Addicted To Noise: If you're a serious rock music fan, you'll love this site which features intelligent, thoughtful and often witty pieces on almost every aspect of the genre. You have a choice of either a 'low fi' or 'hi fi' version of the pages which feature the latest music news, album reviews, interviews and provocative views by such celebrated rock critics as Dave Marsh and Greil Marcus. The CD reviews also offer audio samples if you're willing to wait for the uncertain load-up. And you can jump on the discussion bandwagon by going to the interactive section. The pages load up pretty fast mainly because there're not many pictures.

CIA - The World Factbook 1999: Doing some research on a country you plan on visiting? Want some up-to-date facts, figures and reference maps? Want to brush up on your geography? Then this is where you should head. It's a pretty dry site but you'll usually get more than what you're looking for in the way of accurate statistics on just about any country you can name. The CIA connection may have you a bit suspicious at first that the information is encoded with subliminal US propaganda messages. But once you start gleaning all the relevant data, it will appear pretty harmless and surprisingly detailed.

Learn2.com: Want to know how to replace a broken tile, fix a leaky pipe, wax a car, program your VCR, make a paper hat, make your annoying neigbor disappear... eh, strike that last one? Well, if you're really thinking of doing any of these things or a hundred other similar DIY chores, this "ability utility" is what you need for idiot-proof step-by-step "2torials". It's a fabulous site that tells you how to go about whatever you intend to do with the kind of breezy and fun approach that manuals for home electronic products could do with. There're various categories to choose from (Arts & Crafts, Automotive, Business & Money, Family & Pets, Food & Drink, Health & Fitness, Home & Garden, Sports & Recreation, Style & Grace, Technology, Travel, Writing & Speech) so chances are you'll find exactly the info for the kind of thing you've been itching to do around the house. The site loads very fast and the illustrations are terrific.

MTBReview.com: While the boast that "over 17,000 bikers visit mtbreview.com every day" may be somewhat exaggerated, this probably is the most popular interactive mountain biking site on the Web. And interestingly, almost everything is written by real mountain bikers from around the world, and that includes product reviews and technical information on everything from suspension systems to drivetrain upgrades. The forums are often lively and intriguing, and you not only get to communicate and exchange views with mountain bikers from every corner of the globe but also get a chance to win respect and a sort of celebrity status for sharing any in-depth knowledge of offroad bicycle technology. You can also do a bit of self-promotion if you think you have something valuable to offer to the mountain bike community. The site's growing popularity has made it a bit slower to get into lately, but it's still faster to enter than most sites with heavy traffic.

PopSci.com: The online version of Popular Science magazine is a great hangout for knowledge junkies with a scientific bent. It may take a while to load up, but the features are usually worth the wait. These range from fascinating articles on life-altering transplants for the 20th century and futuristic motor vehicles to amazingly sophisticated video gear and high-tech weapons of war. The writing is clear and crisp so you don't have to worry about being baffled by technical jargon. There's a whole bunch of terrific pieces here so you might be inclined to spend a bit of time here. And the search box to help you find exactly what you're looking for is a neat touch.

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