I mean there's not too many other ways you could make a scrolling Wikipedia feed and it all sounds terrible. Wikipedia is at its best when feeding a rabbit hole via nested links to the concepts that underlie what you are already learning about.
This person is probably trying to build a portfolio of applications they can say they've made so they can get a job doing something useful. Smashing a new ui on old info is a relatively brainless way to do that, and doesn't require much critical thought.
I don't know the price and since you're on a .de server I definitely can't say for sure, but check out the 3M screwplugs. They're like the foam earplugs you're used to but they're easy to put in/take out and they last a while.