Saturday, November 15, 2008

Broken connection

There are some things that my brain just has trouble with. Like choreography. Somewhere in the journey from my eyes to my brain to my feet, there's a broken connection. I just have a hard time figuring it out. It amazes me when natural dancers can watch someone do ten dance steps in a row and easily reproduce them.

That's how I used to feel about those "Word Verification" words you have to type to comment on blogs and to enter information on other websites. It seemed more often than not I got them wrong and had to try again. But finally I guess the a new connection was formed in my brain, and I found myself usually able to type the gibberish on the first try!

Then Blogger went and threw me for a loop. They started requiring Word Verification for composing and editing blog posts, and the letters are more warped than the words that you have to type in the Comment screen. Once again, I find that I can't seem to get it right.

I'm a Word Verification moron.

And I'm not saying that in some sort of self-loathing way. I recognize that accurate Word Verification deciphering is not an essential life skill. I think it's kind of amusing that when confronted with these weird strings of letters, I'm suddenly a dullard.

On my resume: "Skills: Excellent speller. However, if you need meaningless combinations of letters typed, hire my toddler--not me."

So, 'fess up. What seemingly simple tasks seem to cause broken connections in your brain?

Now off to publish this post. Is that "interi" or "interj" I have to type? I guess we'll see....

25 comments:

Chris said...

That would be anything involving a tool. I know, I'm 6'4" 250lbs and can bench press a refrigerator but when a tool is needed at my house, it's my wife to the rescue.

Word Verification for this comment is "eboota"

d said...

I don't think of them as broken connections but rather as connections not yet made...unfortunately my brains' ability to make new connections is inversely proportional to the number of snaps in a baby's clothing which require connecting....even after 3 kids!

Word verification..gratel

Special K said...

I'm terrible at word verification as well!!!! I'm not a very coordinated dancer either.

Sandra said...

I have had some trouble with the word verifications too, but, is it my imagination, or have they gotten a little easier? It seems like they more often now will have a little more "logic" to the sequence of letters than they used to.

For example the "gratel" above. I think that is easier to reproduce than what I think it would have looked like before -- something like "rteagl" I had actually wondered if those who control this sort of thing had gotten complaints and were trying to make the verifications a little easier.

btw, my verification word now is chauncha. I see cha-un-cha. Easier to reproduce than something like hhnucccaa, don't you think?

Shannon said...

Now, I've been known to bust a move or two, but that word verification gets me all the time!

C. Beth said...

Chris--If you are bench pressing refrigerators that might be why they need to be fixed. Not exactly their intended use. :)

D--I know, aren't the zippered sleepers so much nicer? I have trouble even lining up three snaps on a onesie. For the zippered sleepers, though, they really should zip from the top down for easier diaper changes. I don't know why no one has figured this out.

Special K & Mama to a Diva--Very glad to have two other word verification dullards! I'm glad you manage to get past it to post comments. :)

Sandra--That is very interesting as I have noticed the same thing lately, MOST of the time...and wondered if it was just my imagination. (I even got "real words" twice in a row a day or two ago.) No such luck on the word verification for posting and editing on Blogger, though--they are using different software for some reason.

d said...

I wonder if anyone would be interested in this new blog inspired by C Beth? http://whatcoulditmean-d.blogspot.com/

C. Beth said...

Love it, D! I'm your first contestant.

Everyone else, check it out!

Direct link: What Could it Mean?

beckiwithani said...

That was a really fun blog, D!

Beth and others -- I read a very interesting blog about captchas a few weeks ago, and found out why some are real words.

Google, as you may know, has a big project where it is trying to scan in books that are in the public domain, so anyone can access them online. They have machines that scan in the books, interpret the words, digitize them (not as images of the book's page, but as actual documents -- much less memory necessary), and publish them online.

Occasionally, these scanners come upon a word that they can't understand -- usually because the page is wrinkled or smudged. They automatically turn these words into captchas, put them online, and wait for real people to reply and tell them what they say. Human brains are still far superior in interpreting visual data than machine brains, and very quickly the machine gets an answer as to what word it is.

So there you have it! :)

C. Beth said...

Becki--That's very interesting, but it sounds fishy to me. I mean, part of the "captchas" (new word for me!) is that there has to be a right answer--trust me; they tell me when I'm wrong even when my wrong answer looks right on the screen. So how could they use a word for a captcha if the software doesn't know the right answer?

beckiwithani said...

It's true, really! Except I remembered the article wrong -- it's an outfit called the Internet Archive (not google) that is using captchas to help with book scanning errors. Here's the article in TIME Magazine where I first read about it:
http://tinyurl.com/4hza7c

My guess as to how they see if you got the answer "right" is that they have wildcards. Let's say the word is "interesting," but the computer could only read "in???esti?g." Then they make sure you put in the letters they DO know, in the correct positions, and send on your answer to the Internet Archive folks in the meantime.

C. Beth said...

Yeah, that sounds like a plausible way to do it. And I'll believe TIME (whereas a random blog makes me skeptical.) :) Thanks for the link!

Strange Mamma said...

I am elevator dyslexic. If I want to go up, I press down and down I press up. And I know this about myself, so I will stare at the stupid buttons as if time has stopped, willing myself to push the right button. My hand reaches out, pushes the down button. My husband chuckles and pushes the up button for me. Ridiculous.

verification: jackmar

Anonymous said...

Perhaps I am the only one, of all those who've commented on this post, who doesn't find word verification difficult at all ;-) Yeah...probably because I am hooked on internet for past 4 years and a half and have gone through the trauma of word verification a hell lot of times. Probably, the best way out of it would be- practise, practise and practise. Because Practise makes a man or a woman perfect. Trust me Beth if you keep posting at this speed on your blog I wouldn't be surprised on the title of your upcoming blog - 'VW - a cakewalk'

moiquabu... WOW that was so easy :)

Lyndsay said...

I am horrible at word verifications too, not so much with Blogger, but other sites where the words are more distorted.

Oh and math - my brain cannot "get" algebra. Not kidding. Stats, geometry, calculus - fine. Alegbra? I don't have that gene.

C. Beth said...

Heather--I really find that amusing. :)

mevsmysoul--Okay, I guess it's time for me to start posting 12 blog posts a day...practice, practice!

Lyndsay--That's interesting; I know a lot of people who can't seem to "get" math but it usually seems to be ALL math. I'm impressed you can do calculus; I never even took it.

Unknown said...

Beth, I thought this was a fun, interesting post. I had no idea what a nerve you would strjke, er, struke, uh, strike, though!

Dad

C. Beth said...

Well, tahnk yuo, Dad! :)

DiPaola Momma said...

Oh, this is such as very sad thing.. seeing that I consider myself rather well educated and a bit of a smarty pants I HATE that I can't even do simple math. My oldest daughter, who is in fourth grade, stares at me in with pitty when I have to re-check my answers on our flash card game. I'm also bad at pass words! I have four or five tried and true go to passwords but I can NEVER recall which one goes to which site. Sad huh?

Dina said...

I've always been a rather coordinated person when it comes to athletics and music both. Put me on a tennis court, basketball court, volleyball court and I'm good. I've got great rhythm and can dance and play a couple of instruments. However, put me in an aerobics class and I'm suddenly an uncoordinated moron. The exact words from one instructor in reference to me were, "Whoa, you in the back, maybe you should just jog in place."

Anonymous said...

That would be saying the correct meal at the correct time. Seriously, EVERY time I try to ask my husband what he wants for breakfast, this is how it goes: "Babe, what do you want for dinner, I mean lunch, I mean BREAKFAST" (sometimes I'll even say dinner again before I finally get to breakfast!). I definitely have a short circuit in there somewhere! :)

Mike said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Mike said...

Ah yes...word notifications...my favourites are here: Killyards and Lephysms.


I always screw up the first time I try them :(

http://365Sonnets.blogspot.com
http://SomeTurbidNight.blogspot.com
http://VoglioTempo.blogspot.com

Bri said...

I dont really have an issue with the "captchas" on here but I have on other sites.

I was trying to think of a "broken connection" that I have and since my memory is almost non-existant I really couldnt think of any. Then I remembered, everytime I go to type my friend Christma... er, Christina's name, I start to type Christmas instead. EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. without fail!!! (I was going to delete the -ma I typed when I first tried to type Christina but I decided to keep it there to show you what I mean LoL) I really dont get it...

captcha = repee (does that mean to pee again? LoL)

Kristi said...

Oh, Beth, I feel your pain! Word recognition and I are NOT friends!

Too many connections not being made in my head to even begin to speak of! :)