Selected-By: Michael Nolan <nolan@pumpkin.tssi.com>

The Usenet Oracle has pondered your question deeply.
Your question was:

> Our Oracle who art in Indiana, hallowed be thy domain name, please tell
> me:
>
> What are the 15 Workstations of the Cross?

And in response, thus spake the Oracle:

} No such thing.  But here are the Greater Trumps ...
}
} 0. The FOOL: a manager using a SPARCStation 413,1432 to run a
}    screensaver.
}
} 1. The MAGICIAN: a hacker with a Mac, a Pentium box, a Sparc, and a
}    Cray on the table in front of him --- all running the same program
}    with the same GUI.  An infinity sign is over his head.
}
} 2. The HIGH PRIESTESS: a woman holding the Documentation, closed and
}    concealed.  The crescent moon is showing on an Indigo behind her.
}
} 3. The EMPEROR: Steve Jobs sitting on a NeXT cube, holding an optical
}    disk vertically in his hand.
}
} 4. The EMPRESS: A secretary with a NeXT Machine.
}
} 5. The HEIROPHANT: Bill Gates with two flunkies kneeling before him,
}    their faces averted, offering him floppy disks.  He wears a laptop
}    computer on his head.
}
} 6. The LOVERS: a PowerMAC and an IBM Power PC exchanging software as
}    an angel bathed in glory regards them.
}
} 7. The CHARIOT: A man in a chariot, hurtling up an exponential curve,
}    drawn by the twin sphinxes of Technology (black) and Culture
}    (white).
}
} 8. STRENGTH: A woman holding the entire design and implementation of
}    Microsoft Excel in her mind as she corrects the final error.  An
}    infinity sign is over her head.
}
} 9. The HERMIT: An old hacker, white-bearded,  burns the midnight oil;
}    its Star-of-David flame illuminates his keyboard.
}
} 10. The WHEEL OF FORTUNE: A rotating wheel.  Cray is on the side going
}     down, despite its good technology; Smalltalk is opposite it, and
}     C++ is sitting on top.  Four winged beings -- a mouse, a turtle, a
}     dog-cow, and a human -- look on.
}
} 11. JUSTICE.  A cold-faced woman holds a calculator in one hand and a
}     delete-key in the other.
}
} 12. The HANGED MAN: A programmer is tied by his ankle to a cable duct.
}     His phase is completely shifted: he awakens at sunset, he sleeps
}     at dawn.  His monitor is reverse-video.  He programs on,
}     flawlessly, oblivious to his circumstances.
}
} 13. DEATH: A skeleton weilding a scythe surveys a field, on which are
}     scattered PDP-11s, Apple ]['s, IBM 360/91's, Xerox Alto's, and
}     many other machines.
}
} 14. TEMPERANCE: An angel stands with one foot on her chair and one on
}     the floor, as she copies files from one disk to another.  A cursor
}     blinks from her chest.
}
} 15. The DEVIL: The goat-headed Lord of the Pit stands on a pile of
}     Windows manuals, holding an inverted torch in one hand.  Two
}     humans, male and female, are in chains at his feet.
}
} 16. The TOWER: An ivory tower is struck by a bolt of lightning.  Two
}     robed figures, denied tenure, are hurtled to the ground.
}
} 17. The STAR: A Mac is running its `warp' screen saver, in a transient
}     fragile moment of peace.
}
} 18. The MOON: A wolf and a jackal are typing at two PC's.  A crayfish
}     crawls out of a pool, offering suggestions that may ultimately
}     prove deadly.  The moon shines through a window.
}
} 19. The SUN: A naked child riding a winged rocking horse programs
}     clever applications on a high-quality workstation.
}
} 20. JUDGEMENT: An angel blows a trumpet; all over the net, web pages
}     arise, to be rated Cool or not.
}
} 21. The WORLD: A woman dances on the clouds, unclothed, unencumbered,
}     in a ring of clouds, a 3-d mouse in each hand.  The four winged
}     beings from the Wheel of Fortune surround her.