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EntryPoints is a publication of Country Road Software, a
small software company that has been around since 1984. My wife and I started
this company in the heyday of the Commodore 64 by producing a wordprocessor.
I've also done a lot of publishing through this company: some of you old
8-bit computer types may remember my name from Commodore Magazine, Run
Magazine, Compute's Gazette, and others.
Back in '84, Country Road Software operated from my home
on a gravel road with cows to our west and northern Indiana woods to our
east. Thus the name, Country Road Software. Today we have a public library
to our south and downtown Goshen, Indiana just north of us. But we aren't
changing the name of our company to City Street Software. Not gonna do
it. Don't like it.
I run this company out of my home in, employ my kids for
different chores (my son Luke does most of the artwork), and presently
am making a nice, fat, negative profit. I hope that changes in the future,
however.
This web site has two aspects: the magazine and the software.
The magazine, EntryPoints, is my brainchild and my offering to the world
of online publishing. Our intent is to offer interesting articles to stimulate
learning.
The second side of this site is Anacrostics, a puzzle-generating
software product. Here's how it came about:
About five years ago I became aware of a new "quotation"
type puzzles. They're so new they have no real name: some publishers call
them quotation puzzles, some crostics, some anacrostics, and others trans-o-grams.
There are probably more names. I quickly discovered them to be a nice and
unique alternative to crossword puzzles.
Of course, as a high school English teacher, it wasn't long
before I began to see applications to the classroom. These puzzles would
not only be useful for teaching terms and vocabulary, they also are excellent
for wedging a quotation into memory. I made a couple puzzles by hand and
then realized: "This is a job for COMPUTER."
I hadn't done any serious programming since the demise of
the 8-bit machines and the Amiga. So it was a challenge to come up to speed
on the new operating systems. I developed the original Anacrostics program
on a Macintosh using FutureBasic by Staz Software. My friend Branden Beachy
soon wrote a Visual Basic version so now we have both to offer to the public.
Presently, we're selling the software for the incredibly
cheap price of $20 (internet price). It is a fair price for a good product.
But don't just trust my word: download the shareware version (click on
the banner ad or the Download Software icon) and try it out for yourself.
Whether you're a teacher or not, you may find anacrostic puzzle writing
an enjoyable hobby. I'll tell you the truth: I've made these for both my
extended family and my wife's using personal information to build the clues
and they were a hit.
Still a bit confused? Click on the Puzzle (or anacrostic)
icon and you'll get our weekly-updated anacrostic to challenge you. You
can print it out on any printer (we hope).
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Aha!
D. Comedy
Do This
Don't Do
I Want You
Logic
Mr. Schnuck
Other Stuff
Puzzle
Software