Uglify Your Stuff

[ExplorerAtHeart]

Here's an article about making your stuff more secure by making it look really bad.

http://www.wisebread.com/uglify-your-stuff-to-keep-it-safe

 

[Master_Ghost_Knight]

It is a really good idea. *takes note*

 

[Lallapalalable]

case in point: I drove a 93 chevy cavalier station wagon with rust spots, faded bumper stickers, and perpetually dirty windows, and nobody ever broke in or did anything uncivilized to it over the 2 1/2 years I drove it, despite the fact that I usually kept many expensive things in there such as a DS, a $1500 laptop, and thousands of dollars worth of medical equipment. However, I now have an 06 cobalt, and less than a year into my ownership I get a smashed window and a few worthless DVDs taken (FYE wouldnt even take them for $1 apiece).

 

[Jotto999]

I first read about this last year, when I saw that a number of people who owned very expensive bikes were doing their level best to make them look like $20 Craigslist rejects. It's a simple enough idea. You take your wonderful $1000 bike, and proceed to repaint it, badly, apply stickers and scratches and scuff marks, bits of old tape, dirt, grime, in fact anything you can think of, and hey presto - one expensive bike that performs like a dream but looks like a nightmare.

This is true. I'm riding a Trice T recumbent trike, which has cost me around 4,000$ with addons, equipment and service. It's a frigging HELL of a bike and you could easily pass it off on the black market for 1 or 2 grand.

Not only do I use a hefty bike lock, but I've made the thing look like a rag-doll. One of the carrier bags on the back has this big rip right down the middle, it is conveniently such that it doesn't cause any problems. It's also pretty dirty and looks quite scuffed, and the flag I'm using looks like I grabbed a piece of fabric that had been sitting in a gutter for a few months and duct taped it to the pole.

Uglifying your stuff does have advantages, no doubt. Not only does it act as a mild theft deterrent, but it kind of adds personality to your possessions. All the scuff marks and shit tell stories.

 

[Shaedys]

Uglifying your stuff does have advantages, no doubt. Not only does it act as a mild theft deterrent, but it kind of adds personality to your possessions. All the scuff marks and shit tell stories.

Ohh yes, the time I uglified my bike...

The sandwich one is pretty brilliant though. I'd get one of those.

 

[Jotto999]

Ohh yes, the time I uglified my bike...

Hehe...mind spilling the beans on what happened? I'm curious now.

 

[Lallapalalable]

The sandwich one is pretty brilliant though. I'd get one of those.

I thought that was awesome too

 

[nasher168]

I'd get one purely for the amusement benefit of putting someone else's delicious sandwich in it when they're not looking... :twisted:

 

[Dustnite]

Once had my car window smashed open... What was stolen?

Friggin candy bar on the seat. I WOULD OF BOUGHT YOU 10 CANDY BARS MOTHER F*!@#(@$

 

[Anachronous Rex]

Once had my car window smashed open... What was stolen?

Friggin candy bar on the seat. I WOULD OF BOUGHT YOU 10 CANDY BARS MOTHER F*!@#(@$

I once had someone break into my car for a one-time use cellphone and a 12-pack of condoms.

Jokes on him though, I had forgotten to take those condoms out of the back seat when I moved back to college more then a year earlier, and had just been to lazy to throw them away. So they had been toasting there in the backseat of the oven that is my car, in direct sunlight, for at least 2 summers.

 

[borrofburi]

Once had my car window smashed open... What was stolen?

Friggin candy bar on the seat. I WOULD OF BOUGHT YOU 10 CANDY BARS MOTHER F*!@#(@$

I once had someone break into my car for a one-time use cellphone and a 12-pack of condoms.

Jokes on him though, I had forgotten to take those condoms out of the back seat when I moved back to college more then a year earlier, and had just been to lazy to throw them away. So they had been toasting there in the backseat of the oven that is my car, in direct sunlight, for at least 2 summers.

I dunno, jokes on society, I don't want people like that having children...

 

[nasher168]

I once had someone break into my car for a one-time use cellphone and a 12-pack of condoms.

There are such things as one-use mobiles in the US?

 

[Anachronous Rex]

I once had someone break into my car for a one-time use cellphone and a 12-pack of condoms.

There are such things as one-use mobiles in the US?

Sort of. It is a cell with a certain amount of pre-paid minutes already on it when it is purchased. You can latter buy more minutes online or somesuch. If you almost never use a cellphone then it pays to have one of these, rather then paying a regular monthly fee for unused minutes.

At the time I didn't have a real cellphone, so I kept one of these in my car in case of emergency.

I dunno, jokes on society, I don't want people like that having children...

Screw society, I want vengeance!

 

[JustBusiness17]

The sandwich one is pretty brilliant though. I'd get one of those.

I thought that was awesome too

I see two problems with this one:
1) Someone sees it and throws it out
2) Someone sees it, then sees you eating it.

Both are shitty outcomes IMO.

 

[PatrickTheScienceGuy]

iv uglifyd my laptop, although its not a particularly expensive one id rather keep it. it has all of my college work on it, so i covered it in brown tape at the edges, took out non vital screws in the case and removed a few buttons from the keyboard that i have never used, and the thing still works like a dream.