I first heard this poem / piece at an event where I had the pleasure of hearing Mike "Pinball" Clemens speak. He recited the poem below which I found very interesting and therefore decided to post here. There seem to be a number of slightly different versions, the version posted below I found at snopes and I believe to be the most accurate version I have come across. As I do not have the original publication I do not know the formatting of the piece. I have changed the formatting to something I think fits better (I had to edit the punctuation slightly as well).

The Paradox of Our Age

By Dr. Bob Moorehead

We have taller buildings but shorter tempers Wider freeways but narrower viewpoints We spend more but have less We buy more but enjoy it less We have bigger houses and smaller families More conveniences, yet less time we have more degrees but less sense More knowledge but less judgement More experts, yet more problems We have more gadgets but less satisfaction More medicine, yet less wellness We take more vitamins but see fewer results.

We drink too much Smoke too much Spend too recklessly Laugh too little Drive too fast Get too angry quickly Stay up too late Get up too tired Read too seldom Watch TV too much and pray too seldom.

We have multiplied our possessions, but reduced our values We fly in faster planes to arrive there quicker, to do less and return sooner We sign more contracts only to realize fewer profits We talk too much Love too seldom and lie too often.

We've learned how to make a living, but not a life We've added years to life, not life to years.

We've been all the way to the moon and back, but have trouble crossing the street to meet the new neighbor.

We've conquered outer space, but not inner space We've done larger things, but not better things We've cleaned up the air, but polluted the soul We've split the atom, but not our prejudice We write more, but learn less Plan more, but accomplish less We make faster planes, but longer lines We learned to rush, but not to wait We have more weapons, but less peace Higher incomes, but lower morals More parties, but less fun More food, but less appeasement More acquaintances, but fewer friends More effort, but less success.

We build more computers to hold more information, to produce more copies than ever, but have less communication Drive smaller cars that have bigger problems Build larger factories that produce less. We've become long on quantity, but short on quality.

These are the times of fast foods and slow digestion Tall men, but short character Steep in profits, but shallow relationships.

These are times of world peace, but domestic warfare More leisure and less fun Higher postage, but slower mail MOre kinds of food, but less nutrition.

These are days of two incomes, but more divorces These are times of fancier houses, but broken homes.

These are days of quick trips, disposable diapers, cartridge living, thow-away morality, one-night stands, overweight bodies and pills that do everything from cheer, to prevent, quiet or kill.

It is a time when there is much in the show window and nothing in the stock room.

Indeed, these are the times!

The real power of firefox is not in it's tabbed browsing but in it's extensions. An extension is basically the same thing as a plug-in (for anyone more familar with that lingo), it extends / adds a feature to the existing program.

Since Firefox is open source software anyone can get it's source code and change the program in any way they like, however it would be hard for them to share their modification with a large group of people. Therefore Firefox provides an interface and other instructions which standardizes how people modify the program. This does not stop a person from messing with the source code, it does however make it easier to share a modification once it is complete because the modification is in a standard format.

Here is a brief list of a couple of the extension that I use and why:

Adblock: this extension has the ability to remove just about any picture from a webpage and remember that you want it removed in the future. Personally I hate anything on a webpage that moves. As many ads are animated gifs (pictures that move) I am able to get rid of them.

Flashblock: the Flash programming language can be used to make games as well as really annoy people with ads that move and do all kinds of things that I hate. Flashblock blocks all flash by default replacing it with a 'play' button which you can press to launch the flash program if you like. Coupled with Adblock, you can get rid of almost anything that annoys you on a web page.

Mouse Gestures: sometimes I am browsing around, clicking from one site to another when I want to do something that would require me to use the keyboard. However with this extension you can program Firefox to recognize certain movements of the mouse and respond to them with an action. Some shortcuts that I use are (with these examples you would not have to use the keyboard anyways but it is still a shortcut) closing a tab / window (by making an 'L' with the cursor), switching tabs (without having to move the mouse to the top of the screen and click on a new tab) and minimizing a window without having to click the minimize button at the top of the screen. I find that these shortcuts (as well as others) make web browsing much more enjoyable.

FoxyTunes: you can use this extension to control your media player (Winamp, iTunes, as well as others) in a toolbar at the bottom of the Firefox window. I find this really useful when a phone call comes in because I don't have to scramble to find iTunes then pause the music, the ability to do this is always at the bottom of my browser.

This is just a very small sampling of some Firefox extensions. I also use a number of extensions for web development, there are extensions to show you the weather and some whos sole purpose is to amuse you. There are 100s of extensions to do all kinds of things.

That is the real power behind Firefox.

CNN has just posted a story which says that an elementary school near Boston has banned its students from playing tag and certain other games at recess.

If I had a child going to this school, this action would be enough to drive me to transfer my child to another school that did not have morons running it, and whose student's did not have morons for parents. Something tells me that would be a very hard search indeed if I wanted to remain in the same area. This action is so absurd it is hard to even explain why.

My guess is that the parents who applaud this action where unloved as children. Did they play tag at school when they were kids? Did they survive? That must have been one traumatizing game of tag they played!

I for one am glad we are teaching our children to think independently, use their own judgment, and experience new exciting and fun activities. When I was in school all I every did at recess was read and study...

[that last paragraph was sarcasm for anyone who did not have the sarcasm jump off the screen and slap them]

The issue is that the school is worried about being sued if a child gets hurt. I believe The fact that this is even an issue is the real concern here. The US is sue happy. No one wants to take responsibility for their actions, if something goes wrong it must be someone else's fault and not mine. This is a major societal issue that affects our very freedom. The US now appears to have the state dictating to it's people what they can an can not do in a way that not just hinders a person's freedom but in some instances eliminates it.

Land of the free, not if this keeps up.

Completely offtopic; Microsoft has released IE7 into the wild. Be careful...