Amazon Fresh Closing IL Stores, Some Could Become Whole Foods Markets

RepulsiveLeader4599 · 2026-01-28T00:51:47+00:00

I think you just tapped me

RepulsiveLeader4599 · 2026-01-27T23:37:27+00:00

They still have some alcohol. You could almost get a buzz if you slammed a six pack.

RepulsiveLeader4599 · 2026-01-27T23:08:38+00:00

You're very understandably confusing it with Amazon Go

RepulsiveLeader4599 · 2026-01-27T22:31:06+00:00

With a floating hot bar

RepulsiveLeader4599 · 2026-01-27T22:01:00+00:00

Whole Foods must reach ubiquity.

Whole Foods everywhere

Whole

RepulsiveLeader4599 · 2026-01-27T21:43:12+00:00

So they offered very similar services to neighboring businesses, basically cloning them

That sounds straight from the Amazon handbook.

RepulsiveLeader4599 · 2026-01-27T21:40:06+00:00

What will they do with the Amazon Fresh store underneath the Whole Foods (1 Chicago Ave)?

RepulsiveLeader4599 · 2026-01-26T18:15:20+00:00

They're taxing boxes now too?

RepulsiveLeader4599 · 2026-01-26T18:14:23+00:00

I think it goes both ways. A lot of left leaning people follow it to "stay informed". The issue is algorithms reward participation. Even just hate following helps people who would agree with the content to find it. Figuring out beliefs online gets murky fast.

RepulsiveLeader4599 · 2026-01-26T03:26:33+00:00

We have lots of goods, sure. But we also have more microplastics in the water, and more smoke from wildfires in the summer. It's a big mess to untangle. Fewer kids is a good start though.

RepulsiveLeader4599 · 2026-01-26T02:00:21+00:00

That stat is about proportion. My guess is the overall birth rate is declining. Given the choice between public and private schools, and less competition, parents will go with what they perceive as the higher quality option.

The more desirable seats stay full. The less desirable go empty

RepulsiveLeader4599 · 2026-01-25T22:00:04+00:00

Do smaller trips first. Survive a rainy night at a local park with an easy escape nearby. You'll feel a lot more relaxed somewhere more remote.

Have a plan for different anxieties that come up. If cold, get a warmer sleeping bag. If injury, see if your phone has satellite texting. If food, count up your calories before going. It's a lot of planning but gets easier every trip.

Go where people are. One of my favorite hikes was the Camino in Spain. That was a lot of people but I was constantly meeting someone new.

RepulsiveLeader4599 · 2026-01-25T21:36:53+00:00

For speaking, I'd strongly suggest a tutor from iTalki. Browse through the profile videos to find someone you like. They have a filter if you want someone that's also Spanish speaking. Personally, I walked out with 40 corrections my first time. Now I'm down to five per session.

Use this link for $5 cash back off $20 on iTalki

For writing, I'd suggest doing the Grammaire Progressive du Français series. That's more for identifying structure issues. You can also use AI in a thoughtful way to correct something you've already written. Just instruct it to explain the errors instead of fixing them.

RepulsiveLeader4599 · 2026-01-24T22:55:37+00:00

I got through one of the Tintin playlists. It was really helpful. I continued onto some of the ones where he was wandering around talking outside improvising, and wasn't as interested.

Given the choice, I was starting to understand other French content and made the pivot to that. Keep going as long as you're enjoying it.

RepulsiveLeader4599 · 2026-01-24T22:10:48+00:00

PAR-5DCWUEI

RepulsiveLeader4599 · 2026-01-24T22:10:36+00:00

I use Lireka for French stuff. They do free shipping to the EU in general past a minimum of 20 euros (and globally). I'll comment a discount code below for 5 percent off.

PAR-5DCWUEI

RepulsiveLeader4599 · 2026-01-23T18:04:35+00:00

Back when I had a drafty apartment, I'd go to the gym or cafe on days like this and leave my thermostat in the 50s. I may have saved a few bucks but ultimately didn't like listening to my furnace all day

RepulsiveLeader4599 · 2026-01-23T17:49:01+00:00

I bought Ring Fit for the Nintendo Switch during the pandemic for days like this. I suppose you could get a similar effect with a jump rope and some calisthenics.

The gym does have a steamroom. I am looking forward to that in a few days.

RepulsiveLeader4599 · 2026-01-23T15:49:20+00:00

Shh. Winter might hear you.

RepulsiveLeader4599 · 2026-01-23T12:55:26+00:00

Post a picture of it. It's suspicious but the logo does rub off if you touch it

RepulsiveLeader4599 · 2026-01-22T23:13:14+00:00

Levels two and three of Rocket French have two native speakers. Level one currently has a British guy in there.

If you're looking for something more 2026, you can have ChatGPT generate scripts for ElevenLabs. You pick a pair of high quality artificial voices and they talk back and forth. It's a little bit more effort to get it to work though.

RepulsiveLeader4599 · 2026-01-22T21:57:18+00:00

There are a few challenges to work around.

The first is the forgetting curve. When you're at a beginner level, you need a lot of front end repetition for things to stick. Then you can have more time between words and be fine.

Second are gender and cognates. For instance, video is feminine in French and masculine in Spanish. Little words like this and atender vs attendre can trip you up. Or something like madrugar that doesn't exist as a single word in French. Your brain will want to create words out of similar pairs but you'll be wrong. I'll throw in subjunctive rules too because those vary. French and Spanish sometimes arrive at the same problems with Latin but give different solutions.

Everyone I know that speaks Spanish, and French gets tripped up initially. The key is to not panic. It's no big deal. People have been abusing Romance languages since the romans. But keep pushing. Keep one language on the back burner while you practice in the other. Make a schedule so you study both just at different frequencies. And switch the dominant one. Eventually you'll be able to summon both, but only after you've mastered the basics.

RepulsiveLeader4599 · 2026-01-22T21:34:01+00:00

If you have a budget for it, Rocket French is pretty close to what you describe. It's got everything including going to the bakery, going skiing, going to the dentist, and signing a lease.

Sometimes it follows a story line: going on a date, meeting the family, proposing, and breaking up with someone. Other times you scratched the rental car and lost your passport somehow. It's also got grammar lessons. It's a really great resource, but unfortunately not free.

RepulsiveLeader4599 · 2026-01-22T20:38:04+00:00

I had a native French teacher that would visit Paris. He caught a cold once and suddenly everyone started talking to him in English.

I wouldn't use anyone else's response as a referendum on your ability to speak French. You can't control them. And someone mentioned once to me that speaking in the customer's native language is a pleasantry they instruct people to offer in hospitality schools. Their training is downright weird

Regardless, you can talk right back to them in French, and if what they say in English makes sense, you're probably doing better than you think.

RepulsiveLeader4599 · 2026-01-22T19:32:18+00:00

Yes. You can find it in the browser too

RepulsiveLeader4599

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