X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: fd588,6e978a90f5275fac,start X-Google-Attributes: gidfd588,public X-Google-Thread: f996b,6e978a90f5275fac,start X-Google-Attributes: gidf996b,public From: Colin Douthwaite Subject: 5th Anniversary of alt.ascii-art (6) Date: 1998/09/05 Message-ID: <905020049.627913@mnementh.southern.co.nz> X-Deja-AN: 388208666 Organization: Southern Internet Services User-Agent: tin/pre-1.4-980226 (UNIX) (SunOS/5.4 (sun4m)) Newsgroups: alt.ascii-art,alt.ascii-art.animation __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" /" "|" |_| /\ |\ | |\ | "|" \ / [" |") (" /\ |") \ / _) | | | /""\ | \| | \| _|_ V |_ |"\ _) /""\ |"\ | /"\ [" /\ | "|" /\ (" /' "|" "|" _ /\ |") "|" \_/ | /""\ |_ | o /""\ _) \. _|_ _|_ /""\ |"\ | __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" (6) "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" cfbd98"" _ _ _ _ | |_| | (_) ___ | |_ ___ _ _ _ _ | _ | | | (_-< | _| / _ \ | '_| | || | |_| |_| |_| /__/ \__| \___/ |_| \_, | |__/ 29/8/98 __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" From: allenk@ugcs.caltech.edu (Allen Knutson) Newsgroups: alt.ascii-art Subject: Historical precedent for ASCII art? Date: 21 Jan 1994 07:11:02 GMT Message-ID: <2hnv68$5qf@gap.cco.caltech.edu> Historically, have there been other forms of art that are akin to ASCII art, in using to create pictures a standard set of shapes not designed for it? All that occurred to me are some of Dali's great tricks, where several people form a skull and that sort of thing, but it's not quite the same. Perhaps a typesetter like [casts invocation] Kibo would know? Allen K. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Newsgroups: alt.ascii-art From: pk6811s@acad.drake.edu Subject: Re: Historical precedent for ASCII art? Message-ID: <1994Jan21.092347.1@acad.drake.edu> Date: Fri, 21 Jan 1994 15:23:47 GMT In article <2hnv68$5qf@gap.cco.caltech.edu>, allenk@ugcs.caltech.edu (Allen Knutson) writes: > Historically, have there been other forms of art that are akin to > ASCII art, in using to create pictures a standard set of shapes not > designed for it? All that occurred to me are some of Dali's great > tricks, where several people form a skull and that sort of thing, > but it's not quite the same. Quilts, cross-stitch, colored sands, colored brick and tile, mosaic tile, colored corn, kids' toy blocks, hand-held string figures, ... Give people something to work with and they will make art. My 'thing' is domino pictures, done much like the pixellated ascii except using complete sets of dominos. A 6' by 4' picture of an astronaut made of 40 sets of double-nines is on display at the Dial Center at Drake University. Paul Kline pk6811s@acad.drake.edu --------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: peekstok@u.washington.edu (Anna Peekstok) Newsgroups: alt.ascii-art Subject: Re: Historical precedent for ASCII art? Date: 21 Jan 1994 20:53:43 GMT Message-ID: <2hpfcn$590@news.u.washington.edu> >Historically, have there been other forms of art that are akin to >ASCII art, in using to create pictures a standard set of shapes not >designed for it? There's a tradition in classical painting (i.e., Renaissance and after) of making up faces and figures out of vegetables, kitchen implements, etc. Anna Peekstok --------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: jorn@MCS.COM (Jorn Barger) Newsgroups: alt.binaries.pictures.ascii,alt.ascii-art, alt.ascii-art.animation,alt.ascii-art.pixellated Subject: META A brief history of ascii-art groups on netnews Date: 13 Mar 1994 13:24:54 -0600 Message-ID: <2lvpa6$jca@Mercury.mcs.com> In article on alt.binaries.pictures.ascii, Sandro Sherrod wrote: >Whats the difference between here and alt.ascii-art? With the exception >more posts over therE? A brief history of ascii-art groups on netnews: Rumor has it that there was an ascii-art group on alt years ago, that failed for lack of interest. No evidence has turned up, though. The main purveyor of fine ascii-art-archives during the early 90s had been Steven Sullivan, in his postings to rec.humor. Alt.config folklore says proposals for a new group had been coming up every few months, for some time before September 1993, when the discussion that led to alt.ascii-art began. Resistance in alt.config was intense, led by Tim Pierce who argued that ascii-art was binary and belonged in the alt.binaries.pictures.* hierarchy. He got a lot more support on this than seems credible, in retrospect. After a month of pointless hassling, the gordian knot was cut by Joel Furr newgrouping alt.ascii-art. It was generally agreed that alt.arts.ascii would have been the better choice (to keep the number of new first-level hierarchies down), but the group took off pretty quickly, so we decided to go with it.... except after a month, when it became clear a lot of sites weren't getting a.a-a, Tim took the opportunity to newgroup a.b.p.ascii, along with a request to rmgroup alt.ascii-art, already a thriving subculture! The tide of opinion turned against Tim at this point, and a rmgroup for abpa went out, resulting in sites that carried both, neither, *and* just one or the other-- but abpa has pretty well withered, while a.a-a has grown to where a split has been seriously discussed, and over-hasty newgroups posted for: alt.ascii-art.pixellated (by people wishing ascii-gifs would go away) and alt.ascii-art.animation (ditto for ansi animations) a.a-a.p seems to have vanished, but a.a-a.a gets occasional posts and may well be revived at some point. I wouldn't mind trying to move the asciigifs over to alt.binaries.pictures.ascii, since it's a group that won't go away... The plan for the future, now, is to create a *moderated* rec.arts.ascii (Bob Allison has volunteered to moderate). Anyone with experience proposing and creating a moderated big-7 group, or other constructive ideas, should write Bob or me... jorn --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: Re: META A brief history of ascii-art groups on netnews Newsgroups: alt.binaries.pictures.ascii,alt.ascii-art,alt.ascii- art.animation,alt.ascii-art.pixellated From: Colin_Douthwaite@equinox.gen.nz (Colin Douthwaite) Message-Id: Date: Wed, 16 Mar 94 21:01:47 +1300 Jorn Barger (jorn@MCS.COM) wrote: JB> A brief history of ascii-art groups on netnews: JB> Tim took the opportunity to newgroup a.b.p.ascii, along with a JB> request to rmgroup alt.ascii-art, already a thriving subculture! JB> The tide of opinion turned against Tim at this point, and a JB> rmgroup for abpa went out, resulting in sites that carried both, JB> neither, *and* just one or the other-- but abpa has pretty well JB> withered, Aah...thanks...now, _at last_, I understand why alt.binaries.pictures.ascii has not been utilised for large postings; animations; binaries; uuencoded items etc. - it is all part of a historical private war amongst net.personalities. All very sad and counter-productive, and (mercifully) unknown to most of us. JB> I wouldn't mind trying to move the asciigifs over to JB> alt.binaries.pictures.ascii, since it's a group that won't go JB> away... ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ^^^^ :-) Well that's a start ( and quite an admission too ). Looks like both Joel Furr _and_ Tim Pierce were winners in the end. JB> The plan for the future, now, is to create a *moderated* JB> rec.arts.ascii (Bob Allison has volunteered to moderate). Whose plan, and whose future ? Perhaps it really _is_ the answer to create such a moderated group so that those who are dissatisfied with alt.ascii-art can pursue their moderated interests in the new moderated group and leave alt.ascii-art free for those who enjoy it and manage to live with it's irritations. >From what I have seen of the moderated groups they tend to be dull and restrictive and soon lead to more dissatisfactions than those expressed in "open" newsgroups. How many folks want to submit their stuff to a moderator and have it ignored or rejected ? For all its faults and irritations alt.ascii-art has already become a very successful newsgroup having a very high signal-to-noise ratio. How many of the 4,400 newsgroups on Internet can you say that about ? It will be sad to lose the input of talented posters who move to such a moderated group but I suspect that alt.ascii-art will survive very nicely.....because it clearly meets a need. The saga continues........ . /:\ |:| |:| |:| |:| __ ,_|:|_, / ) *_ _ _ _ _ _ _ * (Oo / _I_ | `_' `-' `_' `-' `_' `-' `_'| +\ \ || __| ^ | | \ \||___| | | LONG LIVE alt.ascii-art | | \ /.:.\-\ | (*) |_ _ _ _ _ _ _ | \^/ | |.:. /-----\ | _<">_ | `_' `-' `_' `-' `_' `-' `_'| _(#)_ | |___|::oOo::| o+o \ / \0 0/ \ / (=) / |:<-T->:| 0'\ ^ /\/ \/\ ^ /`0 |_____\ ::: / /_^_\ | | /_^_\ | | \ \:/ || || | | || || | | | | d|_|b_T____________________________T_d|_|b \ / | \___ / / / | \_____\ / / `-' / / _________________________/ -unknown- /____________ --------------------------------------------------------------------------- ============== LATER NOTES ============== | The unmoderated newsgroup, alt.ascii-art, was created by Joel Furr | in September 1993. | The moderated newsgroup, rec.arts.ascii, was created in June 1994 | with Bob Allison ( Scarecrow ) as Moderator. | In July 1996 Don Bertino took over as Moderator of rec.arts.ascii | with Allen Mullen as deputy moderator. | On 23 Dec 1996 the last posting from the moderator, Don Bertino, | appeared in rec.arts.ascii and since that date the newsgroup has | had little or no traffic. | On 20 Mar 1998 Don Bertino, the rec.ascii.arts moderator wrote: | "I'm still here. :) People are posting way too little.. Of | course, Bob pulled the "best" of a.aa and reposted it r.a.a So | it's basiclly a best of newsgroup.. Something to be tried." ======================== Traffic Statistics ======================== +-- Messages per month | ! +-- Percentage crossposted | | | | + Propagation: | | | how many sites | | | receive this group | | | at all | | | | | | +-- Share: | | | | % of news readers | | | | who read this group. V V V V Feb 94 alt.ascii-art 733 2% 36% 1.4% Mar 95 alt.ascii-art 600 8% 47% 1.0% alt.ascii-art.animation 128 32% 35% 0.2% alt.binaries.pictures.ascii 307 42% 37% 0.5% rec.arts.ascii 217 13% 53% 0.3% May 95 alt.ascii-art 413 9% 48% 0.7% alt.ascii-art.animation 96 15% 36% 0.2% alt.binaries.pictures.ascii 200 49% 37% 0.4% rec.arts.ascii 180 11% 55% 0.3% Sep 95 alt.ascii-art 905 8% alt.ascii-art.animation 61 34% alt.binaries.pictures.ascii 110 100% rec.arts.ascii 309 5% Oct 95 alt.ascii-art 1062 26% alt.ascii-art.animation 152 16% alt.binaries.pictures.ascii 123 100% rec.arts.ascii 282 18% Feb 96 alt.ascii-art 788 15% alt.ascii-art.animation 53 12% rec.arts.ascii 274 35% Apl 96 alt.ascii-art 804 15% alt.ascii-art.animation 74 76% rec.arts.ascii 185 24% Jun 96 alt.ascii-art 707 29% alt.ascii-art.animation 89 68% alt.binaries.pictures.ascii 104 100% rec.arts.ascii 35 65% Jul 96 alt.ascii-art 1100 23% alt.ascii-art.animation 95 54% alt.binaries.pictures.ascii 187 100% rec.arts.ascii 81 9% Aug 97 alt.ascii-art 1373 alt.ascii-art.animation 49 alt.binaries.pictures.ascii 78 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: jorn@mcs.com (Jorn Barger) Newsgroups: rec.arts.ascii Subject: Talk: Why I like ascii art Date: 11 Sep 1995 17:26:51 -0500 [Here's a little essay someone requested, by email] Wherever you look in computer journalism, the emphasis is always on faster computers and more memory and more colors... and more money! So, when people write about the future of the Internet, they're always dreaming of real-time video links, multimedia, virtual reality, etc etc etc. But for me, what's greatest about the Internet is how efficient it is at transmitting *text*. For the same 30 kilobytes you could use for a small GIF on the WWWeb, you can just as well transmit *fifteen typewritten pages* of text. (It's not even 'a picture is worth 1000 words'-- it's more like 5000, or better!) And a videolink uses millions of times as much bandwidth as would an email conversation... And ascii text is also the lowest common denominator that allows *everyone* on the net to share data-- people are starting to extend email to include graphics and fonts, but these attempts exclude the majority of users, and we haven't begun to see these formats (like MIME) posted to netnews... So the ability of ascii-art to include images in email and netnews postings could be a very useful technology... if only word-processors included a simple set of commands for drawing ascii shapes, or pasting together layers of ascii 'clip art'! My efforts in exploring ascii-art have been an attempt to see how much is possible, in representing, eg, maps, or human faces. I find that if you devote a great deal of time to it, you can create some very rich images... so it ought to be possible someday to have rich libraries of clip-art that everyone can easily integrate into their text files-- if only the word- processors are revised to make this easier. But (alas!) the word-processor designers seem preoccupied with GIFs and MPEGs and WAV files... jorn barger chicago, illinois, usa sept 11 1995 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: "J. Melusky" Newsgroups: alt.ascii-art Subject: Re: Why *is* it called ASCII Art ? Date: Tue, 21 May 1996 12:54:18 -0700 Message-ID: On 20 May 1996, Ken West wrote: > The ASCII.art FAQ mentions that > > Before computers, ASCII art was made on typewriters, > > teletype machines (5 bit), and was created typographically. > > There are even tee-shirts with the :-) smiley. > This raises a couple of questions: > 1. What was it called when done on typewriters (before ASCII > code was invented)? Well, according to Andrew Belsey, who posted to this group awhile back, he says that there is a book available called: Typewriter Art, edited by Alan Riddell (London, 1975) ISBN 0-900626-99-2 > 2. Why is it called ASCII art now? > Now, with the prevalence of PCs, using ASCII characters, someone > has decided that this character-based art is to be called ASCII > art. When you think of it, once the characters are on paper, or > even on a screen, the fact that they possibly were orginally stored > with 5 or 6 or 7 or 8 bits inside some computer memory has nothing > to do with the art itself; so, can someone clarify how the term > "ASCII art" came about? And is there any rationale behind the fact > that it clearly HAS come about? regards, Ken West It wasn't just someone who popularized the phrase ascii-art. It was all those who voted in alt.config. A year ago I subscribed to alt.config and discovered that 100 votes plus a lot of convincing to create a new Usenet group. I wish I was around to be a lurker back then but hey they made a good vote of it! Maybe Scarecrow knows more about the alt.config story? I don't even know if alt.config is still there? Ahhh break time is over. take care, Jon --------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: "R. Crawford" Newsgroups: alt.ascii-art Subject: Ascii, the hard way Date: Fri, 21 Feb 1997 04:59:17 +0800 Organization: Canada Internet Direct, Inc. Message-ID: <330CBB25.5A44@geocities.com> Reply-To: rcrawford@geocities.com Looking thru an old magazine (1960 and we won't mention which one), I came across an amazing ascii artist. Here's the article that went with the pictures (48K .gif to follow under Subject=Hard way .gif): All day Guillermo Mendana Olivera works as a stenographer in Leon, Spain; every night he types pictures. Samples of his work shown here are, moving clockwise: typings of Ike, of Mendana himself, a detail from a picture of a church, and the Puerta de Alcala in Madrid. Each picture takes about 70 hours. Mendana uses small o and x and periods, dashes and commas. He starts with a paper covering all but a sliver of a photo; as the paper moves down he copies a line at a time. Imagine, on a typewriter! No software to comvert .bmp's. No easy corrections or fancy font tricks. They didn't even have white-out then. This man deserves recognition in the ascii art world! I'm trying to track him down thru family or friends on the net. If I can, maybe I will post more of his work. If you have a problem with your news reader and .gif's, you can see the gif at http://mypage.direct.ca/r/rcrawfor/ascii_bg.gif Long live .txt! --------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Dave Bird---St Hippo of Augustine Newsgroups: alt.ascii-art Subject: Re: History of ASCII Art [Question] Date: Mon, 24 Mar 1997 19:04:10 +0000 Message-ID: In article <19970324054800.AAA18942@ladder01.news.aol.com>, spunk1111 writes: >I "discovered" ASCII art about 1 1/2 years ago... I'm curious as to >its background. I have yet to see anything written about it in a >textbook. But I have heard that it was around in the 60s- of course >not like it is on the internet today. Someone also mentioned to me >(a long time ago) that they used to create pictures on the keypunch >computer cards... who was it? Ascii art has been around as long as I have. There were large "character shaded" pictures around on lineprinters when I was at university in the 70s: usually either nudes or mickey mouse. Someone posted that there had been "typewriter art" since typewriters were widespread -- 1920 or so, I think. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Matthew Thomas Newsgroups: alt.ascii-art Subject: Re: Netly News article Date: Tue, 23 Jun 1998 22:53:51 +1200 Message-ID: <358F893F.154A@spamfree.land> Jorn Barger wrote: Microsoft handed down a bizarre pronouncement earlier this week, > declaring that ASCII art is dead. > Jorn Barger, the author of the 1994 FAQ, had a different tip of the > day for Microsoft when contacted for a response: "Sophisticated Net > users create tables and graphs and indenting and centering and > borders -- all requiring a monospaced font." He wants the software > Goliath to resist a temptation of its own: "Microsoft feeds on > software bloat. Even if they recognized 'appropriate technology' > they'd still be driven to suppress it." And what's "cool in its > day"? "If Bill Gates keeps setting his applications' default font to > proportional, then his users will continue looking dumb when their > e-mail and Net news postings don't wrap properly!" To which Bill would reply: `If the so-called "sophisticated Net users" were posting and e-mailing in HTML, *like they should*, they wouldn't *need* to use a monospaced font to create tables and graphs and indenting and centering and borders -- *and* they'd be able to include *real* graphics in their messages'. To which Jorn and a chorus of a.a-ers (PeteCasso excepted, I think) would reply: `But only a minority of people can read messages sent in HTML, and besides, it's a ridiculous waste of bandwidth'. To which Bill would reply: `Well, if they were all using Microsloth's Outloop Excess, *like they should*, then they would be able to view HTML messages'. To which the aforementioned sophisticated Net-users would reply: `Use a *Microsloth* product? ... oooooooooo. oooo oooo `888' `Y8b `888 `888 888 888 .oooo. 888 .oo. .oooo. 888 .oo. .oooo. 888oooo888' `P )88b 888P"Y88b `P )88b 888P"Y88b `P )88b 888 `88b .oP"888 888 888 .oP"888 888 888 .oP"888 888 .88P d8( 888 888 888 d8( 888 888 888 d8( 888 o888bood8P' `Y888""8o o888o o888o `Y888""8o o888o o888o `Y888""8o oooo .o. .o. .o. `888 888 888 888 888 .oo. .oooo. 888 888 888 888P"Y88b `P )88b Y8P Y8P Y8P 888 888 .oP"888 `8' `8' `8' 888 888 d8( 888 .o. .o. .o. o888o o888o `Y888""8o Y8P Y8P Y8P ' [Roman.flf] Thus speaketh the *1998* FAQ: ---- People use ASCII art for a variety of reasons, some of which are: * it is the most universal computer art form in the world -- every computer system capable of displaying multi-line text can display ASCII art, without needing to have a graphics mode or support a particular graphics file format; * an ASCII picture is hundreds of times smaller in file size than its GIF or BMP equivalent, while still giving a good idea of what something looks like; * it is easy to copy from one file to another; * it's fun to do! ----And: ---- But before you start, a word about fonts. For ASCII art you should use a fixed-width font [see Question 4], 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. Different fixed- width fonts do vary slightly in the height of the characters, but for most drawings this doesn't matter that much. 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). ---- Anyway, well said, Jorn! Yours in fixed-width -- __ /_/\ Matthew Thomas, who wasn't interviewed by anyone :-) _\_\/_ http://cantua.canterbury.ac.nz/~mpt26/ (Site for sore eyes) /_/\/_/\ ASCII ART FAQ: http://cantua.canterbury.ac.nz/~mpt26/art/ascii/ \_\/\_\/ <-- If this looks weird, you should be using a fixed-width font --------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Donovan Newsgroups: alt.ascii-art Subject: Re: Question 'bout ascii-art Date: Tue, 14 Jul 1998 10:27:45 -0600 Message-ID: <35AB8701.357C@gwtc.net> Well, a few months ago, we were discussing the oldest method or form of ascii art. The one I came up with that has held up has been poetry. Centuries ago, they wrote poetry in the shapes of things. And it was the consensus of our newsgroup (at that time) that this must have been the oldest form of ascii art. Of course it wasn't called ascii art. Joan seems to be the only one who can ever remember the name of that kind poetry. HELP JOAN...FOR THE 10TH TIME!!!! LOL Anyway here is a modern-day example of such poetry: The Dolphins' Way, In Me Aspirations of the living sea The dolphins do move within me The aura of their soul, I feel deep down To be in the water and not on ground Sifting through the ocean, an expressing show Communi- cation of a song and a blow Pro- tecting even those not of their kind They ask nothing in return, they do not mind The most gracious and unselfish of all that wander I wish to swim with them, nothing could be fonder The dolphins mean so much to me, you see I need to thank them, for showing us how to be (Donovan 1997) I hope this will help you a little bit with the origination of ascii art. Of course when computers came along that is when it became popular and got it's name. But as a group we all agreed that this form of poetry was probably the thing that started it all. If you find out anything older more factual please let us know here! *S* Also please post a copy of your paper on here so that we may read it. *bigger S* Peace, Donovan --------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Colin Douthwaite Newsgroups: alt.ascii-art,alt.ascii-art.animation Subject: History Date: 17 Aug 1998 01:15:43 GMT Message-ID: <903316543.458387@mnementh.southern.co.nz> In several ways the last 2 years have seen some interesting developments in the history of Ascii Art and the newsgroup alt.ascii-art. Joan Stark has emerged as a very talented, and by far the most prolific Ascii Artist to date, easily surpassing the collections of Row; Targon; Susie Oviatt; Normand Veilleux and Allen Mullen. In 1998 Joan earned a prestigious award from Geocities.com for her Website on Geocities as well as many tributes and accolades from those who see and enjoy her excellent work. .{{}}}}}}. {{{{{}}}}}}}. {{{{ }}}}}}}}} Joan G Stark }}}}} _ _ {{{{{ Undisputed queen of ascii art. }}}} 6 6 {{{{ {{{{{ ^ }}}}} {{{{{{\ -=- /}}}}}} {{{{{{{;.___.;}}}}}}} {{{{{{{) (}}}}}}}' `""'"': :'"'"'` jgs `@` Then we have seen the emergence of Pete Casso with his creation of a new subgenre of "Stein Characters", second only to the well-known "Silly Cows" genre in Ascii Art, and by far outstripping the other known genres of Sheep; Owls; Koala Bears, and Luke the Spook. The two basic characters were Birdstein and Frogstein... _==_ ( "> oo. (> )> (- ) ^^ " " Birdstein Frogstein Followed by an ever growing number of other Steins: 01WW5WWW10WWWW5WWW20WWWW5WWW30WWWW5WWW40WWWW5WWW50WWWW5WWW60WWWW5WWW7072 02 02 03 The 'steins Hall of Fame 03 04 by Pete Casso 970920 04 05 05 06 . + . 06 07 \^|^/ 07 08 .oo 08 09 ( -) Frogstein, King of the Pond 09 10 " " 10 11 11 12 + 12 13 \^^/ 13 14 ( "> 14 15 (> )> Birdstein, Queen of the Sky 15 16 ^^ 16 17 17 18 (\ /) 18 19 (:\oo/:) 19 20 ( -) Pegastein, head in the clouds ... 20 21 " " 21 22 22 23 .oo 23 24 .'''' -) Sphinxstein, feet on the ground ... 24 25 (__)_)__)_) 25 26 26 27 27 28 /( 28 29 /\(oo)/\ Ghostein, a frequent visitor from Heaven 29 30 \ / 30 31 31 32 32 33 ,, 33 34 ( "> w 34 35 ,(> )>| Devilstein, a frequent visitor from Hell 35 36 ( ^^ 36 37 37 38 38 39 /( 39 40 (\( "> Roosterstein, the musician in the barnyard 40 41 `(> )> Often called PeteHovenstein by his fans 41 42 ^^ 42 43 43 44 ,, 44 45 (@@ Owlstein, the wisdom dispenser 45 46 (> )> Often called Onestein by his admirers 46 47 ^^ 47 48 48 49 ,, 49 50 ( "/ Dragonstein, who sired the Loch Ness monster 50 51 )\` 51 52 / 52 53 53 54 _==_ 54 55 ( "> 55 56 (>,)> BrusselsBoystein, who has a cute squirter 56 57 ^^ 57 58 58 59 . . 59 60 .)\ /(. 60 61 .) ,\ @.@ /, (. 61 62 .) - (,-,) - (. Draculstein, appearing as a vampire 62 63 .) '/ \` (. 63 64 .)/ \(. 64 65 ' ' 65 66 66 67 ,()) 67 68 ,( "> Mousestein, who does a great job 68 69 ( " " in scaring evil witches away 69 70 70 71WW5WWW10WWWW5WWW20WWWW5WWW30WWWW5WWW40WWWW5WWW50WWWW5WWW60WWWW5WWW7072 Note: Pete is now marking his Stein cartoon drawings as Copyright (c). A very recent development has been the emergence in alt.ascii-art of programmers who have written useful Ascii Tools. ASC2PIC.EXE - by Martin Atkins converts Ascii pictures back to photographic style images. Especially useful for viewing those large multi-screen Ascii pictures. RESIZE.EXE - By "Stile" which allows simple percentage reduction or enlargement of Ascii pictures by removing or adding characters. Very useful for trimming widths of pictures of 80 or more columns which overlap the screen or cause line wrapping. Works best on block-style art ( as illustrated ) Original: $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$uu"""""`` `"$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$u"`` `""u$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$$$$$$$u"` `""u$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$$$$P" .,ed$$$$b. 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"u$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$$' ,d$$$$$$$$$$b. $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$u"` .,ed$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$b `$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$ec .,ed$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$P```"4$b `$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$' $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$',$$$be$$b. `$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$' ,$'.,,,,.`u$$$$$$$Pd$$$$$$$$$$b $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$ $$$$$$$$$b,`u$$$$$$`"""uu$$$$$$ `$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$b $$$$$$u"` ,d $$$$$$$$b.,e.`$$$$b $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$ $$$$',d$ed$$ $$$$$$`u$$$P',$$$$P .$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$ eee,. $$$$$$e,.,e$$$$$$$$$$`$$$$$$$$$. $E$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$.`$$$$$ee$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$'d$$$$b`$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$$,`$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$,.`"$$',$$$$$$$P',$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$$$e.`"u$$$$$u$$$$$$$uu"'..., .eeee$$$P',e$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$$$$$$$,`"u$$e,`"4$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$P,d$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$be$$$$$$$$b,.,d$$$$$',$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$$e.`"u$$$$$u"',d$,`$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$$$$be,,,...ed$$$$$,`u$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$P',db`u$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ ""uu$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$P',$$$$ `"u$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$P' u$be,.`"uu$$$$$$$$$P'.e$$$$$P `""uuuu$$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$$$$$uu"` `$$$$$$be,..`"uuP'ed$$$$$$$' `"""u uuuu"""`` `$$$$$$$$$$$$b, d$$$$$$$$' `$$$$$$$$$$P',e."u$$$$$P `4$$$$$$P',`$$$',.`"uu' `"uuu"`,$b.$$.$$$$$$ `$$$$$$$$Pd$,`$$$$P `$$$$$$$'$$$,`$$$' `$$$$P',$$$$,`$$ `P',d$$$$$$$,` ASCTOOL.EXE - Compiled for MS-DOS by Colin J. Randall from old C code written circa 1993 by Joshua Bell. It will rotate a picture through 360 degrees in 90 degree intervals and is most useful in simple horizontal reversals. Original: o o o TOOT TOOT o o O O ,_____ ____ O | PMD \_|[]|_'__Y |_______|__|_|__|} ===================oo--oo==oo--OOO\\==================== After ASCTOOL.EXE: O O o o TOOT TOOT o o o O ____ _____. Y__`_|[]|_/ DMP | {|__|_|__|_______| ====================//OOO--oo==oo--oo=================== These new tools are all good additions to the old well-known Ascii tools such as ASCGIF and GIFSCII, the GIF to ASCII convertors. Last but not least, a new FAQ Writer and Maintainer appeared in late 1997 in the person of Matthew Thomas. He modernised the old Allison and Barger FAQs, taking into perspective the rapid rise of Windows and modern web browsers like Netscape and Outlook Express, and the new generation of Net users - the "Pointers & Clickers" who may not have much knowledge of how the Net works and possibly no desire to go to the trouble of learning about it all. ,a@@@@@@@@@m. ,@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@. J@@P':.. ..:`W@ Matthew Thomas @@@':;;.. ..;;::@) FAQ Author & Maintainer \@!:<#OK>::<4O#>.@ |.::"??"; `???.:"\ `._::..:_ee_...::_/ \:..______,::/ \::.. ...:/ `-:____:-'mt-3 Ascii Art and its newsgroups can only benefit from the input of talented people like those above who have made significant contributions. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- >From mpt26@spamfree.land Thu Aug 20 03:39:36 1998 From: Matthew Thomas Newsgroups: alt.ascii-art,alt.ascii-art.animation Subject: Re: History Date: Thu, 20 Aug 1998 00:11:49 +1200 Message-ID: <35DAC105.AE270BBC@spamfree.land> Colin Douthwaite wrote: > > In several ways the last 2 years have seen some interesting > developments in the history of Ascii Art and the newsgroup > alt.ascii-art. > > Ascii Art and its newsgroups can only benefit from the input of > talented people like those above who have made significant > contributions. ,. _ |J /J ,') n F |( __J. ,-----------------------------------. | `- ] | `Let us therefore brace ourselves | _> .:;J | to our duties, and so bear our- | | ``"'. | selves that if ASCII art and its | )_' _,' | Usenet groups last for a thousand | ,MMMMMMF ,..___,. | years, men and women will still | MMMMMMM MMMMMMMJ | say, `this was our finest hour'. | JMMMMMME MMMMMMMML `. ,--------------------------------' MMMMMMM[ ,aJhmmmmmmmmMMM. |/ JMMMMMMM[ `"*MMM**H*MMMP*" / MMMMMMMME (,-=ms:mn-J' ' MMMMMMMMMn_ mt-2 :._.'_\:.J YMMMMMMMMMO+n._ `;:`---(.[ "*MMMMMMMMhh++MMMLhn;;::.J. "*MMMMMMMMO+O"*OMMM++-"'.Mhm,. "*MMMMMMMO+++`**MMMP**"'MMMO, "*MMMMMOO+++OOMhMh YM\OOO "MMMMMOO++OO`MhOO\/MMM\+/L |MMMMMOO++OO`MhOO\OMMM\+|| JOMMMMMMOOOO.MMMO+\**OM\|JL FOMMMMMMMOO.'MMMOO+A+OMM|OO, /OOMMMMMMMOO*!MMMMOJ+\+O'|MOL /++OOMMMMMMo |M\MMO/m==|+O|OMM '">++OOOMMMMM/MMM"-"O++oAO+|OMOh -- .._o Matthew Thomas ..://\/ http://cantua.canterbury.ac.nz/~mpt26/ (Site for sore eyes) ..:_/\ <-- If this looks a mess, change your font to Courier ..:/ Linux. Because life is too short to reboot. __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" ""