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Indiana Bans Driver's License Smiles, For Security
Smelly Jeffrey writes "According to a recent article, Indiana BMV Communications Director Dennis Rosebrough states that applicants for a new or renewed operator's license or state identification card will no longer be allowed to smile and say cheese. Apparently new facial recognition software being employed by the state fails to function when the face is distorted by something as innocuous as smiling. Also on the list of taboos are hats, eyeglasses, and hair that hangs down over the face. The article fails to mention, however, the legality of beards, mustaches, and bushy eyebrows." Similar restrictions are in place for the Enhanced Driver License (which serves as a sort of limited passport) implemented by the state of Washington, among others.
I'd damn well like to keep my awkward smile on my driver's license!
Kind of hard to get your six-year-old a driver's license in Indiana, anyways.
Also on the list of taboos are hats, eyeglasses, and hair that hangs down over the face.
So I guess Slash is out entirely.
Which is why Congress is, at this moment, working on the CAN-SMILE act, which will put a stop to smiling, along with other un-American behavior like being happy, being friendly, playing with your children, giving to charity, and staying out of debt.
Today's Sesame Street was brought to you by the number e.
Its okay, terrorists never smile ...
Also on the list of taboos are hats, eyeglasses...
Local reaction: Newspaper reporter Clark Kent was quoted as protesting this in the strongest possible terms, while wealthy socialite Bruce Wayne said he didn't really see this as a problem.
Amazon needs to be taken down under the Patriot Act:
http://www.amazon.com/Groucho-Glasses-Fake-Mustache-Brows/dp/B001HHECYU
Squirrel!
It's a sad comment on the state of Slashdot's moderation system when you have to preemptively explain a fairly common phrase you used because you have a reasonable expectation that someone will mistake it for "flamebait."
To take this even further off topic, our local hockey team is called "the Canucks," and the company I work for disperses season ticket amongst the sales staff to use for marketing purposes. The CEO recently complained that he had attempted to send an email three times, but nobody received it and he didn't get a bounce back. Turns out the nanny filters on the mail server quarantined his message due to a racial slur - he'd mentioned that the "Canucks" tickets were available.
I don't care why you're posting AC
I'm pretty sure the guy smiling and sweating in the trench coat when its 80 degrees out is going to attract somebody's attention.
Random Thoughts From A Diseased Mind (Not For Dummies)
Does having a long, 1900's mustache short-circuit computer face detection? If so, this means that Snidely Whiplash was a visionary with a keen sense of crinimal discretion. This would also confirm what I've always known - that Ned Flanders is a dangerous man on the run and that the Pringles guy is a criminal mastermind.
Well, that's a relief. At least as we descend into a totalitarianist police state, I can take comfort in the fact that the regime isn't technically fascist.
You've never been to Manhattan, have you?
-- "Other than that, how was the play Mrs. Lincoln?"
This is easy to crack. Don't smile for your DL picture, and do smile the rest of the time. It will make the world a better place in the process.
"It's the height of ridiculousness to say for those 9 lines you get hundreds of millions."
Last time I flew to Canada via the US, US immigration wanted to take a picture from me _without_ wearing glasses (funny, as you can never find me "in the wild" without wearing glasses ;-).
On the return flight, US immigration wanted to take a picture of me _with_ glasses.