I have seen this
service performed by several people in different
countries. The most interesting things about it, which I think
deserve to be especially pointed out, are:
1. Not only do these
people draw relatively
complex(or in the case of
Chinese characters, very
complex) lines that are only a few millimeters high, they do it
on the fly, while you are waiting. Imagine
programming or
plumbing houses or whatever you do for a living while someone is
watching and waiting.
2. I have seen
people who do this but who are able to
create only a
subset of the
alphabet, and who put up signs to that
effect. This is very
interesting, because it serves as a
guide to the
complexity of the
alphabet and can also be used for a
Shannon-like
analysis of the
distances between characters.
or something... pretty
cool anyway!