🙅 THE BAD IDEAS THREAD
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I've never understood why we need yellow rear plates
Since you drive on the wrong side of the road, the yellow plates are there for the rest of us to see if you are coming or going.
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I thought they might go nicely with the gay hairshirt, so you could dress up like some kind of FABULOUS gay serial killer...
DVTFY
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I've never understood why we need yellow rear plates.
Vaguely cromulent:
We spoke to the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) and were told the reason for the two colours is so that drivers can tell which is the front or back of a vehicle simply by glancing at the numberplate, and therefore whether it is likely to be moving towards or away from them. Yellow was chosen because it provides the biggest colour contrast, after white, with the black lettering.
I'm more of the opinion that it's "because it's been like that since 1973" and Chesterton's fence is involved. Though why the choice was made back then I've no idea.
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the reason for the two colours is so that drivers can tell which is the front or back of a vehicle simply by glancing at the numberplate
If only vehicles had different coloured lights to the front and rear.....
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If only vehicles had different coloured lights to the front and rear....
That works when it's dark.
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We spoke to the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) and were told the reason for the two colours is so that drivers can tell which is the front or back of a vehicle simply by glancing at the numberplate
If you need a numberplate to know which way a 1.5t steel box travelling at speed is going, then you shouldn't be allowed anywhere near a road…
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"-So did you catch the license plate?"
"UHHHHHH"
"Take your time."
"No, I mean it's UHHHHHHH. A U and a bunch of Hs."
"Oh, ok. How many Hs then?"Later that day the police arrest the guy who owns the car with license plate UHHHHH.
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I think this son of a bitch liked the hair sweater.
Matt McLaughlin wants homosexuality punished ‘by bullets to the head’
California lawyer seeks to put 'shoot the gays' proposal on 2016 ballot
Matt McLaughlin wants homosexuality punished ‘by bullets to the head’ but state attorney general may be powerless to stop proposal going forward
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If anyone feels the need to have a number plate that's likely going to distract and enrage the driver of the car behind them, maybe we should let Darwin sort it out.
He can study and classify all the different drivers by the shape and size of their beaks?
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No, Darwin in his new guise as the all powerful God of Evolution, smiting unbelievers with nonfruity loins and premature death
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Current patern here is
([A-Z]{2})-([1-9][0-9]{2}[0-9]?)-([A-Z][A-Z]?)Where
\1is the area name of the vehicle's registration (nearest big[1] city, usually).
\2is self-explanatory
\3is just a string of letters fromAAtoZZwhich get changed as the previous block of numbers gets used up.Oh, and the first
-is actually a coat of arms, but I don't know how to express that in regex[2].We'll probably going to have to change that due to EU regulations though. I think they are about to start with that actually.
[1] - Well, as big as they get around here
[2] - Yes, regex. Suck it. If ben can usegoI'm allowed some regex from time to time.
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Around here they use various patterns, originally consisting of 2 2-digit groups and 1 2-letter group. When those ran out they switched to 2 letter groups 1 number group, currently they expired 2 digits 3 letters 1 digit and are almost out of 1 digit 3 letters 2 digits.
Large swathes of the letter groups go unused, or are reserved. Except for the original 2 letters 4 digits plates, vowels [AEIOUY] are not used to prevent making pronounceable words, and certain letter combinations (SS, SA, NSB, probably others I'm not remembering) are not used.
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Bad idea: Windows Updates on your scoreboards
German pro basketball team relegated to lower division due to Windows update
Paderborn general manager: "This entire issue has nothing to do with sports."
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A second-tier German professional basketball team has been relegated to an even lower-tier as a result of being penalized for starting a recent game late—because the Windows laptop that powered the scoreboard required 17 minutes to perform system updates.
Hey, at least it finished! I usually get it stuck at
Applying update 23 / 31...
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Spider farms probably produce spiders, which are creepier than chickens.
But who doesn't love a spider egg omelette?
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And not having a spare laptop. Come on, we brought spare laptops in high school to make sure our crappy PowerPoint presentations would work.
Plus, 17 minutes? That laptop must be Windows XP-era. Probably an actual Windows XP.
Not that I'm justifying the annoyance that are Windows updates. I've been bitten by that too.
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But who doesn't love a spider egg omelette?
Do spiders actually lay eggs, or do they give birth to live young, like dogs or dolphins?
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Curse you lack of video embedding.
Paste the URL to the webm, like this: http://fat.gfycat.com/FearlessAmbitiousGavial.webm
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Also known as
[0-9]{2,3}.Huh. TIL. Wonder why I never saw this in any reference I read... Is that PCRE specific or something, or is it the standard?
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Didn't you ever read Charlotte's Web as a kid?
They lay a bunch of eggs in a sack, web it in place in some secluded corner, then goes off to die.
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I'd say it's pretty standard. It's there in C# (ie .Net), Java, JavaScript, Python, Ruby, Perl, ...
Both minimum count or maximum count are optional, btw.
X{2} --> exactly two Xs X{2,3} --> two or three Xs X{2,} --> at least two Xs X{,3} --> up to three XsEdit: buh, JavaScript on the browser doesn't seem to be handling the case with the omitted minimum. But it works in Python, at least.
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I'd say it's pretty standard. It's there in C# (ie .Net), Java, JavaScript, Python, Ruby, Perl, ...
Guess it's time to test it on Asterisk then. Off to blow up the server, brb :P
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Current pattern here is ([A-Z]{2})-([1-9][0-9]{2}[0-9]?)-([A-Z][A-Z]?)
UK is similar.
- Two letters to encode the registration area
- Two digits, the last two digits in the registration year if registered in the first half of the year, the first is incremented by 5 if in the second half of the year
- a space
- Three letters which identify the car uniquely within the area and year restrictions
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@Zecc said:
@Onyx said:
[0-9]{2}[0-9]?Also known as
[0-9]{2,3}.Also known as
[0-9][0-9][0-9]?Also known as
[0123456789][0123456789][0123456789]?
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I'd say "Also known as
(0|1|2|3|4|5|6|7|8|9)(0|1|2|3|4|5|6|7|8|9)(0|1|2|3|4|5|6|7|8|9)?, but I'd need to use non-capturing parenthesis to get the exact same output and I've forgotten the syntax for those.
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Aka
(00|01|02|03|04|05|06|07|08|09|10|11|12|13|14|15|16|17|18|19|20|21|22|23|24|25|26|27|28|29|30|31|32|33|34|35|36|37|38|39|40|41|42|43|44|45|46|47|48|49|50|51|52|53|54|55|56|57|58|59|60|61|62|63|64|65|66|67|68|69|70|71|72|73|74|75|76|77|78|79|80|81|82|83|84|85|86|87|88|89|90|91|92|93|94|95|96|97|98|99|000|001|002|003|004|005|006|007|008|009|010|011|012|013|014|015|016|017|018|019|020|021|022|023|024|025|026|027|028|029|030|031|032|033|034|035|036|037|038|039|040|041|042|043|044|045|046|047|048|049|050|051|052|053|054|055|056|057|058|059|060|061|062|063|064|065|066|067|068|069|070|071|072|073|074|075|076|077|078|079|080|081|082|083|084|085|086|087|088|089|090|091|092|093|094|095|096|097|098|099|100|101|102|103|104|105|106|107|108|109|110|111|112|113|114|115|116|117|118|119|120|121|122|123|124|125|126|127|128|129|130|131|132|133|134|135|136|137|138|139|140|141|142|143|144|145|146|147|148|149|150|151|152|153|154|155|156|157|158|159|160|161|162|163|164|165|166|167|168|169|170|171|172|173|174|175|176|177|178|179|180|181|182|183|184|185|186|187|188|189|190|191|192|193|194|195|196|197|198|199|200|201|202|203|204|205|206|207|208|209|210|211|212|213|214|215|216|217|218|219|220|221|222|223|224|225|226|227|228|229|230|231|232|233|234|235|236|237|238|239|240|241|242|243|244|245|246|247|248|249|250|251|252|253|254|255|256|257|258|259|260|261|262|263|264|265|266|267|268|269|270|271|272|273|274|275|276|277|278|279|280|281|282|283|284|285|286|287|288|289|290|291|292|293|294|295|296|297|298|299|300|301|302|303|304|305|306|307|308|309|310|311|312|313|314|315|316|317|318|319|320|321|322|323|324|325|326|327|328|329|330|331|332|333|334|335|336|337|338|339|340|341|342|343|344|345|346|347|348|349|350|351|352|353|354|355|356|357|358|359|360|361|362|363|364|365|366|367|368|369|370|371|372|373|374|375|376|377|378|379|380|381|382|383|384|385|386|387|388|389|390|391|392|393|394|395|396|397|398|399|400|401|402|403|404|405|406|407|408|409|410|411|412|413|414|415|416|417|418|419|420|421|422|423|424|425|426|427|428|429|430|431|432|433|434|435|436|437|438|439|440|441|442|443|444|445|446|447|448|449|450|451|452|453|454|455|456|457|458|459|460|461|462|463|464|465|466|467|468|469|470|471|472|473|474|475|476|477|478|479|480|481|482|483|484|485|486|487|488|489|490|491|492|493|494|495|496|497|498|499|500|501|502|503|504|505|506|507|508|509|510|511|512|513|514|515|516|517|518|519|520|521|522|523|524|525|526|527|528|529|530|531|532|533|534|535|536|537|538|539|540|541|542|543|544|545|546|547|548|549|550|551|552|553|554|555|556|557|558|559|560|561|562|563|564|565|566|567|568|569|570|571|572|573|574|575|576|577|578|579|580|581|582|583|584|585|586|587|588|589|590|591|592|593|594|595|596|597|598|599|600|601|602|603|604|605|606|607|608|609|610|611|612|613|614|615|616|617|618|619|620|621|622|623|624|625|626|627|628|629|630|631|632|633|634|635|636|637|638|639|640|641|642|643|644|645|646|647|648|649|650|651|652|653|654|655|656|657|658|659|660|661|662|663|664|665|666|667|668|669|670|671|672|673|674|675|676|677|678|679|680|681|682|683|684|685|686|687|688|689|690|691|692|693|694|695|696|697|698|699|700|701|702|703|704|705|706|707|708|709|710|711|712|713|714|715|716|717|718|719|720|721|722|723|724|725|726|727|728|729|730|731|732|733|734|735|736|737|738|739|740|741|742|743|744|745|746|747|748|749|750|751|752|753|754|755|756|757|758|759|760|761|762|763|764|765|766|767|768|769|770|771|772|773|774|775|776|777|778|779|780|781|782|783|784|785|786|787|788|789|790|791|792|793|794|795|796|797|798|799|800|801|802|803|804|805|806|807|808|809|810|811|812|813|814|815|816|817|818|819|820|821|822|823|824|825|826|827|828|829|830|831|832|833|834|835|836|837|838|839|840|841|842|843|844|845|846|847|848|849|850|851|852|853|854|855|856|857|858|859|860|861|862|863|864|865|866|867|868|869|870|871|872|873|874|875|876|877|878|879|880|881|882|883|884|885|886|887|888|889|890|891|892|893|894|895|896|897|898|899|900|901|902|903|904|905|906|907|908|909|910|911|912|913|914|915|916|917|918|919|920|921|922|923|924|925|926|927|928|929|930|931|932|933|934|935|936|937|938|939|940|941|942|943|944|945|946|947|948|949|950|951|952|953|954|955|956|957|958|959|960|961|962|963|964|965|966|967|968|969|970|971|972|973|974|975|976|977|978|979|980|981|982|983|984|985|986|987|988|989|990|991|992|993|994|995|996|997|998|999)
Or\d{2,3}.
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Talking about Windows and bad ideas, today I received an email about the changes in the whole Developer Partner Program thing and it seems Windows 10 will be their one and truly only OS for all platforms, including IoT and HoloLens (yes, it seems to be a real thing).
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Every OS maker says that for every new OS.
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Do spiders actually lay eggs, or do they give birth to live young, like dogs or dolphins?
Eggs. Usually in specially woven spider-silk sacks filled with thousands of eggs.
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They lay a bunch of eggs in a sack, web it in place in some secluded corner, then goes off to die.
- That's sad :'(
- That spider is clearly stealing a golf ball...
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That spider is clearly stealing a golf ball...
What are you? Australian? If that was a golf ball no sane person would stick around to take pictures!
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Eh, I've seen crabs which are larger than that...
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Eh, I've seen crabs which are larger than that...
I've had crabs larger than that...
...interpret however you wish...
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I've had crabs larger than that...
Were they tasty?...interpret however you wish...
Oh, I did...
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Or
\d{2,3}.I have to remind myself that exists every now and then because it doesn't work properly in certain pieces of software I'm using... Either that or the damned thing keeps stripping my backslashes as soon as I look at them funny. In any case, was unsafe to use so I got into this habit of using
[0-9].I also forgot to test the
{n,m}thing in it today.
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...or you end up in backslash escaping hell and your regex suddenly becomes
\\\\\\\\d{2,3}.
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What are you? Australian? If that was a golf ball no sane person would stick around to take pictures!
Well, I don't think anyone would argue that Australians are sane.
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Well, I don't think anyone would argue that Australians are sane.
Due to gravity, their blood has a tendency to run down out of their lower bodies and pool in their heads, putting pressure on the brain. I think that's a contributing factor.
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Or maybe Microsoft is an incredible troll and did it on purpose!
Yeah, that seems pretty unlikely. WTF kind of kids do they have working in their marketing dept?
Oh yeah. The ones I used to work for.
So crappy.
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Oh bad ideas. Forgot for a moment.
Bad ideas: hmm, let me see:
Elvis Costello Meets Justin Bieber.
Shit. That's a wonderful idea. If you understand Meets to mean, punches in the throat. With a spoon.
Or something else really bad.
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But why stop there? If you wanted to try and set up some kind of reality TV show where Elvis Costello approaches arbitrary celebrities in their homes or in the street and punches them in the throat, I think the idea has a lot of promise and I would definitely want to watch more of it.
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...or you end up in backslash escaping hell and your regex suddenly becomes
\\\\\\\\d{2,3}.I see you have a bad case of backslashitis there, Mr. Tar.
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It's unlikely, and you probably could avoid it, but
Lets' say you a a directory with some files which have literal backslashes followed by a digit in their name (matching
\\\d), and you want to replace those withQs.ls -la | sed -e "s/\\\d/Q/g"After drinking paint thinners you decide you need to call the command line via Perl's
system()command,system("ls -la | sed -e \"s/\\\\\\d/Q/g\")and you also decide you want to interpolate the result of the call directly into a string.
print "result is: @{[system(\"ls -la | sed -e \\"s/\\\\\\\\\\\\d/Q/g\\"\"]}"Filed under: BAD IDEAS
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In my case, the regex is read from a key-value store (in memory, before you start screaming) and then fed into a function that can operate on it. I don't remember exactly, but I think I had backslashes being stripped when first reading the value into a variable and then stripped again when I tried to use the variable, and then...
In short, too fiddly and not worth the effort. And no, there is no simple way to tell it to escape / not escape characters in any of the cases.
Car Clinic: Why numberplates are white and yellow, a terminal Mercedes sunroof, parking a 911 outside and repairing light scratches
