Alchemy Mindworks

Way back when I first started building the web site, actually before I even knew it was going to be a web site, I used a graphics manipulation program called "Graphics Workshop", along with one called "LView Pro" to touch up scanned photos, add compression to .jpeg images, etc. I had always thought that the documentation of Graphics Workshop was cleverly written, and the logo was a neat line drawing of a medieval-looking unicorn.

Fast-forward to the era of Windows 98. By then, with the domain name purchased and many graphics to attend to, I was seduced by the attraction of Photoshop, and let my older programs wither and die as old hard drives were replaced in my ever-upgraded computers.

Last week, I was cruising though a blog by Grace, the proprietor of the Domythic Bliss blog, and came upon a link to "Indecent Images", which promised to explain how the new legislation of online decency would prevent the posting and viewing of some of the most cherished favorite classical artworks. Imagine my delight to find that the link led to the still-active Graphics Workshop web site in addition to the aforementioned indecent images.

Noodling around a bit revealed that the software's developer is a bit of a gadfly, and has interesting and strongly held opinions on a variety of topics, including food additives, spam, telemarketing, free satellite TV, and more. Of course, with opinions come the possibility of offending someone, and it's probably guaranteed that you'll find something offensive on the site. I had trouble believing that someone so knowledgeable and entertaining should be SO WRONG about a couple of topics, but there you have it, like life, the internet is messy sometimes.

If you have some time to kill, or you are looking for information on making spammers or phone solicitor's lives more miserable than they already must be, drop on over and have a read, a lot of it is top-notch entertainment. Don't forget to be offended by something so I won't be disappointed....