This topic is pretty light, but it has annoyed me several times already today and it’s just past 10am.  You know when you sign up for something, or post a response on somebody’s blog, and you are presented with the little box of scrambled letters or numbers, and you have to correctly input them before you can continue? “Captcha” is one of the more popular ones. I absolutely hate those things!

Sure, I understand their purpose. They are supposed to stop bot-spammers. But at least in WordPress, you can set up “Akismet” to weed out the spam. Or you can moderate your blog and dump the spammers before they ever get posted. I have nothing against the companies that have developed this type of service, I just don’t want their service forced upon me.

Why do I hate these things so much? Because it seems like I rarely get them right the first time. Sometimes I get a capitalized letter mixed up with a lower one. Or a “0″ for the letter “O”. Sometimes they are so bunched together or presented in such bizarre colors and styles that they are simply illegible (see illustration above). If encouraging people to respond to your post or buying your product/service is so important, why are you making it so hard? Heck, even the mathematical ones aren’t quite as bad. At least I am usually able to add 3+1 and get the answer 4 correctly.

Am I the only person that finds these things annoying? 

photo credit: Ed Yourdon

It simply amazes me how many letters, emails, and other forms of advertising have been hounding me to spend (or donate) my federal income tax rebate. This must be what it is like when you win the lottery and people you have never met suddenly want to introduce themselves.

We’re only talking about a couple hundred dollars! I realize that the government’s intent is to stimulate the economy by putting more spending money in our pockets. But come on, let’s get realistic. If the government wants to stimulate spending, they should consider dropping the farm subsidizing programs that are paying farmers not to farm - while food prices continue to skyrocket. Just decreasing the cost of food would save people more than a few hundred dollars.

As for me, my rebate is going to bring me a little closer to becoming debt free.

photo credit: Tony the Misfit

I have to give Hillary Clinton credit. She has fought a history making run at being the first woman to become President of the United States. She has worked hard and gave Barack Obama a real run for his money.

But now it is realistically impossible for her to win the nomination unless some deep dark secret comes creeping out of Barack’s closet. Yet, she still refuses to give in, saying “You don’t quit in the final minutes of the game.” But what she is forgetting is that you also don’t cause your team to lose by throwing a bucket of ice on to the playing field. I think that has been part of her problem all along. She thinks of herself as a team player, yet her actions seem to be more self-centered. She wants to be a team player, so long as she gets to be the team leader.

She needs to show some maturity and dignity, and concede the nomination to Obama. Now is the time for her to show real leadership by working to bring the Democratic Party back together. If the Democratic Party wants a chance to keep McCain out of the White House, she needs to take up the banner and work as part of the team, not the opposition.

Like the dinner guest who has overstayed their welcome, we can’t seem to get Hillary to leave. The dinner was nice, and it was a real pleasure to have you. But the table has been cleared off, the dishes washed and put away, and your hosts have their PJs on. Hillary - it’s 3am and time for you to go home.