#product data migration

[intellectoutsource]

Which is the best way to Migrate product data in E-commerce Websites?

Ecommerce websites have been developing every year to push the website's growth and higher product sales. It can be a complex process to migrate product data on the eCommerce website as it takes lots of time and proper planning. However, it is important to switch the data to different E-commerce platform as in B2B sales; it is very necessary to return the sales of products. There can be multiple reasons why your current E-commerce website is not functioning properly, so you need another new platform to migrate product data.

Therefore, transferring data to another eCommerce website is not a simple process. You need to consider some of the important steps to help you migrate product data information and raise the overall growth of the website.

What do you understand about E-commerce Migration?

When your website or domain is not functioning properly? When you feel your site is taking too long to load any product or switch to any category. That means it's time to say goodbye to your ecommerce website and create a new stable E-Commerce website.

Transferring your previous website's data to a new E-commerce website is called E-Commerce migration. It completely depends on the owner if they want to transfer complete or personalized data to a new website. It is also helpful that you can cut off that item from the list if you have bad sales of any product on a previous website. It reduces your bad reviews, and you can focus on the most popular product on the website.

Measure to consider while E-commerce store migrating Data.

There is a list of important and necessary measures to consider while migrating data.

●       Analyzing Problems with older e-commerce Websites.

Identifying the problem you are facing in the old ecommerce website is necessary so it won't carry on to the new eCommerce domain. Also, make an analyzing list where you can mark the product's overall sales and growth in the past few years. It will help you target your new website more on products with good sales and opt out of good customer reviews.

If your old ecommerce website is having too much trouble loading or having multiple errors, then you should not migrate ecommerce product data directly. In this process, you can nullify the errors and drawbacks of your older website.

●       Ecommerce Migration Tools

Many ecommerce migration tools nowadays available and can help you migrate your data quickly without the hassle of work. When you utilize any migration tool to transfer data to an eCommerce website, you should consider some factors before shifting your product.

Migration tools allow users to select multiple products and shift to the new website. Therefore you need to identify if there is any data which is not valid for the new website. You should not consider migrating it to the new domain. Ecommerce Migration tools are useful, but it would be great to customize your requirement and migrate particular data to the new website.

●       Terminating Errors

When migrating your data to the new eCommerce website, you should consider checking any relevant information regarding the product. It is necessary to terminate all the duplicate and unnecessary product data information that is slowing the speed of websites.

Additionally, you can select the necessary data to migrate and add new products to the website, improving the customer experience on your platform.

●       Staging the Live Site

Site staging allows the user to compare the process working on the live site. It is helpful in various cases to make any changes before uploading your website globally. By Staging the site, you can also fix multiple errors that might occur during site performance.

Although it is not a very big process, it is crucial because it reduces the possibility of getting into trouble when you launch your website.

●       Data Mapping

Data Mapping is the process that involves the comparison between the two websites where users can check that all the products are migrated to the proper location. It is useful to ensure that all the products are completely migrated to your new platform and that there is no misplacing of any information and product.

●       Final Analysis

Once the ecommerce migration process is complete, it would be best to check that all the data is transferred properly. Also, ensure that if there is any error or leg in the new E-commerce website, you can fix it in further process. This is a major step as it reduces the negative impact of the website on the customers and increases the overall quality of the domain.

Why is Migration data necessary?

Due to multiple factors, it becomes important to migrate the data from older e-commerce websites to new websites. Sometimes the website is not properly working and takes too much time while loading. It decreases the customer's interest in the website as all they get is a loading page.

Another important reason to migrate the product data is to customize your previous website and formulate the necessary data for a new website. In this situation, you can pick the necessary and most selling items to the new domain and promote another new product on the new website. It is the best way of terminating the weak products from your website and getting more customer interest.

In the end, it is a very difficult and complex process to fix the older website. So it will be good for the users to create a new website and migrate the necessary data to a newer one. 

Conclusion

Migrating the data to the new E-commerce website is very complex, but now you can easily migrate data considering the important factors. Following every measure required to transfer the data to a new eCommerce website is necessary.

By considering these measures, you can reduce the possibility of unnecessary errors and irrelevant data mismatching. Moreover, you can also upload accurate product information on the new website by creating valid details. Hope this information can improve the quality of a ecommerce migration process and product reach to global customers.

For more details about ecommerce migration services, visit Intellect Outsource

[product-migration-services]

Effortless Product Migration Services for Legacy Systems

Streamline Your Transition with Comprehensive Product Migration Services

In today’s rapidly evolving technological landscape, staying ahead often means upgrading or migrating to new platforms and technologies. Businesses face increasing pressure to modernize their systems, leaving behind outdated legacy applications that can hinder growth and innovation. This is where Product Migration Services play a crucial role. Whether it’s moving from an old ERP system, upgrading software, or migrating product data, these services ensure a seamless and efficient transition without compromising on data integrity or functionality.

Understanding Product Migration Services

Product Migration Services involve the process of moving from one software product to another while ensuring that all critical data, configurations, and functionalities are preserved. This migration can involve transitioning to a newer version of the same product, moving to a different product altogether, or even shifting from on-premise solutions to cloud-based platforms. The goal is to enhance performance, security, and scalability while minimizing disruption to business operations.

A key aspect of successful product migration is handling legacy data. Often, businesses have vast amounts of data stored in older systems that must be accurately and securely migrated to the new environment. This is where Product Data Migration becomes essential, ensuring that all relevant data is transferred without loss, corruption, or compromise.

The Benefits of Product Migration Services

Improved Efficiency and Performance: By transitioning to modern platforms through Product Migration Services, businesses can take advantage of the latest technological advancements. These new systems often offer better performance, enhanced user experience, and increased operational efficiency, helping companies to stay competitive.

Cost Savings: Legacy systems can be costly to maintain, with expenses related to outdated hardware, software patches, and ongoing support. Product Migration Services help reduce these costs by moving businesses to more cost-effective solutions that require less maintenance and offer better long-term value.

Enhanced Security and Compliance: Older systems are often more vulnerable to security threats and may not comply with current industry regulations. Product Migration Services ensure that businesses transition to platforms that offer robust security features and meet the latest compliance standards, thereby protecting sensitive data and mitigating risks.

Scalability and Flexibility: As businesses grow, so do their technology needs. Modern platforms offer greater scalability and flexibility, allowing companies to expand and adapt their systems more easily. Product Migration Services facilitate this growth by ensuring that new systems can handle increased workloads and support future expansion.

The Importance of Product Data Migration

Product Data Migration is a critical component of any successful migration project. Data is the lifeblood of any organization, and ensuring its accuracy and integrity during migration is paramount. Poor data migration can lead to significant issues, including data loss, corruption, and operational downtime. Product Data Migration services focus on securely transferring all relevant data from legacy systems to new platforms, maintaining data integrity and ensuring that the migrated system functions as expected.

Key elements of effective Product Data Migration include data mapping, data cleansing, and validation processes. These steps ensure that data is correctly structured, free of errors, and fully functional in the new system, providing a solid foundation for future operations.

Sign up for Product Migration Services with CIG

Transitioning to new technologies is essential for businesses looking to stay competitive in today’s fast-paced environment. Product Migration Services offer a comprehensive solution for upgrading systems, ensuring that businesses can modernize without losing valuable data or disrupting operations. With the right Product Data Migration strategies in place, companies can confidently move forward, knowing that their data is secure and their systems are optimized for success. Whether it’s migrating to a new ERP system or upgrading existing software, investing in professional Product Migration Services is key to achieving a smooth and successful transition.

[charlignon]

PSA for artists: beware of Bluesky

TL;DR: Bluesky sends all content to a 3rd party that use it for generative AI content

I am reposting a thread from @/Oric_y on twitter, you can read it here !

So there's a lot of artists wanting to hop to BlueSky as an alternative to Twitter. You may want to be made aware that any and all posts to it are fed through 3rd party AI and will be used as training data for image/text generation.

Bluesky uses a 3rd party service to label posts contents. For this, they use "http://thehive.ai". Bluesky is open source, so this can be confirmed here.By itself, this would not be an issue. AI for labeling posts isn't problematic. However, hive also provides services for generative AI (images, text, video). Which, again, can be easily confirmed on their own website here.

Reading their privacy policy, they collect anything submitted and will use it as training data for ALL of their services. In full, here

Which brings back to the initial statement. Every post submitted to BlueSky is also submitted to Hive, where it will be used as training data for generative AI.

So yeah, proceed with caution !

[calvins-dad]

about to cry on this bus because it just hit me this morning how much of my current Problems are coming from work

[brijeshstuff]

Experts in telecommunications have finally gotten to the fifth generation of mobile connectivity, or 5G. The 4G network, which was devised in the 2000s, optimized the speeds at which our mobile devices operated on.

[manageditserviceslosangeles]

Unlock the Power of Azure AI: Dive into Our Latest Blog on Essential Computing Power!

Curious about what drives today’s AI breakthroughs? From autonomous vehicles to smart assistants, it's all about robust computing power. ECF Data’s latest blog, "IT Insights: Essential Computing Power for Azure AI," reveals how Azure AI and Azure Compute Services are at the forefront of these advancements.

Discover how Microsoft’s cutting-edge tools empower researchers and businesses to push the boundaries of AI. Whether you're a tech enthusiast or a business leader, this is your guide to understanding the backbone of modern AI technology.

Ready to explore? Click here to read the full blog and see how Azure is shaping the future of AI!

LET'S CONNECT

[madmantechnologies]

The Essential Role of Data Centre Solutions for IT Services Industries

Introduction:-

The need for reliable and effective data centre solutions in the quickly changing digital landscape cannot be emphasized. With companies depending more and more on cloud computing and digital platforms, data centres are now the mainstay of contemporary IT infrastructure. Offering complete data centre solutions is a must for IT service providers to guarantee the smooth running, security, and scalability of their clients' digital ecosystems.

The Pillars of Data Centre Solutions:-

A vast range of technologies and services are included in data centre solutions, which are intended to handle, store, and process data. The essential elements consist of:

Infrastructure Management:-

This refers to the hardware and software infrastructure needed for processing and storing data. The reliability of IT services is increased overall, peak performance is guaranteed, and downtime is minimized with effective infrastructure management.

2. Cloud integration:-

Integrating cloud services with traditional data centres becomes crucial as businesses shift to cloud-based models. By providing flexibility, scalability, and cost efficiency, this hybrid strategy enables businesses to make use of the greatest features from both worlds.

3. Data Security:

Sensitive information must be protected. To protect data from cyber threats, data centre solutions must incorporate strong security features including intrusion detection systems, firewalls, and encryption.

4. Disaster Recovery and Backup:

One essential component of data centre solutions is guaranteeing business continuity in the event of system failure or data loss. To reduce risks and guarantee a prompt restoration of services, regular backups and disaster recovery strategies are crucial.

5. Scalability:

Businesses need more data as they expand. Scalable data centre solutions guarantee that IT infrastructure can keep up with business demands by enabling organizations to grow their capacity and capabilities without requiring major overhauls.

Why Data Centre Solutions Matter for IT Services Companies

Enhanced Performance and Reliability: Data centres provide the foundation for reliable and high-performance IT services. By managing and optimizing data flow, IT services companies can ensure that their clients experience minimal downtime and maximum efficiency.

Cost Efficiency: Efficient data centre solutions can significantly reduce operational costs. By leveraging economies of scale, IT services companies can offer their clients cost-effective solutions while maintaining high service standards.

Compliance and Regulatory Adherence: Different industries have varying regulatory requirements for data management and security. Data centre solutions ensure that businesses comply with these regulations, avoiding legal pitfalls and enhancing their reputation.

Innovation and Competitive Advantage: Advanced data centre technologies such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, and big data analytics enable businesses to innovate and stay ahead of the competition. IT services companies that provide cutting-edge data centre solutions empower their clients to harness the power of these technologies.

Sustainability: Modern data centres are increasingly focused on energy efficiency and sustainability. By adopting green technologies and practices, IT services companies can help their clients reduce their carbon footprint and contribute to environmental conservation.

CONCLUSION -

In conclusion, a variety of criteria, such as the organization's budget, performance requirements, scalability needs, and compliance duties, influence the decision between traditional data centres and cloud alternatives. Scalability, flexibility, and cost-effectiveness are offered by cloud solutions, while control and security are provided by traditional data centres. Many businesses use a hybrid strategy, combining cloud and on-premises resources to strike the best possible balance between cost, scalability, and control. In the end, choosing the best IT infrastructure plan to support corporate growth and innovation in the digital age depends on knowing the particular requirements of the company.

Additionally, numerous people can view the data simultaneously thanks to this technology. This expedites and simplifies work. You may handle your data in real-time from any remote part of the world with the help of Madman Technologies, they are the best Cloud Computing and DC migration services in India.

You can google our website and contact us over the phone —

madmantechnologies.ai@gmail.com

Contact details — 9625468776

[ingenx]

The journey to SAP HANA holds immense potential for transforming your business. By carefully considering your migration strategy and utilizing the robust SAP HANA Data Migration Services, you can ensure a smooth transition. With real-time analytics at your fingertips, you're poised to make faster, data-driven decisions and unlock new levels of innovation.

[eov-blogs]

Maximizing ROI with Salesforce: A step-by-step guide

If you are a business owner, who is struggling to keep up with customer demand, then Salesforce is great for you! We say this because it is the most powerful weapon of any business for meeting customer demand and maintaining long-term relationships with their customer. Salesforce is a cloud-based customer relationship management platform that allows you to manage some of the key activities of your business, like tracking and keeping all the records of your customer, streamlining business operations, and increasing revenue.

In this blog, we will explore how to maximize ROI with salesforce by providing a full guide for making the most of your investment.

Introduction to salesforce and the ROI it offers

Salesforce is an innovative platform that provides your business with the tools to maximize customer relationships and increase return on investment. You can manage all the customer concerns with the help of salesforce. The platform provides key features like lead management, sales forecasting, customer service management, and analytics. But when we talk about ROI, the main four areas to keep in mind are automation, analytics, marketing campaign, and customer service. Automation allows you to streamline processes with minimal effort and take advantage of customer data. Analytics helps to measure the performance metrics and get details and an understanding of how customers first interact with your business. Marketing campaigns help you to reach your potential customers and retain old ones, they also help you to increase brand visibility. At last, Salesforce helps you to leverage the power of customer service to increase the retention rate and also increase the lifetime value of customers.

Strategies for maximizing ROI with Salesforce

Some of the most top strategies to increase ROI with salesforce are as follows:

Create more sales leads:

Salesforce provides a range of tools that can help your business to generate more leads and can improve lead conversion rate. Salesforce already has all the data of the customer, and being well-prepared and aware of where you will get your potential lead will help your business to take smarter moves. Not only does it help in finding leads but it also lets you know how to manage those leads. This in turn will help to create a customized strategy for every lead, which helps your business to save time and brings favorable outcomes.

Enhance sales with the power of automation:

Salesforce provides automated tools that can speed up all the factors of the sales cycle from lead management to customer segmentation. For example, one of the tools of salesforce is S-docs. With the help of this tool, the document automation process will be faster and more secure from the third party. Your sales team will be able to focus more on turning potential leads into actual leads instead of worrying about creating contracts.

Track metrics:

Tracking metrics and evaluation should be done regularly so, that you have an accurate idea of how your business is performing and where it could improve. With the help of this information, you can take decisions like which area needs more focus, and where to allocate resources, as well as areas in which Salesforce can be used to your greatest advantage.

Efficient sales pipeline:

Salesforce helps you to know where your customer is based in the pipeline. By having an exact idea about their next step you can take more informed decisions about launching or promoting a marketing campaign. It also helps to collect useful information like customer expectations, pain points, and more. This can help you provide detailed information on guiding potential leads into actual leads.

Team formulation and training investment:

The best way to achieve the desired outcome and productivity is to keep the team together by staying committed. Another key strategy to maximize ROI is to invest in training for new employees. Training always ensures that everyone has a good understanding of the new platform to meet specific business needs. It can also help them to do their jobs more efficiently.

Understanding the cost-benefit of investing in salesforce

Investing in salesforce can provide numerous benefits for your business. But it’s very important to understand the cost-benefit ratio before investing.

The salesforce investment is more affordable, it depends on business requirements and the size of the organization. You will also get CRM and customer care experience with salesforce. It also helps to save time and money because most of the manual tasks will be stopped and a smaller number of errors will take place. Salesforce not only decreases manual task or help to increase sales, but it also helps to deliver higher customer value over a long-term period and also helps to increase customer loyalty, continuous improvement in the customer journey, and better ability to identify opportunity from customer data and many more. So, salesforce is that investment that definitely will pay dividends if you understand its capabilities.

Why hire a salesforce consulting service?

Hiring a Salesforce consultancy can help you to maximize your ROI and help you to get the most out of your investment. They are experts in the field who can help you to achieve fruitful results for your business.

Here are some reasons to opt for salesforce consulting service:

Expertise: The team of qualified specialists offers knowledge and expertise in this domain so that you can get the optimum results from the salesforce. The team has worked with different clients on different projects. So, they are experienced now and they will also help you to get a different perspective so, that you can make the most out of your investment.

Cost saving: Hiring a professional will help you to save time and money both in the long run. You do not have to spend money and time on providing training to your staff, instead, you can focus on making strategies to grow your business. They will also provide continuous support and maintenance to you.

Conclusion

By utilizing the powerful weapon like Salesforce to its fullest, you will able to achieve your business goals. But for this, you have to understand its features and how it works, but once you have this, you will able to leverage its features to improve your business efficiency and performance. And partnering with the right consulting firm helps you maximize ROI and also helps you stay competitive and successful.

So, why wait? EOV is here for you, we have a team of experienced people who will provide you with valuable insights and also provide guidance on how to properly configure and optimize the system for maximum efficiency. Contact us for more.

[bleghablah]

friendship ended with VS Code. holy shit, friendship majorly ended with VS Code. I regret ever saying it was a decent text editor.

I was stuck on windows during a meeting I didn't have to be a part of and had a huge data migration looming over my head so I wrote a shell script in VS Code to transfer the files, SCP'd it over to my RedHat machine, and got it started. I don't know where things went wrong, but somewhere between saving it in VS Code and transferring it to my Linux box the formatting got fucked, and so twenty minutes after deploying my script I checked the progress and it appended spaces onto the end of alllllll of my copied directories.

My unscheduled downtime of my (luckily backup) production server was prolonged an extra half hour as I manually CP'd the files by hand, and tomorrow I'm going to have to do so much cleanup.

luckily my server is back up and my new environment doesn't have to go live until EOD tomorrow, but hooooly fuck, next time I'm just going to ssh into my Ubuntu box and use Nano (fuck vi and emacs)

[azuremist]

I feel like who mock crab day are doing so in a way that (purposefully or accidentally, I can’t tell) misses the point.

As your local anti-capitalist, who will be participating in crab day:

Nobody thinks that tumblr is going to reverse all of the bad changes to its site if we do this. Nobody thinks that this site is without its awful shit (see: flagging queer content as mature). Nobody is seeing a corporation as our friend.

But here are the simple facts:

Tumblr is in debt

Websites can’t function without income

If we can’t buy products from tumblr, we will become the product, in that tumblr will sell more of our data

Tumblr is a product, and if you enjoy a product, you should give its creator(s) money so that the product you enjoy can continue to be provided (that’s generally how capitalism works)

The thing motivating most of the bad changes to tumblr is profit, and gaining new users

I don’t think anyone thinks that we’ll get tumblr completely out of debt, or anything like that. But it IS an attempt to show that tumblr doesn’t have to become like every other social media to be profitable.

It’s a call for tumblr staff to work with its existing userbase, rather than try and find a new userbase with all of these shitty changes. Like, they SEE that the existing userbase is against giving them money. Do you think that’ll make them listen to what we want? No! So they’re trying to get new users; ones who make actually be profitable! Because, even if you don’t like it, we DO live in a world where you have to be profitable if you want to keep a product you like alive.

Staff is at least somewhat aware of the userbase’s current discussions. They know (for example) how goddamn bad we want NSFW content back. They know about Goncharov, they know about the site being called a “hellsite”, they knew about the great Reddit migration. This effort has the possibility to be noticed by the higher-ups, and it obviously isn’t going to fix the site, but it might do something, and that’s more that we can say for just posting to our blogs about how much the new changes suck.

Not to mention that, generally speaking, staying afloat comes first for corporations. There is a very low chance that tumblr staff will address any of the actual issues (like porn bots and queer content being auto-flagged) while it’s still in the red. If it becomes financially stable, then it is possible (not certain, but possible) that staff may be able to put more resources into fixing the stuff we actually care about.

So, like… With crabs being chosen because they’re the cheapest item available (making participating in crab day as non-consequential as getting a candy bar), why not give it a try?

[autumnslance]

Do you have the werlyt screenshots? 👀

This is only because I love you, Nonny.

I also took time to transcribe these under the "Keep Reading" cut, cuz this is a lot of text and cannot always be read clearly. These images were taken with my tablet. Errors in said transcript are probably just mine. These are pages 120-121 and 169-170 of Encyclopedia Eorzea volume III. The timeline's a little weird (especially the Gaius to Valens handover), but Werlyt was an Imperial province for over 50 years.

There's also pages specifically about the Weapon project and how the Garleans tried to have a system similar to soul crystals in legatus armor, but they were behind the curve on such magic-technology and so the data's incomplete (as we saw in those fights). If there's interest, I may do a follow up with those pages, but this is long enough and I have FC things to do tonight.

Werlyt

Following in the footsteps of its neighbor across the Ghimlyt Dark, Ala Mhigo, this small nation in the far western reaches of Ilsabard recently liberated itself from the Garlean Empire.

Flag: The flag originally bore the crest of the royal family. However, as their bloodline has long since run dry, and the nation now aspires to become a republic, the interim government has organized a committee to decide on a new design.

Motto: --

Government: Werlyt is presently led by an interim government. After careful deliberation, it has decided the nation will be rebuilt as a republic.

Leader: Talbot Hunte

Ruling Body: The interim government is formed of representatives from several rebel factions that fought against the Garlean Empire.

Racial Distribution:

Ilsabardian Hyur: 80%

Near Eastern Au Ra: 15%

Other: 5%

Religion: Though religion was largely discouraged under Garlean rule, the people of Werlyt were polytheistic, believing in thirteen gods. Their religious practices are said to be largely influenced by the traditions of their western neighbors in Eorzea and its teachings of the Twelve, as well as Corvosi mythology from the east.

Industry:

Livestock: The tending of cattle is a longstanding profession of Werlyt, made possible by its lush, far-reaching pastures. A knack for livestock breeding is evidenced by the myriad varieties of both beef and dairy cattle they raise, the latter including an especially rare breed said to number only one hundred.

Dairy: In tandem with their livestock industry, the people of Werlyt excel in the production of dairy products, including butter, yogurt, and milk-based beverages. They are well known for their high-quality cheeses, which became a mainstay export to Garlemald.

Fishing: The southern edge of Werlyt touches the sea, allowing for a bustling fishing trade in coastal towns. Its many steep cliffs, however, ensure their efforts are focused on but a few major ports.

Mining: In the northern mountain range of Werlyt, one can find four mines wherein copper, zinc, tungsten, and several other rare metals are extracted. The process was refined under Garlean rule with the introduction of magitek, and while the equipment remains, the country wants for the ceruleum to operate it. To that end, Werlyt has begin negotiations with Ul'dah to barter for fuel so they may resume their mining operations.

Beliefs: While the Au Ra who migrated from the Corvos region have ostensibly been welcomed in Werlyt, there yet remains a strong sense of social incohesion in this predominantly Hyuran nation. It remains to be seen if these disparate peoples can overcome their differences to flourish in this burgeoning republic.

Diet: Werlyt is perhaps best known for its stewed dishes made using local beef, dairy, and seafood. The intermingling of native wheat-based cuisines and rice dishes brought by the Au Ra also help distinguish Werlyt cooking. Dairy enthusiasts insist that milk produced in Werlyt is indispensable to strengthening one's muscles when training the body, and it is thought to be high in protein and effective in reducing muscle inflammation.

History

A Contentious Foundation

In ages past, the western reaches of Ilsabard, known today as Werlyt, were home to myriad Hyuran tribes. There was no harmony to be found between them, however--the ceaseless cycle of war and peace was no different than the changing of the seasons. Some brave few tribes thought to flee from this war-torn land, crossing the Ghimlyt Dark to pillage and plunder on Eorzean soil. They would inevitably return home, richer for their efforts, but these ventures westward would come to a halt when the leadership of Anshelm Cotter united Gyr Abania, Ala Mhigo becoming a shield from further incursion.

With dreams of pushing farther west dashed, and the Hyuran tribes growing weary of conflict, Au Ra outlanders hailing from Corvos saw this pall of languor as an opportunity. They formed an alliance with a handful of local tribes, and together they quickly subjugated the territories that would come to be Werlyt. Despite their pivotal role in its formation, however, the Au Ra would not seek the throne of this fledgling kingdom, knowing their alchemical knowledge and mastery of the mystic arts would prove no match for the sheer numbers of their Hyuran allies. Thus did they concede kingship to the Hyuran elders. With this, some Hyurs came to see the Au Ra as powerful allies, but others would continue to cruse them as ruthless invaders.

The Garlean Occupation

Unfortunately, the newly founded nation of Werlyt would not last. The advent of magitek and transformed Garlemald into a heretofore unseen military power, allowing them to take Corvos with ease and subsequently draw Werlyt under the Garlean yoke.

The province was charged with supplying foodstuffs and mineral resources to fuel the burgeoning empire, and in some ways the dissemination of magitek would prove a boon. The mechanization of mining, for example, was momentous, but any such innovations as the Garleans would bring ever remained beyond the reach of the subjugated. For thirty years the people of Werlyt toiled thus, but they would eventually be offered a glimmer of hope. The Empire had begin the second phase of its incursion into the Far Eastern territories, a campaign requiring a considerable portion of their military force. Even the occupying force in Werlyt had been greatly diminished, affording rebel factions the leverage needed to reclaim their home.

Their dreams of freedom were fleeting, however, as a young Gaius van Baelsar led imperial forces back to assault the capital of Werlyt and restore Garlean order. As the previous viceroy had been killed by the rebels, Gaius would assume command of the newly reclaimed province.

Two Sides of Governance

Reflecting on the plight of the Werlytian peoples that drove them to rebellion, Gaius, the newly appointed viceroy, well knew that drastic measures were needed to prevent a second uprising. He began by recruiting individuals he deemed competent and capable, paying no heed to their station, race, or place of origin. Indeed, no few Werlytians were sought out for their extensive knowledge of the land, serving in various bureaucratic positions. Over the next twenty years, Gaius would also oversee a more even distribution of the province's wealth; new infrastructure in the form of roads, ports, and harbors; an a compulsory education system that would substantially increase literacy rates throughout Werlyt. But the peace and order he established there was short-lived.

The invasion of Eorzea and its consequences, naturally, left van Baelsar unable to fulfill his duties in Werlyt. The man who would take his place was Valens van Varro, an otherwise unremarkable civilian who had somehow risen through the military ranks. After losing his position amidst political turmoil in the Empire, he was given command of a newly reformed VIIth Imperial Legion. The grim shadow he cast over Werlyt would undo all the good Gaius had achieved and so much worse. Forced labor, imprisonment, and executions quickly became normalcies of day-to-day living. So much so, that it was said one could only find rest under the mortician's roof.

The Treasonous Five

Rather than subjugate the enemy, Valens was satisfied with bleeding both their resources and people dry--a tyrannical approach to governance often said to be heinous even by his fellow countrymen. It was a path that would lead to ruin for the province of Werlyt. Yet despite appearances, he was an exceedingly brilliant engineer, and there was a method to his madness.

Emperor Varis had been assassinated, and as various parties vied for the throne, Garlmald's aristocracy was in the throes of chaos. That is why Valens labored to complete his Weapons project, that he might make a triumphant return to Garlemald, wielding the ultimate tool of war. He well understood the need for urgency, and was more than willing to bring ruin upon Werlyt if it meant assuring his place as emperor.

For all his genius, however, Valens remained ignorant of his coming downfall until it was too late. The orphans he intended to use as test pilots for his project were plotting to use his Weapons against him, and the fruition of their plan would bring the VIIth Legion to its knees. One must not overlook, of course, the significance of Gaius's contributions to their efforts, as well as the rebel factions that also conspired to overthrow the Garleans. Even so, it was ultimately the bravery and sacrifice of five orphans that would spell the end of Valens, and earn Welryt her freedom.

Faces of Werlyt

GAIUS BAELSAR

"I see now that true strength is not granted by others, but resides within us. Strength of character, of spirit, of resolve."

With his defeat at the hands of the Warrior of Light in Castrum Meridianum, this former legatus of the XIVth Legion realized that he had long been a mere pawn in the Ascians' plans. He swore revenge against them for his fallen comrades, taking up the mantle of Shadowhunter, and though his quest for vengeance would claim the masks of Altima and Deudalaphon, the hunt for Ascians was quickly set aside when he learned of the Empire's plans to produce the noxious weapon Black Rose.

En route to Garlemald, Gaius crossed paths with Alphinaud, forming an alliance to halt production of the deadly gas--and this was not his only unexpected encounter with the Scions. As he infiltrated the capital, Gaius chanced to meet Estinien, and together they breached the imperial palace. There, they witnessed the assassination of Emperor Varis at the hands of Zenos. The rogue prince swiftly departed, and not moments later, imperial guards found Gaius standing over the late emperor's corpse.

His relationship with his home nation soured further when he discovered the previously abandoned Weapon project had been revived by the reformed VIIth Legion, who planned to deploy their prototypes in an assault on Eorzea. Gaius set off for Ghimlyt, hoping to warn the Eorzean Alliance before it was too late. There he found the Warrior of Light at the ready--this time, to stand with him against their common for. In a tragic twist, the orphans Gaius once fostered would also be caught up in the conflict.

Now, at the age of fifty-six and with Werlyt freed from the imperial yoke, Gaius has joined hands with its interim government in efforts to restore the region.

VALENS VAN VARRO

"As they say, 'to err is human, to forgive, divine.' And you know how forgiving I can be. When it suits me..."

Legatus of the reformed VIIth Legion, Valens joined the army following the completion of his studies at the Magitek Academy. Known for his ruthless and innovative magitek-based battle tactics, it seemed nothing could stop his ascension through the ranks. Those who served under him, however, knew well his unethical practices and penchant for sacrificing allies to serve his ambitions. Moreover, despite his achievements, he never escaped the shadow of Gaius, who was ultimately chosen to command the XIVth Legion. Believing the position stolen from him, Valens developed a deep hatred for the legatus even as he toiled to recreate Ultima Weapon under Nero's direction. This selfsame spite is what inspired him to later resume work on the Weapon project, believing that, by succeeding where Gaius had previously failed, he might at last prove himself the superior military officer.

Valens has ever been a staunch believer in Garlean supremacy. This was made all too apparent by his heinous decision to use villagers from the provinces as test subjects, believing them to be expendable. In the wake of the Emperor's death, he had hoped to take advantage of the chaos in Garlemald to assume the throne, but his dreams of grandeur would remain unfulfilled. The Weapon pilots, whom he had treated with such disdain, rebelled and eventually proved his undoing. After losing in a duel against Gaius, the fifty-six-year-old Valens met his demise at the hands of the Diamond Weapon.

SEVERA SOUTHER

"All that hatred, festering away...Nothing good could ever come of it."

Daughter to a citizen of Werlyt and a Garlean soldier, Severa joined the army in the hopes of deterring those who would cast scorn on her family. Even as she served, however, the Garleans denied Severa's mother the medicine she needed to maintain her faltering health. Though Severa deserted in the wake of the XIIth Legion's defeat in Ala Mhigo, she returned to Werlyt too late to save her mother and could do little but flee once more, eventually finding herself in the company of Gaius. Now twenty-three, she can often be found offering counsel to young Allie.

VALDEAULIN GANATHAIN

"It's taken me a long time--too long--but I've finally found a reason to live for the present. For the future."

Until Ala Mhigo fell to the Empire, Valdeaulin had made his home in the Black Shroud. As the Garleans continued their expansion, he lost not only his village, but his wife and daughter as well--his family abducted as test subjects for the fatal gas known as Black Rose. He later joined the Order of the Twin Adder, intent on exacting vengeance agains the invaders. The forty-eight-year-old Duskwight would have his chance amidst the ruin of the Praetorium, where he found a wounded Gaius on the verge of death, but ultimately chose to spare the Black Wolf and aid him in his hunt for Ascians.

ALFONSE AAN BAELSAR

"If it is the duty of the strong to lead the weak, we will become strong and protect those who cannot protect themselves."

An epidemic claimed the life of Alfonse's parents when he was still a child, leaving him and his sister Allie living on the streets of Werlyt. The two were adopted by Gaius, and Alfonse soon became an elder brother to all of the children in the Black Wolf's care. Wishing to be of greater help to their adoptive father, the Auri siblings joined the military, serving in the XIVth Legion/ During Operation Archon, they remained in Werlyt on a supply mission, but were soon transferred to the VIIth Legion, where they were coerced into becoming pilots for the Weapon project. Faced with a dire situation, they plotted to take advantage of their position and use the Weapons against the Garleans to liberate Werlyt. Although inextricably fused with the core of the Diamond Weapon, Alfonse managed to kill Valens and secure a future for his home and sister both. He was twenty-one summers old at the time of his death.

ALLIE AAN BAELSAR

"The days we spent together were the happiest of my life, and no matter what happens, nothing can take that away from me."

Allie and her brother were adopted by Gaius and given the surname Baelsar. When they were reassigned to the Legion, the name caught Valens's eye, and he wasted no time in selecting them as candidates for the Weapon project.

The youngest of her foster siblings, Allie was dearly loved by them all. She wanted nothing more than to have their portrait painted together as a family, but it was not meant to be, as she alone would survive the Weapon project. Despite having experienced so much loss by the age of sixteen summers, Allie works dauntlessly at Gaius's side to realize her siblings' dream of a free and flourishing Werlyt.

REX AAN BAELSAR

"This is our way of upholding the ideals Father instilled in us. Our lives are a small price to pay for Werlyt's freedom."

Though he too was tragically orphaned, Rex's cheery disposition always brightened the spirits of his foster siblings. He cared deeply for his adoptive family, and would do anything to shield them from harm, even should it mean defying his superiors. He placed complete faith in his brother Alfonse, whom he held in particularly high regard, seeing the elder brother's dreams as his own. Tragically, the eighteen-year-old's life was cut short when he took the helm of the Emerald Weapon, his essence overwritten with combat data modeling his beloved father Gaius as he merged with the machine's core.

RICON AAN BAELSAR

"You all made me happier than I had any right to be. And now...I've finally found my purpose. I have no regrets."

Though timid by nature, Ricon would not hesitate to lay down his life to save his adopted siblings. Upon joining the XIVth Legion, his skilled hands earned him a place working under Nero to hone his skills as an engineer, and the wealth of knowledge he gained from his training was readily applied to the Weapon project once he was permitted to assist with maintenance. Although determined to help correct the mistakes of past prototypes, he well knew they lacked time to fully prepare the Sapphire Weapon. This did Ricon elect to pilot the Weapon in place of his brother Rex, and the life of another brave youth was snuffed out by the Oversoul system. He was seventeen years of age.

MILISANDIA AAN BAELSAR

"Father still needs you. Please take care of him...in our place."

One of several orphans taken in by Gaius, Milisandia had hair of crimson, though it was not always so kissed by fire. When they still lived in an orphanage, the young lady believed that Alfonse was enamored with one of the institution's matrons and, perhaps hoping to win his attention, dyed her hair the same color as the woman who captivated him. This youthful infatuation would remain unspoken unto her dying day, when she passed away aboard the Ruby Weapon at the age of only twenty summers.

AVILINA AAN HORNE

"There's a way I can make a difference. I know there is."

Ten years ago, Ternclif-born Avilina was conscripted to serve as a magitek engineer in the XIVth Legion. These she met Milisandia, and the two became close friends. After the XIVth's defeat at Castrum Meridianum, she fled back to Werlyt, but with her experience working on the Ultima Weapon, it was inevitable that she would be assigned to the Weapon project with the VIIth Legion. Though the liberation of Werlyt granted her her freedom, she still carries the guilt of having assisted with the Weapon project, knowing that it claimed the life of her one true friend.

[probablyasocialecologist]

Scaling up afforestation could be beautiful. The same goes for soil carbon sequestration—using methods like no-till, crop rotation, and/or regenerative grazing to store more carbon in soils. Agroforestry, or growing crops along with trees, can be a win-win for farmers seeking to diversify their crops. Blue carbon, or sequestering carbon in coastal ecosystems like sea-grasses and mangroves, could double as coastal protection for communities and support adaptation.

These strategies to remove carbon could also be dystopian, depending on who goes about them and how. Imagine a network of satellites and sensors feeding data to platforms 24/7, optimizing each square meter of land to sequester carbon. That could be great—but now imagine it’s run by a mega platform whose main aim is to allocate lowest cost carbon removals to algorithmic bidders. Companies procure carbon removals as needed based upon their changing forecasts, and speculators also exchange carbon removal futures, reserving vast areas of land from food production. The land is optimized for carbon, not grasshoppers, birds, or salamanders. Formerly forest-dwelling communities have long since left or been forced away, migrating to megacities, their cultural practices threatened with erasure. Despite early gestures toward vague “co-benefits,” the discourse of climate emergency has led the lands of the world to be optimized for a sole purpose. This is one extreme end-of-the-century scenario, but it could be the direction that carbon logics + artificial intelligence + a state of climate emergency + a lack of socioecological systems thinking points us toward.

Holly Jean Buck, Ending Fossil Fuels: Why Net Zero is Not Enough

[gacha-incels]

article from the english edition of the Hankyoreh, Sept 10 2024

archive link

plain text:

Pavel Durov, the founder and CEO of the chat app Telegram, who has been indicted without arrest for aiding and abetting the proliferation of child sexual abuse material on his platform, is trying to calm the storm by announcing the removal of various controversial features from Telegram. However, his response is getting slammed for its shallowness, as such wishy-washy measures cannot stop the barrage of illegal pornography proliferating on the platform.

On Friday, Durov posted on his X (formerly known as Twitter) account to say that Telegram has “removed the People Nearby feature,” as well as disabled “new media uploads to Telegraph, [Telegram’s] standalone blogging tool.”

“While 99.999% of Telegram users have nothing to do with crime, the 0.001% involved in illicit activities create a bad image for the entire platform, putting the interests of our almost billion users at risk,” Durov claimed.

While Telegram has agreed to delete two features that have been used for criminal purposes, these features are largely unrelated to the recent sex crimes involving deepfakes. The “people nearby” feature utilizes GPS technology to track your phone’s location and indicate other users in the area, allowing people to form chat rooms with people in their region.  

Telegram logo. (Reuters/Yonhap)

This feature shares a user’s location data without their consent and places users at risk of stalking. Critics pointed out that it has often been used by bot programs to indiscriminately target people for financial scams. The Telegraph feature allows users to anonymously upload blog posts, photos and videos. Scammers would use this feature to create fake websites, share the links to the fake sites, and lure unsuspecting users into phishing scams that harvested their personal data. Yet neither of these features is directly related to the production and distribution of illicit deepfakes. 

Experts say that simply removing one feature is not going to uproot digital sex crimes. Malicious users constantly create and discover ways to circumvent such controls or restrictions or simply migrate to more liberal platforms, where they can replicate their crimes.

Cho Gyeong-suk, an activist with IT feminist group Techfemi who identifies and reports bots that produce sexually exploitative deepfakes, explained the concept of bots sharing bots. 

“If Telegram shuts down a specific bot, malicious users rapidly create a similar bot. Then they use a bot for sharing a link to that bot to repeat their crimes,” she said. 

On Sept. 3, Cho discovered and reported a Telegram channel with 210,000 subscribers. Upon entering, the user is greeted with the message “We're always here. Come back to our new bot,” alongside a link to a new bot and instructions on how to use link-sharing bots in Korean, Japanese, German and French. 

A message in a Telegram chat room on Sept. 3, 2024, informing readers of the address of a new deepfake sexual abuse material bot with messages in multiple languages. (courtesy of Cho Gyeong-suk)

It’s urgent to send a message to these malicious users that if they commit a crime, they will get caught. 

“Telegram has agreed to cooperate with Korean authorities, but all they’ve done is share an email address,” said Park Ji-hyun, the former interim leader of the Democratic Party. Operating under a group codenamed Team Flame, Park helped expose the criminal activity of the notorious Nth Room channel. 

“If the police or the KCSC [Korea Communications Standards Commission] have to find every individual video and which channel it’s in and report them all to an email address with an erasure request, it’s going to take too long for them to delete them. During that time, the videos are distributed through other channels,” Park added. 

“When authorities receive a report about the distribution of illicit online sexual exploitation, an investigative body needs to be aggressively informed about the perpetrators’ IP addresses, online registration data and other identification data. We need to send a clear message to the perpetrators: You will get caught. That’s the only way they’ll stop,” she said. 

“Rather than simply deleting specific features, Telegram needs to monitor its platform to prevent the distribution of child sexual abuse material or sexual content depicting minors and establish an ethical monitoring committee, like Google does. They need to discuss ways to find out what happens on their platform and to cooperate with the authorities,” said Won Eun-ji, the other half of Team Flame. 

“We also need technological measures such as the automated deletion of content that shows signs of being illicit or sexually exploitative. There could also be preventative tools that prevent such content from being uploaded in the first place,” she added.

By Chung In-seon, staff reporter

[rjzimmerman]

Excerpt from this story from Grist:

One in 11 people worldwide went hungry last year, while one in three struggled to afford a healthy diet. These numbers underscore the fact that governments not only have little shot at achieving a goal, set in 2015, of eradicating hunger, but progress toward expanding food access is backsliding. 

The data, included in a United Nations report released Wednesday, also reveals something surprising: As global crises continue to deepen, issues like hunger, food insecurity, and malnutrition no longer stand alone as isolated benchmarks of public health. In the eyes of the intergovernmental organizations and humanitarian institutions tracking these challenges, access to food is increasingly entangled with the impacts of a warming world. 

“The agrifood system is working under risk and uncertainties, and these risks and uncertainties are being accelerated because of climate [change] and the frequency of climate events,” Máximo Torero Cullen, chief economist of the U.N.’s Food and Agriculture Organization, or FAO, said in a briefing. It is a “problem that will continue to increase,” he said, adding that the mounting effects of warming on global food systems create a human rights issue. 

Torero calls the crisis “an unacceptable situation that we cannot afford, both in terms of our society, in terms of our moral beliefs, but also in terms of our economic returns.” 

Of the 733 million or so people who went hungry last year, there were roughly 152 million more facing chronic undernourishment than were recorded in 2019. (All told, around 2.8 billion people could not afford a healthy diet.) This is comparable to what was seen in 2008 and 2009, a period widely considered the last major global food crisis, and effectively sets the goal of equitable food access back 15 years. This insecurity remains most acute in low-income nations, where 71.5 percent of residents struggled to buy enough nutritious food — compared to just 6.3 percent in wealthy countries. 

Climate change is second only to conflict in having the greatest impact on global hunger, food insecurity, and malnutrition, according to the FAO. That’s because planetary warming does more than disrupt food production and supply chains through extreme weather events like droughts. It promotes the spread of diseases and pests, which affects livestock and crop yields. And it increasingly causes people to migrate as they flee areas ravaged by rising seas and devastating storms, which, in turn, can fuel conflict that then drives more migration in a vicious cycle. 

[hunxi-after-hours]

i want to astral project into your house and steal your danmei academic paper collection damn

hah, I'd be down to mail these booklets around like library copies if I didn't reference them so often, but I can provide a table of contents!

Bai, M. (2021), “Regulation of pornography and criminalization of BL readers and authors in contemporary China”

Chao, S. (2016), “Grotesque eroticism in the Danmei genre: the case of Lucifers Club in Chinese cyberspace”

Jin, F. (2009), “Addicted to Beauty: Consuming and Producing Web-based Chinese ‘Danmei’ Fiction at Jinjiang”

Martin, F. (2012), “Girls who love boys’ love: Japanese homoerotic manga as transnational Taiwan culture”

Ni Z. (2018), Steampunk, Zombie Apocalypse, and Homoerotic Romance: Rewriting Revolution-Plus-Love in Contemporary China”

Ng, E. and Li, X. (2020), “A queer socialist brotherhood: the Guardian web series, boys love fandom, and the Chinese state”

Tian, X. (2015), “Slashing Three Kingdoms: A Case Study in Fan Production on the Chinese Web.”

Tian, X. (2020), “Homosexualizing Boys Love in China: Reflexivity, Genre Transformation, and Cultural Interaction”

Tian, X. (2021), “More than Conformity or Resistance: Chinese “Boys’ Love” Fandom in the Age of Internet Censorship”

Williams, E. (2020), “BL and Danmei The Similarities and Differences Between Male x Male Content and its Fans in Japan and China”

Yan, Y., “From Online Danmei Literature to Web Series: A Study of Chinese Internet-based Adaptations Under Censorship���

Yang, L. and Xu, Y. (2016), “Danmei, Xianqing, and the making of a queer online public sphere in China”

Yang, L. and Xu, Y. (2017), “The love that dare not speak its name: The fate of Chinese danmei communities in the 2014 anti-porn campaign”

Yang, L. and Xu, Y. (2013), “Forbidden love: incest, generational conflict, and the erotics of power in Chinese BL fiction”

Zhang, C. (2016), “Loving Boys Twice as Much: Chinese Women’s Paradoxical Fandom of “Boys’ Love” Fiction”

Zhao, Y. and Madill, A. (2018), “The heteronormative frame in Chinese Yaoi: integrating female Chinese fan interviews with Sinophone and Anglophone survey data”

Zheng, X. (2019), “Survival and migration patterns of Chinese online media fandoms”

I found a few of these on JSTOR just looking up danmei; most of these are from @dulharpa, who kindly pointed me in the direction of the rest of these!