Bot reveals rejected vanity license plates and the real DMV notes on why they were flagged:
Many, many years ago I wanted a vanity license plate for my vintage International Travelall. As I remember it, the first one I tried for, WAGESLV, got rejected right away. But the second one, BORACHA (a take on the Spanish slang for drunkard: borracho), went through. I forget what story I told the DMV about what it meant but I thought it was hilarious that it didn't get flagged. I waited and waited for the personalized plate and eventually got a notice that it had been rejected after all. I ended up with 4BIGRIG, a nod to my zine at the time, Bigrig Industries Manifesto.
So I was definitely tickled to learn about the California DMV Bot on Twitter. It randomly spits out real (and mostly) rejected personalized plates, the reasons people gave for wanting them, and the actual comments the DMV gave for accepting or denying them. It's my new favorite thing.
KQED:
The bot is the work of a Silicon Valley 15-year-old, going by "RJ," who recently discovered a trove of flagged DMV applications from 2015-2016 — the result of a public records request by journalist Samuel Braslow for a fascinating piece in Los Angeles Magazine. Without anything to do one weekend, and with "an insatiable curiosity of the inner workings of quite literally everything," RJ built the bot in one day.
One month later, it now posts juvenile license plate attempts like "TRD FURY" and "ASSMNKY" to over 25,000 followers, 24 hours a day.
(Score: 5, Funny) by Thexalon on Saturday October 29 2022, @10:52AM (2 children)
Hey, Elon, we have a bot on Twitter! See, you were right all along.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 2) by janrinok on Saturday October 29 2022, @12:28PM (1 child)
Its actually stated in TFS - it is not off-topic.
(Score: -1) by Spectre of Janrinok's Dead Wife on Saturday October 29 2022, @09:03PM
It's just a case of terrible editing. Even Slashdot editors would be a huge improvement over your drivel. That's what happens when you spend too much time banning every new user.
(Score: 2) by driverless on Saturday October 29 2022, @12:18PM
BREAD8 = pan ocho = panocho = pussy.
Lets see any bot figure that one out.
(Score: 0, Troll) by Frosty Piss on Saturday October 29 2022, @01:11PM (1 child)
So, he found a *database* that someone else obtained through a FOIA request, and wrote some basic front-end to troll through it? Is this like the 13 year old (who's father actually) discovered the solution to Cold Fusion? Seriously, the data was there from the original FOIA dump for anyone to troll through.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by JoeMerchant on Saturday October 29 2022, @02:00PM
There is a big difference between an "available" database and a front end that spoon feeds the data to anyone regardless of their technical skills.
Україна досі не є частиною Росії Слава Україні🌻 https://news.stanford.edu/2023/02/17/will-russia-ukraine-war-end
(Score: 5, Insightful) by bzipitidoo on Saturday October 29 2022, @01:56PM (1 child)
What's so objectionable about Wage Slave? Too much truth to power?
Oh well, it's always been easy to out censors as idiots.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 29 2022, @05:30PM
Welcome to the 2020s. "Slave" is no longer PC, anywhere, anytime.
(Score: 2) by turgid on Saturday October 29 2022, @02:44PM (2 children)
So Beavis and Butthead wrote a script?
I refuse to engage in a battle of wits with an unarmed opponent [wikipedia.org].
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Saturday October 29 2022, @08:46PM (1 child)
No, a kid wrote a script to read Beavis and Butt-Head applications to the DMV...
Україна досі не є частиною Росії Слава Україні🌻 https://news.stanford.edu/2023/02/17/will-russia-ukraine-war-end
(Score: 2) by turgid on Sunday October 30 2022, @10:17AM
I stand corrected.
I refuse to engage in a battle of wits with an unarmed opponent [wikipedia.org].