Here’s another installment of our weekly endeavor to make you laugh, have fun and in all cases waste time.

Interested in seeing the Seven Wonders of the World but don’t have the time or money? Do it for free with Google Earth.

This timewaster is a free-for-download application that allows you to zip around the world in 3D graphics. Start by traveling to your house — just type in your address and press Search. You can also look for schools, parks, businesses, landmarks and the sky.

The images used by Google Earth are taken every one to three years. The basic Earth is free, but Google also offers two paid options that offer more information, faster speeds and more detailed images.

Still, the free version is plenty of fun. If you’re looking for even more, the Google Earth Gallery displays free add-ons that show different information on the Earth — including a vision of the planet’s night light pollution, real-time earthquakes and the sites of Ancient Rome. And, if that’s not enough, check out the Google Siteseeing blog that covers all the strange and interesting things that can be found in Google Earth.

For information on computer specifications for the download, click here.

Here’s another installment of our weekly endeavor to make you laugh, have fun and in all cases waste time.

This week’s timewaster might take a little more brain power than some of the other sites mentioned. But, who doesn’t love Scrabble?

But, rather than bugging friends and family to play while losing letter chips all over the house, Scrabulous is a Web site built for playing the game. It was launched in July 2006, and includes a Facebook version.

The Web site is free and allows people to play other players from around the world in real time. The site also offers a practice mode for playing by yourself or against a computer, along with options to save games and track statistics.

And, for all my fellow Scrabble nuts click here for the game’s history. Some fun facts:

• Alfred Butts invented the game’s first version — Lexico — in 1933 but the game did not take off until he added a board.
• Scrabble is sold in 121 countries and over 100 million sets of the game have been sold in 29 different languages.
• Butts began calculating the score of each letter by counting letters on the front page of the New York Times.

Here’s another installment of our weekly endeavor to make you laugh, have fun and in all cases waste time.

This week, on Christmas Day, folks can dress up the computer for the holidays by turning it into a virtual fireplace.

Rather than flip over to the TV station displaying video of a burning yule log, why not do it with a desktop or laptop computer by downloading this free screensaver that includes crackling noises from the virtual burning wood.

Here’s another installment of our weekly endeavor to make you laugh, have fun and in all cases waste time.

This week’s amusement from the “interactive toys” corner of artist Ze Frank’s Web site. The New York Times wrote an article about Frank, focusing on his experiment in letting anyone and everyone write a script for one of his daily video podcasts. That experiment earned second place in the TIME magazine’s list of top ten podcasts back in 2006.

But, for the purposes of wasting time, check out Frank’s online, interactive tools made with Adobe Flash, a strong knowledge of math and a mind for thinking outside of the box. Some highlights:

• Please enable Javascript and Flash to view this Flash video.To use Ze Frank’s kaleidoscope tool, choose colors, draw lines and drag shapes onto a blank black circle. The tool will meld the shapes and drawings to instantly create an animated kaleidoscope-like image. The older, simpler version of this tool is here, the newer version is here.
• For the holidays, people in offices that allow sound can annoy co-workers with a visual carol maker. Just drag little elf heads, which represent notes and chords, to an empty black box. The elves will sing the song that you create. Proud composers can even e-mail their creations to family, friends and bored co-workers.
• A “string spin toy” has users scribble on the screen as that doodle-art is transformed into a 3-dimensional image. Old version here, new version here.
• And last, but not least, is my favorite – a 3D snowflake maker. For those who were entertained by the last snowflake maker I wrote about, this one is even better. It allows the user to create the snowflake as it spins in 3D. Even first-timers like myself can achieve some really pretty results (see my example at left).

Here’s another installment of our weekly endeavor to make you laugh, have fun and in all cases waste time.

Most people might not enjoy wasting time by learning. (Actually, I watch “Mythbusters,” “How It’s Made” and “Build it Bigger” just for fun.)

But, who out there won’t be excited to know that on the informative Web site HowStuffWorks, one can learn all about werewolves ?

The entry — hidden between information on engineering and science marvels — begins by saying “‘The Wolf Man’ did for werewolves what Bram Stoker’s 1897 novel ‘Dracula’ did for vampires. It set the rules for how werewolves are supposed to behave. ”

Now don’t get me wrong. There are plenty of purely educational ways to waste time on this site (I’d check out how atoms work first), but the werewolves do offer a lighter side we might need to get through the middle of a hectic and stressful work week.

Here’s another installment of our weekly endeavor to make you laugh, have fun and in all cases waste time.

Enjoy winter again with more than hot cocoa and holiday parties by making snowflakes from any place with an Internet connection.

Yes, one of the most hands-on wintertime activities has gone hi-tech. Marketing company Barkley has saved us from paper cuts as we can now make paper snowflakes online. The company was founded in 1964 and offers all sorts of marketing services, and all sorts of snowflake possibilities.

Just click here to begin making a snowflake. Scissors show up as your mouse cursor. Just click on the paper’s edge, then inside the paper and then back at an edge to cut out part of the paper. At any time, click to preview your snowflake. Or, to see what others have done on any given day, view the snowflake gallery.

Here’s another installment of our weekly endeavor to make you laugh, have fun and in all cases waste time.

Ever run out of battery life on your iPod with no sign of a wall charger? Go to the grocery store to find Gatorade and an onion with which you can (for about 15 minutes) charge the iPod.

That’s the science experiment in a video posted by HouseholdHacker.com . The video (below) shows that by soaking a white onion in Gatorade, the electrolytes can be used to power an iPod.

If you have even more time to waste today, then head over to the video-maker’s Web site and see also how to: create a directional antenna to improve the XBox 360′s wireless connection, cook a turkey by using four DVD-R discs and a small lamp or turn a Wii remote into a mouse.

Please enable Javascript and Flash to view this Flash video.