Stupid People, Stupid Rules Fascinate Me

Every once in awhile in this blog thingy, I like to highlight stupid people or stupid things, or stupid people following stupid rules.

I've got a couple more. Both are about how technology makes us jump through the dumbest hoops.

In Florida, a woman named Marci Robin was buying a Fiat 500X at a West Palm Beach, Florida dealership.

As we all know, when you buy a car, you have to sign a bunch of papers, and Robin was furiously signing away as she drew closer to driving away in her Fiat.

Then she came upon a weird one, to say the least. You know that one you see on line, where you have to check a box to demonstrate that "I Am Not A Robot."

She had to check the box as she was signing the papers. Yes, the real life, Marci Robin. Who by all accounts is not a robot. Who was sitting in that West Palm Beach Florida dealership. Right across from the sales associate who was feeding her the papers to sign, says Jalopnik.

Says Robin: "The sales guy was handing me paper after paper with a brief explanation of what each one was for, and he handed me that page - with literally nothing on it - and just matter-of-factly said, 'And this one is to ensure you're not a robot.'" 

Jason Torchinsky of Jalopnik called the dealership and asked if this was all real. Yep. The dealership has to print out the papers to sign from a website, one that has the "I Am Not A Robot" reCAPTCHA security thingy to somehow prove the website visitor is not a robot.

When they print out the paperwork, the salesperson said. "It's not about us. In order to print the next one, you have to check that. So we print it out, and the customer checks that when we do."

It still sounds really strange. Torchinsky asked the salesperson if a robot came into the dealership with a Social Security number and a valid ID, would they sell that robot a car?

Yes. As the salesperson sort of explained. "You never know. They have that girl Alexa, and she can talk and make phone calls and stuff."

Meanwhile, a South Carolina teenager graduated from high school and his mom threw a party for him.  

Why not? Jacob Koscinski is a really smart kid. He graduated summa cum laude, so that means his grades were awesome. The mom, Cara Kosinski, ordered a cake from the local Publix Supermarket with the words "summa cum laude" on it.

When they got the cake back, it read, "Congrats Jacob! Summa  ---- Laude Class of 2018."

Yep, Publix censored that word, thinking of its "dirty", sexual connotation. Cara Kosinski shared a photo of the censored cake on Facebook. "I seriously couldn't make this crap up!!!!! Funny - not funny."

Jacob said he was humiliated because people were laughing at the censorship and he had to explain to  elderly relatives why other people were laughing.

When she ordered the cake, Koscinski took the time to write in the special instructions box of the online order that Summa Cum Laude was a Latin term for high academic honor and was not profane. It means "with the highest distinction," according to the Huffington Post, via the Washington Post. 

Publix explained that the online box where customers enter cake inscriptions is very temperamental.

The Washington Post said Public offered to make another cake, but Koscinski declined because Jacob only graduated once. The store refunded the $70 she spent on the cake and gave her a store gift card.

A Publix spokeswoman said the situation has been addressed, so the computer won't censor things that ought not to be censored or if it is, will be checked to make sure nothing stupid happens.

Conservative Parents Go To Great Lengths To Prevent Anybody From Reading A Book They Hate, Fail Spectacularly

I never know whether to laugh or cry at ultra-conservative parents, who, when they object to a book that goes against their beliefs, try to prevent anybody from reading it.

A few conservative parents in Idaho tried to get
people to stop reading this book. The move
backfired spectacularly, as expected.  

Such was the case recently in a school district in Idaho, where the parents succeeded in getting the young adult novel "Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian," by Sherman Alexie off the school's reading lists and, says the Idaho Statesman. 

The book is popular among teens and critics and won a National Book Award.

However some of the parents in Meridian, Idaho say the well-acclaimed novel has problems such as language "we do not speak in our home," that it has "references to masturbation, and is "anti-Christian."

Whatever.

Now, I don't have a huge problem if a parent does not want their kid to bring home a particular book and read it.  Denying the kid a book might help stunt their intellect or craving for knowledge a bit, but parents do have the right to determine which reading material is in their home.

But I have a real problem with these parents trying to stop everyone else from reading it.  (The solution here would have been to get students to read another book if parents objected to this one.)

These censorship efforts usually backfire, though, and this one did, too. First of all, news media attention to this issue increased interest in the book.

Then, a local bookshop, Rediscovered Books, started a crowdfunding campaign to buy a book for each of the 350 kids who had signed a petition to keep the novel on the reading list. The campaign raised $3,400, enough money to pull this off, says the website Death and Taxes. 

From there, local kids and the bookstore began giving away copies of the novel to anyone who wanted it.

You go kids!!

When the ultra-conservative parents heard these kids were out there giving the book away, well, the horror! They called the cops on the kids to put a stop to that business.

Hilarious, I know.

Only trouble was, the cops didn't shut down the book giveaway because the kids weren't breaking any laws or causing any trouble. They do have the First Amendment right to peaceably hand out books and literature.

The police basically told the bookish kids to have a nice day, then left.

On top of that, the book's publisher sent the kids another 350 copies of the book. Another book giveway is planned, and any of the Meridian kids who still want to read the novel can go to Rediscovered Books and pick up their free copy.

The bottom line is, as always, the parents who didn't want anybody to read the book because it would somehow poison kids' minds managed, through their actions, to get a LOT of people to read the book.

The author, Sherman Alexie, should think about hiring these parents as his publicity director.

And maybe it's time I read that book, too.