In semi-regular posts, the audiophiles behind Spoilt Victorian Child offer succinct, thoughtful, and often glowing takes on an array of musicians playing willfully with all kinds of sounds. A recent post about a free noise group describes them as using "anything that comes to hand: wood, water, duck calls, the sounds of sticks whizzing through the air...and saxophones." If you don't go in for squawking abstraction, you're likely to find other tunes you can cozy up to—or boogie down with: "thrilling fizzy pop" perhaps, or vintage dance music, or the dirty beats of a techno and electro pop band. The tracks are posted for "a couple of days" only, so everything we've mentioned here will soon give way to fresh tunes and unspoiled commentary from Spoilt Victorian Child. (in Blogs)

If you arrive late to work or crack jokes about a politician, nothing serious is likely to happen to you. But if you had the grave misfortune to commit such "crimes" in Stalin's Russia, you might have been shipped off to the Gulag. And you might never have come back. This site, companion to an exhibit touring the U.S., traces the harrowing tale of the Soviet labor camps, a brutal penal system that caught some 18 million people—from petty thieves to political activists to joke crackers—in its repressive clutches. Begin with "Stalin's Gulag," a section that includes women's experiences in the camps and what life was like in the "overcrowded, stinking, poorly-heated barracks." The section on dissidents includes a marvelous section on the human rights samizdat, and "After the USSR" examines how Russians have coped with the Gulag's legacy. (in History)

Cats and dogs are so passé. For the apartment-dweller with limited space, the perfect pet is a cuddly hedgehog. And we have Numo here to prove it. Although he appears a trifle prickly, this little guy exudes a huggable aura. And according to his blogger-human, he purrs. Follow Numo as he competes in the Hedgehog Olympics, takes a bath, wears a paper-towel tube on his head like a partygoer with a lampshade, snoozes, or just slurps water. When you're done, we bet you'll be considering fitting a mobile pincushion into your hectic life. If your pad isn't hedgehogable, consider Numo your virtual buddy. (in Animals, Insects, and Pets)

Dragging yourself out of the house and to an art gallery or museum can be a pain. It's great when you've actually made it, standing slack-jawed in front of a huge, cool painting—but the process of finding the spot, and wandering around it under the eagle eye of the curator, can be, well, awkward. Enter 5oup, a showcase for students to get their work seen and for art fans to narrow in on that up-and-coming talent. From the textiles of Katy Leicester to the fantasyland animation of Ping to the crisp graphic design of Andrew Cooper, a scroll through the fresh pickings found here is as fun as stumbling into a friendly, undiscovered gallery. And you don't even have to worry about having a hip outfit to wear. (in Visual Arts)

More than 100 2-liter bottles of Diet Coke. More than 500 Mentos. And two men in goggles and lab coats. You can imagine that this portends a fateful—and combustible—encounter. But perhaps you can't imagine just how combustible, nor how stylishly orchestrated. EepyBird compares the results to a "mint-powered version of the Bellagio Fountains in Las Vegas." A Blue Man Group-hijacking of Old Faithful comes to mind too, though certainly the Bellagio corners the market on geyser choreography—until EepyBird, that is. After you ogle the video, take in some of the earlier experiments, such as the one that "didn't go quite according to plan" or the one that, gulp, "seemed like a good idea." If you find yourself wondering about the health repercussions of swigging a Diet Coke while mouthing a Mentos, EepyBird offers some reassuring science behind the explosively fresh soda/candy relationship. (in Food and Drink Humor)

At the World Economic Forum in January 2005, Nicholas Negroponte, digital-age visionary who cofounded the MIT Media Lab, unveiled an initiative called One Laptop per Child. This project, he pledged, would build and distribute cheap laptops to children throughout the developing world. Each machine, according to the project's site, would run on "innovative power (including wind-up)." Each would boast wireless broadband. And each would cost $100. Now, with a colorful prototype in operation, and governments across South America, Africa, and the Mid-East expressing interest, the project seems to be moving rapidly toward fulfilling Negroponte's dream. The site's FAQ answers such questions as "What about connectivity?" and its Wiki page takes on the myths that swirl around the project. "You're expecting this to be a magic bullet for poverty" is answered with a resounding "false," and the issue of why this hasn't been done before is countered simply: "All things have a beginning." (in Society and Culture > Philanthropy)

The Box Tank takes on the habits and heft of the typical American city. But if "typical American city" makes you think of New York, Boston, or San Francisco, think again. The trio of writers behind this retail and urbanism blog find the "essence of the American city" in the spread-out, strip-malled, super-centered sprawl of towns like "Knoxville, Houston, or Omaha." That's where these writers locate their subjects: in the megachurches, exurbs, and fast-proliferating "lifestyle centers" of the new downtown. And that's where they find their main character: Wal-Mart. As much as anything else, this site focuses—relentlessly, thoughtfully, sometimes almost lovingly—on the world's largest company and how it has shaped, and reshaped, the landscape of the U.S. (in Social Science)