The AutoCorrect Advantage

welcome to my hell

A Place where Hope hath deferred

About “The System”

wake me from this nightmare

Welcome to my nightmare. My first website. Now after one glimpse at this site, I think there is one thing we can all agree with, and that is after this all writers, artists, and/or eccentric inventors should be forever banned from creating their own websites. So pretentious. Lines just perfect. Everything just so. Perfectionism incarnate. Moi extraordinaire. What’s up with that? What’s up is that I happened to be one of those artistic, creative types sitting in front of a blank screen – and this is what just sort of popped out.

Undoubtedly, it was not too unlike when Aaron tossed a pile of gold into a fire – and out popped a golden calf. Things just happen. And I am sure it happened just like that – because that is almost exactly what happened to me. After struggling for years in a deserted wilderness, and tossing a lot of gold into a smokey, bottomless pit, I eventually found myself staring at a blank computer screen, and a few fuzzy moments later, this was just staring back at me – I’m sure a lot like that calf was staring at Aaron when Moses awkwardly confronted him…

Now, I hope you fully understand that the fact you got lost, or happened to wander over to this page, gives me full legal right and the moral justification I need to steal just a little bit more of your valuable time on the way to selling you something – and, I would like to tell you it is something that you don’t really need, but if you are a half-serious typist, I would be guilty of lying – because it you type a lot, then you DO need this – and even though you never [thought you] needed one before – you most definitely need it now.

Now that a coherent, easy-to-use abbreviation system, that works phenomenally – is available.

With that in mind, please allow me to entertain you for a few minutes; or if nothing else, to kindly abscond with a few more valuable, irreplaceable moments of your time in order to delve into a few events that are kind of, sort of, vaguely based on a true story that against all odds somehow led to the development of “The System,” and made me one of the most unlikely, and perhaps one of the most reluctant inventors of all time.

Besides, if you are reading this it is proof that you do not have anything better to do…

a world full of nerds

[Could not compete with this One]

hail the almighty alpha nerd

As any half-literate high school student can discern, I am not the world’s foremost tech expert; and definitely no Elon Musk. Like most people over 45, I’ve been a few years behind technology most of my life. In short, I am not your standard nerd; I exercise, like thrill sports [but type really fast]. Still, I’m afraid I am a bit of a relic; a somewhat outdated machine; howbeit a machine that has apparently been sent from the past – to violently hurl word processing technology into the future; the Arnold Schwarzenegger of computer nerds it would seem.

Now I know you didn’t know this, because I also read minds; and I know some of you are wondering what in the world qualified me to create any abbreviation system, let alone one as complex as “The System?” Well, all I can produce is circumstantial evidence, but did any of you happen to notice those mountainous stacks of notes in the pics? Those are mine. And the 6 massive stacks on the table represent only a handful of them, and are just what stacked up [with copies] the past 2 years trying to keep up with current events while creating “The System.”

Now, if you are a particularly astute observer, you will also notice a mighty wall of approximately 300-tan folders, all containing – yes, you guessed it – notes. And contained in those 300 folders are subjects that are broken down into subtopics, and those subtopics are further broken down into even more subtopics, meaning that I have well over 30,000 pertinent, interesting, and inspired notes on hundreds of different and very important topics. The fact is, I have taken literally mountains of notes – and there are LOTS AND LOTS OF ABBREVIATIONS in them.

Not all that surprisingly, I discovered while taking all those notes that if I abbreviated longer words, it kept my mind a LOT fresher, and allowed me to keep the flow of inspiration going longer. I also noticed that when my mind was tired or fatigued, I would lose the inspiration, and then get confused trying to recapture the flow, and ended up with a jumbled, confusing mess that would need to be sorted out later. Therefore, it only made sense to take it to the next level, and utilize the capabilities of the AutoCorrect system for the same purpose.

Well, it just so happens to turn out that God does in fact reward the insane – that is, if they stick with it long enough and don’t ask too many questions; for all those endless hours of studying, of taking notes, of sorting, of copying, of organizing, of categorizing – finally paid off. For without all those endless hours of the toil and misery of taking notes, I would never have been prepared, would never have been qualified, would never have been able – to experience the joy of being shipwrecked in the hellish nightmare that was the creating of, “The System.”

the would-be competition

Now, a massive, herculean project like this abbreviation dictionary rightly should have been commandeered by a Ph.D professor at some well-funded, Ivy League university with a small army of over-anxious, nerdy students stumbling and fumbling all over themselves to gain the most extra-credit. But no. Didn’t happen. It was just me. If they would have done it, I would have bought it – quite gladly, I might add – and as you will soon enough be convinced. But as you will also soon enough see, it takes a whole lot of betas – to equal one Alpha Nerd!

However, in the end it turned out that a system as simple, and yet as complex as “The System,” really did need to be pioneered by one person, as it was necessary for one individual mind to deal with all the issues one by one – in order to formulate the patterns, and to maintain the overall organization and consistency – which might not so easily happen with a dozen immature brains spouting out obscure ideas – and then debating and voting on them. And it would have been even worse, much worse, if it would have been sectioned out and handed to different teams.

In fact, there were several areas where maintaining unity and consistency were absolutely vital; so with that in mind, all the various opinions and methods would have had to first be gathered up, and then organized. Then committees would have had to be formed, overseen by a board of directors that inevitably answered to some pseudo-intellectual puppet-dictator [who was solely empowered by an even higher, but highly-secretive power structure of self-anointed elites] to efficiently squash any disputes or uprisings that would have followed due to the multitude of inevitable conflicts and dissenting opinions that would have developed during the process.

Nope. Scrap all that. Hand it off to the Alpha – as this was a job for the Arnold Swarzenegger of Nerds.

Note: For what it is worth, I wore out 2 Logitech Performance MX Laser Mouses on this project, and the third one I am using at this moment is barely hanging on. I also developed a shoulder injury that requires physical therapy – take that Arnold!

Got any Suggestions?

['m kind of tied up at the moment...]

The pit and the pendulum

At this time I think I am sensing that some of you thought my nightmare began when I had to learn how to create my own website from scratch. Oh no. That was “Nightmare 2.0 – The Sequel.” The original nightmare was much much worse, would’ve made a lot better movie, and began at almost the exact moment I sat down to scratch off a few “simple” abbreviations to prepare for a book series I spent decades preparing for.

The bottom line is that I am a serious researcher, and aspiring writer that had just spent two-plus decades and well over 40,000 hours researching seemingly everything under the sun – while amassing more than 30,000 pages of notes in preparation for a series of books and booklets I was [and still am] planning to write. During this season, there were periods where I studied for 12-16 hours a day, 6-7 days a week – with rarely any time off.

In preparation to write I noticed the deteriorating state of the world, and felt an almost overwhelming sense of urgency that pushed me to extremes on occasion. There were also unexpected troubles and trials, and like most artists the pendulum of extremes would return, resulting in a few unnecessary and at times unplanned detours; a stint or two in a barren wilderness [and about 3 years, if I remember correctly, in the belly of a whale…]

Nevertheless, I stuck it out and paid the price – and after decades of intense research, I am just sophisticated enough to know that I am not all that sophisticated; yet still pragmatic enough to understand a writer should have something original, accurate, and interesting to write about – rather than being some overpaid, self-anointed, political hack fetching six-figures to vomit out puky, rehashed corporate garbage talking points all day long.

Pummeled senseless

By the fury of an Unseen Power

the quagmire

Apparently demons despise wordsmiths – for strange things happened from the time I felt inspired to write. I know it is difficult for an outsider to understand, but the only way to explain it is that I somehow found myself stuck in some kind of cosmic quagmire; caught up in a timeless continuum; an endless loop of nonsense and demonic distractions where nothing made sense – and utterly ridiculous, confusing scenarios seemed to keep regurgitating themselves – causing trouble, sorrow, and irritating delays as I struggled to continue my craft.

Through the distractions I would just keep studying – at times scarcely aware of my surroundings; until one strange day I awoke from the haze to discover I was a real-life Rip Van Winkle – except when he fell asleep for 20 years, he awoke to the glorious revelation that he had missed fighting in the American Revolution; whereas when I finally poked my weary head up out of the dense Orwellian fog, I awoke to a rude awakening and discovered that the America I was reading about no longer existed, and I was now a registered citizen – in the “Twilight Zone.”

It was like waking up in a creepy place where the masses act like mind-controlled zombies – and nothing makes sense, yet everything makes sense; like waking up in a poorly-written sequel of the “Revenge of the Nerds” (but not the good kind) where the inmates have rebelled and taken control of the asylum; as one half of the people cheers them on and votes for their own demise; while the other half scarcely bothers to notice – and the media routinely lies and plays them off one another, yet everyone is too hazy and confused to figure anything out for certain.

And freakiest of all, the whole thing is like the movie where everyone is in on the plot – but you.

escaping the pit

Serious. Got any Suggestions?

atypical over-dramatization

The tale finally came to a harrowing turn of events, when, after literally decades of battling everything from circumstances, to warlocks and witches, to demons and goblins, their helpers, and other assorted beasts – I finally overcame it all [in a valiant show of marked heroism far too involved to get into here]. Then, finally, remarkably, after making some final preparations, I sat at my computer to jot down a few simple abbreviations.

And 3 years and 33,000 abbreviations later, I am still in the same chair – like some hamster treading a wheel.

Yes indeed, having started out on a short but sacred mission, it was not long before I discovered the dismal fact that creating a few abbreviations was not as easy as I had originally anticipated. In fact, I quickly discovered that to have even “a few,” usable abbreviations, you really needed to have, “a system.” So, if you are going to have to invent a system, might as well do it right [at least that is the way the thinking went].

To recap: There I was, poor innocent me; just minding my own business; working and working and working, preparing and preparing and preparing; and I was just about ready to sit down to write for the umpteenth time – that is, until Destiny stepped in and through me another curve – making me possibly the most reluctant [and perhaps most miserable] inventor the world has ever witnessed – very likely in the history of mankind, I might add.

If I make 2 billion dollars off this unsolicited venture, it won’t be enough!

What could I possibly mean? you ask. Don’t be so naive. I am speaking in reference to the very many nights, almost all of them, for almost two years; taunted, tormented, badgered – demons clanging inside my head – physically exhausted, spiritually crushed, mentally fatigued; every night completely unbearable – like Chinese water torture!! Every night – no relenting! Every night – no mercy! Every night, it was just “Abbreviate! Abbreviate! Abbreviate! Conflict! Conflict! Conflict! Problem! Problem! Problem! Rewrite! Rewrite! Rewrite! Edit!!! Edit!!! Edit!!! Stress! Stress!! Stress!!! Drip!!!! Drip!!!!! Drip!!!!!! Drip!!!!!!! Just kill me friggin’ already!!!!!!!!!!!!! Aaahhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

But no one would – kill me, that is. Now here I am – alive to tell about it. To tell you about how I was in too deep, how I couldn’t turn back. How I couldn’t go forward, but I couldn’t go back. How money had run out. How mortgages were threatening. How hope had deferred. Here to tell you about that fateful night, where I honestly can’t remember if my arms were wildly, violently flailing about as I was screaming myself hoarse; or if my hands were cupping my head, trying to crush it like an overripe cantaloupe; cursing, screaming, shaking uncontrollably; and hyperventilating; expecting my mangled brain to burst out of my head like some overdue Yellowstone geyser – or perhaps slowly spill out like an avalanche of so many orangish seeds; rotted, mangled, jelloed – pathetic.

Absolutely pitiful. Woe is the life of the anonymous, semi-autonomous writer…

The memory gives me a sinking feeling, like a fuzzy mirage peeping out through a blackened, billowing cloud; like a really really bad dream. In fact, maybe it was a dream – for during that season day became night and night became day – and there was no difference between them. No difference I can recall. Hours became days and days became nights and nights became weeks and weeks became months and months somehow became years – until now, yes now, finally, it is done. Done for now that is; I am not sure a project like this is ever done.

Nor am I sure if I will ever fully recover; and even if I do and this project succeeds beyond my wildest dreams, much of the money is sure to be invested in some type of extensive therapy – probably in the form of some really exotic toys. Or perhaps I am just being a bit over-melodramatic. Perhaps I exaggerated a bit. Perhaps “they” are right. Perhaps I really do have an overactive imagination. Perhaps I should start telling the truth a little. Perhaps it would be helpful if I just started this sordid little tale from the beginning.

[Close up, fuzzy picture – spinning/zooming background please…]

Don't worry about me

Just caught in a brainstorm

the making of “the system“

Seriously folks, here’s the story in a nutshell: In the beginning I was not all that excited to get started on it. In fact, I was actually quite reluctant to even begin creating any abbreviations at all. My heart was just not in it, and I did not even want to spend one more day in preparation – after the tribulation and seemingly non-stop horrors I had endured up to that point. There was already serious mounting pressure, and things were getting tighter every day. However, deep down I knew it would be well worth it to get down at least a few dozen abbreviations – so after I set down my last research book, I sat down to the unenviable task.

The fact is that once I got started, I quickly found it was much more difficult than originally anticipated, so I figured I would invest maybe a total of 2-3 nights tops. That should be enough time for what I wanted to do. It can’t be that hard. However, it wasn’t long before I ran into more complex issues – so I took to the Internet to see if I could just purchase a book with abbreviations already created. No such luck. I was actually very disappointed, rather surprised, and almost taken aback that no one had come up with one already. Seeing the built-in benefits and advantages that AutoCorrect has to offer – someone would have created it, I mistakenly thought…

The motivating factor

Now, the first of many tactical problems was discovered with the simple abbreviation of the word, ‘motivation.’ Writing about spirituality, religion, politics, and other modern contemporary issues often leads to the subject of motivation. What motivates people? Well, no problem, I decided. I would just shorten the targeted word, “motivation,” to the abbreviated form, “MOT.” Simple. Problem solved. Or so I thought…

The actual reality was that “The Problem” had just begun…

The problem was discovered shortly after spending the first evening creating my first set of experimental abbreviations [most of which were later scrapped]. After creating a few dozen, I was anxious to put my newfound “genius” to the test. I began by simply typing in an extemporaneous manner, structuring sentences in a manner that might allow me to utilize a few of the abbreviations I had just created.

Unfortunately however, when I came to the coveted word “motivated,” I typed out “MOT,” just as I had entered it into the AutoCorrect system; however, instead of “motivated,” the word “motivation” popped out instead!! I was in shock. My eyes could not believe what I was seeing. This couldn’t be. This couldn’t be happening, not to me. This kind of thing was only supposed to happen to other people. In short, I felt very very really super-duper stupid.

At that instant my insignificant little world came crashing down to the ground as so many others before…

However, there was no way I was giving up that easily. As I stared blankly at the computer screen in despondency and utter disbelief, I very quickly realized that – because I am not the type to give up easily – my little nightmare had just become a big nightmare. Not only was I not done – I was only just beginning. I had come head-to-head with a serious challenge, and it wasn’t going to defeat me – not that easily. Not this Alpha Nerd.

The Moment of Disillusionment

The sad and terrible lesson I learned that first fateful evening was to be the first of many. I learned in no uncertain terms that the “word” I needed to abbreviate was not the word, “motivation,” or even the word, “motivated;” rather, it was any given form of the word “motivate” that I might need at any given time. It was at that moment that I realized that the most important word was not the word you thought you needed, or might need, but any word you might need AT THE TIME you need it. In other words, I needed a system…

This sudden realization led me to the first of several “instant dilemmas” I would face the next few months. I had run into a significant problem indeed, but I was not ready to throw in the towel at this moment. Somehow, some way, I was going to have my little list of abbreviations! So those first few nights, I came across one problem after another, and one by one I solved them. With extra determination and a lot of prayer, I eventually ended up with a more or less complete system. [Strangely enough, the prayers actually worked – so I kept doing it].

“The system” is birthed

The basic system was birthed when I overcame that first obstacle. Examining the word, “motivation,” and how I could use the abbreviation “MOT,” for it, and, for the word “motivated,” did not offer a whole lot of alternatives. After a while in deep thought, the answer was plain; I would have to sacrifice the abbreviation, “MOT,” which I wanted to use for “motivation,” and use it for the Base Word, “motivate.” Then I would have to differentiate between them by simply tacking on the last letter – which I ended up calling the “End Identifier.”

Once I got over the shock and grief of having to add an “N,” to “MOT,” for “motivation,” which was the original word I was interested in abbreviating, the rest started to flow rather freely. I soon found that once I practiced them a few times it was lightning fast to tack on the “N,” as I was going to have to tack it on anyway – but this time with 6 less keystrokes! So I went on to apply this principle to every “word group,” and make adjustments as necessary, keeping word tenses in the same order [as much as possible] for each word group.

Now, in order for any abbreviation system to be workable, it must be logical, simple, and usable. Words must be easy to identify, visualize, memorize, and recall. It would do little good to create a complicated mess that only succeeded in hampering the mind’s ability to think in a clear, logical, and direct manner. In other words, it would need to work in accordance with the workings of the human mind – not as an abstract distraction that would only become a hindrance rather than an advantage. “The System,” I believe, fulfills this requirement.

I found in practice that using “The System” became quite natural with very minimal practice. I also learned a few tips that are shared in the User’s Manual, and Mastering AutoCorrect booklet. Of course, the easiest and fastest abbreviations are those that are merely cropped versions of the original word, with the last letter tacked on. There are several thousands of these, and your mind will very quickly adapt to it if you are already a fairly proficient typist. With the easy abbreviations alone, you will have a very substantial arsenal of shortcuts.

“The system” is Refined

Once I had several hundred abbreviations in place on my personal list, I recognized another problem. First, I had been trying to save paper space, thinking in terms of having less pages – so I had a lot of abbreviations all crammed together, and there was no separation between the Base Words and the End Identifiers. The result was confusion; it looked like spaghetti, or a ball of twine after a six-pack of kittens are done playing with it. It was very difficult to make heads or tails of it, and looking at it as a whole made it hard to use effectively.

So then I came up with the three main pillars that make “The System” so easy to use. First, I abandoned the idea of saving pages since it was going to be necessary to use the Find/Replace feature to navigate the list anyway; and I put ample space between word groups. Then the idea came to me to isolate the Base Words, using a hyphen to separate the End Identifier from the Base Word – and this resulted in a clean, organized appearance that was easy to isolate, identify, and visualize; and thus memorize, and then later recall.

Finally, it was determined that using intermittent color coding to break up the monotony of an endless sea of black and white helped greatly while scanning the Master List in order to create your own personal lists. It also helps to keep you from overlooking words or word groups that seem to blend in and get lost in the melee. That’s it for this segment. The rest of the philosophy behind “The System” is more fully explained in the User’s Manual.

Mucho El Paradisio

No Problemos - (see you in Rio)

“he who laughs last“

The bottom line is that I actually did get stuck – in a quagmire – trapped in some timeless continuum with no way out. And the fact is that once I got in neck-deep, the only way out was forward. But what kept driving me forward, was the fact that “The System” worked so well, that I could personally never go back – and if I could never go back, that means that maybe no one else could ever go back either – and I actually do have something here. However, it needed to be done; it needed to be as complete as possible – it needed to be a complete system. Therefore, against all odds – racing against the proverbial clock – I could not stop until it was one.

So I ended up sectioning a 3-inch Webster’s Dictionary into 26 sections – and had at it. However, after I was in way too deep, I ran into some problems that seemed to be insurmountable; and then others that almost made me scrap the whole idea; and yet others that caused me to limit my vision a tad. So what I am trying to say in way too many words, is that creating this dictionary was exceptionally difficult; so difficult – I do not recommend it to anybody; not to anyone wishing to retain a shred of sanity that is. However, it now appears that God does in fact reward narcissistic, reclusive eccentrics; if you just ignore all the stares – and stick with it long enough.

“Laughs best“

Under unbelievable pressure, I had to face those seemingly insurmountable obstacles, and conquer them one by one, with no guarantees whatsoever. Now, that ongoing nightmare that seemed as if it would never end now demonstrates glorious potential. However, it was so difficult I literally need to recover from the whole experience…so if any of you Wisenheimers think they’re going to save $35 and create your own system based on my idea – you are sadly mistaken. You’d better think again – or at least purchase the User’s Manual for $15.

The User’s Manual E-book will show you how to create your own system – and efficiently use it; and you will also want to get the “Mastering AutoCorrect” E-booklet unless you are already an expert in using AutoCorrect.

Note: Think of “The System” as the “Model T” of abbreviation systems. Most likely it will be expanded; but this time hopefully by someone else – perhaps a team I may assemble some day. The bottom line is that I started out to put down a few shortcuts, and created a monster; but now that it is over, I am so glad I did it; as it is so unbelievably awesome to use that there is no way I could ever go back to an “old-fashioned” word processor again without it. For me, going back – would be like going back to a manual typewriter – it’s that much better, as I am confident that many of you will agree.

A New Science Emerged

(That Was Really More Of An Art)

Warning: highly addictive

It turned out during the development of this system that I found that the more word groups I had, the more I wanted – and it quickly developed into a fairly strong craving. After my first couple thousand or so, I would find myself trying to abbreviate words that I had not yet worked out or entered. Oftentimes the abbreviation that would come naturally would be the abbreviation I would later end up using as I found that abbreviations usually come naturally – with exceptions where adjustments were needed due to conflicts or competing word groups.

In practice, “The System” has an almost mystical, common-sense way of working itself out as you type. The fact is that once you get used to the habit of thinking in terms of abbreviating words, your mind automatically goes that direction because it instinctively knows there is a “bonus” at the end of that rainbow, and it wants to abbreviate the next long word, particularly as you are getting tired. The fact is, there is an instant relief, a “release,” as your mind rejoices in the soothing ecstasy of not having to labor through every lengthy word that comes along.

Granted, “The System” was created for typists, not for illiterate people. Therefore, unlike our public school system, I assume my customers are intelligent. Therefore I can state with the utmost confidence that most typists will find “The System” as simple and delightfully usable as I do. The truth is, I am equally confident that many typists reading this are far better typists then I am [keeping in mind I spent more time in researching and taking notes than typing the past several years. In short, many of you reading this can type circles around me.

the future is here

Don't dare get Left Behind

typists are STILL the future

Writers helped shape our past, and even defined it for later generations; writers helped lift mankind out of the Stone Age; and writers are literally writing our future. This abbreviation system was created by a writer, for writers, and was designed to provide a substantial foundation of shortcuts to suit the needs of the majority of contemporary writers. It was created to make full use of an existing 21st century technology in order to increase typing efficiency, and reduce the extreme mental exhaustion that serious writers deal with regularly.

While Voice Recognition is a nice gimmick and has its legitimate uses, I do not believe it will be replacing the keyboard any time soon. It is slow, cumbersome, and prone to mistakes (that you must go back and repair – using your mouse and/or keyboard). Therefore, any advancement that increases typing efficiency should be seriously considered in the ongoing war between competing technologies – and that being noted, it can be categorically stated that writers – that is, typists – are still the alphas in the area of written communications.

Therefore, with the idea of advancing technologies in mind, I cannot be emphatic enough about urging the purchase of the Kinesis Advantage 2 Keyboard. It will add a new level of comfort and efficiency unparalleled by any other keyboard that I am aware of; and it will also officially induct you into the 21st century. Once you get used to it, you will not be able to consciously consider going back, your arms and wrists will scold you severely for not getting one sooner – and the pricey tag will seem like peanuts – like glitter on the wheels of progress.

Finally, click on this link if you are interested in learning more about the potential Future of AutoCorrect.

go to products

Final note from the author

It is certainly true that one can make this project as complex as one desires to. That was not the goal when it was created. The goal was to have a hefty reservoir of abbreviated words at the typist’s disposal; not to recreate the entire English language. In creating this system, I endeavored to find suitable abbreviations for as many words that were worth abbreviating as I possibly could – within reason, and given limitations.

Do not make it too hard. Do not get too obsessed. It seems that the majority of difficult words are ones that are not used often by most people. If you will focus on the common word groups that contain long, commonly used variations, you will find yourself saving thousands of keystrokes per hour, and find your meager investment of time and money well rewarded.

It is counterproductive [C-PROD] to get obsessed to the point of becoming frustrated; or in trying to abbreviate every word that comes along. The good news is that most of the time when I miss one and have to look it up, I rarely miss it again – unless it is a word I do not use often. That is the main danger. Stick to words you use often and you will be fine – and use cheat-sheets for the others if you are so minded.

Thanks for sticking it out this long. Thanks even moreso if you have purchased “The System.” I am extremely confident that most competent typists will soon be surprised at how easy and fun it becomes to use abbreviations – and you might even find yourself welcoming greater challenges. Overall, it makes typing more fun – period.

David Peric

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