One captcha too many

Luddism: this time I mean it!

Well, no, probably not.

However, it does occur to me that when I pick up the phone, or step out to my mailbox, I don't have to stop and prove I'm a human being first. There isn't an ad before every call. (Although I'm sure someone is working on that right now). There isn't a postal representative waiting on my porch, who will force me to listen to a spiel about how my service has been changed and improved, who have to tell to go away several times before I can grab my mail out of the box.

Even if I get junk mail and have to throw it away, the offending postcards are extremely unlikely to render my mailbox unusable.

If something happens to delay my mail delivery, it doesn't also affect my telephone service, or vice versa. (Barring whole electrical grid outages and truly severe weather). Especially now that the annoyances of junk mail and telemarketing have largely moved online, where the money apparently is (although I can't believe anyone clicks on the spam, somebody must), I am becoming more pro-mail delivery and pro-landline.

While we're at it: since I don't live in the land of Harry Potter, nor do I fill up a page of paper with ink only to have everything I've written suddenly disappear. Who hasn't had that happen online?

There are way too many eggs in the internet's basket. And we keep being encouraged to put more in. It certainly has its purposes. Without the internet, there are friends I'd never hear from, and I'd have way fewer sources for Bollywood reviews and camaraderie. It's not like I'm unplugging anytime soon.

Sooner or later, though, I'm going to have to weigh the worth and the annoyance, and possibly be more selective about my time. Unless the whole system collapses and it all disappears overnight. (Imagine! What if Google goes bankrupt? Or Yahoo? What would happen to my mailbox then?) Then I'll really have something annoying to blog about, but will have to stand on the street corner like an old-fashioned crazy person to do it...