INFORMATIONAL

Errata Exist

Independent Submission A. Farrel Request for Comments: 8140 Old Dog Consulting Category: Informational 1 April 2017 ISSN: 2070-1721 The Arte of ASCII: Or, An True and Accurate Representation of an Menagerie of Thynges Fabulous and Wonderful in Ye Forme of Character Abstract Ever since Gutenberg discovered and patented ASCII and the corresponding "Courier New" font with its now-famous "ten" point size, artisans and artificers have striven to represent their views of the world in print. Similarly, starting from Darwin's discovery of the hippogriff and his subsequent registration of the creature as an International Trade Mark, men (and some women) have struggled to catalog the fabulous variety that is called "nature". This document supplies a number of representations of all manner of things (both elemental and hypothetical) supplied by some of our best collectors of curios and delivered in a manner that may well be reused by the cunning document author. Status of This Memo This document is not an Internet Standards Track specification; it is published for informational purposes. This is a contribution to the RFC Series, independently of any other RFC stream. The RFC Editor has chosen to publish this document at its discretion and makes no statement about its value for implementation or deployment. Documents approved for publication by the RFC Editor are not a candidate for any level of Internet Standard; see Section 2 of RFC 7841. Information about the current status of this document, any errata, and how to provide feedback on it may be obtained at http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc8140. Farrel Informational [Page 1]

RFC 8140 ASCII Art 1 April 2017 1 . Introduction RFC7990] [RFC7996], there is a yearning among all right-thinking Internet architects to "keep it simple" and to return to the olden days when pigs could be given thrust without anyone taking undue offence [RFC1925]. This document attempts to address that yearning by demonstrating the full wonder of the natural world in vivid two-dimensional representation and a colour palette that would put even the august L. S. Lowry to shame. Readers of this document are encouraged to be familiar. 2 . Beasts of the Land Farrel Informational [Page 3]

RFC 8140 ASCII Art 1 April 2017 2.1 . The Troll Farrel Informational [Page 4]

RFC 8140 ASCII Art 1 April 2017 2.2 . The Unicorn Rampant RFC7399]. Essential to the proper function of the PCE is the Unicorn that roams the dark wood of the Traffic Engineering Database, rearing up and spearing unwitting paths on the horn of its intellect. Unicorns, it is claimed, can only be captured by the pure of heart who have never operated a real network. . |\ \\______ / \ \_ / O \ \ / __ \ | (__/ / \| / \____ __-- \__ --___/ \ ___ ( ( __---- |-- \ || ( \___ / /--. \ -\_\ \___( / / __/ \_\ \_ \_ | / _/\__ _) \_\ / __/ _/ |__/ _/ /__\__/ /__| Figure 2: A Unicorn in Rampant State Farrel Informational [Page 5]

RFC 8140 ASCII Art 1 April 2017 3 . Creatures of the Deep 3.1 . The Loch Ness Monster Farrel Informational [Page 6]

RFC 8140 ASCII Art 1 April 2017 3.2 . The Marlynne or Sword Fishe MTFTW]. Do not mistake its sharp wit for a valid argument. As can be seen from the rendition here presented, the Marlynne is happy in its work. __ \ \ -- __) \_____ \ \ / \ \ \./ o \ / .. __=====--- / / \ \ -- ------------ Figure 4: The Sword Fishe - An Happy Fishe 4 . Spirits of the Air 4.1 . Ze Vompyre RFC 2119 Usage Debate of Doom. The vampire bat is sometimes mistaken for its third cousin on its mother's side, the fruitbat. That beast is equally evil and will remove whole plates of fruit from refreshment tables, leaving only celery sticks for latecomers. Data that is once nibbled by a vampire may find that some of its most precious bits become corrupted and drop off. Sure protection may only be achieved by placing garlic in the metadata or overhead of a packet. Farrel Informational [Page 7]

RFC 8140 ASCII Art 1 April 2017 Farrel Informational [Page 8]

RFC 8140 ASCII Art 1 April 2017 4.2 . Avian Carriers RFC1925] and more celebrated than the Infinite Monkey [RFC2795] is the Avian Carrier [RFC1149]. This scavenger of the sky comes in a variety of bright colors, perhaps an evolutionary trait enabling a hunter to distinguish the carriers and drop those it considers weakest, or maybe acting as a warning to predatory Buphyres so that they do not attack the carriers deemed most important by the flock. _ _ _ _ \o/ \o/ /\o/\ /\o/\ /\o/\ /\o/\ /\o/\ _ _ \o/ --------- --------- | | | | | | --------- | |------ | |--- | | |---- | |----- | | | | | | | |--- | | --------- --------- | |----- | | | --------- Figure 7: A Flock of Avian Carriers with a Nest of Packets Farrel Informational [Page 9]

RFC 8140 ASCII Art 1 April 2017 5.2 . The Gingerbread House TFTW]. However, it may have been Herr Grimm and his eponymous brother, Herr Grimm, who first recorded the existence of a house made of gingerbread (with all the trimmings). Note that attempts to perform packet tracing using breadcrumbs will usually fail owing to avian carriers who like to keep the forest floor tidy (Section 4.2. ( ) ( ) /^\ () / \ - / \| | / \ | / \| / \ / \ / \ /-^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^-\ | | | --- --- | | | | | | | | | | |-+-| |-+-| | | | | | | | | | | --- --- | |_ | ) --- | ) | | | ) |o | | ) | | | |_______ _|...|_| \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ Figure 9: A Deserted and Partially Nibbled (or Byted) Gingerbread House Farrel Informational [Page 11]

RFC 8140 ASCII Art 1 April 2017 7.2 . A Security Mechanism Farrel Informational [Page 13]

RFC 8140 ASCII Art 1 April 2017 7.3 . Backdoors 8 . Manageability Considerations 9 . Morality Considerations RFC4041], this section considers the impact of this document on the public morals. It is still the view of popular opinion and can be verified by reliable metrics that moral values are declining and that degeneracy is on the rise. One has only to look at the apostasy surrounding the True Use of Language as set forth in RFC 2119 [RFC2119] to know that the populace has become truly debauched. 9.1 . Likelihood of Misuse by the Depraved Farrel Informational [Page 14]