I found this poem interesting and fairly reliant on cursing. Especially the part where he says: "By definition", I begin "Alternative Medicine", I continue "Has either not been proved to work, Or been proved not to work. You know what they call "alternative medicine" Thats been proved to work? Medicine." What an eloquent example of Brendans point of view. I took the liberty of removing the swear words. If anyone is interested in reading it in it's entirety I've posted a link. Little Kitten - Lyrics to Tim MinchinÂs ÂStorm by podblack on December 30, 2008 "Storm" "Inner North London, top floor flat All white walls, white carpet, white cat, Rice Paper partitions Modern art and ambition The hostÂs a physician, Lovely bloke, has his own practice His girlfriendÂs an actress An old mate from home And theyÂre always great fun. So to dinner weÂve come. The 5th guest is an unknown, The hosts have just thrown Us together for a favour because this girlÂs just arrived from Australia And has moved to North London And sheÂs the sister of someone Or has some connection. As we make introductions IÂm struck by her beauty SheÂs irrefutably fair With dark eyes and dark hair But as she sits I admit IÂm a little bit wary because I notice the tip of the wing of a fairy Tattooed on that popular area Just above the derrière And when she says "IÂm Sagittarien" I confess a pigeonhole starts to form And is immediately filled with pigeon When she says her name is Storm. Chatter is initially bright and light hearted But itÂs not long before Storm gets started: "You canÂt know anything, Knowledge is merely opinion" She opines, over her Cabernet Sauvignon Vis a vis Some unhippily Empirical comment by me "Not a good start" I think WeÂre only on pre-dinner drinks And across the room, my wife Widens her eyes Silently begs me, Be Nice A matrimonial warning Not worth ignoring So I resist the urge to ask Storm Whether knowledge is so loose-weave Of a morning When deciding whether to leave Her apartment by the front door Or a window on the second floor. The food is delicious and Storm, Whilst avoiding all meat Happily sits and eats While the good doctor, slightly pissedly Holds court on some anachronistic aspect of medical history When Storm suddenly she insists "But the human body is a mystery! Science just falls in a hole When it tries to explain the the nature of the soul." My hostess throws me a glance She, like my wife, knows thereÂs a chance That IÂll be off on one of my rants But my lips are sealed. I just want to enjoy my meal And although Storm is starting to get my goat I have no intention of rocking the boat, Although itÂs becoming a bit of a wrestle Because - like her meteorological namesake - Storm has no such concerns for our vessel: "Pharmaceutical companies are the enemy They promote drug dependency At the cost of the natural remedies That are all our bodies need They are immoral and driven by greed. Why take drugs When herbs can solve it? Why use chemicals When homeopathic solvents Can resolve it? ItÂs time we all return-to-live With natural medical alternatives." And try as hard as I like, A small crack appears In my diplomacy-dike. "By definition", I begin "Alternative Medicine", I continue "Has either not been proved to work, Or been proved not to work. You know what they call "alternative medicine" ThatÂs been proved to work? Medicine." "So you donÂt believe In ANY Natural remedies?" "On the contrary actually: Before we came to tea, I took a natural remedy Derived from the bark of a willow tree A painkiller thatÂs virtually side-effect free ItÂs got a weird name, Darling, what was it again? Masprin? Basprin? Asprin! Which I paid about a buck for Down at my local drugstore. The debate briefly abates As our hosts collects plates but as they return with desserts Storm pertly asserts, "Shakespeare said it first: There are more things in heaven and earth Than exist in your philosophy Science is just how weÂre trained to look at reality, It canÂt explain love or spirituality. How does science explain psychics? Auras; the afterlife; the power of prayer?" IÂm becoming aware That IÂm staring, IÂm like a rabbit suddenly trapped In the blinding headlights of vacuous crap. Maybe itÂs the Hamlet she just misquothed Or the eighth glass of wine I just quaffed But my diplomacy dike groans And the arsehole held back by its stones Can be held back no more: "Look , Storm, I donÂt mean to bore you But thereÂs no such thing as an aura! Reading Auras is like reading minds Or star-signs or tea-leaves or meridian lines These people arenÂt plying a skill, They are either lying or mentally ill. Same goes for those who claim to hear GodÂs demands And Spiritual healers who think they have magic hands. By the way, Why is it OK For people to pretend they can talk to the dead? Is it not totally ______ in the head Lying to some crying woman whose child has died And telling her youÂre in touch with the other side? ThatÂs just fundamentally sick Do we need to clarify that thereÂs no such thing as a psychic? What, are we _____ 2? Do we actually think that Horton Heard a Who? Do we still think that Santa brings us gifts? That Michael Jackson hasnÂt had facelifts? Are we still so stunned by circus tricks That we think that the dead would Wanna talk to pricks Like John Edwards? Storm to her credit despite my derision Keeps firing off clichés with startling precision Like a sniper using bollocks for ammunition "YouÂre so sure of your position But youÂre just closed-minded I think youÂll find Your faith in Science and Tests Is just as blind As the faith of any fundamentalist" "Hm thatÂs a good point, let me think for a bit Oh wait, my mistake, itÂs absolute bull____. Science adjusts itÂs beliefs based on whatÂs observed Faith is the denial of observation so that Belief can be preserved. If you show me That, say, homeopathy works, Then I will change my mind IÂll spin on a ______ dime IÂll be embarrassed as hell, But I will run through the streets yelling ItÂs a miracle! Take physics and bin it! Water has memory! And while itÂs memory of a long lost drop of onion juice is Infinite It somehow forgets all the poo itÂs had in it! You show me that it works and how it works And when IÂve recovered from the shock I will take a compass and carve Fancy That on the side of my ______." Everyones just staring at me now, But IÂm pretty pissed and IÂve dug this far down, So I figure, in for penny, in for a pound: "Life is full of mysteries, yeah But there are answers out there And they wonÂt be found By people sitting around Looking serious And saying isnÂt life mysterious? LetÂs sit here and hope LetÂs call up the ________ Pope LetÂs go watch Oprah Interview Deepak Chopra If youÂre going to watch tele, you should watch Scooby Doo. That show was so cool because every time thereÂs a church with a ghoul Or a ghost in a school They looked beneath the mask and what was inside? The _________ janitor or the dude who runs the waterslide. Throughout history Every mystery EVER solved has turned out to be Not Magic. Does the idea that there might be truth Frighten you? Does the idea that one afternoon On Wiki-____-pedia might enlighten you Frighten you? Does the notion that there may not be a supernatural So blow your hippy noodle That you would rather just stand in the fog Of your inability to Google? IsnÂt this enough? Just this world? Just this beautiful, complex Wonderfully unfathomable world? How does it so fail to hold our attention That we have to diminish it with the invention Of cheap, man-made Myths and Monsters? If youÂre so into Shakespeare Lend me your ear: "To gild refined gold, to paint the lily, To throw perfume on the violet is just _______ silly" Or something like that. Or what about Satchmo?! I see trees of Green, Red roses too, And fine, if you wish to Glorify Krishna and Vishnu In a post-colonial, condescending Bottled-up and labeled kind of way ThatÂs ok. But hereÂs what gives me a hard-on: I am a tiny, insignificant, ignorant lump of carbon. I have one life, and it is short And unimportant But thanks to recent scientific advances I get to live twice as long as my great great great great uncles and auntses. Twice as long to live this life of mine Twice as long to love this wife of mine Twice as many years of friends and wine Of sharing curries and getting _____ With good-looking hippies With fairies on their spines And butterflies on their ______. And if perchance I have offended Think but this and all is mended: WeÂd as well be 10 minutes back in time, For all the chance youÂll change your mind."

Yes Dave, I would imagine that poem could apply to quite a few states right now. We've had several 2 inch snows, one night of temps in the 0F range and quite a few days and nights in the teens. So it hasn't been too hateful up to this point. Right now we're getting the same snow that dumped a foot onto Dax and the forecast is upwards to 6 inches. I can handle that and hope others can do the same. Lots of folks around here forget you can't drive summer time speeds in snow and ice. Marshall

Here are a few that I gathered following my mother's passing: Afterglow Author Unknown I'd like the memory of me to be a happy one. I'd like to leave an afterglow of smiles when life is done. I'd like to leave an echo, whispering down the way, of happy times, and laughing times, of bright and sunny days. I'd like the tears of those who grieve to dry before the sun, with happy memories that I leave, when life is done. ----------------------------------- Fill not your hearts with pain and sorrow but remember me in every tomorrow Remember the joy, the laughter, and the smiles I've only gone to rest for a little while Although my leaving causes pain and grief my going has eased my hurt and given me relief So dry your eyes and remember me not as I am now, but as I used to be Because, I will remember you all and look on with a smile Understand, in your hearts I've only gone to rest a little while As long as I have the love of each of you I can live my life in the hearts of all of you ------------------------------ Miss me but let me go When I come to the end of the road And the sun has set for me I want no rites in a gloom-filled room. Why cry for a soul set free? Miss me a little--but not too long And not with your head bowed low. Remember the love that we once shared, Miss me--but let me go. For this is a journey that we all must take And each must go alone. It's all a part of the Master's plan, A step on the road to home. When you are lonely and sick of heart Go to the friends we know And bury your sorrows in doing good deeds. Miss Me--But Let me Go! ---------------------------- Those we love don't go away, They walk beside us everyday, Unseen, unheard, but always near, Still loved, still missed, so very dear.

Probably the most meaningful is from the song Caledonia: I have moved, and IÂve kept on movin Proved the points that I needed provin I lost the friends that I needed losin Found others on the way but seeing Desiderata reminded me of the Lampoon parody which I had not heard for a long time and although it's humorous, there's a lot of truth in there. Deteriorata You are a fluke of the universe You have no right to be here Deteriorata Deteriorata Go placidly amid the noise and waste And remember what comfort there may be In owning a piece thereof Avoid quiet and passive persons Unless you are in need of sleep Rotate your tires Speak glowingly of those greater than yourself And heed well their advice even though they be turkeys. Know what to kiss.....and when Consider that two wrongs never make a right But that three do Wherever possible, put people on hold Be comforted that in the face of all aridity and disillusionment And despite the changing fortunes of time, There is always a big future in computer maintenance You are a fluke of the universe You have no right to be here And whether you can hear it or not The universe is laughing behind your back Remember the Pueblo Strive at all times to bend, fold, spindle and mutilate Know yourself If you need help, call the FBI Exercise caution in your daily affairs, Especially with those persons closest to you That lemon on your left, for instance Be assured that a walk through the ocean of most souls Would scarcely get your feet wet Fall not in love therefore, it will stick to your face. Gracefully surrender the things of youth, the birds, clean air, tuna, Taiwan And let not the sands of time get in your lunch Hire people with hooks For a good time call 606-4311... ask for "Ken" Take heart amid the deepening gloom That your dog is finally getting enough cheese And reflect that whatever misfortune may be your lot It could only be worse in Milwaukee You are a fluke of the universe. You have no right to be here And whether you can hear it or not The universe is laughing behind your back Therefore, make peace with your god Whatever you conceive him to be Hairy thunderer or cosmic muffin With all its hopes, dreams, promises and urban renewal The world continues to deteriorate Give up You are a fluke of the universe. You have no right to be here And whether you can hear it or not The universe is laughing behind your back ...... The recorded version is better than reading it. You might recognize the voice reading it. Here is a link that might be useful: National Lampoon