The modern computer… what a marvel… everything that it can do… wow. Just think… a mere 40 years ago we barely had a pocket calculator that would do the basic 4 math functions. But there was also a little “modern marvel” that made life somewhat easier for those that held little importance on proper spelling (those that didn’t want to look dumb)… those that felt that being able to communicate thoughts and feelings was much more important than proper grammer, speelling or punchuation. See what I mean? Most people could either articulate their thoughts and didn’t worry about spelling or grammar … or could spell every word in the world and couldn’t convey a thought beyond one sentence. Okay, I know that’s extreme situations… but for the most part accurate… something to do with different sides of the brain. A 50/50 mix gave you a bit of both… swing one way and the other suffered… so you could either express your thoughts - or - use proper grammar with perfect spelling and no one knew what you were trying to say. Then came the great spelling equalizer… for those somewhat carefree about their spelling and a bit concerned about it… there was the Franklin Spell Checker… it did it all. 
40 years later, we have the modern computer, and the modern pc spell checker. 40 years later, all the improvements, all the technology, all the “thinking” ability of the modern computer… and it still can’t match that of the 40 year old Franklin Spell checker. Okay… here’s the reasoning… first we had the dictionary, a good source to check spelling or look up meanings… but on some occasions if you are trying to find out how to spell a word, that you don’t know how to spell, how do you look it up if you don’t know how to spell it! ?? Then came the Franklin Spell checker… now here’s the great thing… if you spelled the word phonetically… Franklin would come up with the right word. Ex: “new-mo-ya” … okay… pneumonia! I love it ( being sarcastic) when the pc spell checker gives you options of possible choices that don’t even make sense. Lets say you miss spell “school” … you may get the following choices: spool – spook – shoal – etc, etc, and then there’s the other choices: “goodbye” or “football”… now come on… where did those suggestions come from? They don’t even start with the same letter!!! So the modern computer spell checker still has a way to go to match 40 year old “makes sense to me” technology. Now, if only the pc guys would let old Franklin join in … it could be a perfect pc writing world. On further reflection… sometimes I really hate the English language. Like… if we already had the “C”… then why… why do we have the “K”… and the list could go on and on… but that’s another entry saved for a early rainy day, nothing better to do, morning… when Shelly is still sleeping. Good news…they are still around… the Old Franklin Spell Checker (or the something like it) …. think I should buy one… soon. Or maybe wait, and Shelly will get me one so I don’t have to ask her how to spell something every time I write. Good Idea! Simply … Ingenious! 
