Saturday, May 08, 2004

What a Phony

Need a new online identity or a (very) minor character for your novel? Try the Random Person Generator. (Unfortunately, at the moment, it only generates persons of the male variety.) Here's the lowdown on "Ethan Hayes":

Likes: cats, fish and hot chocolate
Dislikes: walking, watching television and helicopters

Each profile includes an amusing line drawing of the character.

For lazy English Comp students, the same site offers a Random Essay Generator. Just type in a topic. The results are not as nonsensical as you might expect. Here's the first paragraph of an essay I generated on "terrorism":

"Think back to the first time you ever heard of terrorism. At one stage or another, every man woman or child will be faced with the issue of terrorism. Though terrorism is a favourite topic of discussion amongst monarchs, presidents and dictators, it is yet to receive proper recognition for laying the foundations of democracy. It still has the power to shock those politicaly minded individuals living in the past, many of whom fail to comprehend the full scope of terrorism. Though I would rather be in bed I will now examine the primary causes of terrorism."