One-hit wonder

Googlewhacking. It is the latest sport. There is a particular difficulty with explaining it, however, which is that it uses Google. Many people who use the internet know that this is a search engine that is good at finding reliable information. The aim of the game is to find a combination of words that turns up one and only one internet page out of the 2 billion searched.

But most Britons have probably not heard of Google, which renders the game as instantly excluding as the most esoteric discussion of Gary Sobers's batting average. And it is going to be difficult to interest those who are not connected to the information age in an activity which is, on reflection, completely and utterly pointless.

What good does it do anyone to know that "hellkite flamingo" and "octopi jujitsu" once brought up a solitary page on Google – until Googlewhackers listed them on the internet?

The game is about as pointless as extreme ironing and surfball, but then, to wax philosophical for a moment, it is not as if there is much point to many of the things human beings do to distract themselves from the passage of time. Rugby, for example, or tennis, or football – especially American football.