Platewire.com

Driving home from work today, an aggressive driver in a light tan Sienna (VA tags JDE-2781) nearly forced me off the road and into a ditch. I considered reporting this to the police, but past experiences have led me to believe this is a waste of time.

So-- I figured, why don't I publish the jerk's license plate on the Internet, along with a description of his vehicle? Then, as I thought about it more, I realized it would be even better if I could create some kind of web-based application that people could use to "report" dangerous and/or aggressive drivers. Not "report" as in "turn over to the authorities," but "report" as in publicly shame a la "The Scarlet Letter."

Turns out I'm not the only person thinking along these lines-- and someone already beat me to the punch. I'm talking about platewire.com, the site which allows you to post notices (good or bad) about specific license plates. It's an intriguing concept, and has a surprising number of features. You have to create an account with a valid email address, which is a good way to reduce the potential for abuse/slander/libel.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to create an account so I can give a BIG RED FLAG to Mr. Tan Sienna Van Man.

Website changes

Oh, forgot to mention-- I made some changes to the website.

Gee, thanks, Captain Obvious!

Yes, I know-- switched templates, color schemes, added new features, and then got sidetracked before I had time to sit down and write all about it.

This site no longer validates with the W3C validator tool.

No, it doesn't.

So what's up with that?

Basically, I could use a classic, simple template where I had complete control over all the HTML that appeared on the page-- but never use any fancy bells/whistles, or I could stop being such a hard-nose about my blog adhering to valid HTML and integrate features that might actually make adding interesting content and drawing traffic easier.

So you sold out . . . ?

Yeah, pretty much. :) But you've got to admit, adding the Twitter feed and Google Reader feeds to the page was pretty slick.

Maybe, but it's so . . . green.

What's wrong with green? I like green. It's my favorite color. Well, next to black, but black isn't really a color, is it? It's actually the absence of all color and/or light. So, technically speaking, green's my favorite color. As a matter of fact, a black suit with a green tie-- now there's an idea for a fashion statement.

Um, yeah-- it says, "Hi, I'm an Irish Ninja wannabe."

Don't be a hater. The template (Son of Moto, if I'm not mistaken) I'm using was actually designed by Zeldman (yes, that Zeldman), so even if my code won't currently pass validation, I'm still showing my solidarity by choosing the author of my template. If I find ways to tweak code and options so that they generate valid HTML, I will certainly do so-- just like I did for Google Analytics.

Okay, so it's got Google Reader and Twitter. What else did you do?

The name of the web site has changed from "An Error Occurred . . ." to simply "Jonah Chanticleer." The focus of the web site has changed since I first chose that site name back in 2003, and it didn't feel right to stick with it anymore-- sort of like false advertising, I guess. Don't worry-- only the name has changed; the site address and RSS feed locations and all that are staying the same, so no one has to change any settings.

I also added an archive widget on the right hand side of the page, so people can look back at past entries by month and year. I'm toying with the idea of adding additional widgets that integrate with photos and/or video clips-- but that's pending getting some special content on sites such as Picasa or YouTube.

Like what?

If I told you, it'd ruin the surprise.