April 11, 2005
No this, no that
On the way to the subway this morning, I saw a car with a sign tucked behind the windshield. I (and, I'm sure, you) used to see this all the time, usually involving a sign reading "NO RADIO". But I didn't know what to make of this sign, which said, "NO HID. LIGHTS IN CAR". I...just have no idea what sort of theft that is meant to prevent.
When I got off the subway, I swung by the bank machine vestibule on 42nd to deposit some checks. There was someone arriving just ahead of me -- and, happily, it was a fellow who knew which of the four possible orientations of a bank card is the one that will open the door, so I didn't have to wait for him to figure it out, as I sometimes do -- but when he went for the door, there was no handle. Between the two of us, we got it open; he swiped his card again, and I pried the door open. I opened the door from the inside for a few people while I was there, and they all went through the same dramatic arc: swipe card, walk to door, reach for handle -- look absolutely nonplussed. Hope they plan on fixing that sometime soon.
Posted by Francis at 02:16 PM"HID lights" refers to high-density xenon headlights, which are brighter than traditional halogens. The xenon lights are also much more expensive and can be fenced for a couple hundred bucks apiece, so as a result, there's a brisk trade in stolen headlights.
Posted by: Debby at April 11, 2005 04:00 PMWell, "high-density xenon" certainly makes more sense than "hidden", which was the only thing I could come up with that "hid." might be an abbreviation for. But I guess if people were looking for hidden lights, the fact that they couldn't see them wouldn't deter them -- they're hidden! So you might as well try to insist that you don't have any.
Posted by: Francis at April 11, 2005 06:20 PMI can only hope someone was filming the bank entrance for some sort of art project or sociology study or just a stupid prank-based TV show.
Posted by: Lance at April 13, 2005 04:25 AM