Today is World AIDS day, the day to spread awareness to stop the prejudice and also to stop the spread of the infection.

Prejudice against HIV Positive people are rooted in the same things as other prejudices – fear, which stems from lack of knowledge. HIV Positive people are often ostracised from communities and their social circles for various reason, amongst them the fear of the uninformed of somehow contracting the disease.

So let’s inform the uninformed and dispel the fear.

How do you get HIV?

HIV isn’t hiding behind a blind corner ready to pounce and infect you. No, HIV infection only occurs when HIV infected fluid somehow gets into your blood.

Blood, semen, vaginal secretions and breast milk are all good carriers of the virus. If any of these infected fluids enter your body (comes into contact with your blood), through the mouth, vagina, tip of the penis, anus or any breaks in the skin, HIV can be transmitted.

Any form of sex that includes coming into contact with semen (including the clear pre-cum), vaginal secretions and blood, can potentially transmit the virus, i.e. vaginal, anal and even oral sex (ulcers, lacerations, bleeding gums, etc.).

It is also possible to transmit HIV through sharing infected needles when doing drugs or DIY tattoos and body piercings, accidental needle pricks, blood transfusions and from a mother to a child during pregnancy, labour and also breast feeding.

HIV Positive people often don’t look sick, and the vast majority of those carrying the virus, are unaware that they do. Therefore, asking a stranger before sex whether or not they are HIV Positive does not constitute safer sex – protecting yourself with a condom does.

How you won’t get HIV

Saliva, sweat, tears, faeces and urine are not known to cause HIV infections, mainly because HIV in these substances do not appear in concentrations large enough to be harmful. You therefore are unlikely to get infected by casual contact with these bodily secretions.

Mutual masturbation using hands only, is a pretty safe form of sex, provided both partners have healthy, unbroken skin with no open wounds or fresh cuts and sores. Remember, semen and vaginal fluids transmit the disease, but it has to enter your body, which it can’t do through healthy skin.

You also can’t get HIV through kissing, hugging (important, because HIV Positive people needs hugs as much as the rest of us), shaking hands, massage, insect bites, sharing showers and toilets or living in the same house with an HIV Positive person.

If you always use a condom during the entire course of vaginal, anal or oral sex, and avoid general high risk activities, it will greatly reduce your risk of getting HIV and many other nasty sexually transmitted diseases.

Know the facts and pass it on

World AIDS Day is but 1 global opportunity to make a difference. You can help to slow or, who knows in the near future, even stop the spread of HIV by knowing the facts, implementing them in your own life to keep yourself safe, and sharing that knowledge with those around you.

Sources:
http://hivinsite.ucsf.edu/hiv?page=basics-00-05
http://www.aidatlanta.org/education/faq.shtml
http://www.mnaidsproject.org/learn/transmission.htm

If you enjoyed this post, do subscribe to the 1Earth RSS feed!

Alcohol swabs. The rum had the distinct taste of alcohol swabs. Perhaps it was exaggerated. In contrast to the last of the whisky he had mere moments before.

He took another sip. With his palette cleared of the whisky he thought the rum might taste less of alcohol swabs. He was wrong. He took a third sip to be sure the whisky didn’t stick through two rum sips.

It didn’t. It still tasted like alcohol swabs. Like a nurse had grabbed his tongue, ripped open the little envelope with her mouth and quickly rubbed the alcohol swab across it. He took another sip. He was ready for the injection. Pure rum. Inject directly into the blood stream. Alcohol coursing through his veins on its way to his brain. Hoping it would reset his mind and rid him of this weight.

instead, it had a slightly psychedelic effect.

“Carrying the weight of the world”. Who would say that? Who could do that? If you carried the weight of the world on your shoulders, what would you stand on? The world? Surely not. If you did, the world itself would be twice the weight of the world. An infinite loop. Whoever conjured up that phrase must have been on something.

An injection of pure rum perhaps?

But his emotions where truly weighing on his mind. Like, he could imagine, the weight of the world. Only he had nothing to stand on. He felt like he was sinking. But into what, space? You can’t sink into space. Where would you go? Out of the solar system? Wouldn’t that be something akin to perpetual motion?

The rum was slightly hot now. A pool of condensation had formed at the bottom of the bottle. “Gotta keep the mouse away from that”, he thought out loud as he clicked the ‘next’ arrow on a MILF porn slide show he had running on the screen. He took another sip of the alcohol swab. At room temperature it tasted less like alcohol swab and more like the swelling welt where the nurse had pushed in the needle. Slightly salty, distinctly unlike alcohol swab.

This he imagined, because he had never actually licked the welt left by a needle.

He poured another from the bottle. The bottle was still cold. The little puddle of condensation slowly creeping towards his mouse. An optical mouse. The red eye flick-flicking on the table, looking for traction. Trying to get a grip on direction, orientating itself. Trying to establish which way is forward and which is back. Succeeding. Most of the time. Unless it hit something black.

He was an optical mouse and he hit a black spot. He lost traction. He was disorientated. He shook on the screen. He couldn’t quite focus on the icon. Jumped around just too much for the double click.

Maybe another thimble of alcohol swab would cure that. Make it sway, rather than shake.

He tried diluting the weight of the world with alcohol swabs.

He succeeded.

He passed out.

The world, diluted in alcohol swabs, floated before him for a while. Then separated. Piece by piece.

And disappeared.

If you enjoyed this post, do subscribe to the 1Earth RSS feed!

It’s been a while since I stumbled across such a variety of interesting news articles. To take a break from my Ubuntu Adventures and whats-going-ons in Kota Kinabalu, herewith snippets I picked up from the net today - sorted in order of intellectual stimulation from most to least.

Elections: Malaysia does in 1 month what takes the US a year

Just as you think you can’t take anymore Election news, especially of American Elections where people from the same party are cutting each other’s throats in their race to becoming America’s Number One Citizen, the Malaysian Parliament gets dissolved. This usually is closely followed by the announcement of when the next elections will be. This is not controversial politics though, it’s an actual process.

So, if all goes well, within a month from now the Malaysian Elections will be over and a new (but probably the same - alternatives are slim pickings, I’m told) Government will be ruling Malaysia. How’s that for shortening the agony of the voting public?

You Threaten Me, I Ridicule You

Tactics we acquire on the school playground clearly escalates in life and are eventually used on life’s big stage. Just ask Israel and Palestine in their tit-for-tat war. But it’s not just them, all sectors of society play this game, religions, big businesses (Microsoft annoys Google, Google does the same), marriage, you name it.

The last, very unnecessary retaliation is the Newspaper Cartoonist vs. Muslims. In 2006 some Danish cartoonist offended the religion when their newspapers published cartoons offensive to Muslims. After what turned out to be a global outcry, things quietened down - on the surface at least.

In the dark underbelly of religious fundamentalism, terrorist attacks, bomb making and retribution must have been the main topics of conversation at many a Terrorist Fundamentalist party. Eventually a plot to murder one of the said cartoonist where uncovered. The cartoonist retaliated with a printed bomb by publishing the cartoons again.

Can somebody please call the school yard monitor?

Microsoft, Google, Linux, Symbian - Spoilt for Choice

Clearly the Bill Gates Foundation has money to spare, as it seems Microsoft is running down the acquisitions isle grabbing companies off the shelf left and right. In their latest move, whilst waiting to smother Yahoo! with cash, they’ve acquired ominously named Danger.

Planning world domination in the smart phone market William will face stiff competition from not only the established crowd, but a host of new entries as well.

Linux finally made it to the mobile market. Previously unpopular because it was comparatively slow, the little penguin embraced by more every day, has grown up and is playing with the big boys. LG and Samsung will shortly be releasing phones running on Linux. Likewise, Google’s Andriod operating system, also based on Linux, is gaining ground and has reportedly signed up over 50 manufacturers and vendors to play nice with their OS.

The makers of Symbian, growing strongly with a comfortable market share, is not worried. Whatever the outcome, the consumer can only win.

Heroes Will be Back Shortly

Finally, after 3 months of Heroes withdrawal, the Writers Strike has ended and the creatives who fuel Hollywood will be returning to work.

If you were puzzled by having to watch reruns of your favourite shows over the last three months, and an inexplicable increase in reality programming, it’s because the people who write your shows have been on strike.

This was courtesy of the fat cat studios, who where trying to apply 1980’s payment formula’s to the 2008, wanting to pay writers on a model they got shafted with and tied to 20 years ago (nutshell - get the clamshell).

Lucky for us, the viewing public, the people involved managed to sort out the differences and will be able to go back to work. Heroes Season 3, here we come!

Siblings Do It Better… no wait, Worse!

Britney Spears has one. Jessica Simpson has one. Hell, Bill Clinton and George Bush have one. Siblings, that is. And not just any old siblings, but siblings who manage to upstage their more famous siblings for better or worse - but usually for worse.

The latest celebrity sibling to join the fray is Paris’ little bro, who, by the looks of it, is a brother from another mother. Named Barron Hilton (why is Nicky normally named?), he dubiously shot to fame for an incident which seems to run in the family. DUI. And clearly Paris has been a fine role model, as little B.Hilly was also banned from driving when he got caught. The boy is only 18 - nice start to life - if he had to get a job like the rest of us, that little smudge on his record would have sucked.

Maybe the Hiltons can convert one of their hotels into a lavish, 5-star prison… for special citizens like Paris and her Brother. Nicky and Conrad, watch out, you know how these celebrity mishaps appear to be contagious, go on, just ask Jamie Lynn.

Never Be Out of Touch… Ever Again

If you thought Facebook couldn’t get more invasive… well, it just did. Gypsii is set to launch soon and it will enable you to broadcast to the world where you are, exactly. Thankfully, it only will work on top end phones for now, which means even if I lost my mind (completely) and wanted to use it, my lag in technology will keep me out of Big Brother’s clutches a little while longer.

Stay Virus Free This Valentines Day

And, last but not least - if you want to stay virus free this Valentines Day do just two things: don’t open email messages wishing you a Happy Valentines Day… and wear a condom, k?

If you enjoyed this post, do subscribe to the 1Earth RSS feed!

In life there are things we will know, because we will learn them from others, and then there are things we will know, because we experience them ourselves. So here’s what I’ve experienced myself, which you now will know because you’ve learned them from me.

Gillette Foamy vs. Gillette Series Shaving Gel

In the blue corner, we have Gillette Series Shaving Gel. It’s bigger, its packaging looks better, it’s well marketed, in fact, it’s marketed period, and it appeals to the suave, wannabe-smooth-shaved hunk in every man. By merely using it, you will have a chiseled jaw so smooth you’d even attract lesbians, and you will suddenly associate with drop-dead gorgeous women only!

In the white corner is Foamy who’s like a brother in jail: everyone knows about him, but nobody wants to talk about him. He’s smaller, clearly cheap looking, exceptionally low priced (in comparison), has a cartoon rendition of man shaving on the very standard packaging (in my neck of the woods at least) and appeals to cheepos who have to shave with something other than bath soap and really can’t afford to associate with women at all.

The blatant truth is, and I’ve proved this to myself time and time again, with equal amounts of shaving, I can empty a big expensive, Gillette Series Shaving Gel in 15 days, whilst trusty, cheapskate and small looking Foamy will last me a month and half!

Gillette, I’m sure, knows this, which is why they make it in an almost unbearably strong menthol fragrance, which, if I myself wasn’t such a cheapskate, wouldn’t have been able to stand, causing me to buy the much more soothing and much more expensive gel instead.

But I didn’t, and now I’m used to it and can shave head and face for a month and half off a small can of Foamy and pay a fraction of price of the gel that would only last me 15 days! It’s true, I’ve experienced it myself!

Gillette Shaving System vs. Gillette Shaving Cartridges

In the white corner (you should be able to tell by now that the meany is in the blue corner) we have the Gillette Shaving System, comfort on a stick. A cleverly designed handle with rubber grips and other design features, which has nothing to do with shaving, equipped with usually two, long lasting Mach 3 cartridges. One on it’s own will have you glide across the most stubborn stubble for well over a month and impress you greatly. It sells for a mere RM17 (about US$5), and with 2 cartridges included, can give you two months worth of smooth skin.

In the blue corner, the handy Gillette Shaving Cartridges. Designed to replace the blades on your Mach 3 stick when eventually your included cartridges go blunt (or that little blue strip at the top has faded away - like a toothbrush, that means you should replace it). It looks like the ones you got with the system, it fits like the ones you got with the system. Sure, it’s nearly 2.5 times the price of the system, but they last a month each, right? Bargain!

But the truth is stranger than marketing. Where the shaving system’s blade seemingly never blunts and provides a comfortable shave for over a month, the refill cartridges will blunt in 15 days! I suspect Gillette’s budget is planned on a 15 day cycle.

You willing hand over the RM55 - RM60 for the 8-cartridge pack thinking you’d never have to buy blades again until just before Halloween, only to discover that now you have to use 2 a month, if you don’t want to tear the whiskers of your face that is! It’s true, I’ve experienced it myself!

Shell vs. Petronas

In the blue corner, Malaysia’s national petroleum company, possibly the wealthiest company in the country and well up there with other companies in the rest of the world, sponsoring a team in the exceptionally expensive sport of Formula One. With a petrol station on virtually every corner, featuring clean yards and sparkling convenience stores, there is no reason to doubt their fuel, which you are made to believe is top notch.

In the white corner is global petroleum giant, Shell. With their familiar yellow logo their filling stations are a little older, doesn’t have fancy, sparkling convenience stores, but provides you with the fossil fuels you know and love.

Surely you’d think a tank of the one is the same as the other? After all, Shell works for Petronas so they use exactly the same crude, in fact, I believe they even use the very same distilled petroleum. The difference, they say, is just in the additives, the one is virtually the same as the other.

Wrong!

When I got my car I used Petronas only. I liked the clean station and the very shiny convenience stores, plus they accept my bank card, which enables me to do cashless transactions. However, after a while my car started to spit, spatter and lose power the instant I take my foot off the accelerator, accelerating itself a chore and not as smooth as it was. I thought my car was due for a service and that the spark plugs were shot.

But then I nearly ran my tank dry and was in a neighborhood that only had a Shell, so I filled up. And wouldn’t you know it, my car didn’t sputter any more, the start offs were smooth, it would glide smoothly when I took my foot off the accelerator and it even accelerated with more oomph than before.

I was submerged in incredulous thoughts, as surely fuel couldn’t make such a big difference. But Shell doesn’t accept my bank card (only credit cards, which I don’t have - and remember, I don’t carry around cash that often) , so on my next refill I went back to Petronas - and bam! not 5 kilometers later the symptoms were back. A fluke, I thought, surely it’s not true. Then my next refill was again Shell, and again, my car turned into a sports racer!

I test this theory on an ongoing basis as sometimes I have to use Petronas when I don’t have cash, or am in a neighbourhood without a Shell, and every time it’s the same thing. Petronas = spit, spatter and jerky driving. Shell = smooth, clean burns and acceleration on demand. It’s true, I’ve experienced it myself!

If you enjoyed this post, do subscribe to the 1Earth RSS feed!

My recent shopping trip to Kuala Lumpur reminded me that sex sells. And shopping makes you horny. Well, it makes me horny.

On many of the days I went shopping, the days started out innocent and normal. I’m not an adolescent teenager at the mercy of my hormones (anymore), but I have urges, you understand? And yes, like males tend to do, my mind reacts to stimuli (and by extension… oh never mind).

Anyway, many a shopping day left me slightly toey. The shopping experience itself wasn’t really stimulating, in fact, it was quite tiring, so I was perplexed by this phenomena. I therefore had to analyse it to get behind the reason that shopping made me horny.

The world of shopping, as is the world of fashion magazines and other channels where beauty is thrust upon us, is littered with subliminal and frankly in-your-face messages. We, as consumers, are constantly reminded that if we don’t wear this item and purchase this accessory, we’ll die virgins. Ugly virgins at that, because heaven forbid you don’t buy the cosmetics of the moment, you’ll live a horribly ugly, unwanted, virginal existence.

And of course, brands are not going to come out straight and say “buy our brand and get laid”. Oh no, the messages are much more sublime than that. And, apart from Calvin Klein, nobody is going to show you pictures of people having sex, or nearly having sex, wearing their brand either. Nope, nowadays the messages are in the brand names itself, and that’s whats making me horny.

So it was then that I arrived at 1Utama one fine morning, perfectly not horny. The first shop I happened to walk in to was called Spade. Quite innocent in my non-horny state, but it’s obscene meaning (look at no.4) registered deep down in my subconsciously horny mind and subliminally set the ball(s) rolling.

I walked around the corner, the feeling of amour nibbling at the outer reaches of my subconscious mind, when I saw the next sex infested brand name; Romp. No prizes for guessing what romp means. Suddenly my mind was turned on. After you spade somebody, you might just end up in a romp.

With my mind totally not focused on shopping anymore, the messages were suddenly very overt. Before I knew what happened, I had walked in to Roots. Root is a not-so-ambiguous Aussie/Kiwi term, meaning… well, look it up. I was frankly stunned by how previously subtle sexual references suddenly clouded my tuned-in mind, the world of retail, I realised, is a veritable whore house.

Ready to be surprised by nothing any longer, the most obvious of the branded-for-sex brands loomed larger than life in front of me. FCUK needs no link to an explanation, because what the modern marketing executives of French Connection UK had in mind when they started pushing this particular abbreviated version of their brand, is no secret. Testosterone flushed my system and a feeling, not unlike that which urges a dog to hump the nearest leg, crept down my spine.

The next few brands I encountered was the climax to an erotic shopping spree that would have left me wanting a smoke, was I a smoker. First I stumbled across this 8 foot poster of a plunging neck line, cleavage looming large. From nowhere, 12-inch Sausage appeared. I must have gotten dizzy, possibly passed out and fell over, because when I regained my senses I looked up, and all I saw was Seed.

With my limbs tingly, my legs feeling like jelly and my face all flushed, I headed for the nearest exit to remove myself from the sexually charged world of retail.

I felt tired and, dare I say, spent.

If you enjoyed this post, do subscribe to the 1Earth RSS feed!