Happy Birthday Amanda!

Time for Flomax? *UPDATED*

My blog critics tell me I need to explain this one. The photo above is a snapshot of the Word Verification device we often see when we leave comments on someone's blog. I happened to see this particular word verification on Trisha's blog. Flomax is a drug used to increase the flow of urine.
I just thought the word itself was funny, kind of like deciphering a custom license plate...

There is kind of a cult following of what "words" appear in the word verification devices used now. What is the funniest "word" or non-word you have seen?

Anyway, does anyone know what these word verifications are for?

CAPTCHA is an acronym for Completely Automated Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart.

It is presumed that humans won't be promoting spam, but a Bot (Bot=automated software, kind of like a robot) will post a lot of spam if given the chance. So, word verification prevents automated software from spamming your blog.

If you do a Google search for Captchas, you will find many funny postings such as this one:
Google has recently acquired the company that provides CAPTCHAs. I think the company name is reCAPTCHA. reCAPTCHA is using technology to improve the way Google's scanning process works for the eBooks initiative, Google Books. As in, sometimes a scanned image doesn't look like a real word, so the CAPTCHA can help point out errors in scanning images of words.

Looks like in the future, CAPTCHAs might ask us questions, supposedly simple questions, to determine if we are really human. Sometimes the word images are so twisted and distorted that we can barely make them out. So, it is an evolving area of technology and we will continue to have a little fun with it, I'm sure!

You will see CAPTCHAs if you make a purchase online, or use PayPal, or sometimes in registering for something.

40th Anniversary thoughts

Today, April 11, 2011 we get to enjoy the beauty of the apple blossoms here at NLM.

It is kind of fun to think about this being the year of our 40th wedding anniversary.
The jewel for this event is traditionally the Ruby.

Movies we could watch that came out that year include some really fun ones:

Big Jake - John Wayne favorite!

• Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory - Gene Wilder
• Dirty Harry- Clint Eastwood
• Diamonds are Forever - Jill St. John
• The French Connection - Gene Hackman

I wonder what movies and movie stars will be remembered from this year? Hop??

How do you have a meaningful celebration of 40 years? We're considering a special trip...but, then, we travel all the time regardless of 40 years or not. I wonder if there is something or someplace meaningful, especially special that we can think of.
We've thought about London, but too cold in Dec/Jan.
Most of Europe is too cold. Australia is too long of a flight for me. Hawaii is too far also, been there. Canada too cold, but beautiful and has cities with underground malls and walkways for winter.
Would love to do Glacier National Park, but they are under many feet of snow in Dec.

Aruba still sounds like the most comfortable, short flights, warm breezes, beautiful water.



We could just stay home and spend the week trying to organize our 2nd bedroom. REALLY?