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Ontario's new license plates have a problem: you can't read them

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Re: Ontario's new license plates have a problem: you can't read them

#161

Post by tenpies »

chongli wrote: post #44

Recall that this is the same provincial government that used public money to put stickers on gas pumps in what amounts to a protest on federal carbon taxes. Taxpayer money spent on a brazenly partisan political campaign.

> Taxpayer money spent on a brazenly partisan political campaign.

I will take 200 sticker campaigns over what the Canadian Federal Liberals are doing with their "journalism initiative". That initiative is $600 million being given openly to news agencies who agree with the Canadian Liberals or are approved by a body composed largely of Liberal and Liberal-friendly decision makers. This is a solid step towards the rise of populism in Canada as it legitimizes every single claim of media bias and calls of "fake news".

By comparison, stickers are just a waste of money, but they don't threaten the very core of the country.

Re: Ontario's new license plates have a problem: you can't read them

#162

Post by lonelappde »

flycaliguy wrote: post #159
jfengel wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It works. The US has a remarkable ability to aim for the lowest common denominator -- in movies, in food, in technology -- and export that to the rest of the world. We're very good at finding things that are broadly appealing, and rewarding the people who create them. Politics is no exception. The world watches us, and they take what works. None of it is ever really novel, but a lot of it lies fallow until somebody s…

No offence to any American looking to feel influential, but the Ford brothers were operating this tabloid populist bandwagon up here before Trump stepped up.

I thought Doug Ford entered politics in 2010. Before Trump was elected but after he became a Republican attack dog on Twitter, spreading lies about candidate Barack Obama.

Re: Ontario's new license plates have a problem: you can't read them

#163

Post by flycaliguy »

lonelappde wrote: post #162
flycaliguy wrote: post #159

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No offence to any American looking to feel influential, but the Ford brothers were operating this tabloid populist bandwagon up here before Trump stepped up.

I thought Doug Ford entered politics in 2010. Before Trump was elected but after he became a Republican attack dog on Twitter, spreading lies about candidate Barack Obama.

Before Trump launched a serious populist political machine. Rob Ford started rolling the ball in 2001.

The start of political office Trump, when the actual machinery was put into motion as an organization, was 2016. They would have been crazy to not be using the Ford brothers as a useful model.

Re: Ontario's new license plates have a problem: you can't read them

#164

Post by yellowapple »

stefan_ wrote: post #111
Phillips126 wrote: post #20

Wow that is an awful design for visibility. As a New York resident I noticed when the plates changed in 2010 I personally found them harder to read [0]. The white background with dark letters/numbers used from 2001-2010 seemed like the better option... I wonder what law enforcement thought of the change. Seems they are about to change again to something with better contrast starting April 2020 [1]. Also an interestin…

Remember New York is where police or rather NYPD will intentionally bend or deface their license plates: https://mobile.twitter.com/placardabuse/status/1229933601464... https://mobile.twitter.com/placardabuse/status/1229276273106...

...why? Is it just to prevent them from being read? Or is there something symbolic about it?

Re: Ontario's new license plates have a problem: you can't read them

#165

Post by yellowapple »

julianlam wrote: post #139
goatforce5 wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apparently speed cameras in Toronto can't read them during the day: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/ontario-licence-plate...

Well that's bloody ironic isn't it... That the government ensured that the 407 cameras (privately owned) can read the plates, but didn't bother to make sure the speed and red light cameras (government owned) can as well...!

It's about as ironic as rain on one's wedding day.

Re: Ontario's new license plates have a problem: you can't read them

#166

Post by effingwewt »

aldoushuxley001 wrote: post #135
aldoushuxley001 wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That’s okay, I fully support him. There’s bound to be differences of opinion, but after a decade and half of liberal corruption, Doug Ford is incredibly refreshing. Will vote for him again.

Pity that HN is so ideologically biased. Would've been nice to have thoughtful discussion, but I suppose this isn't actually the platform for that, atleast on subjects like this.

While I don't agree with your points about Ford, I did upvote both you comments as I don't believe a difference of opinion is enough to necessitate a downvote.

Re: Ontario's new license plates have a problem: you can't read them

#167

Post by yellowapple »

squiggleblaz wrote: post #99
spookthesunset wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Why license plates are allowed to act as regional advertisements for local states and provinces rather than identifiers Because they are harmless fun? Many hours of road trips were spent trying to spot a license plate from every state. And quite frankly, I love that each region has its own plate design. It adds a bit of spice to life.

> Because they are harmless fun? Many hours of road trips were spent trying to spot a license plate from every state. In Europe that's possible too. Aside from collecting all the countries, you can collect the cities. For instance, plates in Berlin are of the form "B-AB 124" but plates in Hamburg are of the form "HH-AB 124". Presumably you can't really collect them all - there's too many cities - but you can try to w…

Leave it to the Germans to suck the soul out of even something as benign and simple as license plate spotting.

Re: Ontario's new license plates have a problem: you can't read them

#168

Post by ttul »

ttul wrote: post #79
chongli wrote: post #44

Recall that this is the same provincial government that used public money to put stickers on gas pumps in what amounts to a protest on federal carbon taxes. Taxpayer money spent on a brazenly partisan political campaign.

Doug Ford is Canada’s Trump. He is a similar embarrassment to an otherwise great region of the world.

Sources:

1. Doug Ford says his support for Trump is "unwavering": https://toronto.citynews.ca/video/2016/10/13/video-doug-ford...

2. Meet Doug Ford, the Canadian conservative candidate being compared to President Trump: https://www.theguardian.com/world/video/2018/apr/30/meet-dou...

3. Canada's Trump moment? Doug Ford rises in conservative party: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/apr/30/doug-ford-onta...

4. Every single similarity between Doug Ford and Donald Trump: https://north99.org/2018/06/05/every-single-similarity-betwe...

Re: Ontario's new license plates have a problem: you can't read them

#169

Post by 29083011397778 »

fengazer wrote: post #117
sneak wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Speaking of Orwell, easily readable license plates make ALPR and bulk government location/travel surveillance more effective.

https://toronto.ctvnews.ca/they-work-government-stands-by-ne... "Thompson added that the technology on the new plates has already been adopted by provinces like Saskatchewan and Manitoba and can be read by Highway 407’s automated toll cameras." If this assertion is true, bulk surveillance is not impaired; only the ability of individual humans to identify the vehicle.

This is the most interesting thing in this entire thread - it means we effectively have QR codes as license plates.
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