From: BLANTON@MCOPN.DSEG.TI.COM
Subject:      Skeptical cartoons
Message-ID: <9307261801.AA03708@lll-winken.llnl.gov>
Date:         Mon, 26 Jul 1993 12:52:33 -0500

One particularly enjoyable feature of the North Texas Skeptics'
newsletter is the monthly cartoon by Laura Ainsworth, one of our
board members.  Laura is a lady of many talents, and the drawing
and the humor are syndication quality.  The story lines often
involve some local characters, such as faith healer Robert Tilton
and, of late, the Branch Davidians.  However, themes of national
interest appear, as well.  The humor is often dry, sometimes
sharp, generally on the point of some current interest.  It's a
welcome break from our usual mode of point-counter point.

Available technology makes it possible for me to distribute the
cartoon to those readers of this list who express interest.  What
you would get is a text file that you would then decode using the
Unix uudecode utility.  This will produce a GIF, BMP, JPG, PCX or
whatever format you want.  You must then use the image viewing
facility available on your system to view or print the drawing.
BTW, the uudecode routine is also available for DOS, free.

Laura has agreed to allow her cartoons to be distributed on the
net.  However, the works are copyrighted and must not be used for
commercial purposes without permission from Laura Ainsworth
(e-mail address on request).  We consider that distributing these
drawings and stories in this manner is an extension of our policy
of free distribution of our newsletter whenever there is little
or no extra cost to our treasury (and obviously, when there is no
undue use of facilities paid for by others, such as this
network).

I will start this experiment now.  Send me e-mail if you want a
copy.  Tell me what format, also.  Additionally, my tests have
shown that at least some image formats can be further compressed
before uuencoding, reducing the transmitted file size by 40% or
so.  If you have pkunzip or Unix compress, let me know, and I
will compress the file before uuencoding.

John Blanton
Secretary, The North Texas Skeptics
blanton@lobby.ti.com