts with Rome
…II (276–293), the Roman emperor Carus (282–283) invaded Mesopotamia without meeting opposition and reached Ctesiphon. His sudden death, however, caused the Roman army to withdraw. Bahrām II had been prevented from meeting the Roman challenge by the rebellion of his brother, the kūshānshāh Hormizd, who tried to establish an independent…
Bahrām II
…Bahrām's preoccupations, the Roman emperor Carus invaded Mesopotamia unopposed and entered Ctesiphon, the Sāsānian capital. Carus' sudden death, however, forced the Romans to withdraw, and soon thereafter the overthrow of Hormizd made Bahrām secure. Numerous southern Persian rock sculptures depict Bahrām wearing his winged crown, and several include his queen.…
Carinus
Carinus, Roman emperor from ad 283 to 285. With the title of Caesar, he was sent by his father, the emperor Carus, to the army of the Rhine in 282. On his father's death in the summer of 283, Carinus became emperor in the West, his brother Numerian becoming emperor in the East. After a campaign on…
Roman Empire, the ancient empire, centred on the city of Rome, that was established in 27 bce following the demise of the Roman Republic and continuing to the final eclipse of the Empire of the West in the 5th century ce. A brief treatment of the Roman Empire follows. For full treatment, see…
Emperor, title designating the sovereigns of the ancient Roman Empire and, by derivation, various later European rulers; it is also applied loosely to certain non-European monarchs. In republican Rome (c. 509–27 bc), imperator denoted a victorious general, so named by his troops or by the Senate.…
More About Carus
attack on Bahrām II
In Bahrām II
In history of Mesopotamia: The Sāsānian period
In ancient Rome: The Illyrian emperors
Sāsānian Iran
In ancient Iran: Conflicts with Rome
title / office
emperor, Roman Empire (282-283)
notable family members
son Numerian
son Carinus
Donald Trump, 45th president of the United States (2017– ). Trump was a real-estate developer and businessman…
Barack Obama, 44th president of the United States (2009–17) and the first African American to hold the…
Ronald Reagan, 40th president of the United States (1981–89), noted for his conservative Republicanism,…


Energy Efficient Lighting – E Three Inc.
Lighting accounts for as much as 10 to 15 percent of the energy used in a typical commercial building. Much of this consumption is unnecessary due to the use of inefficient incandescent bulbs or lights left on in rooms while unoccupied. Available lighting technologies can substantially reduce this energy use without sacrificing comfort or convenience.
Activity sensors detect occupancy within a certain area and switch lights off when no movement is detected for a specified period of time. The two types of sensors are ultrasonic and infrared. Ultrasonic sensors detect sound while infrared sensors detect heat and motion.
Outdoor lighting is used by many commercial buildings on a nightly basis for safety, security and aesthetic reasons. Automatic controls such as motion and photo sensors provide the same function while reducing the energy use by as much as 90 percent.
CFL's are energy efficient alternative to incandescent bulbs most commonly used to light our homes and offices today. CFL's use approximately 66 percent less energy while providing the same amount of illumination. In addition CFL's last about 10 times longer for added convenience.
Improved comfort; efficient lighting technologies produce less waste heat and thus improve comfort in cooling dominated climates.
Lower utility bills; Installing high-efficient lighting in most used fixtures (about 1/3 of all fixtures) in a commercial building will reduce lighting energy consumption by half.
More convenient; The life spans of fluorescent and compact fluorescent lamps are at least 10 times longer than incandescent light bulbs. This result in fewer annoying burnt out bulbs and subsequent lamp replacements. This is also beneficial in hard to reach places such as stairwells and rooms with high ceilings.


Amazon S3 is a great resource for handling your site's media files. While Whitenoise is a convenient solution for static files, it isn't meant for user-uploaded content. Amazon S3 provides a solution that is equally as convenient for your media files. It can also offer some performance advantages over other options.
In this post we will walk through creating a bucket in Amazon S3, setting up an IAM user, and getting Wagtail to upload and serve all user-uploaded content to/from Amazon S3.
You have an Amazon S3 account setup.
You have a working deployment of your Wagtail site on a Production Platform.
You are using Whitenoise to handle your site's static files.
You can link up your Wagtail site with root access to your S3 account, however Amazon advises against it. The recommended route is to use an IAM user. This keeps access limited to specific features, reducing security risks. It also makes it easy to pass off bucket access to someone else in the event that another person takes over your project. Setting up an IAM user will very likely save you from headaches down the road.
First, we'll navigate to the IAM Management Console and create a user. When you reach step 4, "Complete" you see your access key and your secret access key starred out. Go ahead and download the .csv at this point and put it somewhere you'll remember. You won't be able to get access to the secret key in the future and will be forced to create new access credentials if you don't hang on to them.
Now we'll navigate over to the S3 Management Console and create a bucket.
Unless you know what you're doing, keep the region that Amazon provides by default when you create your bucket. Changing the region of your bucket will require additional setup procedures that are not covered in this article.
Your S3 bucket is now ready to roll!
Don't forget to replace the hashes with your bucket name and IAM access credentials. If you're setting these values with environment variables, don't include the surrounding quotes.
This article is meant to get you up and running quickly with Whitenoise handling your static files and Amazon S3 handling your media files. It is possible to have Amazon S3 handle both but would require writing some custom storage classes to avoid having static and media files storing on top of one another. If you are looking to handle both static and media files on S3, there's a great article by Dan Poirier at Caktus Group that can shed some light on the process. His article utilizes boto3's predecessor, boto, but it should still get you moving in the right direction.
For us, it's easy mode. All that's left is dropping the following into production.py then pushing your project up to your production platform.
Now give your project a push up to your production platform and voila! Your media files should now be uploading straight to your S3 bucket from the Wagtail admin area. Go give it a try!


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Indonesia to release improved moratorium map this week, chair of REDD+ ...
World Bank: More donors supporting REDD+
Could climate-smart agriculture help save our forests?
Indonesia to release improved moratorium map this week, chair of REDD+ task force says
The controversial ban has been criticized by conservationists and the corporate world.
Leony Aurora @leonyaurora
Thursday, 8 Dec 2011
Zoom in on Borneo ecology
Can you trust the numbers?
Photo courtesy of Aulia Erlangga for CIFOR
Indonesia - DURBAN, South Africa (8 December, 2011)_The Chair of Indonesia's REDD+ task force said that the country's Ministry of Forestry will this week release an updated moratorium map to display which areas are protected under a two-year ban on new concessions in primary forests and peatlands.
"The Ministry of Forestry will upload the maps to their website and hold workshops to get public input, starting next week," Kuntoro Mangkusubroto of the task force said on the sidelines of the UN climate summit in Durban, South Africa. This is the first update of the Indicative Moratorium Map (IMM), which is required to be reviewed and revised every six months.
The Indonesian Government's announcement of the moratorium in May was greeted with dismay by elements of the business community, who expressed fears that a curtailment of economic growth would result from the moratorium's limitations on forest-based development opportunities. Meanwhile, environmentalists were disappointed by the narrow scope of the moratorium and its many exclusions and exceptions.
A recent study by the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) found that the additional area given protection under the moratorium is at most 22.5 million hectares (Mha), which consists of 7.2 Mha of primary forests, 11.2 Mha of peatlands and 4.1 Mha that fall into neither of these categories. A continually updated indicative map will be an important tool for public scrutiny and a mechanism to further secure and possibly increase the area covered by the moratorium, the study said further.
The Ministry of Agriculture is taking the lead in checking the location of the peatlands on the ground, said Heru Prasetyo, a member of the REDD+ task force. The task is about 80 percent completed, with some results included in the first revision of the map and the rest in the next one, he added.
The moratorium's application to peatlands is likely to generate the most significant environmental benefits because of their large carbon storage capacity, according to the CIFOR study. Carbon from peatlands contributes 74 percent to the total forest soil pool in Indonesia, according to a study published in the journal Global Change Biology earlier this year.
The two-year moratorium, which started 20 May 2011, is part of an agreement that could see Norway provide up to US$1 billion to Indonesia under the Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD+) scheme to help it meet a pledge by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to cut its climate change emissions by up to 41 percent by 2020.
Indonesia plans to use the two-year period to consolidate various maps used by different ministries to produce a single map for future reference, said Mangkusubroto.
For other reports from the event, visit the blogs of these organisations:
– The Center for People and Forests (RECOFTC)
Indonesia's forest moratorium: A stepping stone to better forest governance?
An overview of forest and land allocation policies in Indonesia: Is the current framework sufficient to meet the needs of REDD+?
Addressing climate change adaptation and mitigation in tropical wetland ecosystems of Indonesia
Topic(s) : REDD+ Climate talks
Keyword(s) : climate negotiations COP17 Heru Prasetyo Indonesia Kuntoro Mangkusubroto mapping protected areas REDD+ Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono
More by Leony Aurora
Reference emissions levels decision helps forested nations step closer to REDD+
Indonesia seeks "multi-bilateralism" to help get REDD+ off the ground
See all stories by Leony Aurora
More in REDD+ or Climate talks
Gender equality vital part of forest-based climate action, says CIFOR scientist at COP24
Think beyond forests for a powerful climate solution. Think landscapes
Leaders Push for REDD+ as Countdown Begins
10 views on the future of REDD+
See all on REDD+ or Climate talks or Peruvian Amazon or Indonesian Wetlands


It has been only one year since Sony brought to the market the compact potent Sony RX100 II when they surprised the industry with a new Sony RX100 III. This is a novelty that brings the latest technology from the giant Japanese company and, on top it has an integrated and colorful electronic visor that is retractable.
The design does not differ much from the previous version and the engineers have worked hard into maintaining the lines of these advanced cameras that offer so much and had so many good results, nevertheless, incorporating the previously mentioned visor, and also a collapsible screen that goes up to 180 degrees.
In the remaining details we found a sensor with a greater resolution the latest processor and a brighter zoom.
This particular compact has a solid construction, as we already verified personally with the RX100 and RX100 II; even with a light aluminum body it remain light and possess a design simple and elegant at the same time. Despite of maintaining the almost equal interior design, we found a substantial change and, perhaps its most significant change, as it is the retractable visor (in spite of sacrificing the flash and the connection foot).
This really was an ingenious option of including extra value to this small compact, without abandoning its size and portability.
We found something similar with the collapsible screen, as its predecessor, but with more degrees and possibilities.
The sensor kept the same size and resolution, and now incorporates the last Sony Processor, the Bionz X, that has been present already in the latest models such as the A7 and/or the A6000. All these give the camera more speed and power and improve its already great noise control in the RX100 II.
There is also the important improvement of the greater brightness of the already super quality Zeiss Zoom with the capability of a more distant focus. These gives more possibilities to the user when in conditions of not enough light, thanks to its maximum opening ( f/1, 8-2,8), and with the incorporation of a neutral density filter with three stages.
The video capacity also offers new changes, now with the support for the format XAVC S that is also benefitted by the improved stabilizer with 5 shafts of the RX100 III.
Continuing with the line of improvements, it is the option of exiting for photos 4K that can be transferred to a 4K screen with a HDMI connection or with Wi-Fi connectivity (also includes NFC).
As a last comment it is important to note that a new personalized button has been included, that is close to the control ring and the function button offering the possibility of adjusting manually the user preferences for a faster, easier and more effective utilization.
We don't know yet when it will arrive to the Spanish markets; as soon as we are informed we will take note and actualize this information. Intuitively we can assume that the price will be similar to the previous model, around 750 Euros, and it could be available by the beginning of the summer season.


from 25 years of playing and teaching Celtic harp. She now handcrafts fine jewelry.
For the last years of her music career, Rolliana devoted most of her music to healing, contemplative and special music projects. She completed her Palmer Grant in 1998 playing for elderly in hospital, hospice and home care facilities, and then volunteered for 10 years playing therapeutic music. She earned the designation "Advanced Certified Clinical Musician" [ACCM], July 10, 2007, by completing The Clinical Musicians Training Program under the mentorship of Laurie Riley. That qualified her to play professionally at patient bedside in hospital, hospice and home care settings.
The program's new website is Harp for Healing. It is accredited by the National Standards Board for Therapeutic Musicians.


This is one of the most miraculous video presentations you will ever see! When Walt was only a boy of twelve, God spoke to him and showed him a vision of a daughter he would one day have. He told him her name would be Chloe. Across from his family's farm was Annie and her family and she and Walt grew up together. Little did they know, one day they would become man and wife and fulfill the prophecy Walt was given so many years ago!
This video shows their entire adoption story from start to end. When Walt and Annie began growing closer, they talked about their dreams for the future and when you hear how much their two dreams matched, you will be blown away! This is such an amazing and miraculous story and it ends with Walt's dream and vision coming to fruition. If you think this was a true miracle from God, Please SHARE on Facebook!
An Autistic Boy Receives a Miracle From a Most Unexpected Place!
Mother Tiger Gives Birth To Two Adorable Tiger Cubs!


Dragon boating is a fun filled, adrenaline pumping, water sports activity. Teams compete in Dragon Boats, which are large canoe-like vessels fitted with ornately carved dragon's heads and tails. To see the Dragon boat racing take place, head down to Liverpool Waters on this day.


Alternate Energy has an important reminder for anyone considering solar: if choosing the right installer is important, choosing the right module manufacturer is crucial.
Bruce Ekimura, founder and owner of Alternate Energy Inc., said the recent shakeout in the solar panel manufacturing industry reaffirms the wisdom of his company's long-term alliance with Mitsubishi Electric. The global electronics leader and its premium solar modules are here to stay, backed by solid warranties, a well-diversified base and generations of research and development.
Alternate Energy is a Mitsubishi Elite Dealer, and last year achieved the international distinction of Mitsubishi Electric Certified Installer. The criteria are so stringent that Alternate Energy is the only PV company in the world outside of Japan with this high honor.The partnership includes regular installer trainings and ongoing education conducted by Mitsubishi engineers at Alternate Energy headquarters, ensuring that the high-quality modules are always installed with the highest expertise.
The product has been so well received in Hawaii that, Bruce warned, some less-reputable contractors are spreading rumors that Mitsubishi is planning to halt shipment to the U.S. — an absolute falsehood.


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Really? These Atheist Billboards Are 'Shocking'? September 17, 2013 Hemant Mehta
Really? These Atheist Billboards Are 'Shocking'?
KEYE-TV in Austin, Texas offered up this headline yesterday, noting that it was their most popular video at the time:
Wow! "Shocking" atheist billboards! What did they say? "God is imaginary"? "Religion is child abuse"? "There is no heaven"?
Nope. It's just the one in that picture. The one that says to atheists, "You're not alone."
Talk about freaking out over nothing…
The video itself — which is not embeddable — features a couple of soundbytes from local Christians who "don't agree" with the billboard (which says more about their reading abilities than it does the content of the message), but there's nothing provocative about the sign.
It's editorializing. It suggests that atheists doing pretty much anything is shocking. It's the sort of adjective you'd never see in front of a report about a Christian billboard telling people to come to church so they can learn about eternal life. I know this may sound like a petty argument, but there's a double-standard at play here for no good reason whatsoever. It feeds the stereotype that atheists, by simply acknowledging each other and their own lack of religious beliefs, are doing something wrong.
I've emailed the station to find out who wrote the headline and why they chose that word. I'll update this post if I hear a response.
***Update***: I have not heard back from the station yet, but it appears they've since changed their headline (though not the URL since it may be too late for that):
Atheist Advertising
Rabbi Is Embarrassed By Religious Jews Using Swinging Chickens as Sin Absorbers
September 17, 2013 Tennessee Parents Protest Formation of Gay-Straight Alliance, Citing Anti-Christian Discrimination