The PottsDome

The Gripe
More and more I see spelling errors in major news articles. Some are glaringly bad. One writer for AP Entertainment Weekly posted a article recently that would cause a English teacher to drop a big red “F” on it. Five words misspelled. Words that a 6th grade student should have caught.
And the culprit of this ? Spellcheck. Some reporters, in the rush to get a article out will hit auto correct in their writing program and not bother to check the article again before hitting the send button.
So Spellcheck runs, finds misspellings and corrects the word and moves on.

The Problem
So why all the misspelled words ? The problem lies in the “learn” feature inside of Spellcheck features. Through years of use, we tend to hit the learn button when up against unique words or names of people that you want Spellcheck to remember.

The Example
The AP writer published this sentence: Attorneys were scheduled to update Feess on the settlement Friday morning. Clearly Feess should be Fees. Somewhere down the line his Spellcheck was taught the word Feess and let it pass as correct.

The Fix
Very few Spellcheck programs allow you to dump all the taught words in its dictionary. If you have a spellcheck program that has that feature, use it. The other way is to erase your writing program on your hard drive and its preferences and install a fresh replacement. Make sure everything you wrote using the program is in a separate file outside the applications folder.

The Maintenance
Use the learn feature in spellcheck sparingly. Be aware of taught words that closely resemble common conservational words and pass on the learn button. And always proof read your writings with the sole purpose of checking the spelling after you run Spellcheck.

Go Here

Archer Daniels Midland,Corn Industry Lobbyists and the Federal Government have put together fat bombs for every American. Here’s a quick experiment you can try next time your at your local supermarket. Pick up any processed food item on the shelf and check the ingredients. See a recurring ingredient in the items ? Yup, high fructose corn syrup is in everything from ketchup to yogurt. Want to know why ? Click here. Read about the great benefits Corn Syrup has on kids….. click here.

Are your widgets getting a bit to stuffy ? Do they need a visit from your crazy Uncle Ernie ? Haven’t blamed the dog for anything lately ? Give this a try. Sorry, clicking on the image will only give you a S.B.D.

Another great thing for your cork board. This Photoshop quick reference is far from being complete, but does offer quick help for the basics at a glance. Click here.

The people are on the rise.

The JL421 Badonkadonk Land Cruiser/Tank
Yes, this is a real world item. Brought to you by those wonderful folks at NAO Design. Just charge it up to your Amazon account here.

Skype has started offering free phone calls in the United States. New users will have a few minor bumps getting started and it helps if you know someone who is already using the service. I’ve been using it since the free offer came out and it works great !