Today is World AIDS Day! To celebrate, gay-focused comedy video series It Gets Betterish tackles the subject of AIDS. And it’s hilarious, and I say that as a gentleman with no love of male genitalia. Check it out.

So hey, go hug someone with AIDS today. I mean, don’t ]]>

Today is World AIDS Day! To celebrate, gay-focused comedy video series It Gets Betterish tackles the subject of AIDS. And it’s hilarious, and I say that as a gentleman with no love of male genitalia. Check it out.

So hey, go hug someone with AIDS today. I mean, don’t hug them too hard. Just in case. And don’t use two condoms because it’s World AIDS Day. That actually makes you more likely to get AIDS. Crazy, right? Glad I could impart all this wisdom to you.

Watch a Funny, Irreverent Look at Getting Tested for HIV [Vulture]

When researchers combine cures for deadly illnesses with adorable animals, good things are bound to happen. And that’s the case in this research involving this kitten at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota. The scientists at the Mayo Clinic plucked kittens proven to have a resistance to ]]>

When researchers combine cures for deadly illnesses with adorable animals, good things are bound to happen. And that’s the case in this research involving this kitten at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota.

The scientists at the Mayo Clinic plucked kittens proven to have a resistance to Feline Immunodeficiency Virus, the cat version of HIV, and gave them an antiviral gene found in rhesus monkeys that has been proven to resist viruses causing AIDS in animals.

The doctors then combined the antiviral gene with a protein found in jellyfish, called GFP, which causes the glow-in-the-dark effect. The combination of the two allows the scientists to test the effectiveness of the gene in resisting FIV while the glow-in-the-dark protein allows them to more effectively tract the work of the antiviral gene.

One of the Mayo Clinic researchers told the BBC, “If you could show that you confer protection to these animals, it would give us a lot of information about protecting humans.”

The next step for researchers will be to release a live form of FIV into the hopefully-protected kittens to determine how their vaccine protects them.

While any advancements in AIDS research are noteworthy and commendable, I’m most pleased by how closely this situation resembles someone’s drug-induced ramblings. I’m pretty sure that any average citizen declaring that advancements in AIDS research can be sped up by rubbing a rhesus monkey on a cat made to glow-in-the-dark would not be nearly as well-received, no matter how good my intentions may have been nor how loudly I shouted them while angrily pointing at passersby.

This Glowing Kitten May Hold the Key For AIDS Vaccine [Gizmodo]
Glowing cats shed light on Aids [BBC]

In an effort to avoid spoiling this seemingly innocent video of a person in a bear suit hugging people gleefully, I’ll just say: Watch this video now and prepare for the twist ending.

Yeah, I guess that taught me about the dangers of AIDS. But moreso, I feel prepared ]]>

In an effort to avoid spoiling this seemingly innocent video of a person in a bear suit hugging people gleefully, I’ll just say: Watch this video now and prepare for the twist ending.

Yeah, I guess that taught me about the dangers of AIDS. But moreso, I feel prepared to not trust a guy in a mascot suit. Between this and Elmo breaking that guy’s fingers in a fight, I’m definitely going to be slightly more leery than usual the next time a guy in a furry suit comes over and gropes me.

The AIDS epidemic is still a massive problem in some parts of the globe, so it’s important to get the information out any way you can. But there might be such a thing as too obvious with this AIDS poster.

That last line just seems silly. ]]>

The AIDS epidemic is still a massive problem in some parts of the globe, so it’s important to get the information out any way you can. But there might be such a thing as too obvious with this AIDS poster.

That last line just seems silly. It’s like if your brother died because he jumped into a swimming pool only to realize it was a vat of acid. I’d imagine that after that happened, you’d probably want to check to make sure any future pools aren’t going to rip flesh off your bones until you look like the Cryptkeeper. Or, at least, get a better method of pH testing than leaping in headfirst and yelling “Bonzai!” Additionally, if you can do a similar act to a woman prior to sex, that may also be a way to contract AIDS. Typically, it’s not safe to engage in coitus if you could go spelunking in your partner’s womb.

[Thanks Eric for the tip]

This is an absolutely awful story but still, you need to read it purely for the “holy sh–” factor. Some drunks in New Guinea are raping women at an alarming rate. But the attacks are even more bizarre due to the fact that the women being attacked are all HIV/AIDS ]]>

This is an absolutely awful story but still, you need to read it purely for the “holy sh–” factor. Some drunks in New Guinea are raping women at an alarming rate. But the attacks are even more bizarre due to the fact that the women being attacked are all HIV/AIDS sufferers. A special place completely lacking in first-class accommodations in hell awaits, I’m sure.

Reports published in PNG’s Post Courier newspaper have highlighted a spate of abuses, intimidation and rapes of women known to be infected with HIV/AIDS in Mt Hagen, in Western Highlands Province.

A donated house in the town has become a refuge for 13 women using antiretroviral drugs to combat HIV/AIDS, but the women say they are constantly attacked by drunks and local men.

An unnamed woman, who was recently raped by a schoolboy, told the Post Courier that men were forcing their way into the refuge to rape regardless of the women’s illness.

“We are totally confused why they keep coming here, looking for us despite our status,” she said.

“(They are) totally ignorant men searching for hell.

[via]

Via Explosm comes this comic about how the old “sitting in a tree” kids’ rhyme should go these days, if rhymes were keeping it real.

Whatever happened to kids’ rhymes anyway? All the ones that kids have are old and worthless. So where ]]>

Via Explosm comes this comic about how the old “sitting in a tree” kids’ rhyme should go these days, if rhymes were keeping it real.

Whatever happened to kids’ rhymes anyway? All the ones that kids have are old and worthless. So where did these come from? Like “Ring Around the Rosies” was about the BLACK PLAGUE…I think we’ve moved past that. Maybe someone should show a little initiative and get these kids something new. Modern diseases are wholly underrepresented in the rhyming world. I don’t want to speak for anyone here, but I’m pretty sure AIDS is a little offended. He’s just too shy to admit it publicly.

I haven’t done enough mugging to have particularly strong anecdotal evidence about the matter, but I do know you can’t get money from someone who has none. Here’s further proof, with a robber who decided that he wasn’t given enough, so he shot his victim up with some fresh AIDS. ]]>

I haven’t done enough mugging to have particularly strong anecdotal evidence about the matter, but I do know you can’t get money from someone who has none. Here’s further proof, with a robber who decided that he wasn’t given enough, so he shot his victim up with some fresh AIDS.

A syringe-wielding robber, dissatisfied with the small amount of cash that his female victim handed over when he threatened her early Tuesday morning at the corner of Chestnut and Franklin streets, stabbed her twice in the hand and told her that he had AIDS.

Police continue to search for the suspect who made off with $3.

Meanwhile, the 29-year-old victim has begun a months-long medical regimen to deal with any infectious diseases she may have gotten from the syringe, Capt. Arthur R. Monfette said.

When the woman handed over $3, the suspect told her he thought she must have more money than that.

When the woman replied that the $3 was all she had, the suspect moved to stab her with the syringe. The woman, attempted to ward off the blow and stabbed in the right hand and right pinkie finger, Monfette said.

Did you know that AIDS can be affordably treated with early diagnosis and thorough followthrough on medicine? An interesting fact, but not a great item to discuss if you want a girl to sleep with you a second time.

I don’t really have anything else to add but I’ll tell you what, I’ll be damned sure to carry more than $3 the next time I run into a mugger with an AIDS needle. Or perhaps carry a larger needle with a dose of cancer so we can have a Mexican stand-off. They’re both good ideas.

[via]

Via Buttersafe comes this comic about the craftiness of Dracula.

Did you know that vampires used to actually exist? It’s true, I saw it on the History Channel. But then one day, they went to a rock concert and got hungry. They loved ]]>

Via Buttersafe comes this comic about the craftiness of Dracula.

Did you know that vampires used to actually exist? It’s true, I saw it on the History Channel. But then one day, they went to a rock concert and got hungry. They loved the band, but they had to eat, you know? I’m not sure if it was bad luck or destiny, but feeding on Freddie Mercury wasn’t the best idea.

Via BasicInstructions.net comes this helpful, if not unsurprising, look at how to make a saying completely devoid of any logic or meaning.

I think cliche sayings are kind of like a fallback for people who aren’t creative enough to be witty on their ]]>

Via BasicInstructions.net comes this helpful, if not unsurprising, look at how to make a saying completely devoid of any logic or meaning.

I think cliche sayings are kind of like a fallback for people who aren’t creative enough to be witty on their own. Which, while annoying, is fine because if you think about it, if saying “Well, I guess that’s the way the cookie crumbles” really tickles your funny bone, it’s probably for the best that I not go out of my way to listen to the freshly crafted witticisms you might throw at me. I’m guessing they probably won’t invoke things I find funny, like clever wordplay or AIDS. Ideally both.

The Pope is pretty much King of the Catholics, so he must know everything right? For example, his knowledge of how condoms actually cause more HIV than they do prevent it. Yes, you read that right.

Pope Benedict XVI said on his way to Africa Tuesday ]]>

The Pope is pretty much King of the Catholics, so he must know everything right? For example, his knowledge of how condoms actually cause more HIV than they do prevent it. Yes, you read that right.

Pope Benedict XVI said on his way to Africa Tuesday that condoms were not the answer in the continent’s fight against HIV, his first explicit statement on an issue that has divided even clergy working with AIDS patients.

Benedict had never directly addressed condom use. He has said that the Roman Catholic Church is in the forefront of the battle against AIDS. The Vatican encourages sexual abstinence to fight the spread of the disease.

“You can’t resolve it with the distribution of condoms,” the pope told reporters aboard the Alitalia plane headed to Yaounde, Cameroon, where he will begin a seven-day pilgrimage on the continent. “On the contrary, it increases the problem.”

I don’t use condoms (why would you when there’s an abundance of coathangers and ways to disappear now?) so I can’t speak to the accuracy of his claims, but I’m pretty sure that the Pope’s data might be a bit inaccurate here. It seems to me that putting a layer of protective latex between yourself and an AIDS-ridden orifice would probably be better than just going “Jesus will save me” and crossing your fingers while you spray a load of disease and potential infants into your loved one.

I also don’t think that you want to go to the Pope for sex advice. I’d rather have Andrea Yates show me how to properly bathe my children.

[source]

My mom’s birthday is coming up this week and I always find it difficult to figure out what to get her. Thankfully there are the heroes in retail offering up all kinds of helpful suggestions.

Man, that’d be a great idea for most moms, but that’s ]]>

My mom’s birthday is coming up this week and I always find it difficult to figure out what to get her. Thankfully there are the heroes in retail offering up all kinds of helpful suggestions.

Man, that’d be a great idea for most moms, but that’s the problem with shopping at a real-life store as opposed to online. If you shop at Amazon or some other site, it’ll usually pick up your shopping habits. But if I go in-store and shop for a gift, like in the picture above, the store doesn’t really know what to tell you. Like if that store really knew me, it’d know my mom doesn’t use condoms and hasn’t for years. That’s the thing about AIDS…you can only catch it once.

[via]

Great news coming out of Harvard this morning as it appears that they’ve found a cure for herpes in mice! Yayyyyy.

Dearest Minnie, Good news!

Harvard Medical School researchers have succeeded in developing a topical treatment that, in mice, wipes out herpes virus, one of the ]]>

Great news coming out of Harvard this morning as it appears that they’ve found a cure for herpes in mice! Yayyyyy.

Dearest Minnie, Good news!

Harvard Medical School researchers have succeeded in developing a topical treatment that, in mice, wipes out herpes virus, one of the most intractable sexually transmitted human diseases.

Judy Lieberman, professor of pediatrics and a senior investigator at the Immune Disease Institute, has overseen the development of the treatment that uses RNA interference, or RNAi, to disable key genes necessary for herpes virus transmission. That cripples the virus in a molecular two-punch knockout, simultaneously disabling its ability to replicate, as well as the host cell’s ability to take up the virus.

What’s more, the treatment is just as effective when applied anywhere from one week prior to a few hours after exposure to the virus. In that sense, the basic biology of this prophylactic enables a real-world utility.

“People have been trying to make a topical agent that can prevent transmission — a microbicide — for many years,” says Lieberman. “But one of the main obstacles for this is compliance. One of the attractive features of the compound we developed is that it creates in the tissue a state that’s resistant to infection, even if applied up to a week before sexual exposure. This aspect has a real practicality to it. If we can reproduce these results in people, this could have a powerful impact on preventing transmission.”

This is great news if you have embarrassing herpes that has crippled you in both social and sexual settings. It’s even better news if you’ve been f’ing really slutty mice with no regard for their well-being or that of their sexual partners.

It’s pretty amazing what science can do. Did you know that they have other crazy methods of keeping you from getting sexual diseases like these little latex coverings called con…domes? And that you can test for the AIDS virus instead of just losing weight rapidly, shrugging your shoulders, and continuing to insert your contaminated fluids into other people randomly on the street? It’s true! I’m as stunned as you are, I’m sure!

[source]

China has a lot of people and all of these people need their sex. So you’d think the whores of China would be all about wrapping it up for their millions of johns. Notsomuch. No condoms + HIV = no wonder Asian people stay so thin.

MORE than half ]]>

China has a lot of people and all of these people need their sex. So you’d think the whores of China would be all about wrapping it up for their millions of johns. Notsomuch. No condoms + HIV = no wonder Asian people stay so thin.

MORE than half of Beijing’s prostitutes do not use condoms despite sexual transmission having replaced drug use as the most common infection route for HIV, state media says.

Just 47 per cent of the 90,000 sex workers in China’s capital used condoms, the official Xinhua news agency quoted Fang Laiying, director of the municipal public health bureau, as saying on Tuesday.

[via]

Eva Mendes is the face of some calendar for some liquor called Campari and that’s noteworthy because Eva Mendes is a spicy Latina selling you something that isn’t a Corona poster plastered on the wall of a bodega.

She looks really good in this shoot. Classy ]]>

Eva Mendes is the face of some calendar for some liquor called Campari and that’s noteworthy because Eva Mendes is a spicy Latina selling you something that isn’t a Corona poster plastered on the wall of a bodega.

She looks really good in this shoot. Classy yet fable because she’s probably getting all hammered off the Campari and saying stuff like, “Aye aye aye I get so drunk papi and am willing to do anyyyythiiiing. Burrito.” Eva Mendes could be selling vials of AIDS blood to pour on my Cap’n Crunch and I’d still probably give it a shot. I mean, what are the odds you can catch it twice?

Reminder, it’s going to be Winter out there sooner rather than later. So when you’re going out there and trying to kill snowmen, do it as quickly and painlessly as possible. They already have to deal with the complete frustration of having a body that turns ]]>

Reminder, it’s going to be Winter out there sooner rather than later. So when you’re going out there and trying to kill snowmen, do it as quickly and painlessly as possible. They already have to deal with the complete frustration of having a body that turns to mush when anything happens to it, even someone breathing hard or if they inadvertently walk nearby someone blowdrying their hair. It’s like having AIDS, but slightly more adorable.

From Friday night’s 2008 YouthAIDS Gala…

You know, it’s rare, but I have to take a change on my usual stance of delivering just hurtful words and applaud Anna Kournikova. It’s great to see her coming out in support of a cause that few people get ]]>

From Friday night’s 2008 YouthAIDS Gala…

You know, it’s rare, but I have to take a change on my usual stance of delivering just hurtful words and applaud Anna Kournikova. It’s great to see her coming out in support of a cause that few people get behind. Yes, AIDS is bad, but sometimes you need to step up and say, “Hey, AIDS has rights too.” I assumed that’s what YouthAIDS is all about, providing children with AIDS so that they don’t have to go diseaseless. Sure, more and more children are infected with a serious illness each year, but we can’t stop until every child has an illness to call their own.

I’ve launched my own campaign to that end, but it doesn’t have a formal “name” or “strategy” yet, beyond the usual combination of wine coolers and Hannah Montana DVDs. We’ll get there, though. Dare to dream!

[Even more HQ photos here, if you're into such things]

Scientists have discovered that some Kenyan prostitutes may be immune to AIDS. What does this mean to you other than that perhaps you can have unprotected sex with more Kenyan whores? Read on!

Seriously if you expect me to search out pics of ]]>

Scientists have discovered that some Kenyan prostitutes may be immune to AIDS. What does this mean to you other than that perhaps you can have unprotected sex with more Kenyan whores? Read on!

Seriously if you expect me to search out pics of African prostitutes, you’re sadly mistaken

Researchers in Canada report discovery of unusual proteins in a small group of Kenyan sex workers that appear to be associated with resistance to infection with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.

The discovery could lead to the improved design of vaccines and drugs to fight the deadly virus, which infects an estimated 40 million people worldwide, the scientists say in a new report.

In the new study, Adam Burgener and colleagues note that 140 of more than 2000 sex workers studied in Nairobi, Kenya, appear resistant to HIV infection. Although evidence suggests that certain biological factors in their vaginal fluid may play a role in resistance, the exact identity of these substances was unclear.

The scientists used a high-tech analytical method to compare differences among proteins in vaginal fluids from HIV-resistant women and those infected with the virus or susceptible to it. HIV-resistant women had proteins significantly different from other women. Vaginal fluids of the HIV-resistant women had higher levels of proteins with anti-viral and anti-inflammatory actions.

Sure, this research is valuable, but I bet the taste test portion of things was probably less than desirable.

I do wonder how the scientists found out about this though. Did someone take a special “research” trip to Kenya? Did a scientist get caught by his wife looking up black hookers and then have to cover it up with this elaborate story about researching HIV-resistant African hookers? Inquiring minds need to know!

This is an ACTUAL product found in a supermarket in the Bronx. Reportedly, this was the only soup that Robert Reed would eat when he was stricken by illness before his death.

[Thanks for the tip Carlos. You should have sent it sooner ]]>