#Data collection techniques

[marketxcel]

5 Methods of Data Collection for Quantitative Research

Discover five powerful techniques for gathering quantitative data in research, essential for uncovering trends, patterns, and correlations. Explore proven methodologies that empower researchers to collect and analyze data effectively.

[farmerstrend]

The Evolution of Pomegranate Farming: From Secrecy to Collective Growth

Pomegranate farming has a rich history, deeply rooted in tradition and secrecy. For many years, it was a practice reserved for a select few who guarded their knowledge and techniques closely. This culture of secrecy had significant consequences, deterring new farmers from entering the field and leading to financial losses for those who dared to try. However, the past few years have seen a…

[sorenskr]

High duplication of HTTP Proxies IPs used for crawling? How to solve it?

With the continuous progress of network technology, crawler technology has been widely used in many fields. In order to avoid being blocked by the website's anti-crawling mechanism, many developers will use Proxies IP to disguise the real identity of the crawler. However, many developers find that the duplication rate of Proxies IP is actually very high when using Proxies IP, which gives them a headache. Today, let's talk about why Proxies have such a high duplication rate? And how to solve this problem?

Why is the Proxies IP duplication rate high?

Have you ever wondered how you can still be "captured" even though you have used Proxies? In fact, the root of the problem lies in the high rate of IP duplication. So, what exactly causes this problem? The following reasons are very critical:

1. Proxies IP resources are scarce and competition is too fierce

2. Free Proxies to "squeeze out" resources

Many developers will choose to use free Proxies IP, but these free service providers often assign the same IP to different usersin order to save resources. Although you don't have to spend money, these IPs tend to bring more trouble, and the crawler effect is instead greatly reduced.

3. Crawling workload and frequent repetitive requests

The job of a crawler usually involves a lot of repetitive crawling. For example, you may need to request the same web page frequently to get the latest data updates. Even if you use multiple Proxies IPs, frequent requests can still result in the same IP appearing over and over again. For certain sensitive websites, this behavior can quickly raise an alarm and cause you to be blocked.

4. Anti-climbing mechanisms are getting smarter

Today's anti-crawling mechanisms are not as simple as they used to be, they are getting "smarter". Websites monitor the frequency and pattern of IP visits to identify crawler behavior. Even if you use Proxies, IPs with a high repetition rate are easily recognized. As a result, you have to keep switching to more IPs, which makes the problem even more complicated.

How to solve the problem of high Proxies IP duplication?

Next, we'll talk about how to solve the problem of high IP duplication to help you better utilize Proxies IP for crawler development.

1. Choose a reliable Proxies IP service provider

The free stuff is good, but the quality often can't keep up. If you want a more stable and reliable Proxies IP, it is best to go with a paid Proxies IP service provider. These service providers usually have a large number of high-quality IP resources and can ensure that these IPs are not heavily reused. For example, IP resources from real home networks are more protected from being blocked than other types of IPs.

2. Rationalization of IP allocation and rotation

3. Regular IP monitoring and updating

Even the best IPs can be blocked after a long time. Therefore, you need to monitor Proxies IPs on a regular basis. Once you find that the duplication rate of a certain IP is too high, or it has begun to show access failure, replace it with a new one in time to ensure continuous and efficient data collection.

4. Use of Proxies IP Pools

To avoid the problem of excessive Proxies IP duplication, you can also create a Proxy IP pool. Proxies IP pool is like an automation tool that helps you manage a large number of IP resources and also check the availability of these IPs on a regular basis. By automating your IP pool management, you can get high-quality Proxies more easily and ensure the diversity and stability of your IP resources.

How to further optimize the use of crawlers with Proxies IP?

You're probably still wondering what else I can do to optimize the crawler beyond these routine operations. Don't worry, here are some useful tips:

Optimize keyword strategy: Use Proxies IP to simulate search behavior in different regions and adjust your keyword strategy in time to cope with changes in different markets.

Detect global page speed: using Proxies IP can test the page loading speed in different regions of the world to optimize the user experience.

Flexible adjustment of strategy: Through Proxies IP data analysis, understand the network environment in different regions, adjust the strategy and improve the efficiency of data collection.

Conclusion

The high duplication rate of Proxies IP does bring a lot of challenges to crawler development, but these problems are completely solvable as long as you choose the right strategy. By choosing a high-quality Proxies IP service provider, using Proxies IPs wisely, monitoring IP status regularly, and establishing an IP pool management mechanism, you can greatly reduce the Proxies IP duplication rate and make your crawler project more efficient and stable.

[iwebscrapingblogs]

Learn data gathering methods for e-commerce with web scrapers. Discover techniques to extract valuable insights. Enhance your data-driven decision-making.

For More Information:-

[crystlianajohn]

What are the steps of social media analytics?

Explore the essential steps of social media analytics to harness valuable insights and optimize your online presence.

www.quickmetrix.com

[grison-in-space]

Sure, but I still want to know their priors and sampling techniques. Failing that, using the most easily accessible methods to gather data can still yield potentially interesting information about overall dynamics even if we apply mathematical analyses that assume oversampling of queer users to "correct" the effects of snowball sampling. It's worth noting that sampling information about human sexuality is pretty much uniformly nightmarish in any case; this is actually not that much worse than published peer reviewed sampling efforts, horribly enough.

I am taking everyone who made a poll to gauge the True Percentage of Queers on Tumblr and putting them through a statistics course

[onlinetutorsaudiarabia]

Research Methods Statistics Tutor with SPSS and Microsoft Excel

Research Methods Statistics Tutor with SPSS and Microsoft Excel Research Methods with SPSS and Microsoft Excel with Al-Saudia Virtual Academy offer online advance statistics such as Research Methods with SPSS and Microsoft Excel. For detail course outline and syllabus contents visit this link. For further reading: Pakistan Online Tuition Online Tutor Pakistan Education Consultant Pakistan Home…

[fossilprep]

Raptor brains!

Here's a Troodontid braincase I recently completed preparing using small air scribes, carbowax techniques, and air abrasion under high magnification microscopes. Every square millimeter of this paper-thin hydroxyapatite wants to shatter like tempered glass.

There are probably fewer than 10 Troodontid braincases in the world, and most are squashed flat. This new specimen is preserved in 3D so it'll be put it in a micro-CT scanner to see the inside of the brain cavity. I purposely left matrix inside the cavity because it could have data that the CT scanner could let us see and acts as a support for the brittle bone.

From US Public Lands administered by the Bureau of Land Management - Montana/Dakotas. Found by volunteer Tom Beckenholdt. Collected by Tom & Elizabeth Freedman Fowler.

[nasa]

Six Answers to Questions You’re Too Embarrassed to Ask about the Hottest Year on Record

You may have seen the news that 2023 was the hottest year in NASA’s record, continuing a trend of warming global temperatures. But have you ever wondered what in the world that actually means and how we know?

We talked to some of our climate scientists to get clarity on what a temperature record is, what happened in 2023, and what we can expect to happen in the future… so you don’t have to!

1. Why was 2023 the warmest year on record?

The short answer: Human activities. The release of greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide and methane into the atmosphere trap more heat near Earth’s surface, raising global temperatures. This is responsible for the decades-long warming trend we’re living through.

But this year’s record wasn’t just because of human activities. The last few years, we’ve been experiencing the cooler phase of a natural pattern of Pacific Ocean temperatures called the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO). This phase, known as La Niña, tends to cool temperatures slightly around the world. In mid-2023, we started to shift into the warmer phase, known as El Niño. The shift ENSO brought, combined with overall human-driven warming and other factors we’re continuing to study, pushed 2023 to a new record high temperature.

2. So will every year be a record now?

Almost certainly not. Although the overall trend in annual temperatures is warmer, there’s some year-to-year variation, like ENSO we mentioned above.

Think about Texas and Minnesota. On the whole, Texas is warmer than Minnesota. But some days, stormy weather could bring cooler temperatures to Texas while Minnesota is suffering through a local heat wave. On those days, the weather in Minnesota could be warmer than the weather in Texas. That doesn’t mean Minnesota is warmer than Texas overall; we’re just experiencing a little short-term variation.

Something similar happens with global annual temperatures. The globe will naturally shift back to La Niña in the next few years, bringing a slight cooling effect. Because of human carbon emissions, current La Niña years will be warmer than La Niña years were in the past, but they’ll likely still be cooler than current El Niño years.

3. What do we mean by “on record”?

Technically, NASA’s global temperature record starts in 1880. NASA didn’t exist back then, but temperature data were being collected by sailing ships, weather stations, and scientists in enough places around the world to reconstruct a global average temperature. We use those data and our modern techniques to calculate the average.

We start in 1880, because that’s when thermometers and other instruments became technologically advanced and widespread enough to reliably measure and calculate a global average. Today, we make those calculations based on millions of measurements taken from weather stations and Antarctic research stations on land, and ships and ocean buoys at sea. So, we can confidently say 2023 is the warmest year in the last century and a half.

However, we actually have a really good idea of what global climate looked like for tens of thousands of years before 1880, relying on other, indirect ways of measuring temperature. We can look at tree rings or cores drilled from ice sheets to reconstruct Earth’s more ancient climate. These measurements affirm that current warming on Earth is happening at an unprecedented speed.

4. Why does a space agency keep a record of Earth’s temperature?

It’s literally our job! When NASA was formed in 1958, our original charter called for “the expansion of human knowledge of phenomena in the atmosphere and space.” Our very first space missions uncovered surprises about Earth, and we’ve been using the vantage point of space to study our home planet ever since. Right now, we have a fleet of more than 20 spacecraft monitoring Earth and its systems.

Why we created our specific surface temperature record – known as GISTEMP – actually starts about 25 million miles away on the planet Venus. In the 1960s and 70s, researchers discovered that a thick atmosphere of clouds and carbon dioxide was responsible for Venus’ scorchingly hot temperatures.

Dr. James Hansen was a scientist at the Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York, studying Venus. He realized that the greenhouse effect cooking Venus’ surface could happen on Earth, too, especially as human activities were pumping carbon dioxide into our atmosphere.

He started creating computer models to see what would happen to Earth’s climate as more carbon dioxide entered the atmosphere. As he did, he needed a way to check his models – a record of temperatures at Earth’s surface over time, to see if the planet was indeed warming along with increased atmospheric carbon. It was, and is, and NASA’s temperature record was born.

5. If last year was record hot, why wasn’t it very hot where I live?

The temperature record is a global average, so not everywhere on Earth experienced record heat. Local differences in weather patterns can influence individual locations to be hotter or colder than the globe overall, but when we average it out, 2023 was the hottest year.

Just because you didn’t feel record heat this year, doesn’t mean you didn’t experience the effects of a warming climate. 2023 saw a busy Atlantic hurricane season, low Arctic sea ice, raging wildfires in Canada, heat waves in the U.S. and Australia, and more.

And these effects don’t stay in one place. For example, unusually hot and intense fires in Canada sent smoke swirling across the entire North American continent, triggering some of the worst air quality in decades in many American cities. Melting ice at Earth’s poles drives rising sea levels on coasts thousands of miles away.

6. Speaking of which, why is the Arctic – one of the coldest places on Earth – red on this temperature map?

Our global temperature record doesn’t actually track absolute temperatures. Instead, we track temperature anomalies, which are basically just deviations from the norm. Our baseline is an average of the temperatures from 1951-1980, and we compare how much Earth’s temperature has changed since then. 

Why focus on anomalies, rather than absolutes? Let’s say you want to track if apples these days are generally larger, smaller, or the same size as they were 20 years ago. In other words, you want to track the change over time.

Apples grown in Florida are generally larger than apples grown in Alaska. Like, in real life, how Floridian temperatures are generally much higher than Alaskan temperatures. So how do you track the change in apple sizes from apples grown all over the world while still accounting for their different baseline weights? 

By focusing on the difference within each area rather than the absolute weights. So in our map, the Arctic isn’t red because it’s hotter than Bermuda. It’s red because it’s gotten relatively much warmer than Bermuda has in the same time frame.

Want to learn more about climate change? Dig into the data at climate.nasa.gov.

Make sure to follow us on Tumblr for your regular dose of space!

[marketxcel]

Navigating Market Realities: Understanding Market Research Methods, Types & Examples

Explore diverse market research methods, types, and real-world examples in our insightful blog. Elevate your business strategy with data-driven insights.

[iatrophilosophos]

"Harm reduction for diy hrt" WHAT HARM ??? SHOW ME THE HARM !!!

Years of paying attention and talking w ppl, not ONE "so&so happened to my buddy's metamour's friend" report of a major incident let alone a credible even 2nd or 3rd hand case study.

Actualized negative events associated with DIY hrt i DO have credible reports of: 1) swollen/itchy/painful injection sites in people reusing needles, not sterilizing vial tops, using poor injection technique 2) mild to moderate allergic reactions to carrier oils 3) using an ineffective dose with minor to moderate mood disturbances, flares of some autoimmune conditions, fatigue/weakness/brain fog/pain in people already susceptible to chronic pain, that subside with dosing/cycle adjustments

NONE OF THESE ISSUES are UNIQUE to the DIY element. In the cases of 2 and 3, there are significant pros to DIY bc it is easier/cheaper to access a preparation without an allergen when you are your own compounding pharmacy, and dosage changes can be made without permission/folks aren't stuck on shitty doses that could possibly create more significant health problems down the line for extended periods while waiting for prescriber approval to change.

Injection protocol education for IV NEEDLE DRUG USERS is harm reduction because there is HARM associated with the socio-medical conditions created by the war on drugs to ACTIVELY BLOCK access to safer use knowledge and tools. There is REAL HARM in the REAL WORLD that is REDUCED by addressing politically-introduced risk vectors in a specific class of autonomous medicine use.

Harm reduction is a specific term for a specific socio-medical concept regarding activities that, while involving inherent risk (as most aspects of Being Alive do!), occupy a position of ARTIFICIALLY INFLATED RISK due to criminalization, policing, and specific means of knolwege gatekeeping and/or disruption of transmission. As a term it has a specific history and purpose, to assert that the same risk mitigation and best-possible/acceptable/desirable care options should be available to all people regardless of their participation in stigmatized or illicit activities.

Discussion of risk and protocols associated with any form of medicine is vital to building robust, effective, desirable, and sustainable common-knowledge medical strategies; but to be effective at that these discussions have to be as accurate to the data points they describe as possible. Referring to risk mitigation strategies that do not address ACTUALIZED CONDITIONS RESULTING IN HARM as "Harm reduction" is inaccurate and occludes reality. One reason this is bad, among many, is that the fact that widespread negative events unique to the DIY element of DIY HRT are not CURRENTLY actually happening could potentially be an important datapoint in problem solving if it DOES happen in the future. If in three weeks some kid or collective somewhere starts DIYing and getting really sick, it is important for those people to know that THAT IS WEIRD!!!!!! and deserves a lot of detailed exploration of what went wrong, & not just assume that they just got unlucky/didn't Reduce Harm good enough.

Just say "these are what i think are best practices based on xyz evidence," and leave it at that. If for some reason you're uncomfortable saying THAT, it's probably a sign you don't know enough about what you're talking about and need to interrogate your epistemology more before opening your mouth to tell other people what to do.

That is all.

[sorenskr]

High duplication of HTTP Proxies IPs used for crawling? How to solve it?

With the continuous progress of network technology, crawler technology has been widely used in many fields. In order to avoid being blocked by the website's anti-crawling mechanism, many developers will use Proxies IP to disguise the real identity of the crawler. However, many developers find that the duplication rate of Proxies IP is actually very high when using Proxies IP, which gives them a headache. Today, let's talk about why Proxies have such a high duplication rate? And how to solve this problem?

Why is the Proxies IP duplication rate high?

Have you ever wondered how you can still be "captured" even though you have used Proxies? In fact, the root of the problem lies in the high rate of IP duplication. So, what exactly causes this problem? The following reasons are very critical:

1. Proxies IP resources are scarce and competition is too fierce

2. Free Proxies to "squeeze out" resources

Many developers will choose to use free Proxies IP, but these free service providers often assign the same IP to different usersin order to save resources. Although you don't have to spend money, these IPs tend to bring more trouble, and the crawler effect is instead greatly reduced.

3. Crawling workload and frequent repetitive requests

The job of a crawler usually involves a lot of repetitive crawling. For example, you may need to request the same web page frequently to get the latest data updates. Even if you use multiple Proxies IPs, frequent requests can still result in the same IP appearing over and over again. For certain sensitive websites, this behavior can quickly raise an alarm and cause you to be blocked.

4. Anti-climbing mechanisms are getting smarter

Today's anti-crawling mechanisms are not as simple as they used to be, they are getting "smarter". Websites monitor the frequency and pattern of IP visits to identify crawler behavior. Even if you use Proxies, IPs with a high repetition rate are easily recognized. As a result, you have to keep switching to more IPs, which makes the problem even more complicated.

How to solve the problem of high Proxies IP duplication?

Next, we'll talk about how to solve the problem of high IP duplication to help you better utilize Proxies IP for crawler development.

1. Choose a reliable Proxies IP service provider

The free stuff is good, but the quality often can't keep up. If you want a more stable and reliable Proxies IP, it is best to go with a paid Proxies IP service provider. These service providers usually have a large number of high-quality IP resources and can ensure that these IPs are not heavily reused. For example, IP resources from real home networks are more protected from being blocked than other types of IPs.

2. Rationalization of IP allocation and rotation

3. Regular IP monitoring and updating

Even the best IPs can be blocked after a long time. Therefore, you need to monitor Proxies IPs on a regular basis. Once you find that the duplication rate of a certain IP is too high, or it has begun to show access failure, replace it with a new one in time to ensure continuous and efficient data collection.

4. Use of Proxies IP Pools

To avoid the problem of excessive Proxies IP duplication, you can also create a Proxy IP pool. Proxies IP pool is like an automation tool that helps you manage a large number of IP resources and also check the availability of these IPs on a regular basis. By automating your IP pool management, you can get high-quality Proxies more easily and ensure the diversity and stability of your IP resources.

How to further optimize the use of crawlers with Proxies IP?

You're probably still wondering what else I can do to optimize the crawler beyond these routine operations. Don't worry, here are some useful tips:

Optimize keyword strategy: Use Proxies IP to simulate search behavior in different regions and adjust your keyword strategy in time to cope with changes in different markets.

Detect global page speed: using Proxies IP can test the page loading speed in different regions of the world to optimize the user experience.

Flexible adjustment of strategy: Through Proxies IP data analysis, understand the network environment in different regions, adjust the strategy and improve the efficiency of data collection.

Conclusion

The high duplication rate of Proxies IP does bring a lot of challenges to crawler development, but these problems are completely solvable as long as you choose the right strategy. By choosing a high-quality Proxies IP service provider, using Proxies IPs wisely, monitoring IP status regularly, and establishing an IP pool management mechanism, you can greatly reduce the Proxies IP duplication rate and make your crawler project more efficient and stable.

[dandelionsresilience]

Dandelion News - February 22-28

Like these weekly compilations? Tip me at $kaybarr1735 or check out my Dandelion Doodles! (This month’s doodles will be a little delayed since I wasn’t able to work on them throughout the month)

1. City trees absorb much more carbon than expected

“[A new measurement technique shows that trees in LA absorb] up to 60% of daytime CO₂ emissions from fossil fuel combustion in spring and summer[….] Beyond offering shade and aesthetic value, these trees act as silent workhorses in the city’s climate resilience strategy[….]”

2. #AltGov: the secret network of federal workers resisting Doge from the inside

“Government employees fight the Trump administration’s chaos by organizing and publishing information on Bluesky[…. A group of government employees are] banding together to “expose harmful policies, defend public institutions and equip citizens with tools to push back against authoritarianism[….]””

3. An Ecuadorian hotspot shows how forests can claw back from destruction

“A December 2024 study described the recovery of ground birds and mammals like ocelots, and found their diversity and biomass in secondary forests was similar to those in old-growth forests after just 20 years. [… Some taxa recover] “earlier, some are later, but they all show a tendency to recover.””

4. Over 80 House Democrats demand Trump rescind gender-affirming care ban: 'We want trans kids to live'

“[89 House Democrats signed a letter stating,] "Trans young people, their parents and their doctors should be the ones making their health care decisions. No one should need to ask the President’s permission to access life-saving, evidence-based health care." "As Members of Congress, we stand united with trans young people and their families.”“

5. Boosting seafood production while protecting biodiversity

“A new study suggests that farming seafood from the ocean – known as mariculture – could be expanded to feed more people while reducing harm to marine biodiversity at the same time. […] “[… I]t’s not a foregone conclusion that the expansion of an industry is always going to have a proportionally negative impact on the environment[….]””

6. U.S. will spend up to $1 billion to combat bird flu, USDA secretary says

“The USDA will spend up to $500 million to provide free biosecurity audits to farms and $400 million to increase payment rates to farmers who need to kill their chickens due to bird flu[….] The USDA is exploring vaccines for chickens but is not yet authorizing their use[….]”

7. An Innovative Program Supporting the Protection of Irreplaceable Saline Lakes

“[… T]he program aims to provide comprehensive data on water availability and lake health, develop strategies to monitor and assess critical ecosystems, and identify knowledge gaps to guide future research and resource management.”

8. EU to unveil ​‘Clean Industrial Deal’ to cut CO2, boost energy security

“The bold plan aims to revitalize and decarbonize heavy industry, reduce reliance on gas, and make energy cheaper, cleaner, and more secure. […] By July, the EU said it will ​“simplify state aid rules” to ​“accelerate the roll-out of clean energy, deploy industrial decarbonisation and ensure sufficient capacity of clean-tech manufacturing” on the continent.”

9. Oyster Restoration Investments Net Positive Returns for Economy and Environment

“Researchers expect the restored oyster reefs to produce $38 million in ecosystem benefits through 2048. “This network protects nearly 350 million oysters[….]” [NOAA provided] $14.9 million to expand the sanctuary network to 500 acres by 2026 […] through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.”

10. Nations back $200 billion-a-year plan to reverse nature losses

“More than 140 countries adopted a strategy to mobilize hundreds of billions of dollars a year to help reverse dramatic losses in biodiversity[….] A finance strategy adopted to applause and tears from delegates, underpins "our collective capacity to sustain life on this planet," said Susana Muhamad[….]”

February 15-21 news here | (all credit for images and written material can be found at the source linked; I don’t claim credit for anything but curating.)

[honeytonedhottie]

HONEYS IT GIRL MAGAZINE july edition⋆.ೃ࿔*:･🎀

welcome back to honeys it girl magazine, this is the july catalog. get ready for the inside scoop on data that i've collected, things i've learned/started doing, and just general info like that organized in kind of a teen-magazine inspired fashion. a magazine for it girls ✨ and now please enjoy, the it girl magazine.

in this addition i've experimented with new sections (like the horoscope section) so i hope that u guys look forward to it and if u have any more suggestions for the magazine feel free to share and without further ado, lets get into it with some beauty talk…💬🎀

BEAUTY SHOPPING LIST ;

♡ kiko milano lipgloss

♡ L.A girl glitter spray

♡ cotton candy baby lipgloss from victorias secret

i've gone for more tubes of cotton candy baby because its just SUCH a good lipgloss but i recently lost mine and its been on my list to get next time i go to the mall…💬🎀

♡ crispy marshmallow bars body wash from philosophy

ugh just the NAME of this soap sounds absolutely delicious and im dying to try it out. im a big fan of the philosophy body washes anyways because of the quality and scents…💬🎀

♡ coconut craze lipgloss from victorias secret

♡ pink mimosa lipgloss from victorias secret

another thing that i wanted to talk about in this months beauty column is the DIFFERENCE that blush placement makes. so i was scrolling on pinterest when i came across this chart that talked about blush placement.

when you apply blush a certain way it balances out ur beautiful features and plays around with proportions in such a way that can make ur features more prominent. also the way that u apply ur blush totally changes the way that ur makeup looks.

for example when u apply blush to the apples of ur cheeks it gives a more youthful and glowy effect. when u put blush high on ur cheekbones it gives a more lifted and sculpted look which is where the blush chart comes in. depending on ur face shape u can determine which style of blush placement complements ur pretty face the best 💗

WHAT R WE LISTENING TO? ;

the most listened to album i've listened to all month has been butterfly by mariah carey. it was released in 1997 and every single song on that album is a total MASTER PIECE. some of my favorites include

♡ honey (DUH)

♡ babydoll

however that album is from 1997 so lets talk about some new music that i LOVED that also dropped this month…💬🎀

♡ brat- charli xcx

♡ muse - jimin

another album that has been gathering lots of attention on lots of social media platforms is ice spice's Y2K album and i've seen a lot of mixed reviews about it. personally im not a fan of the album, my favorite song on the album is did it first but im not a fan of the album as a whole. im curious though to hear what your thoughts on the album are…💬🎀

FASHION FLOPS VS FASHION BOPS ;

in this column, lets look at some old and new fashion trends and see which trends are flops and which ones are bops. my sources include vogue, and glamour magazine…💬🎀

according to vogue, statement gowns are OUT and discreet chics are IN. discreet chic is mixing basics in minimalist yet compelling ways. this includes things like trench coats, pencil skirts, trouser suits and good jeans.

according to glamour magazine, crisp whites and butter yellows are trending this summer. along with sequins and basics like denim pants and white t-shirts, polished kitten heels and mary jane flats also. the styles that are trending for this summer are boho 3.0 and little white dresses.

something i can DEF get behind is little white dresses. its like a blank canvas on which u can make the outfit into whatever you want. personally i would style a tiny white dress with chunky bracelets and wedges/kitten heels…💬🎀

LETS TALK MANIFESTATION ;

manifestation techniques are overrated - all you have to do to manifest is affirm -> persist. thats essentially all you have to do and when i first started i was so caught up in techniques and routines that i wasn't even affirming/persisting. i was doing anything and everything and i saw manifestation as a process and manifestation is NOT a process. when i shifted that and realized that manifesting is instant and all techniques are for funsies, the pressure was taken off.

this is an excerpt from my manifestation opinions post and i've released this poll to talk about what manifestation topic you guys would like me to talk about and the winner was saturation so lets talk about it. so what does it mean to saturate? i got this question a while ago in my inbox so im just gonna copy and paste my response.

saturating is simply soaking ur mind in the fact that u already have what u want. i do this with affirming, some people do other things to saturate but affirming is the most simple for me. just think as if u have it over and over and over again…💬🎀

you can saturate for hours at a time or a little bit everyday it doesnt rly matter its just thinking over and over again. i saturate while listening to music, playing video games, doing mundane tasks etc. all i do is think my affirmations and thats all! if theres something specific that u guys are curious about with saturation lemme know in the comments but its super simple bcuz MANIFESTING is super simple.

JENNIE KIM STYLE DISSECTION ;

jennie kim is a fashion ICON. i swear every photo that i see of her, her outfit, hair, face, everything is absolutely perfect. jennie's style is very posh and feminine. and a rly great example of this would be her look below. i love how she color coordinated her hair accessories to her outfit and the black and pink is so ICONIC cuz she was a black pink member.

shes rocking her trademark chanel in the form of a waist chain and everything just goes together beautifully. jennie knows how to mix posh and hyper femininity in her outfits super well and we can see that in her next outfit…💬🎀

THE CHANEL CHAIN AHHH IM OBSESSED. in the next outfit shes rocking a red two piece with buttons that just add that very chic and posh look. her chanel chain is such a statement piece and her matching chanel purse, shes literally chanels princess atp.

WHATS MY HOROSCOPE (JULY 22-29) ;

♡ its leo season and leo season is all about TIMING. you will receive ur answer very soon, listen to ur intuition and notice how everything is coming together for you. while you’re shining in the moment, remember to think about the future when mercury enters virgo and your value zone on thursday. you’ll want to go over details with a fine-tooth comb, so take your time making decisions. don’t rush into anything!

♡ for aries the next four weeks are ideal for enjoying entertainment, starting hobbies, and expressing yourself. indulge in the pleasures that summer has to offer without burning your life down.however, while you enjoy the rest of your summer, consider getting your life in order when mercury enters virgo and your productivity zone on thursday. the retrograde will be here shortly, aries, so take this time to get your ducks in a row. 

♡ for taurus, start the week by practicing self-care when the sun enters leo and your home zone on monday. the next few weeks could be a little hectic, so try to spend as much time as you can with your loved ones. be generous with your time by hosting family dinners and small parties.despite the upcoming retrograde, you’ll still have plenty of opportunities for some fun when mercury enters virgo and your creativity zone on thursday. this is a great time to busy yourself with creative projects, flirt with people, and entertain yourself with concerts and movies. have fun!

♡ for gemini, you’ll have a flair for the dramatic over the next few weeks once the sun enters leo and your communication zone on monday. everything you do and say will be bold and vibrant. your social calendar will be full of summer activities, so enjoy yourself without getting exhausted.get ready to become the family problem solver when mercury enters virgo and your home zone on thursday. it seems like everyone is coming to you to fix their lives before the retrograde, so this is a great time to focus on domestic issues. remember to set boundaries so any family drama doesn’t bring you down, gemini.

♡ for cancer, as your season comes to an end, your mind will be on your financial security when the sun enters leo and your value zone on monday. however, if you want any luxury in your life, you’re going to have to work for it. this is a great time to start side hustles and invest in things that matter to you. say what you mean and mean what you say when mercury enters virgo and your communication zone on thursday. this transit gives you the ability to cut through the chaos and get to the truth of any issue.

♡ for virgo, spend the rest of your summer break away from the madding crowd when the sun enters leo and your privacy zone on monday. over the next few weeks, you might feel the need to retreat from the world and focus on yourself. give yourself a mental and emotional cleanse before your season begins. your communication skills get a major boost this week when mercury enters your sign on thursday. while this is a brief reunion before the retrograde, this is a great time for new beginnings and getting your point across. speak with confidence, virgo.

♡ for libra, you’ll be feeling like a social butterfly over the next few weeks once the sun enters leo and your friendship zone on monday. this is a great time to hit the summer parties and make some connections. you could even meet your new besties. have fun! however, you might feel the need to retreat into yourself when mercury enters virgo and your subconscious zone on thursday. perfectionism could lead to your undoing as you come to terms with what’s working and not working in your life. focus on how to fix these areas without overcorrecting, libra. analyze your dreams to find clarity.

♡ for scorpio, despite being in the heart of summer, you’re more focused on building a reputation and making a name for yourself when the sun enters leo and your public image zone on monday. over the next four weeks, go after your ambitions and stand out from the crowd to get noticed by the right people. you’ll be especially interested in your personal aspirations when mercury enters virgo and your humanitarian zone on thursday. you have some big dreams, so lay the groundwork to get them going. make a wish, scorpio. it might come true.

♡ for sagittarius, start the week on an adventurous note when the sun enters leo and your expansion zone on monday. the next few weeks will give you opportunities to expand your horizons, for better or worse. this is a great time to travel or interact with people from different walks of life. as we get into the heat of summer, start thinking about your future when mercury enters virgo and your career zone on thursday. this is a great time to think about your professional goals and how you can get ahead in the workplace. think smarter and harder, sagittarius.

♡ for capricorn, the start of the week brings changes to your life when the sun enters leo and your transformation zone on monday. you might feel like a phoenix over the next few weeks as you sit with the ashes of your former life. while the sun shines a light on everything that is hidden, you’ll need to decide what to let go of, capricorn. class is in session when mercury enters virgo and your expansion zone on thursday, especially since this transit will give you plenty of lessons to learn, for better or worse. this is a great time to expand your mental horizons through education. it could change your life.

♡ for aquarius, “me” turns into “we” over the next few weeks when the sun enters leo and your partnership zone on monday. this is more than just a summer fling; it’s the real thing, so lock it down now. however, make sure to balance your time together and apart or it could cause some drama. read between the lines and you can uncover hidden meanings when mercury enters virgo and your intuition zone on thursday. trust your gut, aquarius, because it can guide you through the hidden motives others might have for you. be careful, and don’t make any big decisions before the retrograde.

♡ for pisces, even in the heat of summer, you’ll still have plenty of work to do when the sun enters leo and your productivity zone on monday. work on taking care of yourself through self-improvement. what do you want to get better at, pisces? try it out now. the rest of the summer could be intense, so make sure you have a buddy to help you through when mercury enters virgo and your partnership zone on thursday. this is a great time to end all conflict and work on agreements before the retrograde hits. compromise is key, if you’re willing to work at it.

[probablyasocialecologist]

Libraries have traditionally operated on a basic premise: Once they purchase a book, they can lend it out to patrons as much (or as little) as they like. Library copies often come from publishers, but they can also come from donations, used book sales, or other libraries. However the library obtains the book, once the library legally owns it, it is theirs to lend as they see fit.  Not so for digital books. To make licensed e-books available to patrons, libraries have to pay publishers multiple times over. First, they must subscribe (for a fee) to aggregator platforms such as Overdrive. Aggregators, like streaming services such as HBO’s Max, have total control over adding or removing content from their catalogue. Content can be removed at any time, for any reason, without input from your local library. The decision happens not at the community level but at the corporate one, thousands of miles from the patrons affected.  Then libraries must purchase each individual copy of each individual title that they want to offer as an e-book. These e-book copies are not only priced at a steep markup—up to 300% over consumer retail—but are also time- and loan-limited, meaning the files self-destruct after a certain number of loans. The library then needs to repurchase the same book, at a new price, in order to keep it in stock.  This upending of the traditional order puts massive financial strain on libraries and the taxpayers that fund them. It also opens up a world of privacy concerns; while libraries are restricted in the reader data they can collect and share, private companies are under no such obligation. Some libraries have turned to another solution: controlled digital lending, or CDL, a process by which a library scans the physical books it already has in its collection, makes secure digital copies, and lends those out on a one-to-one “owned to loaned” ratio.  The Internet Archive was an early pioneer of this technique. When the digital copy is loaned, the physical copy is sequestered from borrowing; when the physical copy is checked out, the digital copy becomes unavailable. The benefits to libraries are obvious; delicate books can be circulated without fear of damage, volumes can be moved off-site for facilities work without interrupting patron access, and older and endangered works become searchable and can get a second chance at life. Library patrons, who fund their local library’s purchases with their tax dollars, also benefit from the ability to freely access the books. Publishers are, unfortunately, not a fan of this model, and in 2020 four of them sued the Internet Archive over its CDL program. The suit ultimately focused on the Internet Archive’s lending of 127 books that were already commercially available through licensed aggregators. The publisher plaintiffs accused the Internet Archive of mass copyright infringement, while the Internet Archive argued that its digitization and lending program was a fair use. The trial court sided with the publishers, and on September 4, the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit reaffirmed that decision with some alterations to the underlying reasoning.  This decision harms libraries. It locks them into an e-book ecosystem designed to extract as much money as possible while harvesting (and reselling) reader data en masse. It leaves local communities’ reading habits at the mercy of curatorial decisions made by four dominant publishing companies thousands of miles away. It steers Americans away from one of the few remaining bastions of privacy protection and funnels them into a surveillance ecosystem that, like Big Tech, becomes more dangerous with each passing data breach. And by increasing the price for access to knowledge, it puts up even more barriers between underserved communities and the American dream.

11 September 2024

[dawnfelagund]

I expect the outcome of these data will surprise no one. Women speak less, and women speak less. This isn't a typo: It means that they have fewer instances of dialogue in The Silmarillion by a substantial margin, and when they do speak, they speak nine fewer words than men, on average.

Instances of women speaking is much nearer to speakers of unknown gender than to men speaking. (And before we get excited and think that the "unknown gender" speakers are rejecting the gender binary, this category represents mostly dialogue attributed to a group, plus two unnamed individuals who are given dialogue and one sword.)

This matters because dialogue signifies several important things in The Silmarillion. First, in a pseudohistorical text like The Silmarillion, direct quotes mean that someone said something important enough to preserve in the historical record. Men, based on the data, are saying far more important things than women, at least in the various narrators' estimation. Next, dialogue is often a proxy to action: Characters debate, give directives, and make speeches. Dialogue also humanizes, and even though Tolkien rejects many modern literary techniques in The Silmarillion, he does use dialogue as a characterization technique. As I will show in future analyses, some characters are distinguishable based on how they speak.

Of course, the reduced dialogue of women in The Silmarllion is a direct effect of there being significantly fewer women than men: Women constitute only 19% of the named characters in The Silmarillion. Even given this, however, women speak less than we would expect.

When we look at character groups, there are notable differences, namely that women of the Ainur speak more than Mortal Human and Elven women do. (Only four Elven women and five Mortal Human women speak in The Silmarillion! Excuse me while I scream!) This was the thesis of the long-ago Inequality Prototype that spurred this data collection endeavor: The Valar, being prototypical, show an equal penchant for entering into the world based on gender: It is a 50/50 split. So we can't say that women have less desire to influence the world than men in the legendarium. When we see less action and fewer instances of dialogue among women, then, we have to ask why.

Complicating the data for the Ainur (overall, not just this set) is the fact that a big chunk of their dialogue occurs in the "Of Aulë and Yavanna" chapter that Christopher Tolkien wrote. I don't want to treat these data differently until I have the opportunity to collect more data on where dialogue outside this chapter comes from; for all I know, Christopher wrote most of it! (Actually, I know he didn't, but this chapter does illustrate how his additions can skew data for a particular group, in this case the Ainur.)

Another future area of inquiry will be the type or purpose of the dialogue and whether/how this varies based on gender. Characters speak for many reasons. Do women speak for different purposes than men?

If these data illustrate anything to me, it is the importance of fanworks in amplifying the voices of women characters who we know existed and know said and did things that mattered. We are being given a historical record much like our own Modern-earth historical record: biased toward the contributions of some over others. Only we can fix that.

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This is part of my ongoing project The Silmarillion: Who Speaks? The data is available under a CC license for others who wish to play with it: View the data | Copy the data