#Manufacturing rank site

[sewnexapparel]

Bootcut vs. Straight Leg: Best Fits for Petite Women

Introduction Bootcut jeans can be both a curse and a blessing for petite women who are on the lookout for the best pair of jeans. In searching for and wearing jeans that make one look good and most importantly, give one a long and lean silhouette, a lot of decision making is involved as to whether one should go for straight or bootcut designs. And, with different needs for tailoring, different…

[low-cole-timothy]

Hamas Guidlines to Social Media

Here are excerpts from the guidlines Hamas has given as to how to post on social media:

"Anyone killed or martyred is to be called a civilian from Gaza or Palestine, before we talk about his status in jihad or his military rank. Don't forget to always add 'innocent civilian' or 'innocent citizen' in your description of those killed in Israeli attacks on Gaza.

"Begin [your reports of] news of resistance actions with the phrase 'In response to the cruel Israeli attack,' and conclude with the phrase 'This many people have been martyred since Israel launched its aggression against Gaza.' Be sure to always perpetuate the principle of 'the role of the occupation is attack, and we in Palestine are fulfilling [the role of] the reaction.'

"Beware of spreading rumors from Israeli spokesmen, particularly those that harm the home front. Be wary regarding accepting the occupation's version [of events]. You must always cast doubts on this [version], disprove it, and treat it as false.

"Avoid publishing pictures of rockets fired into Israel from [Gaza] city centers. This [would] provide a pretext for attacking residential areas in the Gaza Strip. Do not publish or share photos or video clips showing rocket launching sites or the movement of resistance [forces] in Gaza.

"To the administrators of news pages on Facebook: Do not publish close-ups of masked men with heavy weapons, so that your page will not be shut down [by Facebook] on the claim that you are inciting violence. In your coverage, be sure that you say: 'The locally manufactured shells fired by the resistance are a natural response to the Israeli occupation that deliberately fires rockets against civilians in the West Bank and Gaza'..."

Additionally, the interior ministry prepared a series of suggestions specifically for Palestinian activists who speak to Westerners via social media. The ministry emphasizes that conversations with them should be conducted differently from conversations with other Arabs. It stated:

"When speaking to the West, you must use political, rational, and persuasive discourse, and avoid emotional discourse aimed at begging for sympathy. There are elements with a conscience in the world; you must maintain contact with them and activate them for the benefit of Palestine. Their role is to shame the occupation and expose its violations.

"Avoid entering into a political argument with a Westerner aimed at convincing him that the Holocaust is a lie and deceit; instead, equate it with Israel's crimes against Palestinian civilians.

"The narrative of life vs. the narrative of blood: [When speaking] to an Arab friend, start with the number of martyrs. [But when speaking] to a Western friend, start with the number of wounded and dead. Be sure to humanize the Palestinian suffering. Try to paint a picture of the suffering of the civilians in Gaza and the West Bank during the occupation's operations and its bombings of cities and villages.

"Do not publish photos of military commanders. Do not mention their names in public, and do not praise their achievements in conversations with foreign friends!"

This is literally from their own website! They instruct people to lie and and the useful idiots just share the lies as if they are fact.

Anyone who supports Hamas is an idiot at best and a terrorist at worst....

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Sponsored listings are a ripoff…for sellers

Tonight (November 29), I'm at NYC's Strand Books with my novel The Lost Cause, a solarpunk tale of hope and danger that Rebecca Solnit called "completely delightful."

Not all ads are created equally sleazy. The privacy harms from surveillance ads, though real, are often hard to pin down. But there's another kind of ad - or "ad" that picks your pocket every time you use an ecommerce site.

This is the "sponsored listing" ad, which allows merchants to bid to be among the top-ranked items in response to your searches - whether or not their products are a good match for your query. These aren't "ads" in the way that, say, a Facebook ad is an ad. These are more #payola, a form of bribery that's actually a crime (but not when Amazon does it):

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Payola#U.S._investigations_and_aftermath

Amazon is the global champion of payola. It boasts of $31 billion in annual "ad" revenue. That's $31 billion that Amazon sellers have to recoup from you. But Amazon's use of "most favored nation" deals (which requires sellers to offer their lowest prices on Amazon) mean that you don't see those price-hikes because sellers raise their prices everywhere:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/04/25/greedflation/#commissar-bezos

Forget Twitter: Amazon search is the poster-child for enshittification, in which Amazon locks you in (for example, with a year's shipping prepaid through Prime) and then you get recommended worse products while sellers make less money and Amazon pockets the difference.

Sellers who don't sell on Amazon are dead in the water, because most US households have Amazon Prime and overwhelmingly, Prime users start their search on Amazon, and, if they find the goods they're seeking. After all, they've prepaid for shipping.

So sellers suck it up and pay a 45-51% Amazon tax and pass it on to us - no matter where we shop. A lot of the junk fees sellers pay are related to Prime and other fulfillment services, but an increasing share of the Amazon tax comes from the need to pay to "advertise," because if they don't buy the top result for searches for their own products, their competitors' ads will push them right off the first page (those competitors spend money on advertising, rather than manufacturing quality).

There's a lot of YOLO/ROFLMAO in those ads: search for "cat beds" and 50% of the first five screens are ads - including ads for dog products, apparently bought by companies adopting a spray-and-pray approach to advertising. Someone selling a quality product still has to outbid all of those garbage sellers:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/11/28/enshittification/#relentless-payola

This is at the root of Amazon's Pricing Paradox: while Amazon can defend itself against regulators by citing sellers whose prices are lower and/or whose quality is higher, it's nearly impossible for shoppers to get those deals. If you click the top result for your search, you will, on average, pay 29% more than you would if you found the best bargain on the site:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/11/06/attention-rents/#consumer-welfare-queens

What's more, you can't fix this by simply sorting by price, or by reviews, or some mix of the two. The sleaziest sellers have mastered tricks like changing the number of units they sell so the total price is lower. For example, if batteries are normally sold $10 for a four-pack, a sleazy seller can offer batteries at $9 for three units. A lowest-to-highest price-sort will put this item ahead of a cheaper rival.

Researchers found that getting a good deal at Amazon requires that you make a multifactorial spreadsheet by laboriously copy/pasting multiple details from individual listing pages and then doing sorts that Amazon itself doesn't permit:

https://scholarship.law.bu.edu/faculty_scholarship/3645/

There's an exception to this: Amazon and Apple have a cozy, secret arrangement to exclude these "ads" from searches for Apple products. But if you're shopping for anything else, you're SOL:

https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-gives-apple-special-treatment-while-others-suffer-junk-ads-2023-11

These payola markets are bad for buyers, and they cost sellers a lot of money, but are they at least good for sellers? A new study from three business-school researchers - Vibhanshu Abhishek, Jiaqi Shi and Mingyu Joo - shows that payola is a very bad deal for good sellers, too:

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3896716

After doing a lot of impressive quantitative work, the authors conclude that for good sellers, showing up as a sponsored listing makes buyers trust their products less than if they floated to the top of the results "organically." This means that buying an ad makes your product less attractive than not buying an ad.

The exception is sellers who have bad products - products that wouldn't rise to the top of the results on their own merits. The study finds that if you buy your mediocre product's way to the top of the results, buyers trust it more than they would if they found it buried deep on page eleventy-million, to which its poor reviews, quality or price would normally banish it.

But of course, if you're one of those good sellers, you can't simply opt not to buy an ad, even though seeing it with the little "AD" marker in the thumbnail makes your product less attractive to shoppers. If you don't pay the danegeld, your product will be pushed down by the inferior products whose sellers are only too happy to pay ransom.

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/11/29/aethelred-the-unready/#not-one-penny-for-tribute

[probablyasocialecologist]

As action and violence have flared across US campuses, a growing number of online commentators have criticised the UK student movement for a supposed lack of radicalism. “I think it’s an error to try and rank these movements in order of radicality. In part, because student actions across the US and UK are instances of one and the same struggle to end the genocide in Gaza, and Western government and university complicity,” says Kai Heron, lecturer in political ecology at Lancaster University. “That said, it’s certainly the case that the US and UK student movements are operating by different logics and using different strategies in response to different economic and political contexts.” In the UK, students have used a diverse range of tactics. There have been building occupations at universities such as Leeds, Manchester, UCL, Bristol, Goldsmiths, and others. But students have also organised teach-ins, teach-outs, local rallies, and national demonstrations in London. On Wednesday, students at five elite UK universities set up pro-Palestinian encampments. “These actions have been happening for years, and have won for years,” says an organiser with the Palestinian Youth Movement (PYM), a transnational, grassroots movement of Palestinians. “But they have been underreported, as per the strategic intention of media, government and university managements to ensure student activism is not spotlighted in British news outlets, something that mirrors the media’s ridiculously poor coverage of the national demonstrations for Palestine, in which the huge number of protestors are purposefully understated and underreported.” Alongside these actions, students in the UK have also organised more confrontational strategies like Palestine Action’s direct targeting of Israeli weapons manufacturer Elbit Systems, or the blockading of BAE systems sites. The Samlesbury Aerodrome outside Preston, for example, has been disrupted on multiple occasions (the site manufactures the rear fuselage for F-35 stealth planes, which are currently being used to kill Palestinians in the Gaza Strip). “In the US the student movement has also taken a diversity of tactics, including the establishment of a US branch of Palestine Action, but it is fair to say that the occupation of Columbia University - or rather the university management’s disproportionate response to it - has escalated the struggle considerably,” says Heron. “Because of this draconian response, occupation has now become the preferred and most effective strategy in the US in ways that have, and perhaps cannot, be replicated in the UK.” Students in the US and UK are both hostile to police involvement in managing student protests. But it remains rare for the police to be called to student protests in the UK, though it does happen, says Heron. This is not to say that students in the UK have not seen an unacceptable amount of disproportionate and brutal responses to student organising from both the police and universities, such as widespread student suspensions, to name but one outrage.

[vintage-london-images]

For many, Matchbox toy cars evoke childhood memories of afternoons spent driving over mountainous sofas and screeching around table leg bends. These days for bargain hunters and boot sale stalkers, they can now mean five figure sums for the right toy. But did you know they were manufactured in the East End of London?

The company existed until 1982 and had been started by Leslie and Rodney Smith who started an industrial die-casting company which they named Lesney Products in 1947. The name Lesney came from an amalgamation of their first names Les-Ney.

Starting off in a small building in Hackney, the move into toys only happened when they were sub contracted to cast toy guns for another company, with a cast road roller being their first in-house product. This was designed by John W. “Jack” Odell, who had become a partner in the operation and ultimately the one to spark the Matchbox brand because apparently his daughter was only allowed to have a toy which fitted in a matchbox while at school, thus Matchbox Toys was born. But their 1952/53 Coronation Royal State Coach built in two different scales really caught the publics attention and they sold over a million examples raising enormous capital, and that's when business and other projects really took off.

Expansion in the fifties saw them working from several spread out sites until 1963, when their new factory was built at Hackney Marshes, and with the new site there was increased productivity with up to a million products a day leaving the factory by 1969.

Lesney became one of Londons biggest employers, with women being the mainstay of production with their nimble hands handling the small and intricate parts, and they also liked the competitive pay and family support as well. Leslie Smith the then director of Lesney appreciated his workforce and to entice the women of Hackney to join the Matchbox ranks Lesney bought a fleet of redundant buses from London Transport, painted them in Matchbox’s trademark blue and yellow colours and offered free transport to and from work, as well as help with the school run and care for their children.

Like many toy manufacturers the company become the victim of different interests and Lesney and Matchbox lost its way and the company closed in 1982, with the Matchbox brand transferring to Mattel.

The factory was demolished in the early naughties with the site now occupied by luxury apartments called Matchmakers Wharf, I can't help but think that the person who named it lost the brief somewhere when it wasn't anything to do with matches at all. Maybe Lesney Wharf would have been a better name. What do you think?

Lesney Products Coronation Coach from 1953.

Matchbox Collectors Guide from 1966

[nohiketoosmall]

Ranking Plush Rattlesnakes

Part 1: Ranking Plush Anacondas

Part 2: Ranking Plush Cobras

Part 3b: Ranking Plush Rattlesnakes (by Wild Republic)*

*Wild republic was switched to its own list because there were too many

Rattlesnakes are one of the most recognizable snake species and I've seen very many while looking up plush snakes. There are around 36 species of rattlesnake with numerous subspecies; I am not an expert on them but I will try to decipher which species the plushes are based on when applicable. Though I've complained about large-headed snake toys in other posts (based on my frustration with anaconda toys), rattlesnakes have distinctly large heads and thin necks, so I have high hopes for these plushes.

Note that if I note "via pinterest" or "via ebay" or other third-party websites that means I couldn't verify the origins- if it is not "via"d it is directly through the toy website or through Amazon if seller is the manufacturer. Often sites like ebay will show up in results after the source webpage is no long accessible, eg if a product was sold or discontinued.

"Rambo the Rattlesnake" by Tiger Tale Toys

Length: 4.5ft

10/10 I can't find any faults in Rambo here. He's pretty clearly a Western Diamondback based on the patterns and his face is adorable. He has a rattle in his tail! Also, I have to give the Tiger Tale Toys brand props for this description:

Rambo resides in the desert where he spends the hot summer days coiled in the shade to escape the intense heat. Rambo is a pretty misunderstood fellow, because while being highly venomous, he is not prone to attack like some other species in the pit viper family. Rambo prefers to hide and wait for danger to pass, only shaking his rattle as a warning when he feels very threatened.

I think its nice to teach people to be careful and respect rattlesnakes, which are very misunderstood.

Vintage Dakin Rattlesnake 1987 by Dakin via Ebay

Either 17in or 40in

10/10 This is the oldest snake I've found on my lists, from 1987, but labeled vintage as the modern plush/toy market tends to push up the timeline a bit. However, I love this little snake, they look SO happy. The Dakin company has a kind of dark and sad history I went down in a rabbit hole on but suffice to say the brand no longer exists.

Zoona Collection Diamondback Rattlesnake by RGU via stuffedark

16in

10/10 Listen, I know that I rated the last one 10/10 also. But have you considered that this rattlesnake is SO cute. Its stubby tail? The texture on the body? This makes me want to cry because I cant have it. Sold out as of 2011, but unclear when it was even manufactured. The RGU (Resort Gift Unlimited) website has a short history on its About Us page which suggests that it pivoted from making cookbooks to wildlife-oriented plushes, some of which came with books in 1995 (quite a shift).

Realistic Stuffed Rattlesnake by Aurora (1) via Pinterest

13in (probably upright)

6/10 You may remember the Aurora "Miyoni" Cobra was one of my favorites, but this one doesn't speak to me as much. It has a charming face and fangs that I really like, but I'm just not into the scale fabric used for this. They didn't really make an effort with the pattern. Maybe its also the pose- it just doesn't have rattlesnake vibes.

Rattlesnake Plush by Wildlife Artists

52in

5/10 Now, this is probably the platonic middle ground of rattlesnake toys. Is it realistic? Sorta, I guess. But the pattern looks kind of cheap and muddy and the tail is awful. Amazon reviews also indicated that this one is particularly thin when compared to other stuffed snake plushes, comparing it to the WildRepublic green rattlesnake, which was much thicker. One review stated this was "the best on the market" and I have to disagree.

Brown Rattlesnake by Wildlifetree via pinterest

60in

4/10 I do like this one a little but I just don't like the generic look of this one. I have mixed feelings on this "pattern" of fabric, it looks recycled from a dinosaur plush. In this case, the head also looks recycled from a dinosaur plush. Overall, its cute, but other than the rattle its just not rattlesnake-y or unique enough for me to rate it highly.

Rattlesnake Jake Plush by Paramount Pictures via worthpoint

? Length

8/10 I think its delightful they included his little hat, he also has his gun-tail and everything. It's another one thats not my thing at all, but I have to give it props- if I were a kid who was obsessed with the hideous(ly charming) characters from Rango, I would love Rattlesnake Jake with all my heart.

Diamondback Rattlesnake by Aurora (2) via ebay

48in

4/10 This is the snake that finally prompted me to look into the Aurora brand, AKA Aurora Gift. When I found the "Aurora Miyoni" toys previously they were pretty grainy pinterest photos and I didn't look into it much more. It does appear those two Miyoni collection snakes are discontinued, but it does have some other rattlesnake plushies, like this one. The Miyoni collection does appear on the website and has many other plushies, all with neck tags.

Mini Flopsie and Shoulderkins Rattlesnake by Aurora (3)

8in (flopsie), 6in (shoulderkins)

9/10 I grouped these all together seeing as they're all roughly the same except for pattern. The "upright" pose one is the shoulderkins brand, which have magnets in them to apparently "attach them to your shoulder" which is certainly an interesting gimmick. Anyways, I kept seeing that pastel rattlesnake while searching for other plushes so I was excited to see its still being made. Very cute and simple.

Rattlesnake Jumbo Plush Snakes by Kelli's (1)

56in

6/10 There was clearly an attempt made with the pattern to have some level of accuracy, but I just don't really like the end result. I guess the colors on the face just don't feel like they're placed right, particularly those white patches around the eyes. On the bright side it looks very chunky and huggable.

Blue Rock Rattlesnake Jumbo Plush Snakes by Kelli's (2)

56in

8/10 This ones product photo is notably better than the last one, although I assume their construction is identical. But I prefer how the patterns and colors are laid out on this one. I think the banded snakes tend to have a big advantage over the more complex diamondback pattern.

Shakers the Stuffed Rattlesnake by Aurora (4)

Length unknown

8/10 The "Yoohoo and friends" line of big-eyed stuffed animals appears to be Auroras very blatant attempt to compete with TY Beanie Boos, which are those TY toys you may have seen in stores with giant eyes. The huge eyes are hit-or-miss for me because they're often too close together, but I think this trans flag pastel snake is very cute. Yoohoo and friends appears to be named as such because it is a TV show (which looks just like the Littlest Pet Shop tv show that aired a while back)

Also, I found a cobra I missed; I'll have to go back later and do a post of snakes I've missed.

"Vintage Animaland Rattle Snake" via eBay

Unknown length

3/10 The eBay listing connected to this photo is no longer up, and I tried to reverse image search this and could not find any sources or even any other post with an image like this. Animaland appears to be a Build-a-bear style franchise where kids can stuff "skins" of stuffed toys with fiber in-store. Anyways, its pretty ugly, although it has the scale pattern which is fun.

Rattle Snake Plush by Wishpets (1) via eBay

48in

6/10 There are enough listings of this on ebay to indicate the accuracy of the brand. This snake is from 2007 and has good quality available used plushes, in fact. Its not persay an "accurate" pattern but I think its a simple, abstract pattern and a simply shaped face. A perfectly acceptable giraffe snake.

Pink Rattlesnake Plush by Wishpets (2) via eBay

32in

6/10 I think this one has a very shapely face, although it looks quite startled. Looking at the photos, it looks very huggable though. I think it would be cuter if it was cleaner. Like the other Wishpets one, the ebay listing shows the tag indicating this was produced by Wishpets in 2004.

Mini Rattlesnake by Folkmanis (1)

5in (diameter), length unknown

8/10 Like most mini snakes, this one has a round face, but the pattern is surprisingly accurate and detailed. This toy company makes puppets, and this one is small enough that it's just a finger puppet!

Rattlesnake by Folkmanis (2)

36in

2/10 I feel very torn about this one, because I like its fabric a lot, it seems very detailed and it has an open mouth with fangs. The tail includes an extra pocket so you can wiggle the rattle. That being said, this little shop of horrors-esque face is so horrifying I can't bear to rate it higher. Usually, the faces of these snakes are ugly because of /lack/ of complex sewing construction, but this one looks well made and detailed, which makes the end result even more hideous.

Grand Canyon Association Rattlesnake by Jaag via ebay

50in

7/10 Another nice giraffe rattlesnake, this time by Jaag. The pattern, I realize now, is a creative interpretation of the Grand canyon rattlesnake's pattern. Jaag makes toys for promotional purposes, and this ebay listing comes with the tags indicating it was made for the Grand Canyon Association. Although the Jaag website doesn't list its plushies for sale, they do list their partnership with GCA and this rattlesnake is in its "portfolio" section. The plush does not appear to be sold on the Grand Canyon website.

Plush Diamondback Rattlesnake by B J Toy via ebay

180in

6/10 This is the largest snake on this list, and I can't pretend that doesn't factor into the rating. It does look a little understuffed, but still huggable. I like the creative interpretation of the pattern, which is something I was planning to explore in my models. I mostly wish he was thicker so he could be a proper pillow. Overall, an acceptable snake. Ebay seller posted tag to confirm this is by BJ toy circa 2009.

Green Rattlesnake by Adventure Planet (1) via ebay

60in

4/10 this is basically just the brown snake from Wildlifetree way above. One listing stated this was from Aurora, but this one shows the tag as Adventure Planet. Given that this is so similar to the brown one though, I don't know if these companies share patterns or factories and just tag plushies separately. So who knows, maybe there's an Aurora version out there.

Rattlesnake by Fiesta toys (1) via ebay

73in

6/10 It does look pretty huggable but the body is quiete thin, and the pattern is just a bit contrast-y. The area around the eye is green, which is a little odd. I don't know what it is about this plushie but there are so many pictures of it on ebay that are uniformly terrible, this is the best listing I could find. I'm disappointed- the Fiesta cobra was way more exciting.

MLB Arizona Diamondbacks by Fiesta toys (2) via ebay, pinterest

length unknown, probably different between these two plushes

7/10 I am not from Arizona, nor do I care about Major League Baseball, but a brightly colored and patterned snake is what I was hoping for from the Fiesta line. This is the second snake on this list with a hat and I'm all for it. According to Wikipedia, in the 1990s the team colors were purple, black, teal, and copper, and this is a bit more "gold" than copper to me. Both these plushes are from the 90s, according to the limited information I could find, and I did wonder at first whether the color faded but it seems unlikely that both these snakes would fade so similarly. Anyways, the color scheme resulted in a very fun snake, so I'm not mad. Nowadays the team's colors are red, beige, and black, which is much more boring. I ended up finding a version in those colors and it didn't even have the rattle.

Rattlesnake Diamondback by Collectible Wildlife Gifts

73in

5/10 Just another boring snake. Doesn't really have an interesting pattern (definitely not a diamondback, as this is one of the rare species labeled toys), its scales are too big and fishlike for me. It also doesn't look fluffy and huggable. Despite being a quite large snake, its head has the same boring construction as some of the smaller snake plushies- I'm less forgiving of the plain, egg-shaped head when the snake is large.

Black-Tailed Rattlesnake Plush by Adventure Planet (2) via eBay

67in

7/10 This snake is pretty simple, but I have to give it props for actually attempting a specific species- and a species I haven't seen any other company attempt, at that. I think this is a perfectly fine interpretation of a black-tailed rattlesnake, although I'd note the /tail/ is supposed to be black, not the rattle. I consider this acceptable due to design constraints, and I think they made a good attempt. The tag even includes fun facts. The face is quite round but the eyes have a cute grumpy expression.

Wild Eyes Rattlesnake by Animal Planet

length unuknown

0/10 This one is just as bad as the cobra version and I hate it; why would Animal Planet do this to me?

Desert House, Cactus Puppet house, Green Rattlesnake by Unipak (last one via ebay)

5.5in, 5.5in, 8in

10/10 tiny rattlesnakes with desert themed friends. I think it's very charming they included the rattlesnakes, since they're typically looked over. I'm not sure about the accuracy, especially of the red one, which looks to me most like a pygmy rattlesnake, but their range doesn't seem to be desert. I will accept this discrepancy because I think it's cute.

One discrepancy that does bother me- the website has separate listings for both 8in and 5.5in green & brown snakes, but the product photos don't include the rattle, just a plain tail. Despite this, I found the above ebay listing with the 8in rattlesnake that clearly has a rattle. I don't know exactly what is up with this, or which photos are accurate. But this is a wholesaler anyways, not a website that sells directly to customers- you'd have to find this product in stores (or resold on ebay) to purchase them. Still, I find it weird that there's a discrepancy between the product photos.

2 Pcs Rattlesnake by NicelyNice

54in

7/10 I like the construction of these guys, with the big chunky head and tail, and even the little "eyebrow ridges" above their eyes. But I have some misgivings about these photos; the company operates through ebay directly, and almost all the product photos are photoshopped. The material looks cheap, and even though the color pattern looks good, I'd be concerned that the actual snake is uncomfortable to hold, or that the image would be grainy. The theoretical snakes in this photo are like a 7/10 but I feel like the final product might not look as nice.

Klapper Isken Rattlesnake Puppet by Ikea via ebay

58in

4/10 I mean, this is... a snake. But there's not really many positives about this. Abstract patterns can certainly work, but not with the color combination, and it feels too simple for such a large snake. I'm not a fan of the fangs or the rattle. The one thing I'd give it props for is an embroidered eye, so its more cuddle-able, but I think the pupil is a bit large and looks odd.

Plush Rattlesnake 2000 by Animal Alley/Toys r Us via ebay

length unknown / 14in diameter

5/10 I have very mixed feelings about these. Aesthetically, I really like the choice of colors, and the face has these cute rounded cheeks. Visually the snake looks like a good size and very cuddly. But the color pattern bothers me from an accuracy perspective. Now you might say- I clearly am fine with abstract snake patterns. But it bothers me when there appears to be an attempt at a pattern, like this, but it's mimicking another species. The closest snake I could find was a red-bellied mudsnake (to the first)- the bottom of both plushes is red with black spots. The fact that the first is not an abstract pattern but an intentional choice with semi-realistic coloring (navy blue could be interpreted as grays) makes it feel innacurate.

So that's all the rattlesnakes I have for now. There are tons and tons of snake plushies with rattle tails and I'm sure I'm missing a few, I left out some of the more carnival-y style ones. But this post is already so long and I did so much research I'm posting it now!

As always, let me know if you have any other hidden gems or you have any of these plushies, or if you've every tried to make your own!

[warningsine]

https://www.reuters.com/technology/samsung-workers-union-south-korea-kicks-off-three-day-strike-2024-07-08/

HWASEONG, South Korea, July 8 (Reuters) - Samsung Electronics (005930.KS), opens new tab workers began a three-day strike for better pay on Monday, with their union pointing to further action should South Korea's biggest conglomerate continue to fall short of its demands.

The National Samsung Electronics Union (NSEU), whose roughly 30,000 members make up almost a quarter of the firm's South Korean workforce, also wants an extra day of annual leave for unionised workers and changes to the employee bonus system.

Low participation and automated production means the strike is unlikely to have a significant impact on output at the world's biggest memory chipmaker, analysts said. Still, it signals a decline in staff morale at a pivotal point in the chip industry as tech firms embrace artificial intelligence.

The union's first industrial action last month involved coordinating annual leave to stage a mass walkout, which Samsung said had no impact on business activity. The firm said on Monday there was no disruption in production.

The union, which did not disclose last month's strike participation levels, said 6,540 workers will be striking this week, mostly at manufacturing sites and in product development. It said the strike includes workers who monitor automated production lines and equipment so operations could be affected.

Union officials said about 3,000 strikers attended a rally in the rain near Samsung's headquarters in Hwaseong, south of Seoul.

Union president Son Woo-mok disputed media reports of low participation, telling Reuters that the five-year-old union did not have enough time to educate members about the issues.

"Education about labour unions ... has not been enough. But I don't think this participation is low because our union is still young compared to other unions," he said.

Lee Hyun-kuk, the union's vice president, said there could be further strikes if Samsung does not improve its proposals.

Samsung's proposals include flexibility in pay and annual leave conditions but do not meet union demands of increased pay and leave, Lee told Reuters.

Union officials also want equality in the bonus system. They said bonuses for rank-and-file workers are calculated by deducting the cost of capital from operating profit, whereas those for executives are based on personal performance goals.

"I was telling people that I was proud to work at Samsung, but the truth is I am not," said Park Jun-ha, 20, an engineer at Samsung's chip packaging lines who joined the firm in January, adding that he was not satisfied with its "opaque" bonus scheme.

The union's membership has grown since Samsung pledged in 2020 to stop discouraging organised labour. Its growing voice is demanding attention just as Samsung struggles to navigate competition in chips used for artificial intelligence (AI) applications, analysts said.

Samsung's share price performance has lagged compatriot chip rival SK Hynix (000660.KS), opens new tab, with union officials blaming Samsung's AI woe on slow development in high bandwidth memory (HBM) chips that are in high demand for use in AI processors.

Even so, Samsung estimated a more than 15-fold rise in second-quarter operating profit on Friday, as rebounding chip prices driven by the AI boom lifted earnings from the year prior's low comparison base.

Its share price was up 0.2% in afternoon trade on Monday after rising as much as 1.72% earlier in the session to its highest since January 2021. Last week, it jumped 6.9% on preliminary quarterly earnings that exceeded analyst estimates.

[margridarnauds]

Sleepover ask time! I give you permission to rant about shit on main

That's an ungodly amount of power to give me, let's go.

This is going to be unpopular with some people, and I totally get why, but...every once in a while on this site, there's a lot of furor raised over "You CAN'T call the Aeneid/The Divine Comedy/Arthuriana fanfic, you don't UNDERSTAND, they're MEDITATIONS on fate/divine will/mortality, they're DEEP." Many outraged posts made, blood spilled, lives lost on Tumblr as the most unlikeable people that you know on both sides write bad faith thinkpieces that wildly miss the point. And...I get it. I do. I emphasize that I get it. These texts are, overwhelmingly, being manufactured in a time before copyright protections, as we know them, existed. (Though Cervantes, in the 17th century, provided an early example of an author...very firmly asserting his own exclusive ownership of the characters.) These works, rather than being fanfiction in and of themselves, are part of a cultural tradition of transformative borrowing and exchange that fanfiction is ALSO a part of.

...but that being said. Lads. Lighten up.

People who actually work with stuff day in, day out don't care as much as randos on Tumblr, or self proclaimed English Majors™ who couldn't hack grad school and have decided that, in retribution, they're going to subject us to complaining about YA, fanfic, pick your poison here (mandatory "Education =/= intelligence or critical thinking skills, especially given the RIDICULOUS cost of a degree in the States, but if you're going to promote yourself as an English Major™, and play into that hierarchical system, I reserve the right to call you on it and pull rank.) I've sat at tables filled with medievalists who will gleefully call Arthuriana fanfic (we also had a lovely discussion on MPreg, Omegaverse, and protecting curious senior scholars from the former two when they go on their regular sojourns across the internet.) I've read articles from respected medievalists that will adopt a transformative approach towards reading texts, arguing that they are, essentially, fanfiction. (Matthieu Boyd's paper on Mesca Ulaid, for the interested.) I've talked to tenured Ivy League professors who will compare respected medieval literary traditions to fanfic. (Three, actually.) As a soon to be published Arthurian scholar myself, *I* don't care, and I'd like to think that, at this point, I've earned my laurels enough to have an opinion.

Like, I just think we have to consider what our goal is here -- is it to educate people on the way that pre-modern literary cultures worked, or is it to make ourselves feel superior? Is it because we want to clarify that our own situation re: copyright is the exception rather than the norm historically, or is it because we feel somehow threatened by the comparison between something that we hold to be significant to something that we hold insignificant, especially since the latter is something that is something that can be written by anyone as opposed to a specific literary elite that overwhelmingly consisted of men? When we're here, in our capacity as ambassadors for our fields, are we doing more harm than good by trying to puff ourselves up? Are we actually ENCOURAGING people to engage with this stuff, or are we making them think that we're all Like That?

When I was younger, 17-18, I was terrified of interacting with people who did this sort of thing specifically because there was one person on here, back in the day, who was SUCH a prickly asshole that I was scared. And if I hadn't, I wouldn't have entered grad school for this, I never would've gotten my MA, I wouldn't have gotten into my PhD program. God knows how many other people might have had similar experiences. That matters more to me than whether Arthuriana technically counts as fic.

...also this is the funny meme website. The reason why a lot of people aren't giving the most nuanced takes on medieval literary networks is specifically because, besides being laypeople...this is the funny meme website. None of us are making any of this into a conference paper, it isn't going on our CVs, so I'm not going to focus on getting all the nuances down right because. This is the funny meme website. I go here. To make funny memes. And to escape my program. And if you have enough time and energy to get angry, wonderful, fight the good fight, but, ala the Cervantes example above, you might find yourself tilting at windmills that you've mainly created.

[comradeocean]

The Secret of Why the Dinosaurs Went Extinct

Prologue: It was the winter of 1993… [non-fiction]

Naturally, the K Literature Award was instituted for the commemoration of 'K's. The prize money is not much, but people all say that with the K Literary Award in hand, the Nobel is not far off.

Why K? Because K is the signpost of literary genius for our time: Kafka, Kawabata, Koestler, Kundera, Kureishi, Krasznahorkai, Kraus… The time of 'K' is Kommunistische Zeit, and the time of Kapital. Ke Xiangying is surnamed 柯, Kay E. He really was blessed by the ancestors.

In order to retrieve the award, Ke Xiangying had to cross the Atlantic Ocean, from the East Coast of the United States to Europe. After picking up the trophy (and not much prize money), the publishing house, anxious to sell books, did not let him go. Instead, he was taken on a grand tour of the developed capitalist nations of the West, giving readings, interviews, guest lectures, seminars. Paris was their last stop.

One afternoon after the signing, Ke Xiangying emerged from a bookstore rotating his sore wrists and saw that the streets from the Luxembourg Gardens to the Pantheon were packed with people.

"What's this about?" Ke Xiangying asked the on-site interpreter.

The interpreter hired by the bookstore was a young international student. He shook his head and said that it could be anything since people in France were always protesting. It was the French translator of Ke Xiangying's novel who answered in halting Mandarin: "These are workers from several state-owned enterprises opposing privatization reforms. The ones at the front, yes, under the red CGT balloons, those are railway workers. They're the most militant. How do you say this in Chinese again? '砸了铁饭碗' — smashing the iron rice bowl. I actually learned the phrase from Ke's book."

The young international student was quite shocked. "There are still state-owned enterprises in France?"

The French translator was also surprised. "Which country doesn't have nationalized industries? Water, electricity, the post, automotive manufacturing… Of course the state has to be the controlling shareholder."

"Then are you also opposed to privatization?"

The young French man laughed. "Well, take the SNCF, it was probably nationalized long before I was born."

Ke Xiangying stood at the door of the bookstore, and watched the people with red flags walking past in waves. He suddenly remembered when he was very young, Chinese people could still take to the streets in demonstrations, carrying Chairman Mao's portrait (he had never seen any with portraits of Lin Biao; Ke Xiangying was only one year old when the plane crashed in Öndörkhaan). During the National Day parade, there were floats, and the ones featuring ranks of the working class [brothers] were particularly eye-catching. It was beyond glorious, all the workers of The Big Four gallantly marching by.

When he was young, he had a boyfriend named Jiang Ming who was a worker. That's right, Ke Xiangying was a homosexual. This was expected. Why else would a jury give the award to someone from China? Just because his last name began with K? There must always be something else beyond the writing: being a sexual minority, of color, anti-Communist, a Commie-lover, anti-Unification, pro-Unification, a Croat, a Serb, a Jew, a Tutsi, a Native American … Third-World literature cannot avoid politics.

As a matter of fact, Ke Xiangying really didn't want to talk about all that. He always said in interviews, "I'm not a liberal. How can you discern ideology from a love story?" The academics in the Faculty of Arts just laughed and kept on writing their papers — "Although Ke refuses to acknowledge the political orientation of his novels, we see that in his writings, the authoritarian regime…" And if Ke Xiangying only had cock in mind when he picked up a pen? That was not their purview.

But the cock was not Jiang Ming's. He didn't dare recall it. Ke Xiangying pressed the Jiang Ming who was unlike anyone else in all of existence into the deepest little box in his heart. Even through the hard days of New York City when he only had the free Chinese church meals to eat, or when his manuscript was rejected by the 17th publisher, or when a Mexican gigolo robbed him of all his money, he didn't dare to take the lid off the box and think about Jiang Ming. He was afraid that his thoughts would make the memories fade, like sugar that melted away more and more with every lick.

Ke Xiangying knew that he had never loved anyone in his life the way he loved Jiang Ming. Only when he looked at Jiang Ming did his soul tickle as Plato said, become warm and moist, and grow the fine feathers that carried people into the sky. But now he no longer had wings, and he didn't dare try to remember Jiang Ming like it had been a previous life.

In this moment though, everything had to come rushing back in. He couldn't stop staring at the ranks of trade unionists in the demonstration. Some of them wore blue overalls. Some took off their shirts, revealing the slightly-tanned inverted triangles of their muscular bodies, just like Jiang Ming used to do. In the summer, he didn't bother wearing an undershirt, just walked around the house with his upper body bare. Ke Xiangying couldn't stand it anymore. He announced to the publisher with the self-righteous impulse prone to middle-aged men that he will return to China soon. The publisher nodded, as if to demonstrate his knowingness about the matter at hand — that of a triumphant return and all.

Ke Xiangying's brother, Ke Xianghai, drove to Beijing International Airport for the pick-up. In recent years, after a long period of estrangement, they had started contact each other more frequently again because Ke Xianghai's son was studying in the United States.

Sitting in the car, other than the grey-blue sky, Tianjin seemed very different from when he had left. Ke Xiangying made a sound of surprise when the car drove over the Hai River. He had never seen any of these skyscrapers and reconstructions of the foreign concessions that filled the night sky with light pollution. And the chimneys he was so familiar with, there was no trace left at all. Back then, the Tianjin Radio and Television Tower had not been built yet, and the tallest building in the city was that big chimney. Day and night, white smoke had floated out of it, like little white dragons bound for the high sky of the North China Plain, crossing en-route the Hai river, which had seemed much wider than it was now.

Having made an appearance at his brother's drinking party and fulfilled the role of hometown kid made good, Ke Xiangying could hardly wait to ask his brother to help him find and contact old friends.

Before going abroad, Ke Xiangying and Jiang Ming's family, or more precisely, his two sisters, were almost at each other's throats. And after Jiang Ming's family discovered Jiang Ming had unexpectedly titled the deed of his apartment to Ke Xiangying, he became the sworn enemy of the Jiang parents.

Now, with the passage of time, Ke Xiangying can even be in the inconceivable position of sitting in a cafe with Jiang Ming's little sister. Her name was Jiang Liang, and she was a senior engineer at the design institute. They sat there for about half an hour. Ke Xiangying had the distinct realization that as their conversation drew on, Jiang Liang's hatred for him was growing with every second. By the end, this middle-aged, middle class woman no longer cared to put up with the notion of respectable conduct. That rough and tumble childhood spent in the alleys of Tianjin was once again revived in her body. "You intellectuals…" she said. "I've figured it out now. You intellectuals are the most selfish and misanthropic people of all. It was my brother's curse to have met you. So jot this down: other people have the right to say whatever they want about my brother. But not you.

No one would be talking to him about Jiang Ming.

That night at home, Ke Xiangying tossed and turned, unable to fall asleep. Finally, he got up and turned on the computer. You all refuse to talk about him with me? Fine. I'll do it myself. He opened a new document, and the screen was as empty as the memories he now had. His fingers fell into the familiar shapes of typing on the keyboard.

"It was the winter of 1993…"

translated author's notes

[1] This work is named in honour of Antonia Pennacchi's debut novel "Mammut" or Mammoth. ["L’egemonia operaia? Ma per piacere… Siamo una classe estinta… Come il bisonte d’Europa. Come i mammut" — Workers' hegemony? Please… We are an extinct class… Like the buffalos of Europe, like the woolly mammoths.]

[2] The Big Four, or literally the "Four Heavens" refers to the four big enterprises in Tianjin that once 'built all of China' - the Tianjin tractor plant, the Tianjin heavy machinery plant, the Tianjin machinery plant, and the Tianjin engine plant.

[mariacallous]

French President Emmanuel Macron surprised fellow European leaders this week with his suggestion that some European countries might send troops to Ukraine to prevent Russia from winning its war of aggression there. Taken at face value, Macron’s remarks—made at a newly created European Union-Ukraine summit in Paris—put him immediately at the more forward-leaning end of the spectrum of Western leaders. Even U.S. President Joe Biden, who raised eyebrows with his apparent call for Russian President Vladimir Putin’s ouster in a speech in Warsaw in March 2022, has been careful since the start of the war to rule out sending U.S. troops and to calibrate U.S. military aid to Ukraine to avoid any possible appearance of inviting direct confrontation with Russia.

Perhaps Macron meant what he said, and the rubber of strategic autonomy is finally hitting the road of European security. Perhaps France is finally ready to take up the empty mantle of European leadership to do what it takes to ensure Russia is stopped before it presents Europe with a far-reaching strategic defeat and risk to its long-term security. Keeping future options open—and Putin guessing—could be a way to signal to the Kremlin that Europe is taking deterrence seriously. Indeed, Macron said after the summit that all his comments about deterring Russia were carefully thought out.

But Macron may have had other objectives. Infamous in Europe for rushing ahead with radical lone-wolf proposals, his intention may have been just to move the debate forward. In his comments, he bemoaned some countries’ tendency to initially reject most proposals for Ukrainian support before eventually acquiescing. This was one of several thinly veiled digs at German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who this week once again ruled out supplying Ukraine with Taurus long-range missiles, mirroring last year’s painful debate over Leopard tanks and F-16s—despite widespread domestic German support for increasing military aid for Ukraine.

If Macron really was serious about the possibility of European troops on the ground, his approach left much to be desired. He should, for one, have coordinated with at least a few key allies. While he may have succeeded in grabbing headlines, he has in the process alienated fellow European leaders: His suggestion was shot down not only by the Kremlin but by various NATO allies within the first 24 hours.

If Macron were serious, he might also have chosen to be much clearer about scenarios in which European troops might be moved to Ukraine and perhaps outlined a concrete French role. Ukraine’s economic reconstruction—or joint manufacturing sites of Ukrainian and European defense firms—might in the future well require European troops to secure them. Similarly, the European Union’s military training mission for Ukraine, which is currently hosted on EU soil, might be moved to Ukrainian territory. So far, however, these steps have been widely rejected by European leaders, who will have to be convinced behind the scenes or even forced into action by a country like France leading by example. To this end, public chiding and Macron-style grandstanding will do little good.

Perhaps Macron had other motives. In the halls of NATO headquarters in Brussels and in a number of European capitals in recent months, complaints about French inaction have grown louder. Indeed, there is a gaping gulf between France’s meager support for Ukraine and its aspirations to play a leadership role on the continent. According to the Kiel Institute for the World Economy’s Ukraine Support Tracker, France ranks 22nd among the EU’s 27 members in terms of aid commitments to Ukraine as a share of GDP. Whereas Germany this month committed another 7.1 billion euros ($7.7 billion) to Ukraine, a recent bilateral security agreement between France and Ukraine promises French military assistance of only “up to” 3 billion euros��which puts France in the range of much smaller European countries, such as the Netherlands with its pledge of more than 2 billion euros. A more cynical observer might see Macron’s comments as an attempt to distract from his country’s failure to make anything close to the contributions of other large European powers—precisely at a moment when the situation on the ground in Ukraine has grown desperate and dire and despite the fact that France is the most capable and well-equipped military power on the continent.

A more charitable reading of Macron’s comments is that, faced with the looming U.S. election and a potential vacuum created by the United States’ failure to provide leadership, he intended to mentally prepare Europeans for the potential imperative of mustering their own troops to contain the Russian threat. This makes sense not only given Europe’s return to conquest and war but also against the backdrop of U.S. politics: NATO’s leading power now has a presidential candidate inviting Russia to invade European allies and a Congress that cannot separate domestic politics from urgent and critical U.S. national security interests. Even if Biden stays in power, Washington’s rejection of NATO membership for Ukraine remains unlikely to change in the near term. No matter what happens, Europeans must think through the security and defense implications of offering Ukraine EU membership in several years’ time. So perhaps Macron was offering a longer-term perspective.

However, long-term perspectives are not missing from the debate. At the Munich Security Conference this month, there were endless panel discussions focused on European security in five or 10 years but that what Europe really needs right now is short-term action that impacts Russia’s war. In the short term, even though European arms production is increasing, Ukraine has only received one-third of the 1 million artillery shells it was promised by the EU. In fact, it was Paris that initially blocked the procurement of shells from outside the EU to make up for the shortfall, making critics wonder whether French industrial policy is more important to Macron than whether Ukraine loses or wins. Only at this week’s summit did he appear to have changed his mind.

Without fast action, Ukraine is going to lose the war. Precious few people in Western capitals are focused on the very real possibility that if the U.S. House of Representatives fails to act on the lagging aid bill and European powers don’t do more—not in 10 years but now—NATO leaders could gather at their summit in Washington in July as Russian troops make steady progress across Ukraine, capture more Ukrainian cities, and call into question NATO’s capabilities and will.

“Nothing that came out of that dinner will help Ukraine,” a frustrated senior U.S. official told us in reference to Macron’s remarks. If France wants to lead on European security, it should focus less on trial-ballooning the idea of troops on the ground and more on working with the existing Ukraine Defense Contact Group to send more military support to Ukraine, including French weapons and materiel. Before it’s too late.

[sewnexapparel]

Exploring the impact of DTF printing on the fashion industry

Introduction Customization is the way to stand out in fashion and textiles. Large and smaller brands are looking for efficient ways to offer high-quality, unique designs without the limitations of traditional methods. Direct-to-film (DTF) printing is a revolutionary technology that revolutionizes how apparel is customized. Direct-to-Filmis a great option for emerging designers and established…

[seoconsultantaustraliaa]

85% of Australian e-commerce content found to be plagiarised

Optidan Published a Report Recently

OptiDan, an Australia-based specialist in AI-driven SEO strategies & Solutions, has recently published a report offering fresh insights into the Australian e-commerce sector. It reveals a striking statistic about content across more than 780 online retailers: 85% of it is plagiarised. This raises severe questions about authenticity and quality in the e-commerce world, with possibly grave implications for both consumers and retailers.

 Coming from the founders of OptiDan, this report illuminates an issue that has largely fallen under the radar: content duplication. The report indicates that suppliers often supply identical product descriptions to several retailers, resulting in a sea of online stores harbouring the same content. This lack of uniqueness unfortunately leads to many sites being pushed down in search engine rankings, due to algorithms detecting the duplication. This results in retailers having to spend more on visibility through paid advertising to compensate.

Key Findings in Analysis

Key findings from OptiDan's research include a worrying lack of originality, with 86% of product pages not even meeting basic word count standards. Moreover, even among those that do feature sufficient word counts, Plagiarism is distressingly widespread. Notably, OptiDan's study presented clear evidence of the detrimental impacts of poor product content on consumer trust and return rates.

 Founder and former retailer JP Tucker notes, "Online retailers anticipate high product ranking by Google and expect sales without investing in necessary, quality content — an essential for both criteria." Research from 2016 by Shotfarm corroborates these findings, suggesting that 40% of customers return online purchases due to poor product content.

 Tucker's industry report reveals that Google usually accepts up to 10% of plagiarism to allow for the use of common terms. Nonetheless, OptiDan's study discovered that over 85% of audited product pages were above this limit. Further, over half of the product pages evidenced plagiarism levels of over 75%.

 "Whilst I knew the problem was there, the high levels produced in the Industry report surprised me," said Tucker, expressing the depth of the issue. He's also noted the manufactured absence of the product title in the product description, a crucial aspect of SEO, in 85% of their audited pages. "Just because it reads well, doesn't mean it indexes well."

 OptiDan has committed itself to transforming content performance for the online retail sector, aiming to make each brand's content work for them, instead of against them. Tucker guarantees the effectiveness of OptiDan's revolutionary approach: "We specialise in transforming E-commerce SEO content within the first month, paving the way for ongoing optimisation and reindexing performance."

 OptiDan has even put a money-back guarantee on its Full Content Optimisation Service for Shopify & Shopify Plus partners. This offer is expected to extend to non-Shopify customers soon. For now, all retailers can utilise a free website audit of their content through OptiDan.

Optidan – Top AI SEO Agency

Optidan is a Trusted AI SEO services Provider Company from Sydney, Australia. Our Services like - Bulk Content Creation SEO, Plagiarism Detection SEO, AI-based SEO, Machine Learning AI, Robotic SEO Automation, and Semantic SEO

We’re not just a service provider; we’re a partner, a collaborator, and a fellow traveller on this exciting digital journey. Together, let’s explore the limitless possibilities and redefine digital success.

Intrigued to learn more? Let’s connect! Schedule a demo call with us and discover how OptiDan can transform your digital performance.

Reference link – Here Click

[avevvusa]

Elevate Your Brand's Image with AVEVV - Your Trusted Online Reputation Management Agency

In the virtual era, a logo's popularity is as valuable as its products or services. Welcome to AVEVV, your associate in enhancing and safeguarding your emblem's online image. As a most useful online reputation control company, AVEVV specializes in reshaping narratives, fostering recollect, and raising your logo's presence in the virtual sphere. In this article, we explore the importance of online reputation management agency (ORM), its benefits, and why AVEVV is your closing preference for popularity enhancement.

Unveiling Online Reputation Management

Shaping Your Digital Identity:

ORM is the artwork of influencing and controlling what seems at the same time as human beings look for your logo online. It encompasses strategies to assemble a superb online photograph, manipulate patron feedback, and address capability popularity threats.

The Benefits of Partnering with an Online Reputation Management Agency

Credibility and Trust: A sturdy online recognition instills self notion in capability customers, changing them into dependable buyers.

Competitive Edge: In a crowded digital landscape, a first rate online photograph differentiates your logo from competitors.

Enhanced Customer Perception: Positive critiques and content form how clients perceive your brand, influencing their buying selections.

Mitigating Negative Content: Proactive ORM techniques decrease the effect of poor content material, shielding your logo from recognition crises.

Search Engine Visibility: ORM enhances your logo's on-line visibility, leading to better search engine rankings and increased herbal website online site visitors.

AVEVV's Approach to Online Reputation Management

Customized Strategies: AVEVV recognizes that every brand is particular. We tailor our ORM strategies to fulfill your particular desires and wishes.

Crisis Mitigation: Our group excels in disaster management, making sure brief selection and damage control while recognition threats stand up.

Data-Driven Insights: AVEVV leverages advanced analytics to show your on line presence, perceive traits, and pressure informed picks.

Content Enhancement: We create and promote nice, enticing content that showcases your emblem's strengths and values, ensuring a normal on line narrative.

Conclusion

In the digital landscape, your on-line recognition is the cornerstone of success. AVEVV's expertise, dedication, and custom designed ORM techniques empower manufacturers to thrive in the virtual age. Choose AVEVV as your online reputation control agency and revel in the transformative energy of a great on line image. Elevate your emblem's credibility, trustworthiness, and visibility with AVEVV's whole ORM solutions. To discover how AVEVV can beautify your online reputation, visit https://www.avevv.com/, or contact: 202-900-1134.

[crimerecords-info]

June 14 is the Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Communist Repression in Estonia

Monument to Latvian citizens deported on June 14, 1941 (Riga). The car in which the deportees were taken out. On the stone next to it is the number of people expelled in 1941 and 1949.

In Lithuania, this date is called the Day of Sorrow and Hope, in Latvia – the Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Communist Terror, in Estonia – the Day of Mourning.

On June 14, 1941, mass deportations began in the Baltic States. In mid-May 1941, the People's Commissar of Internal Affairs of the USSR, Lavrenty Beria, agreed with Stalin on a draft resolution of the SNK and the Central Committee of the CPSU (b) "On measures to cleanse the Lithuanian SSR of anti-Soviet, criminal and socially dangerous elements" (at the stage of approval, Latvian and Estonian were added to the Lithuanian SSR).

Former members of various nationalist parties, policemen, gendarmes, landlords, manufacturers, high-ranking officials, officers and criminals conducting anti-Soviet activities and used by foreign intelligence services for espionage purposes were subject to resettlement. Such people had to be arrested, their property confiscated and sent to camps for a period of five to eight years, followed by settlement for 20 years in remote areas of the USSR. Their family members (except criminals), as well as family members of those who were sentenced to capital punishment or escaped from justice and moved to an illegal position, would have been waiting for them there.

On June 14, 1941, a forced relocation operation began in Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. 17.5 thousand people from Lithuania were deported to the Novosibirsk region, Kazakhstan and Komi ASSR, about 17 thousand people from Latvia – to the Krasnoyarsk Territory and Novosibirsk region, as well as to the Karaganda region of Kazakhstan, about six thousand people from Estonia – to the Kirov and Novosibirsk regions.

After the end of the war, repressive policies, including forced relocations, intensified again in 1947 and noticeably intensified in 1948. In total, in 1940-1953, more than 203 thousand people were sent from the Baltic States to special settlement, including 118599 people from Lithuania, 52541 people from Latvia and 32540 people from Estonia.

In Armenia, June 14 is also honored by victims of communist repression, but this day was called more politically correct there - the Day of Protection of the Rights of Innocent Convicts. This memorable date appeared in Armenia on the initiative of the Dashnaktsutyun party in memory of those repressed during the Soviet era.

*Translated using an electronic dictionary. The original text in Russian and much more on the criminal topic can be selected on the main page of the site - http://crimerecords.info/

[fractiondigital]

SEO guidelines for e-commerce product pages

In today’s world, while digital experiences and multi-channel platforms are constantly evolving, customers are nowhere behind. The way your customers shop online is changing every day. In such a competitive age of omnichannel eCommerce, your content should be unique and engaging enough to urge users to purchase your products across multiple devices. For your content to be easily available for customers, you need to improve your site’s Search Engine visibility across platforms.

What Is Search Engine Optimization?

SEO for eCommerceis the process of driving traffic to your online store by increasing the visibility of the website or webpage to users of a web search engine. “Search” is one of the biggest sources to increase traffic. In fact, nearly 60% of all the traffic on the web begins with a Google search. Adding traffic from other popular search engines such as Bing, Yahoo, etc, 70% of all the traffic originates from a search engine. 

In e-commerce SEO, and the algorithms used for it, are constantly changing, as the search engines which use a variety of algorithms are changed and updated daily. An eCommerce site requires the same amount of attention when it comes to Search Engine Optimization as any other informational website. Having hundreds of optimised products in your eCommerce store will be of no good if the individual products are not search-friendly. Your ranking in search engines plays a crucial role in helping you thrive as a marketer and boost the growth of your business.

Do-s Of An eCommerce SEO Strategy

Describe the product in a creative way

Write a unique, compelling and detailed product catalogue optimization description for each product that you own. Make sure not to copy-paste the description of a product from the manufacturer’s site and instead write one of your own. Write product optimization descriptions that are at least 150 words in length. Identify frequently searched and relevant keywords associated with your product SEO and incorporate them and their variations. It is a good idea to make product descriptions SEO friendly.

Make sure the meta description and title tags are included

Adding meta descriptions and title tags on each web page of your online store are extremely crucial to help you with SEO eCommerce. These are descriptions that are placed on each page so that Google knows what these pages are about. While it is important to keep these as unique as possible, you should also mention the specific product in your meta description and the title for better optimization.

Your website should contain customer reviews

Including customer reviews on your eCommerce website can act as gold for your business. Positive reviews on your site can help grow your organic rankings on Google. Showcasing customer reviews not only increases the authenticity of your eCommerce store, but it also leads to higher conversion rates among customers.

For more information visit 

[madebymaryssa]

[thread of tweets]

Elizabeth Minkel: Imagine having such a fundamental misunderstanding of the appeal of reading fanfiction - let alone reading fiction more broadly. [melting face emoji]

[embedded article stub, uncredited]

The three largest fanfic sites - AO3, Fanfiction.net, and Wattpad - get 3B+ annual visits in the U.S. alone.

They're in the top 100 sites in the U.S., and AO3 is #100 globally.

Imagine how much bigger this market could be if you could chat with characters vs. reading static stories?

[two embedded tables, side by side]

[Left-side table shows the total number of visits to the sites in question from US-based servers between April 2022 and April 2023; 2.325 billion for AO3, 643.7 million for FFnet, and 400.3 million for Wattpad.]

[Right-side table shows the 'rank' of each of these sites for the same region over the same period of time. AO3 is ranked the 57th most visited website, FFnet is 206th, and Wattpad is 297th.]

[/end embedded article stub]

Veronica Schanoes: "What if, instead of reading a story, you could replicate the experience of trying to get customer service on amazon by communicating with a chatbot?"

Elizabeth Minkel: [three crying emojis]

Gavia Baker-Whitelaw: what is UP with this subset of AI Guys who are convinced that VR self-inserts are the ultimate goal of all media.

Elizabeth Minkel: Lololol, VR Guys of all genders, cut this lady's name out because I was too annoyed. I mean hey, maybe this works better for y/n stuff! Or porn of other sorts??

Ailea - GET queer&cripped: ...i had a visceral negative reaction to the idea of chatting with characters instead of reading stories

Elizabeth Minkel: Same! Part of why I find reader-insert fics really interesting in a super alien way. It's just so disconnected from what I want out of a fannish experience.

thewillowbends: Ao3 will need to answer some really big questions soon about how they're protecting people's work because this will drive people off large platforms into smaller communities again. We're all agreeing to not being paid because it's all copyrighted. If that changes, well...

Kayla Ancrum [sparkle emoji]is on a DEADLINE[sparkle emoji]: Silicon Valley dingdongs misunderstand fanfiction's financial potential EVERY TIME because they don't really get that it's like knitting.

The commercial knitwear industry exists, yes, but home knitters knit for the love of knitting. They're doing it That Way on purpose.

They think fanfiction is a "disruptable" industry, ripe for capital harvesting, but it's not. It's a collection of hobbyists.

Anything the community accepts and integrates is in service of the craft, like yarn innovations or circular needles. Wattpad is a circular needle.

AO3 is a circular needle. Fic commissions (illegal though they may be) are a circular needle and optimizing that draws attention to it in a way that would eradicate it immediately.

Hobbyists don't want a giant knitwear factory in their livingroom, they barely want Rib Machines.

People aren't logging in to read 100 generic interactions of a couple (ex: what AI fanfic promises) they're searching for hyper specific elements of human desire

Fanfiction is an emotional artistic response to preexisting media. Like the echo of a shout that grows in complexity.

Human desire is so very multifaceted and the things we may hyperfocus on for emotion digestion are wholly unique.

This is the sort of thing you can't optimize or manufacture. It is an artisanal experience, every bit of it.

A hobbyist craft: archiveofourown.org/works/38547636

Fan fiction isn't a quantity situation it's a quality situation. The only thing fanfic writers want is more comments written by humans that care, and more time to write fanfiction.

and the only thing fanfic readers want is more quality fan fiction that serves their niche*...

-more organized ways to access that fanfiction and ways to save fan fictions so they can come back to them years later.

And *serves their niche* is such an important element of this that people not involved in the hobby can't really conceptualize.

And even when people do use rib/interlock/circle machines (example below), it's a similar repetitive manual process, meditative in nature.

Telling this woman you can "optimize" her hobby by printing out a knit piece is not going to go anywhere. She wants to crank the circle!

[embedded TikTok video, credited to the.wandering.gemini]

It's just so obvious that they think fan fiction is just "Books that aren't good enough to be published yet by people not creative enough to make up their own worlds."

When it's more like, canon media is a prize pig, and fan fiction is carnitas tacos with rice and beans.

Adding this because it's relevant and concise:

[embedded screenshot of another thread, or a different branch of this one]

Ruth: "chat with characters" is that not just rps? Do they not know that already exists? It's a whole different thing and doesn't need reinventing bc (among other reasons) it ALREADY EXISTS

Kayla Ancrum [sparkle emoji]is on a DEADLINE[sparkle emoji]: People don't want to chat with a robot pretending to be a character, they want to chat with their equally unhinged friends pretending to be characters! RP is art but it's also a bonding ritual!

[/end embedded screenshot]

Also that fic I attached is extremely chaotic and vaguely explicit, for a deeply niche fandom and a pairing. Has an off the wall exploration of sexuality and completely bonkers interpretation of violence.

[/end thread]