There is one on my parents’ front yard. It is super annoying when we have the whole family with their cars there.

I see the red and sometimes other color fire hydrants, maybe mostly in the city or maybe just one in a subdivision. There is supposedly a hook up hose hydrants strategically placed in the front yards of our homes. They’re a metal, sticks up less than 6” in our front yard. Some years back, they were spray painted. Oh, we’ve got the water towers. One for each county. So it seems anyways. I suppose there could be more. As for mailboxes in our front yards. I’ve heard it’s a federal crime to mess with someone else’s mailbox. Can’t put anything in or take anything unless you are the mailman, representing US Postal Services. Some owners do buy the boxes that only can be accessed for taking out from by the owner. I’ve only seen them for sale in maybe a Lowe’s or Home Depot store.

You can also get your car towed.

You don't actually have to be a postman to put something in a mailbox.

Plus the water is pumped up into the towers at night. Then gravity added to the city water system to maintain pressure.

@@davide.s.9880 This is true. But they can kick on during the day when water consumption is abnormally high. Also (at least where I am), maintenance is conducted during the day so fewer pumps are available for rapid refills. Another point is you will often find them at the highest points of a city in order to obtain maximum water pressure and assist the pumps during refilling..

Yup, in smaller towns the water tower must be higher than the tallest building. It’s all gravity

Most of the time it's the municipality's drinking water supply, but sometimes they are also used as fire suppression dump tanks. Water is chlorinated and then sent to the tower until someone turns on a tap to flow water to their faucet. While it's in the tower, the chlorine is kills any bacteria/pathogens in the water, so consumers won't get gastrointestinal problems.

I had never seen one until I went to the Midwest. Reno, Nevada certainly doesn't have them! Since our water comes from Lake Tahoe via the Truckee River, we don't need water towers.

Also handy that yellow is color code for "caution" in American traffic signage :-)

And of course it’s not just any yellow it’s National School Bus Glossy Yellow a specific color that is used for all school buses in US, and I believe in Canada as well.

All highway work machinery is yellow too. Back hoes and graters. Even John Deere

@@jarrod5179 True example. Red on our Fire Trucks and Safety Orange for safety cones.

@@pjschmid2251 Well... to be fair, the _roof_ of the bus can be (and frequently is) painted some other color. For example, where I live, the roof of the bus is usually white, because it reflects more sunlight, so the bus (which doesn't have air conditioning) stays cooler in the warmer months.

Also, there is a specific code for the proper display of the American flag, including the caveat that to be flown at night, it must be illuminated.

Really? I recall seeing some damn ugly Corvettes in that New York Taxi yellow, but the school buses are very different. To my eyes, it leans toward orange.

Very true! Every school bus is the same color and it is illegal to use that color on any other vehicle

We called it the cheese bus. Looks like a block of gov cheese with windows

Im gonna say, yes you can have the same color on cars. Not only would NO ONE care if your car matches EXACTLY, but such a law would be totally unenforceable (unless cops saw you painting your car and the container said- int chrome yellow) but then they also would not likely know or care either and even if you got "busted", what's the penalty?

Though I will say homes in suburbia will still usually have mailboxes down on the street. Easy enough for someone to be poking about in mailboxes. Even then I don't think there's much of a problem with mail theft. I guess going through mailboxes looks suspicious enough and coupled with neighborhood watch programs people's mail is generally pretty safe. Especially if mail is not left in the box overnight.

@@bagnome We live in Sacramento, CA, and there is a HUGE mail theft problem. My identity was stolen twice through mail theft, and both times my mailboxes were locked. It's definitely a thing here

Don't forget it's flow outside churches, outside schools, MASSIVE flags at every other car dealership, on top of highrise buildings, hanging from bridges, and stuck on cars, trucks, buses, homes, trees and those roadside mailboxes.

Foreigners would probably be shocked at the many Confederate flags you see here in the States.

There’s a whole block doing a Christmas light display and most houses also have the American flag next to Frosty ☃️

I didn’t have to pledge to the flag … every so often but not enough that I remember it well. We sang the anthem every so often too. Grew up in TN

Also with the mailboxes, spme mail does occasionally get stolen, but it is not only a felony bug it is a federal felony which is much worse than a state felony. You just don't mess with the feds -- unless you're just REALLY stupid. The water towers -- they are often seen in small towns instead of big cities. Driving on a state highway (not usually an interstate (multi-lane big highway)) going through s series of small towns every 30 or 40 miles, you'll see a water tower I'm most of these towns. They can be interesting in that they may be just plain with the name if the town or painted with some kind of logo or message. They are a thing that I always notice as I drive through a town I'm not familiar with. And since America is so big, we have literally thousands of small towns so there are a LOT of water towers. But of course, I've only been 33 states, so I could be wrong about those I've not been in. Also, about those mailboxes on a pole, those are along the street. The mail for those boxes are delivered by people in a little truck with the steering wheel on the street side and they drive along the street, stopping at each house. So, you'll often find those in areas out more in rural areas where sometimes the house are some distance apart or maybe in an area in a city where it may have originally been more rural but got more crowded as time went by. But in the more urban areas where, generally speaking, the houses are closer together, the mail is delivered by the mail persons by walking with a bag over their shoulder. At least, that's the way it's done in my city in Kansas.

Here in western Washington State we have hills and mountains so water is held in reservoirs behind dams mostly though a few of the higher hills in cities have them also.

I think most "newer" suburbs have a community mailbox. It's a large array of little mailboxes that are individually keyed. The postal worker opens the whole thing from the back and sorts the mail into the individual boxes. There are two or three bigger boxes for packages. If you have a package they put the key for the bigger box in with your mail; the key is made so that you can't remove it from the lock once you've retrieved your package. There's also a slot to drop off letters to be mailed. Individual mailboxes on the road are more of a rural thing.

@@cathipalmer8217 Those are usually a developer built housing where all the houses are built at once and the boxes are put up on the cheap so they don't have to do an install on each house/building. In established neighborhoods boxes are usually on the house, in the door or at curbside as each house is built. I've had all three.

Not just mail fraud but tampering with the mailbox is a federal crime.

Good way to get them hands from you neighbors to

The Postmaster will arrest their own mother for mail tampering.

Just have to add, mail bashing is still a thing. I've mostly lived in rural areas where it seems to be a common thing juveniles will do, taking a baseball bat and hanging out the passenger window of a moving car trying to bash in the mailbox. Maybe it's not a thing in cities or suburbs especially with all the cameras now, but when the mailbox is a mole from your house up on the paved road....it's still a target. Now that I'm in a city the box is attached to the house by the door.

@@pjschmid2251 And think how many times we've put things in mailboxes for the homeowner. We're next on the FBI most wanted kist...haha!

Yes but that’s a totally different type of mailbox than the one he is referring to. He’s talking about the classic American mailbox sitting on a post in the front yard.

@@pjschmid2251 That's what I was referring to as well.

I live in the Suburbs in SoCal and every two blocks of houses has a shared large mailbox with several small lockable compartments for individuals and one large one for large mail where your package is left(the key for that large one is left in your small mailbox with your letters) Amazon and UPS still deliver to the door of course, it’s just for USPS

FUN... we should do that in AZ.

In Detroit you can call the fire dept out to open a hydrant on a hot day. They come out and put an adapter on that makes the water spray.

@@pinkyjones7398 here in NYC, also

Philly too!

100% American lived in the North and South & this has never come into conversation before.... you learn something new every day!

Citizens don't use them, the fire dept.

There are some dry hydrants in the rural parts of NC that I've seen.

Wow, some people are so bold!

When I was a kid I ran one over with my bike. The post was broken so I just picked up my broken bike and ran home

My parent's mailbox used to be run over about once a month, because it was across the highway from their property & the owners of the property that it was on could not drive in reverse. It didn't stop being run over until the city changed the ordenance from all mailboxes on one side of the street to each property had to have their mailbox in front of their property.

@@cridgeway666 definitely depends if you live in the city vs in the country your experience with the mailbox.

Yeah my mailbox got taken out by a snowplow.

What's funnier is when the vandalized property replaced the mailbox post with a concrete-filled steel tube and painted to look like a wooden post. Let's just say the assailant is definitely apprehended on scene the next time they try to run over the mailbox.

was gonna comment this ^

During summer times the fire departments will open them intentionally to test them, while also allowing the kids to have something to play in/cool off.

Back in the days before air conditioning, when heat waves could really rack up the casualties, the New York City firemen would often open the fire hydrants on city streets during very hot weather to allow people a way to cool off. They do so less often these days, but sometimes when it gets very hot, residents will just take matters into their own hands and wrench one open. It's not legal for regular civilians to do so, of course, but it happens in hot weather all the same.

We used to open them in my neighborhood growing up in Chicago, in the summers. It was so much fun.

But of course it’s of no use in fighting a fire unless you have a firehose

The 90s really killed the old smashing mailboxes with bats activity by building a brick fortress around the mailbox in many suburban neighborhoods and you weren't taking that down with a bat...

When my. Mailbox was taken out by the snow plow one winter, I put the post 15 feet back from the road and put a long arm on a pivoting joint, and put a huge box at the end

Mine has a lock inside of it. It looks like the basic old mailboxes, but it has a smaller locked box inside.

The reason why it's rare for someone to steal mail after it's been delivered _might_ have something to do with the fact that it's a _federal offense_ to tamper with the mail. That includes smashing the mailboxes, as some young boys have discovered. Nothing discourages a night of mailbox-smashing fun more than getting caught, and discovering that _you_ are going to juvie hall, and your parents are on the hook for $15,000 per mailbox (so even when you get out of juvie, your parents will ground you for the rest of eternity).

I knew someone who lived in an older neighborhood 20 years ago. One winter he had homeless people taking the mail out of his mailbox and burning it for heat.

I think they have a special wrench.

I grew up in New Jersey and it wasn't summer until someone opened the fire hydrant. We used to get sprinkler caps from the fire department so as to not lower the water pressure in the area.

This is what I was going to mention but figured someone else would beat me to it. You need a valve wrench to open the water line to the hydrant so that you can use water out of it. Most of the time they are left open. If you use one on a construction site you need a meter to record the amount used so the city can bill you for it. A lot of the time the older valves are rusted in place and are really hard to turn unless you have a gas powered machine that is really helpful in turning the valves.

But so long as they have those things, anyone COULD use a fire hydrant

@@justindye9443 Correct Justin. That meter is provided with the permit by the city. At least in Houston it is. Then the construction company is billed at $.03 ¢ per gallon. Where we get $.08¢ per gallon as a regular home. I've never understood that till a friend of mine became a city engineer. He told me that by them using the water out of the hydrant it helps keep down the forming of rust and unwanted minerals in the pipes and allows better flow to regular residencies. My answer to that was " SO YOU ARE CHARGING THEM FOR DOING YOUR JOB?" His answer was spot on. He said Yuppers! It's better than wasting the water by opening up the hydrants and allowing them to just flow into the drain system. This way we at least get paid for the sewage Made sense to me. 😎👍

Just look at the tops of all the apartments in New York City.

We have some localized billboards, like for instance, comedian Bill Engvall will be in town to do a live performance at the Casino. I’ve seen it in passing but the words “final performance” kinda captures my attention for an extra minute. Well, ok not really a full minute but you’re left wondering about that word final. So, some that hadn’t seen that might linger on viewing it but no one in that area should be going over 45-50mph anyways unless they want to risk getting a speeding ticket.

Don't forget this guy doesn't have a drivers license!

​@@catw6998the speed limit is 65, or some places 70 mph. If you are driving less than 45 on a freeway you can get a ticket. Thats because 45 is the minimum speed limit.

@@garycamara9955 this was local to my area with ref to that show I had mentioned.

Oh yes and water towers are seen mostly in rural towns. That's the water storage for the town. I didn't know that it helped with pressure until I saw the comment below. Watch the movie What's Eating Gilbert Grape. A water tower has a place of prominence in a particular scene in that movie.

Basically hydrostatic pressure in a real life application.

Ya u can. Ppl tend to use them for filling up their pools muvh quicker.

If you want to be a cop in the Phoenix area, you have to be able to "jump" those 6-ft walls!

In snowier areas they often put a slender fiberglass pole on top to mark where they hydrant is. It's then up to the property owner to clear out the hydrant within 24 hours after a storm

Where I live, near Lake Tahoe, California we get anywhere from 15 to 30 feet of snow each year. The hydrants are regular size with a long snow pole with a red stripe at the top.

Bingo and to add the Postal service is recognized as a branch of of government

Yeah the penalties are crazy. Up to five years in federal prison and fines of up to $250,000. It is also a crime to injure, deface or destroy any mail deposited in a mailbox. For each act of vandalism, you could be imprisoned for up to three years and fined up to $250,000.

@@douglascampbell9809 damn. Knew it was illegal, but damn.

We have never had any mail taken from our mailboxes-never heard of it, but it may happen. It is just rare as the penalties are stiff and it is a federal crime. Same for accosting a letter carrier. It is considered a federal crime with automatic imprisonment. Just unheard of.

I have had a postal carrier actually steal my mail. Years ago, my husband ordered two phone cards one for him & one for me so we could call home from a payphone if we were out & didn't have any change. The mail carrier opened the envelope & took one of the phone cards & tried to run up our phone bill by making long distance calls & calling 1-900 porn lines. He also would take our magazines & read them before eventually delivering them to us a month or so later sometimes.

They are not so common in New England. They are more common in the Midwest.

Well, the owner can put mail in their own box. Lawrence didn’t mention that the mail carrier will pick up your outgoing mail when you put it in the mailbox and put the red flag up that is on the side of the mailbox so the carrier knows you have mail that needs to be picked up and taken back to the post office to be sent out. I have never been in another country where you can do this.

@@hrussell9677 Correct, but the letter you put in the box has a stamp on it so it's legal but you can't put a package or any object in anybody's mailbox.Even when our police gave me a citation for my lawn(I let it grow past what is acceptable) he couldn't put it in the mailbox, he had to tape it to my from door.

Also not many people have the tools needed to get the caps off.

Tell that to people in certain neighborhoods in NYC… Of a certain color, who consider it racism to not allow them to open those hydrants whenever they please.

@@Ira88881 please stop

@@hrussell9677 Stop what? You’re denying it?

Even if you could open a fire hydrant, you need the big fire hoses to direct the water. But in poorer neighborhoods sometimes someone will use a giant wrench or two to open them up an cause a spray into the street for kids to play in. It's illegal but it happens anyway whenever it gets unbearably hot.

I agree but I also am confused with the "Union Jack" because England, Scotland and Wales consider themselves to be separate countries which is bullshit.

I think the Maryland flag has the most Pazzazz of all the US states

Yeah but who actually uses the official names?

No it's the mail man, even if it's a woman.

Or, more often, the more colloquial, mailman.

Nope it's International Chrome Yellow which is a mix between yellow and orange. Maybe mixed with other stuff. Safety Yellow looks noticeably different

But it is against the law and the police may be called, who in turn will have the local fire station come and close it up; it is only to be opened by the fire department.

we aren't supposed/allowed to, but yea.... who hasnt danced under a hydrant rain at least once as a child haha

@@steventambon2588 me. I haven’t.

@@steventambon2588 Raises hand

Hell yeah! My favorite water tower! 😂

And every other water tower in the area has someone's name spray-painted on it. In really bad handwriting.

@@TheCosmicGenius, Water Towers: The OTHER social media!

Re: the flags, he meant fly them for major sporting events where it’s organized by country (e.g. the World Cup, the Olympics, etc). Not just a random sporting event.

Thanks J :)