Back when this guy first came around when I was still in High School, I tried so badly to give this guy a chance and hopefully have some level of respect for him, but after bad song after bad song and after bad song I just look at him and go "Why is it that I'm the only person who thinks he really sucks without redemption?" the biggest song that turned me off from him completely was none other than:


http://www.youtube.com/embed/Lb9q1ScC4cg

http://www.youtube.com/embed/MXp413NynFk

Now I would like to go on record as saying that these two guys are good at what they individually do, I think Carlos Santana is a great guitarist and Rob Thomas is a great singer songwriter, but a song as stupid as this one and as overplayed as this one was, everytime I hear this song I wanna put a bullet in my head

This song was basically the demise of a singer who I used to have respect for in childhood, if you were to hear this song and play this against his old stuff you'll have a tendency to go "You son of a bitch"

http://www.youtube.com/embed/BKZqGJONH68

Raylene may technically be retired, I know Nina Mercedez isn't, neither is Samantha Ryan, or Teanna Kai for that matter but those ladies are my personal favorite because behind the scenes they all seem very down to Earth for me

http://thinkprogress.org/health/2013/01/04/1398631/hiv-vaccine-breakthrough/

A team of Spanish researchers say they have made an important breakthrough in HIV research, developing a new vaccine against the virus that is significantly more effective than earlier attempts. Advancing vaccine research could eventually eliminate the need for the expensive methods currently used to treat HIV-positive individuals.

Researchers tested the vaccine on randomly selected HIV-positive individuals who were already taking highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) medications, the most scientifically advanced form of treatment currently available to combat the virus. They wanted to see if, rather than simply suppressing the effects of the virus with outside treatment, their vaccine could lead the human immune system to coordinate its own defense against HIV — and they succeeded, seeing some subjects’ HIV viral loads drop more than 90 percent after 12 weeks of the trial:

“What we did was give instructions to the immune system so it could learn to destroy the virus, which it does not do naturally,” said Felipe Garcia, one of the scientists in the team at Barcelona University’s Hospital Clinic.

The therapeutic vaccine, a shot that treats an existing disease rather than preventing it, was safe and led to a dramatic drop in the amount of HIV virus detected in some patients, said the study, published Wednesday in Science Translation Medicine.

The vaccine allowed patients temporarily to live without taking multiple medicines on a daily basis, which created hardship for patients, could have toxic side-effects over the long term and had a high financial price, the team said.

“This investigation opens the path to additional studies with the final goal of achieving a functional cure — the control of HIV replication for long periods or an entire life without anti-retroviral treatment,” the researchers said in a statement.

The researchers did find that the effectiveness of the vaccination declined after the first year, when patients had to return to their previous HAART treatment. Still, though, they noted this breakthrough is the culmination of seven years of research — and they will spend the next several years working to improve the vaccine even further.

Over the past year, the global community has made significant strides forward in its mission to eradicate the HIV/AIDS epidemic. This latest scientific progress builds upon previous research and policy advances that have contributed to better tests and treatments for HIV, better health care for HIV-positive individuals, and ever-increasing life expectancy rates for those living with the virus.

Source: shewired.com

Bisexual women and gay men face elevated risks of intimate partner violence, according to a new Williams Institute report published in the Journal of Interpersonal Violence.

“As Congress considers reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act and we reflect on Domestic Violence Awareness Month, our report’s findings highlight that these issues also impact the LGBT community,” said Naomi G. Goldberg, MPP, who created the report along with Ilan H. Meyer, PhD, Senior Scholar for Public Policy at the Williams Institute.

Among the key findings:

* Bisexual women had elevated risks of experiencing intimate partner violence compared with heterosexual women, lesbians and women who have sex with women over the course of the lives and in the past year. But, significantly, in 95% of intimate partner violence annual incidents reported by bisexual women, the perpetrator was a male intimate partner, indicating that the violence occurred outside a same-sex relationship.

* Gay men had elevated risk of experiencing intimate partner violence compared with heterosexual and bisexual men, as well as men who have sex with men but do not identify as gay or bisexual. Almost all (97%) of the annual incidents of intimate partner violence incidents occurring to male victims involved a male intimate partner.

* Binge drinking and a history of psychological distress predicted intimate partner violence, but these factors did not explain disparities between bisexual and heterosexual women or between gay and heterosexual men.

The researchers’ findings are based on a 2007-2008 sample of the California Health Interview Survey. The authors compared patterns of intimate partner violence among four groups: heterosexual men and women, bisexual men and women, gay men and lesbians, and men and women who have had sex with members of the same gender but are not identified as gay, lesbian, or bisexual. The study defined intimate partner violence as physical and verbal abuse, or threats of physical abuse, by a current or former wife, husband, boyfriend, girlfriend, or someone else an individual has lived with or dated.

You can read the entire study, "Sexual Orientation Disparities in History of Intimate Partner Violence: Results From the California Health Interview Survey," here.

Now for my two cents: hopefully this ain't happening to many of you over here

musicluver: your avatar says someone who's never left 70's rock

Trinket: your avatar says "morning wood relief"

Source: Huffington Post

San Francisco has reached a crucial milestone in its quest to become the greenest city in America. Late last week, the city announced that it successfully diverted 80 percent of its waste away from landfills and into compost or recycling programs in 2011--the highest level achieved by any major city in the country.

This accomplishment is a significant step on the path to the city's ultimate goal of diverting 100 percent of its waste by the year 2020.

"San Francisco is demonstrating once again that zero waste is an achievable and environmentally responsible goal," said Board of Supervisors President David Chiu in a statement. "I thank Recology and the Department of Environment staff who are reaching out and educating our residents and businesses to make sure they continue to recycle and compost our way to zero waste."

"Recycling and composting is not only good for our environment, it is also good for our economy," added Mayor Ed Lee. "Recycling alone creates 10 times more jobs than simply sending refuse to the landfill."

Despite this impressive diversion rate, San Francisco still dumps 444,000 tons of waste into the Altamont Landfill in Livermore, which is expected to reach its maximum capacity by 2015. The city estimates about half of that material could be recycled or composted.

San Francisco's high diversion rate has proven a model for other cities looking to emulate its success. A citizens' group in Meaford, Ontario is urging its elected leaders to follow San Francisco's lead in implementing strategies to increase recycling. "There are multiple programs that San Francisco has implemented which have aided them in reaching that rate, many of them could be easily implemented in our municipality," activist Jenean Lush told the Meaford Independent. "One of the easiest things that would help to increase our diversion rate is to increase the number of items that can be recycled in our blue bins."

Another factor in the city's high diversion rate was the passage of a 2009 ordinance mandating city-wide composting at all businesses and residences. San Francisco was the first city in the country to pass such a sweeping measure and it played a large part in getting the city's greenhouse gas emission levels significantly below where they were two decades ago.

Last November, San Francisco voters were given the option to eliminate the monopoly Recology has held on virtually all aspects of the city's waste stream for the better part of a century and open up the system to competition. The measure ultimately fell well short of passage, largely due a campaign that charged switching over competitive bidding, which is used by every other municipality in the Bay Area, would put the city's ambitious zero waste goal in jeopardy.

San Francisco recently reached another eco-conscious milestone. On October 1st, the city successfully expanded its first-in-the-nation 2007 ban on non-compostable plastic bags to include almost all retailers in the city.

I wonder is this is because now people have access to so much information. Like with the internet I can find out a whole lot about different religions. Like paganism and how christianity seemed to come from that in order to control an unruly population by a king, for example. Information like that tends to discredit religions to me.

Before, if you lived in some small town and everyone is 7th day Adventist and had no access to any kind of information other than what the religion and its practitioners are telling you then what else do you do besides join em. Seems normal and understandable I guess. But now teens can see the "silliness" in religions at an early age before it's tattooed into their brains.

I saw something about the Amish. It was on some news magazine thing. But they said that the kids not returning to the Amish way of life after rumspringa was on the rise. Since they either choose baptism (or some kind of communion, I don't remember) Or go out to live like the "english" you can take it as a rejection of religion too. I wonder if this is happening in their community too because of new technologies and information being easily obtained in a couple minutes. They can see all that they are missing or think they are missing.

I do see a good chunk of your points and do agree with them but at the same time I think a good chunk of the reason why atheism is on such a rise is because I think people are seriously getting tired of the Psychological abuse that religion is bringing to them along with the physical abuse and believe me there is just as much physical abuse as there is psychological that and I think that it's long past time for this country to grow up from religion and just be human for once

If I can ask y'all a question: in terms of children do you think a lot of em are getting started too early on sexual intercourse?

As dark as a moonless night Even with all the candles in sight In all her glory she's kneeling down Not even allowed to wear an evening gown There he comes in his usual garb About to play a game of fake harm Acts like this are likely to be looked down Mostly by stupid people who worship a crown While people can look at that act And think of how good that they're a lovely fact ...

Added 25 Apr 2013 | Category Love Poems | Votes 2 | Avg Score 5 | Views 445 | 2 Comments

At sundown in the city With gravel thick and gritty You see three red roses on the road One of em crushed but not so dirty Now you may ask yourself How can three red roses be on the road Did they fall off a flower truck during a load Or did kids throw it out the window like yesterdays trash Or maybe just maybe If you wanna go that deep Those roses may have belonged to...

Added 24 Feb 2013 | Category Love Poems | Votes 8 | Avg Score 4.38 | Views 456 | 8 Comments

Unmasking True Love by Seth Millis Hot candlewax and cold steam Two different things That blends together like sugar and tea When your cold kiss hits my hot lips My angry fire dies down And the world will never defeat Hot candlewax and cold steam Every word oozed out of the singer like honey hitting a spoon, as she mesmerized the crowd in that penthouse with...

Added 10 Feb 2013 | Category Love Stories | Votes 7 | Avg Score 4.86 | Views 572 | 8 Comments

Hot Candlewax and Cold Steam by Ginger Foutley and Courtney Foutley In the warmth of the night We only show two lights One in the room of our child We tuck him into sleep Happily content in the comfort of our love In another lighted room We consider a different world A world where no one looks down on us Population you and me With hot candlewax and cold steam ...

Added 28 Jan 2013 | Category Love Poems | Votes 1 | Avg Score 5 | Views 226 | 3 Comments