OT: I'll never make fun of Ticketmaster again

[Schmaffy]

OK, that was harsh. I WILL make fun of Ticketmaster again, and bitch and moan and complain, but I won't shake my head perplexedly at their incredibly strange security codes (my latest being "salacious Quackenbush") again. This is fascinating:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/stor ... d=93605988

[DirtyMartini]

That's really cool. Thanks for that link, Schmaff. That explains a lot of the old-timey, multi-syllable codes I tend to get -- and why it often goes through even if I know I've mistyped.

Ticketmaster can still eat dirt, but very nice to know about reCAPTCHA.

[ltwoman]

That just sounds too farfetched to be true. But if NPR is reporting it, well, I do trust them. But, really?

[Schmaffy]

Of course it's true! I read it on the internet!

Seriously, though: http://recaptcha.net/

[Shangeris]

WOW! That's great! Now I know what's the scope of these stupid words and who has invented them?

[smudge]

That's a wonderful idea. If they can get funding for it, they could simply put the stuff out there, one word at a time, and get volunteers to sign up and 'waste' a little time doing this for fun. People do. Well - I know I do. I'm more of a physics nerd, so I waste time here: www.galaxyzoo.org. Same principle. Computers aren't terribly good at making judgments, and there are vast quantities of galaxy image data that need looking at in a fuzzy, human way. galaxyzoo lets regular folks do that. It may turn out that the best thing about the internet is the ability to get lots and lots of human brains being very human -and a supercomputer.

[sockii]

It may turn out that the best thing about the internet is the ability to get lots and lots of human brains being very human -and a supercomputer.

This is sort of why I love wikis so much