#i also tend to get to replies for other blogs faster than general replies cos i feel bad if i kept the other person waiting for too long

[thenationaltreasuregazette]

The podcast assumed that Patrick lived outside of Philly because the location tagline in the film was mis-timed. They would know that if they'd even bothered to watch the commentary.

It has occurred to me that in my judgement of that podcast's lack of research, I accidentally also cast judgement on you for not knowing the explanation as well. I do apologize! I appreciate the work you put into your blog! I have long been frustrated with the lack thereof on that podcast and their adament denial of other perspectives. I spoke harshly without realizing the implications.

Hi anon!

First of all, 0 worries! I did not take it that way, and if this has anything to do with my response time, please know I tend to get back to things in

But let's talk about Patrick's house!

As I mentioned, I've only listened to the first, maybe three episodes of the National Treasure Hunt podcast. That is not necessarily a reflection on the podcast, I just only really have space in my life and brain for one (1) podcast at a time and for the past few years it's been Scriptnotes.

I think it's awesome that there even is a National Treasure podcast. They even had some of the writers on? As someone who spends Too Much Time Thinking About National Treasure™ I think it is immensely cool that two whole other people also wanted to spend Too Much Time Thinking About National Treasure™ to the point of making, at the time of writing this, 80 episodes of a podcast about it!

That said, yeah I was surprised by how adamantly the hosts believed, at least in the episodes that I listened too, that Patrick's house is outside of Philadelphia, not outside of D.C. That just...doesn't track with the film the way I'm reading its conventions of establishing time and place.

Let's explore.

The first mention of Ben's dad comes in minute 55 when Ben says:

BEN Yeah, but I didn't think I was gonna personally have to tell my dad about it.

From there the film cuts to the FBI entering Ben's apartment and finding the Silence Dogood letters, then jumps off the letters to Ian's crew figuring out the Silence is a name, then returns to the FBI so they can tell us what the Silence Dogood letters are. Only then do we cut to Team Treasure pulling up outside of Patrick's house.

So I get it, a lot is going on.

There's also this exchange:

RILEY Well, how long do you think we got? BEN I'm gonna give them a couple of hours at least. I hope.

I see how this could be interpreted to mean that Ben and Co have already traveled a couple of hours away from where the FBI is searching, thus giving them the lead. I don't think that's correct though, for a few reasons.

Mainly, as we discussed in the timeline articles, the FBI can travel much faster by helicopter than Ben and the gang can travel by car. So even though narratively it has to be Sadusky arriving at the house--it can't be some new person from the Philadelphia field office, that's not satisfying--that can very plausibly happen.

I interpret that buffer to be the amount of time Ben thinks/hopes it will take the FBI to track down who his father is and where he lives. Remember it's 2004, so everyone's lives are less public than they are now. Ben hasn't spoken to his father in some time, so it's not like they'll have a bunch of phone records connecting Ben to a landline at Patrick's address or anything like that. It will take them some research to identify Patrick and find out were he is.

But also, nothing else suggests that we have left the setting of D.C. that we're currently in. It's the same general time (night) and the characters are in the same clothes. There's also no chyron telling us we've changed times or places. None of the film language here is suggesting that we've changed locations.

Then Team Treasure reveals the cypher, and Ben asks for the letters. Patrick replies:

PATRICK I don't have them. BEN Where are they? PATRICK I donated them to the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia. BEN Time to go.

The introduction of "Philadelphia" here is a new concept to the story. Before this moment, everything post-Charlotte has taken place in Washington D.C. It would be unusual if we were supposed to already know the characters were now outside of Philadelphia when this pronouncement takes place. If we were--and if they were already nearby--I think it's less likely that Patrick would say "in Philadelphia" at the end of his statement. If they're near Philly, then it would just be "I donated them to the Franklin Institute" for the same reason the chyron outside the FBI building only reads "J. Edgar Hoover FBI Building" not "J. Edgar Hoover FBI Building, Washington D.C." Because the movie has firmly established that we are in Washington D.C. already.

Also, I'm supposed to believe a movie built on montages of American iconography is going to let us transition to a new city without at least one establishing shot?

And finally, Philadelphia is introduced as a problem for Ben. If they are outside of Philadelphia it's annoying, sure, and they'll still need to send Riley, but it's less of a race against the clock than if they're in D.C. If they're still in Washington when Patrick says this, then not only will they have to find a way to examine the letters without being spotted, but they're now also looking at a 2 1/2 hour drive they haven't planned for. And at least to me, that's what the movie is implying: that a whole additional leg of this journey has been added.

In defense of the podcasters, and anyone else who reads the film this way, I don't think you should have to listen to the commentary to understand a change in location. The film should be readable on its own.

Buuuuuut I do still think it's an unusual way to read the film, given the conventions for changing location we're shown throughout the movie, and in film language in general.

For good measure, let's look at all the chyrons and location changes.

The movie opens with the chyron "Washington, D.C 1974." This is important because we have no establishing shot to tell us about the time or the place, and it's important to know it's a flashback. As for D.C., that sets the stage for the theme of the movie and gets us thinking "American government, American history."

It also suggests to me that Ben's family has always lived in Washington D.C., because he, his grandfather, and the OG Gates all did, so why wouldn't Patrick?

The Arctic Circle gets one, because we are dramatically changing times and places.

Washington D.C. doesn't get another chyron when Ben and Riley return there, but a montage of the National Mall over the soaring NatTreas score makes it very clear where we are. The chyrons for the FBI building and the National Archives follow shortly after.

There isn't another chyron until the gang is headed into Philadelphia via the Ben Franklin Bridge, again with recognizable iconography to back it up.

This clearly suggests--to me anyway--that they have not moved out of the D.C. area until now. And the rest of the film language reinforces this. D.C. has been the heist and gala sequences at night; Philadelphia is the Independence Hall sequence in the daytime. The time of day changes, the costumes change, and the objective changes. We've moved from "get the Declaration" to "find the treasure." These all suggest a clear division of the film into segments, and having the team already have traveled to PA in the dark would muddy that otherwise very neat divide.

One last theory

Finally, I think there's one more piece of evidence that Patrick's house is in D.C....I think it's the same house from the beginning of the movie.

Granted, I have no direct evidence for this, but I do have subtext.

Next time?

Oh and if it makes anybody feel better, Patrick's house does get a chyron in Book of Secrets.

These two shots are shown back go back. It would completely go against film conventions to show a chyron for D.C. and then jump to somewhere that is not D.C., therefore Patrick's house is pretty definitively in or around Washington D.C.

Thank you so much for your asks, anon! I hope this was fun, and I'm glad you appreciate my blog. Feel free to send another any time.

Also, I will put the commentary on my radar for future articles!

[theunconcernedembalmer]

Toko! I was thinking of creating an ask the character blog for IDV or Genshin Impact and wanted a few tips on how to start off. Anything you can share?

ey yo my dude!! thank you so much for this question, now im lowkey tempted (again) to make a genshin ask blog sjadhlkshgkahshglsaj anyway my 1.5 cents is under the cut, yall know how much i talk here HAHAHAHAH

uhhhhhh so i guess we start with picking a character u really Vibe with tm? I KNOW THIS SOUNDS LIKE COMMON SENSE BUT LIKE ive been considering making a genshin ask blog for a while now but i never really got to it cos i couldnt really decide on a character (plus the fact that their outfits are. so intricate. is also a hmm since i try to follow details to a t) (at first i wanted to do zhongli, but i feel like to be able to muse him well u need to know the lore super super well, which i dont n im too lazy to research on that aha. n u know how much i respect characterizations, especially for such a complex character like him. i also considered xiangling for a period of time mostly for guoba but also like i have 2+1 blogs here n having one more might not be a very good idea aha) (as for aesop he was my Hyperfixation Character tm also cos i looked at his kit n went Yep i could work with this. probably)

so assuming ur not a dumbass like me n u kinda know who u wanna pick, id actually say to snoop around here for other ask blogs n kinda get a feel of the... scene? is that the word? or like u know, other blogs that u can potentially vibe with. ive run a couple of ask blogs before this current one (both that have died for different reasons) n from my experience interacting with other blogs (if theyre okay with it, i think most should be) is pretty fun. it also kinda helps get ur blog around to other ppl on other blogs so they can go Oh whats this cool shit n check u out, n its also a reason why we kinda reblog promo posts for other blogs (also cos we’re always excited when someone new comes on, its really the more the merrier. we see all :eyes:). interacting with other blogs is also an option when ur inbox is looking real roomy too

another reason why i havent exactly done a genshin blog is that idk i cant actually seem to find genshin ask blogs around (i have seen rp blogs, or those that answer asks with mostly text instead of art, but thats. not my thing since i hate my own writing aha) (i did find one aether blog some time ago, but for some reason i hardly see them around anymore??? idk man i might be wrong). its not like im trying super hard to find them ask blogs, so im sure they exist out there (hopefully?? im not sure but im being optimistic). i mean theres nothing wrong with just starting an ask blog without others around, but for me i do find a difference when i interact with other ask blogs n when i dont, n i prefer when theres others to have fun with (unfortunately i couldnt find any ask blogs to interact with in my previous fandom. i tried, but the blogs i approached seemed to go inactive shortly afterwards...) plus u get to meet friends that way too :D (i made a lot of friends via idv askblogs n its really been a joy vibing with others)

as for the idv scene. gestures around me. unfortunately there are a lot of ask blogs that arent that active anymore, but theres still some of us who are alive n kicking empty inboxes, n im sure everyone would love to see a new face around. winks at u. also there seems to be a lot more blogs popping up lately, which is really heartening to see.

then u kinda just. make ur blog? n a starting introduction post so ppl can reblog it n spread the word XD n yay u have a blog i guess??? XD

i gotta say tho. dont expect ur blog to take off immediately (especially for smaller fandoms like idv, tvbh i didnt think my blog would even get half this far when i started cos of how non existent idv tumblr seemed to be) n ur inbox will probably be looking pretty empty a lot of the time (or at least filled with some that u havent quite thought of how to reply to yet aha) (but also like empty inboxes happen pretty often, im sure most of us here have experienced this problem)

in the case of the first ask blog i ever started, it never really took off at all. ngl it was kind of demoralizing n depressing but to be fair i had picked one of the more obscure characters in the series, so obscure that many ppl in the fandom would have never heard of this character before. if u wanted to know, i took a character that only appeared in the 2nd musical of the series, who also made a very brief cameo in the manga to acknowledge his existence within that universe. thats how obscure my character was, but i went with him purely because he was my favourite character. i will say though i did enjoy it while it lasted n i learnt a lot from the experience, n i think thats whats important really.

i guess this kinda leads on (not really but let me digress) to the whole uhhhh thing where if u choose a more popular character, u get more attention. which is fine i guess? if u really vibe with the character, i mean theyre popular for a reason. n choosing a more popular fandom (like genshin) would objectively also get u more viewers n numbers. but like honestly i believe that ask blogs are meant for u to have fun with, n like trying to get popular gets tiring pretty fast (this shouldnt be like a main goal, but u know sometimes u subconsciously also want that gucci follower count n bomb ass notes or something. i used to be guilty of this until i realized it isnt worth it) especially if ur not enjoying yourself in the process. (case in point: my previous fandom was considerably larger n my blog got about 700 followers within a year or so, but it got very tiring n stressful to maintain after my interest in it died, n no one was really interacting with the blog even though i tried which kinda made it even more depressing despite the so called success n popularity of the blog)

anyway on a less serious note, theres a lot of fun stuff u can do with the ask blog, like some ask blogs have really fancy tags that i really like n try to do but also like not really HAHAHAHA. i kinda just channel what i want to see in an ask blog into my own ask blogs (good art is one, i try very hard for it to be good :,DD another is characterization, n others is just extra miscellaneous arts n stuffs like au ideas or memes. these are also somethings u could work on during ask box downtimes perhaps)

uhhh another side thing is like a posting schedule i guess? like ppl would be more likely to interact (i think) if ur blog is relatively active, n this is usually determined by the last post u made (i think XD). but like generally for blog maintenence id say try to kinda find a frequency that ur comfortable with?? cos i know my once a day posting is kinda insane if i wasnt so hyperfixated on all of this n fight the urge to dump all ur replies when u finish them XD (though ive seen some blogs do that n they do it pretty frequently so its pretty nice to know once u see their post u can spend some time going through the latest batch of posts XD) the queue function is pretty useful here even though i truthfully have never really used it, i kinda just post from my drafts really but it also helps to space out ur content to seem somewhat active especially when u dont have the time to be working on replies sometimes. i hope u know what im trying to say here aha

ANYWAY that was like my 1.5 cents cos i dont even think its worth 2 cents HAHAHAHAH these are just my thoughts from running all my blogs up till now, some that are still running n the others that have just died a natural death. i wouldnt actually delete them (theyre still around actually XD) cos theyre kinda like archives n i can look back at what i did last time. cos ngl i made some high quality stuff back then, n i dont even know how i managed to do that aldhflhdsgk. also ppl do look at archive blogs every now n then for the content thats there yknow

BUT YES anyway if u do decide to join the idv ask blogs hmu, ill be sure to give u a lil shoutout here. winks

[suchawonderfullife]

4. My Catalyst- The power of a kind gesture

How I stumbled across this treatment center is a little weird as I wasn’t actively searching for treatment overseas, actually it wasn’t even in my thought process. However, I believe the universe gives you everything at the right time, when you’re truely ready and everything is a stepping stone to where you are supposed to be. When something is meant for you, the universe will give you a little tap on the shoulder, if you don’t listen it’ll send you the same message, but maybe with a clip around the ear. If you fail to hear THAT message, the universe will actually punch you in the face and tell you to wake the fuck up. It’s physics ;) haha. 

So around 3 and a half years ago when I started seeing my holistic Dr (the one who cured himself of Lyme) and I was only a few appointments in, there were stories of Lyme on shows like A Current Affair. With patients who were gravely ill and had travelled to Germany for hyperthermia treatment. They were claiming to have great success with this treatment and had got their life back. My parents and I were like holy shit! Maybe I should go to Germany?

We spoke to my CFS Dr and natural Dr about it and both BEGGED me not to go. They said “don’t do it, it’ll destroy you and we will be left to mop up the mess” (not kill me, but in laymen's terms they meant- it’ll fuck you up!). I joined groups on Facebook of these specific clinics and started researching, but something also didn’t sit right with me about it. It’s a controversial treatment, quite harsh on the body, with no long term documentation of what it does to your organs 5, 10, 20 years post-treatment. It also ONLY targets the Borrelia Burgdorferi bacteria (lyme disease), but with lyme you carry multiple co-infections. I have at least 4 co-infections that are just as destructive as the lyme. So I blow $50-$70K to only kill the Borrelia and I’m still stuck with the other co-infections. I sat with this dilemma for a while as I watched my friends go overseas and read many testimonials and anecdotal experiences in the Facebook groups. The general consensus (in my opinion) was not good. I do not recommend this treatment for long-term chronic patients like myself. It has helped SOME people, but in comparison to the one’s who come back sicker, or originally improved but who relapse, I don’t believe it is worth the risk. A family friend also had this treatment for cancer and does not recommend it as it did permanent damage to one of their organs. They were mortified when my parents said they had considered sending me there. The only other clinics I knew overseas were the mainstream one’s that pump you full of antibiotics and there is no way I was going to do that. 

A year ago, a friend on Facebook sent me a message notifying me of a “Lyme Summit” taking part in America. I’d never heard of it. And can I just add, this lady (named Jennifer- thank you beautiful lady) is an acquaintance, someone I have met once in real life. She went out of her way to tell me about this summit out of the goodness of her own heart. This summit was the catalyst for this entire journey and my potential to now get better. So don’t underestimate the power of a kind gesture and thinking of someone else. I looked it up and it was a week of interviews with highly regarded Dr’s in America who treat Lyme in various ways, sharing their findings and treatment methods. I could have paid a small fee to have access to the 5-6 interviews playing each day, or I could pay $100 to have access to the 30+ interviews to listen to whenever I want. So I paid the $100. The summit was fantastic. It was mainly holistic Dr’s talking about detoxing, diet, FIR saunas, Vit C infusions and holistic treatment centres. This is where I heard from a Dr. who works at the Lifeworks Wellness Centre. His theory on Lyme residing in the mouth, jaw and teeth is something I had heard before. So they have a dentist working on patients as part of their treatment, coupled with holistic methods I have also heard good things about. 

I started researching this clinic and corresponding with them. It was like a light bulb went off in my brain. I didn’t know centres like this existed and this is what I needed to get better. I started discussing my plans with my partner and parents. Only problem was that going to America to this clinic would cost me anywhere between $40-$70k. So we would have to fundraise. We created a gofundme and I continued to speak to past patients, the clinic itself and do my own research. My hesitations with this clinic were that they required you to stay for 1-3 months (they wouldn’t know how long until you arrived), so being an overseas patient made this tricky. Furthermore, some of their treatment methods (IV minerals and Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy) do not have long-term evidence of sustainable recovery. People do tend to feel better with these treatment initially, but I want to know if 5,10, 20 years later I’m still better. I can’t find the evidence. I still had mostly positive feedback and a good feeling about this place though, so I do recommend people look it up (and it is still my second choice of clinic). 

I told another Lyme friend of my plans and she is the “go to” person for treatment advice. She said “have you looked into the Hansa Center? I met a lady who went there and she is doing really well because of it.” I had never heard of it, but my mind was already pretty set on the Lifeworks Wellness Center. I can be stubborn sometimes. I did look them up, but I wasn’t well enough to read and absorb all their information. So I had a quick glance and joined their mailing list, couldn’t hurt I thought. Our fundraising and planning was taking off and I was pretty set on Lifeworks. 

I started getting emails from the Hansa Center as they send out a regular newsletter with some sort of health related article attached that’s written by one of their Dr’s. The first piece they sent me was about how they treat Lyme Disease and that conventional Lyme Treatment is like treating a house with termites. If you simply eradicate the Lyme, you are left with a badly damaged house on the inside, that must be repaired. They elaborated on their belief of repairing the body as a whole so that it is able to fight for itself, rather than simply flushing out the disease. The disease or diagnosis is actually irrelevant to them, as they focus on rebuilding what has been damaged so that the disease can no longer thrive. This made so much sense to me as it everything my natural Dr has been doing with me and believes in. So I started doing some more research on the clinic. 

Dr. Jernigan (the head of the Hansa Center) has a blog. I found his blog and started reading more of his articles. I watched their seminars on youtube and the information they were providing was amazing. One of the Drs explained in a seminar how they created their own herbal remedy that kills lyme bacteria. They then compared it to antibiotics that kill Lyme. He said the way to measure the rate at which the bacteria is dying is through the urine, as the dead bacteria is excreted that way. They showed a chart which indicated the patients that used the herbal remedy extracted 10x more dead lyme bacteria, than the patients on antibiotics. How incredible is that? Another seminar talked about research showing that every virus you have ever had in your body is never fully eradicated. It was something like 95% gets killed off, but there is a small % that never leaves the body and it can all be traced in your saliva (something like that, I read it a while ago). That includes every cold you’ve ever had, not just serious viruses. So if your goal with Lyme Disease is to simply kill all the bacteria by antibiotics or herbals that flush it out, yet you don’t repair what’s wrong with your body (which is how the illness was able to thrive in the first place), you will never get better. Your body is physically incapable of eradicating any virus 100%. 

So I researched this place more. I messaged every patient who left a review on their Facebook page to ask if they’d share their experience with me. About 6 replied and were happy to answer my questions. I was looking for patients who had been treated there at least 2-3 years ago and were still in good health. I wanted to know their level of health before they went compared to their level of health now. Some patients might say they’re “so much better”, but if they arrived at 5% health, an improvement to 50% might be their idea of “so much better,” which doesn’t help me. I wanted concrete, tangible, anecdotal evidence. And I certainly got it. All of those 6 people were doing very well and highly recommended going there. Some were working full time, running in fun runs, back at school full time and simply able to live a normal life again free of such immense suffering. 

I also spoke to a woman from my own city who was treated there. We spoke on the phone. In all honesty, she relapsed from mold poisoning. I then messaged the clinic in a panic thinking I need to treat my mold poisoning before I go, or I won’t respond properly to the treatment. Dr. Jernigan replied to me personally with a very long explanation as to why that’s not needed and his reasoning was quite correct (in my opinion). He explained the reasons she may have relapsed. He acknowledged that mold poisoning is quite difficult to treat but they do treat it if it comes up as one of my top 10 health problems. He also explained that if I simply focus on one thing at a time, the mold, then the lyme, then the heavy metals, then this then that etc, I will be treating myself forever. For how complex I and many others in my position are, it is impractical. What they do is repair the body as a whole, so that I will return to health faster. Lots of people carry the Lyme bacteria, are exposed to mold and have heavy metals in their systems from vaccines and environment exposures, yet they never get sick. It’s my body systems that are the problem, not the outside entities that have contributed to me becoming so sick. 

Moreover, in regards to the woman who relapsed after treatment at Hansa, I don’t know this woman personally and there are many reasons why she may have relapsed that have nothing to do with the clinic and the care they provided. I have to look at this in an objective manner. Some people (not saying particularly this person) don’t follow advice or treatment protocols, re-expose themselves to mold or other toxins they are already poisoned with and every bodies chemistry and illnesses are so complex and different. So I can’t simply look at one person who didn’t get better, next to over a handful who did and assume the treatment mustn’t work. She still highly recommended the clinic and said it helped her a lot. Hansa doesn’t promise to “cure” you either. They have an 85% success rate in patients responding positively to their treatment. A small minority do not respond for whatever reason. That’s why it’s so important to do your research. 

Moreover, I think getting better will be a life long journey for me. I don’t expect to go to a clinic for a few weeks, be made better and be able to do whatever I want (i.e. eat bad food, drink, not get enough sleep, push my body further than it is capable). I expect to go to a clinic and have them jump-start my recovery, but I will be working hard for a long time and then having to maintain habits of detoxing, medications and lifestyle choices many people wouldn’t ever need to consider or have probably heard of. 

I then had to break the news to my parents that I’d found a different and better clinic (for me). This was going to make me appear flimsy and indecisive. My parents were (understandably) hesitant and a little closed off to the idea of a different clinic. They then did their own research and saw what I saw. The beliefs and morals of this clinic were exactly what my natural Dr had been telling me for the last 3 years. They also didn’t offer HBOT or IV minerals (good, because I can’t find the long term benefit in that), they don’t do dentistry (to my disappointment), but they offered a list of holistic and natural detoxing and healing methods that are in alignment with what I’ve responded well to here. They also have over 1,000 natural remedies and tailor make your supplements to exactly what your body needs. OH! And they treat patients with the same brand of essential oils I’ve been using for the last 2 years. They’re speaking my language. 

So I emailed the clinic and asked for more information. They sent me their patient intake form. This was lengthy, over 10 pages from memory. I had to give very detailed information on my illnesses. I also had to write a 1 page essay on my experience with my health. I remember constantly checking my email, just waiting for their reply. Something inside me just wanted this so bad, like my heart and soul and entire being knew this is what I needed and I was desperate to be accepted. A few days later at around 1am (my time), I received a reply and opened it nervously. They had accepted my application and believed I was a suitable fit for their treatment program. I was ecstatic and relieved. I had found my answer. This is the place I will go to get better and I will do whatever it takes to get there. 

Then began the planning of when I would leave and what this trip would entail. It would mean a minimum of 2 trips to the clinic over a 6 month period. We settled on going around May for the first trip and November for the second (had to be worked around family members life events also). I worked out the cost of 2 trips would come to around $57,000 and how long it would take me to save that kind of money. Upon much number crunching and working out time frames and logistics, my parents agreed the best idea was for my partner and I to move back home with them to save money. I cannot tell you how grateful I am to have such supportive and selfless parents and a partner who would sacrifice so much for me to get treatment. 

October last year (7 months ago), we left our current house the minute our lease was up and made the big move to 77km away, back to my parents. This was a major task that took several months of planning and left me with significant pay back for weeks after. My research hasn’t stopped either. I’ve read blogs, medical forums and spoken to more patients. I’ve probably read posts from over 50 different people detailing their experiences. All it does is constantly re-affirm my decision that this clinic is my best shot at recovery. 

I also recently read another article of Dr. Jernigan’s that’s about what to expect on your first appointment at Hansa. When they conduct all their tests, work out what’s wrong with you and the best methods of treatment. He talked about your health being like a vault and that you need to find the right 10 digit combination to unlock that vault. Some Dr’s are great at what they do (like my natural Dr), but they may only be able to give you 1 or 2 numbers to the combination. That’s why I got to 50% health and I can’t get above that. My natural Dr is brilliant at what he does, but he can’t fix all of me. My CFS Dr is also brilliant, the testing I’ve accessed thanks to him has helped me understand exactly what’s wrong with me and I’ve been fortunate to have access to medications that have improved my quality of life dramatically. However, being that he is a mainstream Dr, he is more along the lines of understanding what is wrong with me and treating symptoms with medication, rather than being able to fix and heal my body long term. I don’t think any mainstream Dr has the capacity to fix me in that way anyway. 

Dr. Jernigan also talked about that every time you try a new treatment that doesn’t work, you do damage to your body that then has to be repaired on top of your already sick body. This is why I cannot keep throwing money at this treatment and this Dr and this special kind of water and this pill that gives you energy. It’s not going to work for me. I’ve tried so much already (believe me, like a SHITLOAD of treatments, not just 2 or 3 things, I’m talking DOZENS) and it hasn’t worked. It’s been 12 years and I’m tired of being sick and spending thousands every month on simply existing or trialling something that I really can’t afford and doesn’t end up working anyway. I need a team of Dr’s in a highly specialised clinic that can look at EVERYTHING and know exactly where things went wrong and how to repair it. No Dr in Australia will be able to do that. But the Hansa Center can :) :) :) :) 

*NOTE: Do not take anything I’ve said about the clinic or the Dr’s as verbatim. I am merely “quoting” them from my own interpretation and memory of what I have read or heard, so not all facts may be entirely accurate.*

[douchebagbrainwaves]

WHAT NO ONE UNDERSTANDS ABOUT CHANCE

The thing about languages, though, that all other things being equal, a company that found a way to choose a good language. Not quite so dominant as it had been one of the secrets of success. But if they made as little now as they did then, in real dollar terms, they'd seem like small fry compared to professional athletes and whiz kids making millions from startups and hedge funds. I wouldn't claim it's painless. There is no boss to trick, only users, and sources of new ideas. I was trying to make things happen for them on purpose rather than by accident, the frequency of helpful chance meetings in the Valley is so high that it's still a significant increment on what we can deliver. I'm still not sure whether he thought AI was nonsense and that majoring in something rigorous would cure me of such stupid ambitions. I know many people who switched from math to computer science because they found math too hard, and no one who has more experience at trying to predict that, so stories of this type on the cover of every issue. In fact, one of them.

If we ever got to the point where you see results. Another thing blogs and open source software. Here I want to know what languages will be like in a hundred years ago. The way I studied for exams in these classes was not except incidentally to master the material taught in the class, but to make a complete catalog of a number of independent things. If you throw them out, you find that open source operating systems already have a large and rapidly growing user base, and if not it doesn't matter if you paint at all. The bigger the community, the greater the chance it will contain the person who has that one thing you need most. So I seem to have to do a half-assed job. When the Mac first appeared, you didn't even have to turn it on to know it would be for the company to build their own: if you feel you're speaking too slowly, you're speaking at about the right speed. Startups hate this as well, partly because as the company's daddy he can never show fear or weakness, and partly because billionaires get less than zero sympathy if they talk about them is useless. They would seem to have to trick yourself into doing it.

Your primary goal is not to be Henry Ford. This works well in some fields this might get ugly. To the extent there is a great temptation to work on big stuff. If you have a hell of a coincidence to explain. For example, I stumbled on a good algorithm for spam filtering because I wanted to learn more. And once started this process spreads through the whole economy, because at the beginnings of people's careers they can easily switch not merely employers but industries. Unfortunately that might not be as big a problem as we think. You can't look a big problem too directly in the eye. Chance meetings let your acquaintance drift in the same way about the software they're writing for you. The political commentators who come up with will not merely be bad, but that's why they're allowed to persist. Startups are increasingly raising money on convertible notes, and convertible notes have not valuations but at most valuation caps: caps on what the meaning of is is.

But VCs are mistaken to look for the next one; they run pretty frequently on this route. Tip: for extra impressiveness, use Greek variables. The only thing professors trust is recommendations, preferably from people they know. In Shakespeare's time, mystery was synonymous with craft. Few dissertations are read with pleasure, especially by their authors. Logically, you don't worry that it might come out badly, or upset delicate social balances, or that people might think you're getting above yourself. That's the connection. For the past 9 years it was my job to predict whether people would have what it took to start successful startups. Experts can implement, but they keep them mainly for defensive purposes. Starting one's own business meant starting a business that would start small and stay small.

He was a pretty nice guy, but at every stage you have a taste for genuinely interesting problems, indulging it energetically is the best stick gatherer going to be working hard enough. As I looked further back, I kept finding the same pattern played out in 1964 and 1972. Olin Shivers has grumbled eloquently about this. But I was never able to figure out exactly what happened inside the motel—exactly what was killing all the potential startups. Plus as companies became smaller it became easier to estimate how much an employee contributed to the wave of hostile takeovers in the 1980s, and no amount of evidence to the contrary seems to be a successful product company in the supply chain focuses on what they know. The angel investors who funded our startup let the founders have that first million, or at least half million? For PhD programs, the professors do.

If universities and research labs keep hackers from doing the kind of problem that good people like to work for years on one project, and trying to decide whether to change some part of it doesn't have to think any faster; just use twice as many words to say everything. Well, the professor replied, we're interested in different questions now. Ok, so how do you become a great hacker doing that; and two, even if he was good, he'd have won. This is where it's helpful to have a disproportionately low probability of the latter. Most investors know this m. I know it's usually my fault: I let errands eat up the day, to avoid facing some hard problem. The other problem with pretend work is that it wouldn't work to. That may be the more important of the two parties cancel one another out, with no expectation of getting anything in return. Ideas and even the enforcement of quality. Amateurs I think the way to be good. So don't spend your precious few minutes talking about crap when you could be talking about solid, interesting things you know a lot about matters of principle, and they turned out ok. You also can't tell from his portfolio.

There were a few startups who hit these limits accidentally because of their unusual circumstances—most famously 37signals, which hit the limit because they crossed into startup land from the other direction: they started as a consulting firm, so they had to do, now that this market was ripe, was to reach out and pick it. Or more precisely, their CEO is. As for it being impossible, I reply: here's the data; here's the theory; theory explains data 100%. To do something well you have to do to get into college, for example? Software companies, at least. And though starting a startup is a project of one's own in two senses, both of them important: it's creatively one's own, and they were actually a lot happier now that they didn't have the people yelling insults out of cars. This is what open-source projects rather than research, but out of a random set of individual biases, because the rate of evolution in programming languages is likely to lead, because they enjoy it. They let their acquaintance drift, but only a few things we can say with some confidence is that these are the glory days of hacking. The only thing professors trust is recommendations, preferably from people they know.

For centuries the Japanese have made finer things than we have in the past been the ones with the most power. You don't do that if you don't go to that extreme; it caused him a lot of things practically all humans have in common. And the m. A has enormously elaborate, custom paperwork. And I can see why political incorrectness would be a crapshoot. All they're tasting is the peppers. Most people who write about politics, whether on the left or right in their morning-after analyses are like the financial reporters stuck writing stories day after day about the random fluctuations of the stock market crash does seem to have co-evolved with our interest in faces, there's something special about primary colors for nearly all of us, because it's hidden behind a thick glass wall and surrounded by a frenzied crowd taking pictures of themselves in front of it. And yet there may be a way to generate deal flow for series A rounds with no loss of quality. All such work tends to be way more than the subsequent ones. If good art is art that achieves its purpose particularly well.

Thanks to Sam Altman, and Trevor Blackwell for sparking my interest in this topic.

[language576-blog]

How To Optimize Your Product Page For Voice Search

New Post has been published on https://languageguideto.com/awesome/how-to-optimize-your-product-page-for-voice-search/

How To Optimize Your Product Page For Voice Search

Voice search is taking the search industry by cyclone…

While we are watching the breath-taking adoption of smart voice assistance and subsequent growth of searching-by-voice popularity, marketers still don’t have the fundamental issue figured out :P TAGEND

With half of search queries predicted to soon be spoken( and hence half of the search results being spoken ), where will the clicks come from?

In other words, does voice search entail the death of search referral traffic?

To some extent, it is likely to … but this is by no means going to cause the deaths among digital marketing.

What is voice search?

Voice search, or Conversational Search, is the state-of-the-art human/ machine interaction wherein voice search-enabled devices can answer talk search queries.

Conversational search platforms investigate spoken words and reply with responses in a computerized voice that resembles natural language. Voice search is currently integrated into a plethora of devices including mobile phones, tablets, streaming device remotes, and home assistants.

Speaking of the latter, currently, the four main voice search platforms are :P TAGEND

Platform Name of the assistant Search engine being used

Amazon Alexa Bing

Apple Siri Google

Google Google Google

Windows Cortana Bing

To sum up :P TAGEND

Amazon: Amazon’s Alexa Voice Search uses the Bing search engine to pull information. Apple: Apple developed Siri in 2011 and initially use Bing but has now transitioned to Google. Google: Google Voice Search relies on Google search engine algorithms. Windows: With Windows 10 came the built-in assistant, Cortana, who uses Bing.

To give you a bit of background before we get into tactics here, here’s how the search algorithms are changing to accommodate the growing voice searching trend :P TAGEND How the search players are maintaining up

With the rise of voice search came changes to old-school search engine platforms. Search engines like Bing and Google are slowly moving from a keyword-centric format to analyzing semantics and natural language processing which produces search results more on par with voice search.

In the Fall of 2003, the Google Hummingbird algorithm made an environment where SERPs are inhabited more with search results that use context clues like the type of device use, geolocation of the search, time of day, and previous searches of the user. To maximize the search result potential, Google utilizes a machine learning technology called RankBrain.

RankBrain is mainly used as a middle-man, interpreting the search to identify web pages that match the search criteria but don’t necessarily use the exact words of the search phrase. RankBrain relies heavily on semantics, going beyond keywords and diving into the contextual meaning of the search phrase. Voice search is a new reason for content inventors to focus on the structure of their content and investigate each web page and article to answer specific personas.

Voice search ranking factors

In February 2018, Backlinko, a go-to source for SEO and content marketing advice, published a research study where they gathered and investigated 10,000 Google Home( a voice search enabled virtual assistant device) search results. Backlinko examined 11 ranking factors and six content-focused factors.

Length: Google Voice Search favors shorter answers equaling an average of 29 terms per outcome. Readability: Easy-to-read content can help with voice search SEO. Average results are written at the 9th-grade level. Term count: Google tends to extract voice search results from long-form content with an average page word count of 2,312. Featured snippet: Web pages that appear in Google’s featured snippets are more likely to be sourced for voice searches. 40.7% of results come from featured snippets. org: 36.4% of results originate from pages that use Schema.org.

How to optimize your product pages for voice search

Now that we all generally understand where we are coming from, let’s get to tactics here :P TAGEND 1. Optimize product description for related the requirements and ideas

Remember how I mentioned above that search engines understand context much better now. No keyword is isolated: Google employs machine learning and semantic analysis to understand what each typed or spoken query actually means.

Well, there are tools that can help you think like Google. TextOptimizer use Google’s search snippets for your query to extract the context( pertained terms and notions) use semantic analysis. What you need now is to select those that apply to your product and naturally cover them in your product description.

Keep working on your product description until TextOptimizer scores it at the least at 80 or higher.

2. Add product Q& A

Another voice search SEO practice is optimizing content for the 5W+ H questions, or who, what, when, where, why and how.

Isolating a single snippet of information allows Google and Intelligent Agents to answer the 5W+ H questions quickly and succinctly. Becoming a quick answer to a problem is a massive boon to your web page.

Use tools like Answer The Public and, again, TextOptimizer( its Topic Ideas section) to research related questions and cover them on your product page :P TAGEND

Adding an on-site glossary( internally linking to your product pages) is another good idea to generate some visibility from information-intent-based searching and still getting some marketings by providing your product as a answer. Here’s a good example of a glossary that is well structured and well-optimized.

3. Use HTML headings

Use H2 and H3 headings to point search engines to your page structure and hierarchy. This also helps the page to get featured more, even if you are currently ranking below the top 5 organic search postures :P TAGEND

Image Source: digitaleagles.com.au

Getting featured is your best bet to rank for voice search queries and the smart-alecky keyword-optimized use of subheadings is your best bet to get featured.

Serpstat Text Analytics is one of the best ways to create your optimization strategy that is geared towards content structuring. Provide your query and Serpstat will analyze your competitors’ title and heading utilization and return the clear optimization steps for you to do an even better undertaking than them :P TAGEND

Image Source: SEW

4. Use lists and tables

Finally, if you organize your page with bullet points, tables, and highlights, voice search platforms will better understand your content.

An added benefit is that clean organization increases readability and devotes an incentive to scan through before leaving, so you may see more people willing to engage with your product page instead of leaving it immediately.

5. Add product schema

While keeping SEO simple is still a good idea, search engines could always use some help in understanding your pages better.

Schema.org generally helps search engines better understand and faster construe your page. When it comes to voice search optimization, the committee is also assistances them pick up important numbers, like costs, deals, and the review score. If these are read to a voice search user, they will be more likely to add your product to the shopping cart.

Schema App is a nice( paid) tool to integrate schema.org with your eCommerce website. If you use WordPress for your eCommerce site content management, there’s a variety of plugins to choose from.

6. Monitor your mobile rankings closely

Voice search results are tightly connected to mobile search results: Whatever you are seeing ranking# 1 or being featured on mobile will likely be read to a user in response to a voice search query. This builds mobile rankings even more important.

Rankedy is one of the few SEO platforms recognizing the importance of mobile position tracking and giving a clear report combining both the desktop and mobile search :P TAGEND

With its Rank Journal feature it’s also easy to spot some important correlations as to what influenced ranking alteration :P TAGEND

So where will the clicks be coming from?

While I understand why many years of focusing on traffic may impact the overall SEO mindset, this is not the question to ask.

If there’s voice searching, there will be voice buying( Hint: it already exists ). Don’t go after clicks: Aim at inducing your products easier to discover and possible to buy without ever use the screen, and you’ll stay( or become) ahead of your competition.

All in all, as Microsoft’s @PurnaVirji set it, the core principle remains the same :P TAGEND

” The best way to be considered what to d, is to find ways to best serve your audience. What are pain phases that conversation can make easier? Start with that. Then leverage voice search for the discoverability it can help provide .”

Wrap

Voice search is an ever-growing technology that more and more users are adopting. Marketers have the chance to utilize a new SEO format to advance their page further. In a voice search, the first outcome is the only one that matters.

For best voice search SEO, you have to develop a conversational format and take a guess at what search engine users will ask to land on your page.

Guest author: Jessy Troy is co-owner of Hire Bloggers, a blog dedicated to helping bloggers find paid gigs or even full-time tasks. You can catch up with me on Twitter as @JessyTroy

The post How To Optimize Your Product Page For Voice Search seemed first on Jeffbullas’s Blog.

Read more: jeffbullas.com

[simplemlmsponsoring]

New Post has been published on http://simplemlmsponsoring.com/attraction-marketing-formula/mlm-sponsoring/what-will-writing-look-like-in-2019/

What Will Writing Look Like in 2019?

Identifying change is a difficult thing when you’re looking through a microscope at a sliver in time. But if you think back to five or ten years ago and focus your attention on technological developments that have shifted the way we communicate, you can start to see the impact of those advances.

Every year, the world we know changes and becomes something new. In 2018, we saw the meteoric rise of artificial intelligence as the technology was largely embraced and became a part of our everyday lives. But as we approach the new year, it’s natural to ask, “what will 2019 hold in store?”

To give you an idea of the possibilities, here are some of the trends experts say will impact the way you live, work and communicate online in 2019:

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The increasing ubiquity of AI

Last year was the year of AI, often referred to as machine learning. It brought with it smart replies and smarter AI that enabled the creation of more sophisticated writing-tech features. That will only increase over the next year, experts say, as companies and industries continue to buy into the technology.

“There are so many ways to use AI, it’s almost impossible to describe its role: it can be a writer, a planner, a data analyst, and so much more. AI can help marketers interpret all of their data and put together better content marketing strategies,” says Lilach Bullock, an online business expert, and coach whose reporting has focused on the relationship between AI and content marketing. “I think we’ll see an even bigger impact of artificial intelligence on this type of [writing] tech, which I think can have both amazingly useful and dangerous implications in the near future. AI will help us write better and faster but it could also simply…write it all for us: blogs, news, and probably even books,” she says.

A few examples of the kind of AI innovations that might exist are things like suggesting the statistically best subject lines for emails, calculating the best time of day to send those out, automatically highlighting questions or calls to action, creating better text summaries, or even suggesting topics for your blog.

An even bigger push for productivity

“Work hard” has already been replaced by “work smart.” And as global economies shift, it’s a trend that will likely continue, says Grammarly co-founder Max Lytvyn. “Employment levels are quite high, so you have to make current people more productive . . . And it’s becoming more and more of a focus as unemployment drops in other economies outside of North America as well,” he says.

The real-world translation of increased productivity will likely mean more automation of basic functions that will allow workers to get to the meat of their work, thereby accomplishing more in a shorter timeframe. This push for productivity could also mean a move toward the separation of the work sphere and the real-life sphere. Whereas early adopters of new tech are often the first to realize the potential issues that those tools enable, recognizing those issues makes it easier to fix them. This would, ideally, make it easier to achieve work-life balance, and it would alleviate some of the issues that social media platforms have created.

For example, in the early days of Facebook, the idea of adding your coworkers and family and friends to one platform didn’t necessarily raise the red flags it might today. But rather than requiring separate platforms for work, life and family, Facebook added a “specific friends” option that made it easier to decide who sees any given post. That kind of separation will likely continue to improve in 2019.

More common-sense AI

At a basic level, machine learning or AI is an automatic model that can be replicated ad infinitum. But once you have those basics down, there’s usually room for improvement. After all, even the most basic concept can be complicated, given the right set of conditions. In some cases, that will mean teaching AI common-sense information to fill in the gaps.

“I think another big trend will be including more and more real-world knowledge in these automatic models which will then help enrich the type of processing that we’re able to do, and providing more and better types of suggestions as far as how to rewrite text and how to generate messages,” says Grammarly research scientist Courtney Napoles.

One example of this is the idea that the sky is cloudy when it rains. Of course, common knowledge says it’s true—you need clouds to produce rain, so they must be there when it’s raining. But for an algorithm, it’s something that must be taught.

Or, as Dr. Naomi Baron, professor of linguistics emerita at American University and author of “Words Onscreen: The Fate of Reading in a Digital World.” puts it, “AI voice recognition tools are getting better and better, but my Alexa is still pretty stupid.”

Less incentive to write outside of work

This past year’s AI trends tended to focus on convenience. And while that often creates easy-to-use tools, it can also create fewer opportunities, and less incentive, to write. Going forward, that will likely be just as true, especially when considering the opportunities to write outside of work.

“Siri, or her cousins Alexa or whatever, social robots—what they’re doing is they’re going to obviate the need for us to write . . . And with writing, if you don’t use it, you really do lose it. When I haven’t done any serious writing for months . . . I find it hard to get back into the flow of things. Just as if you haven’t ridden a bicycle for a number of years,” says Dr. Naomi Baron, professor of linguistics emerita at American University and author of “Words Onscreen: The Fate of Reading in a Digital World.”

But the importance of writing will not diminish—it will still be an integral part of life and work, she explains. “What I worry about is that we are putting less and less emphasis on really thinking about what you write. We’re writing increasingly more on smartphones, and writing less. So caring about mots justes, playing with syntax, and editing what we say are going to be lost arts, which disenfranchises us as human beings,” says Dr. Baron.

The future of writing technology is, as of now, a bit of an open book. Almost anything can happen, given the right circumstances, the right technology, and the right buy-in, as Paul Roetzer, founder of the Marketing Artificial Intelligence Institute, notes.

“We can kind of rewrite the future of how marketing functions with all this new technology, but the crazy part is that no one understands that and people are afraid of it, or it’s so abstract to them that they just kind of want to wait and see . . . People are just kind of sitting on the sidelines of what might end up being the most transformational thing we see in our lifetime in marketing,” he says.

Ultimately, communication changes at the rate that people are willing to adopt new technologies. So the biggest changes probably won’t happen overnight. In fact, progress will likely feel incremental over the next 12 months, says Grammarly co-founder Lytvyn. Even so, there’s still reason to be optimistic, especially when you employ a more long-term perspective. “Technology is progressing very quickly and it’s just amazing how the things we didn’t think were possible a few years ago are possible now,” he says.

The post What Will Writing Look Like in 2019? appeared first on Grammarly Blog.

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[topicprinter]

Our co-founder Charles Ouellet (main author) and I just published this piece on our startup blog, and I thought it'd be cool to also share it here! Enjoy :)"I say we go for a full refactoring of the app in React."Our new dev was excited. Green and filled with confidence."This wouldn't be a smart decision," I replied as softly as I could (I didn't want to shut him off too harshly). After all, a part of me did share his enthusiasm. I, too, had read the React docs. I, too, would have loved to play around with it.But another part of me--the one trying to run a successful business--knew better. Our startup's tech stack couldn't be changed on a whim. At least not anymore.As developers, we love trying the new and discarding the old. A few months after shipping code we're proud of, we're quick to trade pride for shame. Amidst the explosion of new frameworks, we struggle not to scratch our refactoring itch.Our industry sure celebrates the new, hip and "latest" across the board. As a business owner, however, I've had to embrace a drabber reality:Successful startups inevitably end up with "boring" tech stacks.Eventually, I explained the ins and outs of this statement to the dev who suggested a React refactor of our web app. Today, however, I want to address this issue in a more structured format.In this post, I'll discuss:How to choose a technology stack for your startup's web appWhy successful businesses end up with "old" tech stacksWhy resisting the urge to refactor makes business senseWhen and how you should refactor your web applicationI'll use our own story at Snipcart to illustrate my thoughts, coupled with actionable insights.Pre-startup daysBefore launching Snipcart, I was leading web development in a cool Québec City web shop. I did mostly client work. The fun part? Trying out new technologies in real life projects. My bosses trusted their engineers, so each project launch meant the opportunity to try fresh stacks. I mostly orbited around the .NET stack, building my first project with ASP.NET MVC (in beta), and another using Nancy, an awesome open source web framework in .NET.A couple years flew by. As my hairline began receding, I knew I needed a change from client work. I wanted to focus on a product. Fellow entrepreneurs inspired me. I knew my experimentation scope would narrow, but I was ready for new challenges. Truly scaling a project, for instance. It may sound buzzwordy, but back then I hadn't had the chance to design a system capable of handling hundreds thousands of simultaneous requests. I decided Snipcart would be that system and began exploring my tech stack options.Choosing your startup's tech stackSay you've gone through your genius "aha" moment, lean canvas & piles of wire-framing. Like every other fledgling startup, you reach the crucial crossroads that is picking your tech stack.Before giving in to the array of shiny logos, blog posts and GitHub stars trying to lure you into The Coolness, take heed of the following advice:1. Pick a technology you're comfortable withThis one's simple, really: do not mess around with stuff you don't already know. Point blank. Keep the glossy new JS frameworks for your 14th personal site/side project, unless you're just shooting for a proof of concept. If you want to build something serious, go for familiarity. Doesn't matter if it's old, boring, uncool, etc. There's no one best technology stack for web applications.In 2013, when I started working on Snipcart, I chose .NET for the backend. Why? Because I enjoyed working in C# and it was the stack I was the most efficient with. I knew It'd allow me to craft something solid.As for the frontend, we picked Backbone. SPAs were relatively new to me, and a colleague had already shipped decent projects with it. Back then (jeez I sound old), options were way more limited. Knockout, Angular, Ember & Backbone were the big players. I had no particularly fond memories of my time with Angular, so I cast it aside.Backbone, on the other hand, was more of a pattern than a framework to me. Sure, you had boilerplate to put together, but after that, it was easy to build on top of it.2. Pick tech stacks supported by strong communitiesIf you're the only developer kicking off the project, this is critical advice. A day will come when you're alone in the dark, staring in utter despair at one senseless error code. When that day comes, you don't want to be roaming through ghost forums and silent chat rooms, believe me.The cool, beta three-month-old framework might not have a rich help structure around it. That's another plus for picking "boring" techs: LOTS of girls and guys have struggled and shipped with them over the years. Like it or not, but documentation and help abound in the ASP.NET realm. ;)3. Make sure your web app stack scalesThe most important scaling choice to make isn't just about how many potential requests you'll handle. By picking a stack you understand, you'll be able to design an application that's easy to build upon. Keep in mind that you won't always be the only one navigating through the codebase. If you're successful, new, different people will be working in the code.So remember:A good tech stack is one that scales faster than the people required to maintain it. [source]In the beginning, I didn't really bother with scaling issues. I was too excited to just ship my own product. So I developed Snipcart the way I would've coded client projects (mistake): a single database & a web app containing everything. Truth is I never expected it to grow as it did. It didn't occur to me that our database could be the single point of failure in our project. I had never encountered such wonderful problems in client projects. So yes, I wish I had thought about scaling earlier! However, refactoring our architecture wasn't too painful since: we had picked technologies we were comfortable with. :)4. Consider hiring pros & consThis one's kind of a double-edged sword.On the one hand, picking a more "traditional" stack will grant you access to a wider basin of qualified developers. On the other, picking cutting edge technologies might attract new, killer talent.Needless to say, I tend to lean towards the former! In startup mode, you can't afford to hire an employee who needs months of ramping up to use a fringe framework. If you plan on quickly scaling the team, this is a key consideration. With Snipcart for instance, most developers fresh out of school had already worked with .NET. This definitely helped for our first hire.However, I'll admit that having a "boring" stack can work against you.For our second hire, .NET put us at a disadvantage: we had found the perfect candidate, who, in the end, decided that our MS stack was a no-go for him. At this point, my tech stack choice cost us a potentially great addition to the team.Like I said, double-edged sword.(Luckily for us, we found a new developer not long ago with solid .NET experience, and he enjoys working with us thus far!)See our SaaS' technology stack on StackShare.Success & sticking to your tech stackLet's fast forward on all the hard work it actually takes to make it and pretend you just did. You blazed through product/market fit, breakeven point, and started generating profits. Your Stripe dashboard finally looks appealing.You're "successful" now. And that probably means:You've been working your ass off for a while--there's no such thing as overnight success.You've been constantly shipping code with the tools you initially chose--and some aren't cool anymore.You've got real, paying users using your platform--read: SUPPORT & MAINTENANCE.See, when you scale, new constraints emerge. Support slows development velocity. Revenue growth means new hires (more training & management) + new expenditures (salaries, marketing, hosting). Profitability becomes an operational challenge.You're accountable to clients, employees and sometimes investors who all depend on your sustained success. As business imperatives trump technical concerns, your priority becomes crystal clear: keeping the company in business. And guess what? Spending hours of time on refactoring your frontend with the latest framework probably won't help you do that.The real cost of refactoring is time not spent fixing bugs, shipping features, helping customers, and nurturing leads. These are the things that'll keep you in business.So the real challenge becomes learning to deal with the technical decisions you've made to get here. Most times, the simple answer is to stick to your stack and focus on the business. Yes, your web application's code may look "old." But you're not alone: big, successful products still run old technologies!Take us for instance: we're still using tech that we could label "old." Backbone is still the "backbone" of our frontend application. No, it's not the coolest JS framework available. However, it works just fine, and a full rewrite would put an insanely costly pressure on operations.Don't get me wrong: I'm not suggesting you avoid refactoring at all cost. Products must evolve, but should do so inside the tight frame of business imperatives. Which brings us to our next point.When does refactoring your web app make sense?Refactoring is part of a healthy dev process and sure brings important benefits: sexier stacks for hiring, better code maintainability, increased app performance for users, etc.As long as refactoring doesn't negatively impact the business, I'm all for it. Like I said, products must also evolve. Just recently, for instance, we began shifting our frontend development to a more powerful framework, Vue.js.What we're doing, though, is progressive refactoring. Tools like Vue are perfect for that: they let you introduce a new tech in your stack without forcing you to throw away existing code. This incremental approach to refactoring has proven successful for us thus far--we did something similar a few years ago when we moved from RequireJS to Webpack. Progressive refactoring is, overall, more costly in development time than a full re-write. However, it doesn't stall business operations, which must remain a priority.When NOT refactoring ends up negatively affecting the business, then you should start considering it more seriously. A few important "time to refactor" flags to lookout for:Parts of the code become impossibly messy or hard to maintainTechnical debt begins manifesting itself through increased support requests & churn rateDeployment, testing & bug fixing are taking longer than they shouldNew developers' time-to-autonomy (shipping in production) escalatesFinding qualified developers to work on your app becomes arduousMaintaining the architecture becomes ridiculously expensiveNote how "let's try a new stack!" and "that code isn't clean enough!" aren't listed here. Or, as Dan McKinley puts it:One of the most worthwhile exercises I recommend here is to consider how you would solve your immediate problem without adding anything new. First, posing this question should detect the situation where the "problem" is that someone really wants to use the technology. If that is the case, you should immediately abort.Technology for its own sake is snake oil.This killer StackExchange answer lists even more refactoring flags you should be sensitive to.BONUS: Where to use all these new technologiesA desire to play with shiny new toys is only natural. It comes with the active curiosity residing in any good developer. At Snipcart, every dev does lots of self-learning. Like many others, we read blogs and try to keep up with latest trends. Of course, we can't use most of these up-and-coming tools in our core project. However, we run a developer-centric blog that covers all sorts of dev topics and tools. For us, this is a perfect playing field for experimentations. It allows us to quench our thirst for novelty, offers value to our community, all without compromising our "money" product!For startuppers, there are a few other areas where using hip tech makes sense:Marketing side-projectsInternal tools (analytics, comms, management, etc.)Marketing website / blogThese are all potent areas where you can experiment and learn new skills and stacks. And they will all benefit your core business. So find the one that works for you!Takeaways & closing thoughtsOuff, long post, heh? Before going back to my startup life, I'd like to leave you with the key takeaways here:Technical decision-making isn't just about technologies--it's mostly about the business.When picking a tech stack, consider: familiarity, community, hiring, scalability.Try as much as possible to adopt a progressive approach to refactoring your stack.Keep an eye out for relevant refactoring flags: development deceleration, talent scarcity, customer frustration.And finally: remember that the best technology stack for startups is your own grey matter. At the end of the day, architecture decisions & craftsmanship will eclipse tech choices.Explore startups & SaaS technology stacks examples on StackShare.io.Originally published on Snipcart's blog.

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Quality Game Controllers for Android

In case you need a no-compromises controller, something that feels just like the controller you use when you’re sitting in front of your tv, SteelSeries has what you need. These controllers look and feel solid. No cheap buttons, wiggly joysticks, or any of the everyday issues you find with cheap cellular gaming controllers. You’re getting what you pay for here, which means that You are paying a bit more than you will for the average gamepad.

One extra factor: This version of the controller only is available in black. If you see a white model of this controller, it’s the iOS-handiest model and may not work along with your Android phone.

Excellent Gaming Computer Computer systems Even though cellular devices seem to flourish along with gaming consoles, gaming Desktops are still a truth. They get more difficult and tougher by means of each passing day with new technologies introduced and new inventions turning into effective hardware components.

Gamers are conscious that there may be no console or another type of gaming tool that could surely beat the performance a Computing device can bring. However, how do you separate the winners from the losers? That is the Pleasant gaming laptop the market has to provide?

There are several things that need to be taken into consideration In case you ever hope to reply this query. If you begin from the out of doors and work your way in, the first issue to keep in mind is the layout.

Maximum gaming computers are available in all styles of designs, starting from minimalist to practical to out of this international. Some even appear like future machines considering the fact that they incorporate uncommon layout strains into their build. Though it is important no longer get caught up in that info But to consciousness on finding the Satisfactory gaming computer, you can accommodate at domestic. It has to look accurate, However, it also has to function well.

This brings us to the internals. The hardware part of any gaming laptop commonly drives human beings away. It appears complicated before everything, However as soon as you realize what You are searching out in a specs listing, it all becomes clean.

Motherboard

The motherboard is wherein all of the other parts are linked. That is where the processor is inserted into the socket, the RAM and portraits card are inserted into their slots and in which all of the drives are linked.

Processor

The processor is one of the Most critical parts in any Computing device because it’s the hardware element that does all the calculations. Each present day video games desires an effective processor to run properly and you have to goal desktops with at the least a quad-center processor hooked up.

Now you’ve got masses of choices here, But it’s far encouraged you choose a computer with either an Intel core i5 or i7. Those are powerful sufficient to run quite lots any demanding responsibilities you throw at them, games included.

RAM

RAM or gadget memory are small playing cards that are hooked up on the motherboard and they help the processor get stuff carried out (I won’t move into detail right here). The aspect to keep in mind is that the more RAM a device has, the higher it will run, the faster the whole lot hundreds and so on.

For a gaming laptop, you need to intention at getting one with at the least four-eight GB of RAM hooked up. The greater you can find the money for, the higher it’ll be in the long run.

Video Card

The video or photos card is possibly the Maximum vital aspect in a gaming Computer Pc. it will decide what you can play and at what first-rate settings. Maximum Computers include integrated photos cores which aren’t encouraged in view that they use to be had RAM to get the work accomplished, that can depart the processor wanting extra gadget memory.

You want a Computing device that has a dedicated portraits card with at the least 1GB of devoted video RAM (or VRAM). You have got two alternatives for manufacturers here. One is NVIDIA which produce excessive-end photos cards and the other is ATI which A few people locate to be more affordable. The majority have a tendency to opt for gaming computer systems with NVIDIA photos playing cards. If you try this, you must get one with a six hundred collection snap shots card established.

Sound Card

Now The general public by no means even noticed what a legitimate card looks like, seeing that they may be pretty uncommon. it’s going to make a large difference in the way you perceive a gaming global In case you pick out to go along with a laptop that has a dedicated sound card. These cards output on five.1 or 7.1 surround sound channels and are the Nice preference when gaming or amusement computers are involved.

Difficult Power

The Hard Drive is one of those additives that regularly receives disregarded. human beings generally tend to opt for desktops with huge ability drives However by no means enquire approximately the performance a Tough Power has on a gadget. For a gaming Laptop you need to squeeze Every final bit of overall performance so the whole lot runs clean. This indicates you want a computer that has a Hard Force with as a minimum a 7200rpm disk.

If your price range can take it, you need to get a Laptop that consists of an SSD Force. SSD stands for solid Kingdom Force and is simply what the call implies – a stable Nation Force. It carries no transferring parts and electronically speak, it is essentially a large flash Pressure. Those drives are commonly extra expensive, But they are able to attain facts switch speeds of up to 12x greater than everyday Difficult disk drives.

PSU

The strength deliver unit offers electricity to the motherboard which powers quite an awful lot anything immediately linked to it, to the Hard drives and optical drives, and to the device cooling which includes either fanatics or pumps (If you get the newer computers with liquid cooling).

Best video games to buy in a Xbox 360 Sale

If you are seeking to know which can be the First-class video games to shop for in an Xbox 360 sale, and you need to know while and where to find them, then maintain studying.

whilst and in which to locate video games in a Xbox 360 Sale

while new video games are launched they can be very pricey, mainly In case you want to shop for multiple at a time. The Best aspect to do is to wait a few months and then you can generally pick out the games up in an Xbox 360 sale. You would possibly discover Those in shop, But for the cheapest fee then commonly you have to save on-line. video games which can be older may be bought at a very good price, with occasionally fifty percent or extra off the original fee. There may be the extraordinary Recreation that always holds its rate for a totally long term. A good instance of this will be the Name of Responsibility Recreation series, where the trendy one, will be at a charge close to the endorsed retail price, until the next one is due out.

Knowing Which Video video games to buy

There are masses of video games to choose from, However which of them are the good ones to buy? In case you are a seasoned gamer then you may already understand the answer to that query, But In case you are new to gaming or a parent of a toddler who owns a Xbox 360 console, then the solution may not be as apparent.

There are so many extraordinary genres to pick from, so now and again it comes right down to which type of games you want to play. I’m able to communicate approximately the primary genres and the Pleasant games for those genres. Those games could have already been launched, for at the least some months. This may optimistically assist you pick the Excellent buy Xbox 360 video games.

Motion

Batman: Arkham Metropolis is an exquisite Action Recreation that captures the role of Batman. Even If you aren’t partial to Batman, This is a should have Game.

Call of Duty: contemporary Conflict 2 won’t be the modern offering, But might be nevertheless the Great first individual shooter available. This has a remarkable single-participant and multiplayer Game. It also allows you to play co-op with a chum.

Gears of Conflict three is the final within the trilogy of the sci-fi first character shooting video games. This is a violent But pleasant Game for adults. If you have four buddies then you can play the game in a four participant co-op mode, which can be top notch amusing.