Often people see the Internet as just a research tool or a serious means of providing a wide range of information in a quick manner.

There is also a less serious side to the Internet and I've got a few places for comic aficionados and people who just want a laugh a little.

The Comic Strip is the official site for many United Media syndicated comics including the Internet-community favorite, Dilbert and classics such as Peanuts, Marmaduke, Arlo & Janis, Born Loser and Robotman.

According to the site, "Strips are posted here one week after they have appeared in the newspapers." All comics have a four week archive including all daily and Sunday strips (in color where applicable).

The Comic Strip's "Comic Info" contains history and trivia about the comic strip and its author(s).

The United Media Store lets you shop for everything from a Dilbert "Flip Tie" to a Snoopy leather jacket.

Another daily-updated comic site is Universal Press Syndicate Comics. This site, also called UExpress Comics, claims to be "…the largest selection of comics on the web."

Here you can find comics including Garfield, Doonesbury, For Better Or For Worse, Cathy, Ziggy and even Calvin and Hobbes re-runs.

At UExpress Comics, you can read background information including a detailed analysis of each character in a particular comic strip and an interview with the author.

There is also a place on UExpress Comics where you can give your opinion of the comics. As a note, opinions accepted on this site are not monitored, so you may end up reading abusive language.

If you are more interested in jokes than in comics, there is master archive of jokes that can't be matched anywhere else: "Rec.humor.funny Home Page."

The RHF page, as it is usually abbreviated, is a collection of moderated jokes left on the newsgroup "rec.humor.funny." Anyone can submit a joke to this newsgroup site so it is strongly recommended that children or adults that are easily offended avoid this site. There are no category breakdowns that have only "clean" jokes.

Off the main page of RHF, you can read the history of how the RHF Web site (and the preceding newsgroup) got started, bans that were placed against it and the newsgroup's eventual rise to fame.

You can also check Current Jokes of the Day and The Best of RHF (2000 jokes from 1987 to mid 1996) and the search site. The search site can search for a joke from the database of over 6000 hand-picked jokes in just a few seconds.

My favorite feature of this site is the way that all jokes are given a title, author, reviewer rating and a breakdown of what the joke contains i.e. "PBS under the Republicans (Timothy Moy) chuckle, offense=conservatives" The "offense=" section tells you what group may be offended by such a joke.

Another site worth viewing is Jokes Online, which, self-described is "…a huge (and ever growing) list of jokes, ranging from the unbearably funny to the shockingly bad.…"

Jokes Online contains Joke of the Week, Clean Jokes, Evil Jokes and Search Joke (to search for a good chuckle).

If your family is looking for funny-but-clean jokes, try Kaitlyn's Knock Knock Jokes and Riddles. This is a nice compilation that will keep the younger kids giggling for hours.

Whether you enjoy a smirk or two occasionally or want to laugh heartily, remember next time the laughter that the Internet can offer.