While studying Sanskrit, I came up with Jim's rule of thumb: in Sanskrit grammar there are rules, exceptions to the rules, and exceptions to the exceptions, which bring you back to the rules. The weird thing is that English could adopt an easier orthography (just as Chinese could use an alphabetic or syllabic writing system), but nobody can agree about the proposed system's particulars. English spelling reform is like squaring the circle: many have tried it, none have succeeded, and lots of us think it's impossible.