But my complaint became insignificant with the news of suicide bombings, the tsunami, deaths due to the winter storm and the death of my best friend's father-in-law. I was feeling pretty low when I turned the calendar and discovered this advice: "She who laughs, lasts.

So I thought that instead of focusing on all the bad news, I'd write about some of the humorous sites that I've discovered through the years. I decided that it is far better to step into the new year with a smile on my face than with a sense of sadness in my heart.

• www.jokeseveryday.com: Promising jokes that are fit for the whole family, JokesEveryDay also gives visitors the opportunity to sign up for dozens of daily e-posts including horoscope, brain teasers, cartoons, Bible quotes and vocabulary words. The site includes a sign-up section to receive newsletters on entertainment information, gardening hints, tax tips, soap opera updates, wrestling news, travel bargains and much, much more.

• www.thebartend.com: Although this site is no longer being updated daily, you can still access an archive of the best jokes from the past nine years. (Caution, some use language or cover subject matter that is for adults only.) You can also try some of the 3,400 drink recipes (also for adults only).

• www.our.net.au/~philip/jokesindex.html: From Australia comes this site of groaners and moaners . My favorites are the collections like "Gorillas" and "Why English is so Difficult."

• www.punoftheday.com: And speaking of groaners and moaners, this site called Pun of the Day" will give you a daily dose of both with lines like: "I wondered why the baseball was getting bigger. Then it hit me" and "A criminal's best asset is his lie ability."

• www.ahajokes.com: As described on the site: "Thousands of clean jokes, funny pictures, cartoons, funny audio, funny videos, random jokes and humor. Search for humor by keyword, by topic, or even by date." My favorites here are the ads, announcements and headlines, but I love Jeff Foxworthy, so the "You Might be a Redneck" section is a hoot and a half as well.

• www.live365.com/stations/jokeaday: Finally, if you like to hear your jokes rather than read them, Live365, one of the Internet's oldest and best audio stations, offers dozens of comedy routine and joke channels in addition to novelty music and talk radio. The free player only takes a few seconds to download (less than a minute even for the slowest dial-up connections). You can skip through the stations or choose a few for your personalized playlist.

Jan Perry is a Kentucky-based freelance writer for The Post. She welcomes your e-mails. Send them to SiteSeer2K@aol.com.