Spring has arrived properly in New Zealand bringing sun, grass, and baby cows, and I took advantage of the Labour Day public holiday weekend to take my partner down to the top of the South Island for kayaking, relaxing, and family visiting. textile 2008-10-28T08:15:49Z 1 245 397 Document 2008-10-28T08:15:49Z 46800 2008-10-28T08:15:49Z "This interview":http://podcast.radionz.co.nz/sat/sat-20081011-0812-David_Blume_running_on_ethanol-048.mp3 with "David Blume":http://www.permaculture.com/ on "Kim Hill's Saturday morning show":http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/saturday about farming for alcohol as a cheaper and more ecologically-productive fuel is well worth a listen, including some interesting views about how the current oil industry developed and how he thinks an ethanol-based fuel production can be used to support economically & ecologically sound high-productivity permaculture farming. textile 2008-10-20T22:23:59Z 1 243 387 Document 2008-10-20T22:23:59Z 46800 2008-10-20T22:23:59Z I'd heard that Australia's Lyrebirds are good mimics of the other birdcalls and sounds in their environment, but you really have to hear their impersonation of camera shutters (and car alarms, chainsaws...) to believe them: textile 2008-10-15T09:07:06Z 1 241 385 Document 2008-10-15T09:07:06Z 46800 2008-10-15T09:07:06Z Turns out the well-appointed contents of all those homes foreclosed due to the American subprime greed crash, where the owners don't have the money or energy to move their old stuff out (or anywhere to move it to)? Yeah, "it's all getting taken to the dump":http://earthfirst.com/contents-of-foreclosed-homes-going-to-the-dump-where-are-the-green-entrepreneurs/. textile 2008-10-15T08:52:26Z 1 239 383 Document 2008-10-15T08:52:26Z 46800 2008-10-15T08:52:26Z