There's a simple solution to make everyone happy:

So... Add high-contrast uniquely identifiable markings to yourself?

Seems counterproductive.

Two mirrors.

A hand mirror and the bathroom mirror.

Whether you chose to care or not, the upcoming US election will have an impact on your life; regardless of where you live. Arguably more so this year than most past elections. While you can't vote yourself; you can have some influence (both directly and indirectly) on your social group, which may or may not contain Americans.

It is also good to generally stay informed of what's happening in the world. Particularly with countries that have great influence over the majority of the planet.

Besides that; it can be quite difficult to find topics that interest/affect you both. Perhaps your father is trying to find common ground and bond over a topic that impacts both of you.

Scanners in baskets/carts is what they are replacing this with.

The 'Just Walk Out' system was as the name implies; grab product and leave. No scanners, no checkout, no cashiers; just cameras watching you shop, and a heavy implication that that video is primarily watched by AI to determine your purchases. AFAIK the only scanners were to read a qr code on entry to associate you with your amazon account; the rest is hands off. Or at least that's what it's supposed to be. Seems there's a lot more labour under the hood than the advertising said. Shocker.

Why should I buy two devices to do the same job, where a single device from any other sane manufacturer would function 100% of the time? Especially after paying a premium for the branded device?

Pay more to get problems others don't have, then pay even more on top to solve those problems...

While autorun doesn't exist anymore, there's many many other methods of attack via usb.

Here's a list with 10 seconds of searching:

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/heres-a-list-of-29-different-types-of-usb-attacks/

It's entirely possible this drive was made maliciously to pass on data from whatever unsuspecting soul uses it. The seller op bought from could even be a victim themselves. You just never know.

250 million years of "fuck this shit I'm out"

Reading your comment, all I can think is you're exactly who OP is talking about.

OP speaks of concern for the broader political climate in America and how its citizens seem to ignore it to focus on their personal lives; a blissful ignorance.

And your response is to talk about how you enjoy your personal life...

Well that's good to hear. I've got a folder with 60 of those notices sitting in it... (oct 2021-aug 2023)

That is, until I switched to usenet. Haven't received a single one since. :)

He gives off the vibe that he's one of the little guys, an independent journalist, just another employee

This is a behaviour Linus has simply failed to grow out of.

At one point, he was just one of the little guys; sharing that common ground with his audience. That dynamic has vastly changed, but Linus has not adapted to it.