Odd Signs & Symbols

I am so used to seeing little rectangular access panels sunk into the sidewalks and streets that I rarely even look at them.  They are almost always ELECTRIC, ELEC, WATER or SEWER.  But here's an odd one from Temecula, CA: SOUND. How exactly is there sound packaged as some kind of utility passing beneath the street? Maybe someone can pitch an explanation.  I could not think of one at the time.

This was an unexpected rabbit hole.  After my diabetic cat died on September 2, I had a few plastic containers of used syringes, and when I called the vet asking how to dispose of them, they said I have to take them to any fire station.  I'm not sure how my cat's syringes need to be the problem of the local fire fighters, but okay.  It turns out it was true.  The wife of the fire chief happened to be parked there at the time, and said it was okay.    But while we were parked there, we saw this other sign: Anne was talking to the friendly folks while I was doing the exchange.  And she said the sign really really DOES mean it's a safe place to drop off unwanted babies. Of course, she didn't tell me about this until two months later, so not believing my ears, we stopped and I snapped that photo.  It's there.  And it's a real thing.   Here's how it works.

Outside the bathroom at a Smart & Final store in Santa Ana, CA on Thanksgiving: We really need a sign telling us not to abuse welfare systems?  If so, sticking it in a back corner where only 1% of shoppers ever go can't be the best way to get the message out.  Unless it's only the people going into the bathroom who are under suspicion.  I don't know, maybe something on the security camera could back that up.  More likely, it's required by the state or federal government and the store just stuck it somewhere to comply. It does creep me out a bit that the bottom half of the sign is telling everyone to narc on other people, but that's really the world we live in now. Below that and to the left we have more symbols: two different generations of rest room user icons. There's a request not to take merchandise into the toilet with you.  In a supermarket, so, essentially, stop eating yer foodz in there and then not paying for them.  That's just wrong.  And gross

On the same side street as the last post, right before the back entrance to the apartment complex, there is this poor sign that was just asking for trouble. Why put up a sign saying NO VANDALISM in the first place?  I mean, it's not legal or wanted ANYwhere, and decent folks know not to do that.  So, it's just asking to be defaced. I will generally steer away from graffiti but it does fit the topic of symbols that are all around us that we don't understand.  Here, the clash of symbols is almost comical, from the stoic lettering of the original sign with its local ordinance code at the bottom, all legal and proper, to the layers and layers of tagging, to that one sticker for some kind of rum that looks totally lost.  Symbols overwriting each other.  How many layers are there in this odd-art piece?

On the little dead-end side street by my apartment there are a surprising number of markings, even though I doubt any new development is even being considered back there.  On a walk this afternoon, I saw a series of these "S" symbols in green,    so of course my curiosity was piqued. Though less than 20 paces later the explanation came up in a very obvious way. So, yeah, S marks sewer lines around here, and across the street down at the bend were some "No City Sewer" markings.  I wondered about the choice of that sickly shade of green.  Then 20 paces the other direction there was this huge but faded "X marks the spot" around what looks like an old surveyor's mark that had been pounded into the pavement. This made me wonder: do these marks ever get cleaned up or removed after the work is done, or do they just fade away while other markings are added years or decades later?  How long would one of these spray-painted things last?  Other faded tags appear