Welcome to /. 2017. You're all fucking dumbasses.

The only idevice we have in our home is an ipad. If I need an app I specifically look for one that costs something because the free stuff is mostly in-app purchase nonsense. I don't think it is a big deal to throw a developer 6 or 7 bucks if they provide me with something that is not constantly nagging me or trying to trick me into buying something.

My son downloaded Monster Legends. Looks like a fun game right? And its free. Total in-app purchase low value piece of shit. Always wanting you to buy gems and other such nonsense. You could spend hundreds of dollars on that stupid game if you had no sense. Compare that to traditional games $30-60 one time purchase and then play to your hearts content.

Interesting, cat and mouse game continues. My issue is that twice now Pihole just stops responding. Port 53 and 80 are still listening, everything looks fine but I cannot access the web interface and DNS won't response. Restart lighttpd and dnsmasq does nothing. Rebooting the pi itself does nothing. It's like everything seems fine but you just cannot connect to it. Fairly easy to uninstall and reinstall but not good.

May as well add Windows and MacOS/IOS in there as well. Just as bad.

I have been using GPG since 2003. That means publishing my key and making it available. The only encrypted email I have ever received in all that time is from that bastion of privacy and security.....Facebook! It's like bizarro world.

Indeed, anyone thinking adding that crap to a page is just a horrible person. A close second is the delayed pop-up. Fuckers. Then they cry about ad-blockers. Been testing Pi-hole with very promising results, seems to even bypass the "Hey you are using an ad-blocker" message.

Hi, you may never read this as you will probably have to wade through 3 feet of shit infested talk about american politics, but if you do this would be my advice. As someone who has learned coding while not being a programmer this has been incredibly useful to me in my career. Just because we are not "professional" programmers it does not mean that we don't have problems to solve for which small programs and scripts can work wonders.

If your goal is to become a full time programmer then you will probably have to learn multiple languages. The best programmers have a whole set of tools they can use and should not be boxed into one language. You still need to start somewhere though and I don't think it really matters as long as you start. More importantly learn how to think like a programmer, breaking down problems, understanding the problems you are trying to solve. Syntax will be a bitch when you start but don't get too down if you struggle with that.

If you just want to pick up a language to increase your career skills I don't think you can go wrong with Python. It has a vast community, is probably easier to learn than anything out there and has an incredible about of libraries that you can import and use in your own scripts and programs. If you are looking to make programming a career you will want to broaden your horizons beyond just the one language. The important thing is to pick one and stick with it.

There are tonnes of good resources for getting started with Python. Beware that the arguments around which are best is a bit of religious war in the community with strong opinions for and against each. (examples: Learn Python the Hard Way, Automate the Boring Stuff, Code Academy etc etc). I have a clear preference but will not recommend one. Research it, read the flame wars, try them all, use what works best for your learning style. That is really the heart of it, we all learn differently so you should be suspicious of anyone who says this or that resource is shit and only idiots use it. They are most likely the idiot.

Good Luck

I can't stand asking or answering on SO, but damn if it's not always the place that has an answer when you need it. They are doing something right.

And I am sure Americans won't mind paying more for their goods. I am sure they won't end up going to China for them instead. There are plenty of cheap asses to go around.

Then knock yourself out...I didn't say it was difficult or stressful. I just don't like it. Most fun when your kids find these types of games. Not this one specifically as it is more adult oriented, but the gaming landscape is infested with this. It never ends.

I hate in game purchases with the heat of a thousand suns. I would rather pay a good sum for a quality game. Whatever... I am probably in the minority and I am feeling like an old curmudgeon anyway so this is nothing more than a rant. There...feel better now.

You can't even trust that your tinfoil hat has not been compromised to read your thoughts. BEWARE!

....."Is making every story a hyperbolic click-bait crapfest the new normal now across the board?"

I would say we have long past that time and we are all worse off for it.

Of course FB is a bubble, but that's not what I was talking about. The bubble I am referring to is his ideology, one I actually share to a certain extent. As for your sidewalk comment, in my case it seems like the vast majority of my friends and family are then hanging around in front of his house, I am much more likely to find them there then out in the world.

Truth is, I spend only a few minutes a day on FB, and that is to interact with people I care about (say hi, give them a like or encouragement, share a joke, make a quick plan for IRL meetup etc etc), the rest of it, I am out there in the wild. I don't post my inner thoughts and life goals and supper pics and kid pics etc etc .....

I used to have that view. But truth is you can't live in a bubble. Well maybe you can, but you shouldn't have to. I treat FB like walking down the street. If I wouldn't say it in public I don't say it there. I logout of FB when I am not using it. I am still relatively sure they are tracking me if I logout so my whole approach to online is using my public persona. As for Twitter, the communication is limited. With FB you can at least share with family and friends. Twitter is just a bunch of people talking and never listening. They want you to follow them, they want to be popular, they want to push their wares or crappy ideas/ideology.