December 30, 1996

At the end of this very long year, most all of us in technology-related jobs have had it up to our eyebrows with the Internet’s growing pains.

Censorship laws, failed initial public offerings, price wars and network traffic jams were bad enough. But we also had to watch what the mega-mondo corporations were doing on the World Wide Web, with their multimillion-dollar attempts at mass appeal. Most of those sites take themselves so seriously that, useful or not, some of us get cramps in the mouse hand just visiting them.

Corporate sites are usually the polar opposite of the homegrown, wildly original sites that drove the Web’s early popularity. In the spirit of remembering from whence we came, what follows is a list of decidedly uncorporate Web sites, compiled for your enjoyment and, possibly, inspiration.

The sites listed below found their way into this compilation in the same way that virtually all such sites make it on the Web: by word of mouth and word of mouse (e-mail). Two of the main criteria for their inclusion are that the sites and their links actually function (as of last week, anyhow) and that they are appropriate for a family publication.

The third criterion, for better or worse, is that I happen to like them. Often they make me laugh, and always I marvel at the abundance of human creativity and the Web’s ability to make that creativity manifest.

Readers, launch your browsers:

DEAD PEOPLE SERVER

An absolutely invaluable service for those who cannot remember the current status of celebrities and cultural icons. Exhaustive list with links to places like the “Gilligan’s Island” home page (from the Jim Backus listing), complete with theme song .

http://www.best.com/~dijon/tv/gilligan/gilligan.au

CENTER FOR THE EASILY AMUSED

“Random Silliness” area has scores of links, including one to an entire Web site devoted to Peeps, the candy baby ducks popular at Easter, and another to “Bathrooms of Madison County.” Also lists “Sites That Do Stuff” (like the “Zen Connect-the-Dots Home Page”).

ANAGRAM INSANITY

A hoot. Type in a name or phrase, and within seconds hundreds of anagrams are generated. Favorite anagram of my name: “censors adieu.”