[CrackMonkey] Initial ASCII research
Nick Moffitt
nick at zork.net
Sun Apr 15 18:55:59 PDT 2001
----- Forwarded message -----
From: kibo at world.std.com (James "Kibo" Parry)
Newsgroups: alt.religion.kibology,alt.fan.warlord
Subject: Re: I see "calendarization" used all over the place but...
Date: Sun, 15 Apr 2001 10:34:31 GMT
Two hours ago, I wrote:
> In any case, I think we need to bring in Dr. McIrvin to consult
> on an important new project: We need to design a .signature
> that looks like one thing normally, and turns into another
> thing when tab-damaged, and turns into a third thing when
> viewed in Arial. And maybe even a fourth thing when viewed in
> Arial with tab damage.
I have now done the preliminary research and development. Here's the result:
8::: 0 :8000 :8::: :8 :: 8888: 0 :: 8: ::888 :8 :8
8: 0 8: :8 0:: :: 0 :: :8 :8 : ::0 :8 :: :: 0 0
::0 :8 ::0 8: :: 8: :::800 0:: :8 0:: :: ::00
::0 :8 ::0 8: ::8 :: 0 :8 :: 0 ::0:: :: 0 0
:::8 ::8880 ::::800 : 0088::: 0000:: 888:: 0 ::::8
If you are using a monospaced font, you need to squint pretty hard
to see what it says. If you use 14-pixel-tall Arial, it is much clearer...
and different. (Other sizes of Arial make the letters slightly wiggly.)
Here's a larger version.
8:::: 0 888 0::::::0 ::: 8880::8::: 0 :::088: 8::::8 ::: :::
0::: 0 0::: 0 :8::::::0::: 8:: ::::::0 ::8 ::8 :::::::8 ::8 :::
8::0 0 ::: 0 :8: :::0::: 8:: ::: 0 ::8 :8: ::: ::8 :8: :::
:88 0 ::: 0 :8: :::0::: :88 :::::8 8::8: ::: :88 ::: :::
::8 0::: 0::8 ::: 8:: ::: :88:::0 8::0 ::: ::80::: :::
::8 0::: 0::8 ::: 0::: :: ::: 0 0 :8: 0 ::: :::0::8 :::
::8 8::::8 :::8::::0 :::: ::::8: 0 8:: 0::::::::0:::8::::
:::8: :888:: ::888: 8800 ::::880 888 0:::::8 ::::::
And for those of you who are wondering what the heck I'm talking about,
here are the two separate elements of the small version:
0 0 0000 0 0 0000 0 0 000 0 0
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
0 0 0 0 0 000 0 0 0 00
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
0 0000 000 0000 0000 000 0 0
:::: :: ::::: :: :: ::::: :: :: ::::: :: ::
:: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: : :: :: :: ::
:: :: :: :: :: :: :::: :: :: :: :: ::
:: :: :: :: ::: :: :: :: :: :: ::
:::: ::::: ::::: : ::::: :: ::::: :::::
What's happening is that there are four symbols involved:
symbol monospaced proportional represents
width width
------ ---------- ------------ ----------------------------
' ' wide narrow both messages are blank here
':' wide narrow monospaced message only
'0' wide wide proportional message only
'8' wide wide overlap of the two messages
...the problem is that not only do there have to be two narrow
characters and two wide characters, but the two narrow ones need
to be the same width, and the two wide ones also need to have
similar widths, and the symbols representing the proportional and
monospaced messages have to "add up" to the darkest character,
but still both be dark enough that their respective messages
are visible while being distinct enough that the messages
can be seen amid all this noise. And assuming '0' is lighter
than '8' in your font (it requires an unslashed zero.)
I don't know if it's possible to make this work REALLY well with
messages in large letters, no matter what small symbols you use.
It may work better if you change to ' ', '/', 'O', and 'Ø', assuming
that you have a character set where 'Ø' is a slashed capital 'O':
Ø/// O /ØOO Ø//// Ø/ // ØØØ// O // O// ØØØ//O // O //
Ø/ O O// Ø/ O // //O // Ø/ /Ø / //O Ø/ // //O O
//O /Ø //O Ø/ // Ø/ ///ØOO O // Ø/ O // // ØØ
//O /Ø //O Ø/ //Ø // O//O // O //O// // O O
///Ø //ØØØ ////ØOO / OOØ//// OO // ØØØ//O ///Ø/
Ø//// O /ØØO /Ø//// Ø// ///OØØØ//Ø //Ø ///OOØ//Ø// /Ø/ ///
Ø// O Ø// O////Ø/// //Ø /// Ø///// /Ø/ /// /Ø///Ø// /// /Ø/ O
/Ø/ O O/// Ø// O/// //Ø /// Ø// /Ø/ /// /Ø/ O/// /// /Ø/ O
//ØO O /// /Ø/ O/// //Ø /// /ØØ/// O ///// O//Ø /// /// OØ//
///O Ø// ///O /Ø/ /// O/// //////OO O/// /Ø/ O/// /// /ØØ
///O /Ø/ //Ø /Ø/ ///O// /// O /Ø/ ///O /Ø/ /// ///O O
///O //Ø/// /Ø/////Ø /Ø// ////// O //Ø //Ø////Ø ////////O O
////Ø ///ØØØ /////ØOO // OOØØ//// OOO /// OOO//Ø/// O//////
...you may not be able to see that correctly depending on your
character set, operating system, font, newsreader, and/or eyeglasses.
Hmm, it might be better to make the monospaced message out of slanted
characters if '/' is used to draw the monospaced message. I leave
that as an exercise for the reader.
Anyway, I'm still hoping that intrepid artist will use / \ _ - + | etc.
to make pictures that change from Garfield to Bart Simpson or whatever.
That seems more workable than the things I've been trying with big
letters, but on the other hand it'll require a lot of talent and
effort that can't be automated as easily as overlaying two messages.
I will pay a dollar to the first person who can draw a picture that looks
like delicious bacon in Courier and turns into evil cheese in Helvetica.
-- K.
P.S. That .signature was my
way of hinting that I
like my friends not to
use Helvetica or Arial.
----- End forwarded message -----
--
You are not entitled to your opinions.
01234567 <- The amazing* indent-o-meter!
^ (*: Indent-o-meter may not actually amaze.)
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