*golf clap*

Bravo, submitter. Good job.

i stopped smiling 18 years ago

Excellent headline.

CC: Arkansas and West Virginia

What no pictures of Camilla?

Australian government did this a while ago too. I was told "no smiling" for my passport photo last year - now I look like even more of a terrorist.

Preferred expression:

*yawn*

Thanks for the AM chuckle submitter, how your mom?

Hawley Griffin: What no pictures of Camilla?

Pfft, in Canada, we've had the "no smiling in passport photos" rule for 2 years now.

it's funny cuz it's true....

I was on the bus to work this morning (i'm an American living in London) and I swear.... We stopped to pick up passengers and the stream of uglies who got on board was like a slap in the face to humanity.

You would think that a tatoo and a RFID implant would be easier to implement.

Haha. British peoples are fugly.

So you want me to help you to spy on me by not smiling for my passport photo? Hmm, let me think about that for a moment, I'll get straight back to you.

Still there? Great. Well, I've thought it over, and I'm afraid you're just going to have to go ahead and stick that idea up your arse, mm'kay?

You can't smile in Canadian passport photos either, you also can't have hair covering your ears.

my passport photo is B&W

cool, right?

Bhruic: Pfft, in Canada, we've had the "no smiling in passport photos" rule for 2 years now.


I really need to read all the comments before posting.

Barton Fink

Thats funny, because I was in Washington DC a couple of months ago, and dear god have I never seen so many fat people. I mean really, just because you can eat all the food in the world, doen't mean you have to.

/Stereotypes are fun
//I really liked the US
///Your rich, drunk and dumb girls in georgetown are great fun!

dukefluke: So you want me to help you to spy on me by not smiling for my passport photo? Hmm, let me think about that for a moment, I'll get straight back to you.

Still there? Great. Well, I've thought it over, and I'm afraid you're just going to have to go ahead and stick that idea up your arse, mm'kay?

They'll probably just not approve your passport and will keep asking for an approved photo.. sooner or later your needs will outweigh theirs.

Er... we're already told not to smile for passport photos. Same applies with driver's licenses.

Best headline ever.

Newmarc:Your rich, drunk and dumb girls in georgetown are great fun!

Would that be Jenna and the other one, what's her name? Tonic?

It's funny because Brits have bad teeth!

That's America - the worlds biggest collective fat bastard.

So, when we're in public and they have the facial recognition software going... we should smile constantly to defeat it?

No way did Mr. Ed have English teeth. That headline didn't fool me at all.

what's there to smile about when you're giving up your personal freedom anyhow?

oh i forgot, this is going to stop terr'rist attacks somehow. because suicide bombers won't do a thing without having the proper identification.

/suckers

The only thing older than this story are the teeth gags. This was in the papers about 18 months ago.

It's the same in America, people. They told me not to smile last time I got mine done.

GIS for British smile (all from first page of results):





Can we maybe give the bad teeth thing a miss for a while? Is that really the only thing you can find to talk about when the UK comes up in a story?

Gordon Bennett

Would that be Jenna and the other one, what's her name? Tonic?

Heh, nice, but really, I can't stand Gin and Tonic, foul stuff. What was however really interesting was that the girls in this pub / bar / whatever you call it kept buying me and the guy I was over there with drinks. First time I've ever been anywhere where the girls tryed to get me drunk, good stuff. And being the galant gentleman that I am I couldn't very well refuse a lady.

I do remember trying to slide down the railings into the metro station. And being sober by the time we found a taxi to take us back to the hotel in Gaithersburg. Friday night and you can't find taxi outside a station, thats just wrong.

Newmarc

Thats funny, because I was in Washington DC a couple of months ago, and dear god have I never seen so many fat people. I mean really, just because you can eat all the food in the world, doen't mean you have to.

/Stereotypes are fun
//I really liked the US
///Your rich, drunk and dumb girls in georgetown are great fun!


The Georgetowne whores are only so rich because they charge the geek tourists so much to have sex with them.

ornithopter: It's the same in America, people. They told me not to smile last time I got mine done.

Usually, I'm not really in a mood to smile after all the long lines. Overpopulation is getting to be a serious pain in the arse, and this is in a country that has only 4.16% of the world's population.

Anyone go up the Sears tower lately? As they push you through the lines, you get to the point where they start taking photographs. The thing is - I didn't want a photograph of me up in the tower - however, they MADE me take a photograph. Facial recognition software, anyone?

Watching the first of the special features DVDs for The Lord of the Rings trilogy, with the "making of" documentary: scary scary British teeth.

Nice to know we're dumping tons of money on technology with severe limitations. It's better than doing nothing, right?

How much was the funding cut for maintaining & upgrading the NO levees since 9/11 again?

I know the article is about the UK, but the US is attempting to implement the same silver bullet, and is in fact pushing the UK to do this.

From the U.S. Department of State Passport FAQ:
What pose should the photos show?
The photo should show a clear, front view, full face of the customer. The customer should be in normal street attire, without hat or dark glasses against a plain white or off-white background. The customer should have a natural expression, mouth closed, and eyes open and looking directly ahead. Photos in which the face of the person being photographed is not in focus will not be accepted.

cliche(sp??) but still very funny.

More goodies from the US Dep/t of State Passport office:
The proposed U.S. Electronic Passport is the same as a regular passport with the addition of a small contactless integrated circuit (computer chip) embedded in the back cover. The chip will securely store the same data visually displayed on the photo page of the passport, and will additionally include a digital photograph. The inclusion of the digital photograph will enable biometric comparison, through the use of facial recognition technology at international borders. The U.S. e-passport will also have a new look, incorporating additional anti-fraud and security features.

Plus, in case you are interested in printing your own passport, they've posted this handy sample (notice the smile):

FluffyPanda
Can we maybe give the bad teeth thing a miss for a while? Is that really the only thing you can find to talk about when the UK comes up in a story?

Sure, as soon as Europeans stop referring to all Americans as lazy, fat and stupid.

/Many Americans have bad teeth
//Many Britons are lazy, fat and stupid

I wonder if orthodontia has caught on or will catch on as big as it has here in the US.