Comments on: Sex and Death, cont. http://www.ratdiary.com/2006/12/02/sex-and-death/ Homo homini rodentius est Wed, 30 Dec 2009 19:20:21 -0700 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.6 hourly 1 By: Rodrigo http://www.ratdiary.com/2006/12/02/sex-and-death/#comment-1437 Rodrigo Wed, 27 Dec 2006 23:17:28 +0000 http://www.ratdiary.com/?p=79#comment-1437 Americans finally realize the try-before-you-buy works just as well with sex as it does with commodities. Rather than marrying and then shacking up with hot sex coming after the nuptuals, Americans are increasingly putting out before putting on the wedding rings.Women are just as likely as men to get it on before matrimony. I think this is just the sign of the times. I mean, we like to test things, try them out, before making a purchase. Why should sex and marriage be any different? The stigma associated with pre-marital sex is dead. Long live free love! Americans finally realize the try-before-you-buy works just as well with sex as it does with commodities. Rather than marrying and then shacking up with hot sex coming after the nuptuals, Americans are increasingly putting out before putting on the wedding rings.Women are just as likely as men to get it on before matrimony.
I think this is just the sign of the times. I mean, we like to test things, try them out, before making a purchase. Why should sex and marriage be any different? The stigma associated with pre-marital sex is dead. Long live free love!

]]> By: Steve http://www.ratdiary.com/2006/12/02/sex-and-death/#comment-1412 Steve Mon, 25 Dec 2006 18:20:25 +0000 http://www.ratdiary.com/?p=79#comment-1412 There's no profit in a cure. Recent statistics: Life expectancy w/no anti-retroviral meds: 7 years. Life expectancy with anti-retroviral meds: 24 years. Cost per year of meds: $25,000.00 "Lifetime" cost: $618,000.00 Putting HIV+ people on meds generates huge profits for pharmaceutical corporations. A cure would put an end to these profits. Enter people like me. I've been HIV+ for nearly 30 years without any anti-retroviral meds. After years of trying to get noticed, I'm finally being studied. Now that T-cells (etc.) can be created from stem cells, if research can determine how my immune system keeps HIV in check (my viral load is so low as to appear as a false positive), some sort of gene-therapy may be able to confer my immune response to others, eliminating the need for meds, and potentially saving millions of people that either don't have access to the meds or can't stick to the rigid schedule for dosing. If lives mattered more than profits, I and others like me would be at the center of attention for massive, worldwide efforts to find a cure, instead of struggling to be noticed. If people like me didn't exist, I'd understand. It's a global horror when one realizes that the end to this misery may already exist, right under our noses, if only profits didn't get in the way. There’s no profit in a cure.

Recent statistics:

Life expectancy w/no anti-retroviral meds: 7 years.

Life expectancy with anti-retroviral meds: 24 years.

Cost per year of meds: $25,000.00

“Lifetime” cost: $618,000.00

Putting HIV+ people on meds generates huge profits for pharmaceutical corporations.

A cure would put an end to these profits.

Enter people like me. I’ve been HIV+ for nearly 30 years without any anti-retroviral meds. After years of trying to get noticed, I’m finally being studied.

Now that T-cells (etc.) can be created from stem cells, if research can determine how my immune system keeps HIV in check (my viral load is so low as to appear as a false positive), some sort of gene-therapy may be able to confer my immune response to others, eliminating the need for meds, and potentially saving millions of people that either don’t have access to the meds or can’t stick to the rigid schedule for dosing.

If lives mattered more than profits, I and others like me would be at the center of attention for massive, worldwide efforts to find a cure, instead of struggling to be noticed.

If people like me didn’t exist, I’d understand. It’s a global horror when one realizes that the end to this misery may already exist, right under our noses, if only profits didn’t get in the way.

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