Thursday, October 31, 2019

Accuracy and Automation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Accuracy and Automation - Essay Example First, subtraction of one digit numbers without the need of â€Å"borrowing† should be taught. Next, subtraction of two digit numbers with and without borrowing can be incorporated. It is highly recommended to use drawings such as shapes or toys to help the child visualize how subtraction is done and to understand the concept of transfer and deduction. Some educational psychologists found that among Grade I and II pupils, computerized educational toys with immediate reinforcement improved their performance in Spelling and Arithmetic. The pupils who were exposed to conventional toys and who were not reinforced did not improve in their performance. Learning occurs with constant correct practice. The drill method is based on the law of exercise. However, correct practice or exercise in itself does not result in learning. There are other factors that interact with exercise. For example, studies show that practice or exercise without knowing the reasons for practicing or exercising does not improve learning. Similarly, if the learner does not know how accurate he is in the exercise, performance does not improve. This non-improvement indicates that he is not learning. To enhance learning, exercise should not be done blindly. Learners must know the reasons for an exercise and for everything they do. At the same time, they should be given feedbacks on how well they perform in their activities and efforts. Thorndike’s law of exercise may be better understood when seen with his trial-and-error concept. To him, all learning involves trial-and error. In the trials, the learner generally acquires certain responses while eliminating others. Rewarded responses are acquired and â€Å"kept† while those that are punished are eliminated. Repetition is also a key to successful learning of children especially with math concepts. In order to master the processes

Tuesday, October 29, 2019

Philip Seymour Hoffman and Dr. Seuss Essay Example for Free

Philip Seymour Hoffman and Dr. Seuss Essay The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places youll go. Dr. Seuss We shouldnt teach great books; we should teach a love of reading. B. F. Skinner  Today a reader, tomorrow a leader. Margaret Fuller  Reading takes us away from home, but more important, it finds homes for us everywhere. Hazel Rochman â€Å"Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts. † ― Winston Churchill tags: bravery, courage, failure, inspirational, success 13499 likes like W.C. Fields â€Å"If at first you dont succeed, try, try again. Then quit. No use being a damn fool about it.† ― W.C. Fields tags: humor, success 5582 likes like Albert Einstein â€Å"Try not to become a man of success. Rather become a man of value.† ― Albert Einstein tags: adulthood, success, value 4221 likes like Herman Melville â€Å"It is better to fail in originality than to succeed in imitation.† ― Herman Melville tags: success 3730 likes like Dr. Seuss â€Å"So be sure when you step, Step with care and great tact. And remember that lifes A Great Balancing Act. And will you succeed? Yes! You will, indeed! (98 and  ¾ percent guaranteed) Kid, youll move mountains.† ― Dr. Seuss, Oh, The Places Youll Go! tags: humor, inspirational, success 2945 likes like W.P. Kinsella â€Å"Success is getting what you want, happiness is wanting what you get† ― W.P. Kinsella tags: happiness, success 2784 likes like Truman Capote â€Å"Failure is the condiment that gives success its flavor.† ― Truman Capote

Saturday, October 26, 2019

The Principles of Green Design in Architecture

The Principles of Green Design in Architecture In modern communities, healthy environment is the foundation of our daily lives. However, environmental problems are becoming serious. Much research illustrate that the pollution from architecture, from construction to operation, is one of the main contributors of these problems. The world famous design theorist Victor Papanek claimed in the 1960s, that designers should consider the limited resources around the world to protect the planet. This was the first announcement globally promoting the set of principals of green design. This assignment will firstly explain the principles of green design, then show several applications of these principles and finally evaluate the contribution of these principles to society . According to Yeang and Spector, green design is based on four principles, the green principle, the grey principle, the blue principle and the red principle, which aim to reduce contamination to the environment, recycle waste and reuse energy. The green principle is the principle about interconnecting natural areas and buildings. The grey principle refers to the circular systems in the buildings, such as energy or electric power systems. The blue principle is about the water cycle which should be designed to close the loop, which means that try best to reduce or reuse waste water. Finally, the red principle suggest designers should meet the requirements of customers.When applying these principles in architecture, it means sustainable design to comply with economic, social and ecological sustainability. The green principle states that whenever and wherever possible, the existent natural eco-system should be reserved to a great extent during the period of designing. This has been highlighted by Yeang and Spector (2011), â€Å"having an eco-infrastructure in the master plan is vital†. The obvious benefit, such as providing cleaner air and improving water supply, of designing under the green principle is significant. However, a hidden potential, for instance, being a conditioner of climate change and keeping water from washing away, is also meaningful. As will be illustrated later, designing under green principle bring citizens better lives. The grey principle is the principle which is frequently used in urban engineering. Applying it into architecture aims to regard buildings as a small city. Therefore, buildings should produce parts of energy by themselves, which can lighten the burden of government as numerous pressing global social issues have been caused by limitation of resource. The best explaination of this is the application of solar energy. The third principle of green design is the blue principle, which can also be called the water principle. This principle claims that â€Å"new technological trajectories for the water infrastructure should be applied (Hiessl et al 2001)†. As the predicament of global shortage, it should be used in cyclic way. â€Å"Water used in the built environment needs to be recovered and re-used wherever possible†(Yeang and Spector). As a result, blue principle is an additional built-up principle for green design. The last principle of green design is the red principle, which is a principle of serving human communities directly. Applying this principle, designer should realize what citizens really require, whether they are satisfied with your design. It is important for a designer to remind themselves as a service provider. â€Å"What we do not know can hurt us†(Bondan Sosnowchik, 2007). â€Å"This is the social and human dimension that is often missing in the work of green designers† (Yeang and Spector). As the environmental problems become more and more serious, green design principles have been applied more frequently. Modern buildings always contain element of green design more or less. Designers usually apply principles of green design in their design in order to improve the quality of them. The particular examples below cover the application of the four fundamental principles of green design and demonstrate evidences of the principles of green design that should be used more widely. With the speedy construction, increasing population and rapid-developing transportations, the phenomenon of urban heat island effect become significant, which lead to the environmental deterioration of life quality. Therefore, the applying of green principle require action imperatively. According to this, vertical planting have been utilized in common design. Vertical planting is a technique that uses different resources to allow plants to extend upward rather than grow along the surface of city. In some cases, no support frame of any kind is needed as the plants naturally grows upwards. The plants outside the building provide a layer to protect buildings from sunshine, which is benefit for preserving the temperature inside the buildings. Research demonstrate that buildings with vertical planting would keep the temperature 3-9 degrees lower than without that. With the help of vertical planting, the burden of air- conditioners could reduce 12.7% approximately. It can be seen in some o f modern constructions that green roofs, walls and facades are some of the City of Melbourne’s latest tools in the work to adapt city to climate change. As the rapidly developing of green design, in order to applying the grey principle more effectively, the Building Information Modifying technology, based on the 3D technology, a new building design model collecting and managing effectively all kinds of information in the entire building life circle, have been exploited to assist architects to design recycle systems of buildings(Liu Liu 2013).Applying this new technology, designers could be able to design the circular energy or electric systems inside the buildings, such as solar energy system, to decline the negative effects to environment and to achieve sustainable building design. Furthermore, wind catcher, a suitable ventilation means for houses to creates pleasant airflow in rooms, hall and basement, is another latest technology to reduce the energy of a building requiring to function normally. In addition, while hot water is the largest component of residential energy costs after heating and cooling, a solar domestic water heat ing system that is well designed will provide 50-80% of hot water needs, depending on the building’s geographical location and the time of year. Water, often called the source of life, provides a valuable resource to be celebrated in the process of green design. According to Art Ludwig, only about 6 per cent of water people use for drinking. Consequently, potable water should not use for irrigation or sewage. The Monterey Bay Shores approach to water management is a representative example show how blue principle working. In Monterey Bay Shores’ water systems, main water sources is from the rain, which is collected by a storage and used in swimming pools, toilets, spa, laundry and bath after different processes of treatment. An additional water supplying line is municipal water supply, which provides potable water for drinking and cooking. Finally, all the graywater( used water) after treatments will be irrigated for the plants of green roofs and green walls. Furthermore, the recycling system in Bird’s Nest is another example. With the help of six water collection and storage tanks with a capacity of 12,000 cu m over 70 per cent of the water supply at Bird’s Nest is recycled water, while 23 per cent is recycled rainwater, which will be used for washing the stadium, road, toilet, garage and irrigating the land around the venue. Recent years, residents in modern cities complain more frequently about the crowded sky scrapes. The grim tall buildings bring them the felling of choking. As the quality of people’s lives improved, a place for living is not the basic requirement of customers. The happiness and comfort taken by the style of space have been regard as more important. It tends to be a tendency that applying the red principle in modern design of architecture to satisfied the customers. Bauhaus Design School, the origin of modern design, for some, is synonymous with the greater term modernism. For others, the Bauhaus is a type of font or an architectural design style. â€Å"Architecture is designed for human† is one of the most prominent view of Bauhaus. Architecture is service for people and should be combined with environment to become a gorgeous place for living. In German and Sweden, numerous buildings are designed with large dimensions but amiable, moderate and comfortable. The architec ture to people is what human to nature. While nature never change following the human’s minds, building designers should consider more about the suggests from residents. Otherwise, a eye-attractive design without suitableness for people could not be treat as a successful design. The four principles of green design described above have being applied successfully in many parts of the world and have produced a significant reduction in environmental damage. To be more specific, the mainly benefits of applying principles of green design could be divided into three parts: economic benefits, environmental benefits and social benefits. Firstly, for the economic aspect, green buildings typically have lower annual cost for energy, water, maintenance and other operating expenses. Although the first costs may be higher, the payback would be worthy as the time goes by. Secondly, as original buildings use the energy and produce waste, green buildings could produce energy by themselves and reuse the waste to minimize the pollutant. Furthermore, in social respect, the principles using in green design bring the improvement in the quality of life, health and well-being. Residents in modern community would feel more health, comfortable and satisfactory to live in a green build ing. In conclusion, green design is helpful to relieve the pressing global environmental problems while the situation become increasing serious, such as the urban heat island effect and greenhouse effect. Applying the principles in design, the cost of operating buildings would reduce by a margin, for instance, the expenditure of using air-conditioners will decrease sharply. Furthermore, applying principles of green design could take numerous benefits to people’s health lives. For instance, plants can produce oxygen and absorb carbon dioxide, which suits for human that need oxygen every second particularly. Principles of green design enable people to live in a more comfortable and sustainable environment, which could improve their work efficience and bring them a safer and more environmental friendly future. References Panaek, V 1970, Design for the real world, Sweden. Yeang, K Spector, A(ed) 2011, Green design: from theory to practice, black dog publishing, London, UK. Bondan, P Sosnowchik, K 2007, Sustainable Commercial Interiors, Spain. Henry, Y 2010, An Introduction to Green Building Information Modeling (BIM). http://www.melbourne.vic.gov.au/SUSTAINABILITY/COUNCILACTIONS/Pages/GreenRoofsWallsandFacades.aspx http://bckievning.iweb.bsu.edu/Site/Historical_Movement.html http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/bizchina/2008-05/19/content_6695589_2.htm Hiessl, H, Walz, R Toussaint, D, Design and Sustainability Assessment of Scenarios of Urban Water Infrastructure Systems, ISI, Germany.

Friday, October 25, 2019

Welfare System and Poverty in the UK Essay -- Social Issues, Poverty,

This essay will consider whether the welfare state has eliminated poverty. It will examine what poverty is and how the definition varies from societies. The essay will look at the aims of the welfare state from conception and how it has changed to present times. The welfare state being analysed is the welfare state in the United Kingdom. It will discuss the nature of the social democratic welfare state and liberal criticisms of the problems this type of state brings. The recent changes to the welfare state will be reviewed and what the consequences of the changes may be. It will then look at recent statistics to determine whether the welfare state has eradicated poverty. Poverty is a difficult condition to define because it is often used to mean different things by different people. The United Nations definition states that ‘... poverty is a denial of choices and opportunities, a violation of human dignity. It means lack of basic capacity to participate in society†¦.it often implies living on marginal or fragile environments, without access to clean water or sanitation’ (UN statement, 1998). Poverty is generally split into two types; absolute and relative. Absolute poverty can be defined in different ways but, regardless of the definition, it is generally agreed that is in an intolerable situation that requires action to reverse (Schwartzman, 1997). Absolute poverty can be described as ‘a condition characterised by severe deprivation of basic human needs, including food, safe drinking water, sanitation, facilities, health, shelter, education and information’ (World Summit on Social Development, 1995). The UN measures absolute poverty by a lack of two or more deprivations of human basic need. The needs are; food, safe drinking w... ... will still leave more than 12 million in poverty though the indirect consequences of reform may prove to offer further help to those living below the poverty line. In many ways the welfare state has succeeded in bringing about a fairer society at the most basic level. All citizens are entitled to free education, health care, and benefits when needed, which are the most fundamental needs. Liberals might argue that the welfare state has, in fact, worked too well by creating a society in which one can choose whether or not to work and still be given a decent standard of living while contributing nothing to the overall standard of society. Beyond this, it can be argued, the welfare state has failed. The UK is the fifth richest country in the world (www.worldsrichestcountries.com) yet still struggles with raising a large percentage of its citizens out of poverty.

Wednesday, October 23, 2019

Philosophy †Free Will vs Determinism Essay

The dialogue between philosophers over the existence of free will versus the inevitability of determinism is a debate that will always exist. The discussion centers around the true freedom of humans to think and act according to their own judgment versus the concept that humans are intrinsically bound by the physical laws of the universe. Before I enter this chicken and the egg debate I need to quantify my terms: Free will is defined by the great philosopher, St. Thomas Aquinas as â€Å"vis electiva† or free choice. It is the ability of man to contemplate and judge the effects of the actions he is about to take. †¦But man acts from judgment, because by his apprehensive power he judges that something should be avoided or sought. But because this judgment, in the case of some particular act, is not from a natural instinct but from some act of comparison in the reason, therefore he acts from free judgment and retains the power of being inclined to various things. † (Aquinas. Suma Theologica) Determinism is a complex notion but is best described by David Hume as the notion that something cannot come from nothing and that all actions have causes preceding them. I conceive that nothing taketh beginning from itself, but from the action of some other immediate agent without itself. And that therefore, when first a man hath an appetite or will to something, to which immediately before he had no appetite nor will, the cause of his will, is not the will itself, but something else not in his own disposing. So that whereas it is out of controversy, that of voluntary actions the will is the necessary cause, and by this which is said, the will is also caused by other things whereof it disposeth not, it followeth, that voluntary actions have all of them necessary causes, and therefore are necessitated. (Hume. Liberty and Nessessity. ) Philosophy and world religion alike were born of the same origins. Each of the two ancient disciplines arose from the quest for the answers to life’s ominous questions. These human questions, archetypical to people of all geographic locations; where did we come from; why are we here; where do we go when we die; unite us as a race. It is no coincidence that each religion and theology from all four corners of the earth tackles these black holes of human logic. Each religion carves their own individual explanations of these unanswerable questions into their core belief systems, each one centrally different than others. However, they all share one common thought; each shares a belief in an afterlife determined by the choices made in life. Free will is the common denominator in all world religions, because all share the essential concept of morality. The widespread acceptance of the concept of morality implies that there is a choice to be had at each and every juncture or life. The choice comes from recognition of good and evil. For good and evil to exist, then there has to be the ability to decipher between the two and also decide to accept one over the other. The existence of morality alone proves that free will exists, because without the freedom to choose right or wrong in any given situation there would be no qualitative measure of the â€Å"rightness† or â€Å"wrongness† of ones actions. David Hume comments on the origin of morality and its place in our everyday decision making processes, â€Å"Only when you turn your reflexion into your own breast, and find a sentiment of disapprobation† (Hume.  Treatise of Human Nature). In other words, there are no outside stimuli that can decipher good from evil; the line can only be drawn by internal thought. Hume was a naturalist in that his vision of the world and therefore stance of philosophy was based directly through the experiences of the senses. His stance on many issues directly originated from his ability to experience it with the five senses, and on the subject of morality he takes exception. Even he recognizes the existence of morality in everyday life, even though it cannot be explained through the lens of the senses. It would seem that morality’s acceptance must therefore prove that free will exists, but there is one essential school of thought yet to weigh on this topic; science. Science was the latest bloomer of the three major disciplines of existential explanation and in the post modern era is becoming more and more popular. As the world becomes further secularized and the reaches of scientific logic continue to exceed their grasp, many of the world’s intellectuals identify â€Å"truth† on a scientific scale. Science does not support the theory of morality, because it can’t be proven to exist. The notion of â€Å"free-will†, something which world religion and philosophies alike recognize as a fundamental part of our human anatomy, is called into question in a few simple and logical ways. Science supports the theory of determinism as the only logical explanation of the unfolding of the actions of our lives. First off, science has recently developed the discipline known to us as physics, in which the laws of the universe have been defined. In the short time in which humans have been graced by the scientific understanding of the laws of the universe, human kind has yet to fully step back and contemplate the magnitude of this discovery. In generations past, humans believed that we were made special with â€Å"free will†, but now we know that like all things in the universe we are subject to the physical laws. This is a huge step forward in rational thinking because it allows us to understand that our previously God given concept of â€Å"free will† was really a result of a lack of understanding of the deterministic laws of the universe. For instance a law as simple and commonly accepted as â€Å"gravity† challenges the idea of free will. Gravitational pull determines that no matter the size of an object, once separate from the surface of the earth will be dragged back down at the same force every time. This is a simple concept that we take for granted, but it works in the free will v. determinism argument. We are ruled by gravity, and therefore all of our lives activities answer to it. We can’t choose to jump off a building and float in the air because we’ll be pulled back to the ground to our imminent deaths. We can’t choose to stay younger and keep our skin tight to our faces because gravity’s long-term effect causes our skin to droop down towards the ground. The choices I just listed may seem farfetched to some, however, if we examine the notion that we have â€Å"free will† in the empirical sense of the word we see that not all of our decisions are controlled by us, and that we fall victim to the tyrannical rule of the physical laws of the universe. We aren’t truly â€Å"free† to create our own actions in life. Albert Einstein offers a particularly apt synopsis, â€Å"Everything is determined, the beginning as well as the end, by forces over which we have no control. It is determined for the insect as well as the star. Human beings, vegetables, or cosmic dust, we all dance to a mysterious tune, intoned in the distance by an invisible piper. † (Albert Einstein) The rule of physical law aside, which hinders us from truly being â€Å"free† to choose our own actions in life, is a much more simple scientific argument that dispels the notion of free will. For example: Say a 20 year old man murders another man in cold blood. They have no affiliation, no prior knowledge of who each other is, or reason to dislike each other. Man A walks up to random Man B and shoots and kills him. Was this action of Man A a result of â€Å"free will†? To examine the notion fully you need to look at his action coming from two sources. Either Man A was born with the moral flaw to allow himself to find killing another human acceptable, or that Man A was influenced during the course of his life by interactions and actions of others and came to that conclusion based on his own experience. There is no other explanation for Man A to willingly choose to open fire on Man B and kill him. If we look at the first option, Man A’s natural moral compass was skewed, allowing for him to conceive the notion that killing another is okay. This speaks to the determinant nature of our chemical makeup. Its possible his DNA made a mistake coding somewhere and he developed overtime and understood that killing another is â€Å"wrong† or maybe that his entire sense of â€Å"right from wrong† was skewed inside his mind. This would lead Man A to lead a life normally on the outside, and yet without regard for consequence, open fire on another man and kill him as easily as he could have held a door for him. This is the idea that he naturally had the capacity to kill, and that he could not control it. Eventually one of his animalistic impulses would finally stick and he’d be in the right place at the right time, and that it was only a matter of time until he killed someone. If you don’t subscribe to that theory and believe that he chose to kill Man B that day, try and consider that the results will still be pre-determined. If Man A killed Man B due to his choice, then his own â€Å"free will† and judgment that he finds reprehensible to kill another man can’t be attributed to truly â€Å"free† will of choice. Not every human kills others as part of their natural lifestyle, as they might kiss or mate with another. In fact a very small percentage of people in the world murder other humans, and this begs the question of why? What makes this small percentage of people â€Å"choose† to kill another person? The answer is that if they choose to do it, and they weren’t previously miswired so as said in the prior paragraph, then they must have been influenced by their surroundings. When Man A was six years old he didn’t choose to murder Man B, the events of his life led him to make this decision about whether or not murder was okay. This is yet another reason that he wasn’t truly free to choose; outside influence hinders the ability to choose freely. Whether he was abused, molested, lost a loved one, or just plain fed up with the monotony of everyday life in society, something pushed him over the edge. Something allowed for him to justify his actions; that something is outside influence. This deterministic train of thought explains why people do what they do, but not when. What makes us actually hit the point of no return, or when will the right opportunity hit the right mood leading the right action? (In our example the murder of Man B) The paradox between â€Å"free will† and â€Å"determinism† exists because of the influence of the different schools of thought. If one aligns his personal truth based on religious fervor, then an understanding of â€Å"free will† can exist logically and on the other hand if one bases his logic around science then â€Å"determinism† seems to be the only answer. So where does that leave philosophy, the great bridge between the two polarized schools of thought? It leaves philosophy somewhere in the middle, examining the validity of both sides of the argument, and helping to shed light on the debate over whether or not we truly are free to make a choice or if we are merely floating along the currents of the universe. Personally, I’m lost somewhere in the middle, hoping that the answer to this time-old question will be revealed.

Tuesday, October 22, 2019

The Advantages and Disadvantages of Spell Checkers

The Advantages and Disadvantages of Spell Checkers A spell checker is a computer application that identifies possible misspellings in a text by referring to the accepted spellings in a database. Also called  spell check, spell-checker, spellchecker and  spelling checker. Most spell checkers function as part of a larger program, such as a word processor or search engine. Examples and Observations Dont they teach you how to spell these days?No, I answer. They teach us to use spell-check.(Jodi Picoult,  House Rules.  Simon Schuster, 2010) Spell Checkers and the Brain Psychologists have found that when we work with computers, we often fall victim to two cognitive ailmentscomplacency and biasthat can undercut our performance and lead to mistakes. Automation complacency occurs when a computer lulls us into a false sense of security. . . .Most of us have experienced complacency when at a computer. In using e-mail or word-processing software, we become less proficient proofreaders when we know that a spell-checker is at work. (Nicholas Carr, All Can Be Lost: The Risk of Putting Our Knowledge in the Hands of Machines. The Atlantic, October 2013)[W]hen it comes to autocorrect, spellcheck, and their ilk, those who would blame digital technology for language decay are not entirely wrong. Our brains seem to become less vigilant when we know a grammatical safety net will catch us. A 2005 study found that students who got a high score on the verbal section of either the SAT or the Gmat missed twice as many errors proofreading a letter in Microsoft Word with the program’s squiggly colored lines highlighting likely mistakes as they did when the spell-check software was turned off. (Joe Pinsker, Punctuated Equilibrium. The Atlantic, July-August 2014) Microsofts Spellchecker Microsofts language experts also track word requests, as well as frequently corrected words, to assess whether those words should be added to the Speller dictionary (Speller is the trademark name of Microsofts spell-checker). One recent request was pleather, meaning a plastic faux leather, which was added because of a lobbying effort by the group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. If youve got the latest goods from Microsoft, pleather shouldnt get a red squiggly.In other cases, real words are intentionally kept out of the programs dictionary. A calender is a machine used for a specialized manufacturing process. But most people see calender as a misspelling of calendar. The wordsmiths at Microsoft have decided to keep calender out of the programs dictionary, figuring that at the end of the day its more useful to fix so many misspelled calendars, than it is to cater to the sensibilities of a small subset of the population who happen to know of, and want to write about, calend ers. Similar homophones (computer people call them common confusables) include words like rime, kame, quire, and leman. (David Wolman, Righting the Mother Tongue. Collins, 2008) The Limitations of Spellcheckers In fact, you have to be quite good at spelling and reading in order to use a spellchecker effectively. Typically, if you have misspelled a word the spellchecker will offer a list of alternatives. Unless your initial attempt is reasonably close to the correct spelling, you are unlikely to be offered sensible alternatives, and, even if you are, you have to be able to make sense of what is on offer. You and your pupils also have to be aware of the limitations of spellcheckers. First, you may correctly spell a word but simply use the wrong one; for example, After I had eaten my super I went straight to bed. A spellchecker will not spot that it should be supper not super (did you spot the mistake?). Second, the spellchecker does not recognize some perfectly acceptable words. (David Waugh and Wendy Jolliffe, English 5-11: A Guide for Teachers, 2nd ed. Routledge, 2013) Spellcheckers for Writers With Learning Disabilities Spellcheckers have revolutionised the lives of many dyslexic people and come to the rescue of beleaguered editors. Some snags still arise, as when homophones are used incorrectly. The speech option spellchecker can overcome these difficulties by giving definitions and using them in sentences for clarification and meaning. Some find it helpful if the spellchecker is turned off when they are doing the first draft of a piece of writing, otherwise the frequent interruptions (because of their many spelling errors) interfere with their train of thought.(Philomena Ott, Teaching Children with Dyslexia: A Practical Guide. Routledge, 2007) The Lighter Side of Spellcheckers This apology was printed in the Observers For the Record column on March 26, 2006: A paragraph in the article below fell victim to the curse of the electronic spellchecker. Old Mutual became Old Metal, Axa Framlingon became Axe Framlington and Alliance Pimco became Aliens Pico.The Rev. Ian Elston was thinking ahead to Christmas services when his computer spell-checker changed the gifts of the Wise Men to golf, frankincense and myrrh. (Ken Smith, Day of the Dead. HeraldScotland, November 4, 2013)