All the Perl that's Practical to Extract and Report

bootstraping

phillup on 2005-04-26T23:47:55

I bought a pop-up camper in January at an RV show.

Since I bought it in a different state than the one I live in, they gave me a three day temporary tag... on Friday. Good for Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

So, when Monday rolls around... I don't have a valid license plate to drive on the road with the trailer.

Since I'm not going to go camping in January anyway... I park the thing.

Now, it is time to get ready and I go to the DMV to get license plates.

The kicker: You can't get license plates until you drive the trailer to the DMV office and let them verify the VIN. And no, you can not get temporary plates.

So, in order to legally drive on the road you need license plates, which you can't get until you drive the vehicle to the DMV.

The police were also very helpful when asked for advice: Don't get caught.

Nice.

same with bikes

domm on 2005-04-27T06:40:46

I once lost the key for my bicycle lock. I went to the police and asked them how I should break open the lock without looking like a thief. They said: "Don't get caught."

I took a bolt cutter, went to the bike (which was parked in a rather livley area, right in front of a big subway station), cut the lock open and drove home.

Didn't get caught, BTW...

Re:same with bikes

cog on 2005-04-28T11:28:30

How to do it:

  • Wear a suit (so you don't look like a suspect)
  • Go with a bunch of friends
  • Take your time
  • Optionally, shout it loud and clear: "MAN, I HOPE I *NEVER* LOSE THE KEY TO THE LOCK AGAIN!"

Hum... I think I just came up with a cool way to rob bikes... :-)

Re:same with bikes

domm on 2005-04-28T13:04:57

Besides the suit, that's basically what I did :-)

Re:

Aristotle on 2005-04-28T12:47:05

I suppose it’s not a circular dependency if you rent a truck to haul the thing there. I’m not sure it’s a favourable choice in the trade-off between expense and law abidence, though.

Better...

phillup on 2005-04-28T17:09:31

Unless the goal is to increase revenue by ticketing people for trying to comply with the law... something even I'm not cynical enough to believe... I think the best solution is to issue temporary plates.

The lady I talked to about this said that "generally" if you explain it to the cops they'll let you go. If this is true, you just reduced the efficiency of the police force by increasing false positives.

Re:

Aristotle on 2005-04-28T17:27:03

Well of course that would be better, but I’m talking about what you can do in the current system where they won’t issue temporary plates. Nowhere did I claim it was a good solution; only that it is the only possible one as is. I was just saying…