Resign Managua

NET GAINS

The web took the buzz-word of "interactivity" and successfully turned it from a nebulous concept into a reality. And some of its most gratifying manifestations are its most simple. Take Anagram Genius, for instance (right), one of countless similar sites. It offers you various anagram entertainments including a database to which you can add, and a downloadable anagram programme. It'll also rehash any phrase you provide it and e-mail you the result: Mike Higgins netgains writer rearranges into he is wire-netting as grim king. Hmmm.

The Web is a forum for a huge number of other low-level wordplay generators. Those of you for whom the constant use of their mother's maiden name as a password is getting a tad tired can go to the Password Generator (www.lilli.com/gpw.html). It generated half-a-dozen nonsensical yet distinctive words for me instantly.

Pertinent only in the sense that they develop the wordplay are Dilbert's Mission Statement Generator (www.unitedmedia.com/comics/dilbert/career) and the Postmodernism Generator (www.csse.monash.edu.au/other/postmodern.html). The first dreams up meaningless management-speak declamations while the second creates essays of po-mo gobbledygook jargon, replete with fake bibliography. And in case you're still wondering about the curious title of this piece, Resign Managua is, of course, an anagram of Anagram Genius.

Don't panic

www.h2g2.com

Douglas Adams unwittingly provided a facetious definition of the web with the title of his classic radio series, book, television series and soon-to-be-film, The Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Over the quarter- of-a-century since Hitchiker's appearance, Adams, besides writing, has had various involvements in computer games, an interest which brought him inevitably to the web. H2G2, a self-deprecating exception to the standard hyperbole of the web, styles itself the "Official Earth Edition of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy." And, insofar as this simple site largely comprises the discussions and comments of anyone who feels like contributing a line or two on, well, anything, it strives to live up to this inclusivity description - a miniature version of the Web itself, in fact.