#Labeler Market Factors

[electronalytics]

RFID Label Printers Market, Overview Development and Outlook on Key Growth Trends, Factors and Forecast 2032

RFID Label Printers Market Overview:

The RFID (Radio-Frequency Identification) Label Printers market is a dynamic segment within the broader realm of automatic identification and data capture technology. These specialized printers are designed to produce RFID labels, which contain embedded RFID tags that can store and transmit data wirelessly. The market's significance lies in its role as an enabler of efficient inventory management, supply chain optimization, and enhanced asset tracking across various industries. As organizations increasingly adopt RFID technology to improve operational efficiency and traceability, the RFID Label Printers market experiences sustained growth.

Market Share: The RFID Label Printers market is primarily dominated by a few key players, including Zebra Technologies, Honeywell International Inc., Avery Dennison Corporation, SATO Holdings Corporation, and Printronix, among others. These companies hold a significant share of the market due to their established presence and wide product offerings.

Types: RFID Label Printers come in various types, including desktop RFID printers, industrial RFID printers, and mobile RFID printers. Desktop RFID printers are compact and suitable for low to medium-volume printing, industrial RFID printers are designed for high-volume and rugged environments, while mobile RFID printers are portable and used for on-the-go printing applications.

Applications: RFID Label Printers are used across a range of industries and applications. Some common applications include inventory management, supply chain tracking, retail and apparel tagging, healthcare asset tracking, and access control. The ability to encode RFID tags while printing labels makes them invaluable in applications where tracking and tracing items are crucial.

Opportunities and Key Trends: The RFID Label Printers market continues to grow due to the increasing adoption of RFID technology across industries. Key trends include:

Integration with IoT: RFID Label Printers are increasingly being integrated with the Internet of Things (IoT) to enable real-time tracking and monitoring of assets and inventory. This integration enhances data visibility and analytics.

Customization and Flexibility: Customers are demanding more versatile and customizable RFID label printing solutions to meet specific needs. Manufacturers are responding by offering printers with greater flexibility in label design and encoding options.

Sustainability: Environmental concerns are driving the development of RFID Label Printers that are more energy-efficient and use eco-friendly materials. This aligns with the growing focus on sustainability in various industries.

Global Expansion: As RFID technology adoption continues to spread globally, there are opportunities for RFID Label Printer manufacturers to expand their presence in emerging markets and cater to the growing demand for RFID solutions.

The RFID Label Printers market's growth is intertwined with the broader adoption of RFID technology across industries, highlighting the critical role of these printers in enabling efficient data capture, tracking, and identification processes essential for modern businesses and organizations.

Market Dynamics:

Growing Adoption: The RFID Label Printers market is experiencing steady growth due to the increasing adoption of RFID technology across industries. This adoption is driven by the need for efficient inventory management, improved supply chain visibility, and enhanced asset tracking capabilities.

Regulatory Compliance: Regulatory requirements and industry standards, such as those in healthcare (e.g., UDI for medical devices) and retail (e.g., EPC Gen2 for apparel), are influencing the demand for RFID Label Printers as companies seek to comply with labeling and tracking mandates.

Products:

Desktop RFID Printers: These compact printers are suitable for low to medium-volume printing. They are commonly used in retail stores, offices, and small-scale warehouses for applications like price tagging and item tracking.

Industrial RFID Printers: Designed for high-volume and rugged environments, industrial RFID printers are favored in manufacturing, logistics, and distribution centers. They offer robust construction and high-speed printing capabilities to handle large-scale RFID labeling needs.

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By visiting our website or contacting us directly, you can explore the availability of specific reports related to this market. These reports often require a purchase or subscription, but we provide comprehensive and in-depth information that can be valuable for businesses, investors, and individuals interested in the market.

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Market Segmentations:

Global RFID Label Printers Market: By Company • Zebra • Toshiba • Honeywell • SATO • Printronix • Avery Dennison • Postek Global RFID Label Printers Market: By Type • Desktop RFID Printers • Industrial RFID Printers • Mobile RFID Printers Global RFID Label Printers Market: By Application • Industrial Application • Transportation & Logistics • Retail • Healthcare • Other Global RFID Label Printers Market: Regional Analysis All the regional segmentation has been studied based on recent and future trends, and the market is forecasted throughout the prediction period. The countries covered in the regional analysis of the Global RFID Label Printers market report are U.S., Canada, and Mexico in North America, Germany, France, U.K., Russia, Italy, Spain, Turkey, Netherlands, Switzerland, Belgium, and Rest of Europe in Europe, Singapore, Malaysia, Australia, Thailand, Indonesia, Philippines, China, Japan, India, South Korea, Rest of Asia-Pacific (APAC) in the Asia-Pacific (APAC), Saudi Arabia, U.A.E, South Africa, Egypt, Israel, Rest of Middle East and Africa (MEA) as a part of Middle East and Africa (MEA), and Argentina, Brazil, and Rest of South America as part of South America.

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[tuesdayisfordancing]

Unfortunate as it is, copyright law is the only practical leverage most people have to fight against tech companies scraping their work for commercial usage without their permission, especially people who also don't have union power to leverage either. Even people who prefer to upload their work for free online shouldn't be taken advantage of; Just because something is available for free online doesn't mean that it's freely available for someone to profit from in any way, especially if the author did not authorize it.

Okay Nonny. Bear with me, you’re not gonna like how I start this and probably not how I finish it either, but I do have a point in the middle. So.

There is in fact long established precedent for people being allowed to profit off of various uses of others’ work without permission, in ways that creative types in general and fandom specifically tend to wholeheartedly approve of. Parody, collage, fanart commissions, unauthorized merch, monetized reaction or analysis videos on youtube, these are significantly clearer cut examples of actually *using* copyrighted material in your own work than the generative ai case. And except for fanart commissions and unauthorized merch, which mostly live off of copyright holders staying cool about it, these are all explicitly permitted under copyright law.

Now, the generative ai case has some conflicting factors around it. On the one hand, it’s not only blatantly transformative to the point where the dataset cannot be recognized in the end result (and when it overfits and comes out with something not sufficiently transformative, that’s covered by preexisting copyright law), it also doesn’t exactly *use* the copyrighted work the way other transformative uses do. A parody riffs off a particular other work, or a few particular other works. A collage or a reaction video uses individual pieces of other works. Generative AI doesn’t do that, it comes up with patterns based on having looked at what a huge number of other works have in common. Like if a formulaic writing/art advice book were instead a robot artist. But on the other hand, the AI that was trained is potentially being used to compete in the same market as the work it was trained on. That “competition in the same market” element is why fan merch and fanart commissions rely on sufferance, rather than legality. That’s part of fair use too. So perhaps there’s some case to be made against AI from that perspective. *But*… the genAI creations, while competing in the same market as some of their training data, are *a lot more different from that training data* than a fanart is from an official art. To a significant degree the most similar comparison here isn’t other types of transformative work it’s… a person who learns to write by reading a lot. They’ll end up competing in the same market as some of *their* training data too. But of course that doesn’t *feel* the same. For starters, that’s *one person* adding themselves to the competition pool. An AI is adding *everyone who uses the AI* to the competition pool. It may be a similar process, but the end result is much more disruptive. Generative AI is going to make making a living off art even harder - and even finding cool *free* art harder - by flooding the market with crap at a whole new scale. That sucks! It’s shitty, and it feels hideously unfair that it uses artists’ work to do it, and people have decided to label this unfairness “theft”. Now, I do not think that is an accurate label and I’ve reached the point of being really frustrated and annoyed about it, on a personal level. Not all things that are unfair are theft and just saying “theft” louder each time is not actually an argument for why something should be considered theft. An analogy I like here: If someone used art you made to make a collage campaigning against your right to make that art (I can picture some assholes doing this with, say, selfies of drag queens), that would feel violating. It would feel unfair. It would suck! But it wouldn’t be theft or plagiarism.

…*And* on whatever hand we’re on now, my own first thought *was* “Okay well, on the one hand when you look at the mechanics this is pretty obviously less infringing than collage or parody, which I don’t think should be banned, but… maybe we can make a special extra strict copyright that applies only to AI? Just because of how this sucks.” And you know, maybe I’m wrong about my current stance and that’s still a good idea! But there seems to be a lack of caution regarding what sorts of rulings are being invited. It seems like some people are running towards any interpretation of copyright that slows down AI, regardless of what *else* it implies. Maybe I’m wrong! I’m no expert. Maybe it’ll be fine and maybe I’m just too pissed at anti-ai shit to see this clearly. I really wish the AI people had done open calls requesting people to add their work to the datasets, for which I think they would have gotten a lot of uptake before the public turned against AI. Maybe if we do end up with copyright protections against AI training that’ll happen and everything’ll be drastically improved. I dunno.

But I get fucking nervous and freaked out at OTW sending DMCA takedowns as a form of agitation for increased copyright protection and I think that’s a reasonable emotional response.

[delicateperspective]

Hi

I’ve noticed there’s a lot of debate about Harry’s career, and I wanted to ask what you think about it. Like, do you think he’s actually fully free when it comes to his career?

It seems like he’s gained a lot of creative freedom, and he’s pretty close to the CEO of Sony Music.

I get that at his level, there’s usually more control over artists, but it kind of looks like he’s managed to carve out some real freedom.

hey! oh my gosh anon, thank you for asking this in such a kind and respectful way. seriously. i’ve had this question come in before, but often phrased in ways that are really dismissive or degrading toward harry, and i try to avoid engaging with anything that tears them down for my own peace of mind. so i really appreciate the tone you brought to this ♥

there are definitely some great takes floating around from other blogs, but i’m happy to throw in my two cents too!

so — do i think harry is completely free in his career now?

short answer: no, not completely. but i do think he’s carved out a lot more freedom than he had in the past, especially creatively.

longer answer below if you're up for a read 👇

📄contract stuff 📄

when harry was 16, he was handed the same standard x-factor contract as the other contestants — and likely wasn’t allowed to seek outside opinion before signing. those contracts would’ve included clauses about not revealing anything that happened behind the scenes, letting the show dictate how their image and likeness are used, and (this one’s actually been confirmed by other contestants) never disparaging simon cowell. several former contestants have said they’re still under those NDAs — so at least parts of that original contract are probably still in effect.

and that’s just the beginning.

after x factor, 1d signed a recording contract with syco/sony (december 2010) for five albums and a set number of years. they fulfilled the album count, yes — but we don’t know what other clauses were baked into that deal. i’ve seen theories (and i tend to agree) that if three or more members are seen collaborating or photographed together, it can still trigger the 1D brand — which could reactivate image management clauses. and from what we know, syco/sony may still own their masters, unless that changed when the business entity was sold to universal in 2020 (though that didn’t seem to include the catalog).

they also renewed that contract in 2013, which again — no one outside their teams has seen the terms or end date. and then there's the US contract with columbia/sony (signed in 2011), which would’ve come with its own image rights clauses and restrictions.

now — harry himself has said that the first contract he saw without a “cleanliness clause” (sometimes called a morality clause) was his first solo deal with columbia. that tells us that every previous contract — from x factor to 1d — likely included one. and those clauses are serious. they’re basically designed to let the label (or management) protect their investment by controlling anything that might be seen as “damaging” to the artist’s public image or marketability.

if the artist breaks a clause — even unintentionally — the consequences can be massive: they can lose their deal, be forced to pay back everything that’s been invested in them (studio time, promo, tour costs), and in some cases even be sued for future losses — meaning the label can estimate what they would have made off you and demand that too.

so when people ask “why would they closet him?” — the answer is: because under a cleanliness clause, being openly gay could absolutely be labeled as ‘unsavory’ or ‘damaging’, especially in an industry built on selling a fantasy to teenage girls. back then, harry’s entire commercial value (to them) was tied to how desirable he was to a young, straight female audience. coming out — or even being perceived as queer — could have been framed as a threat to his marketability, and therefore a violation of the contract.

and we’re not talking small stakes — we’re talking about millions of dollars riding on his “image.” at that age, with that kind of power imbalance, it wouldn’t have been framed to him as a choice. it would’ve been: this is what you signed. this is the deal. this is how it works.

and just to expose myself a little — i’m actually really familiar with clauses like that. i’ve written them, i’ve signed them, i’ve seen them broken. they’re not just used in music — they show up in any industry where someone’s public image is monetized. are they outdated and kind of gross? yeah. but from a corporate risk perspective, they’re considered “standard.”

to give a non-music example: if J.K. Rowling had been under contract for five more books when she started making horrific comments about trans people, her publisher could’ve dropped her and sued her for all the money they lost out on because of her public behavior. so — yeah. sometimes those clauses are used to protect people, but they can also be used to control them.

🌟 current day 🌟

based on what little we know, i personally believe that harry fulfilled his first solo contract — which i think was for three albums (HS1, Fine Line, Harry’s House). that deal may have been better than what he had before, but he was still just starting out as a solo artist. he probably didn’t have the leverage (or confidence) yet to push for a deal that was completely in his favor. the label was taking a risk on him — he could’ve flopped. and i think he knew that too. none of the industry people could’ve predicted just how massive he’d become. (okay, we could’ve, but still.)

and here’s where i’ll expose another opinion: i fully believe that part of that solo deal — or jeff’s strategy — was to intentionally distance harry from the 1D brand, and from all the members. not because he doesn’t care about them, but because the narrative around him needed to be “solo star harry styles,” not “harry from one direction.”

that’s why we didn’t see him publicly with any of them for years. remember when he went to louis’ xfactor performance in 2016? there was a photo of him with steve aoki. and then a separate photo of louis, liam, and niall with steve. but no photo of all of them together. no photo of harry with any of them (the closest we got was in AOTV - and everyone says "thank you Louis"). that’s not a coincidence.

even if i didn’t believe in larry (which i do), i’d still believe that the public friendships within the band were intentionally regulated for years. not because they weren’t real, but because they weren’t allowed to be seen.

🌈 freedom, but with limits 🌈

i also have a little (okay, a lot) of suspicion that part of the break harry was on was being used to renegotiate whatever his contract looks like now. but it's too early to see any of the effects of that.

to me, he’s as open as he can be — with the original restrictions still in place.

i don’t believe he can confirm his sexuality. i don’t believe he can say he was closeted. i don’t believe any of them can tell us the full truth about how bad things were — or what really happened behind the scenes.

he has signifigant control over his music. he has some control over his image. and he has more say now than he ever did before. but he’s still walking a very careful line, and i think that’s why he’s known for only doing interviews with pre-approved questions. not because he’s trying to be mysterious and "diva" about it — but because he literally can’t afford to say the wrong thing.

there’s a constant push and pull with his public image. and honestly? i think he’s handling it with a lot of grace.

💬 final thoughts 💬

i really, really hope that someday he (and the others) can be more open. and i think he hopes that too, based on the way he changes lyrics live (golden, 2022, coachella. "i'm hoping someday i can be open") and the quiet ways he pushes boundaries.

but for now? no — i don’t think harry is as free as people assume he is. he has more freedom than he used to, but he’s still navigating a system that was built to control him.

and while i’m here — neither is jade (even if she’s running a simon hate campaign in her music - the illusion of freedom is there for her without actually confirming anything), and definitely not louis (who has signed even more contracts with syco/simon even after the band). or the rest of them, really. they’re all still carrying the weight of the contracts they signed when they were teens, and the machine that came with it.

there are people trying to fix that — former contestants, people who were mistreated by simon, by itv, by x factor. but so far, no real structural change seems to have happened.

thanks again for the thoughtful ask, anon 🫶

[ranticore]

Now that you mentioned it in the tags; I really enjoyed how you did the queerness of characters in-text and I saw you mentioned more than once before how they consider/call themselves gay or anything and I was wondering if you'd be willing to elaborate on that (in Ironwall, MVF etc), but more from a writing standpoint than a worldbuilding one. Hope Im making sense lol

i looked up the invention of the word 'homosexuality' and found that it was invented 6 years after stbh is set

ghksjdg i mean there's more to it than that but it meant that my language was constrained, which also means that the characters' language is constrained as well. i have to think about ways i want this to come across to the reader. at the time i was thinking about how the basic concept of "btw this character is not straight/cis" is communicated in some of the stories i'd read, and one that stood out to me was a comic i read in a fully fantasy setting where the writer brought the narrative to a juddering halt to explain exactly how gender & sexuality are handled by the people here. as in the characters essentially turn to the camera and give the main character a lecture. i really didn't like it, the author's hand was too visible behind the panels.

but i took it as a learning exercise as well on what i didn't want to do. i didn't like the neon signs pointing at any instance of non-heteronormativity and i also don't like stories that market themselves based on the characters' gender identities, particularly stories which do not involve a coming-of-age/character learns to discover themselves narrative. it's a book about two trans men but it's not a book about being trans. that's none of the reader's business, that's hidden from you (particularly in islin's case, intentionally). i never wanted to foster a sense of voyeurism towards trans people particularly knowing that most readers, statistically, will not be trans. crucially the characters are stealth to literally everybody but like 3 people. their transition is done.

i never wanted a coming out moment, or an "i'm here i'm queer" moment either - not even because Society in the setting just because i don't like those things. to completely normalise it in the narrative between these characters is the goal - almost to the point of never even pointing it out at all except when it has to be. the vibe i wanted was like... hanging out in not necessarily a gay space, but with gay people, talking about random other stuff. i didn't even like the One coming out scene i had to put in (senca being like "i only fuck women" to bowman so that he would stop hitting on her)

so when writing i had a pretty good idea of what i didn't want. for the setting i had some strict rules to follow as well. characters would not identify as gay or bisexual or even some fantasy equivalent because those were not identities, they were acts. and heterosexuality wasn't an identity either, it wasn't even "the natural way of things", it was the means by which wealth could transfer between generations. if you do not marry, then you are not conforming to your gender. the four unmarriagable men in mvf are all denied entry to normative manhood for many de-gendering factors (disability, unmanly hobbies, vow of chastity, etc) but the culmination of those factors is that they can't marry, which is the whole POINT of being a man. three of them are entirely denied generational wealth - forcing them into poverty (it's not a coincidence that gay people are overrepresented in the criminal organisation)

from a writing standpoint this leaves them in a grey zone. when writing i tried out different language to see if it read nice to me (19th century equivalents to 'boyfriend' etc) and they all rang quite false, because outside of the whole 'can we put a label on something that doesn't officially exist in society' thing, the characters themselves are not the types of people to think that way. Bowman was dating Léa but he was never dating Félix. you can't date another man. the only people who date men are women, and Bowman is not a woman. therefore he is not dating Félix. to give just one example. ultimately for the language used i found that just leaving it as-is worked the best for me.

so after working all that out i wrote tha thing and then wanted to kind of explore - at what point does it become romantic? is there an actual border between romantic and platonic when you've kind of already fallen between the cracks in society into the grey zone where nothing is defined because it doesn't affirm the power of the ruling class. and in these particular friendships, where they've already been all things to one another, they've already done everything together, good or bad, does adding 'romantic love' to that list of things wildly recontextualise it retroactively or does anything change at all? just like the ending reveal of stbh says: who actually is the guy we've been thinking of as 'félix ortega' ? does it recontextualise everything we've just read? no, right? (or does it?)

the usual 'will-they-won't-they' romance plot isn't a factor in the book, we already know they will, they have, they won't, and they refuse to, all at once.

(jean-baptiste thinks of himself as an invert because he is Learned and has read some fascinating journal articles about cutting-edge sexology, and his relation to his sexuality is very very different. it's not something he shares with his closest friends in spaces without scrutiny; his entire life is scrutinised and his social system is predicated on marriage. like i think i said in the book, probably, i don't remember: he and renard are two guys clinging to the same life raft. they hate each other! but if you push the other guy off the life raft, then you're just one guy alone at sea, forever.)

[nevermore-ocs]

your Slasher ocs x Chubby reader hcs 🔫 hand them over (please)

(This is gonna be the FIRST PART OUT OF, HOWEVER MANY, I just got way too many horror and horror adjacent characters to comply them all to ONE list, so this one is gonna have 3 and then we'll go on from there!!)

-North-

-Being as mute as he is, North is a master of communicating in numerous other means

-Ever observant, this towering powerhouse of a woodsman finds himself regularly staring at you whenever he can't touch you right away

-Working outside on the outer perimeter of his self claimed property? He always catches his gaze cutting away from his work to wordlessly gawk at you sat patiently on the porch of his abode, he can't help himself

-The way that your plushy curves and hips and sides, thighs and all can be hugged by clothing given if their more form fitting or not is enough to drive him up a wall in the best way possible, and while he may not ever be inclined to speak, just eyeing your stretch marks and belly when you stretch and your shirt is gracious enough to him to allow him to snag a few peeks, his hushed breath often hitches in his throat at just how attractive you are to him

-And then there's his hands

-Calloused, rough, and powerful, however, he's so delicate with his touches with you

-They're, greedy, and drawn out. Gliding his palms over the front of your thighs, the sides of your hips, your sides, they're never too rough to cause you any pain, of course, but he'll pause his hand's movements to let the tips of his digits dip into your flesh and relish at how your pillowy body always fills out his awaiting palm

-And of course he does indeed pepper your stretch marks and belly with kisses, he knows that sometimes that can be a problem area for you to make peace with somedays, so he wants to be diligent with how much he adores it cause there's always just more of you to give love to

-Ivy Darrow-

S/i: "Whew, is it hot in here or is it just me?" Ivy: "It's you--" S/i: "Wha-" Ivy: "WHAT-"

-Seriously, I cannot stress ENOUGH on how just being in your presence ups her dorkiness factor past like 11, like the first time y'all even met she had a comical fumbling pratfall befitting something of Hanna-Barbera cartoons as she clumsily attempted to catch the spatula that slipped out of her hand

-Sickly sweet and abundant in her praises, there's never a day where she doesn't tell you just how insanely beautiful she'll always find you

-Your number one and biggest fan in the history of ever, she always encourages you to wear and dress yourself in things that'll show off your shape more, and she barely even regards her own pleasure in witnessing you in such an outfit, she wants you to feel like a person who can indulge on things marketed to slimmer people cause you're as much as a person as they are, and don't need to "fit" in

-But yes she absolutely did nearly faint when she saw you in a crop top, and, raising herself back up off of the mattress, she made grabby hands at you, because belly, obviously--

-You did have to partially restrain her from near mauling someone when she overheard the insult thinly guised as a compliment "you're so brave for wearing that", but you know she always means as well as she can be

-But days like that is when she layers on the praises, the sweet words, the compliments, even more than she already does and she does it plenty enough as is, you're her favorite person ever, legit her dream partner and her second half, and whilst she loathes the demonic genes of the Mordeo tainting her blood, she's not at all ashamed in letting that side out if it meant defending you

-Salem Abbott-

-Salem is...nice?? In his own right?? If you can label the shit that comes out of his garbage disposal of a mouth "nice"

-"I fuck with fat bitches heavy, thanks-" And then he promptly spanks your ass as you stand next to him, I-

-Your fault, you chose him, you know what you signed up for--

-You gave him a little bit too much credit to not be painfully obvious with him staring at you, but there's plenty moments throughout a day where you can feel his stare locking onto you, and if you even turn to face him to meet his gaze, his eyes linger knowingly for a few moments or so before they cut upwards onto yours and he doesn't say anything right away, rather, he allows this shit-eating grin to spread across his lips and he gives you a little wave with his fingers

-"My eyes are up here, Sal-", "I've already made my decision-"

-Despite all that, Salem, if you could believe it or not, isn't a creep or weird, or anything malicious like that, with you ever

-He's already experienced how dangerous someone can be when they just want to take, and take, and take something like that from someone, there are a multitude of moments where humanity does breach the surface of his sociopathy

-Kisses against the back of your head while whispers about how fucking gorgeous you are melt against your head and your hair, his touches are a lot like North's in a way, they're greedy and take their time traversing over the bountiful, supple curves of your body, but they never go any sordid without you explicitly giving him that consent to go further

-He loves the word perfect for you, he says it a lot to you, so, fucking, perfect, he's far from it himself, and has been for quite a long time now at this point, so someone that he views as utter perfection wasting their time with him, he has no idea how you put up with him, and he never will

[rjzimmerman]

The Clean Energy Revolution Is Unstoppable. (Wall Street Journal)

Surprising essay published by the Wall Street Journal. Actually, two surprises. The first is an assertion that the fossil fuel industry is parading to its death, regardless of the current trump mania, while the renewables industry is marching toward success due to dramatic decreases in cost. The second surprise is that the essay is published in the Wall Street Journal, which we all know can be a biblical equivalent for the right wing. But be careful with that right wing label: today's right wing (e.g., MAGA) or the traditional conservative republican right wing, which is more aligned with saving money and making money and avoiding political headwinds.

Here's the entire essay. I rarely post a complete essay, but this one made me happy and feel good, and right now I/we damn well need to learn something to make us happy and feel good.

Since Donald Trump’s election, clean energy stocks have plummeted, major banks have pulled out of a U.N.-sponsored “net zero” climate alliance, and BP announced it is spinning off its offshore wind business to refocus on oil and gas. Markets and companies seem to be betting that Trump’s promises to stop or reverse the clean energy transition and “drill, baby, drill” will be successful.

But this bet is wrong. The clean energy revolution is being driven by fundamental technological and economic forces that are too strong to stop. Trump’s policies can marginally slow progress in the U.S. and harm the competitiveness of American companies, but they cannot halt the fundamental dynamics of technological change or save a fossil fuel industry that will inevitably shrink dramatically in the next two decades.

Our research shows that once new technologies become established their patterns in terms of cost are surprisingly predictable. They generally follow one of three patterns.

The first is a pattern where costs are volatile over days, months and years but relatively flat over longer time frames. It applies to resources extracted from the earth, like minerals and fossil fuels. The price of oil, for instance, fluctuates in response to economic and political events such as recessions, OPEC actions or Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. But coal, oil and natural gas cost roughly the same today as they did a century ago, adjusted for inflation. One reason is that even though the technology for extracting fossil fuels improves over time, the resources get harder and harder to extract as the quality of deposits declines.

There is a second group of technologies whose costs are also largely flat over time. For example, hydropower, whose technology can’t be mass produced because each dam is different, now costs about the same as it did 50 years ago. Nuclear power costs have also been relatively flat globally since its first commercial use in 1956, although in the U.S. nuclear costs have increased by about a factor of three. The reasons for U.S. cost increases include a lack of standardized designs, growing construction costs, increased regulatory burdens, supply-chain constraints and worker shortages.

A third group of technologies experience predictable long-term declines in cost and increases in performance. Computer processors are the classic example. In 1965, Gordon Moore, then the head of Intel, noticed that the density of electrical components in integrated circuits was growing at a rate of about 40% a year. He predicted this trend would continue, and Moore’s Law has held true for 60 years, enabling companies and investors to accurately forecast the cost and speed of computers many decades ahead.

Clean energy technologies such as solar, wind and batteries all follow this pattern but at different rates. Since 1990, the cost of wind power has dropped by about 4% a year, solar energy by 12% a year and lithium-ion batteries by about 12% a year. Like semiconductors, each of these technologies can be mass produced. They also benefit from advances and economies of scale in related sectors: solar photovoltaic systems from semiconductor manufacturing, wind from aerospace and batteries from consumer electronics.

Solar energy is 10,000 times cheaper today than when it was first used in the U.S.’s Vanguard satellite in 1958. Using a measure of cost that accounts for reliability and flexibility on the grid, the International Energy Agency (IEA) calculates that electricity from solar power with battery storage is less expensive today than electricity from new coal-fired plants in India and new gas-fired plants in the U.S. We project that by 2050 solar energy will cost a tenth of what it does today, making it far cheaper than any other source of energy. 

At the same time, barriers to large-scale clean energy use keep tumbling, thanks to advances in energy storage and better grid and demand management. And innovations are enabling the electrification of industrial processes with enormous efficiency gains.

The falling price of clean energy has accelerated its adoption. The growth of new technologies, from railroads to mobile phones, follows what is called an S-curve. When a technology is new, it grows exponentially, but its share is tiny, so in absolute terms its growth looks almost flat. As exponential growth continues, however, its share suddenly becomes large, making its absolute growth large too, until the market eventually becomes saturated and growth starts to flatten. The result is an S-shaped adoption curve.

The energy provided by solar has been growing by about 30% a year for several decades. In theory, if this rate continues for just one more decade, solar power with battery storage could supply all the world’s energy needs by about 2035. In reality, growth will probably slow down as the technology reaches the saturation phase in its S-curve. Still, based on historical growth and its likely S-curve pattern, we can predict that renewables, along with pre-existing hydropower and nuclear power, will largely displace fossil fuels by about 2050.

For decades the IEA and others have consistently overestimated the future costs of renewable energy and underestimated future rates of deployment, often by orders of magnitude. The underlying problem is a lack of awareness that technological change is not linear but exponential: A new technology is small for a long time, and then it suddenly takes over. In 2000, about 95% of American households had a landline telephone. Few would have forecast that by 2023, 75% of U.S. adults would have no landline, only a mobile phone. In just two decades, a massive, century-old industry virtually disappeared.

If all of this is true, is there any need for government support for clean energy? Many believe that we should just let the free market alone sort out which energy sources are best. But that would be a mistake. 

History shows that technology transitions often need a kick-start from government. This can take the form of support for basic and high-risk research, purchases that help new technologies reach scale, investment in infrastructure and policies that create stability for private capital. Such government actions have played a critical role in virtually every technological transition, from railroads to automobiles to the internet.

In 2021-22, Congress passed the bipartisan CHIPS Act and Infrastructure Act, plus the Biden administration’s Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), all of which provided significant funding to accelerate the development of the America’s clean energy industry. Trump has pledged to end that support. The new administration has halted disbursements of $50 billion in already approved clean energy loans and put $280 billion in loan requests under review.

The legality of halting a congressionally mandated program will be challenged in court, but in any case, the IRA horse is well on its way out of the barn. About $61 billion of direct IRA funding has already been spent. IRA tax credits have already attracted $215 billion in new clean energy investment and could be worth $350 billion over the next three years.

Ending the tax credits would be politically difficult, since the top 10 states for clean energy jobs include Texas, Florida, Michigan, Ohio, North Carolina and Pennsylvania—all critical states for Republicans. Trump may find himself fighting Republican governors and members of Congress to make those cuts.

It is more likely that Trump and Congress will take actions that are politically easier, such as ending consumer subsidies for electric vehicles or refusing to issue permits for offshore wind projects. The impact of these policy changes would be mainly to harm U.S. competitiveness. By reducing support for private investment and public infrastructure, raising hurdles for permits and slapping on tariffs, the U.S. will simply drive clean-energy investment to competitors in Europe and China.

Meanwhile, Trump’s promises of a fossil fuel renaissance ring hollow. U.S. oil and gas production is already at record levels, and with softening global prices, producers and investors are increasingly cautious about committing capital to expand U.S. production.

The energy transition is a one-way ticket. As the asset base shifts to clean energy technologies, large segments of fossil fuel demand will permanently disappear. Very few consumers who buy an electric vehicle will go back to fossil-fuel cars. Once utilities build cheap renewables and storage, they won’t go back to expensive coal plants. If the S-curves of clean energy continue on their paths, the fossil fuel sector will likely shrink to a niche industry supplying petrochemicals for plastics by around 2050.

For U.S. policymakers, supporting clean energy isn’t about climate change. It is about maintaining American economic leadership. The U.S. invented most clean-energy technologies and has world-beating capabilities in them. Thanks to smart policies and a risk-taking private sector, it has led every major technological transition of the 20th century. It should lead this one too.

[hlficlibrary]

Heyy, do you have any recs for canon fics where Louis is like “straight" but still secretly hooking up with Harry behind the boys' backs? Or maybe one where they’ve never dated but eventually have some kind of confrontation about their weird dynamic? Basically, a fic where Louis struggles with his own sexuality and the feelings he has for Harry 😬😬

Thanks!! 💞

Hi, anon! You're very welcome! Here are some fics that I think fit what you're looking for!

Nobody compares to you by fallenflowercrowns / @headband-husbands

Harry has a long-term crush on his bandmate and best friend Louis, who is straight, at least as far as he knows. He also starts falling in love with this guy he met on tumblr. Who also has a crush on his own best mate. Things are about to get complicated.

Or, the one where Harry falls in love twice, Louis is just incredibly sweet and supportive, and Al from tumblr is super nice but also really secretive about his identity - not that Harry can blame him, considering his own blog is run under false pretences, too.

Follow Your Heart by dimpled_halo / @comebackassholes

“What do you mean exactly?” Harry asks. Louis’ heart is threatening to beat out of his chest. His stomach is sinking, and he’s holding his breath waiting for the words he knows are coming.

“We think it would be best to market you guys as a couple,” Simon tells them. The tone in his voice makes Louis think there’s no wiggle room to even try to argue about it.

Louis’ heart stops and his breath hitches. This cannot be happening. This has to be some sort of dream. Actually this has to be some sort of prank, really. He absentmindedly looks around the room for any evidence of hidden cameras or microphones to no avail.

“You’re kidding,” Louis says flatly. Louis is pretty sure a lot of the music industry these days likes to hide the fact that an artist isn’t straight, afraid that it might affect record sales and now he’s sitting in the middle of an executive label meeting being told he had to be in a relationship with his best friend–who’s a boy he’s been secretly in love with for most of his adolescence–in order to sell records? What kind of alternate universe level bullshit is he living in?

Completely, and Absolutely by iwillpaintasongforlou / @canonlarry

Louis is so completely and absolutely NOT gay that the fact that anyone thinks Harry is his soulmate is just being ridiculous. Including himself. He just thinks they're mates that are two parts of the same soul, and that's not weird at all. Okay?

Or, the one in which Louis spends the entirety of X Factor so deep in denial that he doesn't realize he's gay until he's already 3000% gone for the dimpled mess in his arms.

[stylesclarified]

I might add this to the post about the myth of Harry being pushed to the front by the label because I think it's fantastic, but I really wanted to make a post about this.

A beautiful anon sent me two links, and one of them is just... a jewel that I needed to share.

It's this podcast from January 2021 — the whole thing is interesting, but the relevant part starts at around 1:09 (an hour and 9 minutes):

The two people talking in this podcast are Jade Driver, who's AJ McLean's (Backstreet Boys) manager and co-founder a marketing agency with several high profile clients (such as Backstreet Boys, New Kids On the Block, McFly), and Tim Byrne, who was an executive at Syco Entertainment (the company behind the X Factor).

I'm just going to transcribe the conversation and highlight the relevant bits with a little commentary.

For ease of reading, the name of who's talking will be highlighted in blue each time we change speaker, the relevant bits will be highlighted in red.

****

Jade: I love this subject. We're gonna dive into One Direction. Let's do it! Tim, you had so much to do with putting together One Direction.

Tim: So, fast forward to 2008 and by then I'm working for Simon Cowell as the creative director of his company. There was a TV company where we made Got Talent and X Factor and there was a record label. And obviously I'd been working with Leona Lewis at that point, so we're making the X Factor in 2008 and along comes a fourteen-year-old kid called Liam Payne. And Liam had the most amazing haircut — it was kind of a bit of a Bieber-cut, and Twitter started an account called "Liam's hair" at that point, which became huge.

And Liam made it all the way through to almost the Live Shows. But for some crazy reason they didn't put him through to the Live Shows. I think they felt he was too young and not quite ready. But I'd met him and worked with him in the auditions, at that point. And I just thought, "This kid is an absolute superstar." So I make sure I got his details. I make sure I kept in touch with him. And we would meet up regularly.

And I used to say to Liam, "I think you should be in a boyband, and if you stick with us, we'll build a boyband around you." And Liam was amazing. At fourteen, he went and slugged around the country as a Michael Bublé tribute act, at that point, singing all Michael-Bublé-type of songs. But he went out and got the experience of singing hundreds and hundreds of live shows and built his confidence and built his craft and everything.

And at the age of sixteen, it was time for him to come back and audition for the X Factor. At which point, the intention had always been to create a boyband, at that point, so Liam was a dead cert — he was in the band. And then as we were doing the auditions in 2010, we were looking out for other people who were suitable to be in this boyband.

In walks Harry Styles to the audition room, and you're like, "I want him for the boyband!"

Jade: Yes!

Tim: And the producers wanted him for the main show. And then, obviously, in walks Zayn Malik*, who I have to say has the greatest charisma and star quality and presence of anyone I've ever been involved with. This kid's just like radiating something really incredibly special, with a really nice voice, great personality that you really warm to.

And across the X Factor, you know, One Direction were put together on the show. And, at that point, it was 100% my responsibility, then, to help them become a group, work together as a group. So I took them away and helped them become the group, and —

Jade: You ran the One Direction boyband bootcamp.

Tim: I ran One Direction, at that point, to help them prepare for the Live Shows. I was working with all the contestants equally.

****

He starts talking about Fifth Harmony, because he put the group together. I'll take this intermission to address the asterisk. Tim and Zayn are friends, which is why, presumably, he's so over the top complimentary. When they're introducing the podcast at the beginning, Jade says that she doesn't know much about Take That because she's American and then this:

Jade: Tim is obviously from England. Where are you from?

Tim: I'm from Yorkshire, in the North of England. I'm from the same place as Zayn Malik.

Jade: Ooooh, do you like Zayn's new song?

Tim: I LOVE Zayn's new song. Zayn is... yeah, he's my friend.

Just a funny aside. Let's continue:

****

Tim: You get lucky at a certain point. Had Harry Styles not walked in, or had Camila not walked in, you wouldn't have had the same groups.

[Anecdote about the bathrooms in the X Factor studios and Jade meeting Harry there that goes on forever.]

Tim: They were incredible to work with. Out of any acts I've ever worked with. They just had such discipline. They were really serious about it and really ambitious. And so, you know, we helped prepare them for the Live Shows and then every single week on the X Factor, choosing the songs and how they would perform, and all of that. They were just — they worked their souls off. They worked harder than any other act on that show.

****

So, essentially, what Liam said was absolutely true. You can watch it here. It's almost word for word what Tim said.

Tim's podcast was a year and a half before Liam's. It's really cool to have corroboration. They were auditioning boys to form a boyband around Liam. This man KEPT IN TOUCH with Liam and flat out told him they would build a boyband around him.

Liam is just retelling what he was flat out told to his face.

I also find it very funny that he highlighted that the producers wanted Harry for the main show, essentially saying that they wanted him solo, but that the Syco executives wanted him for the boyband.

It's funny because if it wasn't for Liam Harry could've had a similar start to Justin Bieber, but clearly the Syco executives at the time had the idea of a boyband in mind and Liam as the frontman, so they stuck to that.

So much for "if it wasn't for 1D Harry would still be working in a bakery."

But anyway, thank you so much to the anon who sent that. Seriously, what a gem of a find!

[ettawritesnstudies]

For this definition, the craft of storytelling can refer to the coherency of plot(holes), character development, worldbuilding, the style of the prose.

I'm excluding fanfiction because I'm trying to do research on the published fiction market for my own sake.

When I refer to tropes I'm broadly speaking about genre and categories (e.g. if you typically read fantasy romance, what would you rate a psychological thriller?) as well as the conventional archetypes and tropes within the genre (if you enjoy high fantasy with dragons and elves and stock creatures versus high fantasy with wholly unique worlds. Either could have good or bad worldbuilding on the Y axis depending on execution but the inclusion of the beings themselves is a trope that aligns with personal taste.)

Feel free to label the graph and share it in the reblogged with your commentary, and also share whether or not you're a writer and how that's changed your point of view. I'll share mine in a reblog.

[dandelionjack]

there is a lot of grieving involved in realising you’ve been a radlib this whole time and embracing actual marxism. mainly grieving for all the media you’ve enjoyed and been a fan of, particularly when you’re on the spectrum so media is your predominant way of interacting with the world.

it’s all fascist, all of it, all fantasy is. any story that features people with magical powers that elevate them above the populace and which they can use to heal or harm? any story that features an Exceptional Individual Who Can Change History Because They’re So Awesome/Tragic/Weird? fascist. any story that describes an inherent characteristic possessed by a race of mythical creatures? fascist.

it’s all fascist, all romanticism is. individuality in general, the belief that i’m somehow special because i’m autistic, that i’ve been sent here for a purpose, that all of this is leading up to some grand narrative — a product of liberal brainwashing. any story with a protagonist who significantly alters events, basically. any Chosen One — yes, even anti-chosenone stories like Dune. any superhero. any wizard. any Doctor Who.

all mysticism is. the belief that manifestation/thinking hard enough/casting spells/drawing sigils/whatever can change reality ignores socioeconomic factors and the thousand hidden background events constantly shaping every second of our lives. all magic(k) is at best a distraction or escapism and at worst a system of false consciousness that blames immaterial factors for people’s misfortune. chaos magick is the ultimate extension of the neoliberal mindset

there is no art created under capitalism that is not a commodity designed to make more profit. that’s it, that’s all Art is. especially pop music (which includes rock, punk, emo, goth, any subculture basically, jazz, and also classical too sorry adorno), movies and TV, but books as well. there is literally no escaping capitalist realism, no escaping the spectacle

all individual rebellion, all subculture, is liberal at its core. if you call yourself goth you’re making yourself a marketable product. in fact any stable identity-categories turn you into a subject of advertising.

everything is ideology. there is no art, there is only production. “b-but i make my own choices! i create what i want to see!” haha. buddy. you think your desires aren’t entirely contingent on the social milieu which indoctrinated you? you think you’re inventing something new? you think you’re “being yourself”? that “self” is a subject to be marketed to. byung chul-han writes that the word subject itself is a cognate of subjugation — the individual that considers themselves sovereign is a perfect slave to capitalism

this post is what radicalised me. i realised i fit into at least 9 of those categories (tchotchke collector, fandom devotee, cinephile, witch, member of an “alternative” music/fashion based subculture, hipster, cultured consumer, ethical porn proponent, anti-ai luddite) and initially i got mad as hell but having examined everything and done some reading i realised OP is probably right. we’re all treatlers

i don’t know how to deal with this though. my entire identity, sense of self (bourgeois concepts in of themselves) were based on some of the above labels and/or hobbies, interests, values. i literally have to rebuild myself from scratch

also they/them pronouns are probably unmaterialist too. hell, everything i am is inherently radlib. i don’t know what to do, i’m a failure to the revolution and i need to just kill myself since committing unorganised acts of violence against the state is infantile adventurism but no vanguard party org would accept me because i’m a slow reader and i’m stupid and sensitive and well all of the above. there is no hope for me in this world or the next one they are building

i’d say i probably need therapy to sort all of this out but therapy is a placating/pacifying mechanism invented by the bourgeoisie to suppress our justified feelings of rage and grief at the state of the world. being happy as a first-worlder at the expense of orphans in palestine or children in cobalt mines in the congo is actually unethical. so no, actually, i can’t go to a liberal therapist to sort this out, i deserve to implode and die

[roar2260]

my experience as someone non-binary is so difficult sometimes because people will go about and talk about trans people, joke about trans people, and constantly turn a blind eye to trans injustices with their own prejudice.. and i just have to stand there like i’m not trans myself :( i know i am not a man, i know i am not wholly a woman.. gender is so confusing to me. call me woman or man, guy or girl, it doesn’t matter. but she? he? it disturbs me. after all these years of self discovery, experimenting with both masculine and feminine clothing, pronouns, genders, appearances, personalities.. nonbinary has always felt like me. neither one or the other.

and it scares me. the fact i’ll feel this way likely forever. that i’ll call myself a girl but never wholeheartedly believe it. whenever i meet new people or attend a new conference or join a committee, i have to endure being called she the whole time because i’m terrified i’ll be disrespected. i’m kept up by the thought of what will happen to me when i leave high school? go to college? get a job? go on dates?

being non-binary, choosing to label myself as such, presenting myself as such, has been such a freeing experience devoid of gender constraints. but in the eyes of the world around me, will being non-binary end up defining who i am? how i am perceived, marketed, factored for success?

will i ever be remembered as a good human being in the same breath as being non-binary? or will i settle for being called she, because at least i’m being remembered?

[transmutationisms]

thoughts on adhd diagonsis and the rising numbers of it? heard a couple different theories, including a school therapist saying that he thinks children are just getting misdiagnosed because they’re cutting recess times, but interested in your thoughts! lol

yea i talked about this a bit here but i would add for clarity:

this kind of narrative of 'rising rates of' [any dsm diagnosis, in this case adhd] is kind of misleading on the surface because these numbers, and cultural and medical attitudes toward these labels, vary widely. matthew smith gives a very abridged introduction to varying attitudes toward adhd globally, and points out that countries that have 'embraced' the adhd diagnosis and its corresponding drug treatments tend to be countries where pharma companies have pushed to expand their market for these drugs, and have been able to succeed in partnering up with local and regional medical guilds and practitioners' professional interests. which is to say that any 'rise' in 'adhd' should be interpreted with an eye to material factors, meaning, specifically, profit-seeking and broader patterns of imperialism and global market expansion.

none of this is to say that the impairments people experience in adhd are any less real, debilitating, or distressing. however, when we ask about those impairments becoming more widespread or severe, often the conversation becomes rapidly re-routed to cover only a narrative of individual cognitive or neurological 'failures' constituting a distinct 'disorder'. elided from this framing is the idea that an impairment of this sort arises not just from the individual's brain-mind-body, but from the extent to which that person is being accommodated by their social context, specifically demands for productivity, sustained attention, &c in the home / school / workplace.

the core research methodologies & data interpretation in the psy-sciences embed social valences into neuro-psychological investigations, heightening the perceived contrast between, eg, 'normal' and 'adhd' brains / neurotypes / &c. susan hawthorne points out that this is a powerful feedback loop: social values are embedded in the scientific investigations, the results of which are then of further social interest, and together social and scientific values tend to converge, mutually reinforce one another, and strengthen the ideas and data interpretations supporting the concept of a discrete, pharmacologically actionable, transhistorical and cross-societal brain disorder.

i truly cannot overstate the extent to which it matters that when ritalin arrived on the us market in 1955, psychiatric diagnosis of and pharmacological prescription for children's behaviours were in a very different state to how they are today. it is quite common (in psychiatry but also in other branches of medicine!) that diagnostic definitions and categories change, or even come into existence altogether, at the behest of pharmaceutical companies who need a diagnostic label in order to ensure insurance coverage for patients interested in taking their patented drugs. this combined with marketing direct to patients, and paid promotion to physicians, is a critical piece of the history of the adhd diagnosis.

because i always feel the need to make this crystal-clear: i do not oppose or object to people seeking or using stimulant medications lol. i <3 stimulants. that's not what this is about. i want you and me both to be able to use white-market amphetamines whenever we damn well please and you don't need to justify that on any moral or medical grounds. xx

[awesomefringey]

Hii! So, I don’t know if you believe in Ziam or you’re just larrie, but it doesn’t really matter. I believe, 100%, in both. The only odd thing is why cannot they be free/out? It’s 2024. It has been 14 years since x-factor. Aren’t their contracts with Syco over? Are they still under Simon or what? I just don’t understand why can’t they say the truth when they’re all under different labels now.

Hey nonnie! This is such a good question. I’m not sure if what we referred to as “freedom” in 2015 means the same thing in 2024. The circumstances are so different these days. The real question is, what’s there to gain from coming out now?

Back then, they were trapped in the messy situation their management created to maintain the band’s squeaky-clean image and keep their most marketable band mates available as fantasy material for their main target group, teenage girls.

From the beginning of their careers, they were involved in stunts and actions designed to cover up their sexuality and provide enough tabloid fodder for the British press to keep the band going. Their closeting strategies were always connected to the careers of others. Back then, all of One Direction. Later the careers of their popular girlfriends who have their own brands and enterprises to protect. It isn’t all that simple, if not near impossible to come out in 2024 without creating a huge scandal for so many people. I don’t think Louis or Harry want that for themselves or the people involved.

So these days, I think their idea of freedom is involves protection of their privacy and their love life from the general public and the gossip tabloids. Another factor is being able to turn their “weakness” into their strength by utilizing romance to their benefit, since dating will always be their most influential tool to get attention around themselves, their art, their projects, their endorsement deals.

As much as I’d love to see a British Vogue cover shoot featuring them in a South English castle (Louis in Harris Tweed like he stepped out of Peaky Blinders, towering behind Harry who is lounging on an expensive sofa in a silky onesie. Louis’ hand softly lying on Harry’s shoulder, Harry’s hand on top, both staring at the camera) with a headline like "But Daddy, I Love Him" and a ten-page interview explaining why they had to hide and why they’re done now…

I think the reality would be quite different... Such a personal statement would likely lead to excruciating exploitation, with countless exclusives from people around them who were once bound by NDAs, and a flood of articles about their exes, all trying to salvage their reputations and explain their roles in keeping the two hidden. To me, nothing about this scenario sounds like “freedom”.

[cozylittleartblog]

hey, so I'm trying to figure out what places would be good to sell my own art at, and I'm wondering- what has been your experience with selling on etsy? I've heard mixed reviews from people, and I want to know your perspective as an etsy seller.

etsy is not perfect but i think it gets a little more shit than it deserves, i've thought about opening my own website but generally i'm actually pretty okay with the services i get on etsy compared to what it costs so i'm just gonna make a subjective pros/cons list for you under the cut (because its loooong)

oh and if anyone else has experience selling on etsy and would like to add their two cents in the replies/reblogs please do!

Pros

⭐ The search function - this is etsy's biggest selling point. it already has a dedicated userbase of millions of people and a search feature to help them find your shop, which takes a lot of the load of marketing off your shoulders, and marketing is a huge factor for pushing sales. i am not good at marketing and a lot of my sales just come from people searching my stuff up lol

⭐ Purchase protection program - if USPS loses or damages your package, you file a missing package report and they confirm they don't know where it is, Etsy will refund your buyers order out of their own pocket (under $250). this is my favorite etsy feature because USPS likes to eat packages every now and again. delicious keychains. if you had your own storefront, you'd just have to replace the order yourself.

⭐ Share & Save program - every time someone makes an order on your shop through a special Share & Save link, etsy will refund you 4% of the fees. it's a nice perk to doing some of your own marketing and it helps combat the moderately high etsy fees!

Trackable letter mail - selling stickers but think it's insane to charge $4 shipping? you can buy letter mail labels for about the rate of regular postage, which is like .65c. this tracking is done through etsy though so you can't track with usps, but it does give customers a little peace of mind. this only works in the 50 US states though.

Customs forms built into your shipping label - shipping internationally is a nightmare. etsy makes it easy though, generating everything you need to ship internationally on one label that you just have to sign and date and slap on your package like normal. for some countries they will actually just have your package sent to a domestic facility where they literally do all that for you. this is miles easier than having to do all that paperwork yourself.

buy shipping labels directly from etsy - related point, and just what it says on the tin. when you fulfill an order, you can buy your labels right there on Etsy so you don't have to mess around with a third party website. it comes out of your sale funds so you don't need to charge a card or a bank account or anything.

star seller program - some people say this is completely useless but i actually disagree! it's incredibly easy to earn this badge, and it lets buyers know you've got some of the best products, shipping, and customer service around. it helps you stand out from some of the more... questionable shops on the website.

sales tax - they remit sales tax for you. i don't think any of the other online platforms similar to etsy do this but i could be wrong. doing any kind of taxes sucks so i consider it a perk if they do it for you.

website promotions - every now and again etsy likes to host sales out of their own pocket. you get all the perks of having a sale without eating into ur profit margin. HUGE sale booster

generally the site is just very easy to learn and use and it's very beginner and dumbass friendly. i say this as a former beginner and current dumbass 👍

Cons

❌ the fees. oogh the fees. they claim it's just a 6.5% fee per sale, but on top of that you have to pay .20c automatically for every individual item you sell, plus there are processing fees (3% + .25c) that apply both to the item you sold AND the cost of shipping. i think it comes out to like 10% total in fees on average @ > @

❌ but wait, there's more fees! if you make more than $10k in sales a year (very easy number to hit actually) you are forced to participate in offsite ads, which i believe takes 15% of your total sale on top of the fees in the previous point. these kinds of sales are not as common as you'd think, but it's still annoying having a couple bucks shaved off your profits a few times a month because of them.

corporate bullshit - etsy is like renting a space in a mall. you don't own your lot, nor the mall itself, so if upper management decides to make any stupid ass decisions, you just have to deal with it or pick up and move. if they decide to raise fees again, you just gotta Deal. you are a little bit helpless on this website unfortunately

the push for discounts - etsy is constantly shoving it in your face that they want you to do discounts. they want you to have free shipping on orders over $35, they want you to do 25% off or more on sales, they want you to have returning customer discounts and abandoned cart discounts and 'you recently favorited this item' discounts - but you already have to compete with the steep fees, and when a customer gets free shipping, you still owe USPS that $4-ish bucks to send the package. you don't have to do any of this, but they do reward participating shops by favoring them in the algorithm and search results, so you can feel like you're missing out.

there aren't as many cons imo but they Are steeper cons. generally etsy is very beginner friendly and easy to get into and set up, and in spite of everything i do actually recommend everyone looking to get into online retail start on etsy and perhaps move to other platforms in the future. plus, you can combat all the fees by just... making your prices a dollar or two higher than you initially wanted to, and using your 'save and share' link as frequently as possible. the fees are a little bit much, but you have to think about what you get in exchange:

the search is invaluable, you could argue the fees are partially a marketing budget lmao. if you have a private website you alone have to push traffic to your website, and not as many people know about things like shopify and bigcartel so they might not be as trusting putting their card details into it. i miss out on a lot of REALLY COOL STUFF because artists only advertise on instagram and i don't hear about them, meanwhile if i want some cool owl house stuff i can literally just search that in etsy and find a lot of TOH stuff super easily. i cannot highlight enough how GOOD the search function is, especially in this day and age where social media like instagram and twitter will blacklist your posts if you say words like 'shop' or 'sale' and now nobody can find your stuff in that website's search either. its very hard to do your own marketing now a days :(

being able to refund customer's lost orders out of the company's pocket is such a nice thing to fall back on if you have to and worth its weight in fees. USPS lost like... four or five packages of mine in december. that's like $100 or more worth of stuff that Etsy Covered Completely, and a lot of the times the customer will take that refund to make their order again. don't abuse this system, make sure you check with usps that the package is actually Gone, but it's a godsend when you don't make billions of dollars and eating the cost of lost orders would otherwise sting a bit.

if etsy did not make international shipping easy i simply would not ship anywhere but the US to be honest. shipping to europe is still a headache though but that's because europe is stupid

that's everything i can think of, but tl;dr yes please open an etsy 👍 i recommend it completely in spite of everything

⭐ if anyone wants to open their own etsy shop, use my referral link to make your first 40 listings for free! :)c ⭐

[bravecrab]

I was just listening to a podcast about the Peter Thiel backed Enhanced Games, a proposed alternative Olympics in which doping would not only be allowed but be the whole point. It's not an original idea, as long as doping has been in the conversation about the Olympics, there's always been people flippantly saying that they should just do something like the Enhanced Games, see how far we can push it. What's the harm?

There are plenty harms related in using cocktails of drugs to push the human body past it's natural limits, and there are plenty people who have made these comments in regards to the Enhanced Games. However a harm that I haven't seen mentioned yet, is the normalisation of pharmaceutical drug use and associating it with "peak physical performance". The Enhanced Games would be more than just an exhibition of sport, it would be a marketing platform for the pharmaceutical industry. Each athlete would have their own team to build them into the perfect athlete, more like Formula One, although who knows if the athletes will have to wear the brand logos on all their gear, so the audience know who sells the best steroids.

Let's not beat around the bush, an event that focuses on finely tuning the human body into a "perfect" form, is eugenics. The proponents of the Enhanced Games will deny it, but they want it to be successful and influential. They want it to be more successful than the Olympics. And that will require a normalisation of Eugenics.

A philosophy of domination is behind both the Enhanced Games and the Olympics. It's always been about peak fitness, as well as geopolitical bragging rights. A mindset of domination has always been used to justify eugenics, domination theology stating that God created the Earth for human consumption, and that of all creatures, Man is closest to God. That's been weaponized as white supremacy and as patriarchy, amongst many other oppressive norms, making claims through pseudo-science, that white, cis, straight men are the pinnacle of humanity. Both events are an exhibition of dominance, and while the Enhanced Games is definitely worse, the Olympics still promotes an idea that the winners are just Great Athletes, and their winning has nothing to do with factors like national wealth and resources.

Another concern I have over an event that normalises enhancing bodies beyond human limits, is that it will attempt to normalise it in work places. Despite advances in automation, a lot of physical work is still done by humans, and will remain that way as long as it is cheaper. If one of the biggest sporting events endorses performance enhancers, it's not a stretch for them to become popularly used in physical workplaces. I've done many years of warehousing work, and guys in those jobs are very much into the idea of being the biggest and strongest. Employers will definitely be happy to exploit this.

I think an event like Enhanced Games is easy to overlook. The concept has been the curiosity of a lot of people as soon as they're aware of doping. However it's the involvement of ghouls like Peter Thiel, people with a TESCREAL philosophy (Transhumanism, Extropianism, Singularitarianism, Cosmism, Rationalism, Effect Altruism, Long-termism), who want to control the future of all humankind, that make this worrying. These are billionaires who want to sell you your greatest sci fi fantasies, while maintaining a firm grasp on the controls. A future in which Peak Human Performance requires you to buy a steady supply of performance enhancing drugs, is one in which the Pharmaceutical industry is perpetually wealthy.

I'd also like to include that there is also the potential of a backlash to an event like Enhanced Games, it which all forms of alterations and modifications to the human body are labelled as evil and impure, which will likely be used to endorse transphobia.

[girloftheisland]

Scammed on Mercari: How I Fell Victim to Fraud Thanks to Social Engineering

If it's too good to be true, then it probably is.

I had never been scammed before on the web. I thought it was something that happened to boomers with low internet literacy, to those who open suspicious emails with urgent subject lines that impersonate someone they know, asking for help in the form of $100 gift cards. You know, scams like that.

I confess before this incident I hadn't shopped much on Mercari to buy American Girl stuff on the second market. Mercari seemed like a place where everyone tries to squeeze maximum dollars out of a sale. Dolls go for high prices, and rare outfits go for egregious prices.

One day recently I was skimming through listings on Mercari because I had decided that I wanted to find an early Pleasant Company Molly. I found a lot that was labeled as "Molly American Girl Doll by Pleasant Company HUGE LOT" — and you can bet that it was a huge lot. This person was selling a PC Molly, along with most of the things from her collection: furniture, outfits, accessories, and trunk. If that wasn't enough, the person was also selling a grill and picnic set and several modern outfits, including one that I consider the holy grail of Pleasant Company outfits: a complete Earth Day Outfit that speaks to me on a deep level with its hippie style and 90s beatnik vibes.

It may sound silly now, but it was the Earth Day Outfit that sent me over the edge. Here was something that I had been trying to grab at a decent price for ages. The entire lot was listed for over $650 but marked down to around $550. With Mercari's fees and taxes, it would be around $700. That's a lot of money. But there was a lot of bang for the buck here. I thought that maybe someone was clearing out their storage unit and just wanted to get rid of these 90s toys. On top of that, the listing had a notification at the top that read: "Someone has this in their cart."

Sites like Mercari and eBay (well, maybe every consumer site) will use forms of social engineering to entice users to buy. Lower those inhibitors. It happened to me. As soon as I saw that "someone else has this in their cart" message, whether real or generated, my brain froze and my fingers took over. I grabbed the lot in seconds and then triumphantly sat back in my chair when the payment successfully went through, and whoever had the item in their cart (real or generated) was out of luck.

And once that shopper's high was over, reality started to settle in. There were several odd factors about this listing that I should have paid attention to, and usually do when I'm not a goblin chasing after a perfect set. Most collectors will know the tell-tale signs of a fraudulent or questionable listing.

First, and this will be obvious, you probably shouldn't buy from someone who has zero ratings on their seller profile. How can you know that they're reputable? Scammers create new profiles all the time just to sell an item, or a large lot, and then delete the profile once the scam is complete and the money is in their pockets. They can't reuse the same profile every time; otherwise, it'd have a pile of negative reviews, right?

In my case, the listing also had an unanswered question on its page. That's another red flag. Shouldn't the seller communicate with potential buyers? One user had asked if Molly had a white or tan body, and the seller never answered. So if you're not sure if a listing is real or fake, chat up the seller to see what they know about the item. If you get nothing but radio silence, abort the mission.

After completing the purchase, I had immediate doubts, but I couldn't give up the idea that I had just scored an impressive lot and a number of things that I could check off on my collecting list. That's how these scams work: they pull you in and keep you there. The lot was marked "shipped" the next day and dropped off at the USPS the following day, and when viewing the shipment tracker, I had to face yet another red flag. The original listing said the lot was located in Ohio. But the package was dropped off in Tampa, Florida.

Due to Hurricane Helene, it was stuck in Tampa for several days. It was supposed to arrive on a Monday, but that day came and went, and I was getting worried that it got stuck. Understandably, too, since the hurricane devastated the Carolinas and hit Florida hard. I messaged the seller for the first time and asked what they knew about the postal situation down there, and all they replied was: "Hello, it has been delivered."

Ha, delivered!? USPS trackers are decent enough, and this one said it was still in transit and so unequivocally NOT delivered to my doorstep. In retrospect, I imagine that the scammer was probably laughing and enjoying the ride, while I continued to live in a dreamworld where a huge PC Molly lot was heading my way. I didn't reply to the seller, because ironically, the package was delivered that same evening.

I had asked my partner, who was working from home that day, to check our driveway periodically and be on the lookout for a large package. He checked every half hour but found nothing. You see, we live in a rural area. Our mailbox is not at our house but located half a mile down the road in a cluster mailbox where all the houses on our street collect their mail. Small packages are stored in parcel lockers there. Big packages come straight to the house. When my "lot" was delivered, the tracker said it was left at the mailbox. And I can tell you that there could be no way that such a large lot would fit in a tiny parcel locker. It was another red flag.

I got in my car and drove down the road, inserted my key into our mailbox, and found a small bubble envelope addressed to me. I ripped it open right there and stared dumbfounded at not a PC Molly lot, but a $1 Morgan silver dollar coin. I was angry and felt my blood pressure rise, and you'd think that I would wake up there and then, but I was still clinging to the hope that I would get that Molly lot. I just assumed that the seller had sent me the wrong thing. It's okay to laugh.

I drove back home and messaged the seller. I demanded that they send me the correct items or issue a refund ASAP. I showed the coin to my partner, who immediately understood that I had been the victim of a scam. He talked some sense into me, and I slowly realized that he was right. I had fallen hard for the scam and wanted to cling to it even with all the evidence before me.

Plus, I had just lost $700 dollars.

My partner was calm about the situation, but I was pissed. We decided that we would follow protocol and try to get the money back. We read postings on reddit threads about other people who had fallen for Mercari scams and how they resolved them. I followed Mercari's rules and opened a ticket. I asked to return the item and chose one of their predetermined reasons, that the item I received didn't match the listing. It sure as hell didn't.

Mercari approved the request and sent me a label to ship back this stupid $1 coin. However, on the return label I saw the final red flag. If you remember, the lot was supposed to ship from Ohio but was actually dropped off at a USPS in Tampa, Florida. The return address on the new label was listed for Hawaii. I googled the address and quickly realized that it wasn't valid. The street address was for a block of condos, but the condo or apartment number on the address didn't exist. How was I supposed to return this item, have it delivered, and then receive the refund?

This is how scammers get away with it. According to Mercari's policy, you have three days after receiving an item to try to return it. Otherwise, the sale will be marked as final, and the money goes to the seller. The sale will also be marked as final if you rate the seller. I became worried that the package would get stuck in USPS limbo because it didn't have a valid address, and then the scammer would reap the reward.

I wouldn't go down easily, though. I was going to kick and scream until the situation was rectified. I would make no future contact with the seller. I refused to mail off the item and renewed my ticket with Mercari. I presented all the evidence. Listed off the hallmarks of the scam. Waited for them to do something.

Luckily, the next day I received a refund notification and a note on the ticket from a real person at Mercari that said the sale was cancelled due to the safety of the transaction and other jargon, which all meant that they realized it was a fraudulent post and would delete the listing and the scammer's account.

It was a relief. It was a hard lesson to learn.

The moral of this story is that scammers are attracting unassuming buyers from all sorts of collecting worlds. Even American Girl/Pleasant Company. Try to be safe and savvy when browsing the web. Don't be like me and jump on something that's too good to be true. Because it probably is.

But to end on a positive note, the $1 silver dollar Morgan coin that was shipped in place of the PC Molly lot could be worth $300+ due to its rarity. So that's something.