Tom Allison wrote:
> 
> But can someone explain to me what's going on here so my brain doesn't 
> implode?

Throw back to the old ftp pipe days?  E.g., see,

  http://www.ii.com/internet/ftp/archie_ftp_uncompression/

Later,
--
Bil Kleb
http://fun3d.larc.nasa.gov