So, sometimes when I'm producing a podcast, I think, "Man, I wish I had some recordings sitting around of background noise, or birdsong, or tires on a gravel road..." and now, I don't have to worry about going and getting that audio myself (well, most of the time). Though it is more fun to go out and collect field recordings myself, I don't always have time to do it, and I do like to add some atmosphere here and there in pieces where it makes sense to do so.

Freesound.org is a collaborative database of sounds under Creative Commons licensure. A lot of drum hits, sound effects, and for some reason, 34 tracks of people eating carrots... all under Creative Commons licenses, some of which are really free & open and some of which ask that the artists be attributed, or that the tracks not be used for commercial purposes. Either way, CC licenses seek to allow people fair use of things that would otherwise be subject to traditional copyright law, which is vague at best and erring on the side of caution can mean not using much of a work. 

So, maybe Freesound is not exactly what I'm always looking for, but it's still an interesting corner of the internet, and a place to share random sounds that I might find interesting... perhaps there will be a water-filled trashcan "volcano" sound added soon!