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Hotload84

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Posts posted by Hotload84

  1. Someday I'd like to hear about that, Hotload.

    Here goes the short version, TheBreeder. I was on jury duty here in Philadelphia - a murder case. One of the jurymen was about ten years younger than I, and whereas I was of, at best, an average build, he was a stunningly built guy as he had just been discharged from the air force, and his job in the air force had been to maintain the gym, so he spent much of his time working out. He was a major muscle man. I seem to recall his nick name was Bull.

    After the trial was over (we found the defendant guilty of manslaughter), he asked for my number, which I gave him, on the pretext of assisting him in a job search - you know - one veteran to another. He telephoned me twice over the course of about three months, but I never had the courage to return the call, and shortly thereafter I took a job in California and lived there for about five years. After I returned to Philadelphia I saw his profile once on line, and once I saw him in person at a Kinko's. He still looked stunning, even if almost ten years had passed. I believe he even recognized me. I left the Kinko's, walked around the block, and then returned, if only to apologize to him for not responding to his telephone calls, but he was gone. "What might have been." [sigh] I hope I've learned a lesson.

  2. I have one of those invitations in my history, not quite as formally presented, but an invitation nonetheless. Unlike TheBreeder, I didn't even have the courage to try to respond to the invitation. To this day, some twenty-some years later, I still regret my cowardice and lack of courtesy. As Evilqueerpig said "what might have been."

  3. Wasn't it Genghis Khan who was supposed to have fathered hundreds of children from all of his wives and concubines? I think I remember reading somewhere that a significant part of modern Mongolian DNA is shared in common because so many of them have Temujin back as a common ancestor.

    I've read similar discussions about Genghis Khan, MascMountainMan. I've read similar genetic analysis for the early, almost mythical kings of Ireland, suggesting a common ancestor for an amazing percentage of the Irish population. http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/01/0120_060120_irish_men.html

  4. An interesting case. When an individual is incarcerated, the state acts in loco parentis, and in that capacity the state can order the individual to take medications, just as one's parent can order his or her underage child to do the same. When an individual has been charged and is being held awaiting trial, again, the state acts in loco parentis, so it's easy for me to see how the state can mandate that the prisoner take the meds. The state's interest is not only the well-being of the prisoner, it is also acting in the best interest of the guards and other prisoners with whom the poz prisoner may come in contact. Similarly, if the accused makes bail, as a condition of being released, the state can request the Court order the accused to take the meds.

    The comment by Sean Strub of Global Network is nevertheless perceptive, and parses the issue nicely: whereas the accused is seemingly mentally troubled, and presumably that mental condition should be treated, is it also appropriate to treat him as a potential Typhoid Mary who's medical treatment becomes a matter for public oversight? Tough call, no matter what the outcome.

    A more challenging

  5. I always say there are 3 sides to every story. His, His/Hers and what really happened. No two people relay the information exactly the same unless it is seriously reheresed.

    Good point, Bear4Breeding. Truth, in the eyes of the all-knowing, and utterly disinterested, that is, untainted by human limitations, may well be very different than any of us imagine.

  6. One thing you have all tellingly ignored is that HIV itself has long since been proven to be a SYSTEMIC virus, attacking nearly every system in the body, and does not simply attack the immune system as was previously thought. The mere presence of the virus causes the human body to unleash an overall inflammatory response that further damages itself...and that this cycle of progressive damage at deep levels starts from the moment of HIV infection, and for the vast majority will continue until death absent anti-retroviral therapy.

    A wider appreciation of this is not helped by the undeniable greed and self-interest of the pharmaceutical industry, but the scientific consensus continues to swing in the direction of early treatment being better. When you have HIV, it is essentially trying to eat you. There is no historical precedent for determining that a deadly virus should be allowed to incubate for best health. The only argument toward that end is based on the toxicity of HIV meds themselves, and by all accounts they are far less damaging than ever before.

    The actual systemic damage of HIV at every stage of infection is something that gets far too little attention in every argument I've ever seen about "when to treat" among lay persons.

    For reasons only tangentially related to HIV, the doctors started me on meds quite early. The argument detailed by TonyRedux for relatively early introduction to the antiviral medication, is probably the reason my physician said, when we were speaking this past week, that by all measures I am in very good health, notwithstanding the presence of the virus in my system.

  7. Yeah, it didn't follow me anywhere after that—which made me appreciate the benefits of a fresh start, as well.

    Food for thought. My family has lived in Philadelphia for centuries, so the notion of a fresh start is a challenge. I suppose the weight of history, and the fullness of connection, makes one rather circumspect.

  8. Wow. Talk about besmirking another with rumor. Did the rumor die with graduation, TheBreeder?

    As to the question you put, hmmm. I'm not sure how careful I am to consider two sides to a situation. I tend to see things fairly black and white: my SOB neighbor is either breaking the law by parking his goddam car on the sidewalk, or he's parking legally. His position, that he couldn't find a parking spot is, as a rule, not my problem. (And yes, I'll call 9-1-1 at the drop of a dime to get him ticketed.)

    Had I been a resident of your dorm, and I encountered the story, I'd like to think I wouldn't believe it without corroboration, but then I often quote the aphorism to myself where there's smoke, there's at least a small fire. I suppose the smoke, however, would be a form of corroboration. In the case of Edvig, his story is the only evidence submitted into consideration, and if untested, it is of unknown value.

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