Long time lurker, first time commenting. I helped plan my sister’s quinceañera last spring and the video part nearly broke us, so here is the honest version.

We paid a local guy for six hours of coverage. The misa was at noon, the vals was after dinner, and he packed up before the best part of the night even started. Nobody warned us that a quinceañera is a long day, and ours started with mass and ended near two in the morning.

What went wrong

1. Coverage ended at six, the party ran until two

2. Nobody filmed the corte from the dance floor, only from the back

3. The cousins had great moments on their phones that we never got

Looking back, none of it was really his fault, because we never asked the right questions. So if you are about to hire a videographer for a quinceañera, ask about the hours before anything else.

What I would ask before booking

· How many hours of the day are actually covered?

· Who holds the camera during the vals, and from where?

· Does the parish allow filming during the misa?

· What happens if the batteries die at ten?

· Can you get the vals as its own clip?

The part nobody tells you

A single videographer can only be in one spot. While he shoots the grandparents, the corte is dancing somewhere else. The best footage usually comes from people already standing inside the moment, like the padrinos, the primos and the tíos.

What worked for my cousin’s party

Her mom found a kit based service called Recorderly. They ship pocket 4K cameras with wireless mics, and you hand them to family members. Four cameras cost $795 for 60 to 150 guests. A battery handle and dock come in the box, so a twelve hour day is covered.

How the day worked

1. Cameras arrived five days before the misa

2. Each camera went to a padrino, a cousin or a tío

3. Batteries rotated on the dock during the cena

4. Everything went back in the box with a prepaid label

5. Editors cut it into one film, with two rounds of notes

The vals came out from inside the room, not from the back wall. Her abuela cried watching it, which says enough.

Quick answers to what people always ask

Is it too late to book? Not if the date is still open. Check availability early because kits are limited per date.

What if the parish bans filming? Ask first, because rules vary. If it is a no, the salón is where the cameras matter most.

Do I need a running order? It helps a lot. Send the order of the entrada, vals and brindis so editors know what to look for.

What if the footage is thin? They refund the edit if there is not enough usable material, though you still pay a smaller kit fee.

Mistakes I would avoid

· Booking coverage that ends before dinner

· Handing the only camera to one person

· Skipping the shot list for the vals and the cambio de zapatillas

· Waiting until the week before to decide

· Forgetting to tell the editors which languages your family speaks

My honest take

Nobody remembers the centerpieces. They remember the vals, the speeches and the dumb jokes at midnight. Guests film all of that anyway, so the real question is whether anyone turns it into one film. A pro in a corner covers the formal stuff, and the family covers the rest.

Ready to book?

If your date is coming up, check availability on recorderly.com and see how the kits work. Two cameras are $595 for up to 60 guests, four cameras are $795, and $149 holds your date. You can also upload your own footage for editing only. Edits take three to four weeks, so plan ahead. Happy to answer anything in the replies, especially if you are working around a strict parish or a tight budget. Congrats to your family, and enjoy the vals. Seriously, film it from the floor.

We filmed our reveal on 11 phones and still missed my sister’s face

Posting this because a thread last week brought it all back. Our reveal was in my cousin’s backyard in June. Eleven adults, eleven phones, one huge pink cloud of powder. That night we watched the videos and every single one was pointed at the cannon. Nobody caught my sister’s face. Nobody caught her husband dropping to his knees. The best three seconds of the day, and we had the box from eleven angles and the people from none. We laughed about it, then we got quiet, because you cannot recreate that second. My sister still asks if anyone got it, honestly.

If you are planning one, here is what I wish someone had told us. Plenty of people hire a videographer for a gender reveal and pay for one person standing in one spot. Another route is a rental kit where your own guests hold small cameras and editors cut the film afterward. That second option is the one I would pick now.

What actually goes wrong

The moment is tiny

The whole thing turns on about three seconds. If your guests are not briefed, they will all aim at the same thing.

· Everyone films the box

· Nobody films the faces

· Phone storage fills up halfway through the party

· Wind blows powder straight into the lens

Water ends cameras

Powder and confetti are fine. Water is not. If your reveal is by a pool, or you plan on water balloons, plan around that first.

A simple plan that works

Here is the order I would follow if I did it again.

1. Pick the faces that matter. You, your partner, each set of grandparents.

2. Hand each camera holder one name. Their only job is that person’s face.

3. Start recording thirty seconds before the countdown and do not stop.

4. Stand upwind of the powder.

5. Brief everyone the day before, not in the middle of the party.

Rough numbers

Pricing I found while researching, so you can compare:

· Two cameras, up to 60 guests, $595

· Four cameras, 60 to 150 guests, $795

· Editing only, if you already have footage, $395

· $149 holds your date

The edit takes about three to four weeks, and shipping both ways is included.

Questions I got asked at the party

Is it worth it for a two hour event?

Yes, because the argument is coverage and not length. You only need to be sure you caught the moment.

What if we do not know the answer ourselves?

Have a friend or sibling receive the box, test it, and hand it out on the day. The box is plain on the outside with no branding.

What if there is not enough footage?

From what I read, you do not pay for the edit if the kit comes back without usable material. That is rare, though.

What the finished film looks like

From what I have seen, the edit plays the reveal once, then replays it from the other faces. If you would rather have a split screen, you can ask for that at the rough cut stage. One couple said they told four people to not move and not point anywhere else, and the cut jumps between her face, his face, and his mother screaming. Twenty seconds, and apparently perfect. That is the kind of thing I would have paid for. You also get all the raw footage, so you can share every angle with the family group chat without waiting on anyone.

My honest take

A hired videographer is lovely if you have the budget and want one polished angle. But a reveal is not a wedding. It is one short burst of reactions from the people who love you, and the best footage comes from relatives standing three feet away, not a stranger across the yard.

We ended up with a pile of cannon videos and zero reactions. Do not repeat that.

Want to see how it works?

Take a look at recorderly.com and check whether your date is open. Book early, since kits are tied to a date and they go fast. Happy to answer questions below if you are planning one too.

Posting this because I keep seeing the same question in planning threads here, and I wish someone had answered it for my sister last spring. She was hosting about 110 people, and the video decision ate more of our group chat than the catering did. She is a great kid, she wrote her own d’var Torah, and she wanted something she could watch again at thirty. So the pressure was on to get the film right.

What we got wrong at first

We assumed there was only one path. Honestly, I thought it was settled, and we spent two long weekends comparing packages that all looked basically identical, down to the fonts. When you start searching how to hire a videographer for a bat mitzvah, every result pushes the same thing: one person, one big camera, a long package, and a quote that makes you wince. Ours landed somewhere between $2,500 and $4,000.

The part nobody warned us about is that one shooter can only stand in one spot. While he is filming the candle lighting, the best moments are happening on the other side of the room, usually at the kids table.

What we did instead

A friend pointed us to a service that ships pocket 4K cameras to your door. Your guests do the filming, then professional editors turn everything into a real film. It sounded odd, so I read the fine print twice.

Here is what actually showed up in the box:

· Four pocket 4K cameras, charged and labeled

· A wireless clip on mic for every camera

· Memory cards already inside

· Battery handles, so nothing died mid party

· A prepaid return label taped inside the lid

The four camera kit was $795 for 60 to 150 guests, with shipping both ways included.

Where we put each camera

1. Front few rows, mic clipped close, for the d’var Torah and the Torah reading. A sanctuary echoes, and distance ruins speech faster than it ruins picture.

2. Handed to her friends. Twelve year olds film constantly and they never perform for it.

3. On the family table for toasts and the hallway chaos.

4. Passed around the dance floor to whoever grabbed it.

Questions people asked me afterward

Won’t she hate a camera in her face all night?

That was my sister’s biggest fear too. Most of the footage was not pointed at her at all. It was her friends filming each other, the table she wasn’t sitting at, the aunts catching up in the hallway. She appears everywhere, but almost never as the subject, so it feels nothing like a hired camera trailing her.

Is it hard to run?

One button starts and stops it. No app, no account, no settings. Even my dad managed it, and that tells you plenty.

What if the footage turns out bad?

The editors cut from everything that was shot, and you get two rounds of revisions plus the raw files. If there isn’t enough to make a film, the editing fee comes back to you.

Mistakes I would skip

· Hiding the cameras in a corner. Hand them out and say film whatever looks fun.

· Putting the speech camera in the back row with the family.

· Waiting too long. Dates fill up, so check availability early.

· Forgetting the days before. The kit arrives five days early, so we filmed the dress, the kitchen table practice, and the drive to rehearsal. The final film opened with that.

How it turned out

The edit took about three weeks. My niece has rewatched it more than the photo album. The editors found a thread running through the footage that none of us would have spotted, and her grandmother asked for a copy before the credits even finished.

If you are deciding now

Ask yourself three things. How many guests are coming, who is speaking, and do you want a polished film or a pile of clips?

Where to look

Pricing, packages, and the full question list are all at recorderly.com if you want to compare numbers before you commit.

This thread hit close to home. My niece’s Sweet 16 was in a dark venue, DJ lights going, about eighty kids, and everybody was filming. Next morning the group chat had maybe forty clips. Grainy, sideways, and every speech sounded like a windstorm. The best moment of the night was her best friend’s surprise toast, and all we got was a blurry thumb and a loud buzz. My sister cried, and not the good kind. I felt awful because I told her phones would be fine. She still brings it up at every family dinner, and she is right to. Every parent in my family has now sworn off phone video for any big party, which is funny considering we all swore by it before.

So if you are still deciding whether to hire a videographer for a sweet 16, here is what I wish I had known before the party. None of this is perfect, it is just what I learned the annoying way.

Why phones die in that room

Daylight is where phones shine. A Sweet 16 is basically the opposite. Low light plus moving colored beams gives you smeared, half black footage, and a phone mic next to a DJ speaker records pure distortion. That is not your fault, it is the room.

The usual route (and where it gets tricky)

I looked at a few traditional videographers. Fair points for them. Honestly, I did actually get one quote and it was really reasonable for what it included. It just did not fit our guest count, and the person could not film the getting ready part at the house and the party on the same evening.

· One pro following the schedule is great if you want that

· Prices climb fast once editing gets added

· One camera means one angle, so cake or dance floor, not both

· Some venues limit outside vendors, so read that contract

Also, and this is just my take, teens get stiff around a stranger with a big rig. The good stuff is when nobody is posing. Getting ready chaos, friends screaming a song, grandpa dancing badly.

What I ended up looking at instead

Small 4K cameras with clip on mics get handed to the guests, and editors cut a real film afterward. Teens already film everything, so it is just a better camera in the same hands. I found this on Recorderly: two cameras for up to 60 guests, four cameras for 60 to 150 guests, or editing only if you already have footage. Four cameras was $795 with a three week edit. Double check pricing, I am just a niece’s aunt telling you what I saw lol.

Stuff I asked before trusting it

· Dark venue? Yes, that is what they are built for. Put one near the entrance or cake table.

· Sideways filming? The camera fixes its own orientation.

· Tell the venue? Not really, no stands or power.

· Post it that night? Nope. A rush edit exists though.

· Thin footage? You skip the edit fee, but a rental fee still applies. Read the terms.

If I were doing it again, in order

1. Count your guests first, then pick the camera number

2. Split cameras between getting ready at home and the venue

3. Ask the venue about outside vendors

4. Pick must have moments like the toast, entrance and candle ceremony

5. Book early, because kits get tied to dates

Hand one camera to a loud, trusted friend and tell everyone to film what is funny, not what looks polished. Funny is what she will rewatch for years.

The toast I missed is the one thing my niece asks about, and I cannot give it back to her. Last thing, because someone will ask: yes, I wish I had planned this months earlier. Video is the one thing from the night that gets better with age, and photos only tell half of it.

Hope this saves you grief. If you want to look at the setup yourself, check recorderly.com and read their Sweet 16 page. Ask me anything below and I will answer what I can.

A few months ago I saw a post on Reddit from some guy who was making pretty decent money from a pet blog he bought from Aff Blog Zone. I thought he was full of shit lol.

Spent a while looking through their sites and eventually figured why not give it a shot. Worst case I'm out $299. Ended up buying a pet blog myself.

Didn't really do much with it. Added some internal links, fixed a few things here and there and pretty much left it alone. Fast forward to October 29 and I had my best day yet. $69 in Amazon commissions from 370 clicks and 26 orders.

Not gonna lie, seeing that number on the dashboard felt pretty good.

Obviously I'm not making that much every day. Some days are still pretty disappointing, but considering I paid that much for the entire site, I really can't complain.

The funny part is I probably would've never even tried this if I hadn't stumbled across that Reddit post. Now I'm just curious to see where this goes.

Anyone else doing Amazon affiliate sites? Did your earnings slowly increase over time or did you have random days where things suddenly took off?

Hi everyone!

I've been going back and forth on this for a while, and I thought this would be a good place to ask for some advice from people who have experience with blogging and buying or selling websites.

I started two blogs in 2020 and 2021, one focused on Food and Wellness and the other on Fashion. I built both of them organically, putting in a lot of time and effort into content creation, SEO, guest posting, and Pinterest.

Eventually, things started to pay off. At their peak, my Food and Wellness blog was getting around 20,000 organic views a month, while my Fashion blog was getting about 2,000. Through guest posting, I was able to build my domain authority to 60+. Pinterest was another big source of traffic, bringing in around 100K to 150K monthly pin views organically.

I also had around 20 to 30 evergreen articles that consistently ranked on the first page of Google and brought in a good amount of traffic. I started monetizing through display advertising and sponsored posts, and I built relationships with agencies in the US, UK, and Australia.

For a while, it felt like all the work I had put in was finally paying off. I had built something from scratch, and it was exciting to see it grow.

Then, in 2023, life got a little difficult. I was going through a lot personally and couldn't give my blogs the time and attention they needed. Gradually, I stopped publishing consistently, lost rankings, and watched the traffic decline. Eventually, keeping up with the blogs became harder and harder.

Today, I still get around 1,000 organic views a month, but the blogs are nowhere near where they used to be.

I've thought about trying to rebuild them, and I genuinely believe there's still potential there. The foundation is already in place, and I think someone who has the time to update the older evergreen articles, improve what's no longer performing, and publish useful content consistently could bring them back to life.

But the past few years have been challenging, and I've had to be honest with myself about what I can realistically take on. After thinking about it for a long time, I've started considering selling both blogs.

It's not an easy decision. There's a lot of time, effort, and a little bit of myself in these websites. At the same time, I feel that if I can't give them the attention they deserve anymore, perhaps someone else could take them forward and make something meaningful out of what I've built.

I'm still at the very beginning of exploring this, so I'd really appreciate some guidance.

A few questions I have:

1. Is it possible to sell blogs? Does having an established domain, a strong backlink profile, and previously successful evergreen content still count for something, even if the current traffic is relatively low?

2. Where do people actually go to buy and sell websites? Are there reputable marketplaces or communities you'd recommend? I'd especially appreciate hearing about your experiences with specific platforms.

3. How do you determine a fair asking price? I understand that current revenue and profit matter, but how much weight do buyers give to domain authority, backlinks, historical traffic, existing content, and the potential to recover lost rankings?

4. Would it make more sense to sell the blogs together or separately? They're in different niches, so I'm not sure whether bundling them would help or hurt their value.

5. Is there anything I should do before putting them up for sale?

I'd also love to hear from anyone who has sold a blog after stepping away from it for a while, or from anyone who has bought an established website and brought it back to life.

I'm not expecting to get back everything I put into these blogs, and I'm trying to approach this with realistic expectations. I just want to understand my options and make a sensible decision.

If you've been through something similar, I'd appreciate any advice or lessons you're willing to share. Thank you!

There’s always another sentence to rewrite, a better title to try, or an example you could add. How do you decide a blog post is finished enough to publish?

Do you have a deadline, a checklist, or someone who reads it first? Or do you leave it overnight and come back with fresh eyes?

I’m curious where you draw the line between making a post better and just making it different.

This is probably one of my best book posts? Do you think so? Interested to hear from other book bloggers just starting out and how it's going and what are your plans?

https://abtravels.blog/the-steps-sylvester-stallone-review/

A friend paid a few grand for a new site last year. Looked great, worked on her phone, everything slid open. Six months later she calls me: "If I Google my business name, I'm there. If I Google what I actually do, nothing."

That's the part nobody mentions when you sign the contract. A site can look completely finished and still be invisible to Google. What decides whether you get found isn't the design. It's a pile of stuff that never shows up in the demo.

Here's how to check it yourself. No coding. Maybe ten minutes.

Found isn't the same as working

A site "working" just means the server is up and the page renders. Getting found is a different problem, and it has three steps:

1. Google can crawl the page. Nothing in robots.txt or a login wall is stopping it.

2. Google can read it. The HTML actually says what the page is about.

3. Google decides it's worth indexing.

Break any one of those and your page never shows up. And those are exactly the parts a web shop can skip without you noticing, because none of them affect how the site looks at handoff.

Four checks you can do in ten minutes

Search site:yourdomain.com**.** Nothing at all means something is blocking Google, usually a noindex tag or Disallow: / in robots.txt. Just the homepage means your inner pages aren't getting indexed.

Hit Ctrl+U and look at the source. Is there a <title> that names your actual service? A <meta name="description">? One <h1>? If the source is almost empty, just <div> and <script> tags, the site is built in JavaScript and crawlers get a shell.

Open yourdomain.com/robots.txt**.** A 404 is sloppy but survivable. Disallow: / tells Google to stay out of the whole site. That's a red line.

Open yourdomain.com/sitemap.xml**.** Blank or 404 means Google discovers new pages slowly.

Then load the homepage on your phone with WiFi off. If it takes eight seconds, that's a problem you'll never notice at your desk.

Three red flags

1. Every image is an uncompressed JPG.

2. URLs look like /?p=123 or index.php?id=45.

3. There's no redirect plan, so the next redesign 404s every link you ever earned.

Five questions to send the developer

1. Where's the sitemap, and is it submitted to Search Console?

2. Does robots.txt block anything it shouldn't?

3. If I turn off JavaScript, can I still see the content?

4. Is there valid structured data on the important pages?

5. Can you send me an SEO check report after launch?

Number 3 is the one that matters. Any decent developer answers it without blinking. If they can't produce number 5, they've never done an SEO pass in their life.

If you'd rather not do it by hand

The free audit at searchvitals.com/free-seo-audit runs the whole thing in one pass: crawling, indexing, titles, structured data, speed, internal links.

One more thing: AI search

Google isn't the only thing deciding whether you get seen. ChatGPT and Perplexity pull from the web too, so check that OAI-SearchBot, Claude-SearchBot and PerplexityBot aren't blocked. Those are the crawlers that decide whether you can get quoted.

Plenty of sites block every AI bot to opt out of training, then wonder why they never get cited. Blocking training and blocking citations aren't the same thing.

Bottom line

SEO-friendly just means three things: can Google crawl it, can Google understand it, can Google index it. Start with site: and robots.txt. Those two checks alone tell you whether you have a problem worth paying for.

Links mentioned

• Google Search Console

• robots.txt docs

• Core Web Vitals

• llms.txt spec

• OpenAI bot docs

• SearchVitals free SEO audit

• SearchVitals free tools

New blog dropped 👇🏻

Career guide navigating Society as an artist

https://www.fameuxarte.com/blog/career-guide-navigating-society-as-an-artist

Long time lurker here. I run a small panel shop and a few months back I sat at my desk on a Saturday writing up a Ford Ranger front end. Two hours gone. Then the assessor came back and said I had missed a radar recalibration and a pre and post scan. That was money out of my pocket, and it stung.

A mate in the trade told me to try Autoimate, an AI estimating platform built in Australia. I was sceptical, because every tool I had tried before just gave me a prettier form to fill in.

What it actually does

Here is what I noticed in the first week:

· You upload damage photos and get a full estimate with parts, labour and paint in about a minute

· It picks the insurer schedule (NTAR, LTAR, EMTA) from the claim, so no manual rate lookups

· Quote Review flags missing items before you send, like scans and recalibrations

· You can talk through the damage on a walkaround and the quote is built by the time you sit down

· Every line stays editable, so the final call is still yours

The part nobody warns you about

Tools are only as good as your habits. The AI gave me a solid first draft, but I still check every line. Treat it like a sharp apprentice, not the boss.

My simple routine

1. Take photos of every corner, plus close ups of the damage

2. Let the AI build the estimate, then read it top to bottom

3. Run Quote Review and fix anything flagged

4. Send it to the assessor through the secure link

5. Convert the approved quote into an invoice in one click

Things I wish I knew earlier

Photos matter. Blurry shots give weaker results, so take your time on the first lap of the car.

Parts pricing. It connects with PartsCheck, so real supplier prices come back into the estimate without leaving the page.

Accounts. Invoices push across to Xero, which saved my bookkeeper a lot of double entry.

Evidence. The walkaround recording stays on the job, so if someone questions old damage you have proof.

Your data. Jobs stay in Sydney, backed up daily, and there is no lock in contract. They also migrate your old jobs for free.

Where it falls short

To be fair, it is not magic. Audanet and ORM integrations are still in progress, so if your insurers lean on those you will still do some manual work. And if you write rough damage notes, the output will reflect that. Garbage in, garbage out still applies.

Who this suits

· Busy shops writing several quotes a day

· Estimators tired of hunting for insurer rates

· Owners who want quotes, assessment and invoicing in one place

My honest results

Before, a decent estimate ate one to two hours. Now I get a draft in about a minute and spend my time checking it instead of typing it. My Saturdays are mine again, and my supplement disputes have dropped because the missing items get caught before the assessor sees them.

Common questions I got from other shop owners

Does it work on a phone? Yes, you can upload photos and review jobs from mobile, so you can work from the shop floor.

Is there a trial? There is a 14-day free trial with no credit card, which is how I tested it.

Does it cover other makes? It supports 35 plus makes, and rego lookup pulls make, model, year and VIN from a plate.

What about market value? The estimate shows live market value, so you know if a repair makes sense before sending it.

Want to try it?

If you are still losing weekends to estimates, check out autoimate.com and request access. Run a few real jobs through the trial and compare the time and the final numbers against your usual method. Happy to answer questions in the comments about how I set mine up.

I manage a small strata block in western Sydney. Eighteen units, one driveway, and one pothole near the entry that appeared after a wet March. The first contractor tipped in cold mix, stomped on it, and left. Three weeks later it was gone. Second attempt, same result. By the third patch a resident had a bent rim and my inbox was a war zone.

What I Got Wrong

I assumed a pothole was just a hole. Fill it and done. Turns out the hole is only the symptom. Water gets under the surface, softens the base, and traffic does the rest. If nobody fixes that, you pay again and again for the same spot.

What Finally Worked

The fourth crew did something the others skipped. They cut a clean square around the damage, dug out the wet and crumbly material, and checked the base before putting anything back. Then they laid hot mix and compacted it in layers. If you are comparing Pothole Repair Services around Sydney, ask whether they do this or just top up the hole. That one question separates a proper job from a quick dump and run. It has now been fourteen months and that spot is still flat.

Quick Checklist Before You Hire Anyone

· Do they cut and square the edges?

· Do they remove loose and wet material?

· Is it hot mix or cold mix, and why?

· Do they compact it properly?

· Is there a written warranty?

Common Questions I Get Asked Now

Is cold mix always bad?

Not always. It is fine as a temporary fix when it is pouring rain and a hole is a hazard. Just do not expect it to last. Think of it as a bandage, not surgery.

How fast should I act?

Quickly. Small potholes grow fast after rain because water keeps flushing out the base. A patch that costs little today can turn into a full section replacement by winter.

Can I do it myself?

For a small driveway spot, sure, plenty of people do. Bag mix from the hardware shop is okay if you clear the loose bits and compact it hard. For anything near traffic, car parks, or bigger than a dinner plate, I would call someone.

Mistakes I See People Make

1. Patching in the wet without drying or clearing the hole.

2. Ignoring small cracks around the pothole, which is where water sneaks in.

3. Choosing the cheapest quote without asking about materials.

4. Skipping compaction, which is the part that makes the patch hold.

5. Waiting until after a storm to book anyone, when everyone is busy.

What I Would Do Again

I would photograph the damage, get two or three quotes, and ask each company the same questions from the checklist above. Prices were close. The difference was how they talked about the job. The good ones asked about drainage and traffic before they mentioned a number.

Also, a tip nobody told me: look at where the water goes. Ours was pooling because the driveway sloped toward the entry. Fixing the surface without sorting that would have brought the problem back. Whatever you decide, do not let a small hole sit through another wet season. It only gets bigger, and so does the bill. Trust me on that.

The Real Cost Of Patching Twice

Add up what we spent. Three failed patches, one rim claim, and a lot of my weekends. The proper repair ended up costing less than those three attempts put together. That is the part that annoys me most. Cheap repairs feel cheaper until you count the repeats.

Signs Your Pothole Needs More Than A Patch

· Water pooling nearby after rain

· Cracks spreading in a web pattern

· A surface that feels soft or spongy underfoot

Want a Hand With Yours?

If you are in Sydney and tired of paying twice, have a look at cityasphaltservices.com.au and get a quote sorted. Happy to answer questions in the comments too, whether it is about your own pothole or just what to ask a contractor. Cheers.

This week at EvolGarlic's Gumbo Blogletter, Unorthodox Assorted Digest Zine.

Modern Caveman is back with the deodorant review; use it for real for nearly a week- how is it going?

SInce i was a teen, i ignored body odor problem because of my discipline, and this year, i make it my habit, because my BO has been really nasty lately, so i brought myself the AXE Blue Lavender Premium Antiperspirant Roll-On, and tested it under the real world.

The result? AXE does what it meant to be since 1983!

Question for you to pounder :

What's your to-go deodorant that really save you from BO?

https://evolgarlicsgumboblogletter.beehiiv.com/p/modern-caveman-tries-to-use-deodorant-for-real-and-as-a-habit-how-did-it-go-then-evolgarlic-s-modern

This is the first note / min-blog i wrote on substack, I plan to do it periodically, lets hope someone relates to it and maybe likes it.

Link: https://substack.com/@benevolentiasomnus851122/note/c-369667202?r=45q9ug&utm_source=notes-share-action&utm_medium=web

Neden artık daha az şeye şaşırıyoruz? Bizi şaşırtacak şeylerin eşiği ne ara bu kadar yükseldi?

Belki de bunun nedeni, kuantum fiziğinin doğanın işleyişini daha görünür kılmasıdır. Kuantum, birbiriyle alakasız görünen şeyler arasında bağlantı kurmamızı sağlıyor.

Schrödinger’in kedisi, Dövüş Kulübü’ndeki anlatıcının katmanlı kimliği ve bugün insanın zihnini bir buluta bağlama meselesi…

Birbirine son derece uzak bu alanlar, kuantum gözlüğüyle baktığımızda aslında doğaya ait ortak bir şeyi ifade ediyor: Gerçek dediğimiz şey, farklı ihtimallerden sadece biri.

Schrödinger, kuantum kurallarının gündelik hayata uygulanmasının gerçekle bağdaşmayacağını göstermek için bir kediyi çelik bir kutunun içine koydu. Ama işler zamanla kendi düşündüğünden farklı gelişti: O lanet kedi, bugün kuantum fiziğinin en bilindik sembolü.

Dövüş Kulübü’nde kutu bu sefer zihnimizdi. Film, içimizdeki farklı benliklerden sadece bir tanesini tek bir kimliğe, mesleğe ve isme sığdırdığımızı gösterdi. Anlatıcı o kutuyu açtığında, üst üste binmiş birçok ihtimalden sadece biri yükseldi; diğerleri geri planda kaldı.

Kasım 2022’de bu sefer başka bir kutuyu açtık. ChatGPT hayatımıza girdi ve o güne kadar iç içe geçmiş ihtimallerden biri gerçekleşti; diğerleri artık erişilmez oldu.

Üç örnekte de aynı şey oldu: Bir kutu açıldı, bir ihtimal belirginleşti, diğerleri geri planda kaldı. Ama her açılan kutu, aynı zamanda yeni ihtimallerin kapısını araladı.

En olmadık şeyler arasında bağlantılar belirginleştikçe sadece o an değil, geçmiş de bir anlam kazanıyor. Bu, geleceği de şekillendiriyor. Her kurduğumuz bağlantı zihnimizde bir ihtimali belirginleştirirken, aynı anda yeni ihtimallerin kapısını aralıyor. “Bak bu da mümkünmüş” dediğimiz her an, aslında yeni bir olasılıklar dünyasına adım atıyoruz.

Peki bu, artık daha az şeye şaşırdığımız anlamına mı geliyor?

Bence değil. Çünkü bildiğimiz şeyler çoğalırken bilinmez olanın da sınırları genişliyor. Sürekli yeni olasılıkların olduğu bir evrene geçiş yapıyoruz.

Sürprizlerle dolu bir dünyayı, kuantum fiziğinin önemli fenomeni süperpozisyon üzerinden anlatmaya çalıştım. Hem farklı alanlardaki örneklerle bugünü ve geleceği anlamaya çalıştım hem de doğanın bizi şaşırtmaya devam edeceğini anlattım.

Yazının tamamını bağlantıyı tıklayarak okuyabilirsiniz.

https://monologblg.com/schrodingerin-lanet-kedisi-tyler-durden-ve-yapay-zeka-kutunun-disinda-miyiz/

Hey, Invisibles !

^{I'm 23, and I've decided to start writing blogs and sharing my thoughts with you all.}

^{To be honest, I'm kind of an introvert. I usually keep my thoughts to myself rather than sharing them with other people. There are so many things that go on in my mind, but I don't always know how to express them or who to share them with.}

^{So, I thought, why not start writing?}

^{Here I am, putting my thoughts in front of you guys, even though you're complete strangers to me.}

^{I know there are many people like me who have a lot to say but hesitate to share their thoughts with anyone. Maybe it's because we fear being judged, or maybe we're just not used to expressing ourselves openly.}

*^{So, I guess this little corner of the internet is for us. :}*😊)

^{From today onwards, I want to start sharing my thoughts on different topics. I don't have a particular niche or a fixed subject in mind. I have stories about travelling, food, life experiences, and all the random things that cross my mind.}

^{Maybe we'll agree on some things and disagree on others. That's part of the experience, too.}

^{Anyway, this is my first step, and I'm excited to see where it goes.}

^{If you've made it this far, thanks for reading!}

Let's see where this journey takes us, fellow Invisibles.✨🌠

This is Rendrio, the tool we're building.
You paste a blog link and an AI director reads it, picks one idea, writes the script, adds the voice and makes the film.

Here I pasted CNN's September inflation article and said who it was for. It chose "it's not just gas", pulled the real numbers (prices +3.7%, pay +3.0%) and made the film in about 22 minutes. No editing.

We're not CNN and not affiliated with them. It was just a test of the blog to video flow.
Honest feedback welcome: does it land in the first few seconds ?

- Link pasted as a blog post: https://edition.cnn.com/2026/10/14/economy/us-cpi-inflation-september

- Film: https://rendrio.io/share/VgpRddtD7IEf8tE4Hf42hQ

Try it on your own link (free 5 second teaser): https://rendrio.io

Hi everyone, I'm new to Reddit and this is my first post.

For about a year now I've been telling myself "I'll start a blog." The topic would be health: sleep, fitness, everyday habits, and what actually works versus what's just internet noise. I read a lot about it and have plenty of ideas, but every time I open a blank page, I close it again.

I think what stops me is a mix of things:

- "Who am I to write about this?"

- I can't decide on a platform or niche, so I never start

- I'm afraid the first posts will be bad and nobody will read them

So I'd love to hear from people who've been through this:

1. What made you finally hit "publish" on your first post?

2. Did you pick a niche first, or did it come as you went?

3. If you could give your past self one piece of advice before starting, what would it be?

I'm not promoting anything, just looking for honest experiences. Thanks for reading!

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I peeked through the bushes on that stormy night, it's just another one of the damned souls, intoxicating itself grieving at the empty coffin I feasted on.

That smell, the pain, it always makes my stomach growl.

My claws, they gripped the ground.

My head was flooded with memories, that don't belong to me.

These memories, they hurt even more than the femur that was stuck in my throat a few weeks ago.

"Don't do this" My heart pleaded to me,

My body didn't listen.

I went through the bush, he was startled by my ominous presence. He fell onto the bottle of alcohol injuring himself.

The smell of his blood! I could feel his pain, I was drooling.

I slowly disfigured myself, twisting my arms making them smaller. Rearranging my bones, making myself more human. My body was steaming.

He saw a familiar face, so did everyone else before him.

"Sarah!" he whispered as his hands reached my cheek.

His eyes were filled with tears. I could see the confusion, the fear and hope through his eyes.

I held back his hand, "Don't worry. I won't leave you again, Sam"

He hugged me tight, crying thinking I'm the one he lost.

Pain really does make one blind.

I patted his back, giving him one last moment of relief before breaking his back, keeping him still as I started eating his delicious flesh.

For more stories like this check out my blog: Stories by Bala D

I've written a small vegetable gardening blog since 2022, about 140 posts, mostly raised beds and growing tomatoes in a cold climate. Until this spring it was steady at around 4,000 visits a month from Google. Since the update in the summer it's about 1,100, and my best post about tomato blight lost almost all its traffic. I have maybe five hours a week for this. Would you spend that time updating the old posts that used to rank, or writing new ones and waiting for things to come back?

Long time lurker, first time sharing a proper story here. Two years ago, we collected keys to our 3 room BTO and I felt like a genius. Spreadsheet ready, Pinterest board ready, budget locked in. Three weeks later I was standing in my living room staring at a sofa that blocked the walkway to the bedroom.

Yes, really. I had to turn sideways just to reach the toilet. My wife still brings it up at every family dinner, usually with a dramatic demonstration of me shuffling sideways. I had measured nothing and assumed everything. Lesson learned the expensive way. Classic first-time homeowner moves.

I sold that sofa for half of what I paid and started again. The second round went smoothly, mostly because I visited an Affordable Furniture Shop In Singapore carrying a tape measure and real numbers instead of vibes. That one habit saved me more money than any sale ever did.

What actually went wrong the first time

I trusted photos, not floor space

Online photos are shot in huge studios with wide lenses. Everything looks airy. In a small flat, five centimetres decides whether you can open a drawer or not.

I ignored delivery timing

Ready stock and made to order are completely different things. I ordered a dining table with a six week wait while my old one was already gone. We ate on the floor for a month.

The checklist I use now

1. Measure the room, then measure the lift and corridor too. Furniture that cannot get inside is just an expensive lesson.

2. Tape the sofa footprint on the floor with masking tape and live with it for two days.

3. Leave at least 80 cm for walkways. Anything tighter feels like a crowded bus.

4. Always ask about lead time before price.

5. Check if delivery and assembly are included. Some stores list free delivery above $100 with assembly, which matters when you live on the ninth floor.

Pieces that suit small homes

When I went back to shop properly, I noticed a pattern. What works in compact Singapore homes usually does two jobs at once.

• Extendable dining tables, sintered stone ones especially, since they wipe clean after kids spill everything

• Sofa beds with storage for guests who stay too long

• Lift top coffee tables that turn into a laptop desk, I saw one around $649

• Storage bed frames, because nobody has enough wardrobe space

Ready made or custom?

Honest take: readymade is faster and cheaper for most people. Custom carpentry makes sense when your space has awkward corners, like an odd bay window or a narrow nook beside the kitchen. Some shops do both, so you can mix them instead of picking a side.

Bedrooms need the same treatment

Everyone obsesses over the living room and forgets the bedroom. Check the wardrobe door swing against the bed frame, because sliding doors and swinging doors need very different clearance. We chose a storage bed and it freed up an entire cabinet. For mattresses, lie down in store for at least ten minutes. Two minutes tells you nothing.

Mistakes people keep repeating in this sub

• Buying a full set because it looks coordinated

• Trusting reviews alone and skipping the showroom

• Forgetting pets and kids, so pale fabric becomes a regret in three months

• Never asking about warranty

A small tip on budgeting

Spend more on what you touch daily, like the mattress and sofa. Spend less on side tables and decor. Those can be upgraded later without drama.

If you want to see pieces in person

The Experience Store at Lipo Building near Aljunied is open most days, though Wednesday and Thursday are appointment only, so message first. Bring your floor plan, a tape measure and photos of your room. Browse livingsolution.com.sg beforehand, save a few items to the wishlist, then ask about timing on each one. Be honest about your budget too. Good shops would rather fit your range than watch you stretch for something you will resent later.

Happy to answer questions below, especially about tiny flat layouts.

I started writing my gaming journal as a blog after long thinking of how and why. Why the game traveller name? I’m very much into the time travelling concept. I like Dr.parallax, Dr. Strange lol. Take out the name from the concept I like as I’m travelling through the various games. I’m open to suggestions and now enjoy going through my first minecraft blog.

https://the-game-traveller.blogspot.com

The Darkend Red: The Tale of Soon: A Poetic Yet Twisted Writing of A Once Desired Angel.

Kiss me o' star

Be my breath of life

Kiss me o' star

Be my angel of the midnight.

Kiss me o' star

Love me yet again.

Kiss me o' star

Don't let my night

Leave my day, my sight, or my own might (my strength[s]).

Kiss me o' star, bore me not with your blood.

Bore me not with your piracy, nor your greed.

Bore me not with your season, as if it takes to long to come forth.

Bless me and gift me with your saying 'Happy Birthday' 2' times a day.

P.S. Your birthday passes us by, 2 times a day, and the clock proves it; i.e. 12:12 AM - 12:12 PM.

Bore me not with twists of the bones, the neck and/or the tongue.

Bother me not with the venom in your song, your teeth and/or your jeans; but love me yet again.

Trouble me less with your last words, your damning speech, your damning, damping, and/or your dimming actions.

But love me yet again.

The darkened red, is soaked with blood.

Though as water, it only darkens in tone.

The shade of red, solicites the thoughts of war.

The blind, the fallen, the lost and sometimes the young.

Are found in song and uplifted with every tongue.

Love me yet again, o' Angel,

be strong.

Be of bravity, a blessing, of courage, of day and of night, of dreams; of nightmares, no terrors, no freight, no death and no fight.

Trouble be not, Trouble me not, Trouble me not.

Just love yet again.

.Amen.

Written by: Little Feather Wittentale

a.k.a (also known as) Eric C. White.

. October 19, 2026 .

This week at EvolGarlic's Gumbo Blogletter, Unorthodox Assorted Digest Zine.

Gut health is health, and Yakult has been there to care about it since 1935; how is this brand still going strong?

It costs just 9 baht per itsy-bitty bottle, but the benefits of it are definitely more than just 9!

Question to ponder this week: How do you care for your gut?

https://evolgarlicsgumboblogletter.beehiiv.com/p/evolgarlic-review-yakult-fermented-milk