So, my story was from 1988. That kid needs to sue FormGen.

"At least you don't need botox for your chin." -Thanos

You didn't grow up in the Boston area, did you? Born around 1981?

I worked at a summer camp once and as I was processing a busload of 7-year-olds one of the kids got off, came right up to me and said "if you give me any trouble, I'm gonna rip off your head and shit down your throat." I teared up.

Something I never see mentioned in discussions about privacy and "deleting your data": all of these websites store information in databases, and databases are (usually) backed up on a regular schedule. This means that the databases in their entirety are written to tape or optical drive or whatever format, in a form where they could be remounted/restored in their entirety if necessary. Even if your data is "deleted" from the current active instance of a database, no company goes into all (or any) of the backed-up copies of that database to delete that same data there (and even when you delete something from the current active instance of a database, the deletions are logged in the audit tables and so are never truly "deleted").

So it is impossible in a practical sense to truly delete your personal data, regardless of what any law says. It's not even possible to make it inaccessible to AI, since most likely when websites sell their data to AI companies, they are selling database backups that predate AI.

"Who wants to play helicopter?"
"Dad, no!"

I like to think they are introspective but they are likely not happy with their bubble being burst

They're just waiting for that soothing moment when they can plop themselves down in front of Fox News or their favorite right-wing influencer and the world will make sense again. Whatever transformative victories you imagine yourself having, they're incredibly short-lived.

My capybara theory is that they're so friendly and cool because the creatures that tend to surround them act as an early-warning system to protect them from predators.

I had my school bus broken into one time. I called the police department, explained the situation, and asked the dispatcher if they could send an officer to make a report. This is how the rest of the conversation went:
"Nah."
"Nah?"
"Yeah, nah." click

I went to Walmart once because at the time it was the only grocery store in the area that carried plantains. I have honestly never shopped anywhere else where I felt that level of malevolence from the employees. It was as if they were all working there only because their children were being held hostage and tortured and they were right on the cusp of deciding they didn't really love their children that much. I thought I was close to getting stabbed by one of them, and I hadn't even asked anybody for help finding anything.

What really blows my mind though is why anyone shops at Target. At least stuff at Walmart is cheap, but Target is ridiculously expensive while still being shit, especially the grocery department.

On the flip side, I was at the Shop-Rite self checkout one time, and every time I put something into my own bags I got the "unscanned item" alert. I kept looking over at the employee in charge of the checkout area with an enraged face and he would clear the alert and look apologetic. After like the tenth time this happened, I finally realized it was happening because I wasn't actually scanning anything -- I was just taking shit from my cart and putting it right into my bags. I have no idea why I had this brain fart all of a sudden, but I suppose I could have gotten a bunch of free groceries if I hadn't apologized to the dude and put everything back in my cart and scanned it properly.

I'm a school bus driver myself. We're unionized (Teamsters) and the district operates its own buses. We make about $34 an hour and get subsidized health insurance and a small pension (after 10 years) as well. A neighboring district privatized their school bus service a few years ago; their drivers make $22 an hour with no benefits at all, their accident rate is 4X ours and the drivers keep getting busted for positive drug tests and drunk driving, and their operating costs (as measured per student/per mile transported) went up about 50%.

It is such an absolute no-brainer to realize that the only advantage of privatizing a service like this is to put money into the pockets of the bus service owners (as well as the officials and school board members that they bribe), and the disadvantages are literally every possible other aspect of the deal. And yet surprise surprise my district is discussing privatization to "save money". It doesn't help that our newly-hired transportation director is a member of the family that owns the largest private bus service in the area.