A couple favorite "Plugged In" ways to waste time

OK, I admit it. I've been sucked in to iwon.com. I don't know how long it will last, but I have to say that their combination of sweepstakes and the search engine Ask.com seems pretty darn brilliant. I mean, most companies have figured out pretty standard ways of gaining revenue for their search engines (Google's AdWords, for example). But the folks at iwon have come up with something totally different.

See, once you register on the site, you need to start gathering sweepstakes entry credits. You can do this through a variety of means, including playing through some of the games on the site until the bitter end (good for wasting away an afternoon) or by conducting searches on the site using Ask.com's highly respectable search engine. Given how many times in a day I search for something, well, that's a lot of sweepstakes entries.

I'll keep you posted on whether I win anything.

Another fun "wasting time" site is www.theonion.com. Lots of funny stories replete with tongue-firmly-in-cheek satire. Some of my recent favorites include "New Heart Device Allows Dick Cheney to Experience Love" and "Third Amendment Rights Group Celebrates Another Successful Year." Quick, can you tell me what the third amendment to the constitution is? Why yes, it's the one protecting American citizens from being forced to house soldiers.

And speaking of satire, please go to Despair.com. This site offers some really humorous riffs on those "Successories" posters (you know with the pictures of people and or fluffy animals working together and some inspiring phrase like "Teamwork: we're all in this together"). Despair's perspective is far more realistic: "Teamwork: A few harmless flakes working together can unleash an avalanche of destruction." It's really heart warming. You can even create your own.