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art-of-manliness · 10 months

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Top 15 Men’s Gift Ideas for 2023 (+Giveaway!)

It’s that time of year again, when we share our top men’s gift ideas from Huckberry. It’s hard to go wrong with getting family members and friends any of the items featured above, and if you need even more options, check out Huckberry’s entire holiday shop, as well as their section dedicated to stocking stuffers. After you’re done browsing and perhaps picking up some gifts for the lucky folks in your life, enter the giveaway below to score something for yourself. You can win anything available on Huckberry — up to a $500 value! Give away entry form is at the bottom of the post. 1. Flint and Tinder Flannel-Lined Waxed Trucker Jacket. The most iconic of Flint and Tinder’s offerings, every man needs this trucker jacket. Made in the USA of water-resistant waxed canvas, this jacket is rugged, handsome as heck, and comfortable to boot — it’s fully lined with soft flannel material, which makes it feel great even when you’re only wearing a t-shirt underneath. 2. Mystery Ranch Catalyst Daily Carry Backpack. I love the packs from Mystery Ranch. The unique 3-ZIP closure gives you easy access to your stuff, well-designed pockets keep your gear organized, and a durable build ensures it will stand up to everything your traveling and adventuring can throw at it. 3. Give’r 4 Season Gloves. We’ve recommended these gloves many a time, as they’re just the best gloves around (and the last you’ll ever need). They boast warmth, durability, handsome good looks, and the versatility to handle a variety of tasks throughout the year. 4. LomoApparat 21mm Wide-Angle Camera. We’ve talked about the revenge of the analog on the podcast. There are some great things about digital tech, but sometimes you want something a little more old school and tangible. Enter the LomoApparat 21mm Wide-Angle Camera. It uses any 35mm film and has a wide 21mm lens, making it perfect to capture panoramas and group shots. Relive the wondrous feeling of not knowing right away how your snapshots will turn out. 5. Zilker Cowboy Belt. I’ve been looking for a good new belt for a while now, and finally found it with this beaut. It’s got a great look and is well crafted. Made from Argentine leather and finished with blue and white hand-stitched nylon thread, the Cowboy Belt uses top-notch materials that will only look better with age. 6. Flint and Tinder Speckled Merino Wool Crewneck Sweater. Once you discover how soft, breathable, and comfortable good merino wool sweaters can be, you’ll want to wear them as often as sweatshirts, with significantly more stylish results. This Flint and Tinder sweater can become a wintertime workhorse and is the wardrobe staple you need. 7. Nordic Pocket Saw. When camping, I often wish I had a tool to break down larger logs into smaller firewood. A hatchet would be handy, but this pocket saw is a lot lighter and more compact. The carbon steel chain and the nylon handles work together to provide the raw power to saw through even the toughest logs, all in a package that’s about the size of a wallet. 8. Filson Dryden Ballistic Nylon Briefcase. Overbuilt with Filson’s high-quality construction, made with the finest materials, and constructed with a laptop sleeve and handy pockets to keep all your belongings well-organized, this durable briefcase will ensure you arrive at work ready to rock for many years to come. 9. Atech Innovation 5-In-1 Keychain Multi-Tool Pen. I’m a sucker for things that combine multiple tools into one thing. This multi-tool includes five — ballpoint pen, stylus, ruler, Phillips screwdriver, and flat-head screwdriver — and fits onto your keychain for easy everyday carry. 10. Proof Rover Pant. These versatile pants look good as everyday casual wear, while also being adaptable for any adventure you find yourself on. They’re durable, breathable, and moisture-wicking and include a gusseted crotch for extra mobility. 11. Oyster Performance Cooler. The technology packed into this lightweight, slick-looking aluminum cooler makes it 6X more effective than high-end polyurethane varieties.… http://dlvr.it/SzFJfP

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sanddusted-wisteria · 1 year

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A Builder, a Researcher, and a Rooftop, Ch. 4: Telescopic, Microscopic

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“You got it?” the builder called up from the base of the stairs.

“No problem,” Hugo said. He walked up to the research center’s roof with the most confident stride, muscling the massive new telescope with a single arm. They watched in awe. Heidi sure as hell wasn’t kidding when she said her dad was strong. Meanwhile they nearly broke their back getting the thing out the museum doors. Once Hugo was fully clear of the stairs, they went up after him, tools at the ready for the installation.

Hugo held the telescope over the mount with steady hands as they tightened the bolts and screws. After the last one was in place, they both slowly took their hands off of it, waiting to see if it would fall out and break, rendering several weeks’ worth of mining work moot.

It held.

The builder let out the breath they’d been holding. Hugo nodded, hands on his hips. “Fine work there, builder. Qi’ll appreciate it. Probably.”

“You too, you saved pretty much every bone in my body. I owe you one.”

Hugo waved a hand. “Don’t sweat it. I’ll always be around if you got somethin’ that needs luggin’. Anyways, I gotta get to bed. Have a good night, builder.”

“See ya,” they said as Hugo walked back down. They turned back to the massive telescope proudly jutting out from the roof. A powerful eye on the cosmos, right here in front of them.

Suddenly, they heard footsteps behind them. “Builder?” It was Qi, who else? “I heard a bit of a ruckus on my roof and I figured it might have been…”

He froze on the landing, gaping up at the telescope.

“Check it out!” the builder shouted, throwing their arms out to present it with a flourish.

“Oh my Science…” Qi whispered, a grin tugging on the corners of his lips. He staggered closer to admire it, almost in a trance. “It’s…incredible! I used to have to wait weeks and weeks on a waitlist to use Vega 5’s telescope… But no longer!”

He darted about from the eyepiece to the lens, drinking it in from every angle. The builder was mildly concerned that his excitement would send him tumbling off the roof. “What on Earth is the aperture on this thing? It’s bound to be at least 600 millimeters. 700, even?!”

From the tiny glances they could get of him as he rushed about, they could see a broad smile on his face. So that’s what he looked like when he was smiling, huh? The builder couldn’t help but feel his delight rubbing off onto them.

“Oh, no matter. With something this big, I could count the individual debris in orbit… I could see the accelerators on the moon! I could–!” His eyes suddenly met the builder’s again, and he froze, jaw slack.

“Ahem.” He averted his gaze. When he looked back, that same, steady deadpan was back on his face. “Your assistance has been acceptable,” he said with his usual stuffiness. “You may go now.”

The builder felt like they’d just been slapped. “Huh?”

“You have found the pieces and restored the telescope. Your duties are done, yes?” The builder blinked at him incredulously. This was all the thanks they got?

“Ah, right. Your compensation.” Qi fished around in his pockets, pulling out a small stack of gols and holding it out to them. “Now, if you don’t mind…?”

They stared at the coins in his hand, then looked back up at his completely flat expression. Their face pulled into a tight smile as they snatched the coins away. “Welp. I’ll just be on my way, then. Wouldn’t want to get in the way now, would I…?”

Turning abruptly on their heel before they could catch a response, they rushed down the stairs with a huff and headed home. They glanced at the small amount of coin in their hands.

300 gols. A Geegler infestation, a broken cable car, 3 and a half weeks of mining, and a 500 pound relic…for 300 gols. That didn’t even cover the cost of all the mining fees. They scoffed and shook their head. No commissions for Qi next month, then.

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Qi watched the builder storm away with a huff. Odd. Did he say something to upset them? He thought his conduct was perfectly acceptable. Barring, of course, that near-embarrassment that he’d barely managed to contain. They weren’t repelled by his unrestrained excitement, were they? He felt unease simmering inside him.

He shook his head and turned back to the glorious telescope, trying to let his excitement overtake the uncertainty. He adjusted the mount with practiced ease. In the weeks he spent waiting for the builder to find the telescope, he spent many a night turning the knobs and swiveling it around, dreaming of the night he’d finally have his telescope. The sheer weight of it on the mount hammered home how real it felt. The same giddy smile reappeared on his face.

“Absolutely phenomenal,” he muttered. “Look at how much mobility it has!” He hazarded a peek through the lens, and his heart swelled to see a crisp image of a myriad of stars, many too distant and faint to see with the naked eye.

“Oh, what to observe, what to observe?” He looked back up at the sky, eyes darting about for something he wanted to see. “There’s just so much…!”

He moved the telescope up and left a random amount, and gasped as he saw the drifting hull of a shattered satellite through the lens, distant sunlight glinting off its metallic surface. Mouth agape, he smoothly guided the telescope to follow its arc, trying to discern what its purpose was.

“Ohhh! It’s one of the Global Positioning System satellites!” he exclaimed. “The Old World had a network of these orbiting all around the planet that acted as geolocators! At any point in time, anywhere on Earth, at least 3 of these could be in direct line of sight, allowing their devices to triangulate their location with pinpoint precision! Here, come take a—” Qi looked up to find no one standing there. The smile on his face slowly slackened. Right. They had left.

He looked out beyond his roof, trying to spot them. Over by the train tracks, barely visible in the dark, he saw a figure moving towards the workshop in the distance. Well out of his earshot. The unease returned, an odd twinge in his stomach. He’d been so pressed to cover up his embarrassment that he told them to leave out of reflex. Back to the safety of solitude. Qi swallowed, still looking out at the builder. They opened the door to their house, heading inside without another glance.

He glanced back at the telescope, no longer feeling his earlier enthusiasm. Then he left the roof, turning in for the night far earlier than he’d planned to.

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The next night, the builder crept up towards the research center. No one in sight. At the very least, no Qi in sight. Taking another sweeping look of the area, they climbed the stairs up to the roof as quietly as they could make it. There the telescope stood alone, not being used for research. Or non-research. The builder grabbed a hold of the massive thing, glancing through the lens to see a beautiful smattering of stars against the black canvas of night. They let out a low whistle at the sight.

They moved the telescope around, the mount creaking as it swiveled. No matter where they looked, there were tons of stars, way more than they could see if they looked at the sky with just their eyes. Suddenly, a massive blurry white thing swung into the lens's view. Confused, they looked up to see where the telescope was pointing—straight at the moon. Maybe they could see all the cool craters and stuff using this thing, if only it wasn't so blurry-looking. They frowned, trying to see if any of the knobs next to the eyepiece did anything. Any markings they might've had were long since wiped clean by the time they dug it up, so they were running blind. Hmm… No, that was the zoom…

A hand suddenly appeared in front of them, pointing at a knob in the middle. "That adjusts focus."

The builder yelped and jumped back. Qi was there, staring back at them with a raised brow. “Don't scare me like that, man..." the builder muttered, stepping back up to the eyepiece.

"Apologies. I thought you could hear my footsteps, so I didn't feel the need to preface my arrival."

The builder hummed, still focused on the focus knob. Finally, the rugged surface and silvery craters of the moon appeared crisp and clear before their eyes. They ooh’d and aah’d as they panned all over the moon. Who knew it was this…textured?

Qi cleared his throat. The builder looked up. He was still here?

“Um…I…” His lips were pursed, eyes averted. “I apologize. For yesterday. I was…caught off-guard, but I realize that my response may have been unacceptably rude.”

“Uh-huh,” the builder muttered flatly.

“I truly am grateful for your assistance. Though I understand if that was…poorly conveyed.”

“Uh-huh.”

Qi wrung his hands. “Given the large span of time between the mount’s installation and the telescope’s installation, I imagine a significant amount of work went into unearthing it. Perhaps my compensation was also inadequate.”

The builder pinched their nose with a sigh. “I mean, the money’s one thing. I was more pissed off that I cleared out all the Geeglers and lugged all these pieces up here just for you to tell me to get out. And I didn’t even get a chance to use it.”

“A-ah. Yes. The Geeglers. I nearly forgot about them.”

“Yeah, and the fact that I almost died from that cable car breaking. And calling Justice fat, too. C’mon.”

Qi’s mouth pressed into a thin line. “Right. I deeply apologize. Whenever the prospect of a significant find appears, I tend to lose track of everything else. Time, sleep, social obligations… I will do my best to avoid a repeat of this situation in the future.”

The builder hummed. “Hope so.”

Silence lingered between them. Qi turned away, and the builder looked back up at the sky.

“It’s strange,” Qi said finally. “I’ve almost never felt compelled to be apologetic about my personality and behaviors before… With you, though, the situation feels different somehow.”

“Oh yeah? Why, afraid you’d lose your good little errand kid?” they said with a sardonic smile.

“No!” Qi’s gaze quickly snapped back to them, a glint of alarm in his eyes. “W-well, it’s part of the reason. But not the sole reason! It’s–ugh.” He rubbed at his temples, trying to pull his thoughts together. The builder raised an eyebrow, but waited for him to continue.

“I will admit upfront that losing your assistance with relic excavation and diagram construction would be a major setback to my research. Your help has been indispensable, and I doubt that I could find an adequate substitute.” His eyes flickered back and forth between two of the roof’s panels as he spoke. “But…strangely, I find that losing your regular company would also…er…be a…setback. Not to my research, of course, but…you know.”

The builder could only stare. Was that Qi-speak for “I consider you a friend”?

Qi chanced a glance back up at them, wringing his hands again at their completely blank expression. “I-it seemed like you at least tolerate my company as well. Was I wrong in making that assumption…?”

“Well, yeah. Uh–I mean no! No, you’re not wrong. I do like hanging out with you. Why do you think I keep coming back here every week?”

“I’m not particularly sure myself.”

“Yeah, me neither,” the builder snorted. “Just…next time I bring a cool relic, don’t kick me out, okay? Unless you wanna go ruin diving for them yourself.”

“Perhaps not. You know firsthand what happened the last time I attempted to do that.”

“We have an agreement, then?” The builder held out a hand.

“Indeed.” Qi clasped it and gave it a firm shake. “Is there any way I can properly compensate you this time? City Hall has insisted that the telescope be open for public use, so that’s settled, at least.”

The builder tapped their chin. “Hmm… Well, last night when I was still mad, I thought about no commissions for a month…”

“So in response to me not providing you adequate monetary compensation, you wanted to…block me from providing you future compensation…?”

“Yeah, doesn’t really make sense, does it? Uh… How about 50% extra on your next 10 commissions? You can just slip the extra money to me under the table.”

Qi’s brow furrowed. “What table?”

“Um, turn of phrase. Just hand me the extra money when I give the stuff to you. Don’t write it down on the request or else Yan’s gonna pinch it.”

“Alright. That sounds reasonable.”

They crossed their arms. “And promise that you won’t shove me aside whenever you get your hands on a shiny new relic. I don’t mind you getting excited, you know.”

Qi’s eyes widened almost imperceptibly at that. He nodded. “I promise. I’ll be sure to inform you thoroughly about anything you bring me.”

“Fantastic. Now why don’t you show me what we can see with this bad boy?” They jerked their head towards the telescope.

The same delighted smile from the night before crossed Qi’s face as he took hold of the telescope. “Ohh, where to begin? Ah yes, let me show you a satellite that I saw last night… Or at least one like it…”

And long into the night they stayed, their frustrations easing away under the light of the moon and the uplifting sound of Qi’s energetic babbling.

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#shady's fics #brr

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earaercircular · 2 years

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The fundamental contradiction of ESG is being laid bare

Profit-seeking companies have too little incentive to save the planet.

Can profit-seeking companies really help save the planet? The question has long dogged the practice of environmental, social and governance (ESG) [1] investing. Judging by the giddy growth in all things ESG, you might have thought the answer to it must be Yes. More than $35trn of assets worldwide are said to be monitored using some sort of sustainability lens, an increase of 55% since 2016. Investors, banks and businesses have signed up to a series of alliances, from the GFANZ[2] and the GSIA[3] to the PRI[4] and the IIGCC[5], pledging to bring down their own carbon emissions and those of their portfolios. And bosses of Standard & Poors 500 companies now mention ESG nine times a quarter in earnings calls, on average, compared with just once, if at all, in 2017.

But as the focus shifts from words to deeds, the contradictions in ESG are becoming brutally clear. It is the mission of companies to generate long-term value for their investors. That might sometimes align with the aim of decarbonisation. Unfortunately, it will often be more profitable for a business to dump costs, such as pollution, on to society than to bear them directly. And in places without a consensus on climate policy, getting involved in greenery can bring clashes with both regulators and investors. Unless governments resolve the dilemma, ESG is doomed to fall short on actions.

One illustration of the tensions in ESG is the political firestorm in America around BlackRock[6], a huge asset manager. Republican attorneys-general in 19 states accuse it of misusing its market power by boycotting fossil-fuel firms. The company rejects the charge. Meanwhile, watchdogs in New York, a Democratic state, complain that BlackRock is not green enough. The controversy could come at a cost to the business: Texas, a Republican state, plans to ban its pension funds from dealing with the firm.

No wonder that some financial institutions[7] are getting cold feet about green alliances. JPMorgan Chase and Morgan Stanley were among the Wall Street giants threatening to quit a subgroup of the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero (GFANZ)[8], a coalition co-chaired by Mark Carney, a former governor of the Bank of England. Standards for members were subsequently changed. Two pension funds, Australia’s Cbus Super[9] and Austria’s Bundespensionkasse[10], have already left.

Critics offer lots of reasons for the jitters. Membership of GFANZ, which includes firms overseeing $130trn in assets, has been touted by some as evidence of anti-competitive behaviour. Other questions swirl. Can pledges be made without investors’ approval? Would missed pledges put firms on the hook for legal action? And why comply with onerous rules if you don’t have to?

Firms, too, are discovering that speaking out has repercussions. In 2019 the Business Roundtable[11], a group of corporate bigwigs, said that the objective of a company should be to benefit its stakeholders. Jamie Dimon, the boss of JPMorgan Chase[12] who was then the group’s chairman, has now taken to denying that he is “woke”.

Unilever, a consumer-goods firm, has cast itself as a sustainability icon, but its shareholder returns have lagged far behind those of its rival, Nestlé. On September 26th Unilever’s boss[13], in only his fourth year in the job, announced plans to step down.

The ESG dream was that capital markets would penalise those firms that ignored the looming costs of climate change on their businesses. But in practice thecosts are too uncertain and distant to play a big part in firms’ or investors’ financial calculus. Most companies can win the gains of appearing green while avoiding the cost of decarbonising by paying lip-service to green goals. According to Climate Action 100+[14], a group of investors, more than two-thirds of the world’s 166 biggest greenhouse-gas emitters have promised to reach net zero by 2050 or sooner. But less than a fifth have medium-term targets; a similarly low share have set out quantified decarbonisation strategies.

No shortcuts

It falls to governments to reconcile the goals of profit maximisation and a safer climate. The best way of doing this is to set a high enough price on carbon, forcing companies to internalise the costs of their dirty activities, so that going green is also good for the bottom line. Mandated standards and disclosures must be brought in more quickly, to help firms assess their exposure to higher carbon prices. Companies can help save the planet—but only if doing so is good for business.

Source

The fundamental contradiction of ESG is being laid bare, in: The Economist, 29-09-2022 https://www.economist.com/leaders/2022/09/29/the-fundamental-contradiction-of-esg-is-being-laid-bare?utm_medium=social-media.content.np&utm_source=facebook&utm_campaign=editorial-social&utm_content=discovery.content

[1] Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Criteria; Environmental, social, and governance (ESG) criteria are a set of standards for a company’s behaviour used by socially conscious investors to screen potential investments. Environmental criteria consider how a company safeguards the environment, including corporate policies addressing climate change, for example. Social criteria examine how it manages relationships with employees, suppliers, customers, and the communities where it operates. Governance deals with a company’s leadership, executive pay, audits, internal controls, and shareholder rights.

[2] The Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero is the world’s largest coalition of financial institutions committed to transitioning the global economy to net-zero greenhouse gas emissions. https://www.gfanzero.com/about/

[3] The Global Sustainable Investment Alliance is an organization promoting sustainable investments through a series regional affiliates. GSIA members include the US SIF, European Sustainable Investment Forum (Eurosif),Responsible Investment Association Australasia (RIAA), the UK Sustainable Investment and Finance Association (UKSIF), the Responsible Investment Association of Canada (RIA), and the Dutch Association of Investors for Sustainable Development (VBDO). http://www.gsi-alliance.org/aboutus/

[4] The PRI is the world’s leading proponent of responsible investment. It works: to understand the investment implications of environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors; to support its international network of investor signatories in incorporating these factors into their investment and ownership decisions. https://www.unpri.org/about-us/about-the-pri

[5] The Institutional Investors Group on Climate Change (IIGCC) is the European membership body for investor collaboration on climate change and the voice of investors taking action for a prosperous, low carbon future. IIGCC has more than 350 members, mainly pension funds and asset managers, across 23 countries, with over €51 trillion in assets under management. IIGCC’s mission is to support and enable the investment community in driving significant and real progress by 2030 towards a net zero and resilient future. https://www.iigcc.org/about-us/

[6] BlackRock, Inc. is an American multi-national investment company based in New York City. Founded in 1988, initially as a risk management and fixed income institutional asset manager, BlackRock is the world's largest asset manager, with US$10 trillion in assets under management as of January 2022. BlackRock operates globally with 70 offices in 30 countries and clients in 100 countries. BlackRock has sought to position itself as an industry leader in environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG).The company has faced criticism for worsening climate change, its close ties with the Federal Reserve System during the COVID-19 pandemic, anticompetitive behaviour, and its unprecedented investments in China. https://www.blackrock.com/uk

[7] Read also https://earaercircular.tumblr.com/post/686964159934513152/manhunt-opened-on-greenwashing-banks

[8] Cf. note 2

[9] Four decades on, Cbus is one of Australia's top performing superannuation funds. With more than 850,000 members and managing over $70 billion of their money (as of 30 June 2022). https://www.cbussuper.com.au/about-us/who-we-are

[10] The Bundespensionskasse AG is an Austrian company pension fund that was originally set up specifically for supplementary pensions for federal employees and has meanwhile worked for a wide variety of federally-related companies. Since 2009 she has also been in charge of the additional pensions for state teachers. https://bundespensionskasse.at/allgemeines-ueber-die-bundespensionskasse/ueber-uns

[11] The Business Roundtable (BRT) is a non-profit lobbyist association based in Washington, D.C. whose members are chief executive officers of major United States companies. Unlike the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, whose members are entire businesses, BRT members are exclusively CEOs. The BRT lobbies for public policy that is favourable to business interests, such as lowering corporate taxes in the United States and internationally, as well as international trade policy, like NAFTA. In 2019, BRT redefined its definition of the purpose of a corporation as participating in stakeholder capitalism, putting the interests of employees, customers, suppliers and communities on par with shareholders. BRT board members include, in 2021, chair Doug McMillon of Walmart, president and CEO, former White House Chief of Staff Joshua Bolten, Mary Barra of General Motors, Tim Cook of Apple, and Chuck Robbins of Cisco. https://www.businessroundtable.org/

[12] JPMorgan Chase & Co. is an American multinational investment bank and financial services holding company headquartered in New York City and incorporated in Delaware. As of 2022, JPMorgan Chase is the largest bank in the United States, the world's largest bank by market capitalization, and the fifth largest bank in the world in terms of total assets, with total assets of US$3.954 trillion. Additionally, JPMorgan Chase is ranked 24th on the Fortune 500 list of the largest United States corporations by total revenue.

[13] Alan Jope (born 1964) is a British businessman, and the CEO of Unilever since January 2019, succeeding Paul Polman.

[14] Climate Action 100+ is an investor-led initiative to ensure the world’s largest corporate greenhouse gas emitters take necessary action on climate change. https://www.climateaction100.org/about/

#circular economy #ESG #esg 트렌드

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musclegoth · 2 years

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im glad there is still a demand for film photography bc that means there is still access to it. but im not glad about the prices

#a once $5 lens is now $500 #but lucky we can even still buy and develop film nonetheless #there was a point where it became obsolete and inaccessible but that seems to have passed w a new resurgence in popularity #i think abt getting into it sometimes but my camera i have rn is the closest to a film aesthetic i could get thats why i have it lol #without the hassle of developing #but there is something missing in that its nice - comforting even - to just go shoot stuff on a weird dinky cheap old camera #u cant rly emulate that feeling #and im not somebody who likes to take ultrasharp clear pristine photos. my style is weird and messy. u can get that with old lenses on #new cameras but u cant get the randomness and the unknown and the accidents

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jrueships · 3 years

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MEET THE WIZARDS PLAYERS PT 2!!!!!!

Caleb Homesley, # ???

- used to be #1 but Chandler took it so now he has nothing LMAO

- bench buddy. Loudest cheerleader

- very dorky.. very nerdy... lightskinned

- sorry

- but that's all I can describe him as JSBDJS

- will say something deep then reconsider retiring as a philosopher

- stays positive! Hovering dangerously over g-league... please no wizards don't do that to him. Keep him on the bench as a happy and dumb mascot

Davis Bertans, #42

- looks irish

- is not irish????

- a fuckin sharpshooter tho wtf. Gets a lot of points

- shoots the threes russ can't LMAO

- his nickname is the Latvian laser because he's Latvian

- we can't let him go he's very good s/o spurs for giving us him <3

- cryptid...

Garrison Mathews, 24

- white

- genuinely invests in dogecoin.

- white

- chill and kinda dorky. Will ask you about the weather

- wears a strap when he works out so his boobs won't get too big?????

Alex Len, 27

- from the ukraine. Embraces his role as big scary Russian

- 7 ft. Apparently holds things above Brad's head if brad annoys him too much

- quiet. Speaks only in screams

- shoved cj McCollum once.. didn't move him at all LMAO

- according to beal, he has a nice smile

Raul Neto, 19

- BRAZIL

- chose basketball over fifa

- 6'1 short king. Likes to show off in front of russ and beal

- once got so angry at a ref that beal had to come over and lead him away like a dog owner leading her barking puppy away from the strangers

- kinda arrogant but generally pretty calm. Looks up to beal and Brad a lot

Cassius Winston, 5 (LOOK BELOW. shut up I messed up with the pics)

- 6'1 short king former spartan

- will work until his momma doesn't have to anymore!!!

- bulldog mentality!!!!

- a kyle lowry who hasn't met his demar yet!

- has a mini guy crush on giannis LMAO

- half of his Twitter is just retweets.. (mainly from brad)

- rookie still growin!

Russell Westbrook #4

- you know him. You love him. You hate him

- says that "the wizards saved me"

- no longer angy. Want love 😭

- still gets rabies on court tho sorry he can't help being insane

- the coolest wizard. Is besties with the lamest wizard (brad)

- fully supports his dorky team no matter what tho

- self healed. Peaceful now. No more violent <3 (maybe)

- proud momma swan to his new group of ugly ducklings

- everybody on the team thinks he is cool. Leader of the nerds LMAO

Bradley Beal, 3

- was an annoyed bitch in his prime, is now retired to fun dorky uncle who embarrasses his young nephews

- still a bit of a bitch tho-

- will call you stinky but will hurt anyone else who calls you stinky

- thinks he is hilarious

- will tell one funny joke, see that everyone else thought it was funny, and will then say it again 500 more times

- wears wizard cosplay to practice (wearing his jersey like a wizard cape. Making his beanies sit high atop his head so it looks like a wizards hat)

- bad breakup with boyfriend John Wall/it's complicated/ we were both in our cringe eras so let's forget about it

- is still cringe tho

- immediately jumped on the chance of being Russell's malewife LMAO

- " haiwaiian shirt dad who spends his time floating around on a flamingo floatie in the pool complaining about how he has to mow the lawn today" vibes

- will support teenage rebellion

- gets pegged

- homeless

#THERE U HAVE IT #MY BROKE TEAM #wizards #ted asks #imformative!!!!!#I HOPE U LIKE IT!!!!!#i did the best i could with what little i had 😭😭#fun uncle brad #russy west

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kk-dirge · 3 years

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OK so i beat legends (aka got the credits) so here’s my pokeau thoughts, as expected

warning for legends story spoilers roughly recounted in a pokeau lens, no aftergame spoilers bc im tired and havent gotten there

preface ; the gang just kicked ramiel’s ass but the entire thing stressed ridley out so bad combo’d with aster triggering a ptsd attack caused ridley to throw themselves 500 years in the past and creating a fractured, alternate past.

the legends world is more of a pocket space than anything, a copy of 500 years ago but some dude who thinks theyre washed up in their early 30′s is there (ridley)

ridley is stuck for roughly 2 months and time in the normal timeline moves on without them there - so they’re considered a missing person in the main world

im going with the canon ~500 years now because kamado mentioned they went to sinnoh to escape war and conflict, which also happens to align with when aurelien was setting everything on fire in the pkau timeline

so yada yada ridley gets picked up and thrown into team galaxy. they dont really like it much at first because of trauma related to being a trainer but then their cyndaquil looks at them and theyre like ‘fuck’.

they started off as a pokedex artist but was moved to field work after they beat up too many people in battle and kamado was like ‘yes lets send the person with chronic fatigue out for this job because they are good at battling. what could possibly go wrong’

ridley meets the diamond gang and adaman is kinda like :eyes: at ridley’s phone like ‘wtf is that’ and ridley , being stressed out of their mind, lets it slip that they’re the emissary of dialga and adaman is immediately like ‘ok. we’re besties now.’ despite ridley emphasizing they seemed to have overcharged/lost their ability to manipulate time - adaman seems determined to help them get it back

so everyone runs around aimlessly for a while, ridley deals with the lords and uses their ability of being adaman’s new favorite person to get him to get along with irida more and general have everyone be friends

ridley is starting to feel more confident in themselves , they’re still dealing with fatigue but being more active has helped, they’ve formed important bonds with people and pokemon. they do however cry at least once a week about the fear of being unable to ever return home

so the whole defeating all 5 lords thing happens, and ridley causes their fractured timeline to become more unstable - kamado thinks this is on purpose and kicks them out so they hang out with adaman until volo is like ‘BRO WE GOTTA GET THE RED CHAIN’

because this is a fractured alternate space the lake trio still exist (and havent re-merged with arceus yet) so they go and have some introspection there i guess

then they go up tha mountain and are like ‘cool time to throw the red chain at the hole in the sky’ . however, like when ridley was 11, it turns on them and reactivates their godly powers and they’re struggling to control them. but with the power of ~friendship~ . adaman and irida talk ridley down from losing control and killing everyone (again).

so ridley is like ‘sick i feel like ive finally harnessed and realized my power for things other than speedy art commission delivery’ HOWEVER they kinda forgot they arent the only sinnohan legend , and because this world is a fractured distortion created by ridley , palkia is a horse plinko fractured distortion as well. not a true legend, but more like a manifestation of their insecurities. they have a cool epic god battle and ridley wins and everyone is happy :)

[insert aftergame here i havent played it yet but i know something happens]

anyways after everything is REALLY dealt with ridley starts thinking about home more and more since they regained their powers and now have the ability to go home - but their new friends dont want to see them leave and ridley has Big Conflicted Moment. however, they end up deciding they want to go home, as painful as it is.

but adaman butts in and is like ‘hey can i come with. i think it’d be cool mai dont burn down the house while im gone!’

so ridley is like -heavy sigh- and takes adaman with them to THE FUTURE and reunites with everyone and its happy the end

#shut up zin #pokeau hell #my god its a real vintage-like pokeau ramble. anyways hi #i may make irida come back as an emissary after it ends bc shes cool too

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helpfullarticle · 3 years

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lascivo-derrame · 4 years

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NOTED PHILOSOPHERS RECONSIDER THEIR KEY INSIGHTS AFTER A MONTH OF SOCIAL DISTANCING

by TALIA ARGONDEZZI

Sartre

1944: Hell is other people.

April 2020: All this time, I thought the problem was viewing myself through the lens of others’ subjectivities. Now I come to find that the problem has always been me. Take away other people, and all I do is play video games and eat Sara Lee frozen desserts. Hell is knowing this: I’m never going to refinish those goddamn kitchen cabinets, and I have no one to blame but myself.

Arendt

1963: Evil is not interesting, but instead stems from vacuity and stupidity; evil is banal.

April 2020: Ditto what I said there, but also, every single thing is not interesting. From this Hannah Arendt-shaped divot that’s formed in my couch, I hereby declare the banality of everything.

Plato

Ca. 360 B.C.E.: The human soul is a charioteer trying to drive, simultaneously, one bad horse and one noble one.

April 2020: This holds up for like a week. The noble horse asks your elderly neighbor if he needs help with anything. (He doesn’t.) The bad horse charts a rough looting strategy for the inevitable riot phase of the crisis. But numbness sets in quickly. Pretty soon your noble horse is just compulsively refreshing your state’s infection and fatality webpage. Your bad horse is too lazy to pick up the binoculars for a better peek through your other neighbor’s bedroom window. The human soul is a charioteer sleeping 14 hours a night but still napping 4 times a day.

Descartes

1637: I think, therefore I am.

April 2020: I was so lonely and disoriented, I started doubting the reality of everything, even myself. But if I didn’t exist, then how could I already have over a dozen subscribers on Spotify? I started a podcast this month, therefore I am.

Heidegger

1927: The human essence, Dasein, can only fully comprehend the meaning of its life when faced with the certainty of its death.

April 2020: Hoo boy, was I wrong. When faced with the certainty of death, people freeze dozens of gallons of milk. They make jokes complaining about their “coworkers” (who are really just their children and pets, because, working from home, get it?). They record parody performances of “One Day More.” I mean, don’t get me wrong, it’s adorable, I love it, but we’re not exactly achieving hard-won glimpses into the meaning of existence.

Nietzsche

1883: In the absence of God and conventional morality, the übermensch creates his own moral code.

April 2020: Oh my God, people, if I’ve said it once I’ve said it a thousand times: 5/8ths of a college degree and a plane ticket to a warm beach town do not make you the übermensch. Just follow the CDC guidelines, for Christ’s sake — that’s our new secular morality. And yeah, I said “oh my God” and “for Christ’s sake.” Deal with it.

Confucius

Ca. 500 BCE: Courteous, respectful support of one’s parents and elders is the foundation of civilized society.

April 2020: Nope. Your parents have chosen this moment to revive their teenage sense of invincibility, and for some reason they go to Costco like twice a day. The only way to get through to these dum-dums is to lose your shit. Just shriek at them until the ringing in their ears paralyzes them, and they have no choice but to stay home. Filial piety, my ass.

Kierkegaard

1844: Angst, the constant anxiety that is a defining feature of the human condition, stems from our consciousness of the unfettered freedom to choose.

April 2020: Great point, former me! Turns out when you have no choices, all your anxiety just melts away like snow in spring, or like glaciers in any season. That’s why this past month has been so existentially carefree!

Smith

1776: The invisible hand of the market will ensure that each self-interested economic act performed by an individual will ultimately benefit society as a whole.

April 2020: Shoot, y’all, in my day we didn’t even know about viruses, so how could I have foreseen a ventilator and mask shortage? My bad. If it’s any comfort, I tried to be a rational actor in a logical, self-regulating market, and now I’ve been out of toilet paper for three weeks. So let’s call it even?

Plato again

Ca. 375 B.C.E.: Society would be best ruled by a class of philosopher kings.

April 2020: Still kinda feeling it.

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g00dberry · 5 years

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this is me asking about your campaign

Anon, I am so fucking glad that you asked. Alight kiddies strap yourselves in and get ready to hear the story of Fortune’s Favor cause this is the hyper-fixation to end all hyper-fixations for me right now. (BTW, all art for the party members was done by @Tallinier on Twitter! She’s amazing and you all should go check her out right now!). Anyways:

See that? That’s Ar’De. The main continent that our D&D campaign takes place on. You might have noticed that huge white sprawl right in the middle there. That’s called The Conflict Zone. That also happens to be the name of our campaign itself, The Conflict Zone.

The Conflict Zone is an area of the continent that has existed since the dawn of recorded history. It has always contained things that do not make sense and is home to creatures not of the material plane. The topography of it is constantly shifting, changing, re-arranging. It is impossible to map out. Portals to thousands of other realms are constantly opening and closing within its borders, and creatures from these other realms have recently begun to take notice of these portals in larger numbers. The Orcs, Humans, Elves, and Dwarves have all made a pact to do their best to contain this threat on their shared borders, but something is happening... While the shared governments are trying to keep it under wraps, The Conflict Zone is expanding. More and more things are coming through those portals, and those who live closest to it have been facing grave dangers and strange occurrences more and more lately.

However, our story doesn’t begin with The Conflict Zone. It actually begins with a man. A man known only as Gaust. 20 years before the events of this campaign, a powerful man known as Gaust led a violent uprising centered in the human country of Empiria that killed many people. Gaust himself supposedly had powers that were evil and astounding. On top of his own abilities, he had the power to give other people arcane abilities. It was said that his mere presence was enough to make those around him just as bad as he was. However, nobody really knows for sure, as nobody ever claimed to have truly met the man in person. That is, until the current king of Empiria, Ryborn Hauzer -

(That guy) - slayed Gaust himself, and put an end to his 5 year reign of terror. Things were pretty okay for 20 years after that, and that’s where our heroes meet each other.

Why don’t we get to know our heroes? They’ve recently started to garner a reputation for themselves, and have decided to call their little group Fortune’s Favor (It’s a miracle none of us are dead yet, so we’ve gotta be somewhat lucky, right? Right?). They weren’t always a recognizable group of heroes though. In fact, they started out sleeping in the haymow of some guy’s barn, just outside the human capital of Union. With only a few coins to their name and a shared goal of joining the legendary Pathfinder’s Guild for various reasons, they decided to team up to try and earn some coin together, attempting to get past the nasty 500 GP application fee to even try out for the Pathfinders.

But enough about that, why don’t we finally talk about these lovable losers?

First up is Sarrali Farseer, a Tiefling Hunter Ranger 5 / Wild Magic Sorcerer 2:

Sarrali found herself designated as the leader of the group rather quickly which was really concerning for her (especially considering that she’s the youngest at the ripe age of 21!). She’s never seen herself as much of a people person. She grew up on the rugged streets of Vandis, Empiria’s military capital in the harsh North. With her human mother in mental institutions, her father completely unknown, and a childhood full of horribly unfortunate mishaps and distrust from others due to her Tiefling blood, Sarrali grew used to the idea that her father might actually have somehow been the god of shadow, twilight, misfortune, and chaos - Vayn. After deciding to ditch civilization entirely at the ripe age of 16 with only a pewter charm of a bird in flight left by her mother to her name, Sarrali fled South to the Northern forests of Empiria with no idea how to survive on her own. She was found and taken in by an old human bounty hunter, Mordecai Swift, who taught her everything he could before he met his untimely demise at the hands of some slaver pirates when Sarrali was 18. Out for vengeance, Sarrali made the unwise decision to try and take on an entire camp of slavers on her own after finding her master’s decapitated head not too far outside the camp. She managed to take down 7 of them all on her own before she was captured. She spent a horrific month in a Port Des’Sali warehouse run by the cruel leader of the slaver pirates, a wretched dragonborn named Bodac the Blue. Sarrali survived many horrible things, including torture and receiving a mysterious brand on her right shoulder blade before she and all of the other slaves were freed when a mysterious man entered the warehouse one day, the right half of his body glowing with red flames. He proceeded to torch the place, ripping Bodac’s head clear off his body, and burning right through the cages holding the slaves. Sarrali ran away from the others and spent the next 3 years working for a morally decent smuggling ring in Port Des’Sali, recovering and steeling herself for the future. She had heard that some people believed the gods themselves might reside within The Conflict Zone, and she finally wanted to confront Vayn. Unfortunately for her, the only ones allowed within The Conflict Zone were high ranking Pathfinder guild members and other decorated soldiers. So, she had no choice but to arm herself with her master’s hunting knife, her trusty bow, and head out to Union to achieve her goals. 6 months down the line and things are going arguably well for Sarrali. She’s got people who care about whether she gets out alive at the end of the day, she’s started learning some ritual magic (including how to cast Find Familiar). She returned to her supposed birthplace, a mountain town named Overlook, in search of her mother and discovered that she has an older sister, a tiefling named Brandia.

She also discovered that she was apparently human when she was born, as was her older sister. She learned that her father apparently wasn’t Vayn, but instead a human man known as Jaxon Farseer. Someone who’s family line is millenia old. Full of heroes, legendary dragon riders, and masterful archers. Her father disappeared shortly after her birth, and her mother apparently made a deal with a tall dark man who appeared in her dreams, allowing him to give her and her children his “blessing” to ensure that Jaxon would one day be rescued. Her mother accepted, and was immediately cast into madness as her daughters were changed in ways she couldn’t imagine. Odd, Sarrali’s been seeing a tall dark man in her dreams as well recently. In fact, he keeps telling her she’ll be the one to end the world someday, and he gifted her the use of Wild Magic... Hm.

Next up is Teael of house Arren, a Half-Elf Grassland Druid 5 / Hexblade Warlock 2:

Teael is the bastard daughter of Chancellor Arren, a noble High Elf who lives down river from the Spring of Len. Teael Is an incredibly caring person, though her childhood was very lonely. Her step mother was kind, teaching her druidic magic like any of her other children, but her step sister was cruel to her and her father was rather indifferent, refusing to tell Teael anything about her birth mother. Tired of spending her life being ignored and mistreated in what was essentially a gilded cage, Teael fled her father’s estate and headed North with something to prove. Through fate or misfortune, she ended up at the same barn as Sarrali and decided to stick close to the rugged tiefling girl who seemed to know her way around a weapon a little better than she herself did.

6 months later and 24 year old Teael has sort of adopted Sarali as the little sister she never had. The two get along well and care for each other in ways they haven’t really had the chance to experience before. Teael finally has someone who will stand up for her, and Sarrali has someone who cares about how she’s really doing. Someone who wants to help her through the trauma she’s endured. Someone who cares. One of Teael’s main points of interest is that she somehow possesses the ability to summon 2 familiars at once. A grumpy large blue gecko named Nigel and a posh white Weasel named Eloise. On a rather.... improvised trip to the Shadowfell, Teael recovered the mangled body of a Drow servant who called her Lady Velodora (which also happens to be the name of the Goddess of Darkness, Death, Sleep, and the Moon... She’s also one of Vayn’s twin sisters!). After escaping the Shadowfell, Teael paid a good amount of money to have her new friend attended to by a revolutionary doctor and a high level cleric. The Drow has made a decent recovery, but is suffering from horrible amnesia. So, Teael gave him the name Vega.

He later proved himself to be a rather accomplished wizard. He lives on a plot of land owned by Teael now, and he restored a broken down wizard tower there. His favorite pastimes include listening to Teael sing for him, reading, and studying new arcane affects. He isn’t the only friend Teael’s made recently though. On a mission into Orc territory, Teael recovered a strange black rod. After a dream that the party still doesn’t really know all the details of, Teael’s got a wicked looking new quarterstaff, and seems to have made some sort of deal with a woman (entity?) named Ebony. Before we set off on our latest adventure, Teael wrote to her father for the first time since leaving his estate to boast about how fine she’s doing on her own, and is eagerly waiting to hear back from him. She’s also a complete bi-sexual disaster, but the party loves her anyways. Oh, and one last thing. She also learned that if people found out who her mother was, she’d supposedly be killed on the spot. So that’s fun!

Third up is Rhak, a Dragonborn Bear-Totem Barbarian 5 / Champion Fighter 2:

Teael and Sarrali met up with Rhak once they were already knee deep in a mission back in Union. They needed some extra muscle, and just happened to see a very stocky dragonborn writing something down in a book and petting a small kitten on their way into the sewers. His common wasn’t that good, but he seemed so happy that someone had offered him work without being mean that he decided to protect his new friends on the spot. He’s been with the group ever since. Rhak was the runt of his litter back in the Dragonborn territory of The Free Isles. Though he still exemplified the traits that the Platinum Dragon, Bahamut, tried to preach. Rhak had never really been one to turn to violence. He preferred to read and try talking through his issues with others. Unfortunately for him that meant that he was bullied mercilessly as a child. Though the kindness of a half elf woman named Lucia, a sorceress in the Free Isles seeking the wisdoms of the Platinum Dragon, inspired him to stick to his own ideals. One day, when he saw some bullies picking on a much younger runt, he accidentally let his anger get the better of him and ended up killing one of the bullies. Thus, he was exiled from his homeland at the age of 15. Forced to wander parts of the world that he was tragically unfamiliar with, places where he was seen as an oddity, and forced to live a cripplingly lonely life. Lucky for both him and us, we found each other though, and he’s finally got true friends that care deeply for him.

Though he had to leave his lovely kitten friend Steve at an orphanage in Union before we set out on a larger adventure, Rhak is going strong today. He has a bear spirit named Ursula that gives him the strength to protect his friends and keep pushing forward. After an untimely demise in the stomach of a Rhemorahz, Rahk was saved by a very close Revivify and brought back. Though, not before he got to have a nice chat with Bahamut himself. Bahamut explained to Rhak that he was Silver Prime, and that he needed to help usher in the era of The New King if the world was to be saved from calamity. We were already carrying a dragon egg with us (taken from a bunch of kobolds months ago in some old mine). But after breaking open an artifact from the Shadowfell, the egg was transformed. After reaching Sarrali’s hometown of Overlook, we learned that it was home to The Roost. The former breeding ground of Empiria’s human-allied dragons. However, The Roost had been destroyed years ago in Gaust’s uprising, and the only dragon left there now was a Silver Dragon named Orphyrah. She gave Rhak her blessing, explaining that she needed to sacrifice herself if he was supposed to reach his true potential as silver prime. She breathed all of her life essence into a single scale necklace, which Rhak now wears and can use to call upon her spirit in times of need. While at The Roost, we were able to hatch the new king of the dragons, a platinum hatchling named Justifax. Rhak has been tasked with protecting him and uniting the other primes, and he seems to be taking that duty very seriously. Only time will tell how Rhak’s destiny affects the fate of the world...

Last but certainly not least, we have Theren Greybend. A Human Knowledge Cleric 7:

Theren is the newest member of our group. We quite literally ran into him while fighting for our lives in the North recently, while on our way to Sarrali’s birthplace. Theren is a cleric of Magus, the God of Magic, Knowledge, and Secrets. The rest of the party doesn’t know too much about him yet, but we were in desperate need of a healer, and he got to witness the hatching of a new Dragon king with us, so he’s kind of stuck with us at the moment. Theren is a huge book nerd. He craves learning about any and all strange anomalies, and agreed to travel with the party on the pretense that we seem to run into stuff involving The Conflict Zone (his research specialty) a lot. We’ve basically become his latest research project, but that’s alright. He seems nice enough, and wants to help in any way that he can. Theren recently revealed that he possesses the odd ability to connect telepathically with a willing creature once a day, but who knows what else this guy can do? As far as we can tell, Theren is from one of the Western parts of Empiria, rather close to The Conflict Zone itself.

Now finally, you might be wondering: Alright, but how did all that crazy stuff start?

Well, the intro arc was far too long to append on to this post, but let’s just say that in an unfortunate mix up involving Dynamite, Sewer Zombies, and a Burning Lighthouse. Our rag tag group was pinned as prime suspects, and then later were offered a deal by this shady motherfucker -

Ekkard, the right hand man to the King of Empiria. If we could investigate those three issues for him on the down low, he wouldn’t just waive our Pathfinder application fee, he would ensure that we were accepted, and would become one of the King’s personally invested in teams. Of course, he didn’t give us much of a choice, since he told us we had a month to figure it out or face exile from Union as a cautionary action.

So, on the job to clear our names and earn our stripes, we faced down more zombies, a flesh golem, an assassin, terrorist threats, bandits, exploding zombies, a re-kindled uprising of Gaust, and finally a huge bone serpent to save the city of Union and earn our freedom.

Long story short - we succeed, and thus, Fortune’s Favor was born.

-I’m always down to talk about this campaign, so if anyone has any other questions, please don’t hesitate to send them.

@icarus-undying (Teael’s Player)

#dnd #d&d #DnD 5e #dungeons & dragons #Dungeons and Dragons

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nehatiwari454545-blog · 5 years

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Top 5-Trends Transforming E-Commerce and Online Retail in 2020

Businesses are looking for new ways to solve the eternal mystery called a customer. They are trying to devise new ways to forge connections with them and to make their brands click. What’s the secret of standing out in the crowd of ‘me-too’ strategies? What are the trends that the brands ar6e missing out on? As we usher in 2020, it is time to find out what they can do to strike a connection with untapped markets and be more customer-centric!

So, don’t wait and scroll down for the lowdown of 5-top trends of online retail and e-commerce for the year 2020!

Amazon Prime spoilt its customers with same-day delivery. As if it weren’t enough, the launch of Amazon Prime Air has started to deliver the packages in thirty minutes or even less! No wonder, the 30-minutes-or-free generation isn’t willing to wait anymore or even for a week to get their products delivered. This recent shift in logistics has prompted customers to expect faster delivery and enhance the convenience of online stores with the immediacy of offline stores. And it shouldn’t come as a surprise that eighty-eight per cent of customers are willing to compensate for faster delivery and shipping. Because it is the only hurdle that stops the online users from buying online especially when time is of the essence.

Same Day Delivery ruled the chart as the e-commerce trend in 2018 and is going to come out in full swing in 2020 with small retail stores leveraging this opportunity to boost their business and strengthen their relationship with customers. According to an Internet Retailer Report for more than nineteen per cent of users, Same Day Delivery and immediate product access is an important criterion.

Often customers abandon their shopping carts when there is an unexpected delay in delivery timings and also cancel their product midst shipping for delayed delivery. However, small startups, mom-and-pop shops and retail customers are going to face a tough competition while keeping up with the unrealistic expectations of immediate delivery and resultant expenses.

Sustainable Fashion

While consumers these days prefer fast delivery, they are no longer identifying with fast fashion. Green consumerism is the buzzword and the biggest catchphrase. The millennial wants to stay on top of fashion without impacting the environment with their purchase decisions. The new-age brands support recycling and practice pre and post-eco-friendly habits. Be it free-range meat, skincare range or organic cotton basics, people prefer responsible brands. On social media as well, customers have been calling out e-commerce giants like Amazon for using too much plastic for packaging and outing brands for their non-greener practices.

Fashion alone contributes to more than eight per cent of greenhouse gases, and if continues to have its way, it will be responsible for more than twenty-five per cent of the global carbon budget across the world by 2050. While fashion waste can go up to 148 million tons by 2030, the ethical fashion and clothing market is gradually expanding its steps and is expected to increase by twenty per cent.

It takes more than 7,000 litres of water to process a pair of jeans. One kilogram cotton takes up to 20,000 litres of water to produce.

…And if the environmental impact of fast fashion wasn’t detrimental enough, seventy-seven per cent of clothing retailers in the UK believed that there could be a likelihood of modern slavery at some stage of supply chains.

If e-commerce businesses, small or big and retail companies want to strike a chord with customers, they have to take the environment seriously and be a responsible brand. While we have a long way to switch to regenerative and renewable closed-loop model, but waking up to the fact that the plastic, footwear or the cosmetics we once used aren’t ending up in an ocean or a landfill, is incredibly satisfying.

See it? Search it!

Often customers shop with set goals in mind. They want a particular handbag, the dress their colleague has or the wardrobe they saw somewhere on an Instagram feed - the visual search enables the spot-on and shop its mindset. Visual search is used by Amazon and several fashion stores to search for similar recommendations and to offer more personal and intimate shopping experience to their users. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, the next trend to watch out for retail and e-commerce industry in 2020 is the Product Recognition AI, which makes visual search possible. Fashion retailers and startups want to improve their customers’ journey and make it incredibly simple. The visual search makes it possible. With it, customers don’t have to scroll through the endless stream of products, care for the brand or style –upload the image and let the magic unroll!

Thanks to visual search AI, the circuitous purchase cycle becomes a lot simpler. As only one in three Google searches lead to a click, the product recognition AI makes life easier for the startups that can at focus their attention to the customers with a target in mind and are not mindlessly browsing. It is more personalised and more powerful.

Just so that you know that visual search isn’t new, countless applications are using it to facilitate customers. We all are aware of Google Lens on Google Shopping that pulls similar products. Macy’s utilises visual search to blur the line between seeing and buying. Customers can upload an image and find similar products on the store. Designers are using it to search for stock images. Synthetic Style Intelligence Agent-SIA also uses AI to find the right accessories to complete their look, doubling up as a virtual shopping assistant.

The Power of Influence

Hype beast found out that influencers are losing their charm on commoners. Some of them are being ousted and called out for scamming (Fyre Festival, remember?) whereas some of them could sell only thirty-six t-shirts despite having over two million followers! Let’s accept it. Our Instagram feeds and lives are oversaturated with inspirational quotes, ad videos of brands with some bit of story in them and them always leading on colourful lives, which we clearly can’t afford. They are selling everything, from vitamins to lifestyle and they are everywhere, be it Instagram, YouTube or TikTok. Researcher and Strategist Alexandra Samuel discovered three groups of social media

· Enthusiasts (Users posting more than five times a week)

· Lurkers (A whopping fifty-two per cent of users posting once a week or even less)

· Dabblers (Users who post two to four times a week)

Lurkers are the hibernating cell of the social media that don’t care much about influencers or their friends. The same goes for dabblers that don’t get “influenced” or draw a conclusion from their friends and family’s purchases. The influencers don’t seem to turn this category on as they make their decision independently.

Does it mean the influencer culture peaked? Do companies need to quit influencer marketing?

Certainly not!

Influencer marketing needs to be adopted brilliantly and smartly. In 2020, businesses would need to understand their customers and broaden their mind towards social media so that the ‘lurkers’ somehow could be included and influenced. The influencers need to work on their CTA to not to look like a complete sell-out and instead work towards ‘nudging’ the customers to make a well thought out decision.

In this year, businesses would like to pay attention to not only the big reach but also their content that can unlock the opportunities for you. Apart from it, social shopping is going to rule the roost. According to a North American e-Commerce agency Absolute,

§ More than eighty per cent of e-commerce shoppers accept that they rely on social media for a shopping decision.

§ Thirty per cent of customers purchase directly through social media channels such as Instagram, Facebook and Pinterest.

§ More than 40 per cent of businesses are utilising social media to gain traction, generate leads and sales.

§ One-in-four businesses are selling through Facebook alone.

One of the interrelated trends in 2020 will be the dominance of mobile sites. Social media sites and e-commerce sites are mainly mobile now. Brands are cashing in on ‘Instagram ability’ and creating visually-driven customer-driven content.

If used intelligently, influencer marketing can be used to harness trusted voices and help customers make an informed decision. Aimed to become a more than $10 billion industry by the end of 2020, the influencer marketing, mobile website and social shopping are going to prove its dominance.

The brands, however, are putting their relationships with influencers under scrutiny. The rise of fake influencers and ‘likes’ no longer being considered as the potential engagement metric, the brands want to leverage nano-influencers, people who have a tightly-knit community as followers.

The other thing to watch out in social space as a booming trend in 2020 is Instagram and Facebook stories that have an engagement of 500 million daily users. Similarly, Instagram trends, polls, interactive stories are also a brilliant way to catch attention and continue to be so. Meanwhile, this New Year also rolls in Instagram business feature, Growth Insights and “Stories about You” to help a business to strengthen their foothold in their domain.

This the feature will be incomplete without the mention of TikTok –the most installed app of year 2019! Once rejected and ridiculed as childish and ‘royal waste of time’, this app now has more than 800 million active users now. The users are spending more than 46 minutes every day on the app, which is important because the videos on this app are only 15-seconds long! And businesses are using this app to reach out to the user base of this platform, which typically consists of 16-24 years old. However, the app’s sixty per cent of users are based in China and this is where it loses its steam. In order to maintain the dominance of its digital footprint, the app needs to wade through Chinese territory.

Voice-based search SEO

You have optimised your website content for SERPs. But it is time to embrace and adopt this new trend in the New Year! The voice search is on the tremendous rise and there were more than one billion voice searches monthly by January 2018 alone. It is estimated that by 2020 more than thirty per cent of website browsing will be conducted with voice, without needing a screen! Similarly, an astonishing sixty-two per cent of individuals have admitted buying products using the voice search capabilities of their smart speakers.

A study discovered that the voice search e-commerce brought in over $1.8 billion in Amazon revenue, which is expected to go up to $40 billion by the year 2022.

The voice-only search allows the users to search through the internet with the voice. One doesn’t need a physical keyboard or have to scroll through several websites on their desktops, mobile devices and tablets. The programs with voice searching capabilities like Microsoft Cortana, Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant and Siri are driving the brands and businesses to make their interfaces voice-search compatible.

Voice SEO is different from traditional SEO. While the latter is about ‘fixing’ the content with keywords, the former is based on ‘what people say while talking to Siri or Google.’ For instance, a user might type “affordable data mining services” on Google whereas her voice search would vary to “affordable data mining services in my city near me” or “where can I find affordable data mining services?”

It is imperative to think about customers, and your sales funnel while optimising your business and its platforms with voice-search capabilities. Voice search often entails long-tail keywords and smart searches conducted by customers, which may vary from a business to another. The website should load quickly to ensure a comprehensive voice search across the internet. The files should be compressed and images should be optimised for search.

More than twenty-two per cent of voice search queries are location-based. This is why the keywords ‘near me’ hold preference and have a higher chance of appearing in the search result.

The Conclusion:

These social media trends will help retailers and e-commerce enthusiasts to level up and establish contact with their customers like never before. From personalisation to interactive visualisation and chatbots, businesses are making every effort to get ahead from their competitors and win this race of ROI, customer engagement and create a strategy that makes them the most-talked-about brand online. Early adopters of commerce strategies have experienced rapid growth and with more than 1.66 billion online players, it seems they were right about hopping on this wagon. Besides these, eCommerce and retail sectors are harnessing data solutions such as data mining, data scrubbing, data appending, data verification, data appending, email appending, data scraping, skip tracing, phone appending, CRM cleaning , Data verification email verification and data analysis for business intelligence and sales forecasting!

The race is on! Where are you? Are you prepared for the exciting future of online retail and e-commerce? Is your business joining the e-commerce revolution or is it going to lag and miss out on the estimated $4.8 trillion e-commerce sales projected worldwide in 2021?

#data mining #data cleaning #skip tracing #data scraping #Datascrubbing #crm data cleansing #b2b lead generation

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twdmusicboxmystery · 5 years

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FTWD 5x15: Channel 5 - Analysis

Okay, let’s talk about last night’s episode. I liked it a lot. We saw a ton of interesting symbolism. I really like where this is going.

***As always, spoilers abound below for episode 5x15. Don’t read until you’ve watched!***

We start with a video that Ginny's group made. Obviously, she ripped off the idea of making the documentary from Morgan's group and we see her making sort of a faux-cheerful documentary about her community. She makes herself and her people look better than they are. I also noticed she took the footage of Tom talking to Al and manipulated it to make it look like he was still one of her people and happy to be part of her community.

In the opening credits, we see a paper on a tree, which is probably the map from Ginny's community, but it also looks like the lens of the camera has been shattered. By the end of the episode, I think I understand why they use this for the opening credits, but I just wanted to point out that this looks very similar to a pair of Beth trading cards that were recently released. Just saying.

Morgan's group was on channel 4 on the walkie, hence what episode nine was called. This is called Channel 5 because Ginny's group is on channel 5 on the walkie. They’re very much setting up an “us vs them” kind of dynamic.

Overall, this episode felt like a replay of 5x10. Various parts of S5 in general, but especially Them.

Two weeks ago, someone pointed out that Luciana staying behind to help Ginny’s group with the oil was a lot like Beth being left behind at Grady. With that being the case, someone from that place going with Morgan’s group—Tom—could represent Noah, who left the group left Grady with Rick's group.

So I wondered whether Tom would live very long, just as Noah didn't. Well, what do you know? He died in this episode.

I saw a lot of similarities in what was going on around his death. First of all, I know a lot of people were always confused about the fact that Noah was actually being very hopeful about the future and right before he died. Tom is the same way. He was very gung-ho about what Morgan's group was doing and wanted to be part of it. But then was tragically killed.

I also caught something else I think is a similarity. Ginny said Tom's track record for survival was against him. In other words, maybe he'd made questionable choices in the past and was somewhat toxic when it came survival. Morgan’s group didn’t mind and saved him anyway. The same could have been said of Noah. He always pretty much bowed to Dawn and couldn't really survive on his own. Rick's group saved him anyway, but he didn't last long after that.

Furthermore, Tom died after the detour to get medicine for Grace. In Noah’s case, they weren’t looking for particular supplies for particular person, but they were looking for something to fix the solar panels. So, they were on a supply run, which is similar. Just wanted to point that out. And if Tom = Noah and Luciana = Beth, then Ginny's group = Grady, at least in this analogy. And Ginny would be Dawn. Evil female dictator with questionable methods.

There was also a lot of talk in this episode about them finding a new home. It's unclear by the end of the episode whether what they were thinking would be their new home—a Humbug Gulch that's close by—will actually end up being their new home. But I couldn't help but think that maybe their new home won't be anywhere around here. They keep talking about how they’ve depleted everything in this area. Maybe it will be a matter of returning to D.C. and TF to find their new home. Don't get me wrong, they may stop a few places along the way, but they put heavy emphasis on this. Just a thought.

We saw Tom and Janis reunite. More than anything else, that reminded me of Sasha and Tyreese reuniting for a short time before Tyreese's death in 5x09.

Alicia says art makes sense to her. She’s talking about painting rather than singing, but it’s something Beth might've said. Reminiscent of her convo with Edwards about art being transcendent.

They check out places along the way, looking for a place where they could stay. At one point, Daniel apparently checks out a school. We don't see it, but we hear him say over the walkie that the school is gone. Burned down to nothing. Just reminded me of the school in Coda with the walkers.

The rabbi also says that June has faith, which very few people have any more. Obviously, faith was a Beth thing.

When talking to the camera, Wes says “bullshit” three different times. Maybe not super-compelling, but it is something Beth said.

We see Grace and Daniel giving Charlie to guitar lessons, which is kind of fun.

We heard a ton of fives in this episode. We heard the number 50 several times, including being 50 miles East of the Gulch. We heard the number 500, and of course there was channel 5. I can't help but think it's because it's pointing us back to S5. Remember in earlier episodes, the numbers on the mile markers pointed back to Beth episodes in S5. Now we’re still seeing tons of 5s.

Probably my favorite part of the episode that made me jump up and cheer was when a walker got through their convoy’s fence at night. Dwight killed it and found a sheriff's badge pinned to its shirt. I was so happy to see that!

In terms of the plot, it told them there was a Humbug Gulch nearby. John immediately wants to go there because he thinks it'll be a good place for them to settle. But a sheriff's badge, guys! A sheriff's badge! Remember this picture from Still that includes a sheriff's badge/star?

I think more and more things are pointing toward Dwight running into Beth at some point. Just the fact that he's the one that killed the walker with the sheriff's badge on it and showed it to everyone else is a big deal to me. Then there's what happens at the end, but I'll get there in a minute.

As I said earlier, it feels a lot like 5x10. Grace collapses because she's dehydrated. It's obvious that they don't have any water. And it's funny because they don't actually say they’re low on water. At least, not until the very end, but they keep saying Grace is dehydrated and needs fluids.

Obviously, if they had fluids, they’d give her some. They realize there’s a retirement home 50 miles away and hope that they might find something there to help her. This is interesting for a few reasons.

First of all, there's that 50 again. Secondly, in TWD 4x06, one of the Governor episodes, he goes to a retirement home to get oxygen for Tara’s father. There's a lot of significant Beth symbols in that sequence episode and in this episode they go to a retirement home again.

To be fair, this episode didn’t put a lot of emphasis on retirement home itself. If anything, while looking for supplies inside it reminded me more of the golf club than anything else. Still, the parallels were there. They find a couple of IV bags for Grace. The fluids help her feel better. So, we have another example of water saving someone from death.

They all make a big deal about how Ginny would never have made the detour to save Grace. She doesn't care about her own people individually enough to do something like that. She's out about the greater good. (Lots of shades of Grady here.)

John starts to realize that Morgan has feelings for grace. He takes June aside and says he wants to get married when they reach the Gulch. (Yay!)

As they try to cross a bridge, it breaks down. It can’t hold the weight of the cars, much less the tanker truck. The talk about getting people across and maybe patching/reinforcing the bridge in order to get the tanker across. That's when Ginny shows up. She once again tries to talk them into taking her help.

I have to wonder what Ginny wants from the group. Just the fact that she's chasing them around the countryside and trying to convince them to come with her shows that they must have something she wants. We already know she’s lying about stuff. We see more of her manipulation here.

If her operation is expanding as much as she claims, and have everything they need, Morgan's little group headed in the opposite direction really shouldn't be that big a concern to her. And yet, she's keeping tabs on them, chasing them around, and trying to put them in a position where they have to ask for help.

She ends up firing off guns so a walker horde comes and Morgan’s group is trapped, trying to get across the bridge.

At this point, Ginny randomly mentions horsepower. She's talking about how it’s better to ride around in a car than in the saddle all day. "Another form of horsepower,” is what she says. That's a pretty unnecessary mention of horses, if you ask me. There weren't even any horses in the scene.

She also fully admits that she tried to kill Tom saying she will apologize for her methods because they get results. Very Dawn-like.

Ginny tells Dwight that someone in her group saw Sherry a while back. She didn't say Sherry is with her group, only that someone crossed paths with her. Dwight nearly kills her. You can tell he doesn’t believe her and thinks she’s just messing with them. Which actually may be true.

They also have a conversation about how anyone who wants to go with Ginny’s group is welcome to. Morgan says no one will be forced to stay with his group if they’d rather go with Ginny. Just reminded me of Rick telling the people at Grady that after Beth was shot.

No one wants to go with Ginny. That’s when she fires off her gun, drawing walkers, and Tom dies. @wdway commented that it was a lot like the Governor bulldozing the prison in 4x08 when he didn’t get what he wanted. I didn’t think of that, but I totally agree. It did feel a lot like that.

After that, we see them sitting on the side of the road on the opposite side of the bridge. Tell me that doesn’t look like Them.

On top of that, some of the crates they’re sitting on have white crosses on them. Guys, these look exactly like the crosses that signified Grady, and like the crates we saw in 4x01 that foreshadowed Grady. So whether this is to show this is a Grady parallel or that we’ll see Grady again soon, I don’t know (kinda thinking both), but either way, this is super significant.

Let me say it better. If the crates we saw in 4x01 signified the Grady arc coming up, then maybe seeing these here, admidst other Grady and Them parallels, shows the return of that place/arc is coming very soon.

And, you know, it’s DWIGHT specifically who is sitting on it. (Yes, I’m totally pushing for this because it’s what I want to see happen, but we really are seeing evidence that this is where they’re going.)

We do see Tom’s grave, much like we saw Tyreese’s in S5 (but not Beth’s). Actually, we could see this as another Sasha/Tyreese parallel. Tom and Sasha reunited after getting separated and stayed together a short time before the brother (Tyreese/Tom) died. And in both cases, the sister (Sasha/Janis) was at her brother’s grave.

The group decides to walk to the Humbug Gulch location, which is probably 10-15 miles away. So they do. Much like in 5x10, they have to walk a long distance with no food or water, in the hopes of finding a new place to call home.

On the way, Daniel tells Morgan that, with none of them knowing how much longer they’ll live in this world, if something needs to be said, he should say it. Daniel was, of course, referring to Morgan telling Grace how he feels about her. But it could definitely apply to Beth and Daryl.

Morgan then does try to tell Grace how he feels, but she tells him not to say it. She obviously knows what he’s trying to say, but says it will just make things harder. So, they still have heavy parallels with Bethyl, because, at least so far, their feelings for one another are still unspoken.

We also see some evidence that Wes and Alicia might become love interests. Just saying. ;D

Unfortunately, when they arrive, the Wild West location is completely overrun with walkers. They have no food, no water, no supplies, and nowhere else to go. So they finally decide to call Ginny for help. Which is, more than likely, a huge mistake.

In terms of the plot, I think this is what both the broken bridge and broken glass in the opening credits was about. If the bridges always represent the communities (X), well, we literally saw a bridge fall apart under them. And the broken glass in the opening credits suggests a fracture of some kind. So I think this decision to go to Ginny for help is a major mistake and negative turning point for the group.

Dwight refuses to go along with the decision. I really liked this aspect of the episode. Dwight actually left the group to strike out on his own, refusing to go with Ginny.

It's a little surprising because, of all people, you’d think he would want to take advantage of whatever Ginny or her people might know about Sherry. But he recognizes that it is not a good move to call on Ginny for help. He of all people knows how hard it is to extricate oneself from an evil leader.

Now, it looks like he’s going to be in next episode, so he's not disappearing for any length of time, and I’m trying not to get too excited about where they're going with this. But I’m always happy when one character strikes out on their own because there's so much potential.

What will happen with Dwight? Who will he run into? Could it be a matter of the rest of the group being hostages to Ginny and Dwight having to save them? Or might he run into somebody else independent of the group? Somebody who may or may not be a sheriff? Like I said, trying not to get too excited about this.

And I'm not thinking that were going to see Beth next episode or anything. I’m just saying I'm really liking this story line. So, this pretty much ends the episode, with them calling for Ginny and Dwight striking out away from the group.

I'm very excited to see what happens next and where this leads. Next week will bring us the finale. Looks like it’ll be exciting.

What did everyone else think of this episode?

#beth greene #beth greene lives #beth is alive #beth is coming #td theory #td theories #team delusional #team defiance #beth is almost here #bethyl

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scharoux · 5 years

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11 Questions Meme

Tagged by @lyrium-lovesong 💛 Thank you!

Rules: Answer 11 questions, then write 11 of your own and tag 11 people to answer.

Lyrium's Questions:

1. What did you want to be when you were a kid? Did that pan out?

I honestly can't remember for sure what I wanted to be when I grew up as a kid. I think there was a time I really wanted to be a marine biologist, but it was mostly because I wanted to be a mermaid and that was the closest I could get 😜

2. What’s one regular self-care ritual you do for yourself that you treasure?

Every Saturday night after the kids are in bed, I go have a hot bath with loads of scented bath salts and light a bunch of candles. It's relaxing and helps me unwind after a busy week.

3. If you could have one wish to grant purely for altruistic purposes (without worrying about any of those shitty “be careful what you wish for” gotcha scenarios that genies love to spring on you), what would you choose?

Wow....I mean.... that's a tough one. I'd like there to be a cure for cancer (obviously with everything going on in my life right now), but I'd also want those totally cliche things like world peace. It probably sounds silly, but what I genuinely want more than anything is for my kids to grow up in a world that isn't so incredibly f*cked up and judgmental of everyone and everything.

4. Favorite pizza topping combo?

This makes me hungry just thinking about it! Chicken, basil, feta cheese, onions, peppers, parmesan cheese. YUM!!!

5. You have $500 to spend on yourself, but there’s a catch--it has to be on something totally frivolous. What do you buy?

LOL! It would be one of two things...

1) a new lens for my camera

2) more art for my walls. Specifically Dragon Age themed for my drawing work space.

6. What was the make and model of your first car, if you drive? How old were you when you got it?

Toyota Highlander. I was 21.

7. You’re buying (or building!) your dream house, and money is no object. Describe your new home.

My dream home is a big beautiful two story craftsman style house with a shingle and rock exterior. It has a bedroom for each of my kids, as well as a craft room for me with big windows for lots of light. it has a massive kitchen (cuz my hubby and I love to cook/bake) with a built in wall oven and walk in pantry. Big open space to socialize and visit in. Has to have a covered deck on the front and back, as well as a big yard. It's a pipe dream, but maybe one day a reality 🤞

8. What’s your favorite smell?

Vanilla or anything that smells like baking or sweet spices.

9. Describe your earliest memory.

The earliest memory I have is playing with my cousin's in my grandparents back yard. Just good ol' fun childhood memories.

10. You just found out you have a year left to live. What’s on your bucket list?

That's a good question! I'd obviously want to spend as much time with my kids and family as possible, so I'd probably plan a big vacation.

• Travel to the UK (Scotland and Ireland especially) as well as a jaunt over to Iceland. I'd also want to get down to New Zealand if I could.

• Go to The Wizarding World because I am a massive Potter Head!

• I would love to swim with Manta Rays and/or a Whale shark. I would have added manatees to that list but I'm pretty sure that's illegal now 🤔

11. Share a photo you have saved on your computer or phone that you love. What is it about this image that brings you joy?

This is my eldest. I love this picture because it just reminds me of all the joy he and his siblings have brought to my life since becoming a Mom. #Momlife

My Questions:

*Sorry if these have been asked before*

1. What is your absolute favorite memory?

2. If you could travel anywhere in the world where would you go and why?

3. Is there anything you regret enough that if given the option you would go back and undo?

4. What's your most embarassing memory?

5. Where do you hope to see yourself in 10 years?

6. Where is the most exciting place you've been? What was your favorite experience in this new location?

7. If humanity found a way to colonize the moon but you couldn't return to Earth once there, would you go or stay on Earth? Why?

8. What is your favorite breakfast food?

9. If you had to sum up your personality in three words what would they be?

10. Do you like your coffee black or with fixings? If you don't drink coffee, answer for tea. If you don't drink either, how do you function?!

11. What is your all time favorite movie? Ie. The movie you have watched a hundred times and can quote back to front without effort.

Tagging anyone who wants to do this! Just tag me so I can read your responses 😁

#scharoux rambles #11 questions meme #lyrium lovesong

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kinhnghiemsovn · 5 years

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Amazon vs. Google: Decoding the World's Largest E-commerce Search Engine

Posted by Lorna_Franklin

A lot of people forget that Amazon is a search engine, let alone the largest search engine for e-commerce. With 54 percent of product searches now taking place on Amazon, it’s time to take it seriously as the world’s largest search engine for e-commerce. In fact, if we exclude YouTube as part of Google, Amazon is technically the second largest search engine in the world.

As real estate on Google becomes increasingly difficult to maintain, moving beyond a website-centric e-commerce strategy is a no brainer. With 54% of shoppers choosing to shop on e-commerce marketplaces, it’s no surprise that online marketplaces are the number one most important digital marketing channel in the US, according to a 2018 study by the Digital Marketing Institute. While marketplaces like Etsy and Walmart are growing fast, Amazon maintains its dominance of e-commerce market share owning 47 percent of online sales, and 5 percent of all retail sales in the US.

Considering that there are currently over 500 million products listed on Amazon.com, and more than two-thirds of clicks happen on the first page of Amazon’s search results—selling products on Amazon is no longer as easy as "set it and forget it."

Enter the power of SEO.

When we think of SEO, many of us are aware of the basics of how Google’s algorithm works, but not many of us are up to speed with SEO on Amazon. Before we delve into Amazon’s algorithm, it’s important to note how Google and Amazon’s starkly different business models are key to what drives their algorithms and ultimately how we approach SEO on the two platforms.

The academic vs. The stockbroker

Google was born in 1998 through a Ph.D. project by Lawrence Page and Sergey Brin. It was the first search engine of its kind designed to crawl and index the web more efficiently than any existing systems at the time.

Google was built on a foundation of scientific research and academia, with a mission to;

“Organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful” — Google

Now, answering 5.6 billion queries every day, Google’s mission is becoming increasingly difficult — which is why their algorithm is designed as the most complex search engine in the world, continuously refined through hundreds of updates every year.

In contrast to Brin and Page, Jeff Bezos began his career on Wall Street in a series of jobs before starting Amazon in 1994 after reading that the web was growing at 2,300 percent. Determined to take advantage of this, he made a list of the top products most likely to sell online and settled with books because of their low cost and high demand. Amazon was built on a revenue model, with a mission to:

“Be the Earth’s most customer-centric company, where customers can find and discover anything they might want to buy online, and endeavors to offer its customers the lowest possible prices.” — Amazon

Amazon doesn’t have searcher intent issues

When it comes to SEO, the contrasting business models of these two companies lead the search engines to ask very different questions in order to deliver the right results to the user.

On one hand, we have Google who asks the question:

“What results most accurately answer the searcher’s query?”

Amazon, on the other hand, wants to know:

“What product is the searcher most likely to buy?”

On Amazon, people aren’t asking questions, they’re searching for products—and what’s more, they’re ready to buy. So, while Google is busy honing an algorithm that aims to understand the nuances of human language, Amazon’s search engine serves one purpose—to understand searches just enough to rank products based on their propensity to sell.

With this in mind, working to increase organic rankings on Amazon becomes a lot less daunting.

Amazon’s A9 algorithm: The secret ingredient

Amazon may dominate e-commerce search, but many people haven’t heard of the A9 algorithm. Which might seem unusual, but the reason Amazon isn’t keen on pushing their algorithm through the lens of a large scale search engine is simply that Amazon isn’t in the business of search.

Amazon’s business model is a well-oiled revenue-driving machine — designed first and foremost to sell as many products as possible through its online platform. While Amazon’s advertising platform is growing rapidly, and AWS continues as their fastest-growing revenue source — Amazon still makes a large portion of revenue through goods sold through the marketplace.

With this in mind, the secret ingredient behind Amazon’s A9 algorithm is, in fact: Sales Velocity

What is sales velocity, you ask? It’s essentially the speed and volume at which your products sell on Amazon’s marketplace.

There are lots of factors which Amazon SEO’s refer to as "direct" and "indirect" ranking factors, but ultimately every single one of them ties back to sales velocity in some way.

At Wolfgang Digital, we approach SEO on Google based on three core pillars — Technology, Relevance, and Authority.

Evidently, Google’s ranking pillars are all based on optimizing a website in order to drive click through on the SERP.

On the other hand, Amazon’s core ranking pillars are tied back to driving revenue through sales velocity — Conversion Rate, Keyword Relevance and of course, Customer Satisfaction.

Without further ado, let’s take a look at the key factors behind each of these pillars, and what you can optimize to increase your chances of ranking on Amazon’s coveted first page.

Conversion rate

Conversion rates on Amazon have a direct impact on where your product will rank because this tells Amazon’s algorithm which products are most likely to sell like hotcakes once they hit the first page.

Of all variables to monitor as an Amazon marketer, working to increase conversion rates is your golden ticket to higher organic rankings.

Optimize pricing

Amazon’s algorithm is designed to predict which products are most likely to convert. This is why the price has such a huge impact on where your products rank in search results. If you add a new product to Amazon at a cheaper price than the average competitor, your product is inclined to soar to the top-ranking results, at least until it gathers enough sales history to determine the actual sales performance.

Even if you’re confident that you have a supplier advantage, it’s worth checking your top-selling products and optimizing pricing where possible. If you have a lot of products, repricing software is a great way to automate pricing adjustments based on the competition while still maintaining your margins.

However, Amazon knows that price isn’t the only factor that drives sales, which is why Amazon’s first page isn’t simply an ordered list of items priced low to high. See the below Amazon UK search results for “lavender essential oil:”

Excluding the sponsored ads, we can still see that not all of the cheap products are ranked high and the more expensive ones lower down the page. So, if you’ve always maintained the idea that selling on Amazon is a race to the bottom on price, read on my friends.

Create listings that sell

As we discussed earlier, Amazon is no longer a “set it and forget” platform, which is why you should treat each of your product listings as you would a product page on your website. Creating listings that convert takes time, which is why not many sellers do it well, so it’s an essential tactic to steal conversions from the competition.

Title

Make your titles user-friendly, include the most important keywords at the front, and provide just enough information to entice clicks. Gone are the days of keyword stuffing titles on Amazon, in fact, it may even hinder your rankings by reducing clicks and therefore conversions.

Bullet points

These are the first thing your customer sees, so make sure to highlight the best features of your product using a succinct sentence in language designed to convert.

Improve the power of your bullet points by including information that your top competitors don’t provide. A great way to do this is to analyze the “answered questions” for some of your top competitors.

Do you see any trending questions that you could answer in your bullet points to help shorten the buyer journey and drive conversions to your product?

Product descriptions

Given that over 50 percent of Amazon shoppers said they always read the full description when they are considering purchasing a product, a well-written product description can have a huge impact on conversions.

Your description is likely to be the last thing a customer will read before they choose to buy your product over a competitor, so give these your time and care, reiterating points made in your bullet points and highlighting any other key features or benefits likely to push conversions over the line.

Taking advantage of A+ content for some of your best selling products is a great way to craft a visually engaging description, like this example from Safavieh.

Of course, A+ content requires additional design costs which may not be feasible for everyone. If you opt for text-only descriptions, make sure your content is easy to read while still highlighting the best features of your product.

For an in-depth breakdown on creating a beautifully crafted Amazon listing, I highly recommend this post from Startup Bros.

AB test images

Images are incredibly powerful when it comes to increasing conversions, so if you haven’t tried split testing different image versions on Amazon, you could be pleasantly surprised. One of the most popular tools for Amazon AB testing is Splitly — it’s really simple to use, and affordable with plans starting at $47 per month.

Depending on your product type, it may be worth investing the time into taking your own pictures rather than using the generic supplier provided images. Images that tend to have the biggest impact on conversions are the feature images (the one you see in search results) and close up images, so try testing a few different versions to see which has the biggest impact.

Amazon sponsored ads

The best thing about Amazon SEO is that your performance on other marketing channels can help support your organic performance.

Unlike on Google, where advertising has no impact on organic rankings, if your product performs well on Amazon ads, it may help boost organic rankings. This is because if a product is selling through ads, Amazon’s algorithm may see this as a product that users should also see organically.

A well-executed ad campaign is particularly important for new products, in order to boost their sales velocity in the beginning and build up the sales history needed to rank better organically.

External traffic

External traffic involves driving traffic from social media, email, or other sources to your Amazon products.

While external sources of traffic are a great way to gain more brand exposure and increase customer reach, a well-executed external traffic strategy also impacts your organic rankings because of its role in increasing sales and driving up conversion rates.

Before you start driving traffic straight to your Amazon listing, you may want to consider using a landing page tool like Landing Cube in order to protect your conversion rate as much as possible.

With a landing page tool, you drive traffic to a landing page where customers get a special offer code to use on your product listing page—this way, you only drive traffic which is guaranteed to convert.

Keyword relevance

A9 still relies heavily on keyword matching to determine the relevance of a product to searcher’s query, which is why this is a core pillar of Amazon SEO.

While your title, bullet points, and descriptions are essential for converting customers, if you don’t include the relevant keywords, your chances of driving traffic to convert are slim to none.

Every single keyword incorporated in your Amazon listing will impact your rankings, so it’s important to deploy a strategic approach.

Steps for targeting the right keywords on Amazon:

Brainstorm as many search terms you think someone would use to find your product.

Analyze 3–5 competitors with the most reviews to identify their target keywords.

Validate the top keywords for your product using an Amazon keyword tool such as Magnet, Ahrefs, or Keywordtool.io.

Download the keyword lists into Excel, and filter out any duplicate or irrelevant keywords.

Prioritize search terms with the highest search volume, bearing in mind that broad terms will be harder to rank for. Depending on the competition, it may make more sense to focus on lower volume terms with lower competition—but this can always be tested later on.

Once you have refined the keywords you want to rank for, here are some things to remember:

Include your most important keywords at the start of the title, after your brand name.

Use long-tail terms and synonyms throughout your bullets points and descriptions.

Use your backend search terms wisely — these are a great place for including some common misspellings, different measurement versions e.g. metric or imperial, color shades and descriptive terms.

Most importantly �� don’t repeat keywords. If you’ve included a search term once in your listing i.e. the title, you don’t need to include it in your backend search terms. Repeating a keyword, or keyword stuffing will not improve your rankings.

Customer satisfaction

Account health

Part of Amazon’s mission statement is “to be the Earth’s most customer-centric company.” This relentless focus on the customer is what drives Amazon’s astounding customer retention, with 85 percent of Prime shoppers visiting the marketplace at least once a week and 56% of non-Prime members reporting the same. A focus on the customer is at the core of Amazon’s success, which is why stringent customer satisfaction metrics are a key component to selling on Amazon.

Your account health metrics are the bread and butter of your success as an Amazon seller, which is why they’re part of Amazon’s core ranking algorithm. Customer experience is so important to Amazon that, if you fail to meet the minimum performance requirements, you risk getting suspended as a seller—and they take no prisoners.

On the other hand, if you are meeting your minimum requirements but other sellers are performing better than you by exceeding theirs, they could be at a ranking advantage.

Customer reviews

Customer reviews are one of the most important Amazon ranking factors — not only do they tell Amazon how customers feel about your product, but they are one of the most impactful conversion factors in e-commerce. Almost 95 percent of online shoppers read reviews before buying a product, and over 60 percent of Amazon customers say they wouldn’t purchase a product with less than 4.5 stars.

On Amazon, reviews help to drive both conversion rate and keyword relevance, particularly for long-tail terms. In short, they’re very important.

Increasing reviews for your key products on Amazon was historically a lot easier, through acquiring incentivized reviews. However, in 2018, Amazon banned sellers from incentivizing reviews which makes it even more difficult to actively build reviews, especially for new products.

Tips for building positive reviews on Amazon:

Maintain consistent communication throughout the purchase process using Amazon email marketing software. Following up to thank someone for their order and notify when the order if fulfilled, creates a seamless buying experience which leaves customers more likely to give a positive review.

Adding branded package inserts to thank customers for their purchase makes the buying experience personal, differentiating you as a brand rather than a nameless Amazon seller. Including a friendly reminder to leave a review in a nice delivery note will have better response rates than the generic email they receive from Amazon.

Providing upfront returns information without a customer having to ask for it shows customers you are confident in the quality of your product. If a customer isn’t happy with your product, adding fuel to the fire with a clunky or difficult returns process is more likely to result in negative reviews through sheer frustration.

Follow up with helpful content related to your products such as instructions, decor inspiration, or recipe ideas, including a polite reminder to provide a review in exchange.

And of course, deliver an amazing customer experience from start to finish.

Key takeaways for improving Amazon SEO

As a marketer well versed in the world of Google, venturing onto Amazon can seem like a culture shock — but mastering the basic principles of Amazon SEO could be the difference between getting lost in a sea of competitors and driving a successful Amazon business.

Focus on driving sales velocity through increasing conversion rate, improving keyword relevance, nailing customer satisfaction and actively building reviews.

Craft product listings for customers first, search engines second.

Don’t neglect product descriptions in the belief that no one reads them—over 50% of Amazon shoppers report reading the full description before buying a product.

Keywords carry a lot of weight. If you don’t include a keyword in your listing, your chances of ranking for it are slim.

Images are powerful. Take your own photos instead of using generic supplier images and be sure to test, test, and test.

Actively build positive reviews by delivering an amazing customer experience.

Invest in PPC and driving external traffic to support organic performance, especially for new products.

What other SEO tips or tactics do you apply on Amazon? Tell me in the comments below!

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vanessavonvroom · 5 years

Note

You receive a package wrapped in plain brown paper with no return address. Attached is a note from one Mr. William Sykes requesting you take the package to an address across town in the affluent part of Andromeda. The note says to not open the package and not tell anyone you have it. If you accept this job you will be paid $500. Do you accept? (If you do, please write a self-para with your character delivering the package. If you don't, simply reply with "No" and leave the package outside.)

Jenny: hey! guess what! nancy from school is having a party this friday. wanna go with me and ollie?Jenny: you can totes come over and borrow some of my clothes for the party if you want

Vanessa took a deep breath and looked up toward the package that now sat in the middle of her bed, before dropping her gaze to the note in her hand; a note that contained instructions to take the package to a very specific address. It was an address that she recognised, because it was the home of the very person she was currently texting.

Truth be told, she felt conflicted about what to do. Not too long ago, the girl from the group home with a giant chip on her shoulder would have happily taken a mysterious package to some bougie house in the richest part of Andromeda without hesitation, considering it the easiest five hundred bucks that she had ever made. But things were different now. Jenny Foxworth was different.

She was first and only person Vanessa had met their age who had done nothing but treat her with kindness. Who had made her feel like there was someone out there who genuinely liked her, and accepted her, and that maybe, just maybe, she belonged somewhere. And honestly, she didn’t really know what to think of that, given that the events of her entire life had conditioned her to be inherently suspicious of people’s intentions.

But even through the dark lens of Vanessa’s deepest, most distancing skepticism, even she knew that there was simply nothing nefarious about Jenny. Jenny was just nice.

Too nice, and too trusting.

She really seemed like she wanted to be her friend, and that was not something that Vanessa took lightly; friends weren’t exactly a resource that she had in abundance, or at all. The only other person in her life whom she considered a friend was about a thousand years her senior and had become more like a bumbling big brother to her than anything. And she loved him to bits and pieces, but he wasn’t exactly someone she could have sleepovers with and do face masks while talking about stupid shit that normal teenagers talked about.

Vanessa: As long as it’s not pink and frilly I’m open to itJenny: okay fair but not everything i own is pink!! or frilly!!Jenny: i’m sure we can totally come up with a cool edgy look for youJenny: do you need me to send winston to pick you up night of?

Once more, Vanessa’s gaze shifted from her phone to the note, lingering on the three-digit number that capped off a message that was otherwise light on details. Five hundred dollars was not a small amount of money for her. It was more than she made in a month stocking shelves at Handy Felix’s, and the two figures were only remotely comparable to each other assuming that she worked most afternoons after school and every weekend. Five hundred dollars would go a long way toward finally reaching her goal of owning a car of her own.

And here was her only friend, straight up inviting her into the home that she had been tasked with leaving the mysterious and most likely incredibly illicit package at. Vanessa had never met Bill Sykes, but she knew enough about him to know that whatever was wrapped in that brown paper was not good. And she had heard enough about him to know that she didn’t want to do anything to Jenny or her family that had to do with him.

But he was offering her a sum of money that she didn’t really have the luxury of turning down.

Vanessa: No, it’s fine, I think I can find it by myself. What time should I show up?Jenny: the party’s at 7 so come by around 5? it might take a while and oliver will only go if we get food before so~

Vanessa stuck the note in her pocket and sat down on her bed, picking up the package and slowly turning it in her hands, studying it intently before taking another deep breath and carefully hiding it underneath her bed. Maybe she could bring it around on Friday and pretend that she’d found it outside of the door. That would almost be the truth.

After all, she had found it outside of a door. Just not theirs.

It was wrong, and deep down she knew that it was wrong. But doing the right thing wasn’t always an option for someone in her position. She had been dealt a shitty hand at the start of her life, and there wasn’t really anything she could do about that when the deck was stacked against her. All she could do was make the best out of every situation she was presented with.

Vanessa: Cool, I’ll be there

#sp ;;#&&. JENNY #&&. SYKES #[ in which she neither delivers the package nor leaves it outside bc I am a rebel ]

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