X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: f996b,1d16be2faaa9e20a X-Google-Attributes: gidf996b,public X-Google-ArrivalTime: 2002-12-31 12:01:08 PST Newsgroups: alt.ascii-art From: Harry Mason Subject: Re: From someplace else References: <1r7kdqzoor.fsf@vingodur.ifi.uio.no> Message-ID: User-Agent: slrn/0.9.7.4 (Linux) NNTP-Posting-Host: servalan.ecs.soton.ac.uk Date: 31 Dec 2002 19:56:38 GMT X-Trace: 31 Dec 2002 19:56:38 GMT, servalan.ecs.soton.ac.uk Lines: 34 Path: archiver1.google.com!news1.google.com!newsfeed.stanford.edu!news-spur1.maxwell.syr.edu!news.maxwell.syr.edu!newsfeed.icl.net!newsfeed.fjserv.net!newsfeed.freenet.de!213.253.16.105.MISMATCH!mephistopheles.news.clara.net!news.clara.net!server3.netnews.ja.net!news-spool.soton.ac.uk!news.ecs.soton.ac.uk!servalan.ecs.soton.ac.uk Xref: archiver1.google.com alt.ascii-art:21309 Kjetil Torgrim Homme wrote: > [Faux_Pseudo]: >> >> I see posts like this in the pl group frequently but it seems I >> and a few Slackware users I know are the only English speakers >> doing this kind of work. > > ah, but it's very much alive among Norwegian and Swedish hackers -- of > course I use the word "hacker" in its original meaning -- and I'm sure > real hackers everywhere keep this tradition alive. in some newsgroups > or forums (in a Portacom clone I frequent) the art of making geometric > shapes is the most important motivation for posting messages. content > to style ratio is often ~zero, nobody cares if the text is nonsensical > if the rules for a tasteful "brick" are followed. e.g. hyphenation is > considered cheating, and obviously, so is adjusting the spaces between > sentences. a hidden message earns bonus points, can you see one here? Elegant. For a beautiful example (indeed, a meta-example) of this, see "Contracrostipunctus" by Douglas Hofstadter: http://www.math.yorku.ca/Who/Faculty/Steprans/Courses/3500/GodelsTheorem/geb75-81.shtml ObAscii: inscription on Goblet G, from the dialogue /\ ---|/-------|---------.-------------------|---|| ---/---|_--_|---------|-------,-.---|,,--_|---h| -,'|_--|/-(_)-------,-|-------|-'---|,|-(_)---j| ( '| |--------------`-'-------|-------'-------m| -`-|'-------------------------'---------------|| @/ B - A - C - H -- Harry Mason ("hjm200.ecs@soton@ac@uk" =~ tr/@./.@/)