This Boy Elroy

Caveat emptor.

So there's been a lot of buzz amongst my fellow blogger and Twitter pals the past couple of weeks about a new approach to HIV therapy. If you haven't already read about the research from the group at Texas Medical Center in Houston, you can do so here.

Now I'm all about finding a cure, or at least a therapy that can outsmart HIV, but I have to warn everyone to approach this THEORY with a huge amount of skepticism. I emphasize theory because right now this is all this work is founded in, theory. There is no peer reviewed publication showing in vitro (i.e. done in a test tube) work done to support or disprove this theory, and more importantly, there is no clinical data to support this theory.

Let me point to a quote from the article:

Paul is the senior author on a paper about this theory in a June issue of the journal Autoimmunity Reviews. Additional data supporting the theory are to be presented at the XVII International AIDS Conference Aug. 3-8 in Mexico City in two studies titled "Survivors of HIV infection produce potent, broadly neutralising IgAs directed to the superantigenic region of the gp120 CD4 binding site" and "Prospective clinical utility and evolutionary implication of broadly neutralising antibody fragments to HIV gp120 superantigenic epitope."

Note that in the first sentence that the paper is about a theory and also note the title of the paper to be presented in Mexico City at the XVII International AIDS Conference is about "prospective clinical utility." Translation: we think this could lead somewhere but we don't know yet because we haven't done the experiments or clinical studies to prove or disprove our theory. In light of the recent blog drama we should all know that we need to approach everything we read with a certain degree of skepticism.

As much as I'd love to see a cure come from this idea there is much work to be done from this group. They slate a time-table for having a cure in five years...if everything goes to plan. I work in research, nothing ever goes to plan; and 99% of the time when things do go to plan in the lab all of that falls to shit when you try to translate to the clinic. Look at Robert Gallo, he thought he could have a vaccine shortly after developing the blood test for HIV. Here we are 20 years later and no vaccine.

Meanwhile, while these and other scientists are working hard for a cure or a vaccine I'm telling you, not asking you, to practice safe sex and more importantly GET TESTED OFTEN. Knowledge is the best prophylactic.

W.

The preview for Oliver Stone's new movie, "W."

I  love how the actors are billed with their character's names rather than their real names.  Toby Jones as Karl Rove is so intriguing to me.  His performance in "Infamous" as Truman Capote eclipsed that of the amazing performance of Philip Seymour Hoffman in "Capote."  If he can pull off playing Rove as good as he did Capote than his chops as a character actor have been sealed in my opinion. Also, The Condi doppleganger makes me a little bit excited I must say, she looks so eeeevil. 

I'm not sure if this movie is going to be any good but I still want to see it.  Even if it the story is bad it looks like a great drag act, better than the one we've had for the last seven years at least.   

I heart TJ's

It's good to have Trader Joe's again.
Originally uploaded by adpal3180.

When Brad and I lived in Tucson we were regulars at our local Trader Joe's and when we moved to Dallas we lamented the loss of one of our favorite grocery stores This weekend we paid a visit to the TJ's in SOMA and I cannot tell you how happy we are to be able to shop there again.

Tonight's dinner was an an example: Cous-cous stuffed salmon with dijon green beans and jasmine rice. Yum!

Newsflash: Men are hairy.

Why do things like this exist?

"Maintain Yourself"

I don't like what that byline implies; that somehow you don't care about yourself if you don't shave your back hair off, like you're some kind of slob.

Secondary sex characteristics are traits that distinguish the two sexes of a species, but that are not directly part of the reproductive system. They are believed to be the product of sexual selection for traits which give an individual an advantage over its rivals in courtship, and aggressive interactions. They are distinguished from the primary sexual characteristics: the sex organs.

Well known secondary sex characteristics include facial hairs of male lions, and long feathers of peacock. In humans, the most visible are breasts of females and beard and moustache of males. Secondary sex characteristics include the tusks of sea lions, the plumage of many male birds, the chemical indicators of many insects, etc.

From Secondary sex characteristic

If you're naturally smooth that's great, but by what rationale did smooth become the norm that has been foisted into the mainstream? What happened to the days of Magnum PI and Knight Rider, where men in media were unabashedly natural?

I know I'll never shave.

When scientists email.

This email arrived in my inbox this afternoon, right around lunch time:

I am about to start working on a pilot study in which we will attempt to digest a whole mouse brain and sort the neurons on a FACSCalibur (because we don't have a high speed sorter yet). Can anyone offer me some protocol advice on how to go about digesting the brain without it disintegrating completely and/or point me to some groups that do this

sort of thing? I hear there is a group in Australia that works with sorting neurons, but I don't know where/who.

 

Thanks!

Laura R.

This email makes perfect sense to me.  However, when I stop for a minute and take it out of professional context it's pretty hilarious. 

 

Moral Muni Delay

I snapped this photo on my way home today. During rush hour at Civic Center station (i.e. very busy) the man in the wheelchair had locked his wheels and sat in the door of the train and refused to move unless he got on the train. The sardined riders on the Muni looked scared and dumbstruck at the same time. Probably because the man was citing the Americans with Disabilities Act, which provides that certain areas on the train are to be surrendered to the elderly and those with disabilities.

SFist also has a post on the subject (someone took the same photo but mine is better!).

The thing is that I saw this man move and use his legs to propel his wheelchair. Was this man really disabled? Additionally, he was making quite a scene, insisting that he shouldn't have to wait for the next train even though there were plenty of able bodied people waiting for the next available train as well. People on SFist have left comments saying they've seen this man standing up and walking at a coffee shop near West Portal station.

Given how many nutters there are in this city so what do you do when something like this happens? Do you take them for their word that they are disabled? Even if the ADA provides for space on the train does it go so far as to say that a train should be vacated to accommodate a disabled person if it's full? What do you do? City living is like complicated.

Hunger Rules All

Walking down the street very briskly last night en route to dinner, this dialogue ensued.

Activist on the street: Hi! Do you support gay marriage?

Me: Yes I support gay marriage but I'm very hungry right now.

Picture it...

Estelle Getty
Originally uploaded by trythesky.

Let's all raise a forkful of cheesecake in honor of everyone's favorite Ma.

Ciao Estelle!

You leave behind a legacy of infinite laughter!

I don't get it.

The Golds on Market street is to the gay men of the Castro as the Acropolis was to the ancient Athenians. Not just a place to work out, it is a bazaar of all kinds of activity and transaction.

Fair enough, I'm all about user defined spaces.

There's one thing I don't get though. Given how close the gym is to most everyones home why do so many men feel a need to bring their steamer trunks of beauty materials to the gym? The locker room is like being backstage at the Ziegfeld Follies and everyone is preparing for their big moment on stage. Forget about washing your hands at a sink after your workout. Oh no, you have to wait for the ladies to finish blowdrying their hair and applying their setting lotion before you can do that.

I just want to know if these people have bathrooms at home? Perhaps they sublease their bathrooms at home to subsidize part if their rent? I'm open to explanation.

Busy, busy busy.

This weekend was actually not that busy relative to all the weekends we've had since we moved here. I actually did a lot of nothing and even took a nap on Saturday afternoon, gasp!

Thursday night my sister came into town from San Diego for a business trip. We met her downtown at her hotel and headed over to Belden Alley (great ambiance!) for dinner at a Spanish restaurant, B44. Dinner was great! I had a paella, Brad and my sister had fish and we were all very impressed with the food.

I love seeing my sister, she's the only person in my family that I can get the straight facts from. My brothers are pretty much mutes and speaking to them on the phone is torturous. If I don't go to my sister for information I have to talk to my brother's spouses, both of whom are incredibly gregarious, for updates on my siblings.

After leaving B44 my sister urged us to go to the restaurant next door, Plouf, as she and her husband had a really good meal there on one of their many visits to SF.

Haircut, yay!

Friday night we met up with Dan for a premiere for a documentary about Burning Man at the Castro Theatre. It was incredible and made both me and Brad more curious about going to Burning Man in the future. The film, "Burning Man: Voyage in Utopia," centers on the sculptor David Best and his impact on Burning Man with his contribution of The Temple. I was curious what Dan's impression of the film was since he's been to Burning Man many times. He liked it so much he bought the DVD afterwards and said it was the best doco he'd ever seen about Burning Man. Check it out.

Saturday I tried to get a California drivers license. I got two thirds of the way through it before they closed at noon. Long story short, do not trust the DMV website when it says an office nearby you is closed and you decide to drive to Daly City instead but wind up having to drive back to SF because you didn't know you needed a passport to get a drivers license, and then later you find out the office near you is indeed open so you go with your passport but you were just a bit too late. I just need to take the written test (Texas just swapped my AZ license for a TX license without a test, pfft!). My application is good for a year, which is good because I really like the photo they took. I'll be going next month when they have Saturday hours again, I refuse to take time off from work for such dipshittery.

Saturday night we got to meet the ever so talented author of Secret Simon. He and his boyfriend are on a week-long tour of California which will end them up in San Diego at Comic Con. We had a lovely Thai dinner with them. I don't know where they mustered their energy because when they told us all the sights they had seen that day I was wondering how they were still able to stay awake.

After the boys left to go back to their hotel Brad and I decided to have a drink at Twin Peaks. Yeah, I know everyone jokes and calls this place "The Glass Coffin" because the clientele skews older but we're over it, this bar ranks high on our list. Brad ordered a sidecar and not only did the bartender know what a sidecar was, it was good! The music was awesome and at a volume that allowed for conversation, the crowd was diverse, the cushioned benches at the large windows were perfect for people watching, and the eavesdropping was priceless. I have to admit that while I was there I was imagining Michael Tolliver standing at the bar obsessing over his outfit and his Weejums while sipping a Calistoga. I'm such a goober.