old_contents: var express = require('express');
  var app = express()
  var server = require('http').createServer(app)
  var io = require('socket.io')(server)
  
  var hostname = 'localhost';
  var port = 3000;
  
  var router = express.Router();
  
  router.route('/countdown')
    .all(function(req,res,next) {
      res.writeHead(200, { 'Content-Type': 'text/plain' });
      next();
    })
    .get(function(req,res,next){
      io.emit('countdown', { message: 'start count down!', duration: 5 });
      res.end('Hello World!');
    });
  
  router.route('/countdown/:minutes')
    .all(function(req,res,next) {
      res.writeHead(200, { 'Content-Type': 'text/plain' });
      next();
    })
    .get(function(req,res,next){
      io.emit('countdown', { message: 'start count down', duration: parseInt(req.params.minutes, 10) })
      res.end('hello world: minutes:  ' + req.params.minutes +'!');
    });
  
  app.use(router);
  
  app.use('/', express.static(__dirname + '/public'));
  
  server.listen(port, hostname, function(){
    console.log(`Server running at http://${hostname}:${port}/`);
  });
  
  io.on('connection', (socket) => {
  
  })
  
new_contents: var express = require('express');
  var app = express()
  var server = require('http').createServer(app)
  var io = require('socket.io')(server)
  
  var hostname = 'localhost';
  var port = 3000;
  
  var router = express.Router();
  
  router.route('/countdown')
    .all(function(req,res,next) {
      res.writeHead(200, { 'Content-Type': 'text/plain' });
      next();
    })
    .get(function(req,res,next){
      io.emit('countdown', { message: 'start count down!', duration: 5 });
      res.end('5 minutes countdown starts now');
    });
  
  router.route('/countdown/:minutes')
    .all(function(req,res,next) {
      res.writeHead(200, { 'Content-Type': 'text/plain' });
      next();
    })
    .get(function(req,res,next){
      io.emit('countdown', { message: 'start count down', duration: parseInt(req.params.minutes, 10) })
      res.end(req.params.minutes + ' minutes countdown starts now');
    });
  
  app.use(router);
  
  app.use('/', express.static(__dirname + '/public'));
  
  server.listen(port, hostname, function(){
    console.log(`Server running at http://${hostname}:${port}/`);
  });
  
  io.on('connection', (socket) => {
  
  })
  
subject: return countdown duration to /countdown GET request