Instead of post limit imma start doing an ad limit for my day - when I reach ten ads I’m fucking done and I’ll go scroll another social media instead. Hmm. I wonder how long it’ll take me to get there?
Now that the quality of Duolingo has fallen (even more) due to AI and people are more willing to make the jump here are just some alternative apps and what languages they have:
Language Transfer (Languages: French, Swahili, Italian, Greek, German, Turkish, Arabic, Spanish, English for Spanish Speakers)
"I want a good audio-based app and money's no object"
Pimsleur (Literally so many languages)
Glossika (Also a lot of languages, but minority languages are free)
*anecdote: I borrowed my brother's Japanese Pimsleur CD as a kid and I still remember how to say the weather is nice over a decade later. You can find the CDs at libraries and "other" places I'm sure.
"I have a pretty neat library card"
Mango (Languages: So many and the endangered/Indigenous courses are free even if you don't have a library that has a partnership with Mango)
Transparent Language: (Languages: THE MOST! Also the one that has the widest variety of African languages! Perhaps the most diverse in ESL and learning a foreign language not in English)
"I want SRS flashcards and have an android"
AnkiDroid: (Theoretically all languages, pre-made decks can be found easily)
"I want SRS flashcards and I have an iphone"
AnkiApp: It's almost as good as AnkiDroid and free compared to the official Anki app for iphone
"I don't mind ads and just want to learn Korean"
lingory
"I want an app made for Mandarin that's BETTER than DL and has multiple languages to learn Mandarin in"
ChineseSkill (You can use their older version of the course for free)
"I don't like any of these apps you mentioned already, give me one more"
Bunpo: (Languages: Japanese, Spanish, French, German, Korean, and Mandarin)
it should be illegal to put ads in apps or sites for solitaire or picross or sudoku tbh. playing classic puzzle games uninterrupted needs to be a HUMAN RIGHT
Oh mah gawd. He doesn't let anyone touch him unless they're his friends.
If they aren't his friends, he'll either lean away or wipe off his hand. He hates being touched if he's not the one initiating it, to the point of wiping his sleeve off when Lucifer's hat just BARELY grazed against it.
He didn't wipe his shoulder off when Charlie stopped touching him either.
AND!!!
And!!!
Before You Say 'He did lean away', or 'She wasnt actually touching him, her hand was just near him', Take A Look At This!!
Look closely at how he moves when she splits them up. He doesn't lean away, she SHOVED him. She actively MOVED him. That wasn't an 'oh she's making contact with me, guess I should lean away', it was a 'well she's shoving me now, I'll shut up for a minute'.
Which also proves she WAS touching him. She couldn't have shoved him if she wasn't making contact.
He didn't lean away from it, he didn't retaliate. The ONLY people he lets touch him are people he cares for. And not only did she put her hand on his shoulder, she actively pushed him back, and he showed no sign of discomfort towards it. So why am I screaming about this?
Because he DOES care! It proves he cares for her. Don't get me wrong, I still think saying he's her 'dad' is a bit of a strech, but he does care enough to let her touch him. He doesn't dislike or even have a neutral opinion on her. She's his friend, even if just a little bit.
Just an edit to clarify; I know 'friends' is probably also not the best word to use, but it's just the easiest way for me to describe it.
I'm in shock. I got an ad for one of those mobile apps, and it has the usual 'random person playing the app in unneccesary detail' shtick, but the game was a fucking war game.
It looked like HOI4 or something, and the person takes the UK and mobilises an attack on berlin to 'stop them from doing anything stupid'.
The ad ends with the most Wile E. Coyote stare as her spies reveal a nuclear weapon heading towards the UK
by clicking the source link, you will be redirected to a psd download of the template shown above (via google drive). i was trying to think of ways to display a little peak into your muse's life and this is what i came up with because what says more about us than our phones <;/3
usage guidelines: click here.
fonts needed: poppins (via google fonts).
if you like my work, consider donating to my dog's surgery.
it is all chaos and entropy. the thing is that the chaos and entropy make it beautiful and lovely.
yes, it's true that nature and the universe are uncaring and unspecific, and that is terrifying. i have lived through some of the unfairness - i got born like this, with my body caving into itself, with this ironic love of dance when i sometimes can't stand up for longer than 15 minutes. i am a poet with hands that are slowly shutting down - i can't hold a pen some days. recently i found a dead bird on our front porch. she had no visible injuries. she had just died, the way things die sometimes.
it is also true that nature and the universe are uncaring and unspecific, and that is wonderful. the sheer happenstance that makes rain turn into a rainbow. the impossible coincidence of finding your best friend. i have made so many mistakes and i have let myself down and i have harmed other people by accident. nature moves anyway. on the worst day of my life she delivers me an orange juice sunset, as if she is saying try again tomorrow.
how vast and unknowing the universe! how small we are! isn't that lovely. the universe has given us flowers and harp strings and the shape of clouds. how massive our lives are in comparison to a grasshopper. the world so bright, still undiscovered. even after 30 years of being on this earth, i learned about a new type of animal today: the dhole.
chance echoing in my life like a harmony between two people talking. do you think you and i, living in different worlds but connected through the internet - do you think we've ever seen the same butterfly? they migrate thousands of miles. it's possible, right?
how beautiful the ways we fill the vastness of space. i love that when large amounts of people are applauding in a room, they all start clapping at the same time. i love that the ocean reminds us of our mother's heartbeat. i love that out of all the colors, chlorophyll chose green. i love the coincidences. i love the places where science says i don't know, but it just happens.
"the universe doesn't care about you!" oh, i know. that's okay. i care about the universe. i will put my big stupid heart out into it and watch the universe feast on it. it is not painful. it is strange - the more love you pour into the unfeeling world, the more it feels the world loves you in return. i know it's confirmation bias. i think i'm okay if my proof of kindness is just my own body and my own spirit.
i buried the bird from our porch deep in the woods. that same day, an old friend reaches out to me and says i miss you. wherever you go, no matter how bad it gets - you try to do good.
It was meant to go in tandem with my Prime bros fic but because since I drew this I rewrote the draft of the first chapter so many times it doesn't fit anymore
The tunglr iOS app has taken to showing me posts out of chronological order. Specifically when I reblog something and then keep scrolling, my reblog will show up even if I’m deep in the past of my watchlist. And then other reposts of my posts will start showing up, like there’s some sort of weird temporal incursion going on.
Trying to listen to podcast to calm down to sleep -> loud as fuck ad. Trying to check something quick from a youtube tutorial -> first gotta watch 2x 30 second unskippable ads. Trying to go to a website -> 2 popups and an ad video automatically start to play. Trying to listen to the radio while driving -> 7 minutes of uninterrupted ad time. Every single free app with those shitty game ads with the stupid annoying ass king. I’m tired !!! I never wanna buy anything ever again !!!!!!!
AO3 DOES NOT HAVE ANY OFFICIAL APP OR DOWNLOADABLE PLATFORM.
AO3 DOES NOT AND WILL NEVER CHARGE YOU TO VIEW OR ACCESS ANY AO3 CONTENT.
AO3 IS NOT A PAY-TO-USE OR PAY-TO-VIEW APP.
LITERALLY ANY DOWNLOADABLE APP CLAIMING TO BE AO3 AND/OR HOSTING AO3 CONTENT BEHIND A PAYWALL IS NOTHING BUT MINED (STOLEN) CONTENT OFF OF AO3 THAT AN INDEPENDANT PERSON IS PROFITING OFF OF.
so...midnight and sol in the rewrite... (more info below the cut!)
☆
in the scorched ruins of a long abandoned ravine awaits an elderly badger. for seasons, midnight retraced the ancient claw-marks of those before this time; fading echoes of now forgotten spirits. every night she patrols the worn stone, accompanied only by the distant pelt of stars above her.
the low humming of wind bouncing off the gorge walls was scarcely broken--be it by a passing critter or occasional loner--but tonight, something was different.
she follows the shrill wailing--lumbering after it with more energy than she had showcased in moons--down the ragged cliff edge, and into the hollowed out stone. there lay a scrawny cat--a kitten. midnight's ears itch at it's mewling, and her throat tightens.
she reaches out a clawed paw, and pulls the shivering scrap towards herself. the kit whimpers still, but unscrews it's eyes. brilliant sunburnt irises burn into her own; and a warmth she had long been deprived melted the aches of age away--if only for a moment.
those pools of yellow observed her curiously. after a heartbeat, the child nuzzled deeper into her wiry coat.
how long had it been since held new life? how long had it been since was held by someone?
it somehow took me until now to realize that because youtube music has a podcast section, some podcasts upload there without embedded ads because they use youtube ad insertion instead
which means if you have youtube premium you can listen ad-free
which means if you do not have youtube premium and you're on anything but an apple device you can listen ad-free