Settings

The page will reload to apply your changes.
Theme

ASCII Art Font

ASCII Art Menu

Original Usenet thread from alt.ascii-art, started 2 Nov 1997.
 _   _                     _        _             _     _           
| | | |___  ___ _ __   ___| |_     / \   _ __ ___| |__ (_)_   _____ 
| | | / __|/ _ \ '_ \ / _ \ __|   / _ \ | '__/ __| '_ \| \ \ / / _ \
| |_| \__ \  __/ | | |  __/ |_   / ___ \| | | (__| | | | |\ V /  __/
 \___/|___/\___|_| |_|\___|\__| /_/   \_\_|  \___|_| |_|_| \_/ \___|
Time for a new FAQ? [ plus a tiny fraction of my ascii colle

Time for a new FAQ? [ plus a tiny fraction of my ascii collection... ;) ]

alt.ascii-art · 20 messages · 2 Nov 1997 - 8 Nov 1997
Randy Gardner <ran...@slip.net> ASCII art 2 Nov 1997 00:00 · permalink
Veronica Karlsson wrote:
> I see two problems with this... One is that it sounds way too
> complicated (it might work well for people who build their own 
> hardware, they are used to doing things the complicated way and
> enjoy that, people who come here want to look at pictures, which
> requires a different minimum level of patience...) and the other
> is that this might have unwanted effects when people post with
> faked email addresses... (and I know that *I* am NOT going to open
> my mailbox for another flood of spam like I got when I posted from
> Dejanews a couple of weeks ago!!! quite frankly I'd rather not post
> at all...)

It is actually quite simple.  In the FAQ it tells you to put the
letters "PRR" anywhere in your first post.  When you put PRR in,
it remembers your name+email, and then lets you post stuff until
you change your name/email.

We (in a.c.h.h) are discussing haveing the program moderate, to
rid us of the delays in the cancel message method.

With fake addresses it just remembers you by your fake one, but you
won't get the FAQ mailing before you identify yourself.


About spam, I only get 2-4 a day, for a total of 5 seconds a day
spent on spam.  (that's .005% of a day, or 1/20,000 of a day)

[8<]
> Or 3. looking for attention... (or maybe this is a variation of 2,
> which doesn�'t necessarily exclude 1?)

3 is covered by 2.

> Really? I seem to remember all my math teachers calling that one
> "undefined"...

I belive I posted an amendum to my post saying that I was unclear
here, did you not recive it?

[8<]
> interesting! :)

Thanks. C:

There is a big gap inbetween 2/1 and 1/1, so I am adding 3/2:


/0 5/1 4/1 3/1 2/1  3/2    1
:   :   :   :   :    :     :
:   :   :  :    :   :     :
:   :  :   :   :   :     :
:   :  :   :   :   :    :
:   :  :  :   :   :    :
:  :   :  :   :  :    :
:  :  :   :  :   :   :
:  :  :  :   :  :   :
:  :  :  :  :  :   :
:  :  :  :  :  :  :
 
[8<]
> I thought one of the basic ideas here was that you _don't_ know 
> exactly what font somebody is going to use, except that it has to
> be a monospaced font...

Exactley, which is why it's never done.
-- 


--ran...@slip.net
--Randy Gardner

Brock Kevin Nambo <new...@earthling.net> ASCII art 2 Nov 1997 00:00 · permalink

Veronica Karlsson wrote in message <345...@on.spammer>...

>> # (hash/pound): a hash sign on most computers, a pound sign on some
>>     British ones
>
>???
>
>The one above (number 35) comes out like this:
>
> _|__|_
>  |  |
> _|__|_
>  |  |
>
>The pund sign is a completely different, non-standard, character. (am I
>missing something important here, or is Matthew missing something
>important here?)

>

That's odd.  "Hash" and "Pound" are both names for the tic-tac-toe board
character "#".  (In obscure places--at least those obscure around here--you
may see "55 pounds" represented as "55#" (to be differentiated from "#55",
meaning "Number 55").) I seem to remember that odd British curly-L thing
having a different name (which escapes me at present); I could be wrong too,
though.

>> The serif version has little strokes, or serifs, at the end of most of
>> the main strokes, while the sans serif version doesn't (sans means
>> `without'). For example, Courier is a serif font, and Monaco is sans
>> serif. This isn't often important, but if you're using a sans serif
>> font, just remember to use the vertical bar (|, above \ on most
>> keyboards)
>
>(The vertical bar sits on the same button as < and > on _my_ keyboard...
>NOT EVERYBODY ON THE NET IS AMERICAN! OR "ANGLIFIED" IN SOME OTHER WAY!)


He did say "most keyboards". ;)


>> *   What about my first line? Many news and e-mail programs ignore any
>>     spaces you type at the start of the first line of your message, so
>>     if you start your message with the picture, stick a separate line
>>     with some dummy text such as . or -- above it to prevent the first
>>     line of the picture from going out of kilter with the rest of it.
>>

Um. One evil thing about Outlook Express is that it will occasionally take
lines that start with only one space and move them to the left margin for
you.
 i.e. this line *might* (it's unpredictable) look the same
as this line, at least as far as the margin is concerned.  This made me
scream at my signature because had spacing like that.. i had to put it in a
box so it would behave. :(

> Five or six lines is
>> *usually* acceptable, but any longer, and you're starting to take the
>> risk that your signature will be longer than some of your e-mail
>> messages; this wouldn't really be acceptable on paper, so it doesn't
>> really make sense in cyberspace either. The exception is in messages
>> posted to alt.ascii-art -- we're used to seeing long sigs, so we won't
>> complain.

That's what I've always thought of as silly among this group.  "Standard"
(i.e., flameless) .sigs are 4 lines or shorter.  In a.a-a they get longer,
because they're allowed. :)  The goofy part comes when somebody says, "Can I
have a <insert thingy> for my .sig?" and receives many 10 and 12 and
otherwise generally large pics. ;)

BTW That post was 77Kb.. My computer was groaning at me the whole time I was
trying to reply, rofl.

>>BKNambo
r-----------------------------; <-- I made that myself. odd, isn't it?
| \o/  |o \   \ /   / o|  \o/ | It's the amazing dancing ASCII! [ LOL ]
 |  H  -%- -&-  H  -&- -%-  H  | http://come.to/brocks.place -no ascii page
(yet) :(
| / \  |   |o /o\ o|   |  / \ | new...@earthling.net -not afraid of
SPAM. :P
`-----------------------------'

Veronica Karlsson <dre...@on.spammer> ASCII art 2 Nov 1997 00:00 · permalink
Matthew Thomas wrote:
> 
> [] []i there, ASCII people. You should feel honoured and privileged to
> || || be reading my first ever Usenet post ;-).
> |+=+|
> || || 
> [] [] 

Hi there yourself... that was one loooooong first ever post... (a
record?)

>       I've been reading alt.ascii-art for about six months, and I can't
>       help noticing a lot of people asking the same questions (`why
>       can't I view the pictures properly', `could someone do my name in
> ASCII' and so on).

In many cases the reason is that much of the rapidly growing "population
of netizens" just don't _know_ that such animals as "FAQs" _exist_! (as
we saw all too clearly in the recent "CP2" discussion...)

> I also notice that there are five different FAQ-type
> messages posted by Colin Douthwaite (including those by Jorn Barger, Bob
> Allison, and Daniel Au) which overlap each other, and none of which (in
> my opinion) answer these questions very clearly.

This also means that there is a _choice_, you don't have to feel that
you have to follow one all-knowing leader...

> In addition, some of
> what they say is a bit out-of-date or idiosyncratic (how to use gopher
> and lynx, and relying on scrolling newsreaders for animations, for
> example),

As we have also seen recently the scrolling animations aren't _that_
outdated and I know from my own experience that lynx is everything but
outdated (with the proper connection to other software it is quite
capable of showing pictures, sound, java, etc,  often with much better
quality than what Netscape or IE has to offer, at the same time as it
can be used for situations when you simply can't afford anything
more...) and it is definitely very well suited for ascii art.

> and they're not *that* clearly marked as the messages newbies
> should read.
> 

If you can come up with a completely fool-proof way to ensure that all
new computer users get to know basic netiquette before jumping into the
newsgropus then you deserve a Nobel Prise! What can you do more than
present the FAQ(s) regularly and answer newbie questions as they do pop
up? (please make suggestions! improve the situation, please!)

> So, over the past few weeks I've had a go at doing a new FAQ myself,

"this is my first post ever" and "I wrote a new FAQ" in the same post!?
Prepare to be torn to pieces! :D:D:D:D:D:D

> keeping in mind all the people who are just starting out in Usenet *or*

Including yourself!?

> ASCII art, and trying to answer these questions in a shorter and
> (hopefully) clearer fashion than the existing FAQs. So here it is, with
> ---- marking the start and end.
> 
> ----
> ._
> - - /, /,       ,,                                   ,
>   )/ )/ )       ||                                  ||
>   )__)__)  _-_  ||  _-_  /'\\ \\/\\/\\  _-_        =||=  /'\\
>  ~)__)__) || \\ || ||   || || || || || || \\        ||  || ||
>   )  )  ) ||/   || ||   || || || || || ||/          ||  || ||
>  /-_/-_/  \\,/  \\ \\,/ \\,/  \\ \\ \\ \\,/         \\, \\,/
> 
> 
> 
>       ,,   ,                                                ,
>   _   ||  ||       _               '  '         _          ||
>  < \, || =||=     < \,  _-_,  _-_ \\ \\        < \, ,._-_ =||=
>  /-|| ||  ||      /-|| ||_.  ||   || || <>-<>  /-||  ||    ||
> (( || ||  ||     (( ||  ~ || ||   || ||       (( ||  ||    ||
>  \/\\ \\  \\, <>  \/\\ ,-_-  \\,/ \\ \\        \/\\  \\,   \\,
> 
> FAQs: About the alt.ascii-art newsgroup
> By Matthew Thomas
> Last changed 1997-11-02
> 
> NOTE: If you are new to Usenet News, please read the messages in
> news:news.announce.newusers before posting to any newsgroups. Thanks.
> 

Did you? Did anybody? Personally I had read elsewhere that you should
read FAQ files and lurk for a while and see what things were like before
butting in... But when it came to reading those things, I couldn't care
less, I wanted to get out on the NET! (I suppose they may be good, but
do real people read them?)

> This FAQ is also available at ...
> 
> Contents
> ========
> 
> 1   What is the alt.ascii-art newsgroup for?
> 2   What is ASCII art, and why is it used?

Shouldn't 1 be 2 and 2 be 1 here? You start discussing what
alt.ascii-art is before you explain what ascii art is...

> 3   Help! I can't tell what the picture is supposed to be ...
> 4   How do I start drawing ASCII art?
> 5   Ok, I've drawn an ASCII picture. Can I post it to alt.ascii-art?
> 8   Can someone do my name / these words in ASCII, please?

This one should be marked with capital letters (I would even recommend
the hated <blink> tag here....)

(Why not _also_ have the question "what is Figlet?")

> 7   Can someone convert this picture to ASCII, please?
> 6   Can someone draw me a ...
> 9   Can I copy this ASCII picture?
> 10  What should I know about signature files?
> 11  What happened to rec.arts.ascii?
> 12  Where can I find more ASCII art?
> 

13 Is there legal copyright problems when duplicating ASCII art?  
14 How do you make ascii animatons?
15 How do you make coloured ascii art?
16 Isn't a gif version better than just a "raw ascii" picture?
17 Does anybody have pictures of naked women/men in ascii?
18 Some other popular requests...

> 1   What is the alt.ascii-art newsgroup for?
> ============================================
> 
> alt.ascii-art (sometimes shortened to a.a-a) is a newsgroup where people
> discuss ASCII art, post ASCII pictures, post improved versions of
> pictures other people have drawn, and generally have fun.
> 
> Types of messages which we generally enjoy seeing include:
> *   look, here's an ASCII picture I drew...

(provided it wasn't a famous eagle by Row...)

> *   REQ: xyz (ie, has anyone got any ASCII pictures of xyz?)

(with some exceptions...)

> *   suggestions on, or improvements of, other people's ASCII pictures

hehe, no comment...

> *   hey-guys-love-your-work-type messages!

:)


* Stuff with a sense of humour that encourages new variations and jokes
around a theme...  (e.g. the recent "tie fighter"...)


> 
> Types of messages which we generally don't enjoy seeing include:
> *   ASCII art - bah humbug, what a waste of time

But the discussions that follow can be quite interesting...

> *   make money fast!!! ... (yawn, yawn, snore)

As if _they_ would read an FAQ...

> *   this is an advertisement for something to do with art in general, so
>     I'll post it here

THIS type of people usually _do_ need to read the FAQ! (but won't do
that unless you send them a less than polite letter inviting them to do
so... possibly accompanied by some _real_ ASCII art, such as:


     |*|      /^^^\
     |-|    (| "o" |)
    _|-|_    (_---_)
   | | | |    _| |_
  ||     |  /( . . )\
  \\     / //|     |\\
    \_ _/ // |  '  | ))
      \\_//  ||___||//
       \_/   ||oYo||"
             ()   ()
             ||   ||
            ooO   Ooo

or:


    hhh... PAMELA!! P A M E L A !!!! Ahhhhhh......


       _)))__     /
      (     o)___                               _________
       \  \______)                   o         | _o_  |  |
        \   (                    o             |(o o) |  |
         |  |                 o                ||___| |  |
     ___/    \____          .                  || * | |  |
    (             )       .               _____|______|_/________
    |             \      _                |C= A4000        ---. |
    |           |\ \    (_)               |_____________________|
    |           |_\ \   | |              _______________
    |             \\ \__| |             /.--------. /  /  .|.
    |              )\___| |)           / `--------'/  /   (_)
    |               \  (| |)           ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~     ~~~
    |           ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~||
    (____________________________________)


-Erlend Pettersen-

or:


     \         _            /
         \    |#|      /
            \ |#| /
    \       @#####@      ______                                      !!!
__    __  (###   ###)-.           BBBBB  LL       AA     MM     MM   !!!
        .(###     ###) \  ---     BB  BB LL      AAAA    MMMM MMMM   !!!
   /   /  (###   ###)   )  _____  BBBBB  LL     AA  AA   MM MMM MM   !!!
    / (=-  .@#####@|_--"          BB  BB LL    AAAAAAAA  MM  M  MM    _
   /  /\    \_|l|_/ (\            BBBBB  LLLLL AAA   AA  MM     MM   (!)
  /  (=-\     |l|    /  \
 /    \  \.___|l|___/    \
      /\      |_|   /
     (=-\._________/\
      \             /
       \.__________/
           # -t8t- #
           #  _8_  #
           \#######/


and explain to them quite carefully that unlike their post, _these_
pictures are quite on-topic to the group and won't offend anybody
here... Once you get this message through to them this particular kind
usually turns out to be quite nice, just not interested in ascii-art...)

> *   messages with the subject `ASCII art' (not exactly informative, is
>     it)

so? Does it have it have to be? If what's _inside_ it makes sense...

> *   don't read this, this is a test (that's what alt.test, misc.test,
>     and many other `test' newsgroups are for)

"CP2"

> *   MESSAGES IN ALL CAPITALS BECAUSE I SPILLED SUPERGLUE ON THE CAPS
>     LOCK KEY AND NOW IT'S STUCK DOWN, OR SOMETHING.

* Messages containing unnecessary technical errors! (those should have
been to above mentioned alt.test)

* Messages asking the same question somebody asked yesterday!

* Messages asking the same question somebody asked the day before
yesterday!

* Messages asking the same question somebody asked last week! (DO SOME
DIGGING! USE DEJANEWS!)

* Long discussions about pentagrams!

* Meriday in the Morning (we have already seen her)

> 
> 2   What is ASCII art, and why is it used?
> ==========================================
> 
> The ASCII (American Standard Code for Information Interchange) character
> set is a set of 128 characters, numbered from 0 to 127, which are
> standard on almost all types of computer.
> 
> The first 32 of these characters, numbered 0 to 31, are various control
> codes for signalling things like and end of transmission, a beep,
> escape, backspace, and so on. The carriage return (which signifies a
> new line) is ASCII 13, for example.
> 
> ASCII art is art drawn with the next 94 characters in the ASCII set,
> from 32 to 126. (The last ASCII character, 127, is another control code
> representing the Delete key.) They are as follows.
> 
> 032 [space] 048 0       064 @       080 P       096 `       112 p
> 033 !       049 1       065 A       081 Q       097 a       113 q
> 034 "       050 2       066 B       082 R       098 b       114 r
> 035 #       051 3       067 C       083 S       099 c       115 s
> 036 $       052 4       068 D       084 T       100 d       116 t
> 037 %       053 5       069 E       085 U       101 e       117 u
> 038 &       054 6       070 F       086 V       102 f       118 v
> 039 '       055 7       071 G       087 W       103 g       119 w
> 040 (       056 8       072 H       088 X       104 h       120 x
> 041 )       057 9       073 I       089 Y       105 i       121 y
> 042 *       058 :       074 J       090 Z       106 j       122 z
> 043 +       059 ;       075 K       091 [       107 k       123 {
> 044 ,       060 <       076 L       092 \       108 l       124 |
> 045 -       061 =       077 M       093 ]       109 m       125 }
> 046 .       062 >       078 N       094 ^       110 n       126 ~
> 047 /       063 ?       079 O       095 _       111 o
> 
> These characters are almost completely standard, except for a few slight
> variations on some systems. For example:
> # (hash/pound): a hash sign on most computers, a pound sign on some
>     British ones

???

The one above (number 35) comes out like this:

 _|__|_
  |  |
 _|__|_
  |  |

The pund sign is a completely different, non-standard, character. (am I
missing something important here, or is Matthew missing something
important here?)

> | (bar): a solid line on most computers, but some split it in the middle

Personally I recommend using this instead of "I" or "l" since they are
less likely to look ok...


  |                      |
  |     may turn into:   
  |                      |

                        ___
                         |
but "I" may turn into:   |
                        _|_


A dotted line looks better than one with little "thorns" on it...

> ^ (caret): differs in size depending on the font used
> ~ (tilde): appears in the middle of the line in some fonts, at the top
>     in others

this can be a problem! WARNING!

> ' (apostrophe/single quote): tilts southwest-northeast in some fonts, is
>     vertical in others.
> 
> Here's a small example of ASCII art using some of these variable
> characters: a snow-scene paperweight, drawn by Joan Stark. How good it
> looks will depend to some extent on which font you are using to read
> messages with.
>           ____
>        .-" +' "-.
>       /.'.'A_'*`.\
>      |:.*'/\-\. ':|
>      |:.'.||"|.'*:|
>       \:~^~^~^~^:/
>        /`-....-'\
>   jgs /          \
>       `-.,____,.-'
> 
> The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) took the ASCII
> character set and added another 128 characters to it, for special
> characters such as the copyright symbol and various accented letters.
> However, using these characters is not considered to be `proper' ASCII
> art, because they are not nearly as standardized -- some computers do
> not support ANSI characters, and those that do often have different
> ideas about which code stands for which character (the Macintosh ANSI
> characters, for example, are different from the Windows ones).
> 

WARNING! Posting pictures containing such characters to aaa is a sure
way to get FLAMED!

> Inserting control codes (ASCII characters 0 to 31) can sometimes
> achieve interesting effects on your computer screen or news reader,
> such as reversing text, changing its colour, and so on. DO NOT post any
> of these pictures to alt.ascii-art, for two reasons:
> 1   the effects that the control codes have on your news reader are
>     almost certainly going to be different from those on the thousands
>     of other news readers that other people use
> 2   on some news readers, control codes can cause messed up displays,
>     messages not appearing, or (in some cases) the news reader
>     crashing.
> The one exception, of course, is the carriage return (ASCII 13); ASCII
> art would be pretty boring if it was only allowed to be one line high.
> (As always, there are a few exceptions. :-)
> 

[Ssssh! Don't tell them that that is a _character_!!! Same goes for
"tab"!]

> Some e-mail programs, particularly those built in to Web browsers, can
> read and write messages in HTML (HyperText Markup Language, the language
> which Web pages are written in). HTML allows colours and (using
> JavaScript) animations in ASCII art. It IS ok to post these messages,
> since they are just plain text; but remember, most e-mail programs do
> not recognize HTML and will print all the HTML formatting as well as the
> text, making your pictures more or less unrecognizable.
> 

This is not good advice to put in a FAQ! It would be better to encourage
text-only posts since the html posts don't just turn up as one
messed-up-looking html code version in the text-only people's news
programs but as TWO versions, one html and one plain-text, in which case
the html one is totally superfluous. Also who has the time to sit and
make "pretty" little html documents for NEWS, something that only lasts
a few days (ok, much longer in some archives, but in practice they last
a few days) when the message is of a text nature anyway?! It is much
better to encourage those who want to show html work to put that on
their homepage and post the URL to the group! (you can get a free
homepage at Geocities, so not having a homepage is not a very good
excuse). The same goes for posting images, put them on your homepage and
post the URL! (I would even go so far as to recommend this for private
email as well as news, it is just plain RUDE to send images, sound files
and other big files to people in email!)

> Some people look at ASCII art and shake their heads in disbelief,
> thinking `haven't these people heard of REAL graphics?'.

HEY! WAIT A MINUTE! Time for a new headline here?

> 
> There are three main reasons why people use ASCII art:
> *   it is more portable than any proprietary graphics format -- ASCII
>     pictures can be shown on computers of all kinds, even those which
>     don't have a graphics mode, and the computer does not have to
>     recognize any particular graphics format

One exception: I have heard that there are some silly people who think
monospaced fonts look ugly and have thrown all of those out of their
computers to gain memory, I have also heard that there are some _really_
stupid computer makers who think the same thing and don't put any
monospaced fonts in them to begin with... (these are rumours, I don't
know if they are true but they don't sound _too_ impossible... I _know_
that it can be true for individual programs...)  :(

> *   an ASCII art picture is literally hundreds of times smaller than
>     its GIF or BMP counterpart, while still giving a reasonable level
>     of detail

You will have to give some more thorough explanation about this! There
are so many WYSIWYG people out there who want to measure the size of an
image in inches rather than bytes. These people will think that this
argument doesn't make sense!

> *   it's fun to do!
> 

* it is a challenge!

* it is easy to copy and change! (without losing quality because of
_technical_ difficulties, only because of _artistic_ differences between
the different artists involved!)

* you can send it in email without being rude!

* it is _easy_ to send in email! (much easier than writing an html
doucment and sending...)

> ASCII art finds its way into BBS and server login screens, e-mail
> messages (for when you just HAVE to show what something looks like),
> .plan files (for the finger command on UNIX), and all sorts of other
> electronic places.
> 
> 3   Help! I can't tell what the picture is supposed to be ...
> =============================================================
> 
> If you can't make out what any of the pictures posted to this newsgroup
> are supposed to be, don't panic. There are several reasons why they may
> look weird, so try the following.
> 
> *   Make sure you are using a fixed-width font to view messages with --
>     one where all characters are the same width (like on a typewriter).
>     If you're not sure if your font is fixed-width or not, check the
>     following two lines and see if they're the same length.
>     iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii|
>     mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm|

(Longer lines look more _impressive_....)

>     If they aren't, find the option in your news reader which lets you
>     specify whether you use a proportional or fixed width font, and
>     choose fixed-width. (Some Internet Service Providers (ISPs) supply
>     newsreaders to their customers which, strange as it seems, don't
>     allow them to use a fixed-width font. If this applies to you,
>     there's not much you can do except to ask them for an upgrade, or
>     switch ISPs.)
> 

How about mentioning the names of a bunch of common monospaced fonts
here...

> *   If there are a lot of almost-blank lines in the picture, then the
>     message is probably suffering from `wrapping'. This wrapping may be
>     being done by your newsreader; see if it has an option called `wrap
>     long lines' or similar, and make sure it is turned off. It is
>     equally likely, however, that the wrapping was done by the news
>     program of the person who sent the picture, in which case there's
>     not much you can do -- everybody else will be seeing the same thing.
> 

Wrapping is a problem when you SEND pictures! The "wrap long lines"
thing in some versions of Netscape has to do with SENDING posts! If a
picture is already wrapped by the sender it won't matter how much I try
to click on that option, nothing is going to happen. Also some news
programs wrap _incoming_ messages as well as outgoing messages. Learn
how _your_ program works, but do that in alt.test, not aaa! If your
program wraps wide images and you can't find a way to turn that off you
can still present the image on your homepage (which you can get for free
at Geocities if you don't already have one) as a text file and post the
URL to aaa.

> *   If there are a lot of < and > symbols in the picture, with words
>     like HTML, FONT COLOR, B, I, and so on inside them, then the picture
>     has been done in HTML (see Question 2), and your newsreader does not
>     understand HTML (most don't).
> 

Is this very common? (now you see why I recommend NOT writing mail and
news messages in html)

> *   If you still can't work out what the picture is supposed to be, try
>     reducing the font size (if you can), and moving a couple of metres
>     away. If it still looks like something the cat dragged in, then ...
>     well, it probably is, so don't worry about it!
> 

Meaning that there may actually be something wrong with the picture...
Yes, the poster may be another newbie who just doesn't understand why
things don't turn out the way he/she thought they would... (or who
doesn't see that anything is wrong because he/she has used the same
proportional font in both the editor and the news program...)


* Some people just need some time to get used to the idea of how these
pictures _work_! Watching pictures with explanations attached to them
can help.


> 4   How do I start drawing ASCII art?
> =====================================
> 
> ASCII art can be drawn using any text editor, such as the Windows or
> Macintosh Notepads, any of the various Emacs editors, BEd or AZ on the
> Amiga, and so on. (Using a word processor to draw ASCII art is like
> using a sledgehammer to crack a walnut -- it can be done, but it is
> difficult to do properly.)
> 

how about "edit" in DOS...

Yes, you _can_ use a word processor to draw ascii art! No it is not
"like using a sledgehammer to crack a walnut"! Word processors can have
some sophisticated little functions that make them much more suitable to
draw ascii images with (such as "replace", which most editors probably
have too... I also heard somebody call emacs a "word processor", and
this makes some sense since it has some fairly sophisticated text
formatting functions and modes...). Just make sure not to get any of the
word processor formatting code along with the picture when you copy it
to a plain-text file.

> It is much easier, however, if your text editor has an overtype (also
> known as overstrike) feature, so that you do not have to constantly
> realign characters using the Backspace, Space, and Delete keys. 

Usually accomplished by pushing the "insert" key! (yes, there is a key
on most keyboards labeled "insert")

> Another
> feature which can make things easier is the ability to cut, copy and
> paste rectangular sections of text (not just rows or parts of rows). On
> editors which have this feature, it is usually done by holding down a
> key such as Ctrl while selecting text.
> 

If you _don't_ have this ability then you will find the whole ascii art
business quite difficult since you won't be able to save any
masterpieces you find on the net in an efficient way... LEARN HOW TO
COPY-AND-PASTE!

(hmmm... how about some instructions for that... for the most common
types of computers...)

> Before you start, a word about fonts. For ASCII art you should use a
> fixed-width font (see Question 3), because every type of computer
> system is guaranteed to have one, and that after all is one of the main
> reasons ASCII art exists -- because everyone can view it. Try different
> fonts until you find a fixed-width one (using the `i's and `m's in
> Question 3 as a guide). Popular fixed fonts include Courier and Monaco,
> and anything with `fixed', `terminal', or `tt' in its name will probably
> be fixed-width too. Different fixed-width fonts do vary slightly in the
> *height* of the characters, but for most drawings any difference this
> makes is not enough to be noticable.
> 

It can be quite noticable! An example: I have seen people proudly
present "circles" and all I see is "eggs"... (it can also make people's
comments about an ascii drawing of a person looking fat or thin make
more sense if you know which way the font you use "stretches", if it is
one that makes people look short and wide or one that makes people look
tall and thin...)

> DON'T try to post pictures drawn in a proportional-width (ie non-fixed-
> width) font: even if you specify the exact font you used, the chances
> of other people being able to read it are pretty slim (even `standard'
> proportional fonts such as Times New Roman can vary in width from
> computer to computer).
> 

BIIIIIIIIG RED BLINKING TEXT HERE!!!

> The other thing to be aware of with fonts is the difference between
> serif and sans serif. Here's roughly how an `m' looks in both:
> __ __   __        __   __
>  |/  \ /  \     |/  \ /  \
>  |    |    |    |    |    |
>  |    |    |    |    |    |
> _|_  _|_  _|_   |    |    |
> 
>     Serif        Sans serif
> 
> The serif version has little strokes, or serifs, at the end of most of
> the main strokes, while the sans serif version doesn't (sans means
> `without'). For example, Courier is a serif font, and Monaco is sans
> serif. This isn't often important, but if you're using a sans serif
> font, just remember to use the vertical bar (|, above \ on most
> keyboards)

(The vertical bar sits on the same button as < and > on _my_ keyboard...
NOT EVERYBODY ON THE NET IS AMERICAN! OR "ANGLIFIED" IN SOME OTHER WAY!)

> to draw vertical lines, and not the capital i (I), otherwise
> it will look weird for people using serif fonts. It also means that you
> should think carefully before using characters like L and 7 for various
> corners -- they won't always look that good with a serif font.
> 
> Once you've chosen your font, prepare your canvas. Type a row of spaces
> for however wide you want your picture. Copy this row and paste it for
> however many rows high you think your art will get. Then turn overtype
> on, stick your cursor somewhere in the middle, and you're ready to
> draw ...
> 

I don't agree! With this technique it is very easy to get extra
unnecessary spaces at the end of the lines which may cause "mysterious"
wrapping when the image is posted! (and it is so easy to forget to look
for them and remove them when the picture is made... one is often too
excited about this new picture and wants to post it as quickly as
possible...)

> If nothing springs to mind immediately, start with the ASCII art
> equivalent of the stick figure:
> 
>  O
> /H\  Person
> / \
> 
> Fiddle with it, and see what you can do...
> 
>  A                    _                o            _
>  O   Person wearing   O`              _O_          (< =  Person about
> /H\  a dunce's hat   /H\  Professor   XHX  Angel   /H-'  to eat a
> / \                  / \              / \          / \   sandwich...?
> 
> Gradually you'll be able to add things like scenery around the person:
> 
>  ___  ,---.
> / __\/---. ._,
>  /  \@-.  -(_)-
>      @     ' `    Person playing a banjo
>     ,P            while sitting against a
>     d'O_,     MT  palm tree...
> ____@/|/________
> ::::@\O_,:::::::
> ::::::::::::::::
> 
> As you gain confidence, your pictures will start getting larger.

Not necessarily true. Drawing small pictures is a challenge and can be
quite difficult while drawing bigger pictures requires less exactness
and can be easier to start with...

> Draw
> your cat, your toaster, your musical instruments, your partner,
> anything that will sit still long enough -- practice makes, if not
> perfect, then at least pretty good. Try making an ASCII version of an
> existing picture by photocopying it on to overhead transparency (turn
> the darkness down when copying), and taping the transparency to your
> monitor while you draw.
> 

(or just drawing it with a pen on a plastic bag... you don't have to
have access to fantastic technology like photocopying to oh-philm...)

> The things which give beginning ASCII artists the most trouble are
> usually diagonal lines and circles. Here are some lines of various
> angles:
> 
> |      /      ,'      ,-'     _,-'
> |     /     ,'     ,-'    _,-'
> |    /    ,'    ,-'   _,-'
> |   /   ,'   ,-'  _,-'
> |  /  ,'  ,-'  ,-'  _______________
> 


Here's a collection I made once (and if anybody can come up with _good_
lines for slopes > 1/1  please tell me!!!)


     3/1    2/1     1/1     2/3     1/2
|    |      /      /      .'      .'
|    |     |      /      /      .'
|    /     /     /     .'     .'          1/3
|   |     |     /     /     .'         .-'
|   |     /    /    .'    .'        .-'
|   /    |    /    /    .'       .-'       1/4
|  |     /   /   .'   .'      .-'      _.-'
|  |    |   /   /   .'     .-'     _.-'       1/5
|  /    /  /  .'  .'    .-'    _.-'      _.--'
| |    |  /  /  .'   .-'   _.-'     _.--'      1/6
| |    / / .' .'  .-'  _.-'    _.--'    __.--'     1/7
| |   | / / .' .-' _.-'   _.--'   __.--'    __..--'
              _.-'  _.--'   __.--'   __..--'    1/8
               _.--'  __.--'  __..--'   __..--''
                __.--' __..--'  __..--''
                __..--' __..--''
                __..--''
               -------------------------- 0



> And here are a few circles of various sizes:
>                                    _
>                         __      ,'" "`.
>                 __    ,'  `.   /       \
>          __   .'  `. /      |  |       |
>      _  /  \  |    | |      /  \       /
> . o (_) \__/  `.__.'  `.__.'    `.___.'
> 


Study how other people have done circles and rounded shapes:


     ,o888b,`?8888888888P',d888o,
   ,8888 888   ?888888P   888 8888,
   8888888P'    888888    `?8888888
   888P'        888888        `?888  yin yang
   `88   O     d888888b     O   88'
     `?._  _.o8888888888o._  _.P'


-=[ Ying- Yangs ]=-
     _.----._   sgj
   .'   /  _ '.
  /    |  (_)  \
 |     \        |
 |      '.      |
 |    _   `\    |
  \  (_)   |   /
   '._    / _.'
jgs   '----'
     _.ooo-._   sgj
   .OOOOP  _ '.
  dOOOOO  (_)  \
 OOOOOOb        |
 OOOOOOOb.      |
 OOOOOOOOOb     |
  YOO(_)OOOO   /
   'OOOOOOY _.'
jgs  '""""''



          _____
       .-'  |  `-.
     .'     |     `.
    /       |       \
10 ;        |        ;
   |        |        |
   ;       /|\       ;
    \    /' | `\    /
     `./'   |   `\.'
       `-.__|__.-'

         _____
      .-'  |  `-.
    .'     |     `.
   ;       |       ;
9 ;        |        ;
  ;       /|\       ;
   ;    /' | `\    ;
    `./'   |   `\.'
      `-.__|__.-'


       .-'""`-.
     .'    |   `.
    /      |     \
 8 ;       |      ;
   ;      /|\     ;
    \    / | \    /
     `. /  |  \ .'
       `-..|..-'

     .-"|"-.
   .'   |   `.
  /     |     \
7 ;    /|\    ;
  \   / | \   /
   `./  |  \.'
     `-----'

     .---.
   /'  |  `\
6 ;    |    ;
  ;   /|\   ;
   \ / | \ /
    `'---`'

    .-|-.
   /  |  \
5 ;  /|\  ;
   \/ | \/
    `---'

    .-.
4 /` | `\
  \ /|\ /
   `'-`'


  \                                            /
   \\_                  /\                  _//
    \ \_               /  \               _/ /
     \  \_            /    \            _/  /
      \   \_         /      \         _/   /
       \    \_      /  ____  \      _/    /
        \     \_..--'''    ```--.._/     /
         \ _.-'                    `-._ /
         .'                            `.
     __.'                                `.__
   _/ ;                                    ; \_
 _/  |                                      |  \_
<_   |                                      |   _>
  \_  ;                                    ;  _/
    \__;.                                .;__/
         `.                            .'
         / `-._                    _.-' \  8P
        /     /`--..___    ___..--'\     \
       /    /~      \  ``''  /      ~\    \
      /   /~         \      /         ~\   \
     /  /~            \    /            ~\  \
    / /~               \  /               ~\ \
   //~                  \/                  ~\\
  /                                            \



             __,aaPPPPPPPPaa,__
         ,adP"""'          `""Yb,_
      ,ad"'                     `"Yb,
    ,dP'     _,adPP"""""YYba,_     `"Y,
   aP'     ,d""'           `""Ya,     "Y,
 ,d"     ,P"     _________     `"b,    `Yb,
,d'     d"    ,adP""""""""Yba,    "b,    "Y,
d'    ,P'   ,dP"            `Yb,   `Y,    `Y,
8    ,P'   ,d'    ,dP""Yb,    `Y,   `Y,    `b
8    d'    d'   ,d"      "b,   `Y,   `8,    Y,
8    8     8    d'    _   `Y,   `8    `8    `b
8    8     8    8     8    `b    8     8     8
8    Y,    Y,   `b, ,aP     P    8    ,P     8
I,   `Y,   `8,    """"     d'   ,P    d"    ,P
`b,   `8,    "b,         ,P"   ,P'   ,P'    d'
 `b,   `Ya,    "Ya,,__,aP"    ,P'   ,P"    ,P
  `Y,    `Ya,     `"""''     ,P'   ,d"    ,P'
   `Yb,    `"Ya,_         _,d"    ,P'    ,P'
     `Yb,      ""YbaaaaadP"'     ,P'    ,P'   Normand
       `Yba,                   ,d'    ,dP'    Veilleux
          `"Yba,__       __,adP"     dP"
              `"""""""""""""'



    *  *              *  *
 *        *        *        *
*          *      *          *
*          *      *          *
 *        *        *        *
    *  *              *  *




    ,-'"""`-,    ,-----.
  ,' \ _|_ / `.  | 501 |
 /`.,'\ | /`.,'\ `-----'  |
(  /`. \|/ ,'\  )      |  H
|--|--;=@=:--|--|   |  H  U
(  \,' /|\ `./  )   H  U  |
 \,'`./ | \,'`./    U  | (|)
  `. / """ \ ,'     | (|)
hh  '-._|_,-`      (|)



d=3
       .--.
      |    |
       `--'


d=3
       .--.
      |    |
      `.__.'



d=4
       .---.
     .'     '.
     :       :
      `.___.'


    _     .-.      .--.     
   (_)   (   )    :    :   
          '-'      '--'   


         _.-"""""-._         _.-"""""-._         _.-"""""-._
       ,'           `.     ,'           `.     ,'           `.
      /               \   /               \   /               \
     |                 | |                 | |                 |
    |                   |                   |                   |
    |                   |                   |                   |
     |             _.-"|"|"-._         _.-"|"|"-._             |
      \          ,'   /   \   `.     ,'   /   \   `.          /
       `.       /   ,'     `.   \   /   ,'     `.   \       ,'
         `-..__|..-'         `-..|_|..-'         `-..|__..-'
              |                   |                   |
              |                   |                   |
               |                 | |                 |
                \               /   \               /
                 `.           ,'     `.           ,'
                   `-..___..-'         `-..___..-'

     ,---.   ,---.   ,---.
   ,'     `.'     `.'     `.
   |     ,-|-.   ,-|-.     |
   `.  ,' ,'. `.' ,'. `.  ,'
     `-|-'   `-|-'   `-|-'
       `.     ,',     ,'
         `---'   `---'



> Fiddle with these until you come up with the shapes you want.
> 
> A final point: don't use the Tab key to go along a certain number of
> spaces on a line. The reason for this is that this `certain number' is
> different for different newsreaders, editors, and so on, so your picture
> will suffer from what is known as `tab damage' when other people try to
> view it. Use spaces instead.
> 

In other words DON'T USE TABS *AT* *ALL*! (this shouldn't be a "final
point", somewhere after circles and lines.... this belongs right up at
the top with the font discussion...)

> 5   Ok, I've drawn an ASCII picture. Can I post it to alt.ascii-art?
> ====================================================================
> 
> Yes! It doesn't matter if it's not particularly good -- we'd like to
> see it anyway.

yes! :)

> We won't be rude about it (although you'd better tell
> us what it is, or we might ask :-), but if it shows potential, you may
> find that other people will `re-diddle' it -- change a few characters,
> make it a bit better, and re-post it.
> 

But be careful about showing a picture that you made by just entering a
gif/jpeg/etc image into a converter and calling it "your art"! You may
end up having that picture called things like "UGLY!" (yes! I have done
this and I will do it again! A picture that has obviously not been
touched by a human hand shoudln't be called ascii art any more than a
photograph should be called a "drawing"!)

> HOWEVER, there are a few things you should check before you post any
> piece of ASCII art.

* FIRST! Until you start feeling quite comfortable about the
technological aspects of posting - TEST POST TO ALT.TEST!!!!

> *   Is it over 72 characters wide? Most news readers can only show
>     lines which are under either 72, 76, or 80 characters wide, so it's
>     best to make the width of your pictures less than 72 characters,
>     otherwise they may end up as a horrible mess.

Make sure you know the difference between sending and receiving here!
Also be aware that there are other ways to solve this problem, one of
those is to place the material in a text file on a homepage and posting
the URL...

> *   Have you used any control codes or ANSI characters? (See question
>     2.)

If you have - don't post! (at least not here)

> *   Am I using a light-on-dark display? If so, and you use any shading,
>     your pictures may end up looking like photographic negatives for
>     people who use dark-on-light displays.

There is not much you can do about that, some pictures are made for dark
on light, others are made for light on dark. For most "line art" it
doesn't matter which you use. Don't worry too much about this when
posting to aaa. Just be aware of it when you create your homepage so
that you can make an appropriate choice of colours for your pages.

> *   What about my first line? Many news and e-mail programs ignore any
>     spaces you type at the start of the first line of your message, so
>     if you start your message with the picture, stick a separate line
>     with some dummy text such as . or -- above it to prevent the first
>     line of the picture from going out of kilter with the rest of it.
> 
> 6   Can someone do my name / these words in ASCII, please?
> ==========================================================
> 


This question shouldn't come here, this near the end, it should go much
higher up!

> Probably not, unless we're REALLY bored. The reason for this is that
> there is a program called Figlet which does that sort of thing
> automatically -- you type in  `Jane Smith', and you get back
>     ___              __,
>    ( /              (          o _/_ /
>     / __,  _   _     `.  _ _  ,  /  /_
>   _/_(_/(_/ /_(/_  (___)/ / /_(_(__/ /_
>  //
> (/

Figlet is _the_only_good_ascii_art_program_! That is, Figlet is the only
ascii art program that can produce result just as good as a human artist
can! It is very easy to use and most of the time when you want to do
text there is absolutely no reason not to use it! FIGLET IS GOOD! FIGLET
IS FUN! TRY IT!

> in this and a whole lot of other typefaces (lettering styles). The
> heading for this FAQ was done with Figlet using the Gothic typeface, for
> example.
> 
> The Figlet home page is at
> http://st-www.cs.uiuc.edu/users/chai/figlet.html. This site links to the
> FTP site ftp://nicoh.com/pub/figlet/, where you can download versions of
> the program for many different platforms.
> 
> If you have a Web browser which has form support (most do), you can run
> Figlet on the Internet by going to one of the following sites (to find
> others, do a Web search for `figlet') and choosing your words and
> options on the Web page. Different sites offer different options (eg
> multiple fonts at once, justification, line length etc). Some of these
> sites also provide an e-mail Figlet service for people with browsers
> which don't support forms.
> * http://www.surfplaza.com/figlet/
> * http://wwwcn.cern.ch/~rigaut/FigletJava.html
> * http://www.schnoggo.com/figlet.html
> * http://www.inf.utfsm.cl/cgi-bin/figlet/
> * http://saigon.mit.edu/dinhyen/figlet/figlet.html
> * http://www.mediacube.de/cgi-bin/moniteurs/figlet/
> * http://www.sconnect.net/figlet/index.cgi
> * http://boulder.Colorado.EDU/~kai/figlet.html
> * http://www.ifi.unizh.ch/cgi-bin/bwagner/FIGLET/figlet.pl
> * http://www.se.cuhk.edu.hk/~mcchau3/cgi-bin/express.html
> * http://www.webserve.com/gateways/figletgateway.pl
> (Thanks to Shimrod and Veronica Karlsson for the original list.)
> 
> If Figlet doesn't produce the kind of results you want, THEN you can
> post to alt.ascii-art with your request. Make sure that you include:
> * the fact that you have already tried Figlet, or don't have access to
>   it (otherwise any replies you get will probably just tell you to use
>   it)

quite right! I send out about 2-5 copies of my standard "USE FIGLET!"
letter every day...

> * a description of the kind of lettering you want, along with any other
>   symbols or logos which you would like incorporated into it.
> 

Try to add good descriptions to _any_ requests!

> 7   Can someone convert this picture to ASCII, please?
> ======================================================
> 
> Probably not, for the same reason as question 6: there is a computer
> program that does it. Well actually, several programs, with names like
> ascgif, gifa, gifscii, and gif2ascii. Do a Web search for any of these
> programs to find places where you can download them.
> 

I disagree! You are confusing two questions here:

  7a:  Can somebody tell me where to find a gif-to-ascii converter?

  7b:  Can somebody draw an ascii version of this picture?

(there is a difference!)

I strongly suggest that you don't put your answer quite the way you did!
It looks as if you _recommend_ using those programs... (I assume that
you do not!) The first question should be answered by giving a couple of
URLs and a comment saying that THE RESULT OF THOSE PROGRAMS USUALLY
SUCKS! The second question is welcome to the group and often seen as a
challenge, certainly not as an insult, since it clearly shows that the
person in question has understood that in this case the computer just
isn't up to it...


> 8   Can someone draw me a ...
> =============================
> 

Also note that this is not the same as question 7b above. Question 7b
asks for an ascii version of a specific picture, question 8 just asks
for an object, with more or less clear wishes of how it should look...

> Yes, if we find it interesting. Give your request the subject `REQ:
> xyz' if you're looking for a picture of an xyz, then in the message
> describe more exactly what you're looking for.

Very important point! A vague description typically generates vague
responses...

> Generally, the more
> specific you are, the more likely you are to get someone to draw what
> you want: if you just say something like `can someone draw me a fish'


sure:  <><

(typical answer to typical question, yes, we've heard it before)

> then you're not likely to get many replies,

Or you may get a whole bunch of them.... only not the way you intended
it to be...

> because people won't be
> sure whether or not they're wasting their time by drawing something you
> won't want. If you don't have Web access, mention this fact, otherwise
> you may get replies consisting of URLs (Web addresses) which contain
> the kind of pictures you're looking for.
> 
> 9   Can I copy this ASCII picture?
> ==================================
> 
> Generally, yes. ASCII art is unlike most other forms of art, in that
> most ASCII artists don't mind if you copy it. There are a few important
> conditions, however.
> *   If the picture contains a few letters in one corner which don't
>     seem to be part of the picture, they're the artist's initials. DO
>     NOT remove these initials -- would you cut away the part of a Van
>     Gogh containing his name? Leaving the initials on is a small price
>     to pay for being able to use the picture for free.
> *   If you're going to use a picture in your signature file, or in a
>     place (such as a log-in screen) which means you're going to be using
>     it a lot, you should really e-mail the artist (or post to the
>     newsgroup, if you don't know their address) and ask for permission,
>     because otherwise people may get the mistaken impression that you
>     were the one who drew the picture.
> 

*yawn!*  (yes, I know, some people are very sensitive about this, humour
them, leave their initials alone!)

> 10  What should I know about signature files?
> =============================================
> 

(considering that most people come _to_ aaa looking for sigs....)

> A signature file (or sig for short) is a small text file which an e-mail
> program adds to the end of every e-mail you send -- the equivalent of a
> letterhead for dead-tree (paper) mail. Usually it contains little more
> than the person's name, organization, and e-mail address, and an
> inspirational quote of some sort: but some people like to incorporate
> ASCII art into their signature files as well.
> 

(how about a link to some page with lots of examples here...?)

> The biggest problem that this causes is the number of lines that the
> signature file takes up. This is a topic which, despite its lack of
> importance in relation to global warming, violence in society, and so
> on, can be the subject of heated arguments. To summarize, (almost)
> no-one will complain if your signature file is four lines long or fewer
> -- and it is quite possible to do a reasonably good ASCII picture which
> is that small.

It is quite possible, but also quite difficult, to do some bloody good
ascii art that is that small!

Here are a couple of examples (most of them NOT made by me):

@
`\_
 )(
(_')      a rose in a vase



   /\.
  /  \`.
 /    \ `.
/_KCK__\/


       []___
      /    /\____
(~)  /_/\_//____/\
 |   | || |||__|||

  []___
 /    /\
/____/__\
|[][]||||


 ,-.  Life keeps rolling along......
( O )` ~ - . _ . - ~ ` ~ - . _ . - ~ ` ~ -
|`-'|   :    :    :    :   :    :    :   :
|   |   :    :    :    :   :    :    :   :
 `-'` ~ - . _'. - ~ ` ~ - .'_ . - ~ ` ~ -
Clyde W. Watson, cly...@baynetworks.com


             _                                      _
        ~0  (_|  . - ' - . _ . - ' - . _ . - ' - . |_)  O
       |(_~|^~~|                                  |~~^|~_)|
       TT/_ T"T                                    T"T _\HH
jgs



\ | /
 ( ):O=
/ | \

  __   __   __
 (..) (..) (..)
  HH   HH   HH

Here's three little skulls...


    __!__
 -----o-----
     " "
                                 
                                         ------+------
>>> Your message goes here >>>----------@xxxxxX|(_)
                                             -------'



   -----|-----
*>=====[_]L)
      -'-`-\


                                      |\             
  O                         __________|_\______      
  \_.______________________| * * * * * * * * */      
 __\____                   |=================/


>    _<_            -1
>   (_|_(           -2
> \-._|_,-,         -3
>  `-----'          -4

-mark zen-                 o,    o__              o_/|   o_.
                         </     [\/              [\_|   [\_\
                      (`-/-------/----')      (`----|-------\-')
                 ~~~~~~~@~~~~~~~@~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~@~~~~~~~~@~~~~~~~~


   __o __o __o __o __o __o __o __o __o __o __o __o __o __o __o __o
  -\<,-\<,-\<,-\<,-\<,-\<,-\<,-\<,-\<,-\<,-\<,-\<,-\<,-\<,-\<,-\<,
(_)/---/---/---/---/---/---/---/---/---/---/---/---/---/---/---/(_)


            o       _      _          _
   _o      /\_    _ \\o   (_)\__/o   (_)
 _< \_    _>(_)  (_)/<_     \_| \    _|/' \/
(_)>(_)  (_)         (_)    (_)     (_)'  _\o_



                 __o      __o      o         __o        ,__o      o__,
     __ -_     _ \<_     -\<,    _/\_>     _`\<,_     _-\_<,      ,>_/-_
((( (_)T(_)   (_)/(_)   O / O   O,> / O   (*)/ (*)   (*)/'(*)   
(*)`\(*)


                  ___0              -----( Bad doggy!  Go home!  Shoo!)
    ,___o       _-\_<,
  ___>_>_______(*)/'(*)______   




      ___   o
     ___  </v                      __________  __o __o
    ___   -\           ciao      __________   -\<,-\<,
           /                      ..........(_)/---/(_)..


a sig sized Harley

         _
    .-.-.=\-.
    (_)=='(_)

jgs


I put a driver onto it:

   @  _
.-.O_~=\-.
(_)= l'(_)


Curd Reinert

this is a car:

 .--.  
'o--o' 


       _____,_                __________  __,_
------ |  +  |\__       ----- | ||||||| | | |_|
 ----- | _   ' _ |       ---- |  _ . _. |_|tre|
   --- `(o)---(o)'        --- `-(o)-(o)----(o)'




        __---_
    ,-~~ ;----;---~~-_
    `~(_)-'---'---(_)-~

        _---_
    _-~~;----;---~~-_
   ~-(_)-'---'---(_)-~
                       dr

Enterprise, small:

===_=*=

Enterprise, really small:


=_-



   .oooO  Oooo.
   ( ( )  ( ) )
    \ (    ) /
     \_)  (_/


      _   _
     / ) ( \
    / (   ) \
   ( ( ) ( ) )          
   `oooO Oooo'


           _   _
   .oooO  / ) ( \  Oooo.
   (   ) / (  )  \ (   )
    \ ( (   ) (   ) ) /
 ----\_).oooO-Oooo.(_/----


|P  \/  L|
|L  ||  O|
|A (||) U|
|Y (__) D|


___________/|
 (__|||__) \|



 __________/|                         |\__________
(_|__|_____\|________         ________|/_____|__|_)
      |_|____________)-     -(____________|_|




\____________     \______;;;____
/    (_(__)       /    (_|||_)
                         '''

kamera

 _
o_]
 /\


-=[ safety pin ]=-  1/97
      ________
jgs  (c_{____()


-=[ hammer ]=-  7/97
     ,
    /(  ___________
   |  >:===========`
    )(
jgs ""


Sven Guckes guc...@math.fu-berlin.de
(`i
  |
~~~~~~


Typerwiter

        //
    /~~~(O)
  /       |
(_________|


.d888b.
8888888
8888888>               ____
`Y888P' `=-=-=-=-=-=-<|____|


      _ _ _ _                     _ _ _ _             Armando Frazao
  ___| | | | |___     . ,     ___| | | | |___            --*--*--
 |___| | | | |___X=-=-=X=-=-=X___| | | | |___|    l33...@alfa.ist.utl.pt
Seal `-'_|_|='/       ' `       \`=|_|_`-'   
http://alfa.ist.utl.pt/~l33812


,____,                 '===='
//'         or         //'    dis...@nunic.nu.edu (David S. Issel)
~                      ~

_________________________________________________||__________
\_`----------------------------------------,     ]|//////////!|
  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~||~~~~~~~~~~


a poodle

*     v
 \ _ ('_.
  ( )( )
  (\  ))    - a:f -

Not a poodle
      _
( ___('_.
 ( __ )
 || ||    - a:f/VK -



       .--.
      /X  | _o.----.    _
     /\_  \/ /  __  \_// )
jgs  \__)-/_/\_____)____/

very sick puppy

another poodle


=\__!
  ! !

^..^      /
/_/\_____/
   /\   /\
  /  \ /  \


  __
 /  \|\/|
|\|  / ..__.
|/|\-\____/ &  Fox sniffing a bug.



|\_/|,,_____,'~\
(. .)~~     )\  )
 \o/\ /---~\\(  )
   _//    _// \/
Alexander Fetke




           ,,==/,==/
      _ __// /\|  \|
  ,;`( )__, )__~ ) ~
 //  //   '--; '--;
 '   \     |\   |



       _ ____
     /( ) _   \
    / //   /\` \,  ||--||--||-
      \|   |/  \|  ||--||--||-
~^~^~^~~^~~~^~~^^~^^^^^^^^^^^^



                         ,--,
      |__          _ ___/ /\|
   :__|_|__/  __ ;( )__, )
   /-\|__/-\_/  ; //   '--;
   \'/   \'/      \     |
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^


              ,--,                    ,--,
        _ ___/ /\|              _ ___/ /\|
    ,;`( )__, )             ,;`( )__, )
   //  //   '--;           //  //   '--;
   '   \     |             '   \     |




,~~_
|/\ =_ _ ~
 _( )_( )\~~
 \,\  _|\ \~~~
    \`   \
    `    `

((^--__
| /\  --___ __
   (  /  \  ) \\
   / |~~~~/  \  \\
 /    \ /      \

 ,
/,`\
` | \____\\
 _(      ) \
 \-\~~~_|\  \
    \ `   \  `
    `     `

        _       _       _       _       _       _       _       _
     _-(_)-  _-(_)-  _-(_)-  _-(")-  _-(_)-  _-(_)-  _-(_)-  _-(_)-
   `(___)  `(___)  `(___)  `%%%%%  `(___)  `(___)  `(___)  `(___)
jgs // \\   // \\   // \\   // \\   // \\   // \\   // \\   // \\



-=[ teddy bears - 4 lines ]=-  1/97

    ()=()   ()-()   ()=()   ()-()
    ('Y')   (':')   (^;^)   ('&')
    q . p   d . b   C   C   c . c
jgs ()_()   ()_()   ()_()   ()=()

   .  .   .  .
 .      .      .
.    {~._.~}    .
.     ( Y )     .   GREETINGS AND HUGS,
 .   ()~*~()   .    JUST FOR YOU!
   . (_)-(_) .
     .     .
        .



tiny koalas:

      "@"
gpyy  (_3

      "@"
gpyy  E_)



    \  |
     \/
  *(  )
   x== KCK




/\   /\    FOUR LINE BUNNY
\ \_/ /
 (`Y')     Found in the .sig of ...
()~*~()    The Exogenous One <bga...@uoguelph.ca>
(_)-(_)    Credited to 'Schoen' (?)



 \
  \ /\
  ( )
.( o ).


    ,_,
&,  ( )      Incomplete, faceless squirrel
 & / ,,
 &(_),_)
              -Alison Rosenstengel-


And here's a piggie (in the mud):

^..^__)~


^-^-^-@@-^-^-^          pla...@cww.de
     (..)-----;
        ||---||    ...in der Gruppe mit dem Elch.
        ^^   ^^

Here is an elk I did last year:

    {__}
     \/_____!
       \----|
ejm96  /|   |\



      Y-
     /-
    / )
 \_/\L_,
Shaun
Kolomeitz



> I need ascii pictures of Elephants, any size.
     __
 .--()'.'
'|, . ,'    here's a little one...
 !_-(_\




()-()
 \"/
  `

 _    _
(_}oo{_)
  >*<_)_______@
  "~" "
    miK


        _
       (c).-.
jgs .-" , _( )____)

               _
           .-.(c)
jgs (_____( )  , "-.
           `~  ~""`

       _    __
      (,).-"  ".
jgs  /',  _ (   )________,
     `^'"` """"'`


 ()()         ____
 (..)        /|o  |
 /\/\       /o|  o|
c\db/o...  /o_|_o_|   -Row


z                                  //////////////_               the
   Z   O               __\\\\@   //^^        _-    \///////    sleeping
Z    z   o       _____((_     \-/ ____/ /   <   < \\       >     ant
           o    0__________\\\---//____/----//__|-^\\\\\\\\     eater

skunk


       _-,
      (((
 -^/====\)
`~~>>-->/>

  _
='o)
 )(__
(___/   cr

Here's a duck w/ ducklings on a canal:

   ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    <`)_,
    (~___}  & & & & & & & & & &
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
David Riley


>o)
(_>   (a little rubber-ducky-looking one)

<o)
(_>   (keeping it's mouth shut)


      (o_  ingrid  _o)
   \\\_\  dombrower /_///
~~~<____)~~~~~~~~~~(____>~~~


>o)
 ( \


   _
 ('v')
 (   )   "Birdie"
~/'~'~~




                                                         v
 .-=-.    .-=-,    .-=-,     (^)      -@)      (@<      ( )      (@<
(     )  (  ,' )  (  ,^ )  (`\~/')  (\(~)/)  (\(~)/)  (\(~)/)   (< )
 ~-=-~    ~-=-~    ~-=-~    ~-=-~    ~-=-~    ~-=-~    ~-=-~     ^^


(o_   /       |  /\
 |   /        | |__|
//\-X         X--/\\
V_/_            _\_V

luke           darthvader
skypenguin     penguin



       (o_
(o_    //\
(/)_   V_/_


Swans
_o)
 /_///
(____>
         (o_
  c_  \\\_\
\\)   <____)




 >O__/  \__O<  cluck, cluck.
   \/    \/
   ""    ""
 -Joe Rumsey-


 _
<o)
(W(_
^^\<

From: Jiri Matejicek <jma...@ic.sunysb.edu>

    ___
 __/o  \
/__     \
   \/\/\/                               'bald eagle'


     ()-()
   .-(___)-.
    _<   >_
jgs \/   \/




  @..@
 (----)
( >__< )
^^ ~~ ^^


                 __
     _______    /*_>-<
 ___/ _____ \__/ /
<____/     \____/
Valerie Haecky


                  ___     ____________
             <<<((__O\   (__<>___<>__ \   ____     Don't get rattled by
                    \ \_(__<>___<>__)\O\_/O___>-<  what I say. It's just
-Steven Whatley-     \O__<>___<>___<>)\___/        my opinion.




      _
     /_\    Y
7   // \\  ( )
\\_//   \\_//
 \_/     \_/




turtles


 .''''.  _
/_____ \/'|
||    ||-`




        .-""""-,
       / \____/ \_.99
    (_/__/____\_(____)
jgs   //_//    \\_\



 //_____ __
@ )====// .\___
\#\_\__(_/_\\_/
  / /       \\

Jiri Matejicek




       (\"/)
       (/|\)
         |
ejm97    |


           ()
ejm97   =====:
           ()


           ()
ejm97   -----%
           ()



There is also this very elegant two line

    ==|==
      |              dragonfly by xemu



 ||  ||
 \\()//
//(__)\\
||    ||



-=[ fly ]=-  2/97

    ._q0p_.
    '=(_)='
     / V \
jgs (_/^\_)



(\o/)
(/|\)



           .-~-.   oo    OO  .-~-.
          (  .  \_//     ||_/ ,'  )
_@"      .-'-'     \     |     `-' '-.
        ~~~~~~~~~~~~     ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



  Stefan Schubert                            _../|_
  student of computer science              ='__   _~-.
  email: sch...@cs.bonn.edu                   \'  ~-`\._
  www  : http://titan.cs.bonn.edu/~schubert            |/~`


>
>
>        .           (!)
>  \_____)\_____    /
>  /--v____ __\`)  O______
>          )/     _//  \_ `
>          '       '     `
>
> (I wonder if the shark is hungry...)
>
>               (yum!)
>        .     /
>  \_____)\_____
>  /--v____ __`<______
>          )/ _//  \_ `
>          '   '     `
>
>               (mmm!)
>        .     /
>  \_____)\_____
>  /--v____ __\`)
>          )/ /\_
>          '  \  `
>             '
>
>               (burp!)
>        .     /
>  \_____)\_____
>  /--v____ __`<
>          )/
>          '
>
>

               (Boy, do I have gas)
        .     /
  \_____)\_____
  /--v_O--___`<
          )/
          '

Geni



^'-._.-'^'-._.-'^'-._.-'^'-._.-'^'-._.-'^'-._.-'^'-._.-'^'-._.-'^'-._.-'
                      0             .
        VROOOOOM!!!     00o    \____|\___
    00000    ooooo    Ooo oo   /--._____.`>
        oooooooooooooOOO              )/
                                      '

Dave Bird




*Geni* <77f...@weirdness.com> wrote:
>
>                (Boy, do I have gas)
>         .     /
>   \_____)\_____
>   /--v_O--___`<
>           )/
>           '

...leaving out the obvious:

  o
   o            (Boy, do I have gas)
  o      .     /
   \_____)\_____
   /--v_O--___`<
           )/
           '


(/)     (\)
 '.,--./
  ,'.__.'-      crabe = crab!
   '    '



:,  ..^...
: ;'   ((*'......
:' '......'


-=[ 4 line bats ]=-  9/97

        _   ,_,   _
       / `'=) (='` \
      /.-.-.\ /.-.-.\
jgs   `      "      `


       (_    ,_,    _)
       / `'--) (--'` \
      /  _,-'\_/'-,_  \
jgs  /.-'     "     '-.\



^*^       ^*^
    ^*^
^*^    ^*^

bats


Small dragons
  _a' /(     ,>
~~_}\ \(    (
     \(,_(,)'
      _>, _>,

>~,
   \'^;
    "`~~>

                ,  /(/(
   o_______ ** }=\,\(,!,,
,,<0,,,/-         {___(_\\
'>>L >>           ,)  ,/ ``==>


          ,   /(
 o     **}=\\,\(,,
<O---       (___(_\\
/ >        ,)   ,/ ``==>


  /\_./o__          __o\._/\
 (/^/(_^^'  Art by  '^^_)\^\)
._.(_.)_   Gunnar Z.  _(._)._.


       )\)\  ,              ,  /(/(
     ,,!,)/,/={ ~       ** }=\,\(,!,
    //_)___)     Art by       {___(_\
>=='' \,   (,  Belinda Asbell ,)  ,/ `-->


 ,>   )\ `a_             _a' /(
(  _  )/ /{_ ~~       ~~ _}\ \(  -
 `(,)_,)/       Art by      \(,_(,\\
  ,<_ ,<_.   Richard Kirk   ._>, _>,``==>


Two-Line Ascii-Art:
-------------------
 Oo   o=     .       ,S     (v)        o..o   |UU|UUU|UU|UUU|
d_L  >v)  >(v<       4       =         (\/)S  |||||||||||||||
dog, duck, fish, flamingo, light bulb, mouse, keyboard

Three-Line Ascii-Art:
---------------------

):X  ]:o_    /     >: o    8:X   ((((     (:XC    |\__      |\___
(_|   |O =  (: op   \\_/\  (_|  ( )(:[    | v|  (:> __)X  (:o ___(
 )    |_o=   \      |  |\   6    ((((      \_|    |/        |/
cat, cow,   dog,   horse, mouse, spider, walrus, penguin,  ghost,

  ____  _    /(_M_)\    /~(_)~\
66    \/ /  (  _ _  )  (  :=:  =====II
=-_\/_/\_\   \( V )/    \_(~)_/
fish,       bat signal,    violin

Four-Line Ascii-Art:
--------------------
ooooO Ooooo   _____      Y     \~~~\         _____        _____
(   ) (   )  |==   |   (:'     /|~~/|     oo/><><>\   ^..^     \9
)  (   )  (  |  o. |    ))    |~~~|?|    ( -)><><><>  (oo)_____/
(__)   (__)  |__O__|   ((     |___|/       L|_|L|_|`     WW  WW
feet,     5.25" disk, snake, anything box,  turtle,       pig
Randy Ransom - (v) ran(dy+som)


        __            o
    ___|[]|      ___ o    ^. .^
\__|______|   |\/  o\ o   ( @ )
/-(o_o_o_o)   |/\___/       c




  @..@        |\__/|        ,,///;,   ,;/
 (\--/)       /     \      o:::::::;;///
(.>__<.)     /_.~ ~,_\    >::::::::;;\\\
^^^  ^^^        \@/  fox   ''\\\\\'" ';\ fish
frog
All by Donna Shepherd.


  __         ___      ___   _/'     Name:    Conrad "Lynx" Wong
 /  \      _/   \----'   \-' O`-g   Address: 28368 Christopher's Lane
|    |    / > __/_   / __/_`,  _|            Los Altos Hills, CA 94022
      \__/  \____\`--\____\ ;/'     E-mail:  lyn...@netcom.com


      Donna             /\_/\       Frankfort, Indiana
Frankfort, Indiana     { . . }      ICQ Member #878916
-------------------oQQ->{_^_}<-QQo----------------------
PURRRRRRRRR               U


  /|/|
 /66 |
=-"-=|___
|n_n|____=


/\___/\
\ -.- /
`-.^.-'
  /"\

Al Tinsley


\|/>
>:
/|\>


 /\_/\
( o.o )
 > ^ <
Unknown


 /\_/\
( o o )
==_Y_==
  `-'


\o|o/
=_v_=
m   m


_,,/|
\o o'
=_~_=


    \    /\
     )  ( ')
    (  /  )
jgs  \(__)|


        kimya

  |\
  /,^.,-"""-,
.!,4   , ,_, )
`--^cc-cc(__.'


          .^-^;
          (';')___ (
          _) _ , _ )
         '--'--''--`

Shanaka Dias


     )\._.,--....,'``.
    /,   _.. \   _\  ;`._ ,.
fL `._.-(,_..'--(,_..'`-.;.'

   )\     _. - ._.)
  /. `- '  (  `--'
  `- , ) -  > ) \
fL  (.' \) (.' -'



  |\      _,,,---,,_
  /,`.-'`'    -.  ;-;;,_
 |,4-  ) )-,_..;\ (  `'-'
'---''(_/--'  `-'\_)  fL


                
         |\_/|  
   _____/ - - \ 
 /~____ \ ="= / 
(______)____)_) 



===%^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
         /\  /\

         llizard
by8...@freenet.toronto.on.ca

(YES! Its _the_ original llizard!)


(and a less original one:)


Sven Guckes                          /| <- White
                      ,^            / |    Shark
~~~===%^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^'~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
          "    "        guc...@math.fu-berlin.de




                                         ,^
                  -----%^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
               *burp* /    "    "
                     /

            ha                           ,^
               ha  -----%^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
                ha ha /    "    "
                     /



               (   )   (               
     ----%^^\_____________^^^\         
 O______/__\              /   ^        
       /    \____________/             



           /| o
          /_|=/
ejm 97   /__|<\
          ======



   !!!

^^^^%---
 "   \ yikes!


  !!!
        ha
^^^^%---  ha
 "   \ ha



^^^^=---
 "   \ exhausted....


                      |\  |
^^^^%---   _  \    /  | \ |
 "   \ Y  /-\  \/\/   |  \|


       !        z
       |.^=--- z       !
       |<_ \z________..|
ejm97  |  ||:::::::::::|


a pie:

        ~^^~~~~~^^^~~^^~~^
       <vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv>
ejm96   \________________/



        ._,_,
      ,/'`'=.    ().-=-.()
      c _','|     |=. .=|
   jgs \\_//     (  _0_  )
        `"`       `"""""`


          
               (.|.)
                ).(
               ( v )
                \|/

   (.)(.)
    ) .(
   (  v )
    \ |/


        |5>         O
        |           /\
        |          % /|
ejm/vk  |       o,/ / |


        |5>        O
        |          /\
        |         % /|
ejm/vk  |o......,/ / |



,_____,_____,    6 __
T\  :.      .^\,_/_\_I_
I ^T=====;=====T   /|   -Dylan Parker-
   I           I _|_|


  

      O
     /|\    (me kissing your feet!)
  __  |
_/ (Q/|

     

    o     o
   /A\   /T\
   / \   / \
   Ann & Tim



    ,_ o                                                              \
   /  //\,          o         o_    \ >        __o                  
o/\_
     \>> |         /~>       <| '  ,_|       _'\<,_        _       
<\__,\
      \\,       o...(\       / >     o)     (_)/_(_)     ___\o_     
"\,  |
                                                         ~~~~~~


. o        c ,
`'#v--  --v#`'
 /'>      <`\


  O       \/
 #|_     (_|
_###\.___| |


  o   \ o /  _ o         __|    \ /    |_
 /|\    |     /\   ___\o   \o    |    o/             SPLAT!!
 / \   / \   | \  /)  |    ( \  /o\  / )   \o/__|/
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  ___
 / _ \  ___ __ _   /~~~~)
|  _  |(_-</ _` |  C--00
|_| |_|/__/\__,_|  \___/



 o      o     o    o     o    <o     <o>    o>    o
.|.    \|.   \|/   //    X     \      |    <|    <|>
 /\     >\   /<    >\   /<     >\    /<     >\   /<


Mr. Asciihead learns the Macarena.


        ___
o) _,  /| o\  ,_ (o
/\/   |  \  |   \/\
 (     \o_|/     )
 '               `


Doing GYMNASTICS:
 o   \ o /  _ o         __|    \ /     |__        o _  \ o /   o
/|\    |     /\   ___\o   \o    |    o/    o/__   /\     |    /|\
/ \   / \   | \  /)  |    ( \  /o\  / )    |  (\  / |   / \   / \


                   a cartwheel
                                                       /
 _o    o/     \o_          \ /    __ __o   |o  \__/o  |   o____  _o   
o/
__|-   |__  __/    \__/o    |    /     |   /          o\  /        \   |
   >   |      >    /  \    /o\  o|    <<  |                       <<  <
\


                   a flip
  o/   o/   o__         /    __ __   \          |    o/   o/
  |  __|  \/    \ __o  / \o    |o    /\   __|  o\ /  |__  |
 /|    |   |     |  \     \    |    |o   /o |    |   |    |\


                    jumping head over heals
 \o __o   o   o   \o   |o    |o  >>     /\/  o__  _o   o/
  |   |  /|   |\   |   /   /|/    \|o  o\    |  \   \  |
  |   |  <<  <<   <<  |                            << < \

HANDSTAND
\ /
 |
/o\

EXTRA STUFF
Riding a motorcycle (or a girl in a dress)
    O
   /Y\
  o/_\o
   _W_

look mom no legs!
  O_/
_/|

Darth Vader and Luke go at it!
     A /  \  o
    /</    \/|>
   / \       /\
__/___\______\ \____


                       (*)
   __o    (*)|-__o-     --+ --|      \ /      |__           o -   \o/   
o
 _`\<,_     --/  \      @\|   \o      |     o/     o/---    /\     |   
/|\
(*)/ (*)     (*)       (*)`   ( \    /o\   / )     |   (\   / |   / \  
/ \


( ! )
    `
      O    ( ? )
     /\__O '
     > > \



   |
___O___
 \/|\/
  //
  \\
   |


 8           //   =          /\   -,         --->         8//=/\-,

 ^           ^    ^          ^     ^
the heads   arms  bodies   legs   feet


_       .,
 `\.____|_\
   \______/
    (_)(_)


A guy laying on his back

     / \
    / /\ \ ___nn_  ,,_|\_
,--/-/   \ ___\ \_)=\,_o_\\\.


SITTING on a fence
           o
          /|\
=|===|===|(=)|===|===
=|===|===|`='|===|===




 _ _  Love me forever
( Y ) or not at all.
 `v'



>----(^_^)----<

VK


>  /\/\
>  \  /
>   \/

1 _ _
2( " )
3 `.'


.-.-.
`. .'
  `

 _ _
( Y )
 \ /
  `


barbwire :

       /            /            /             /            /
======\\\\=========\\\\=========\\\\==========\\\\=========\\\\===
        /            /            /             /            /


        \  /    \  /    \  /    \  /    \  /    \  /    \  / cut here
---------\\\-----\\\-----\\\-----\\\-----\\\-----\\\-----\\\---------
cut here /  \    /  \    /  \    /  \    /  \    /  \    /  \



   O
  <\==-   -   - -   -  -  - ---
 ./ \                            _/\_\O



 ||o||
 | \||
 |___|
 |-O-|

Karl


          ,
       ___)\
      (_____)
 jgs (_______)



> Some e-mail programs don't allow you to have one which is
> longer than four lines, while others just complain: for example,
> Netscape Mail warns you every time you write a message if your
> signature file is longer than four lines (although if it's five lines
> and the first starts with --, then that's ok).

No, Netscape mail warns you the first time you try to use a sig longer
than four lines! It does not warn a second time about the same sig.

> Five or six lines is
> *usually* acceptable, but any longer, and you're starting to take the
> risk that your signature will be longer than some of your e-mail
> messages; this wouldn't really be acceptable on paper, so it doesn't
> really make sense in cyberspace either. The exception is in messages
> posted to alt.ascii-art -- we're used to seeing long sigs, so we won't
> complain.
> 

hehe, don't say that, here's one of my sigs:



        ../MMMMMMM\            __      __       _  __
     ./MMMMMMMMMMMMM\          \ \    / /      | |/ /
   /MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM\          \ \  / /       | ' /
  /MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM\          \ \/ /        |  <
 /MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM\          \  / eronica | . \ arlsson
|MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM           \/          |_|\_\
|MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM
 |MMM/.......\MMMMMMMMMM|
  \ ".........\MMMMMMM-"|      e93...@sm.luth.se
   ) ".. ___..   \MM/..||      http://www.ludd.luth.se/~vk/
   . _./||||      \\.I.|:\
    \||||HHH:::`.....(::..\    
     `||HH:::::............\   	
      ||:.:::::: .......|...\
      ||') .::::..............:\_____
        \`  ::)..... /|. |......      `   __
          //::::::. /:||\:........-.......:::|\
           \ \::: /::|::|:::/............  ...:|\
           /-----:::|...:|\|.............    ..:|
          /...:.-::- ......\:............    ...:\
        /    ................\:..................:|
       /   _ .................\.................:||
    _/    .....................:.............\:: :|\
   / ...........................\........  ..::::::|\
  / .......   ...................\......   ..::|:.::|\
 /  ......     ..................:...     ...::....|||
/  .::....  ......   .............\..    ....::|...|::\
|  :::...  ........       . ......:  ....   :M@|.....:|\
| .::: ..... |:: .....       ..... .L\:::|||||||......:|\
| .:::......:|:::::....      .... /... .\::|||:/|`.....:|
| .:::....:::||::::::::::'..... /..... ...:: :(||:'  `...\
`| .::: ::: ||||:::V@K:|||||:/.     ..  :::  :|| \::::...|
 |\:::.     |||||||||||||::/.   :    |.. . ...:|\ \:::`...\
 |.\:::.   .|\|||:::::.......  ::.   |..  ..::|| \ \:/.....\
 :.:.::..  .| \|| :::::....\:.. .. : .\...::||:| |  / .....|
/.::.....  .|`  \|::::::....\:||..  ..|...|: .:| |    .....:\
|||: .... ..| \   \:.::::...   .||||||:\..   .:| |   \... ..|
|||: ...  ..|  \    \::::`...  .       :\.   .:. |    \..  .|
|||::...... /    \   \:::: ..    :     .:\  .::.\ \    .   .:\
| ||:.......'     `\  :::'...: ||. :   .:| .::.|.\ \   |  . .|
| .::......|        \ \.:...:. |.:||||| .::....|..\ `  |.  ..|
| . .  . ..|         | :.:.:... |.:     .( ....:|.\  | |.....|
| ::.  \\..|         | :' .:... |:..    .... ...|..| |  :...|'
| |:.  .:.\|         |  :::.:... |::.  ........:|..| |  ....|
`||..\  \|:|          / \::: :\....||:...........|.| | :/  )|
 |||:.. .\:|         /   .|||:|\..................:| |:/ ./ |
 |:|::\  ..|        /   .|::|||:|\................:| |(::/..|
 | :::.\ ..|       '   .|::`:....:\..............|:|(. .|  \ \
 | :::..  ..|     |    ||:........:\.............|(:.\:.:\  \ |
 \ .|:..| ..|     |    |...........::............(:::::`  `\__|
 ` ::|:.|...|     |    \`..............:........ ::`\::::\::`)
  \ : |:|  ..|    |     :..............:...:||`/'  \::`\:::)
   \::..| ...|    |     :'...   .........:|/'       \:::)
   ||::.|....|    |     ::.... .......:|/'           |  \
    \|: \. ..|    |     :..... ...... /              |   \
     \|: \.  .    |    .:.....  .../               .|     \
      \|:'\   \   |    :...... .:/                 :|      |
      `.::-..  \  |   ........//                   .|      |
       \ ::..   '\___.:.....:/                     :|      |
        \\.....  ::..:`\. /'                      .|      /




> But no matter what the *length* of your signature, make sure it's fewer
> than 72 characters *wide*, otherwise it may end up a horrible mess --
> see Question 5.
> 
> 11  What happened to rec.arts.ascii?
> ====================================
> 
> rec.arts.ascii was a moderated newsgroup, meaning that all messages
> sent to the newsgroup had to pass through an intermediary who checked
> them for appropriateness before sending them to the newsgroup proper.
> 
> In the case of rec.arts.ascii, the moderator was Bob Allison (otherwise
> known as `Scarecrow'), and he retired from the job in November 1993.
> That's why there aren't any messages in the newsgroup any more.
> 


                                 _____  _____
                                <     `/     |
                                 >          (
                                |   _     _  |
                                |  |_) | |_) |
                                |  | \ | |   |
                                |            |
                 ______.______%_|            |__________  _____
               _/                                       \|     |
              |                 rec.arts.ascii                <
              |_____.-._________              ____/|___________|
                                |            |
                                |            |
                                |            |
                                |            |
                                |   _        <
                                |__/         |
                                 / `--.      |
                               %|            |%
                           |/.%%|          -< @%%%
                           `\%`@|     v      |@@%@%%    - mfj
                         .%%%@@@|%    |    % @@@%%@%%%%
                    _.%%%%%%@@@@@@%%_/%\_%@@%%@@@@@@@%%%%%%



> 12  Where can I find more ASCII art?
> ====================================
> 
> Lots of ASCII artists put up libraries of their own and others' ASCII
> art on their Web sites. Do a Web search for `ascii art', or see
> http://www.yahoo.com/Arts/Visual_Arts/Computer_Generated/ASCII_Art/.
> If you don't have Web access, well, just read this newsgroup! :-)
> 

I would recommend these lists of links:

http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/2695/links.htm
http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/8608/


Then there are the questions I suggested at the beginning:

13 Is there legal copyright problems when duplicating ASCII art?  
14 How do you make ascii animatons?
15 How do you make coloured ascii art?
16 Isn't a gif version better than just a "raw ascii" picture?
17 Does anybody have pictures of naked women/men in ascii?
18 Some other popular requests...

But I am NOT digging into these right now!

> THE END
> ----
> 
> Now it's not perfect, in particular Question 7 could have a bit more
> detail, and of course the `also available at' section needs filling in
> (my Web account is only allowed one page, alas, so I can't volunteer to
> host it). But I think it would result in fewer postings of those
> questions which are currently answered (ever so patiently) by Veronika
> et al. So perhaps the regulars (Joan, Veronika, Colin, Joris, llizard,
> and co) could post their suggestions, and then Colin could perhaps
> incorporate some of them and start posting this along with or instead of
> the existing FAQs -- I'd suggest the subject
> FAQs: About the alt.ascii-art newsgroup
> so that newbies are in no doubt as to what the message is for.
> 

but you have to make them understand that they should look at that
post... HOW?

-- 
     _    ____  _         _    _   _      _   _
__ _| |__/ __ \| |_  _ __| |__| | | |_  _| |_| |_    ___ ___
\ V / / / / _` | | || / _` / _` |_| | || |  _| ' \ _(_-</ -_)
 \_/|_\_\ \__,_|_|\_,_\__,_\__,_(_)_|\_,_|\__|_||_(_)__/\___|
         \____/             http://www.ludd.luth.se/~vk/news
   LIKE MY SIG? GO HERE: http://www.surfplaza.com/figlet/

llizard <cq5...@freent.toronto.on.ca> ASCII art 2 Nov 1997 00:00 · permalink
In article <345...@freent.toronto.on.ca>, llizard
<cq5...@freent.toronto.on.ca> wrote:
> 
> In article <345...@on.spammer>, Veronica Karlsson
> <dre...@on.spammer> wrote:
> >
> > Matthew Thomas wrote:
[snip]
> > > Have fun ...
>
>         ___    /     ha
>       _/   |   \,^%--- ha
>      |_____|    <_ \ ha   Whee!! I can't remember when I've had more
> fun!
>        --- ==   >/
>      [_____]  __>,^
> ejm97 |   |  //| |
.

          /\   ha
       ,^^,       ha
      < \  ^%--- ha
      <  \   \ ha     See? I had so much fun that
      < __               I cut myself in half!
    ^^ \ /
ejm97  /


NOTE: If you hit the reply button, add an "e" to the "freent";
its absense is to stop the torment of automatic mailers.
----
       ___         ha
     _/   |   ,^%--- ha    I guess I need a lesson in
    |_____| __<_ \ ha    following line length rules...
      --- ==  >/  
    [_____]__>,^ llizard aka ejm   cq5...@freenet.toronto.on.ca
ejm97|   |//| |   http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Studios/9334/

Randy Gardner <ran...@slip.net> ASCII art 2 Nov 1997 00:00 · permalink
Veronica Karlsson wrote:
> If you can come up with a completely fool-proof way to ensure that
> all new computer users get to know basic netiquette before jumping
> into the newsgropus then you deserve a Nobel Prise! What can you do
> more than present the FAQ(s) regularly and answer newbie questions
> as they do pop up? (please make suggestions! improve the situation,
> please!)

In news:alt.comp.hardware.homebuilt , we solved it by haveing a
cancelbot which will cancel a new persons posts until they inform
it that they have read the FAQ, sending them a copy every time
they try to post anything.  This way we are assured that all
posters have read the posting guidelines.

> "this is my first post ever" and "I wrote a new FAQ" in the same 
> post!? Prepare to be torn to pieces! :D:D:D:D:D:D

Now now...... :-)

If someone can go from nil to FAQ master in their first post,
it means one of two things:  1. smart.  2. lier.

> * Messages asking the same question somebody asked yesterday!
> 
> * Messages asking the same question somebody asked the day before
> yesterday!
>
> * Messages asking the same question somebody asked last week! (DO
> SOME DIGGING! USE DEJANEWS!)

*Messages asking what was asked in the post just above it!

> (Longer lines look more _impressive_....)

|iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii|
|MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM|
|These lines should all be the exact same lenth, if not, new font!

> > ASCII art can be drawn using any text editor, such as the Windows
> > or Macintosh Notepads, any of the various Emacs editors, BEd or AZ
> > on the Amiga, and so on. (Using a word processor to draw ASCII art
> > is like using a sledgehammer to crack a walnut -- it can be done,
> > but it is difficult to do properly.)

Not so, a good wordprocessor has many features not found in the
simpler ones, but just make sure you save it as ASCII text!

> how about "edit" in DOS...

I like DOS edit.


> (or just drawing it with a pen on a plastic bag... you don't have to
> have access to fantastic technology like photocopying to oh-philm...)

What?!?!?!  You mean I'm the only one who owns two copy machines?!?!?!
:D  C:  :D  C:  :D  C:  :D  C:  :D  C:  :D  C:  :D  C:  :D  C:  :D  C:


> 
>      3/1    2/1     1/1     2/3     1/2
> |    |      /      /      .'      .'
> |    |     |      /      /      .'
> |    /     /     /     .'     .'          1/3
> |   |     |     /     /     .'         .-'
> |   |     /    /    .'    .'        .-'
> |   /    |    /    /    .'       .-'       1/4
> |  |     /   /   .'   .'      .-'      _.-'
> |  |    |   /   /   .'     .-'     _.-'       1/5
> |  /    /  /  .'  .'    .-'    _.-'      _.--'
> | |    |  /  /  .'   .-'   _.-'     _.--'      1/6
> | |    / / .' .'  .-'  _.-'    _.--'    __.--'     1/7
> | |   | / / .' .-' _.-'   _.--'   __.--'    __..--'
>               _.-'  _.--'   __.--'   __..--'    1/8
>                _.--'  __.--'  __..--'   __..--''
>                 __.--' __..--'  __..--''
>                 __..--' __..--''
>                 __..--''
>                -------------------------- 0
> 

You forgot to label the first line, |.
It should be:

+oo or -oo

Also defined by x=0

5/1 4/1 3/1 2/1      1
 :   :   :   :       :
 :   :  :    :      :
 :  :   :   :      :
 :  :   :   :     :
 :  :  :   :     :
:   :  :   :    :
:  :   :  :    :
:  :  :   :   :
:  :  :  :   :
:  :  :  :  :


Note:  If you are sure of the font someone is going to view it with,
you can make better lines useing the horizontal posistions of the
charectors. As in some charectors are further left or right in
the same charactor box.

-- 


--ran...@slip.net
--Randy Gardner

Veronica Karlsson <dre...@on.spammer> ASCII art 2 Nov 1997 00:00 · permalink
Randy Gardner wrote:
> 
> Veronica Karlsson wrote:
> > If you can come up with a completely fool-proof way to ensure that
> > all new computer users get to know basic netiquette before jumping
> > into the newsgropus then you deserve a Nobel Prise! What can you do
> > more than present the FAQ(s) regularly and answer newbie questions
> > as they do pop up? (please make suggestions! improve the situation,
> > please!)
> 
> In news:alt.comp.hardware.homebuilt , we solved it by haveing a
> cancelbot which will cancel a new persons posts until they inform
> it that they have read the FAQ, sending them a copy every time
> they try to post anything.  This way we are assured that all
> posters have read the posting guidelines.
> 

I see two problems with this... One is that it sounds way too
complicated (it might work well for people who build their own hardware,
they are used to doing things the complicated way and enjoy that, people
who come here want to look at pictures, which requires a different
minimum level of patience...) and the other is that this might have
unwanted effects when people post with faked email addresses... (and I
know that *I* am NOT going to open my mailbox for another flood of spam
like I got when I posted from Dejanews a couple of weeks ago!!! quite
frankly I'd rather not post at all...)

> > "this is my first post ever" and "I wrote a new FAQ" in the same
> > post!? Prepare to be torn to pieces! :D:D:D:D:D:D
> 
> Now now...... :-)

What? Am I being too rough on him? I don't think so! :D:D::DD

> 
> If someone can go from nil to FAQ master in their first post,
> it means one of two things:  1. smart.  2. lier.
> 

Or 3. looking for attention... (or maybe this is a variation of 2, which
doesn�'t necessarily exclude 1?)

> > * Messages asking the same question somebody asked yesterday!
> >
> > * Messages asking the same question somebody asked the day before
> > yesterday!
> >
> > * Messages asking the same question somebody asked last week! (DO
> > SOME DIGGING! USE DEJANEWS!)
> 
> *Messages asking what was asked in the post just above it!
> 

:D:D:D  YES!

[ 8< ]
> > (or just drawing it with a pen on a plastic bag... you don't have to
> > have access to fantastic technology like photocopying to oh-philm...)
> 
> What?!?!?!  You mean I'm the only one who owns two copy machines?!?!?!
> :D  C:  :D  C:  :D  C:  :D  C:  :D  C:  :D  C:  :D  C:  :D  C:  :D  C:
> 

hehe, that and the fact that a plastic bag is _cheaper_...

> >
> >      3/1    2/1     1/1     2/3     1/2
> > |    |      /      /      .'      .'
> > |    |     |      /      /      .'
> > |    /     /     /     .'     .'          1/3
> > |   |     |     /     /     .'         .-'
> > |   |     /    /    .'    .'        .-'
> > |   /    |    /    /    .'       .-'       1/4
> > |  |     /   /   .'   .'      .-'      _.-'
> > |  |    |   /   /   .'     .-'     _.-'       1/5
> > |  /    /  /  .'  .'    .-'    _.-'      _.--'
> > | |    |  /  /  .'   .-'   _.-'     _.--'      1/6
> > | |    / / .' .'  .-'  _.-'    _.--'    __.--'     1/7
> > | |   | / / .' .-' _.-'   _.--'   __.--'    __..--'
> >               _.-'  _.--'   __.--'   __..--'    1/8
> >                _.--'  __.--'  __..--'   __..--''
> >                 __.--' __..--'  __..--''
> >                 __..--' __..--''
> >                 __..--''
> >                -------------------------- 0
> >
> 
> You forgot to label the first line, |.
> It should be:
> 
> +oo or -oo
> 

Really? I seem to remember all my math teachers calling that one
"undefined"...

> Also defined by x=0
> 

unless of course you turned it all around and made x=f(y), but then it
wouldn't make much sense compared to the other numbers and you would
still end up with one slope undefined (and no I will not take this math
discussion any further! this is alt.ascii-art not alt.math.nitpicking!)

> 5/1 4/1 3/1 2/1      1
>  :   :   :   :       :
>  :   :  :    :      :
>  :  :   :   :      :
>  :  :   :   :     :
>  :  :  :   :     :
> :   :  :   :    :
> :  :   :  :    :
> :  :  :   :   :
> :  :  :  :   :
> :  :  :  :  :
> 

interesting! :)

> Note:  If you are sure of the font someone is going to view it with,
> you can make better lines useing the horizontal posistions of the
> charectors. As in some charectors are further left or right in
> the same charactor box.
> 

I thought one of the basic ideas here was that you _don't_ know exactly
what font somebody is going to use, except that it has to be a
monospaced font...

-- 
     _    ____  _         _    _   _      _   _
__ _| |__/ __ \| |_  _ __| |__| | | |_  _| |_| |_    ___ ___
\ V / / / / _` | | || / _` / _` |_| | || |  _| ' \ _(_-</ -_)
 \_/|_\_\ \__,_|_|\_,_\__,_\__,_(_)_|\_,_|\__|_||_(_)__/\___|
         \____/             http://www.ludd.luth.se/~vk/news
   LIKE MY SIG? GO HERE: http://www.surfplaza.com/figlet/

Veronica Karlsson wrote:
> An idea: How about if "regular posters" here would have a link to the
> FAQ in their sigs... Something like that would show up quite quickly
> to somebody browsing around here and might attract some
> *curiosity*... (of course I am not saying "stop posting the faq",
> I'm saying "lets open many little roads to the faq") A bit like what
> I have in my sig right now (but with some text like "NEW TO ASCII
> ART? READ THE FAQ --> http://...").

I'l do that, now where should I make that http://... point to?
-- 


--ran...@slip.net
--Randy Gardner

In article <345...@on.spammer>, Veronica Karlsson
<dre...@on.spammer> wrote:
> 
> llizard wrote:
> >
> [ 8< ]
> > Well done, Matthew. I agree that it's time for a new set of FAQ, (not
> > that the ones Colin posts are no good; it just seems that people don't
> > even look at them.)
> >
> 
> I think THAT is the real problem...  :(
> 
> (as we can see all too clearly new people don't even bother to read
> through what happened here in the last two or three days before
> posting...)
> 
[snip]
> > I'd like to suggest the subject as being:
> >
> > "FAQs: So you're new to ascii-art..."
> 
> Two problems with that one... 1. it will disappear in the crowd (it will
> have to be "FAQs: SO YOU'RE NEW TO ASCII ART..." or it won't work) and
> 2. it's too long!

It's not really fair to say that people don't even bother reading what
was posted two or three days ago. My newsreader is expunging messages so
quickly that I can't really look at anything from two or three days ago.
Even though I don't exactly have the best ISP (still waiting for "the
envy of all newsreaders" to be installed), I think I'm seeing most of
the posts but only if I look *every* day.

Okay, so how about making the subject heading read:

*NEW* TO ASCII-ART? READ ME (FAQ)



NOTE: If you hit the reply button, add an "e" to the "freent";
its absense is to stop the torment of automatic mailers.
--
llizard aka ejm                                      ,^
cq5...@freenet.toronto.on.ca          ===%^^^^^^^^^^^^
www.geocities.com/SoHo/Studios/9334/       "    "

Andreas Freise <ad...@mpq.mpg.de> ASCII art 3 Nov 1997 00:00 · permalink
Veronica Karlsson wrote:
> 
> Matthew Thomas wrote:
> >
[snip]

Hey! Are you going for a record in monster replies? ;)
Since you seem to be hyper-active right now why don't
you just take that darn thing, change it as you like
and throw it back to us for further discussions?

I think that you've got some good points there, so why not
be nice and do the work too? 

> 
> --
>      _    ____  _         _    _   _      _   _
> __ _| |__/ __ \| |_  _ __| |__| | | |_  _| |_| |_    ___ ___
> \ V / / / / _` | | || / _` / _` |_| | || |  _| ' \ _(_-</ -_)
>  \_/|_\_\ \__,_|_|\_,_\__,_\__,_(_)_|\_,_|\__|_||_(_)__/\___|
>          \____/             http://www.ludd.luth.se/~vk/news
>    LIKE MY SIG? GO HERE: http://www.surfplaza.com/figlet/


:)
Andreas


 ..........
 :%:'   .    ,                                      .__o__.              
 ::      \_o_:                                         |                 
 :'        |      ASCII Dictionary                    < >               
 :        <'^\.                               ,.    / '`          :  
           `    .                           '    \ '              : 
                 `.   http://www.stud.uni-hannover.de/~freise    .:
                                                          ......:::

Zeus Simeoni <zeu...@umit.maine.edu> ASCII art 3 Nov 1997 00:00 · permalink
Well, my comments are just that I never really got around to reading the
whole of the last FAQ.  The main reason was that it was too long.  When
someone reads a FAQ, (at least when I am) I am not looking for how to
do absolutely everything that can be done. When I looked at the ASCII faq
I just wanted to know the basics, and I could not find them.  I don't 
know if this is already on there, and if it is, my compliments to the
chef, but perhaps a newbie faq in the beginning of the faq.  Or at least
some way for someone without a clue to look at the faq and be able to 
pick out the good parts, then read the rest when they figure out the 
basics. Just a thought, and as I said, for all I know, it has already 
been done.

-- 
   _____         _  _   _|\_,
   \  ..````----</ /(>  \_` a\_        /)               /|/\
    `\   ` ` `,  |/ /  ,/  ,-,,\      ( (             ,(  ` )  ,
      `\    .'.\ \ ||_/ /-/\\  `       )/   ,    (\   |\)  (   )\
       |  .'  . \ \L/  /-/  ` \\__  ,   ,  /(    ) )  (     \ /  )
       |_'   .   | `  /-|      \  \_)\ /( (  \   \(    )     V  (
         ```\___ `  \_L-=E,    |_)   /  __    _    __  _       _   __  _
               /   \_.-..=`      /   {``  ''`' } :` _`' } /`} | ; Z  `' \
 <``\         /    /--_/\       `)    `-''-,` /  | [_``` / (  ; ){  
{``)_)
  `\ |     _J`   .'-_,/\_``>    (/\      ,` ,`   }  _}   { :  | | `-,`-.
   | '._ -`    \/--_/    `-`       )   ,` ,` __  | (   _ : \_ / }/(  )  }
   `.   `   \   |_/               (   {_   `' _) <  `~~ | \_ ` / | `' _/
     '..../``> /`/                      `--'``    ``'--`    `-`   `-'`
             `\\\\ 
               w w     http://www.geocities.com/athens/parthenon/9573

Spunk1111 <spu...@aol.com> wrote:
> Is sig length really an issue on mailing lists and other USENET
> newsgroups?  I get email from lots of people-- and many have
> sigs over the 5-6 lines...
>   I know Sven would argue the strict 4 line max for sig...
> I am curious...  I truly think that sig length concern is
> fading on the internet...


My principle is don't include the sig with every post.  If you only post
it once a month to a given group, it can be any old size; if you post it
twice a day, even two lines can get real old real fast.

Nana <tss...@freenet.calgary.ab.ca> ASCII art 3 Nov 1997 00:00 · permalink

Ooooh, Calculus... I think I'll stick my nose in here and spew some
useless fact that likely nobody really cares about.

Technically it is true that the slope of a vertical line is undefined,
most math geeks say it has an infinite slope because...

   The formula for slope is   Rise    ( y / x )
                             ------
                              Run

So as x approaches 0, the slope gets larger and larger and larger, pretty
much going off to infinity... So while it is true that the slope of a
vertical line is undefined, the term "infinite slope" is used just to be
more specific...

I hope y'all were paying attention, there's going to be a quiz later...

   -Nana
                      ,=====================.
            ,x{{},    ||                   ||
  Ts97     {{))}oo    ||   Please read     ||
          x}}{}{{@    ||/'Chapters 3 & 4   ||
        {{}}{qq}"     /|  for next time!   ||
   x   {{{}{}QQqQQ"q/'||                   ||
   "Xx{{{}}}{}""     _||_____________==____||_   
     }{{QQq}}   
     {{QQQQ}     
      {}QQQ}    
       "{"Q       
         Qsq      


On Sun, 2 Nov 1997, Randy Gardner wrote:

> Randy Gardner wrote:
> > You forgot to label the first line, |.
> > It should be:
> > 
> > +oo or -oo
> > 
> > Also defined by x=0
> 
> Let me ammend to that:  a vertical line has an undefined slope,
> if you plot y as a function of x.  The formula of a vertical
> line is x=0, which is impossible with the standered y=mx+b.

Nana wrote:
> I hope y'all were paying attention, there's going to be a quiz 
> later...

Ohh!!  I love math tests! C:
-- 


--ran...@slip.net
--Randy Gardner



Brock Kevin Nambo <new...@earthling.net> wrote in article
<eMcDs8858GA.283@upnetnews03>...
> 
> Veronica Karlsson wrote in message <345...@on.spammer>...

> >The pund sign is a completely different, non-standard, character. (am I
> >missing something important here, or is Matthew missing something
> >important here?)

> That's odd.  "Hash" and "Pound" are both names for the tic-tac-toe board
> character "#".  (In obscure places--at least those obscure around
here--you
> may see "55 pounds" represented as "55#" (to be differentiated from
"#55",
> meaning "Number 55").) I seem to remember that odd British curly-L thing
> having a different name (which escapes me at present); I could be wrong
too,
> though.

The odd British curly-L thing is called a pound sign because it is the sign
used to denote the pound; the British unit of currency.  The only reason
the hash sign gets called the pound sign is because of the difference
between American-English and British-English keyboards.  The value (ANSI
13) used to represent the pound sign on a system using British-English is
the same value used to represent the hash sign on a system using
American-English.  Hence if I type a pound sign on my British-English
keyboard, the value that gets passed to your computer using
American-English operating software is interpreted as a hash sign.

The pound sign *is* a non-standard character because it is not defined in
either the standard list of ASCII or ANSI characters.

This is why you will occassionally see amounts in pounds stirling as
#amount.

- ZZ

> Or at least
>some way for someone without a clue to look at the faq and be able to 
>pick out the good parts, then read the rest when they figure out the 
>basics. Just a thought, and as I said, for all I know, it has already 
>been done.

Isn't that the point of the listed questions at the front of the FAQ?
Find your question and look up the answer in the body of
the FAQ.   Breaking it into a 'newbie FAQ' and a regular FAQ
defeats the purpose of having a new all-encompassing one.
-joan
--
             _ 
        ~0  (_|          < spu...@juno.com >
       |(_~|^~~|      SPUNK'S GALLERY OF ASCII ART:
       TT/_ T"T   < http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/7373/ >
jgs^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Spunk1111 <spu...@aol.com> ASCII art 4 Nov 1997 00:00 · permalink
>> Five or six lines is
>>> *usually* acceptable, but any longer, and you're starting to take the
>>> risk that your signature will be longer than some of your e-mail
>>> messages; this wouldn't really be acceptable on paper, so it doesn't
>>> really make sense in cyberspace either. The exception is in messages
>>> posted to alt.ascii-art -- we're used to seeing long sigs, so we won't
>>> complain.
>
>That's what I've always thought of as silly among this group.  "Standard"
>(i.e., flameless) .sigs are 4 lines or shorter.  In a.a-a they get longer,
>because they're allowed. :)  The goofy part comes when somebody says, "Can I
>have a <insert thingy> for my .sig?" and receives many 10 and 12 and
>otherwise generally large pics. ;)


Is sig length really an issue on mailing lists and other USENET
newsgroups?  I get email from lots of people-- and many have
sigs over the 5-6 lines...
  I know Sven would argue the strict 4 line max for sig...
I am curious...  I truly think that sig length concern is
fading on the internet...
-joan
(hehehe- a really big sig)
-- 
            .-""""--.
           /         )
          /      --"`
         /       _`:____
        |     .-'       `\
         \   /    .----'./              joan stark
          \  : ,-' ~(.).)\         <spu...@juno.com>
           \_| \      ._) |
            /   |  \.__, /
       _.--'    )`///-,-'
      /        / _| (_\\             ASCII ART GALLERY:
     |        (____/____)
      \     ___/       | _  <http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/7373/>
       `---(            ` )
            `-,          .'
             (__.'._/'._/
                 |`| |
              __/ / /
             //   | `--.
            ||    /_____)
       jgs  `=---` 

Nana <tss...@freenet.calgary.ab.ca> ASCII art 5 Nov 1997 00:00 · permalink
On Wed, 5 Nov 1997, Matthew Thomas wrote:

> More specific, but less accurate. The slope could be getting *smaller*
> and *smaller* as x approaches 0, if the line is pointing *downward* to
> begin with; in that case the slope would be approaching *negative*
> infinity. So when the line reaches vertical, you can argue equally well
> that it has a slope of positive infinity or that it has a slope of
> negative infinity, depending on which side you came from. Having two
> slopes at once isn't mathematically allowed, so mathematicians rightly
> say that the slope is `undefined'. (A similar thing happens for 0/0; the

D'oh! I was thinking of functions... Never mind...

>   /\_\   Matthew Thomas, who does university maths (so don't argue! :-)

    - Nana (who also does university math, but still gets confused around
               shiny things.... Like the computer monitor... )


                ,x{{},                
 Ts97 xQQ}}}}}x{{))}oo                
     (QQQQ{}}{qq}}{{}@    
   xx{{QQQqq{{{QQQQqq
"Bad Nana! Go sit in the corner!"

Matthew Thomas <mpt...@spamfree.land> ASCII art 5 Nov 1997 00:00 · permalink
Nana wrote:
> 
...
> Technically it is true that the slope of a vertical line is undefined,
> most math geeks say it has an infinite slope because...
> 
>    The formula for slope is   Rise    ( y / x )
>                              ------
>                               Run
> 
> So as x approaches 0, the slope gets larger and larger and larger,
> pretty much going off to infinity... So while it is true that the
> slope of a vertical line is undefined, the term "infinite slope" is
> used just to be more specific...

More specific, but less accurate. The slope could be getting *smaller*
and *smaller* as x approaches 0, if the line is pointing *downward* to
begin with; in that case the slope would be approaching *negative*
infinity. So when the line reaches vertical, you can argue equally well
that it has a slope of positive infinity or that it has a slope of
negative infinity, depending on which side you came from. Having two
slopes at once isn't mathematically allowed, so mathematicians rightly
say that the slope is `undefined'. (A similar thing happens for 0/0; the
answer could equally well be 0, 1, or infinity, so it's called
`undefined'.)

       ,---------------------------.
      | Wow, after all these years  |
   A  | as a boring vertical line,  |
   |  | I'm famous! I'm being       |
  _|_ | discussed in alt.ascii-art! |
  o|o  ),--------------------------'
   |  /'
   +
   |
   |
   |
   |
   V

Sorry, couldn't resist jumping on this thread. My revised a.a-a FAQ is
half-finished and will be posted in a couple of days. (More suggestions
welcome.)

-- __
  /\_\   Matthew Thomas, who does university maths (so don't argue! :-)
 _\/_/_  My real address is mpt26 @ student dot canterbury dot ac dot nz
/\_\/\_\ http://kiwipages.co.nz/matthew.html
\/_/\/_/ `Smart people think up their own quotes' -- Matthew Thomas

Zeus Simeoni (zeu...@umit.maine.edu) wrote:

> Well, my comments are just that I never really got around to 
> reading the whole of the last FAQ.  The main reason was that it 
> was too long.  

That seems to be the main problem with all FAQs and informational
postings.

The only alternative seems to be to split the FAQs into parts with 
each part on a specific topic.

Then of course you get lots of postings rather like those I post
right now...which can be tedious for both poster and reader.


> When someone reads a FAQ, (at least when I am) I am not looking 
> for how to do absolutely everything that can be done. When I 
> looked at the ASCII faq I just wanted to know the basics, and I 
> could not find them.  

What is your list or definition of "the basics" you wanted to know ?

The Barger and Allison FAQs seem to cover most of the basics but
do not cover everything individuals will wish to know and "just the 
basics" are going to be widely variable for each Net user, their 
software and their experience and circumstances.

Bye,

> Ooooh, Calculus... I think I'll stick my nose in here and spew some
> useless fact that likely nobody really cares about.
> 
> Technically it is true that the slope of a vertical line is undefined,
> most math geeks say it has an infinite slope because...
> 
>    The formula for slope is   Rise    ( y / x )
>                              ------
>                               Run
> 
> So as x approaches 0, the slope gets larger and larger and larger, pretty
> much going off to infinity... So while it is true that the slope of a
> vertical line is undefined, the term "infinite slope" is used just to be
> more specific...
> 
> I hope y'all were paying attention, there's going to be a quiz later...
> 

Well, the *right* way to define slope is as belonging to the set of all
pairs (x,y), under the equivalence relation (x,y)~(x1,y1) iff
x*y1=x1*y. So the slope of the vertical line is [(0,1)] (That is, the
equivalence relation of the pair (0,1).).

Sorry for going off topic, just my 0.02$ worth.
--
Moshe Zadka - moshez(at)math(dot)huji(dot)ac(dot)il
Linux - The Choice of a GNU generation. Using 2.1.60.
C - A portable assembly language.

About this thread. These messages were posted publicly to the newsgroup alt.ascii-art in 1997 and are mirrored here unchanged as part of the Historic Archives – only email addresses are masked. The artwork and text belong to their original authors: if you copy a piece, keep the artist's initials or signature intact and credit them where you can. Are you one of the authors? Contact us to get your posts attributed, connected to your artist profile, or removed.