Simple, let GPT5.1 Thinking do it.

And I don't want Google having complete control over search either. Which is why all my searching is done with non-Google search pages.

I agree with everything in your post except for that. My search engine is startpage.com, which acts as a proxy between me and Google so that it has no way of knowing who made which query.

Sounds easy, but Musk has been there, Jobs has been there, Gates has been there...

FooledGPT

A good point, but thinking on the marginal transactional costs to process a sale of additional items after one, people deliberately buying two items to 'stick it' to the business and get maybe 5 cents off their purchase is actually benefitting the business, and the customer spending more time figuring out the exact cost before checking out than the five cents are worth.
Basically, I figure that the business could outright discount every item after the first by 5 cents, and still profit more per item when people are buying 3-4 items at a time rather than one.

I doubt that, especially with varying sales taxes screwing with things.
The draw to price everything in .99 is too high. Or even .95 or .97.

A lot of studies of paper vs plastic bills are looking at paper bills using scrap cotton and linen fibers and still having wood pulp.
US bills use the premium stuff and are 0% wood pulp. As a result, our paper money lasts as long on average as the plastic bills.
The math changes when one considers that we don't have to import our fibers into the country and can thus get the good stuff for less than other countries pay for scrap.

Could it be that since university enrollment is down in general, more marginal kids applied, thinking their odds are better now? Also because of AI fears, those choosing STEM majors are down, and thus more of the applicants may be for "squishier" degrees that don't need as much math.

I blame Excel, AI, Republicans, and climate change.

All 4 are merging into the Bigly Annoyance Party.

Like Jiiiihna. The upside is it makes commerce more efficient, as vendors don't need to deal with cash and related security.

If there comes a time where a centrally managed economy, population distribution, and perhaps genetic engineering becomes more efficient than ours, we may be SOL.

[60's idea] got canned when the John Bircher Society came out claiming it was Communist influence

They were somewhat right: Donald is a dictator-wannabe who has already stuck his fingers into multiple industries.

But I myself won't miss the penny, nor Donald.

> all notes are subject to scrutiny

Clarification: subject to judicial scrutiny to make sure they don't contain personal info or info irrelevant to the case.

In the clean-room approach, the other party or examiners are required to be strip-searched and to wear simple prison-like clothing as they go into a room without internet connections to examine the info in question? They can take written notes, but all notes are subject to scrutiny before being handed back.

Does that decline in college preparation also hold for students coming from private or Catholic schools ?  Does it hold for traditional  HOME-SCHOOLED kids. And does it also hold for people entering the "skilled" trades ? Are new writers from The Paris Review and The NewYorker less literate than previous generations. Question really is: has America stopped preparing it's able citizenry for intellectual challenge.  Of-course in previous eras  ---  if you didn't work smart, then  you didn't get laid and didn't eat.