License Plate News

[kphoger]

Wisconsin decided to add one more to their menu:

http://www.dot.wisconsin.gov/opencms/export/nr/modules/news/news_3256.html_786229440.html
April 5, 2012

New plates available to women who served in any of the U.S. military branches

Wisconsin women who have served in any branch of the U.S. military are eligible to apply for one of the new "Woman Veteran” license plates available through the state Division of Motor Vehicles (DMV). All currently-issued Wisconsin military plates feature blue numbers on a red, white and blue background. Along with the word "Wisconsin” across the top of the plate, the new plates feature "Woman Veteran” at the bottom. A decal representing the person's specific military branch is displayed on the left side of the plate. See the new plate here.

"We have declared 2012 to be the Year of the Veteran in Wisconsin to show our respect and appreciation for the contributions of our military veterans," said Lt. Governor Rebecca Kleefisch. "Wisconsin's servicewomen have made our country stronger through their military service and we wish to commemorate their courage and thank them for defending our freedoms."

With addition of the Woman Veteran plate, the Wisconsin DMV now offers 56 different military plate options for veterans and recipients of certain military medals and honors. Military plates are available to active, reserve or retired U.S. military personnel, military academy students or alumni who submit proof of eligibility.

Do they also have one for MAN VETERAN?  If not, I cry sexist!

[agentsteel53]

do they have one without shitty italicized Helvetica narrow?  if not, I cry poor font selection.

a bit better than that California dial-a-font, but not by much.

[DaBigE]

Do they also have one for MAN VETERAN?  If not, I cry sexist!

That was actually one of the first comments when the story was posted on a local newspaper site.  All of the existing military plates just say _______ VETERAN (fill in the blank with your favorite military branch).  Apparently, the thought was that everyone assumed the other plates only referred to male veterans, so women needed to have something special.  I disagree. Instead, they've just opened a HUGE can of worms...every group will want to have their own recognition now.  IMO, it should have remained generic.

do they have one without shitty italicized Helvetica narrow?  if not, I cry poor font selection.

a bit better than that California dial-a-font, but not by much.

With the exception of the embossed letters/numbers being their own font (the ones on the WI DMV site are inexact renderings), all of the typical special plates use variations of Helvetica (or is it a version of Arial?).  You have to go to the municipal, official, state-owned, or tribal plates to find something different. 

[Crazy Volvo Guy]

Marketed separately, yes, but there are several VWs and Audis which share common engines, transmissions and other components, and they share a common parts system.

I meant that they are separate brand-badges worldwide.  I know they are both part of VAG and share many, many parts and even chassis.

[SidS1045]

MassDOT announced last week a special plate for vehicles with high-voltage electrics (electric cars and hybrids)...only the second state in the US to do so.

http://www.mass.gov/rmv/evr/forms/ElecVehPlates.pdf

[agentsteel53]

MassDOT announced last week a special plate for vehicles with high-voltage electrics (electric cars and hybrids)...only the second state in the US to do so.

http://www.mass.gov/rmv/evr/forms/ElecVehPlates.pdf

MassDOT announced last week a special document format for people without browsers.

[SidS1045]

MassDOT announced last week a special plate for vehicles with high-voltage electrics (electric cars and hybrids)...only the second state in the US to do so.

http://www.mass.gov/rmv/evr/forms/ElecVehPlates.pdf

MassDOT announced last week a special document format for people without browsers.

I'd be lying if I said I understood that.

[agentsteel53]

I'd be lying if I said I understood that.

PDF.  online material should never, ever be disseminated in PDF.

even printable documents are fairly questionable these days, given how good HTML/CSS is for alternating between optimization for screen reading and for print.

[SidS1045]

PDF.  online material should never, ever be disseminated in PDF.

Care to explain that?

At least MassDOT didn't disseminate this document in its original format...Word.

[realjd]

I'd be lying if I said I understood that.

PDF.  online material should never, ever be disseminated in PDF.

even printable documents are fairly questionable these days, given how good HTML/CSS is for alternating between optimization for screen reading and for print.

Sure, HTML/CSS is great if you're a web designer. For someone posting information originally stored in a Word document, PDF is way better than doing Microsoft's crappy "Save as HTML" option in Word, and it's much better than posting a Word document itself.

[agentsteel53]

Sure, HTML/CSS is great if you're a web designer. For someone posting information originally stored in a Word document, PDF is way better than doing Microsoft's crappy "Save as HTML" option in Word, and it's much better than posting a Word document itself.

"Save as HTML" does suck because it fills the document with bloat, but it is still better than PDF, which fills the web browser experience with bloat.

the connection between browser and Adobe Acrobat is irrevocably broken.  we need an innate PDF parser.  Gmail has one, implying it is not impossible to design.   why doesn't the firefox dev team come up with an inline PDF reader?

[realjd]

Go look up Foxit. Much better than Acrobat Reader.

[agentsteel53]

Go look up Foxit. Much better than Acrobat Reader.

I had used it on a previous computer but I recall it still seizing up occasionally, and not significantly improving on the clumsy and extremely seamful interface inside the browser.

Flash is somewhat more seamless but it, too, has strange focus issues that jar the browser experience.

[realjd]

I asked around at work and some other free ones my coworkers use are:
PDF-Xchange
Sumatra

And for what it's worth, the newest latest-and-greatest version of Reader is faster than the previous one.

[Takumi]

My phone has a pretty good PDF reader (QuickOffice PDF) but it requires downloading the file first.

[CentralCAroadgeek]

The California DMV has accepted this new agriculture plate that has recently surpassed the required 7,500 applications. It is due to be released next year.

[MrDisco99]

the connection between browser and Adobe Acrobat is irrevocably broken.  we need an innate PDF parser.  Gmail has one, implying it is not impossible to design.   why doesn't the firefox dev team come up with an inline PDF reader?

I'm surprised to hear this is still a problem among Windows users.  Apple's Safari browser has had built-in PDF support for as long as I can remember using it.


On topic: I think the new MassDOT electric vehicle plates look like they spent about 2 minutes on design.

[The High Plains Traveler]

When anything surpasses the utter blandness of a Nebraska truck plate let me know.

[Scott5114]

On Linux, Firefox will give me the typical "Open File/Save As" selector box, and if I select Open File, it opens in Okular, which is pretty great, but Linux-only AFAIK.

[Central Avenue]

I'm surprised to hear this is still a problem among Windows users.  Apple's Safari browser has had built-in PDF support for as long as I can remember using it.

Google Chrome (which I use on Linux) has had a built-in PDF support for a few versions now, which seems to work rather well.

On Windows I prefer to use Firefox, but even there I don't bother with Adobe's nonsense; I use SumatraPDF which displays PDF files just as well but without the bloat, and includes a browser plugin.

[kphoger]

When anything surpasses the utter blandness of a Nebraska truck plate let me know.

They may be bland, but I can instantly recognize them on the road.  For that reason, I say keep them as they are (except, aren't they flat-plate now?  OK, go back to stamping).

[brownpelican]

I hate how Mississippi can allow you to get a specialty plate featuring an out-of-state college/university (I've seen several LSU  and Alabama plates), but Louisiana won't allow the same. I'd love to get a LA plate featuring JSU.

[apeman33]

Little ol' Pittsburg State becomes the first Kansas college to get a specialty plate in Missouri:



(IMO, Missouri's plates are a bit better looking.)

[SidS1045]

I think the new MassDOT electric vehicle plates look like they spent about 2 minutes on design.

Not surprising, since there's no extra cost for them except the one-time $20 plate exchange fee.

[Scott5114]

Little ol' Pittsburg State becomes the first Kansas college to get a specialty plate in Missouri:



(IMO, Missouri's plates are a bit better looking.)

Not surprising, since Pittsburg's, what, ten miles from the MO line?

And the MO tag is a little better, mostly because the gorilla logo nearly crashes into the bottom of "KANSAS"