Piece of hardware?
Piece of inert hardware more like it.
The only damage that thing would do was squash you if it fell on you.
We reckon Google has done a pretty good job with its Street View blurring tech, protecting innocent UK numberplates from public scrutiny, and it's fair to say that the army only has itself to blame for the military's insistence on using a different format to the civvy world: Unblurred army vehicle numberplate at entrance to …
Is it the format or the colours. I have seen signs written in black on white or yellow blurred. Could it be that the tech does not recognize white on black as a numberplate? Anybody seen any vintage cars with white on black plates to support this?
Hey, there's a thought: Does ANPR work on white on black plates? We already know that the front facing average speed cameras don't get motorbikes because they have no front plate. Wouldn't it be fun if it turned out that vintage cars are immune too?
Yes, this is *probably* inert.
I say probably, because there is an amusing story about a World War 2 Grand Slam bomb (the original bunker-buster, a 22,000lb bomb) used as a gate guardian at RAF Scampton.:
"In the late 1950s, as a preliminary to road widening work by Lincolnshire County Council, the gate guardian – then a Grand Slam bomb – had to be moved. Efforts to lift it with a small crane proved futile, as it was much heavier than expected. Upon closer examination, it was found to be still filled with live explosives. It was carefully removed on an RAF low loader and detonated on a test range. It is unclear how a live bomb managed to be put on display, but it seems that it was in place for well over a decade." [stolen from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAF_Scampton]
Also can be found on many pre '73 UK vehicles. Just try tootling around pretty much any housing estate in the country and you're guaranteed to come across a non-blurred one before too long, especially as the Google cam is high enough to see over many fences and hedges.
On a related note, tried taking a tour around any of the UK's nuclear sites? Google have pulled off some real works of art at some of the entrance gates to those.
... with vintage-style white-on-black plates.
http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&q=Marlborough,+Wiltshire,+United+Kingdom&sll=53.800651,-4.064941&sspn=12.218001,28.256836&ie=UTF8&cd=1&geocode=FZSfEAMdI5nl_w&split=0&hq=&hnear=Marlborough,+Wiltshire,+United+Kingdom&ll=51.417971,-1.714339&spn=0.012579,0.027595&z=15&layer=c&cbll=51.418114,-1.714164&panoid=n3Id6aqz-s36r3tFSfL6Og&cbp=12,75.8,,0,5
That's my grandad's old place, before he died.
Blurring doesn't always work on modern plates, either.
http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&q=Marlborough,+Wiltshire,+United+Kingdom&sll=53.800651,-4.064941&sspn=12.218001,28.256836&ie=UTF8&cd=1&geocode=FZSfEAMdI5nl_w&split=0&hq=&hnear=Marlborough,+Wiltshire,+United+Kingdom&layer=c&cbll=51.417288,-1.717871&panoid=AQJ1t6j3NyAsthea-YL0vA&cbp=11,314.83,,1,29.16&ll=51.417275,-1.717858&spn=0.005701,0.027595&z=15
Alan.
That rocket (laid on the road, fully loaded) would surely stop a runaway Toyota better than a 'stinger'.
Christ, you could take someone's bloody eye out with that pointy thing! (Elf and Safty, natch).
-Hey - can we somehow persuade Lester to get his playmobil set from under his kid's bed, so we can have an "Elf and Safty" icon? Otherwise, I'll make do with the 'troll' jobbie.
The old Routemasters still running on a couple of "heritage" routes in London have white on black numberplates. After much street viewing along Cannon Street, Ludgate Hill and Fleet Street, I found this fine example on the Strand that does show its numberplate blurred: http://bit.ly/b8Y6S0
For much the same reason - their algorithm looks for black text on a white or yellow background and not white or silver letters on a black background.
As I discovered recently when our Morris Minor reg number was clearly visible in Street View. I complained and they blurred it - but only from the explicit spot that I'd complained about. Move a metre or two along the Street View track and the numberplate is once again clearly visible..
If you are talking about the use of a square plate, then that is used by motorbikes amongst others.
If you are talking about the black/white lettering then that is used on older vehicles as standard.
If you are talking about the 2 letters/2 digits/ 2letters format then that is a very close match to certain Northern Ireland plates.
So, what's non-standard about Army plates? The only thing I am aware of is trailers legitimately having their own reg plate, unlike civvy trailers that have to wear the plate of the towing vehicle.
It seems as though it might be an issue with square registration plates. Or perhaps it's Land Rovers: My Land Rover's plate hasn't been blurred in the (rather nice, and better than the estate agent's effort) photo of my house.
Not that I'm unduly bothered - it's already on public display wherever I park it.