Oh, yeah, we are in agreement there.

I also limit what goes in our trash and only put out a bag or two a week. And our city is in charge of refuse and recycling but they contract out with a waste management company - the city doesn’t have its own dump or recycling facilities (and this has been my experience in cities big and small across the country.

I watch the trash and pickup process a lot (because of a toddler) and what I’ve noticed is that bagged trash gets picked up out of bins and thrown into the truck while the recycling gets picked up by the “arm” and dumped; that’s where the spillage comes from.

You’re saying that you just dump trash straight into the inside bin and then empty that straight into the outside bin without ever using a bag at any point? You do whatever ever you want inside, but for the outside bin, it depends on your jurisdiction and who holds the contract to collect refuse. In my county, and per rules of the refuse company that hauls the trash, all trash must be placed in bags inside the bin. Unbagged trash is not collected, as in, they literally will not empty the bin until you bag it.

Also, unbagged trash has a higher chance of spilling when it’s dumped into the truck. Our trash always makes it into the truck, but a lot of recycling ends up in the gutters or blowing down the street because it’s unbagged.

Adjusted for inflation, that $0.25 is now equivalent to $68 million dollars, so…

Cue the Scroll Phone^TM.

I can’t even imagine the nightmare UI that would accommodate that type of screen.

Mechanically, I could see a device that has a slide down keyboard and a roll up screen. Functionally, I can’t see how it would be useful for daily smart phone actions like one-handed use or swipe-gestures.

It’s the serious tag. Used for only the most serious and factually correct statements ever. Seriously. /s

I went through a McDonald’s drive-thru the other day and had the most insane experience. For the context of this anecdote, I don’t do that often, so, what I experienced was just weird.

While not quite “AI,” the first thing that happened was an automated voice yells at me, “are you ordering using your mobile app today?”

There’s like three menu-speaker boxes, and due to where the car in front of me stopped, I’m like in between the last two. The other speaker begins to yell, “Are you ordering using your mobile app today?”

The person running drive-thru mumbles something about pull around. I do. Pass by the other menu “Are you ordering using your mobile app today?”

Dude walks out with a headset and starts taking orders from each car using a tablet.

I have no idea what is happening. I can’t even see a menu when the guy gets around to me. Turns the tablet around at me.

I realized that I was indeed ordering using the mobile app today.

The larger context of why anyone is talking about what is sung at the Super Bowl should have been enough of a set up, but apparently not.

This entire stunt is predicated on the right’s frustration that they couldn’t do anything about black athletes and allies being disrespectful during the National Anthem (a legally defined song with etiquette spelled out in the US legal code), which is protected speech.

Now, in my opinion, they have a Super Bowl to posture about eight months before a presidential election. They want sound bites and over-the-top reactions so that they can paint themselves the victims of a hypocritical, leftist, anti-freedom conspiratorial media machine. This part of that “projection” plank in the modern GOP.

My original post was simply outlining that no matter how you slice it, there is nothing to be mad about them “protesting” the Black National Anthem. I added in a rhetorical refrain to drive home the point while beating a dead horse for effect.

This is such a non-thing that it hurts to even consider how stupid it is.

But, let’s consider:

1. The Super Bowl is a private corporate event; any song may be performed ceremoniously. That’s protected speech.

2. Not standing up for the Black National Anthem is whatever. That’s protected speech.

3. The Black National Anthem is a colloquial title and has no legal status. That’s protected speech.

4. While there is a statute outlying etiquette for performances of the National Anthem, there are no penalties for not adhering. That’s protected speech.

5. “America the Beautiful” was also performed and there’s no legal basis for etiquette or participation. This song also has a long history of being performed alongside the Star-Spangled Banner to the point that it’s sometimes referred to as the National Hymn, even though that is a colloquial and non-legal designation. That’s protected speech.

6. This is apparently the fourth year that “Lift Every Voice and Sing” has been performed at the Super Bowl. That’s protected speech.

Yeah, I’ve noticed that a lot of sites are starting to disallow aliasing with email addresses. So annoying.