#if you just really cannot bother doing proper captions

[tuttle-did-it]

PSA FROM EXHAUSTION.

Signed up for a series of online lectures. Couldn't understand a word, couldn't lip-read speaker (which is very difficult anyway). Couldn't participate, couldn't engage, couldn't understand. Had to leave because it didn't even occur to them to put captions on

Folks, if you are posting ANY video online or send it to another human, please enable captions/subtitles.

Deaf people need captions

Hard of hearing people need captions

People with audio processing conditions need captions

People with ADHD often need captions to maintain attention

People who are not native speakers of the primary language need captions

People who are watching something in a private space and are not able to watch with volume need captions

People with learning difficulties/differences/disabilities need captions

People trying to watch something with bad audio recording need captions

People who have migraines/headaches and really can't deal with sound but still need to watch the video (for whatever reason) need captions

People who have colds/ear infections/went to a concert without ear protection and have bad tinnitus need captions

People who are very new to a topic need captions

People who are multi-tasking need captions

people with misophonia need captions

People who are neurospicy and just need fucking captions need fucking caption

People need captions.

And, whilst I have your attention, don't just use autocraptions from the computer that only get about 65%. I mean, look-- I'll take auto craptions over nothing, but there is a reason deaf people cal them 'craptions.' We hate them, it's very often word salad, and it's just useless. You can process the video through with autocraptions, and then go in and make corrections where the craptions got it wrong. And, if you feel super fancy, you could even put in things like full stops and commas to make it easier to read.

Also, when captioning, please put actions/reactions in brackets. Anything off screen, any noises we may not be able to hear. Examples: [Audience cheers] [Explosion off screen, people shouting] [sound of phone ringing.]

If something is inaudible or the sound does not catch what they said, please signify this. If it's a montage and there's music with no dialogue, say this. Examples:

[Mulcahy speaks indistinctly.]

[inaudible]

[audio cuts out]

[no audio, no music]

[music- Sinatra' song (song) plays; no audible dialogue or sound from scenes]

[dialogue from film 'My Darling Clementine' plays in background whilst Hawkeye whistles]

[music is interrupted by the sound of a record being ripped or pulled off a record]

If you just feel REALLY generous to the audience and really want me to love you, please feel free to put tone that I might miss, such as [Hawkeye whispers] or [Klinger shouts]. Maybe it's visible on the screen from expressions/body language, maybe not.

Hawkeye: [imitates Groucho] Hello, Room Service? Send up a larger room.

Hawkeye [imitates British accent:] [drops accent]

And, when there may be confusion on when characters are speaking. Examples:

[Multiple characters talk at once.]

Potter: [speaks dialogue from 'My Darling Clementine' at the same time as a character in the film]:

Margaret [interrupts Frank]:

Hawkeye and BJ [speaking together:]

Also also, if there are multiple speakers, please show this. [speaker 1: ] [Speaker 2]:

Even if you don't receive a request from anyone to put on captions, please just add captions. Simple accessibility considerations, please. Some people don't even realise they need captions until they see then and go 'oh, yay. Captions.'

I know it may take a little bit of time and planning, but there are more of us out there than you realise. So please, just add captions.

If you ever doubt how important captions might be to someone, sometime just put on a video. Put on an episode of a show you haven't seen before. Mute it, watch it with no captions. See just how much you manage to get without ANY captions.

CAPTIONS.

CAPTIONS.

[frogsandfries]

AAVE used to bother me. Just bother me, not piss me off, not make me like, wanna kill or anything. Just, why can't they use the language 'properly'.

The woman who raised me was the most racist person I think I've ever met (why no, I have never been to the US south).

But it's funny, because in school, I loved studying the US public school version of how English came to be. We didn't really know about proto-Indoeuropean at the time, but we knew about the influence of ancient Greek and German on the English language. Being a big reader and writer, I was obsessed with using the language "correctly".

I stopped writing for a long time because of reasons, and I was able to step back and really appreciate the value of literacy but also appreciate that there is no Proper English. The thing we skipped over in high school English and language arts classes is that contemporary English is not the same language it was when it first recognizably departed from vulgar Latin and German. It's not the same language as it was before its brushes with French and surely the Celtic language group.

It's okay for spoken language to be different from written language (but it's still "could/should/would HAVE" NOT "c/s/w OF"; pronounce it however you like, but understand grammatically what you're saying if you caption your own videos).

Furthermore, while I'm up here on my soap box, I wish my English teachers would have talked about creoles and pidgins as they are: There's nothing wrong with creoles and pidgins. It is human nature to want to communicate and connect and language is an integral part of that connection. But perhaps telling us that using the language in a non-standard way would have required a whole separate class for like, English theory. It definitely would've had more kids complaining "why do I even need to know the rules if they're all bullshit anyway". Me loudest of all.

Since stepping away from my childhood creative writing practice, I've gotten to participate more in the verbal use of language, and my visual arts studies definitely contributed to the way I see English--a centuries old creole, a language that has always been absorbing and adapting the languages it encounters. The reason I mention my visual arts background is, you know that picture of the vase but it's also two faces? Being strong in written English was me focusing so hard on the vase, I thought people talking about two faces were like, morally decrepit. Slang comes and goes, but the classical core of the language is definitely always there. Definitely. Always.

The internet has been a fascinating component to add to the mix of the English language (being not fluent in any other languages, I cannot and would not speak to the internet's impact on, say, ASL, US Spanish, or French, the only three languages that I'm familiar enough with to try to use on another human). Most of the evolution of the English language has typically come from teenaged girls, if my information is correct. Definitely, unquestionably teenagers. And in the last few years, we see every several weeks, a new slang word--yeet, bussin, ATE (whatever the hell that is)--enters the greater lexicon (we need to be able to communicate with these damn sacrilegious teens somehow!). The world moves so fast for these teenagers, today's 'ate' is literally yesterday's 'crunk'. It's 'cringe', if you will, by the time the adults get ahold of it. We do kind of need to hold onto some kind of core skeleton of the English language so that the oldest and most out of touch of us can still communicate with the linguistically hippest of us. In this regard, at least understanding the 'traditional' use and structure of the language since the shift from Middle English, and not necessarily being versed in prepositions versus passive language, is going to be important when trying to communicate from one group (let's say teens) to another group (let's say Louisiana creole).

And sometimes, the slang the adults get ahold of sticks--in contemporary history 'dude', 'whatever' as a one-word sentence, and 'my bad', are some examples. It's hard to tell which of 2025's slang words will have engraved itself so hard into the fabric of the English language that we're still using it in 2050, but even the words that are here today cringe in five minutes will leave their invisible mark on the ever continuing evolution of the English language.

Umm, anyway, sorry. I got a little eager to celebrate the English language as it actually is, not as it is in classic literature.

Even the teenage, rebellious use of the language (what even the fuck is skibidi??), while it bothers me because these days, it's less about differentiating yourself from boring grown-ups and I'm pretty sure, from a non-linguist perspective, just using language in as incomprehensible manner as possible as a bit. I respect the desecration of the English language; I'm quite confident that's what most of my peers wished they could do in high school English classes when we were learning about dumb, useless shit like superlative conjugates and coagulative transitives or whatever the fuck (for such a strong writer with an easily identifiable written voice in high school, I failed high school grammar. I found it incomprehensible and useless; I already had a powerful grasp of the way to use the English language, out loud and on paper. I didn't need to explain to anybody why you order adjectives the way you do; you just do).

See that, right there? I just did it. I just admitted that I don't find any use for the jargon of the "laws" of the English language. Because language is just a tool for communicating. As long as I can speak to you and you have even generally a vague idea of what I want (like my problem with 'ate' isn't *rolls my eyes* kids these days; my problem is, what is the etymology?? Why are you using that word like thhhaaaatttttttt *tries to shake an answer out of you*), I care less every day how anyone uses the language (except for c/sh/would OF vs HAVE I will bite you).

Now, (okay, sorry to carry on like this) as a creative writer, I am a straight-laced Dr Jekyll. Written language isn't about immediate communication. As far as I'm concerned, written language should be comprehensible between yourself and generations that don't exist yet. A dime novel may be meant to be read and thrown away, but even fifty years later, I should be able to pick up your cheap shitty writing and be able to read it and understand it. As far as I'm concerned, writing should not be littered with the slang of the moment. Like I said, today's 'skibidi' is tomorrow's 'jive turkey'. No, I did not make that up. I actually can't find one singular definition for jive turkey; it looks like there were at least three accepted ways to use it. I think it makes my point for me. If I write that John is a jive turkey, is he out of touch, is he unreliable or exaggerating, or is he being a showy dancer?

In my opinion, if you are educated enough to write essays, blogs, or more, you are educated enough to write in a way that will be comprehended by future generations of people who use your dialect. If that's Australian English (no shade, but you Aussies must know you use English differently from USians), if that's AAVE, if that's Louisiana creole, if that's US English, whatever.

In my opinion, the reason one makes the effort to write words (which is a different level from a Facebook or Twitter post or just making a phone call or sending a text), in a blog that will be gone in five years, in a cheap notebook that maybe you'll throw away, a nice journal that your great, great grand-daughter will find one day, or in that book that you self-published, is to preserve your words, your thoughts, in a way that will outlast 'apple butter' (smooth talk) and 'duck butt' (think Elvis' hair).

Plus, words on paper just should be beautiful. Imo.

not only are there no bad languages there are also no bad or annoying dialects

[vithyahairandmakeup]

THE POWER OF SOCIAL MEDIA

There was a time where I would have had to buy a magazine to find out what the latest celebrity gossip is, or sit in a group discussion or online forums to actively discuss politics or whatever is current. You also had to attend exhibitions, shows, and events to keep up to date with trends, art, and fashion. You still can do these of course. But today it’s so easy to just tweet your emotions, online shop without ever leaving your house, screenshot something and share on snapchat for thousand of people to see, or sell your soul on ebay! Haha

I was always someone who was quite comfortable being on cyberspace since Myspace and Hi5 days. Or remember MSN? When you could just chat to anyone who had a hotmail account? Those were the days! We used social media to connect to the world, mainly our friends and family, or to meet new people. Today we use it as a business tool! It is an amazing way to market yourself, no matter what line of business you are in. It is absolutely ground breaking! Instead of spending thousands of pounds on advertising in a magazine or a TV channel, you get to do it online on your own terms and conditions. Being your own marketing director!

Want to be a soap seller? Post anything soap, fragrance, and skincare related. You then step up your game by exploring scents, and if you want to create a soap that smells of lotus leaves, go travel to tropical countries and post pictures of your feet immersed in a pond of lotus flowers with the caption reading #inspired #canyouguess #nextscentdroppingsoon If you really want to go the extra mile, sign up to YouTube and start vlogging your life and get people to buy your soap, whether they smell nice or not! They will buy it, because they like you and believe in your soaps! You are not selling a product anymore, you are now a brand and you will need to market yourself! People don’t just want the soap, they want the history of where that soap has come from and why! It’s not about whether it will clean that fish curry smell off the hands. It’s about how they will then post it on their social media with the caption reading #newin #limitededition #waitedalongtimeforthis and then their followers commenting underneath with the caption reading #goals! Man I could go on.

You then have the types of people who use social media for entirely different reasons. They need social media to portray a life that is far from reality. What is wrong with this, is that the younger generation see this and get so influenced they set themselves these standards of living. I used to be one of them! Maybe I sometimes still am like that. I used to post the latest designer item I bought, what my partner spoiled me with, how much money I spent on this or that…until one day a mother of an 18 year old follower told me that her daughter has made them broke by asking for all the things I buy and post on my social media. It did really upset me. I don’t want my younger cousins to feel inadequate just because they cannot afford something I own, or feel pressured into buying this particular thing or having to look a certain way. If I don’t want my cousins to go through that, I certainly don’t want any other kid or anyone who follows me to go through that either. Saying this, I know my posts may not seem appropriate in other parts of the world. I once had someone from India write a long comment under one of my pictures having a go at me for not considering people from other cultures or backgrounds. Sometimes we think only our friends and family are looking at our posts, or maybe the friends of our friends, or our extended family, or people we knew back at Uni or worked with. Or an Ex-boyfriend, or our arch enemy. But we never think beyond that. I felt very defensive at first, and thought “well don’t look at my profile then” but then immediately understood the responsibility we carry if we choose to step into a role of influencers. It can be anyone! That soap seller. A mother. A bus driver. A fashion designer. A poet. A sound engineer. Anyone who uses social media to connect to the world, to sell a service they provide, to inspire others in the same position or field, or even share something personal, we all have a responsibility. To help the next generation. To raise them well. To teach them good things, and to provide the advice and support we never received when we were younger, because we did not have these platforms! Not just inspire or teach them, but have the responsibility to not sell a fake life! To not portray a fake you. To not boast about materialistic things! Be humble, be considerate, be inspirational, be kind, be respectful, be a role model! Would you not want your son or daughter to grow up in a better world?

Easier said than done.

A few years ago I used to check my social media every morning and everytime before I went to sleep. If I was in the waiting room at the doctors or sitting in the tube, all I would do is check my comments but naturally drift and look at other people’s profiles etc. I would easily feel envious and immediately compare myself to them or their lives. After several hours of stalking some of these profiles I would feel insecure and inadequate. I used to feel so negative. Then one day I unfollowed a tonne of people and only started following people who were inspirational, successful, motivational, ambitious, driven, and just very positive. I aspire to be like that everyday, and I just didn’t want to follow people anymore who kept posting things I couldn’t relate to or didn’t personally like! The mind is a powerful thing, and I have taught myself to only be around postive people and positive vibes, I would not be where I am in life if I didn’t stick to this. Therefore I myself only post hair and make up related things, postive quotes, a healthy living, and posts to do with my profession. And the occassional post about a hobby of mine.

My life is not perfect! And I apologise if I come across that way. I just feel that there is a thin line between being professional or personal, and after having fallen flat on my face in the past, I choose to be very strict with the amount of personal stuff I post. It may seem filtered and too prim and proper, but I would still rather show that than have my private life exposed. That is my choice and my right!

Sadly we get those who hide behind a screen and bully people. To write hate messages and intentionally hurt and cause pain. I am not going to even bother explaining why I think that happens. Who knows what goes on in that person’s head when they decide to go through the trouble of opening a fake profile and cyber attacking anyone they feel irritates them.

If your life goal is to have as many followers as you can get, there are many ways of doing that! A lot of them self explanatory really. But to be liked and respected is something you have to actually earn and work for! To organically grow your followers means loyalty and genuine love and support. Followers who believe in you and what you stand for. I myself follow a few business moguls and completely aspire to be like them. I follow them on every social media platform and they have made an impact in my life. In a very positive way.

But what would you do if some of these social media sites decided to shut down? Who would you be? What would you do? If you can genuinely say that your life or your career will not be impacted at all if Instagram, Facebook, or Youtube decided to disappear, then you know you are fine. More than fine! It will mean that you are successful, that you are content, and that you do not need the validation from anything or anyone else! In fact that is what I would call goals!

To conclude, social media has its pros and cons. Just like anything in life really, but it is up to us what we do with it, how we help the community, our community especially. How we use the power of our own social media platform to do good…

[cvolx]

Paul Ferns, Best SEO Expert in Karachi, Pakistan

I want you, to take a good look at the terms below and tell me what do you see. SEO Karachi, SEO Pakistan, SEO services in Karachi, SEO agency Karachi, SEO agency in Karachi, best SEO company in Karachi, best SEO company in Pakistan, top SEO companies in Pakistan. Right, you guessed it. SEO is the acronym that stands out the most in addition to other words connected to it. SEO stands for search engine optimization, and is one of the most important processes for a website’s or businesses’ success and failure. What you have read above, are keywords that people type on Google, in order to discover what they’re looking for. And as I’m crazy about SEO and consider my name out there among other search engine optimization experts, I have decided to use similar keywords to explain where I’m getting at and what I’m trying to tell you. A little bit about me I’m writing (yea ok, typing, whatever), after a really long time. I used to be a web content writer once upon a time and that is how my digital “guru” career actually took off. I started way back in early 2015. I had recently resigned from my job in Dubai, and came back to Pakistan in December 2014. One fine lady, who is now also a long time friend gave me a chance at writing. I had read her blog and added her on FB (that was not the time when sending a friend request was considered harassment 😄). We chatted a few weeks and she found my English up to the mark for writing web content. I worked the first week for free and she corrected my tone and structure a few times. After that, she started paying me Rs. 0.5 per word. My happiness knew no bounds when I got my first deposit from her. I had actually made money off the internet. Wow! After that, it was an uphill battle trying to find work and marketing my writing skill. While being a writer I kept coming across terms like SEO, PPC, HTML, WordPress, hosting, content etc. Search engine optimization was booming here and I wanted to become an SEO expert in Karachi. I decided to start exploring these other skills as well. By the end of 2015, my writing rate increased to Rs. 1.0 per word and I was well into my journey of learning about SEO, digital marketing and web development. I also signed up to Fiverr and went to a level one seller in a few months. SEO was also one of my gigs offered in addition to content writing but I was still far from being an SEO expert in Pakistan. By the end of 2016, I had increased my content writing rates to Rs. 2 per word and had also landed a few web development projects. In the start of 2017 I actually registered my freelance digital agency as I wanted to offer the best SEO services in Pakistan and thought that I would appear more professional, and I was right. I regularly get work from clients in Dubai, US, UK, and Pakistan. Last year, one of Karachi's leading agencies signed me up as a sub-contractor, but this was for translation projects and not because I was running an upcoming SEO company in Karachi, in case you’re thinking that. By the end of 2018, my writing rates went up to Rs. 5 per word and I have been getting quality work this way. As of 2019, I have only been managing the work with my Canadian partner a team of 5 freelancers and we work with SEO, web development, graphics design, and social media management. I figure there comes a time when you think you can stop doing the actual work and manage things and this brings a great movie quote to mind (can’t remember the movie now). "The art of good business is being a good middleman." Being an SEO consultant in Pakistan, has its perks and if you are an seo service provider company in Karachi, even better. Karachi is a sprawling metropolis, housing around 200 million people from all over the country and all walks of life. Why the SEO craze? SEO solutions are the way forward for the digital world. Any brick or mortar establishment which aims to make their presence known online will have to settle for a great SEO campaign. If you happen to be a startup or a small scale business in Pakistan, it is likely that you will invest in expert seo services being offered by the best seo company in Pakistan. Mind you, top notch SEO charges in Pakistan are high and it is wise to be really sure before opting for SEO. SEO helps your business website rank higher in search results thereby enabling you to bring in more traffic and ultimately drive more conversions. Whether you are an SEO expert in usa or offer the best SEO services in UAE or you’re the best SEO agency in Pakistan, one thing is certain. You are optimizing your customers’ businesses so they get more traffic to their sites and hence, convert more leads into sales. SEO involves technical SEO where onsite SEO and offsite SEO, both matters equally. Onsite deals with how user-friendly is your website or webpage to the search engine. Are the keywords in order? Is the alt-text in the image proper? Is the content length desirable etc.? Offsite SEO steps even further, by enabling you to market that webpage, blog or even your overall brand on noticeable forums, platforms, social media and you name it! At CVOLX, one of the top seo companies in Pakistan, , we make sure we provide you with the best in best SEO in Pakistan. We can safely say, you will not find any better digital marketing services than our’s, as we are the best locally and have left our footprint globally as well. We will strategize your SEO campaign based on the size of your business as well the project or product hand because every brand’s need varies. We know that, and we strive hard to tailor our planning and execution according to your needs. CVOLX is professional SEO company in Pakistan, and has been in the business for over a decade now. In that time, we have learned by doing, our team has expanded, and our services have multiplied. Speaking of services let us fill you in on a little about our services that we offer you - our clients. Why is search engine optimization (SEO) SEO important? Search engine optimization is the way forward as everything today is becoming digital. In this day and age where every brick and mortar establishment is seeking to maintain their presence online, expert SEO services and techniques can come in real handy. The idea is to rank your business in the top 5 of any search engine results page aka (SERP). For that to happen, your website or webpage must appear at top position on (mainly) Google and Bing. At CVOLX, we help you with technical SEO practices so that search engines crawl your website effortlessly and present it to your target customers. Onsite SEO and offsite SEO are both imperative to rankings. The former will make your website search engine friendly, and the latter focuses on promotional activities to further push your business website in the online sphere. How can CVOLX SEO Services company help? SEO is not a cakewalk. It requires careful planning and timing for a campaign to be successful. Any brand or company that relies on SEO cannot simply expect results overnight. CVOLX is one of the top search engine optimization firms for small and large companies, and is well versed in the domain of ranking in Google and related services. Our SEO agency services explained SEO is not only concerned with managing your brand’s presence organically in an online world rather it is a bundle of services which supports one another. Let us take detailed look at some of these aspects. Social media The importance of social media cannot be denied. Today Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter and Google+ among other social media networks are helping brands multiply their revenues and enhance user engagement. Moreover, when you engage socially with your desired audience, you are embedding an element of trust in their hearts and minds. Say Twitter, replying to a tweet from an annoyed customer can do wonders for your brand in addition to ranking organically. Email (marketing) Email is another domain. When the visitors sign up on your website, it is your duty to offer them something valuable. Asking for their email simply and not providing them anything useful is rude. That is where email marketing steps in. when a user registers on your website, in order to drive conversion, offer him a free ebook pertaining to your niche or a newsletter filling him on the latest developments in the industry. This way he does not feel left out and eventually tries out what you have to offer. Content (marketing) At every point in time, you will notice that good content is a must. No matter which channel you employ, be it social media or email, well crafted content will only bring you results. In other words, good copy is what will make your endeavours worthwhile. This can be understood in the way that when you read a tweet or view an instagram post, you notice how engaging the text is or what does the caption state beneath it, that captures your attention. This is equally true for Facebook posts as well as LinkedIn. Brands and influencers alike, leverage content to the maximum to gain followers and customers or else, a user will not bother. Web/ Website design and development CVOLX’s SEO services have made sure that your business’s online presence is covered end-to-end. And web design is at the helm of your brand management. A good web design ensures that your user stays on your website and interacts with the website. It is the web design which is responsible for seamless navigation, menus placement, page load time and speed, in addition to colors, font sizes and overall features of your website. If all these elements are properly addressed, you can expect a winning combination of website design and SEO. Paid search or PPC Just like SEO, there is paid search. As the name implies, you have to pay make your presence noticeable. While SEO takes time for your landing pages, blogs and website to rank, with paid search or pay-per click advertising you can rank these instantly. All you have to do is bid on your preferred industry keywords and the rest will be taken care of by us at our SEO service company, CVOLX. However, paid search is not for everybody especially if you are a startup or a small scale business. Medium and large business have the budgets and they can even take a hit if paid search fails or decent results fail to materialize. For any other business, it could mean a hefty hit out of their budgets. Ecommerce If your entity specializes in ecommerce, then you are in luck. At CVOLX SEO Services company, we also employ CRM platforms such as WooCommerce, Magento and Shopify to enable our clients to get the best in ecommerce website. Coupled with our prowess in SEO, your business will take off in the least possible time! So the above was a bit about what services we offer in addition to best local SEO services in Karachi for our clients. Some info on our digital marketing team Our team is comprised of seasoned digital marketers that involves content producers, social media marketers, paid search managers, SEO experts, web developers, graphic designers and animators. Rest assured, our team is what any best SEO company of the world would work with and we can confidently say that CVOLX is among the top 10 seo firms in Pakistan. The individuals pack years of experience and can handle any task assigned by our client professionally and will execute them to perfection! What do we charge? Pricing is the key element that any client prefers to go in detail. We have designed packages that will suit your needs and business size. You can have our SEO services coupled with any of our other services mentioned above. That was a little something about me and my journey to be one of the agency’s offering the best search engine optimization in Pakistan. That being said, patience and perseverance pay off in the long run. The best thing anyone can do to be successful is to always consider themselves students and keep learning while staying humble. In my time of being connected to the online field over 4 years, I have seen many fake ass gurus in all fields and they get caught sooner or later. I will also write in another article about how I was scammed by one of the top sites of the world offering one of the best SEO tools names Xrumer. Written on my phone, might edit this later. Thank you for reading. Cheers! Read the full article

[shadowtearling]

Why is Booklr dead? A question of interactivity within the community

I've seen so many posts complaining about how booklr is dead and there's no one on it anymore, yet I rarely see posts about what we can all do to improve Booklr's dying state. Well first, let's answer that question. Why is booklr dead/dying? My answer: passive consumption of user-generated content. The book community is amazing because of the amazing discussions we get to have with one another. So many members of this community continuously contribute creative ideas and content. People write fanfiction & headcanons, create moodboards & aesthetics, draw/paint fanart, etc. While we can appreciate those creations, I think there's not enough conversations going on (or there are but they're highly exclusive). We don't talk to each other! ( Of course there's other factors as to why people are leaving, namely harassment and bullying (don't even bother talking to me if you're doing to equate proper critiquing of literature to bullying because no). This is a highly nuanced problem that can't be solved easily because despite our own best interests, there will be people out there who choose to do ugly things. But that's for another post. ) Booklr is dead because we just reblog what we happen to think is pretty and would go with a certain theme. We think far too much in terms of aesthetics (which isn't a bad thing, I love pretty things). However, if we really want to keep this community going, we need to talk to each other more! And not just sending anon asks to the Big Blogs™. This includes reblogging & responding someone's post whenever they ask questions or whenever they talk about something you think is interesting. What about answering questions whenever someone puts it in their captions of pictures? Community means interaction! Let's start talking to each other again. We also place such a high value in creating the perfect content. In reality, any form of interaction suffices. You don't have to post the most captivating pictures to be part of this community, you don't have to make edits or write an entire novel of headcanons. Our blogs are personal, but why is our content so depersonalized? We think too much in terms of numbers. Community isn't about who has the most followers. The blogs with the most followers tend to also have really depersonalized blogs, and I often find myself continuously seeking better blogs to follow. Sometimes your favorite blog maybe that person with 75 followers. It's not about that number, it's about their presence and how and what they contribute to the community. Big Blogs™ aren't and shouldn't be intimidating, either. They're just people like us. There's literally no rules set in stone with who you can and cannot interact. Just jump in on a post and start talking! Or send asks without being prompted. Take initiative, my dudes. Booklr will continue to die if all we ever will do is complain that it's dying. We gotta make an effort, y'all. If you want people to post things, you gotta start because no one else will. In the famous words of Shia LaBeouf "JUST DO IT!"

[victorluvsalice]

It’s Day 3 of the Emmett-Nikal portion of our Newcrest Adventures, and -- well, it’s definitely not summer for our happy couple. In fact, the weather outside could be said to be frightful! No fire to be delightful, though -- they prefer to spend their money on lab equipment. XD But yeah, it was something approaching a winter wonderland out there, so how did our couple choose to spend their time before heading to work?

Well, Emmett mainly bonded with Einstein and played Incredible Sports on the computer, but Nikal had a rather busier morning. To whit:

-->She upgraded her computer -- and yes, apparently in Sims world, you can do that while the damn thing is still on

-->She practiced her magic for a while (Practical Magic -- didn’t yield any new spells or anything, though)

-->And she went ice skating!

In her pajamas.

On an openly-freezing day.

Yeaaah, I was expecting her to change into something warmer straight away, but nope. Skated around until she turned blue, then got off the rink and changed into her cold-weather wear! Got the “better get her inside” danger pop-up and everything! So that was a little worrying. . .fortunately, getting her home, into a hot shower, then some heat-themed clothes seemed to do the trick. XD

Yup, all that before work! But who did we follow to another day at FutureSims labs?

(Oh -- and it looks like the captions might not be working again! *sigh* Well, you guys tell me if you can see them on this post. I won’t bother with the others until I know they’re visible SOMEWHERE.)

[asrarblog]

 Dear Colleagues!  This is Pharma Veterans Blog Post #267. Pharma Veterans shares the wealth of knowledge and wisdom of Veterans for the benefit of Pharma Community. Pharma Veterans Blog is published by Asrar Qureshi on WordPress, the top blog site. If you wish to share your stories, ideas and thoughts, please email to asrar@asrarqureshi.com for publishing your contributions here.

This article is about realizing our potential; a subject which is often talked but less practiced.

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We should start by understanding ‘Potential’. Potential is the raw talent that we have. Since it is just the material, it must be developed, refined and groomed to make it usable as a skill. Potential is different from the special natural ability that few people have; in ready to use form, such as drawing, painting, singing etc. This is called Natural Talent, which is a gift that some lucky people have. For everyone else, it is the raw components that must be chiseled and assembled to get the tool ready. As the majority falls in this category, it is not a relative disadvantage or handicap.

How do we know what do we have? We can take help from Mentors, Teachers and Seniors in order to understand our potential. We can do it ourselves by getting informed on the subject and trying to understand ourselves as objectively as we could.

Great work has been done by several researchers. My particular favorite is the series on the concept of Strengths which started with the book ‘First Break All The Rules’ (Gallup Press, 1999) by Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman. It was followed by ‘Now, Discover Your Strengths’ (Gallup Press, 2001). Seven more books followed on this subject. The Marcus Buckingham Company (TMBC) ran a full time Strengths Campus and offered various programs.

When we cut through the thick commercial package, the core concept is amazingly simple. It tells you to identify (and how to identify) your major strengths; and then put them to use.

I wish it was as easy in practice as well. Being a firm believer (and hence ardent supporter) of the ‘Strengths’ concept, I have promoted it to many people. I have offered them a summary which is more than a preview. I have tried to motivate them, push them and move them to go into this direction. It is not out of the love of TMBC; it is for the love of people.

I do see a huge amount of wastage around us. Good boys, girls, men and women are getting wasted due to lack of understanding of what they are capable of doing. Each one of them has a fair amount of potential, which if put to proper use will bring them success, prosperity, satisfaction and happiness. Unfortunately, it does not happen that way. I have actually spent a good deal of time and energy on some people to steer them out of the directionless life to the right direction. With a heavy heart I report that I had rather limited success in most cases. There have been couple of exceptions, but they are too few to give any satisfaction.

Why is it as bad as it is? Is it really so difficult to understand and practice self-development? I understand that the following barriers may stop most people.

Focus on Short Term: There is a growing tendency to look at everything in short/ very short term only. There are many Rationalizations for this; uncertain economic conditions, social pressures, gains as measured by others and early, visible success are probably the main ones. It is a universal trend but more so in Pakistan as we are constantly suffering in all areas.

Impatience for Results: Another alarmingly increasing trait is the impatience about getting somewhere; don’t-know-where. Why toil around when you can become a millionaire in days; don’t bother about the legitimacy and correctness. Although the life expectancy has increased significantly, but our expectations from life have gone much higher and bigger.

Insensitivity about Ethics: So much is happening all over the world, which is unethical, immoral and improper that our sensitivity on the subject has numbed. People get away with virtually everything, everywhere, every day. What matters is material gain because the world will judge you on that. This sentiment overrides all other sentiments about people, relations and morality.

Lack of Understanding: Some people actually cannot appreciate the need for self-development. This arises from a lack of understanding about human potential and place in this world. There is a segment of population in all countries who live at sub-human level. It is really unreasonable to expect appreciation about finer side of life from this segment.

Lack of Will: Probably more common than we like to admit, lack of will is a huge barrier. We give ourselves all kinds of concessions, allowances and relaxations to avoid working on self-improvement. It is similar to being overweight and eating more to gain rather than doing something to reduce it. We know we need to change but sheer lack of will prevents us from doing anything.

I do not contest the validity and appropriateness of any of the above; there may be times when one or more of these reasons may be truly and justifiably applicable. It is also not my intention to criticize anyone for doing or not doing this or that.

Self-development is a worth pursuing goal, as it will changes our life trajectory. It brings self-fulfillment, growth, excellence, success, prosperity and happiness in life.

I request, humbly and earnestly, to all who read this or hear this; just do these three things.

LOOK INSIDE YOURSELF, FIND YOUR TRUE POTENTIAL, AND START PUTTING IT TO USE.

Realizing Our Potential – Blog Post #267 by Asrar Qureshi  Dear Colleagues!  This is Pharma Veterans Blog Post #267. Pharma Veterans shares the wealth of knowledge and wisdom of Veterans for the benefit of Pharma Community.