Thursday, January 17, 2008

License plates


I saw a Kentucky license plate today that read RVNCLW. It made me smile.

Has anyone else noticed that a couple of the Kentucky and Tennessee license plate designs seem to have a strand of DNA running through the center of the plate? I've been seeing it on the road for a while now and I thought the explanation would be an easy answer to find, but no such luck. Of course, the image probably represents curling smoke or some such thing, but it reminds me of DNA. I've no idea why the Kentucky and Tennessee plates both have the ghostly spirals, either. You'll probably have to click on the images to enlarge them in order to see what I'm talking about here. I'd love to hear theories.

Some days we don't learn anything new; we just find new questions to ask.

In other news, I'm pondering starting a 101 Things To Do in 1001 Days project on my own. But I'm going to take a nap first.

7 comments:

Srsly said...

I found your blog while looking for an answer to the same question. I live in Nashville and just noticed that some have it and some don't today. After sitting in traffic pondering this, it seems that the smoke (or squiggle as I called it) only appears when light is directly on the plate. So I think it's a way for law enforcement to determine a legit plate from a fake. But again, just a guess.

Lily Secret said...

Ah, like a watermark of sorts. That's an excellent thought.

It will probably take a phone call to the state DMV (and a lot of luck) to find the actual answer. I'll put it on my list of "things to do when I'm seriously bored at work."

Gabriel Lee said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Gabriel Lee said...

The new Arizona plate has it as well. I'm curious, if it was used as a way to detect counterfeits, then of all things they could have chose to put on the plates, why this DNA looking squiggle? There may be a good reason or it could just be nothing.

Gabriel Lee said...

Here's a pic for you at this link:

http://c3.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/28/l_738e9e2baf734564b371f4e4a632a49a.jpg

Mooosestaffa said...

We have them on the new Missouri and Kansas plates here in KC.

Unknown said...

I googles DNA in tennessee license plate and stumbled onto your blog. I saw it on a mosouri plate I think the other day as well. Just wondering what it is and why Maryland doesn't have one. I feel left out. Will check back in to see if anyone comes up with a definitive answer. Thanks for the post!