We scanned last week's 50,000 top Lycos user queries for the names of popular pinups.
Some call them "babes" -- but hey, we're trying to be sensitive about this. The simple truth is that women of a certain pneumatic type show up with extreme frequency on the Lycos 50. So here, without further ado, are your dozen favorites:
1. Pamela Anderson
2. Carmen Electra
3. Sable
4. Jenny McCarthy
5. Trish Stratus
6. Cindy Margolis
7. Tyra Banks
8. Cindy Crawford
9. Anna Nicole Smith
10. Laetitia Casta
11. Heidi Klum
12. Nikki Cox
Who is Trish Stratus? She's one of that new species known as fitness models -- women whose general style might be called "Playboy meets Powerbar." The Internet has been a boon to these women, who formerly were nameless cover girls on motorcycle magazines but now have their own websites and online fans.
Ms. Stratus is popular this week because she just appeared on the WWF show "Sunday Night Heat." Pro wrestling has also been a boon for pinups; ex-WWF star Sable hasn't been on the show in a year and she's still #3 on the list.
Other of these women can only be called Web warhorses. Cindy Margolis and Anna Nicole Smith haven't done much of anything in the past few years except appear on a thousand ".edu" sites in various states of undress. Pamela Anderson and Jenny McCarthy are "actresses," sure, but people aren't tuning in to check on their interpretation of Lyubov in The Cherry Orchard.
Still, you have to marvel at their steady popularity. It's like the old line about the sun never setting on the British empire: every moment of every day someone, somewhere on the globe, is searching the web for Pamela Anderson.
