bokster

I used to use Duolingo - hell, even paid for premium - as it was a nice way to improve my skills in a language I was already learning.

But as time went by the app got more and more enshittified. How can somebody use it today, I don't know.

My biggest gripe is that it went from “let's help you learn" to "let's get you competing against each other to stay in this made up league". Once I realized I'm doing lessons only for this and not learning anything, it was game over for me. And, most of the time, I'm competing against people who are there solely for the score. And because of that, rushing through the lessons and not learning anything.

In the end, I would imagine there are only so many only-Spanish-speaking people in the US learning English. And only so many only-English-speaking in Germany learning German. And these people usually topped my leader boards. Yeah, Helga Klauss from Köln definitely doesn't speak German.

And don't get me started on streaks. I've had a death in my family and no, Duolingo, these days is not a good time to practice my Spanish. I'm on a 14-hour flight. No, Duolingo, I'm not pestering everybody on the plane with Klingon for your streak. I've been up since 6 o'clock and came home at seven in the evening. No, Duolingo, spending time with my family is more important today than you.

I want to learn, but at my own pace. I've uninstalled Duolingo and never looked back.

If you want to fully control your router, look into Mikrotik.

Ubiquity is okayish, but does need you to set up a Unifi center, which can manage multiple routers simultaneously. But they are less flexible than Mikrotik.

But, as others have mentioned, your ISP is the issue. If you go with Mikrotik, you can set DNSs to your custom set (eg. Use CloudFlare or FreeDNS) and directly install VPN (Wireguard or IPsec or OpenVpn) and route all your traffic through that.

My suggestion: if you have a bit of networking knowledge or want to learn, go with Mikrotik. If you're more "high level, I just want stuff to automatically work", pick Ubiquity.

You have not mentioned how all of these devices are connected, but if it's mostly wired (which I would always suggest due to security and speed), you'll need a switch as well.

You can also combine several Unifi WiFi access points with a Mikrotik router as an edge device. This should give you enough coverage and wireless bandwidth for all non-cable connected devices.

I balled at 9% sales tax... Yours is amplified 20%, times 5.... It's just a name.

This shows deep misunderstanding in what VAT is and how it works. It's not "a flat out 20% sales tax with a different name". The concept is different. But I do not have neither time or energy to argue on the internet.

And why ever day "we switched to VAT"

Because we used to have sales tax.

You're probably a bot anyway.

Gee. Thanks?

Most of the world - other than a few places (US included) - switched to VAT ages ago. It's a more efficient system. It's not the same as "sales tax". It's literary a "value added tax" and every purchase and sale includes it - even for materials and half products.

The idea here is that you pay a tax on the amount of value you add in the chain. VAT is an indirect tax, because the consumer who ultimately bears the burden of the tax is not the entity that pays it.

It's also much more transparent, as it must be included in the quoted price. Not like the US, where you see an item on the self for $5.00 and then the total at the register is $9.54 because it now has sales, city, state, and federal tax.

Check the Wikipedia article as well: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Value-added_tax

Well, first I hear of it.

Well, as mentioned. Use your normal bank account.

To the best of my knowledgeable, there no 'pan-European payment system which would replace credit/debit cards'.

For online payments, you can use SEPA Instant Payments or somple bank account transfers. There's also Gyropay, but only for Germany.

If you want to pay for your out-of-pocket vegetables and other small expenses IRL, cash is your only other option.

You can do all of that with a normal bank account in Europe.

Vendors will accept debit cards and there's a thing called SEPA Instant Payments.

You do not need 'a PayPal'.

That being said, I keep my 'main bank account' separate from my 'spending bank account' for which I use Revolut.

Very much this. Talk to the airline as well. This falls under 'special needs requests'.

I've already flown flights where the cabin crew announced "We have a patient with severe peanut allergy on the flight. We will not be handing out any peanuts and we kindly ask all passengers to refrain from opening any they may have brought on board."

Report an error. Click.

There are no stupid questions. I sincerely did not understand it as such. If you don't know something, ask. If you have no idea where to start, ask. And this is how I understood it.

You're not the first person asking that question.

Wait until you hear about "piano".