You'll overhear just about everything you want to know: Which kids are 'dating, ' who's getting in trouble.

CNN: Get your kids to open up

Are ears perking up as others overhear your cell phone conversation in a crowded restaurant or airport lounge?

FORBES: Data Security: A Shareholder Protection Imperative

The hanger-on who waits until the gallery opening is finishing to overhear where the free dinner with be.

WSJ: Book Review: The Value of Art

Sometimes I would overhear myself in the act of speech, like a man who suddenly sees himself in a mirror.

NEWYORKER: History of a Disturbance

This time I was close enough to overhear their conversation, so I knew that one man was in sales and the other was a potential client.

FORBES: Knowing When to Back Off

Translated: Next time, I swear to God, I'll dump every last tech stock I own the very second I overhear water-cooler speculation about when Nasdaq will overtake the Dow.

FORBES: Digital Rules

Lara takes shelter at an abandoned campsite, one of the many that serve as a checkpoint and a place for her to gather her thoughts (which we can conveniently overhear).

FORBES: Tomb Raider (2013): Review

They can gauge people's expressions, discern the frenzy of hand signals, even overhear price gaps between, say, contracts in the 10-year and the 30-year pits--all of this drama unavailable to screen traders.

FORBES: Last Call

However, there are those of us who will say aloud what many development practitioners will whisper when no one is around to overhear them: the private sector is the only truly sustainable source of economic growth.

FORBES: At the UN Sustainable Development Summit, Private Sector Advocates Must Be Heard

Wending my way through the town, I overhear snatches of conversation and see delightful sights (such as a mechanical horse that resembled a merry-go-round ride, which sadly cannot be ridden, as well as a Disney-like parade).

FORBES: A Hands-On Demo of BioShock: Infinite