Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with bumper

Meaning of "UP" Bumper Sticker

peeedro — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 15:40:37 -0800

What does the "UP" bumper sticker mean? It is a blue square with white letters "UP" in the center, observed in the DC area. The bumper sticker is square, about 4 inches on each side, with a dark blue background. Centered within the blue square are the letters "UP" in a white sans-serif font. I have seen this on vehicles registered in DC, VA, and MD over the past couple of years.

Red herrings: it is close to the same color and shape as the HRC equality sticker but I don't think they are related. And this is unlikely to be related the to Pixar movie because I have been wondering about this bumper sticker for the past two years.

Long lost children’s book search

goml — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 11:21:56 -0800

I am looking for a young child's easy reader book from the late 1960s/early 1970s about a bear and his bus. I am 99.999% certain the title is Bumper Bear’s Bus. It had a light blue hardcover that was kind of watercolory in tone and if I remember correctly the cover has a picture of a very cute and fuzzy brown bear and a bus. He may have been wearing a yellow smock/vest/bus driver’s jacket.

I am more than 100% without a doubt positively certain the bear’s name is Bumper (because I had such a difficult time saying BumpeR, instead of BumpeW and I remember my Mom helping me with my “R’s” to say BumpeR, so I am absolutely positively certain without one iota of doubt in my mind that the bear’s name is Bumper).

Bumper Bear drove the bus around town, and I believe the story was about the people Bumper bear picked up for rides on the bus or where they were going on the bus, or things they saw along the way – you get the idea...

Places I've already looked: I’ve asked every member of my family, people around my age (40), I’ve checked used bookstores in person, searched every book finder web site I can think of, looked on google, ebay, half, random sites – NOTHING - Not one mention anywhere, but I KNOW this book existed because I once owned a copy.

Please let my first ever askme question help me find the first book I ever read!

Can I / should I accept reimbursement for a car repair I didn't do?

Anonymous — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 07:40:56 -0800

Is it legal to accept $500 from a car insurance company, reimbursing me for a repair I'm not going to make? If it's legal, should I? Recently my car was very lightly rear-ended. Both I and the other driver are insured. There were no injuries and my car has no visible damage -- I took it to my mechanic, who I trust, who confirmed that there was no damage from the collision. The other driver's insurance company sent a photographer to take photos of my car to check its condition. The photographer reported a small nick in my bumper, and based on this, the other driver's insurance sent me a check for $500 for a new bumper. The nick is almost invisible (my wife can see it, I haven't managed to) and we have no interest in getting a new bumper. My wife thinks it might be OK to just cash the check, on the grounds that the eventual resale value of the car will be lower because it's been involved in an accident, however small. I'm concerned that it might actually be against the law to cash a check for replacing a bumper that I didn't actually replace. I see a few options:
A. Cash the check, pocket the money.
B. Cash the check, replace the undamaged bumper. (Seems like a waste of the world's resources, but maybe I should think of it as economic stimulus?)
C. Don't cash the check, keep it, and if I need to replace the bumper for some other reason in the next year (the life of the check,) cash it.
D. Cut up the check.

We don't want to do anything illegal. So: which of these four options is legal? And of the legal ones, which are ethically OK?
(Anonymous in case the right answer is "A is probably legal but I wouldn't do it if my real name were attached to the general practice in a public place.")

What does the blue flag with a wavy line represent?

sicem07 — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 17:22:58 -0800

What does the blue flag with a wavy white line (horizontal, I believe) represent? I've seen a sticker on several cars around town with a blue flag and a single wavy white line. The internet, or rather my search skills, has been failing me.

Help Identify a Song

codybaldwin — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 03:30:22 -0800

Help identifying a (probably free/bumper music) song (is this even possible). The song can be found in two places:
http://homepage.mac.com/littlelovers/index.html?_startPage=37

and in Season 2 Episode 6 of 12 oz mouse:
http://www.tv.com/12-oz.-mouse/auraphull/episode/874838/summary.html

it plays during the credits, and is a slightly different version of the first link.

Can anyone help me identify the producer of this song?

Can I fix a scuffed bumper?

floam — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 15:03:45 -0800

Somebody loaned me their car for a week. I managed to ding the bumper. Help me figure out if this is something I can fix myself or if I need to take it to a body shop. Pictures inside. I have scratched/scuffed the paint on the bumper of a burgrandy '91 Camaro. This piece appears to be PVC plastic. What's the best way to make this go away as much as it can without wasting money? A detailing shop here in the Portland area says they can fix it in a few hours by refinishing the bumper for $250, so that is the benchmark.

The car is in average condition and this doesn't need to be wonderful, we just need to get this a bit less immediately noticeable. These aren't particularly great pictures. I'm hoping that by showing how it changes when wet as opposed to dry it can make obvious what kind of damage we're talking about.

Bumper, wet
Bumper, dry

I consider myself capable of doing any sort of repair that you could expect a reasonably intelligent "handy" 21 year old to be capable of. I'm kind of hoping there's some magic way around paint. The 50% of it that disappears just because it's wet gives me hope I can at least help that part. Remember, this is plastic, not metal. At least from some cursory googling it appears I can't buff it out.

Is there another method of placing bumper stickers?

shabazosu — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 11:22:44 -0800

For school, we are required to have this bumper sticker on either our back bumpers or back windshield. I am highly anti-bumper sticker, so I have not even considered placing the sticker on my bumper, thats out of the question. Is there an "easy" way or method or trick to place the sticker on the inside of my back windshield that can be easily removed?

What does the bumper sticker depicting something akin to a deer-crossing sign mean?

kellygreen — Mon, 23 Apr 2007 19:19:20 -0800

What does the bumper sticker depicting something akin to a deer-crossing sign mean? The sticker looks like a deer-crossing sign except that instead of a deer, some other deer-like animal is depicted (springbox? ibex? impala?). I have seen the sticker with regularity on cars in eastern states.

What is that portal on the bumper?

premortem — Wed, 20 Dec 2006 09:19:44 -0800

Bumper question: It seems on many newer vehicles with plastic bumpers there is a 2.5" square that looks like a mini door somewhere on the bumper. What is its function? The square is always the color of the bumper and I've only seen it on newer (2005 and up) vehicles. These vehicles tend to be more of the luxury sedans and some of the big cushy SUVs. I haven't seen it on smaller new vehicles or trucks with metal bumpers. The placement of the square isn't consistent across different makes.

Anyone have a clue? Its just been bugging me lately.

What do these bumper stickers mean?

I_Love_Bananas — Sat, 06 May 2006 09:35:43 -0800

I frequently see bumper stickers that say "De Colores," which I only know as the name of a Raffi song (from my son's toddler days). The other one I wonder about says "SVEIKS!" Please enlighten!

Cryptic Bumper Stickers

Mid — Fri, 28 Apr 2006 21:06:26 -0800

Two cryptic bumper stickers spotted separately in Chicago, do you know what they mean? (1) "You Will Be Safe." (2) "Maroon Life -- a Life of Resistance." I really like the first one--sort of like a fortune cookie, but spookier. Maybe a band name? The second one might be a reference to U of Chicago, where the sports teams are known as the Maroons, but this seems like a stretch. Google has failed me on both.

I love cryptic bumper stickers.

removing bumper stickers

widdershins — Tue, 07 Dec 2004 09:05:12 -0800

How difficult is it to get bumper stickers off cars? Are there any tricks? Do the stickers get more difficult to remove the longer they stay on?

I just bought a new car and am considering putting a low-key sticker on for a cause I support. However, I've never put a bumper sticker on a car before, nor have I had to remove one, so my decision on whether or not to do it will depend on how difficult it might be to remove it later.

Help, can you identify these three symbols?

oflinkey — Fri, 27 Aug 2004 21:12:23 -0800

I am trying to identify three different symbols, two of which were bumper stickers and one is a popular tattoo...[mi] The first symbol, a bumper sticker, is a black circle with a white border, and within the border is a white "W", and underneath that, a white, five-point star.

Second symbol, a bumper sticker, is a cartoonish-looking tiger head with the French "le tigre" written underneath it.

Third symbol is the popular tattoo that I saw about 500 times at the Little Steven's Underground Garage Fest two weekends ago... a five-point star that is black and red, with each arm of the star being half black and half red.

These are all probably obvious, but I am, as usual, oblivious.