05 October 2012

A cat and some stained glass

While we were walking around in Montrésor, this beautiful cat came out to greet us. He was sitting on the street, but since it is a dead end street there wasn't much traffic to prevent him from sitting there. He was friendly and unafraid — not as fierce as he might look in the photo. I just happened to catch him meowing. I like all the grays, with the green eyes and collar, and the pink tongue.

A gray cat at Montrésor

Just before our encounter with the cat — who was sitting outside a wooden gate that had a low half-moon-shaped cutout at the bottom for easy cat-entry and -exit — we had spent a few minutes looking around in the 16th century church there in Montrésor. I took a couple of pictures — or one photo, actually, which I have again cut in half, top and bottom — of the church's main stained glass window, over the altar.

A stained glass window in the church at Montrésor

Above are the two pictures, more or less stuck together, but you can click on each one to see a larger view. I'm not sure how old these windows are, but I know I like the colors.

 The Montrésor church and the houses around it

On another subject entirely, I'm now getting a large number of spam comments again, since I turned off Blogger's word verification protection. There were 120 comments in my spam folder this morning. Obviously, my blog has ended up on a lot of spam lists.

Most of the messages are of the same nature:  "Great blog. Wow, you really know what you are talking about. I've bookmarked your blog so I can come back and read more. Keep up the good work." And then there's a link to advertising of some kind. And now I'm getting dozen of comments pushing xanax, valium, and other drugs. I have to at least glance through all these messages to be sure they really are spam and not just a nice comment from somebody commenting anonymously.

Sigh... What to do? There are two choices: I can block all anonymous comments and see if that works, or I can just turn word verification back on (which I have already done this morning). Blocking anonymous comments means every commenter has to have an OpenID or Google account. What do you think?

29 comments:

  1. I love your banner photo.
    I've been getting a lot of spams, too. I don't love word verification, but may have to switch it on, too.

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  2. The drawbacks of being so popular.
    I have escaped that dreadful deluge of spam so far, but if it were to be a problem, I'd just switch on the word verification,as much as I dislike it. It solves a lot of issues.

    Your cover photo made me think I need glasses this morning....until I realized the effect by water.

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  3. I just love the nonchalant left paw de puss.
    I'd hate to have to have a Google a/c, I just use my name and don't know what URL or Open ID means.
    So sorry that you are getting so much spam

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  4. The word verification is a pain, but it's only a small one spread across many people instead of a large one for you combing through all that spam. We can just suck it up and prove that we're not robots . OK, I'm on try #3. Can I take it back about it being a small pain?

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  5. Our spam is ramping up too, although nowhere near at your level yet. Our solution has been to require WV for any comment on a post over a month old. That means that the majority of them don't make it beyond the spam folder - but you still have to go into your blogger spam folder and delete everything periodically. Blogger itself picks up almost all the spam, no matter what your comment setup.

    The stained glass photos are lovely. Luckily for you I have forgetten everything I ever learned about stained glass so can only mention that Niall and Antoinette did one of their excellent posts on the church a while ago.

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  6. Lesley, have you tried to insert a microSD card in the slot on the back of the Archos? If yours works, I might have to send my Archos back as defective.

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  7. There is also comment approval. I don't like it but nor do I like word verification. I do understand what it like to be overwhelmed by spam.

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  8. Some of the regular commenters comment anonymously here. I would hate to cut them off. What do they say? Would you rather have a Google account and not have to deal with word verification, or would you rather not have a Google account at any price? To me, c'est pareil — it's all the same. I don't have to enter the indecipherable word verification strings when I comment on my own blog. You do.

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  9. Here's a link to the post about the church in Montrésor on Chez Charnizay, Antoinette and Niall's blog. Susan mentioned it a couple of comments above.

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  10. Hi Ken. If I were you, I’d try to cut off the Anonymous business first and see what happens.

    I don’t see many anonymous commenters on your blog. Maybe it would be good also to define what Anonymous means. Do you consider Lesley and me as Anonymous?

    I don’t know if I have an Open ID, an URL or a Google account. Just like Lesley I don’t know if I want to have a Google account; and for what purpose? As my Cousine suggested, to correct my grammar and typo mistakes! LOL

    I think people comment as anonymous because they don’t know, as Lesley and me do, how to have their name, initials or whatever recorded by blogger.

    Here is how I proceed. After I wrote my comment, I go down to click on Name/URL, enter my initials in the name box and click to publish.

    I only comment as Anonymous when I click to publish before putting my initials in the name/url box.

    What do you think?

    Also, sometimes blogger doesn’t accept perfectly correct word verification. If you magnify said word as much as you can, you’re able to read exactly what it is.

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  11. I personally don't mind writing the verification word and number, as long as it makes it easy on you. (I love the new banner photo).

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  12. P.S.

    Did Monet inspire you? I miss words to tell you what I think of your banner. The 'bestest' ever!

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  13. Firstly .. I love the cat photo, but he does look fierce.
    As to spam: personally I hate word verification, and I already have a Google account. But I think you need to do whatever is best for you. No need for you to spend your time combing through dozens of spam messages.

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  14. I comment on both your and Walt's blogs occasionally although I read them every day. I do have a Google account, and I hate word verification because alot of times I actually cant make out what the letters are! But you need to do what is best for you. Many thanks for your lovely postings.

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  15. Hello,Ken. Like CHM, I'm one of those occasional commenters, and I don't have (or want)a Google account. I don't mind using word verification, although sometimes, it's so blurry that I have to go through a couple of rounds before satisfying the test.

    But you have to do what you have to do.

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  16. I made myself a Google account just for blog posting, and it was easy and painless, but maybe word verification is better for those who are hesitant to make an account, but are faithful readers. Whatever you want!

    Lovely kitty, lovely vitraux.

    Judy

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  17. I don't mind word verification, but going the google/OpenID way might be a way for you to keep my nasty remarks out of the comment area ;)

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  18. Jan, ooh, a zinger. Don't worry. Your comments have never been nasty.

    CHM, I think you and Lesley would qualify as "anonymous" in Blogger terminology. You're only identified (not anonymous) if you have a Google or OpenID account. Let's try it. You'll let me know if you are able to leave comments.

    Bob F., I personally find the word verification in its current form really irritating. I'm going to shift to "No anonymous comments" and see how that works.

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  19. Ken

    What a beautiful pic of the cat ? you caught every single colour - from the fur to the eyes , collar and tongue and what is at the left paws.

    @ Lesley et al.

    You can have a bogus gmail account and no need to give all your "real" info
    e.g I have "beaver" in my gmail account and you can have something like :

    auntsally @ gmail.com ( if it is not taken)

    First name : just a couple of initial (ABC)
    Family name : X-Y
    Country: your own since they will know it by your IP address.
    You give the strict minimum just to have that web account ( no phone number or other a/c to link to)

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  20. Beaver, those are good ideas. And people will need them now — I don't see the name/URL fields any more since I turned off anonymous comments.

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  21. First - I love the Monet waterlily copy, Ken! Of course it is an original - not a copy but just the same, Monet's immediately came to mind.
    Second - What a lovely kitty - but more mature, for sure! I, too, was expecting an animal part next to his paw - especially with that facial expression you caught with the camera.
    Thirdly- I, too, have a gmail account that is only used by me for blog comments. I never check it and I have not released any personal info to Google. Sometimes I end up attempting WV for Walt's blog 3 or 4 times. I guess I'm not as good at diciphering as I used to be.

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  22. it is ok for me
    ex anonymous.

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  23. I have a gmail account which is good for checking follow-up comments from your and Walt's blogs. It doesn't get much spam except from your spammer folk. So, I think it would be good to try doing away with anonymous first. Still, I don't mind wv- I'll do whatever it takes for my mornings with you guys;)

    I think you are becoming a cat lover- this is a pretty gray tabby.

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  24. Ken - I went the required Google route and eliminated the word verification and my readers are happy and I am as well.

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  25. These are the trials of fame.

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  26. Ken,

    I'm alright with whatever you decide. It is a small price to pay for such wonderful lessons/stories on Living in Saint-Aignan. :)

    I absolutely LOVE your blog and look forward to it!

    Kim

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  27. The stained glass looks great. I've always been a big fan of the painting style used in old stained glass... Looks fab :)

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  28. With its sophisticated look and many other benefits, tinted glass is becoming increasingly popular in residential windows.

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