All the images used on this site were either originally created or obtained from free graphics sites.  I've included links to these free graphics sites under Home --> Places You Should Definitely Visit During Your Free Time.  (You should!)  A large number of the free wallpapers, images, and backgrounds have had changes made to them using various image editing programs, primarily Ulead PhotoImpact and Adobe Photoshop.  Some work was also done using Corel PHOTO-PAINT 7. 

     This site was designed with aesthetics in mind.  Therefore, it's completely natural to look at this site and comment on its easy design and all the nice pictures on it (at least I hope you like them).  You might even think to yourself, "Wow, I wish I had this stuff on my website too."  I know because I've experienced the same thing.  The layout for this website didn't actually appear instantaneously before me while I was doing philosophy homework one night.  I've seen a lot of nice websites, and admired their design and easy navigability.  I've even incorporated some of those things into my own website. 

     However, there's one thing that I haven't done, and that I wouldn't do.  That one thing is to actually remove an image, text, audio/video file, or some other information that belongs to someone else and claim it as my own.  It's unoriginal and removes the greater challenge of designing an original creation of art: the website.  I'd hate to see pictures I spent hours trying to photograph, scan, and upload suddenly appear on some random person's website, and I'm certain that you'd hate it too.  So why do people steal things from other people's websites?  I really don't have a clue.  I can't understand why, when there's a wealth of free graphics available on the Web, waiting for someone to come along and use them on their website.  And, if people don't like the quality of certain free graphics, then why can't they make their own? 

     I've used both original images and free graphics on this site.  Does this mean people are free to download my graphics?  Not exactly, since there's no way to tell what's original and what's free.  To alleviate this problem, I've created a special graphics download page that has the image with the free graphics link I got it from right next to the image.  All free images used on this site are displayed there by category.  This is the only page where people have permission to download images.  On other pages, I'm not allowing downloads simply because I don't want to encourage the habit of right-clicking on a nice image in any website to steal it.  Many images are copyrighted, which means that it's a violation of federal law to use those images as one's own.  This goes for audio, video, text, and other copyrighted media or information sources. 

     I know that if you want any of my pictures badly enough, I can't do anything to stop you from downloading it.  That is why I'm writing this now.  Hopefully, I can get you to see that it's just not correct to steal other people's work.  You wouldn't like it if someone stole your car, five thousand dollars from your bank account, or the last surviving picture of your deceased parents--why?  Because these things are valuable to you.  Well, to some people, pictures and other information on a website is important to them in the same way.  Most people put stuff on a website because they want to freely share it with others.  They do so in the hope that people won't take advantage of their good will and concern for others.  They hope that people won't take what is rightfully theirs, what they have spent precious time and life working on, and what they feel is something very personal to them.  They hope that you will feel differently than most about stealing copyrighted files or images from their websites. 

     I hope you continue to enjoy this website, and to respect what you see here, and everywhere on the Internet, as individual creations of art.

Thank you,
Dahl Clark