Fun with License Plates
Mar. 2nd, 2001 01:25 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ocelotOriginal: http://www.kuro5hin.org/story/2001/3/2/3254/60745
I took a test tonight, and afterwards decided that I wanted a mocha. Nevermind that it was after 9 pm, and that I've been having insomniacal tendencies for the past week or so, and that tomorrow is Hell Day, and likely to be much busier than usual to boot. I wanted a mocha, and I think I did good on the test, so I deserve it, damnit!
Anyway, the result of this is that I'm finally feeling motivated to write up the diary entry I've been tossing around in my head for the past few weeks about license plates. No! Don't stop reading! It'll be interesting, really! (At least I hope. It may end up being as much of a rambly, incoherent mess as this intro copy).
Lately I've been thinking a lot about license plates. Specifically, about how California license plates are created.
The license plates are generally in the format of nxxxnnn (eg. 3ASE839) on regular cars, and nxnnnnn on large vans and pickups. This isn't a hard and fast rule. Sometimes you'll see a nxnnnnn plate on a regular car, or vice versa (perhaps the result of transfering plates from one type of car to another?). In addition, California does allow customized plates, so many plates don't fit this format at all.
I've decided that the three letters may be something of a mneumonic device. I know the letters from the license plates of several cars I see frequently, even though I don't know the whole number. It also breaks up the number into smaller, easier to remember chunks, kind of like phone numbers are divided.
I wondered for a time whether these letters might have some sort of significance, as there seemed to be a large number of certain combinations within a relativly small area. Perhaps not intentionaly - the way they are produced might lead to a whole batch of plates with the same letters being sent to a distribution point that handles a certain geographic area. While this is still a possibility, I did the math, and realized that it's most likely just chance. There are 17,576 possible combinations of 3 letters, so in a town with probably ~30,000 cars, you're bound to see some repeats.
However, I do believe that the first number on the plate has some significance. It may be purely chronological, or it may be some kind of indication of size, weight, or something else entirely. On small cars (the ones with the nxxxnnn distribution), this number is almost always 2, 3, or 4, with 3's being the most predominant. I think it's quite possible that these are chronologically assigned numbers within a certain range. On pickups/vans (nxnnnnn distribution), the number is usually 5 or 6.
Plates belonging to the government and other public agencies are different - usually some symbol indicating who they belong to, followed by 5 or 6 numbers. Also, certain groups, such as veterans and firefighters, can get special plates with a symbol followed by 4 or so letters/numbers.
California also has special symbols which are allowed on license plates. I believe you have to pay a special fee for these in addition to the custom plate fee, which is donated in support of some charity. I believe that these symbols are a hand, a heart, and dash, and something else. I'd say a diamond, but I think that these are used on state plates, so I can't imagine them being allowed on general plates, too. I think it is very inconsiderate of California to allow these special symbols, as I'm sure it makes it very difficult for other states to track our license plates. For that matter, I wonder how much taxpayers paid to update the California computers to recognize these symbols?
I've become fairly obsessed recently with reading license plates, looking for TLAs and technical terms in the letters of the license plates. This began when I realized that my roommate's license plate had MD5 in it. I mentioned this to him, and he pointed out that there's a whole ton of VIM cars around here (he's right , I've seen at least 4 or 5 cars like that, which is above the statistical expectancy given the number of cars in the area. Which is what led me to wonder whether these letters might have some significance). Tonight while walking home I saw a GPL and an HFS, and there was a DLL parked in the parking lot at work today. I saw PPP the other day, and I know I've seen a bunch of other terms, too. I also see non-technical ones, like IEP. I'm simply more likely to recognize the technical ones. Not really surprising that there are so many out there, given the la rge number of TLAs in existance. It makes me wonder how many of the plates have TLAs that I'm simply not familiar with on them.
Perhaps you aren't a true geek until you know a TLA for every combination of 3 letters in existance.
I'm looking for a 3DES plate. Haven't seen one yet, though I have seen just plain DES.
If I were choosing a customized plate, I'd choose one that looked like a randomly generated plate, but which would have obvious meaning to those familiar with technology (or whatever it is that the plate was making reference to). Kinda like a secret handshake.
In Germany, the letters on the license plate are geographically significant. They refer to the area where the car is registered, or something like that. It was interesting watching the distribution of license plate letters shift as we traveled to different parts of Germany. That could be an useful tool for orienting yourself geographically. I guess this is really the same as having different plates for different states, but it was kinda cool having the identification in the number itself.
On a more personal note - I finally got hired as a regular staff person! No more worrying about whether or not I'll still have a job next day/week/month! And I got a raise :)
I took a test tonight, and afterwards decided that I wanted a mocha. Nevermind that it was after 9 pm, and that I've been having insomniacal tendencies for the past week or so, and that tomorrow is Hell Day, and likely to be much busier than usual to boot. I wanted a mocha, and I think I did good on the test, so I deserve it, damnit!
Anyway, the result of this is that I'm finally feeling motivated to write up the diary entry I've been tossing around in my head for the past few weeks about license plates. No! Don't stop reading! It'll be interesting, really! (At least I hope. It may end up being as much of a rambly, incoherent mess as this intro copy).
Lately I've been thinking a lot about license plates. Specifically, about how California license plates are created.
The license plates are generally in the format of nxxxnnn (eg. 3ASE839) on regular cars, and nxnnnnn on large vans and pickups. This isn't a hard and fast rule. Sometimes you'll see a nxnnnnn plate on a regular car, or vice versa (perhaps the result of transfering plates from one type of car to another?). In addition, California does allow customized plates, so many plates don't fit this format at all.
I've decided that the three letters may be something of a mneumonic device. I know the letters from the license plates of several cars I see frequently, even though I don't know the whole number. It also breaks up the number into smaller, easier to remember chunks, kind of like phone numbers are divided.
I wondered for a time whether these letters might have some sort of significance, as there seemed to be a large number of certain combinations within a relativly small area. Perhaps not intentionaly - the way they are produced might lead to a whole batch of plates with the same letters being sent to a distribution point that handles a certain geographic area. While this is still a possibility, I did the math, and realized that it's most likely just chance. There are 17,576 possible combinations of 3 letters, so in a town with probably ~30,000 cars, you're bound to see some repeats.
However, I do believe that the first number on the plate has some significance. It may be purely chronological, or it may be some kind of indication of size, weight, or something else entirely. On small cars (the ones with the nxxxnnn distribution), this number is almost always 2, 3, or 4, with 3's being the most predominant. I think it's quite possible that these are chronologically assigned numbers within a certain range. On pickups/vans (nxnnnnn distribution), the number is usually 5 or 6.
Plates belonging to the government and other public agencies are different - usually some symbol indicating who they belong to, followed by 5 or 6 numbers. Also, certain groups, such as veterans and firefighters, can get special plates with a symbol followed by 4 or so letters/numbers.
California also has special symbols which are allowed on license plates. I believe you have to pay a special fee for these in addition to the custom plate fee, which is donated in support of some charity. I believe that these symbols are a hand, a heart, and dash, and something else. I'd say a diamond, but I think that these are used on state plates, so I can't imagine them being allowed on general plates, too. I think it is very inconsiderate of California to allow these special symbols, as I'm sure it makes it very difficult for other states to track our license plates. For that matter, I wonder how much taxpayers paid to update the California computers to recognize these symbols?
I've become fairly obsessed recently with reading license plates, looking for TLAs and technical terms in the letters of the license plates. This began when I realized that my roommate's license plate had MD5 in it. I mentioned this to him, and he pointed out that there's a whole ton of VIM cars around here (he's right , I've seen at least 4 or 5 cars like that, which is above the statistical expectancy given the number of cars in the area. Which is what led me to wonder whether these letters might have some significance). Tonight while walking home I saw a GPL and an HFS, and there was a DLL parked in the parking lot at work today. I saw PPP the other day, and I know I've seen a bunch of other terms, too. I also see non-technical ones, like IEP. I'm simply more likely to recognize the technical ones. Not really surprising that there are so many out there, given the la rge number of TLAs in existance. It makes me wonder how many of the plates have TLAs that I'm simply not familiar with on them.
Perhaps you aren't a true geek until you know a TLA for every combination of 3 letters in existance.
I'm looking for a 3DES plate. Haven't seen one yet, though I have seen just plain DES.
If I were choosing a customized plate, I'd choose one that looked like a randomly generated plate, but which would have obvious meaning to those familiar with technology (or whatever it is that the plate was making reference to). Kinda like a secret handshake.
In Germany, the letters on the license plate are geographically significant. They refer to the area where the car is registered, or something like that. It was interesting watching the distribution of license plate letters shift as we traveled to different parts of Germany. That could be an useful tool for orienting yourself geographically. I guess this is really the same as having different plates for different states, but it was kinda cool having the identification in the number itself.
On a more personal note - I finally got hired as a regular staff person! No more worrying about whether or not I'll still have a job next day/week/month! And I got a raise :)
