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.
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:
This interview with David Blume on Kim Hill's Saturday morning show 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.