It helps me a lot for getting started and staying on task. I used to use the countdown timer with alarm, but now I use Windows stopwatch timer with it set to be always on top so it’s near the top right corner. Whenever I get an automatic impulse to open a distraction tab it helps me catch myself. I let it run until I notice I’m over 25 min. Then I decide to break or keep going. If I break, I set it to count up again so I see how much time I’ve spent on break. This seems to be a decent compromise for flexibility for me.

Several states use cloud seeding to deal with drought among other things. It’s not used in Florida currently, but it might be a useful tool to deal with the effects of climate change in the future.