Those irritating word verifications

I thought I had freed my blog from those irritating word verifications a while ago but just discovered that either my change did not take or something got changed without my knowledge and they were still there. Anyway, I have once again removed them--or tried to remove them.  And now I am not so sure I want to.  I, like many of web users, have found them annoying and recently they seemed to get downright difficult to read.  But then I discovered why.  Instead of a waste of time, each of us, when we copy the words down correctly, is adding to the knowledge base of the world--well, the English-speaking world, anyway.

Here is the explanation:

All this appeals to the geek-side of my nature, but it may not appeal to you, my readers, who may not want to jump such a hurdle just to comment on one of my posts.

Any thoughts?

And if I didn't entirely lose you to the TED talk and you are still reading, thanks for the company!