ath3na's talking points

"Everything we do affects other people."
-Luke Ford

I think a hero is any person really intent on making this world a better place for ALL people.
- Maya Angelou

Clearly, I didn't write this (since I am, in fact, an American who sometimes wishes was Canadian... I digress), but read it and enjoyed it and wanted to share. This is only an excerpt please follow the link at the bottom to read the entire article.

I'm not American. I'm Canadian.

So it's odd then that I write so much about America and I care so much about what happens in America. Part of it is practicality - Canada is a US client state and American politics affect Canadians. When you throw away your freedoms, ours will soon follow (our government just launched its own "no-fly list", for example and after you put out the Patriot Act we put out our own version.)

But part of it is just that I care about America and the American experiment.

Those of us who didn't grow up in America, but under the sway of America's media, imbibed a very pure form of the American mythos and civic religion. The American Civil Religion, with its secular saints such as Jefferson, Hamilton and Washington and its written Constitutional scripture is also a source of wonderment. Canada has no equivalent, no deep sense of history, no touchstone that is written back to to justify the present. Those words of your founders, those words that resound through history are words that inspire men and women who have never seen America and never will.

The Declaration of Independence spoke to all humans, with its assertion that all men are created equal and have unalienable rights. The US system of government, with its checks and balances, seemed unique and able to take shocks that might topple other democratic forms of government.

More...

"I myself am made entirely of flaws, stitched together with good intentions."
- Augusten Burroughs

Has your Internet seemed slow?
Ever seem to take forever to load up that favorite site of yours?
Get tired of staring at adds upon banner adds upon sidebar adds?

Me too. That's why I'd like to share my new discovery with you. It's called Adblock Plus and can be found at adblockplus.org. This is a Firefox extension that block's eliminates most of the blinky, flashy distractions, allowing you to more quickly navigate Web pages. Using this extension, in combination with Firefox (really, if you aren't using it yet, then why the hell not?) can help make your Interneting experience a more civilized, quieter, and less commercial place. This not only eliminates most of the adds, but reorganizes the page so you'll not even know they were there. How great is that?

If you ask me, the best way to use this extension is by subscribing to a couple of lists that have pretty much figured out what you don't want to see. I subscribed right away to EasyList and EasyElement, they both can be found at easylist.adblockplus.org.

And really, I shouldn't even have to be saying this but... for some of you less techy friends of mine, I'll say it once more... Get Firefox!!