Blue and Gray #3

Blue and Gray Fred Red Ale Unlike the previous two beers from Blue and Gray, this one appeared to be properly capped; it actually had a minimal head. This is a standard Red Ale. It is medium amber with a hint of red from the roasted barley. Malt is slightly stronger than hops, with the distinct thick mouthfeel from the unfermentable sugars provided by the roasted barley -- possibly a bit too thick. It is probably a bit too thick for a session beer; a pint of Fred Red is fairly filling. However, it is a tasty variation on the theme of the chosen session beer. If you're looking for an approximation of a loaf of bread in a glass, but dislike black beers, this is a good candidate. It will probably do well with basic meat-and-potatoes fare -- stews, shepherd's pies, and heavier Indian or Chinese food. 3.5/5

Drawing programs

I am looking for a drawing program of some sort for Windows. I've looked at Microsoft Paint -- the one that comes with the OS. That's about my speed; it does almost everything I want except it cannot rotate an object other than in 90 degree increments.

The only other freebie I'm aware of is GIMP. I have just installed it and spent 15 minutes trying to figure out how to get it to draw a straight line. I have failed. There is no simple "draw a line" tool that I can find, and the combinations of tools I found have produced, well, diddly squat. GIMP is probably well beyond what I want or need.

Is there something else out there, more toward the Microsoft Paint end of things, that can do all of what Microsoft Paint does, plus having the ability to rotate selections through arbitrary angles?

EDIT: lizzielizzie pointed me at Inkscape. While it is closer to what I want, it does not appear to have any method to edit individual pixels. Its curve tool is downright frustrating to work with. And, because it's still version 0.45, there are a lot of little niggly issues that I found frustrating.

My specific desires:
* Must be able to edit individual pixels. Because my freehand drawing ability is a joke, any program that cannot provide me with individual pixel editing is pointless. I spend enough time erasing as it is.
* There must be a simple, straightforward tool that lets me draw straight lines.
* While a curve tool is nice, it is not necessary; I'm perfectly willing to bang out individual lines or pixels into whatever curve I want. Curve tools where the curve does not go through the points drawn are useless, as are curve tools that do not let you later individually edit each point defining the curve. (See previous note about freehand drawing skills and distinct lack thereof.)
* I will not be editing photographs; I am creating stuff from scratch.
* I am not looking for a tremendous degree of detail.
* I don't need anti-aliasing; the bit of anti-aliasing that happens in Microsoft Paint (on scaling a selection) actively interferes with what I want.