They warned us that legal pot would lead to a crime wave, and they were right:
Colorado officials are hoping the difference of one-hundredth of a mile will curb thefts of highway markers after the 420 mile marker sign along Interstate 70 was targeted multiple times.
Amy Ford of the Colorado Department of Transportation says the “MILE 420” sign near Stratton was stolen for the last time sometime in the last year, and officials replaced it with a sign that says “MILE 419.99.”
Here’s the history of 420. BTW, I haven’t heard anyone cheer at 7:14 during a game or event for decades, so I guess those guys have all but died off.
mtraven
Veterans of the storming of the Bastille?
Zam
I must admit I would be more inclined to steal a sign that said 419.99 than one that said 420.
max
the 420 mile marker sign along Interstate 70 was targeted multiple times.
No surprise. They used to constantly steal the duck Xing signs near my house.
@Zam: I must admit I would be more inclined to steal a sign that said 419.99 than one that said 420.
It would be awesome if they’d put up a ‘MILE 2.718281828’ marker.
max
[‘Too cool for bureaucracy.’]
smintheus
Why didn’t they simply install a video cam and fine the bejeezus out of the thieves? No need for speed traps with a steady supply of potential revenue like this.
WereBear
Frat boy crime. Isn’t it an All-American tradition to ignore such?
PaulW
Here’s an idea: the state of Colorado can print and sell those signs. Sure, they’ll still have some jokers trying to steal it, but there’s hundreds more who’ll buy one…
PaulW
@smintheus:
‘Cause the thieves will steal the video cam. Think this through…
SFAW
@max:
No, it would be natural.
(Sorry for the attempted nerd “humour.”)
Graham
Id pay $25 for a 714….$50 for a Rorer instead of a Lemon…Stale or not….just for old times sake. Not dead yet….
tybee
we once had a cat named 714.
called it 7 for short.
then we got a second cat.
named it 6 because it was smaller.
and that reminds me of a joke that used to get our 6 year old to cackle wildly:
why is 6 afraid of 7?
because 7 8 9
HinTN
@SFAW: Hell, I was gonna simply it to e
c u n d gulag
To whoever the idiot is/was who thought the signs were stolen by pot smokers because 420 represents Hitler’s birthday, well, of course you’re right – because people who smoke pot are notorious for being white supremacists and Fascists.
I couldn’t have been REAL white supremacists and Fascist wannabe’s! No, it was pot smoking Fascists!
Sheesh…
Arm The Homeless
Tru-fact:
One time a Jefferson County, CO sheriff pulled me over and found my stash and a pipe. The cop remarked how nice my piece was, made me break it, dump my bag and sent me home.
That was a nice LEO.
FIN.
jnfr
Still working my second crop of state-legal home-grown. I’ve lived in Colorado since 1990 and I love it here. Now I love it here even more.
Warren Terra
Thread needs more “milestone” puns.
SFAW
OK, I admit I’m out of touch, but the only 714 reference I can think of is Babe Ruth’s home runs. Anyone care to help the light dawn on Marblehead?
shelly
Six people were hospitalized with bad vibes.
Warren Terra
@SFAW:
Urban Dictionary would appear to have you covered:
I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet
@SFAW: ‘ludes, man – I think.
HTH.
Cheers,
Scott.
James Gary
According to Wikipedia, 714 (being the number stamped on each pill) was slang for Quaaludes:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/714_%28disambiguation%29
Ruckus
All the 714 dudes are asleep. And have been for a very long time.
Villago Delenda Est
That asshat Chancellor at the University of Colorado INSURED that 4/20 celebrations would intensify by drawing attention to it and hoping that something could be done about it.
Moran. Or double agent for the stoners. You call it.
TriassicSands
Theft of a highway mile marker is clearly a case of domestic terrorism and should be dealt with by Homeland Security, water-boarding, and life imprisonment in Gitmo. Zero tolerance!
Villago Delenda Est
@max:
Here in Tracktown USA, they were going to number the local Beltline Highway “OR 69”. Then someone pointed out to them how Indiana has a hell of a time with I-69 signs.
So they decided that it would be OR 569 instead.
bewleys
Thanks for that link, to huffpo.
Don’t go there anymore, I would have missed the “Princess Leia” pics.
Schlemizel
funny, posted a comment about the trouble Fucking, Austria had with their city signs being stolen. They finally went with welded signs buried in cement. But FYWP eatted it I guess
geg6
Ugh. Luudes were the worst. Never understood why people liked that shit. Someone slipped one into my beer and my BF’s beer back in the late 70s/early 80s and I was furious when I finally straightened up. That shit sucked.
Always did and always will prefer the wacky weed. I’m not one that likes being completely out of control. Just looking for some relaxation, same way I use alcohol. Never stronger than beer and wine and drink it in moderation.
Villago Delenda Est
OT, but the stopped clock theory gets another point in its favor from Noisemax:
Dick Morris: Christie’s in a Trap
That smell you’re picking up, Dick? It’s not Miss Kim’s feet. It’s Christie’s crusts burning.
muddy
@geg6: In high school in the 70’s we used to laugh over the re-runs of Dragnet because his badge number was 714, and we said it was code for why he was so blasé.
A guy I knew took 4 ‘luudes one day at school and at lunch he was drinking out of a milk carton and it was just running out of his mouth onto his chest as fast as it went in. He didn’t even notice and everyone laughed at him. I’m with you, it’s a shitty high. You look stupid and you feel stupid.
Now I sound like that gimlet eyed prick Morning Joe. Maybe he protests so much because everyone thinks his eyes are like that from smoking pot.
Baud
@SFAW:
And log-ical.
Citizen_X
@Baud: But also irrational.
scav
I’m rather impressed at how quickly after legalization that dreaded drug-fueled crime wave was able to self-assemble and take out the critical sign repeatedly. ONE) wouldn’t the assumed perps still be laid out in a glow of celebration and not quite that focused drive for pillage unless it involved foodstuffs and TWO) there’s no way a roads dept would be able to replace them that quickly for repeat thefts.
Baud
@Citizen_X:
We could do this for e-ternity.
scav
@Baud: But would you repeat yourselves?
Citizen_X
I think they also changed the number of Route 666, out in the Arizona/California border region, because its signs kept getting stolen.
Or, because obnoxious people kept singing Highway to Hell in front of it. One of those two.
Baud
@scav:
No. There is a limit as we approach that point.
Corner Stone
@Citizen_X:
On a dark desert highway, cool wind in my hair
Warm smell of carnitas, rising up through the air
Citizen_X
On-topic, I can’t wait till Washington gets its stores going this spring. Then we can try to change the “narrative” from “lol Colorado stoners hurr hurr,” to “Huh. Another state legalizes, and the world is still here.”
Normalizing (NORMLizing?) it, making it boring, is key.
James E. Powell
@Zam:
I must admit I would be more inclined to steal a sign that said 419.99 than one that said 420.
Me too. And I was thinking of the line, ” . . . but for you, 419.99″
Baud
I wonder if some enterprising young civil engineer will measure to see if the new marker is .01 miles closer.
Ben Franklin
Bloomimngbirds…
With over $5 million in sales the first week seems like a lot, wait until the the Revenuers get wind of the potential. It’s starting at 25%…do I hear 35?
Ben Franklin
@efgoldman:
Washington State is like over 100% . Certainly higher than during Prohibition.
Thor Heyerdahl
The “Ragged Ass Road” sign in Yellowknife NWT was stolen so many times the sign was welded to the post.
I wonder how many times that the signs have been stolen in Dildo, NL or Climax, SK – who knows they might have wound up in a museum in Blue Ball, PA.
Anoniminous
@SFAW:
I’ll give you an e for the effort.
Ben Franklin
http://www.seattlepi.com/local/article/Study-Washington-No-1-in-liquor-taxes-4944560.php
I see a lot of bullshit about tax on liquor in Washington. In 2012, the price for a 5th of Jack Daniels was 16.99 in Ca, $25 in Ore. and $47 in Washington from my own experience.
Calming influence
Seriously, I was not surprised when many Juicers (including myself) recognized 714 right away. But like Bobo, we are now responsible adults who have put away our childish ways. (I mean, we have have, right? I’m not missing out on anything, am I?)
Calming influence
@max: [Euler?…….Euler?……….]
WaterGirl
@WereBear: Not everywhere. Certainly not in indiana where my niece got arrested and charged for stealing a street sign with a couple other people in her sorority. She had to jump through a whole bunch of legal hoops in order to get that expunged so she could get into law school. Even AFTER they had expunged it, they hadn’t really expunged it, so she had a lot of explaining to do when she applied to law school.
@Villago Delenda Est: My sister graduated high school in 1069 and they wouldn’t even put the year on the class rings.
SFAW
@Warren Terra: and others ..
Thanks.
Teh Google … how does that work?
Apparently, I am not aware of all Internet traditions. Which, I suppose, is good news for John McCain.
cckids
My son’s Scout troop’s number was 420. Much humor resulted, always.
Corner Stone
@WaterGirl:
***backs away slowly…slowwwlllyy***
James E. Powell
Last night I watched an animated movie of Cheech & Chong’s routines from their several albums. I had forgotten how much drugs and drug culture were celebrated back in the day.
SFAW
@Baud: @Anoniminous:
I’m half expecting Tom Levenson to chime in with his employer’s cheer (they haven’t had a real fight song since who-knows-when):
“e to the u, du/dx
e to the x, dx
Cosine! Secant! Tangent! Sine!
3 point 1 4 1 5 9
Square root! Integral! u dv!
Slipstick! Slide rule! M I T!”
(Disclaimer: some wankers have said that the penultimate line is actually “Integral! Radical! mu dv!” Who knows?)
ETA: And, no, I don’t want to hear about Godiva riding through Coventry. You nerds.
snoey
710 is the new 420.
KyCole
@geg6: Agree. Someone gave me one at a party in college (1976), and I had to go home to bed.
WaterGirl
@Corner Stone: oops, that was 1969.