July 27, 2018

Silicon Valley Finally Addresses Our License Plate Crisis

Reviver Auto

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The highest IQs our nation produces are now hard at work replacing the boring, old-fashioned license plate:

Reviver Auto’s RPlate can be validated via cellular signal when registration fees are paid, saving a state the cost of postage and materials for paper renewals. The screen can display anything, making it easy to switch designs if an owner wants to buy a vanity plate. Amber Alerts can be flashed on the plate; if the vehicle is stolen, the plate can be changed to display that fact. When the vehicle is parked, businesses can display advertisements on the plate, even targeting a vehicle’s particular location because the plate is connected to GPS. The GPS would also allow commercial fleet owners to track their vehicles.

Imagine my excitement. Not only will Amber Alerts infest my phone, they’ll infest my license plate too. And advertising! Who wouldn’t love the idea of turning every license plate in the state into a miniature, GPS-based billboard? If you’re parked in Palm Springs, you’ll get lots of ads for adult diapers. If you’re parked across the street from USC, you’ll get ads for Trojans. So sweet.

And the best news of all? It only costs $699! Plus $75 per year to connect to the cell network. This compares to $0 for the crummy, lifeless, 20th-century license plates we are all forced to suffer with now.

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WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

About that: It’s unfathomably hard in the news business right now, and we came up about $28,000 short during our recent fall fundraising campaign. We simply have to make that up soon to avoid falling further behind than can be made up for, or needing to somehow trim $1 million from our budget, like happened last year.

If you can, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones—that exists to make a difference, not a profit—with a donation of any amount today. We need more donations than normal to come in from this specific blurb to help close our funding gap before it gets any bigger.

payment methods

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