Lyr Add: Smokers Are Scum, a gentle song

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Smokers Are Scum, a gentle song
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 16 Jan 10 - 07:33 AM

Once again the different meanings of irony kick in...

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Smokers Are Scum, a gentle song
From: Tim Leaning
Date: 16 Jan 10 - 07:21 AM

Pick yer drug of abuse and use it.
Whats a street fair?
Sounds like it is a time when the establishment decides to allow street buskers and performers to make their noise pollution with out calling the cops.,
Maybe some mutual money making involved?

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Smokers Are Scum, a gentle song
From: 3'Shift
Date: 16 Jan 10 - 05:32 AM

Apologies for prolonging this long & rocky thread, but 1) obviously the song itself is ironical, over-the-top and satirical, and 2) the reason so many find it so offensive & hard to stomach is that the author is NOT making fun of the general viewpoint expressed therein, in distinction from most of the other satire mentioned.

If it were left as an exagerated, comic rant ther might be a few mutters, but the author makes it quite clear that she regards close-range tobacco smoke as virulent poison, and those who carelessly administer it to others as something like hit-&-run drivers. (And although a smoker myself, I have to agree with her.) The song itself, in performance, may come across as hilarious, but in her discussion it is obvious that she endorses its general attitude, rather than lampoons it. (Again, rightly enough, particularly in the case of someone who could conceivably be seriously, even fatally injured by a fairly small amount of the stuff.)

As a funny song it may be a success, and as political action it seems to have already proven itself, but when its forcefulness & hyperbole in the service of something the writer vehemently believes in are defended more-or-less with "Oh, c'mon, lighten up, it's a satire", then you must expect that a lot of people are going to perceive hypocrisy. Hence trollness.

Actually, I came on here to find the words to 'Andrew Rose' about 5 hrs. ago, and I hope I'm not going to get entangled in this damn' spider web of a site every time I need some lyrics...    ;)

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Smokers Are Scum, a gentle song
From: Smokey.
Date: 15 Jan 10 - 08:33 PM

The song itself is an attack, or appears so from the lyrics, calculated to stimulate unnecessary animosity and hatred where common sense and good manners would be more appropriate. I can well see how the alleged scenario which the author claims inspired the song must have been extremely irritating, but such a hateful outpouring seems to be rather an over-reaction. If that was the intended 'irony', my dictionary must be wrong.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Smokers Are Scum, a gentle song
From: bseed(charleskratz)
Date: 15 Jan 10 - 04:15 PM

David el Gnomo,

I am a 15 or so year member of Mudcat and am well aware of the 'cat's policy regarding personal attacks. That said, I found the tone of many of the postings quite offensive, and more than a few of them bordered on personal attacks (yours were quite temperate and even somewhat sympathetic). But it was really the harshness and redundancy of the attacks on the song that I found depressing. I'll have to admit that Carol's defenses became rather redundant, as well.

Charles

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Smokers Are Scum, a gentle song
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 15 Jan 10 - 06:19 AM

I think you will find, bseed(charleskratz), that Carol has not been personaly attacked on the thread as that is against Mudcat policy. The work in question has been criticised as being poor and the comment has been made many times that although it may work in song, it does not have the same effect as a written piece. Carol herself makes the same observation on her web page and, as a professional artist, I am sure she is quite capable of accepting criticism. I am also pretty sure that she would see the irony of someone asking us to take it easy on someone who can brand a whole section of society scum because of the actions of a few inconsiderate bastards...

:D (eG)

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Smokers Are Scum, a gentle song
From: bseed(charleskratz)
Date: 15 Jan 10 - 04:53 AM

I first heard about this thread when I looked at Carol's website--on Tuesday she had come to a bi-monthly jam I had just managed to get re-established after the pizza joint where it used to be got shut down by the Alcoholic Beverage Commission. She sat beside me with her concertina and fiddle and charmed the heck out of me, so I googled her and found her site where I found the song and her reference to the flak she was getting about it here. I am stunned by the vitriol heaped upon her--you slaves to the habit are a bitterly defensive lot (I'm a reformed smoker: I quit cold turkey 42 years ago and like many former smokers am strongly against the evil weed--I have been driving with an open window and have felt assaulted by the smoke drifting back to me from a smoking driver in the car ahead of me at a stop light).

I had smoked for about fifteen years when I quit, primarily by avoiding other smokers--I stopped eating in the faculty lunchroom. I also can attribute my ease in quitting tobacco to the fact that I was smoking a bit of marijuana in those days, and the infinitesimal pleasure I derived from cigarettes paled in comparison with the pleasure derived from a drag or two of the boo.

But anyway, guys, take it easy on my new friend. Check out her website--she's a very passionate, opinionated person, a committed activist, a writer who habitually speaks her mind in no uncertain terms. And, I might add, a fine singer, fiddler, and concertina player (she didn't bring a guitar to the jam--and, unfortunately, didn't sing any of her songs there).

Charles

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Smokers Are Scum, a gentle song
From: GUEST,Millindale
Date: 06 Jan 10 - 07:54 PM

As an ex smoker I can quite safely admit that my smoking habit was anti-social.I object to anyone calling smokers 'scum'.Carol Denney should aim her anger at the real culprits in this argument. The tobacco companies, mainly American of course, who historically have adulterated cigarettes with addictive substances in order to keep selling their product. Aim your criticism at the right target. Just as a matter of interest I think the song is crap.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Smokers Are Scum, a gentle song
From: Smokey.
Date: 06 Jan 10 - 07:27 PM

It's what I term a 'bandwagon song'. A rather thoughtless one at that. Still, those who agree with it will like it - that's the point of them. Guaranteed approval from at least half the audience, for a song that was knocked out in a day and performed (to 'crowds', apparently) within a week. Although, being a smoker, it's obvious from the lyrics that my opinion isn't worth tuppence to the author. I can live with it :-)

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Smokers Are Scum, a gentle song
From: VirginiaTam
Date: 06 Jan 10 - 04:23 AM

Having known friends and family members who suffered and died from addiction to tobacco, I think this song misses the target, which should be the tobacco producers not the smokers.

Smokers are victims too. This song is just hurtful to anyone who has lost a loved one to lung cancer or emphysema and other related illnesses.

Technically (in the poetic sense) the song admits that smokers are addicts which excuses more than accuses them and the habit, and conflicts with the message the title and rest of the poem/song proposes.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Smokers Are Scum, a gentle song
From: GUEST,999
Date: 06 Jan 10 - 01:35 AM

"By the way Carol, you are one fine songwriter and performer and I mean that. wonderful stuff on your site."

I'm with you on that, Dan. And, she's a nice person, too.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Smokers Are Scum, a gentle song
From: GUEST,Carol Denney, the author
Date: 04 Jan 10 - 10:40 PM

I'm glad I swept up the cigarette butts.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Smokers Are Scum, a gentle song
From: olddude
Date: 04 Jan 10 - 10:12 PM

Place looks darn fine to me Carol, I will go outside if I gotta smoke one I promise !!

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Smokers Are Scum, a gentle song
From: GUEST,Carol Denney, the author
Date: 04 Jan 10 - 10:01 PM

Well, darn. If I'd known you were going to visit I'd have cleaned up the place.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Smokers Are Scum, a gentle song
From: olddude
Date: 04 Jan 10 - 09:23 PM

By the way Carol, you are one fine songwriter and performer and I mean that. wonderful stuff on your site. I don't like this song but I LOVE your other work. I would buy your CD in a heartbeat

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Smokers Are Scum, a gentle song
From: Smokey.
Date: 04 Jan 10 - 08:49 PM

... well, so long as there's no obligation to make sense ;-)

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Smokers Are Scum, a gentle song
From: GUEST,999
Date: 04 Jan 10 - 08:37 PM

We love ya anyway.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Smokers Are Scum, a gentle song
From: Smokey.
Date: 04 Jan 10 - 08:31 PM

My last post is referring to Crow Sister, whose account is now 'inactive'. A guest's post has been removed, and mine no longer makes sense.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Smokers Are Scum, a gentle song
From: GUEST,Carol Denney, the author
Date: 04 Jan 10 - 07:43 PM

Hi Little Hawk & all, no, still here. I agree that people walk around in their own self-absorbed little bubble, but I couldn't exempt myself from a description like that. I don't really enjoy annoying people whose pleasures may be few, but I try to speak up about exposure to children, etc. But I loved this, the prescription for moments of well-earned impatience:

Ya take the cigarette from him and then say, "Watch the little red light go out!"

It reminds me of my old friend Vera, rest her soul, who spent a lot of time in smokey bars happily smoking. If a particularly annoying guy kept hitting on her she'd just take his cigarette and pop it in his beer. I still can't believe she never got hit.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Smokers Are Scum, a gentle song
From: Smokey.
Date: 04 Jan 10 - 07:11 PM

I couldn't blame her for taking offence, but I do hope she comes back.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Smokers Are Scum, a gentle song
From: Little Hawk
Date: 04 Jan 10 - 06:55 PM

Perhaps she is taking a little rest?

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Smokers Are Scum, a gentle song
From: Richard Mellish
Date: 04 Jan 10 - 06:42 PM

Carol,

Apropos becoming a Mudcat member:
If you haven't already, do please look at some other threads here and get a feel for the range of subjects and the range of attitudes - some people indeed hostile to anyone who even seems to disagree with them, but plenty of us who are interested in constructive debate and in just learning more about all these subjects.

Richard

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Smokers Are Scum, a gentle song
From: GUEST,999
Date: 04 Jan 10 - 06:23 PM

"I wish there was at least equal vehemence being vented at the fellow who held his cigarette right next to my nose when I requested he step back a bit."

Carol, we have a remark for that kind of guy 'round here in redneck country. Ya take the cigarette from him and then say, "Watch the little red light go out!"

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Smokers Are Scum, a gentle song
From: Little Hawk
Date: 04 Jan 10 - 05:44 PM

Well, it basically works this way: Most people seem to feel that it's perfectly "okay" for them to do something if they like doing it or want to at the moment...because their world revolves around themselves and they are the first priority. They are the star of their own drama. Their reaction to you unexpectedly intruding upon that little drama is usually extreme annoyance or hostility.

Most people can easily tolerate in themselves numerous imperfections that they would loathe and despise if they encountered them in another! ;-)

You were intruding on that young woman's little ego bubble, invading her moment of relaxation, and she reacted in a predictable fashion.   She is, after all, the most important person living in her script....and who the hell are you???? ;-)

If she'd had a really sardonic and wicked sense of humour, she might have responded to your remark "this is a smoke-free area" by blowing a smoke ring casually and replying...

"Not any more...!"

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Smokers Are Scum, a gentle song
From: GUEST,999
Date: 04 Jan 10 - 05:24 PM

Sounds like the city has problems enforcing policies/by-laws.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Smokers Are Scum, a gentle song
From: GUEST,Carol Denney, the author
Date: 04 Jan 10 - 05:20 PM

No, Little Hawk. One thread is definitely enough for me, considering the high volume of personal attack. But I loved your comments about life being a play. It has such a playful acceptance of any ups and downs, and the obvious impending end. I thought you put it rather well.

Walking home from work today I saw a young mother smoking in the business district while pushing a baby carriage. I mentioned (gently) that it was a smokefree area, and she gave me a look that would peel paint.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Smokers Are Scum, a gentle song
From: Little Hawk
Date: 04 Jan 10 - 01:31 PM

Yeah...Short People...it's a classic case of misdirected anger on the part of a lot of confused people who just didn't get it. Randy Newman is probably still getting hate mail over that one... ;-) Anyway, I think he's rather short himself, isn't he?

Have you checked in on my "Scum are Scum" thread, Carol? It makes for some good reading, and I think it's time that Howling Eddie Cranshaw got the recognition he deserves in the folk community.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Smokers Are Scum, a gentle song
From: GUEST,Carol Denney, the author
Date: 04 Jan 10 - 10:53 AM

Hard to define is such a lovely phrase. Welcome home, Sharyn, I hope your trip was lovely. Sharyn and I share an appreciation for the phrase "better undefined."

I'm so glad someone posted the controversy over "Short People" by Randy Newman. He is one of my favorite writers, and it's one of my favorite controversies.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Smokers Are Scum, a gentle song
From: Charley Noble
Date: 04 Jan 10 - 08:54 AM

Carol-

Becoming a member of Mudcat is relatively easy. You may click on the "Membership" link on the top headline or ask our friend Sharyn above for guidance. Some members can be jerks or even scum on some issues, and educational or entertaining on other issues. Other members I find are consistently fine. Some are hard to define.

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Smokers Are Scum, a gentle song
From: GUEST,999
Date: 04 Jan 10 - 01:33 AM

"Alright, I'm sticking my neck out here to say that I heard "Smokers Are Scum" live at Chester's in Berkeley last weekend and I thought it was funny."

Good for you, Sharyn. The lady does have a propensity to get things done.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Smokers Are Scum, a gentle song
From: sharyn
Date: 04 Jan 10 - 01:15 AM

Alright, I'm sticking my neck out here to say that I heard "Smokers Are Scum" live at Chester's in Berkeley last weekend and I thought it was funny.I laughed out loud when it began to sound like the sputtering of a small angry child. But I think intemperate ranting is funny sometimes. I often rant about things on paper until I get so outrageous I make myself laugh.

And, in the interest of full disclosure, I will say that Carol is a good friend of mine and that I grew up with chain smokers and have some lung damage as a result of that. I will add that, thanks to Carol, it is now illegal to smoke at bus stops in Berkeley and for that I, a bus rider, am entirely grateful (and yes, I still run into people who insist on smoking on the bus bench, despite the posted citation).

I like the song. Uh-oh.

Sharyn

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Smokers Are Scum, a gentle song
From: GUEST,Carol Denney, the author
Date: 04 Jan 10 - 12:44 AM

Secondhand and thirdhand smoke exposure is an important issue to musicians, many of whom have died of lung cancer from secondhand and thirdhand exposure. I spent years singing in smoke-filled clubs before California's laws changed to protect singers and workers. But here in California casinos are exempt from the workplace laws, and many musicians and workers continue to be seriously exposed in the casino venues, and the laws are very different state by state. Some states in the US have no workplace protection laws, and internationally it is very hit or miss.

Charley, I honestly don't know what one would do to join the group. It seems like a very ill-tempered group to me. But it sure does temper the criticism to have this kick-ass song to use in performance. It does seem to have hit a nerve, not to mention changing policy.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Smokers Are Scum, a gentle song
From: olddude
Date: 03 Jan 10 - 08:46 PM

And it junks up the music threads stored in the database and consumes bandwidth that could be used for important music things ... IMO

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Smokers Are Scum, a gentle song
From: Charley Noble
Date: 03 Jan 10 - 08:39 PM

And I promised myself that I wouldn't post on this unending thread either but it still continues to resonate, filling in some of the gaps that were glaring in the initial post.

Carol-

Do consider becoming a member so that other members may communicate with you via PM as well. Mudcat has a high tolerance for individuals when members know where they are coming from. And you have certainly made a good faith effort to respond to questions, some of them intensely personal. Who you were or what your point was, was not apparent to most members when this thread was initiated.

I was the only one who guessed that you were even involved.

And I'm still waiting for an apology from your friend who told me to "Fuck off!" on an unrelated thread.

Charley Noble

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Smokers Are Scum, a gentle song
From: Smokey.
Date: 03 Jan 10 - 08:25 PM

Hitler ran out of fags..

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Smokers Are Scum, a gentle song
From: Jeri
Date: 03 Jan 10 - 08:24 PM

It reminds me of the 24/7 'news' feeding frenzy following Tiger Woods whacking a tree in his SUV. I mean, why?!

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Smokers Are Scum, a gentle song
From: Little Hawk
Date: 03 Jan 10 - 08:17 PM

And why it lasted so damn long! ;-)

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Smokers Are Scum, a gentle song
From: GUEST,999
Date: 03 Jan 10 - 08:04 PM

This thread has been very instructive in a number of ways. I hereby thank people for showing me how WWII started.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Smokers Are Scum, a gentle song
From: Smokey.
Date: 03 Jan 10 - 07:58 PM

Ever have that feeling you were being watched, CS...?


"There are plenty of smokers in my crowds who seem able to appreciate that its subject is secondhand and thirdhand smoke exposure, its target a behavior, rather than everyone who smokes."

I must say, Carol, that you seem to have been remarkably busy since Christmas day. I'm surprised you can find the time to fit it all in, what with the tireless effort you've spent educating the ignorant masses here. I look foward to hearing or seeing a performance of your song when you can find the time.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Smokers Are Scum, a gentle song
From: Crow Sister (off with the fairies)
Date: 03 Jan 10 - 07:23 PM

Wha' happen? Did an enthusiastic mod just give me the 200 there?

Sorry Smokey...

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Smokers Are Scum, a gentle song
From: Crow Sister (off with the fairies)
Date: 03 Jan 10 - 07:02 PM

"People constantly tell cancer survivors that they are playing for others' sympathy by simply mentioning that they survived cancer in an effort to intimidate them from mentioning it at all, another bullying tactic."

They do? Gosh, did you get cancer of the Hypocriticus? Ever thought of being a politician?

In point of fact I thought it was *you* who was repeatedly leaning on your delicate victim status (being lucky enough to survive the disease yourself) in an attempt to deflect criticism from your *lyrics*, whilst simultaneously complaining about "irony failure" in other people who found your *lyrics* both un-funny and unpleasant.

You're not some little 'Child of Courage' to be wheeled out on at prime time TV for a charity marathon Carol: you didn't die of a disease you wish upon others - who just as you wish, do of course die from it. Good for you.

Bleat about it all you like, but do not expect appreciation of your vitriolic abuse (aka funny song), of others who unfortunately for them, do not and will not experience your good fortune.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Smokers Are Scum, a gentle song
From: Smokey.
Date: 03 Jan 10 - 06:53 PM

I think I agree with OldDude - don't feed them.

Life's too short.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Smokers Are Scum, a gentle song
From: Little Hawk
Date: 03 Jan 10 - 05:36 PM

That's what I always figure when the Dachshund gets upset about something and jumps around hollering about it. At least he's getting some good exercise. ;-)

If people find this thread bothers them, why do they keep coming back to it?

There was a thread that bothered me on the lower half of the board, because it was so full of hostility, and I haven't opened it in ages. I just glance at the title as I pass by and I feel sorry for the poor sods who still can't seem to resist the impulse to get pulled back again and again to something that puts them in a rotten mood every time they go there. I suspect they are pursuing some kind of "final victory"...kind of like the USA in Vietnam or Afghanistan.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Smokers Are Scum, a gentle song
From: GUEST,Carol Denney, the author
Date: 03 Jan 10 - 05:24 PM

"long-term smoking around children can affect some of them, but it doesn't affect every single child"

This kind of remark is why I wrote the song, and why this discussion is important. Even a small amount of secondhand smoke makes a dramatic, and measurable impact on healthy adults -- measurable vascular damage in twenty minutes in healthy adults (UCSF,Glanz study). Children's rapid cell division puts them at extreme risk for physical damage and disease, and that applies to every single child. "It's not **that** harmful..." someone remarked. Yes, it is. If you see someone smoking around a baby, you should speak up.

In areas where smoking restrictions become law, the incidence of heart attacks drops by 17%, and by 37% within three years in eight replicated studies. It doesn't bother me at all to remind this group of this information because it helps people understand that people with heart disease, like children, are more at risk than others and often don't realize their own condition until the attack.

I agree that there are other ills in the world, but this thread is not about drinking, and not about dogs, but rather about smokers who deliberately subject others to deadly secondhand smoke, and the policies which are changing public health for the better.

Smokers do not have to be outcasts or excluded in any way from anything. They can quite simply smoke outside the pub, or the fair, and even slap on a patch on a long flight, etc. There are plenty of smokers in my crowds who seem able to appreciate that its subject is secondhand and thirdhand smoke exposure, its target a behavior, rather than everyone who smokes.

Anyone who hears this song while smoking is by definition smoking near me, and that not only makes it useful to me as someone who performs a lot, but as I mentioned before, this song changed policy because of its comic, aggressive perspective. I think the song deserves some respect for that, but I get a big kick out of those in this discussion who are adamant about trying to bully others out of laughing at it, liking it, or appreciating that it has been very effective in both the policy change and tip jar category.

People constantly tell cancer survivors that they are playing for others' sympathy by simply mentioning that they survived cancer in an effort to intimidate them from mentioning it at all, another bullying tactic. You can have any emotional reaction you wish to have to this simple fact in our lives. But you won't shut us up, and there's nothing inappropriate about mentioning it. It is as much a part of our lives as our names, and most relevant to a discussion about secondhand smoke exposure, because that is the subject of the song.

I don't really worry much about people who deliberately misinterpret the song and then hop around demanding an apology. They're getting good exercise, after all.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Smokers Are Scum, a gentle song
From: CarolC
Date: 03 Jan 10 - 04:39 PM

Some of us like the song, as is our right, and it is also our right to say so.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Smokers Are Scum, a gentle song
From: olddude
Date: 03 Jan 10 - 04:35 PM

small gentle suggestion, Please Please don't feed trolls.   It was very well explained in elaborate details why the song is offensive. Either they doesn't get that generalizing all people in such a manner is disturbing, or they are just thick, or they simple do it to Troll on ... suggestion ... don't feed trolls

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Smokers Are Scum, a gentle song
From: GUEST,snoutcast
Date: 03 Jan 10 - 04:30 PM

Doesn't scum always rise to the top?

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Smokers Are Scum, a gentle song
From: Lizzie Cornish 1
Date: 03 Jan 10 - 02:53 PM

"I've no idea how our culture can address this trend, but it breaks my heart to see such an almost inevitably short life determined - for such young kiddies - by early parentally-determined dietary habits."


Actually, CS...that's a very interesting point.

I found a video the other day, on Youtube..a Top of the Pops one, that I put on here, on another thread...and one of the comments on there was about how skinny everyone in the audience was, not one overweight person at all...Got me thinking back to the 70s, and it was true, people were so much thinner back then..(er....myself included!) :0)

Simple, home-cooked food and one helluva lot less alcohol back then, I guess...and it wasn't considered 'OK' to be huge either, which now it is...In fact, you couldn't even by large clothes, apart from in the occasional 'outsize' shop...(such a catchy name that)

And here's that very video, again...Skinny Times..

'The Resurrection Shuffle - Top of the Pops - Youtube


(By the way, that 'play' bit was beautifully put, Little Hawk)

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Smokers Are Scum, a gentle song
From: Little Hawk
Date: 03 Jan 10 - 02:31 PM

No, no..... ;-) Life is a stage play. It has a beginning: birth. It has an ending: death. In between you get to do all the drama which can really be fun if you do it in the right spirit and don't take the tragic parts too hard.

Then when it's over, you get to do a curtain call and afterward you get together with all the other actors from the play and have a big celebration. And after awhile you contact your agent, line up another part in a new play, start rehearsing your lines, meet the other actors who'll be in it, and the whole process starts over again.

What's so awful about that? Seems to me that the worst thing possible would be to be trapped in a play that never ends! Dorian Gray was faced with that, and he got pretty fed up after awhile, didn't he? He got "sick of all this repetition" (Dylan quote)

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Smokers Are Scum, a gentle song
From: Effsee
Date: 03 Jan 10 - 02:21 PM

I remember when all the scare statistics about AIDS were being bandied about when it all started, my brother said "Life is a Sexually Transmitted Disease, with 100% fatality."

Kinda sums it up really!