Minor things that bother you

[vdeane]

.... to place in the Herbie at the bottom of my driveway, forgot to place said bag of garbage in said Herbie ....

What is a "Herbie" in this context? I can't say I've ever heard that word used in connection with trash pickup. The first thing that word calls to mind is a series of four movies about a Volkswagen that were popular when I was a kid, but I'm reasonably certain that's not what you mean here.

Just wait until you hear about Rosie...

From Hazbin Hotel?

[kphoger]

What is a "Herbie" in this context? I can't say I've ever heard that word used in connection with trash pickup. The first thing that word calls to mind is a series of four movies about a Volkswagen that were popular when I was a kid, but I'm reasonably certain that's not what you mean here.

I simply assumed he had an old broken-down Volkswagen, because that's all 'Herbie' means to me too.

Just wait until you hear about Rosie...

Wow, you're right.  This is weird stuff.

https://www.wkyt.com/2025/04/01/good-question-why-are-trash-cans-named-herbie/

[1995hoo]

What is a "Herbie" in this context? I can't say I've ever heard that word used in connection with trash pickup. The first thing that word calls to mind is a series of four movies about a Volkswagen that were popular when I was a kid, but I'm reasonably certain that's not what you mean here.

I simply assumed he had an old broken-down Volkswagen, because that's all 'Herbie' means to me too.

Just wait until you hear about Rosie...

Wow, you're right.  This is weird stuff.

https://www.wkyt.com/2025/04/01/good-question-why-are-trash-cans-named-herbie/

I've never heard any of those terms in reference to garbage cans. The trash companies in our area refer to the wheeled cans as "toters." I don't use one of those, primarily because they're too big—to get one of those into or out of the garage, I'd have to back the car out. We don't generate that much trash anyway, so the relatively compact 40+ year-old Rubbermaid trash can I have does the job well enough for our needs. My father originally bought it as a way to hold the plastic bags into which we emptied the lawn mower bag, but then at some point his trash company handed out wheeled "toters," and he also hired a lawn service to mow, so he no longer needed the Rubbermaid can and he gave it to me in 2001 when I moved into my current house.

[hbelkins]

Nice find on the WKYT story from out there in Kansas.

Yes, I remember when Lexington introduced the wheeled garbage receptacles and they were referred to as "Herbie the Curbies." I don't really remember when that term came into vogue, but it had to be the 70s or 80s. I'm less familiar with how "Rosie the Recycler" came into use, but it must have been a play on "Rosie the Riveter." I'm even less knowledgeable about "Lenny" for yard waste.

[vdeane]

The fact that the mobile version of FanFiction.net doesn't show whether stories are complete and uses a separate URL, meaning I can't add something to my reading list on my phone and get the normal site on my laptop.

[Scott5114]

The trash companies in our area refer to the wheeled cans as "toters."

I've always seen the trash companies call them "polycarts" (and most laypeople just call them "bins" or "cans"—every Tuesday my wife will text me "Don't forget the bins!" to remind me to bring them in while she's at work).

[kphoger]

Our family often calls them 'dumpsters'.

[The_Ginger]

We just call them "trash cans."

[kphoger]

We just call them "trash cans."

I try and reserve that term for the ones that don't have wheels on the bottom.  So, for example, if there were a wheely-type cart sitting next to a cylindrical galvanized steel one, then I'd only call the latter a "can".

[thenetwork]

The trash companies in our area refer to the wheeled cans as "toters."

I've always seen the trash companies call them "polycarts" (and most laypeople just call them "bins" or "cans"—every Tuesday my wife will text me "Don't forget the bins!" to remind me to bring them in while she's at work).

Toters is a brand name for such wheeled cans.  Our trash service cans are made by them.

[wxfree]

We just call them "trash cans."

I try and reserve that term for the ones that don't have wheels on the bottom.  So, for example, if there were a wheely-type cart sitting next to a cylindrical galvanized steel one, then I'd only call the latter a "can".

To me, if it has wheels, it's a cart.  Like in the store.  The wheeled carts people often call baskets, but to me a basket is a thing you carry.  A minor thing that bothers me is that Walmart got rid of the baskets, and the carts are ridiculously big.  I understand they want to trick you into buying more, but that doesn't work on me.  I'm not an impulsive shopper.  I never go to the store without knowing exactly what I want to get, and I don't even consider buying anything else.  If I want more than a few things that I can carry loose, I have to use one of those enormous carts that can be difficult to navigate.  It's like driving a dump truck just to throw four or five things in the back.  Maybe I could find my own basket to carry in.

[1995hoo]

Unrelated to the above:

We have a special election in Virginia on Tuesday. I will refrain from commenting on the issue itself in deference to the forum rules about political content. What is getting more and more annoying is the explosion of political text-message spam. The latest thing is messages about voting that say who you vote for is private, but whether you voted is a matter of public record. I'm not sure what those messages are intended to accomplish. They come across as vaguely threatening.

I always hit "Delete and Report Spam," but I wish there were a way to preemptively block all this crap. The problem is that because banks and other such places insist on using text messages for multi-factor authentication, if you set your phone to reject all text messages from unknown senders you risk missing things you need to see.

At least this time we haven't been getting robocalls.

[catch22]

The trash companies in our area refer to the wheeled cans as "toters."

Probably because Toter is one of the companies that makes them (including the ones my city uses).

https://www.toter.com/

[kurumi]

Websites that constantly cajole you to "get the most out of" them (Google Maps, Reddit, etc.) by signing up, signing in, or installing their app. No thanks; I'm already getting the appropriate amount out of it.

[J N Winkler]

We have a special election in Virginia on Tuesday. I will refrain from commenting on the issue itself in deference to the forum rules about political content. What is getting more and more annoying is the explosion of political text-message spam. The latest thing is messages about voting that say who you vote for is private, but whether you voted is a matter of public record. I'm not sure what those messages are intended to accomplish. They come across as vaguely threatening.

In my area that kind of messaging was used extensively about a decade ago but has fallen out of favor.  I suspect the political operators around here have realized not only that many voters have precisely the reaction you did, but also that it prompts them to vote against the party they (rightly or wrongly) associate with such minatory tactics.

A variant of this approach consists of sending each voter a mailer with the voting histories of his or her immediate neighbors, saying (essentially), "They voted, why didn't you?"  One of these came for my mother shortly after she died, having been too ill to vote in the previous election.  It left me with a passing urge to find out who had sent it and firebomb their offices.

[CoreySamson]

Not quite the same, but another voting oddity that still bothers me to this day. After my dad died in 2020, his email kept getting emails from Democratic candidates in Minnesota asking for support, even though he never lived in Minnesota (I want to say he only ever visited Minnesota once in 2007) and always voted straight Republican. How did they get his email? And this only happened after he died. Was there something fishy going on? I want to say no, but given Minnesota's recent track record for fraud, I'm not sure...

[NE2]

given Minnesota's recent track record for fraud

Sure, Jan.

[D-Dey65]

"Black Hole Sun" is by Soundgarden, not Alice in Chains. Those two bands sound nothing alike.

Yeah, you're right. I don't know why I said Alice in Chains. I should know better.

Theft or not, a lot of them were pretty good. All of the songs were credited to the original artists... except for one. Another video claimed that they had a late-1960's soul version of "Police on My Back" which was covered by The Clash, but was originally by The Equals. The version in this video was also a soul version, but it was a lot funkier than the original. Obviously, the maker of this video didn't know about the original.

[TheHighwayMan3561]

A couple years ago I found someone who used AI to make Freddie Mercury sing the Pokemon TV theme song. That kind of AI slop I can be OK with.

[Scott5114]

given Minnesota's recent track record for fraud, I'm not sure...

Don't forget to take into account the track record for fraud about Minnesota's track record for fraud.

By the by, I've got an inadequate pillow to sell you...

A couple years ago I found someone who used AI to make Freddie Mercury sing the Pokemon TV theme song. That kind of AI slop I can be OK with.

I'm not, because if Freddie Mercury had actually sang the Pokemon TV theme song it would be a hundred times as awesome as anyone, including AI, could conceivably imagine.

[kphoger]

The origin isn't (0 , 0) here:

[kphoger]

I'm not, because if Freddie Mercury had actually sang the Pokemon TV theme song it would be a hundred times as awesome as anyone, including AI, could conceivably imagine.

But A.I. can do it without an ugly mustache.  So there's that.

[kalvado]

The origin isn't (0 , 0) here:

Since timestamp has no physically defined zero point, abscissa 0 is irrelevant.
extrapolating to negative number of husbands is a bigger problem. Although things do happen, I remember official statistic of -1 (negative one) covid death on a certain day in some jurisdiction.

[kphoger]

I remember official statistic of -1 (negative one) covid death on a certain day in some jurisdiction.

That was probably the time SARS-CoV-2 got exposed to Chuck Norris.

[J N Winkler]

Not quite the same, but another voting oddity that still bothers me to this day. After my dad died in 2020, his email kept getting emails from Democratic candidates in Minnesota asking for support, even though he never lived in Minnesota (I want to say he only ever visited Minnesota once in 2007) and always voted straight Republican. How did they get his email? And this only happened after he died. Was there something fishy going on? I want to say no, but given Minnesota's recent track record for fraud, I'm not sure...

In your father's case, I wonder if a data quality problem might have been at play.  Even today, there are still contexts (such as point-of-sale terminals) where no email validation occurs, and in jurisdictions with lax data protection controls (such as the US with the exception of California), that information all gets swept up by data brokers.

At the moment I am trying to unwind a situation where someone in Germany, whom I neither know nor have met, attached my email address to his account at a Bausparkasse ("building savings bank," basically equivalent to a building society in the UK or a credit union in the US).  AIUI, under both the GDPR and German data protection law, this institution is not processing my personal data appropriately since I do not have a business relationship with them and never consented to their having or using my email address.  I believe I am entitled to have it removed from that other person's account.  However, it is taking forever to get a response from the initial email contact, which I would rather have in hand before I decide whether to escalate with a sternly worded letter to their CEO and possibly a complaint to the data protection commissioner for the Land in which the headquarters is located.