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Yep. Not even always ads exactly, but just dummy notifications to make your dumb brain keep opening the app or website (which is kind of a self ad).

Most apps I have to disable or heavily tone down notifications in some way to get them to stop yapping about nothing. Even then, sometimes you can't get notifications you do want without junk.

Yes. ❤️

I remember going on a trip when I was younger, and my (also young) friend was driving. At one point we got onto a stretch of highway and he met speed with a slow or speed limit vehicle like that, kept going for miles.

I don't remember what prompted it, maybe an aggressive driver we encountered somewhere and were able to block in, maybe just because it'd be funny. But I do remember he'd tell that story for years, and we'd laugh about traffic being backed up further than we could see. Looking back, such a jerk move. I didn't argue against it at the time, but now I'm half surprised we didn't get a ticket. It's kind of a safety hazard.

Come to think of it, that was around 15 years ago. >.>

To tack on - if you're still pretty early, beginner textbook style lessons will be the most helpful at the start. If your main goal is to communicate with folks in a the short term, memorize set phrases and common verbs (along w/ basic conjugation rules).

It's surprising how much you can get by with when you have limited vocab and speed, but know how to ask someone clarifying questions or ask if they can slow it down.

Picking up a 2nd (or more) language is just going to be hard. There's not a magic shortcut, or anything you can buy or course to take that will make you fluent in a month.

That out of the way, there are lots of resources out there!

Look up comprehensible input channels on YouTube (eg, Dreaming Spanish). You can find something at your level, even down to the point where they'll mostly point at pictures and say words. Eventually add in things like cartoons, news, podcasts, or social media when you feel up to it.

There's debate about whether you need anything besides input. I'm partial to a mixed approach, so I'd say get a good textbook too.

Anki is great for vocab flashcards (but you'll have to find decks, which can be annoying). Apps like Duolingo can be a good supplement too.

Make a habit through the day or thinking about how to say things in Spanish. Repeat your sentences in your head, or think about what the Spanish version would be of signs you see.

It's just a long term goal though, to get anywhere meaningful. Engage with your target language every day.

Yes. Having centralized ownership (to whatever extent) is a concern for sure, but it's a hypothetical concern in and of itself: "what if the leadership does bad things?" Is different from "the leadership is currently doing bad things."

Decentralization helps. But if the networks effects aren't behind it, jumping from platform to platform when things DO get bad is also viable.

I didn't really think so, but to each their own! I like the progression from not being able to afford much, up to maxing out upgrades on each tower.

There's a speed multiplier to cut back on the waiting around. I mostly leave it around 8x speed so it's a little faster paced.

I think Anuto TD (a tower defense game) is the best I've come across.

I also really like Gauguin (Sudoku-esque) and Lexica (word game) on the more casual side.

Don't know that it's on F-Droid, but Lichess is also high quality and open source.

Yep, that's the right train of thought.

I used to also dislike them, due to their limitations vs cash. But eventually realized that I liked having the excuse to go out of town to a fancy restaurant, or splurge on games I might otherwise decide I don't need right now.

Strictly speaking, cash is better, yes. But gift cards can influence people to do things that might make them happier than typical rational or habitual decisions.

I thought Insidious was good, and not annoyingly gratuitous with the violence.

Yeah, it's such a shame. This should be the silver lining of ubiquitous data harvesting.

The problem is that they aren't really serving individual consumers - the main customer for these big attention merchants is other businesses. Amazon and Steam et al could focus more on helping you surface great products you love, but they undercut that by helping sellers get visibility they want (almost regardless of product quality).

It's certainly not simple still. They're not incentivized fully to serve your interest, and even if smaller companies are, it's hard.

Makes me think of high-score runs, mainly in arcade games. Have to play for a long time, and eventually you get stopped by a kill screen.