Facebook’s Annoying Captcha Code And Their Attempt To Grab Your Cell Phone Number

I cannot stand Facebook. I grudgingly use it as a service to the readers of my blogs, but I find interacting with their site cumbersome,  annoying, and most of all, invasive.

The last few weeks, Facebook has been asking me to type in a Captcha code for all my posts on my own pages. It wasn’t required at first, but as the weeks went by, it kept asking me to input the Captcha code more frequently. Facebook says that if I want to stop the Captcha code, I can verify my account, but I have to do it by giving them my cell phone number.

Why? I don’t use my cell phone to post anything to Facebook.  When I looked to see if there is a work around, I found this explanation in their own help section:

[Q:]Why is Facebook asking me to confirm my identity by providing my phone number?


[A:] This is a security measure to help ensure that Facebook remains a community of people using their real identities to connect and share. If you ever lose your password, you’ll also be able to use your mobile number to access your account.


To access your Facebook account, just follow the on-site instructions to add your mobile phone number. If you are having issues or are unable to complete the confirmation process, you can report the problem here.

I guess Facebook doesn’t consider my identity real if I have an email address, yet they considered me real enough when they allowed me to sign up with Facebook using my email address. I am highly suspicious of Facebook and frankly don’t trust them with my cell phone number. (By the way, my cell phone number is only given to immediate family,  and I hardly consider Facebook a member of my family.)

I suppose that I will have no choice but to enter those annoying Captcha codes when I make a post on my own page. But one thing is for sure – I won’t be supporting any of Facebook's advertisers.


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Memo to Anthony Weiner – It’s the Lie, Not the Photos That Is The Problem

Dear Congressman Weiner,

You’re not my congressman so I really should not care about whether or not you’re in office. But I don’t get why you think you should not have to resign over "Weinergate."

It’s not about the lewd photos you sent to others. I could care less about that behavior, although I do wonder why you would feel the need to do something that so disrespects your office. It seems a major lapse in common sense.

The issue is – you lied about it. Maybe you thought you were being clever by avoiding answering any questions about whether you sent those photos with a direct yes or no answer. But the whole story you concocted about your account being hacked and that someone else was responsible for sending the photos was blatantly false. It is perplexing that you don’t seem to understand that you did anything wrong. This is not just a little “white lie.”

If you can lie about something as simple as this, what else are you capable of lying about? Can constituents trust anything that you say? Your lie has disgraced your office and the story has become a major distraction to the real issues of the country – like the economy.

My opinion is that you should resign, and do it quickly. Then you can devote all your time to emailing your photos to whomever you want.



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Newsflash: Everything Causes Cancer

Yesterday’s big news story from the World Health Organization that cell phones can cause cancer rattled many who use cell phones, whether they are heavy users or not.

That same story also is causing some cancer warning fatigue. After all, it seems every week or so there is a news story that something causes cancer. Sometimes organizations disagree on whether something causes cancer.

My conclusion is that anything done to excess will cause cancer. For example, if you eat too much, drink too much, or smoke too much, you’re asking for trouble. Travel by air a lot? You may be exposing yourself to too much radiation. Eat too many non-organic foods and the pesticides may give you cancer. Drink too much coffee, tea, acidic drinks and maybe you’ll get stomach or esophageal cancer. I could go on and on with all the cancer causers we’ve been exposed to over the years.

As electronics proliferate, and things that use wireless signals continue to increase in use, this may be the next thing that will be a cancer risk. Suggestions to use Bluetooth devices instead of putting a cell phone up to your ear doesn't seem like much of a solution to me unless someone can prove those devices right in your ear also won’t also cause cancer.

Living your life living under a rock isn’t the answer either, as rocks can emit radon gases which can also cause cancer. Yes, the living under a rock comment was meant as a joke, but the radon gas thing is not.

I am convinced that no one really has the answer for what causes cancer, whether it be one thing or a combination of things.   My oldest sister developed bone cancer in the late 1960s when she was 16 years old, and she died at 17. She had no cell phones, she didn’t smoke, drink, or eat too much. She didn’t drink coffee or tea or lots of pop/soda. At the time, the doctors said they were working on understanding what causes cancer. It's now over 40 years later and I think that medicine is still making educated guesses.

So it seems the best thing people can do to avoid cancer is to simply not overdo it with anything. Eat healthy, exercise, don’t smoke or don’t drink alcohol in excess, and get off those cell phones and get more face time with your contacts!

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