CAPTCHA If They Can!

Picture this. I'm online trying to order tickets for a concert. I fill out all of the necessary information and then I get to the point right before the order screen. Of course they want to make sure that I'm not spamming the site, which is fine. Precautions are good. I'll jump through one extra hoop. Give me a series of numbers and letters, and I'll retype them into a little box below, so that you know my purchase is legit.

Before I continue, I just need to give props to the genius(es) behind this ground-breaking technology. I mean seriously, I can't imagine that there would be ANY way for anyone to get around this set-up. I bet this is coming straight from NASA. No one and I mean NO one will be purchasing tickets from this site without clearance from CAPTCHA.

So anyways, I stare at my series of letters and numbers and think to myself... if only I'd had the foresight to drop acid before venturing on my ticket buying journey. Because only then would I be able to decipher this strange Lewis Carroll* font.

Beads of sweat start to form at my brow as I stare hard at the code. Come on Kara, come on. You can do this. You can crack this. I see that that's a z... but is that another Z or a 7?





Okay, no I can't crack this one. Refresh.






Damnit!! What is this? What does this say?!

I put off my purchase and decided to get to the bottom of this madness. What the heck did CAPTCHA stand for anyways? Wiki Answers!!

Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart...

Oh really?? Did I miss a stage in my mental development that would have permitted me to read these characters? Had my Speak & Spell led me down the wrong path of learning yet again?

Then Wikipedia goes on to say -

"Another way to make segmentation difficult is to crowd symbols together. This, though, is often very difficult for humans to read..."

Hmm... seems a little counter productive to me, but what do I know? I'm just a human being trying to order a couple of concert tickets for me and my mom.

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*Disclaimer: There has been no documented evidence to show that Lewis Carroll relied on drugs to gain inspiration. One would argue that his book "Through the Looking Glass" is evidence enough, else how could any man come up with such utter nonsense... But, I've researched this, and its just not true.