"Nut Once Worthy and Other Letters"

Mystics and new-agers will tell you that anagrams - a rearrangement of the letters in a word or a name - can offer a glimpse into the soul or essence or that thing or person. I'm a little skeptical myself, but I must admit I can't otherwise explain how come you can anagram the word "senator" into "treason."

If you're interested in anagrams and you have a computer, point your web browser to http://infobahn.com/pages/anagram.html, and this will take you to "Main Sanitary Nag" (also known as "Anagram Insanity"). All you have to do is enter the word you want to glimpse the essence of, press the "Mama gear sank" (make anagrams) button, and prepare to be amazed - or at least, amused.

Will it give you a glimpse into the soul? Well, I experimented with a few well-known country music names. See for yourself.
Marty Stuart - "musty art rat"
Lorrie Morgan - "grim lone roar"
Diamond Rio - "no dim radio" or "indoor maid" (?)
Merle Haggard - "large hard gem"
Grand Ole Opry - "poor dry angel" or "real pond orgy"
Little Texas - "exalt its set" or "lets axe tilt"
Pam Tillis - "slim lit pa"
Ty Herndon - "thorny end"
Garth Brooks - "short brag ok"
Hot new country - "no unworthy etc.," "outcry when not" or "nut once worthy"

Obviously, the more vowels you have in your name the easier it is to see into your soul. Lee Roy Parnell yielded 237 anagrams, while Clint Black produced none (does that mean Clint has no soul?).

Trisha Yearwood can be anagrammed many ways from the enigmatically sweet "Rosy radio wheat" to the frankly uncomplimentary "Hairy sweat odor." What does that say about Trisha's soul?

I don't know, but rest assured Country Standard Time will continue investigating the connection between country music, computers and new age mysticism. Tune in next time when we visit a web site that claims to channel the spirit of Hank Williams. Be here for "Praise the Lord, I Saw the Byte."

Until next time, this is Robot Lyre (Robert Loy)

P.S. What experience and history teach is this - that people and governments never have learned from history or acted on principles deduced from it - Georg W.H. Hegel.