The paw of Ceiling Cat

October 1, 2013 • 7:48 am

Reader Chris sent me this photo he took at a talk by Richard Dawkins, along with a description (“GW” is “George Washington University”):

Please see the attached photo taken outside the GW Lisner Auditorium where Richard Dawkins spoke last night (I was there!).

Chris Photo

Virginia, of course, is where I became an atheist. I suppose the “1” is there instead of the “i” because someone else has the “ATHEIST” plate.

What surprises and pleases me is that Virginia even allowed such a vanity plate. Atheists in some states have problems with this, though I doubt there are problems with “JESUSSAVES” plates.

50 thoughts on “The paw of Ceiling Cat”

  2. Technically, you’d have to do it with 7 characters.

    JESUSVS could work, I guess.

    It’s a favorite hobby of mine to spot god bot plates.

    1. Seeing as that car has a Duke sticker on it, I will point out even Duke University plates are allowed.

  5. Jerry’s is Jerry’s Ford, a Northern VA dealer, located on a spot where I occasionally roamed as a kid.

    1. Now that I think of it, my father bought his ’88 Festiva from Jerry’s, which I then drove for a good dozen yrs after he died.

      Before Jerry’s was there, it was the site of an abandoned, but not terribly old house which had had a greenhouse behind it. The greenhouse had collapsed into a basement which had partially filled with water, and turned into a frog pond. It stayed that way for years (and nobody freaked out). Whenever we’d go up to it in summer months, at least a dozen frogs would jump into the pond. We used to wonder who had lived there.

  7. I particularly like the increasing numbers of modified “Christian fish” symbols you see stuck to the backs of cars in the UK. They have additional feet and the word “Darwin” fitted into the body of the fish.

        2. I’ve sported one of these on my cars ever since I first encountered them in 1990 or so. Twice I’ve had one damaged or destroyed by (I presume) believers. And one time a very angry lady with a Jesus bumper sticker on her car give me the finger for parking next to her.

          2. Some have had the feet cut off and you can now buy replacement feet. Oh these Christians. I had one bless me on Twitter and one tell me that I was full of fail. You just don’t know what you’re going to get.

          4. You could pray for new feet, but as we all know, God doesn’t cure amputees.

    2. The Darwin Fish symbol has been around for quite a while. I bought one of those 20+ yrs. ago when I lived in a college town in the U.S., but took it off my car when I moved to a rural Midwestern area in the U.S. Coward as I am, didn’t want my new car to get keyed.

      I did see an admittedly clever response to the Darwin Fish a few years ago. It has the Darwin Fish being eaten by a larger christian fish, labeled “truth”. Sadly, for christians it’s their truth. Oh the irony….

      1. That could result in a “fish race” resulting in Mutually Assured Consumption by increasingly gigantic sea creatures, until cars became undriveable due to their massive bumper stickers.

        1. My friends who raised sheep told me a true story of how when the flock started a panic run around their house, they just kept going and going and going around in circles, because there was no leader. Honest story.

          1. Boy that last comment of mine sounds like either a non-seq. or a free association… time for me to stop : )

    3. I put one of those “DarwinFish” (I think that may actually be a trade mark … or maybe not. http://evolvefish.com/) on the door of the old house, and almost miraculously, the Mormons and JWs stopped visiting.

        1. I think my chain of causal inference is shorter and rather more robust than yours.

    2. I saw one years ago in California, on a gorgeous Rolls Royce Silver Cloud that passed me at a very high speed driven by a pretty young guy. It read: B4 30

    3. Ha! That is pretty good! I had to actually write it backwards to read it but it is clever if you look at it on the front plate.

  11. I also am surprised, since most DMVs seem to try to stop provocative license plates (where atheist would be, and most Christian messages are not). It would be interesting to know if this car survives without casual vandalism.

    1. Allegdly, the UK’s DVLA (Driver & Vehicle Licencing Authority) stopped issuing registrations with the number “666” for the last few years of that numbering system. OF course, for the next 36-odd years, only 2-digit numbers will be part of the plate.
      I’ve seen “666” plates on the road, which I assume are being transferred to new vehicles as their original vehicles rot away.

  15. It is interesting that the type used is not sans serif. In the UK it has to be, & has to be clearly visible front & back. Mind you, no one is going to miss a plate like that!

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