A prototype vaccine tested in Thailand reportedly curtailed AIDS for 1 in every 3 test patients, the best prevention success rate seen thus far in the fight against the disease.

Story from AP (Courtesy of Yahoo! News):

“This is truly a great moment for world medicine,” said Lt. Gen. Eric Schoomaker, the U.S. Army Surgeon General. The Army helped sponsor the study, the world’s largest of an AIDS vaccine.

It was the first time scientists tried preventing HIV the same way they treat it — with a combination approach. The study used two vaccines that work in different ways, and that may be one reason the strategy worked, even though neither vaccine did when tested individually in earlier trials, scientists say.

The combo cut the risk of becoming infected with HIV by more than 31 percent in the study of more than 16,000 volunteers in Thailand, researchers announced Thursday in Bangkok.

“Since the 1980s, we’ve been hearing we’re going to have an AIDS vaccine in 10 years. For the first time in my lifetime, it feels as though we’re actually getting on the right track,” said Josh Ruxin, a Columbia University public health specialist who runs the Access Project, which helps health centers provide AIDS care in Rwanda.

Honestly I have nothing funny to say about AIDS.  This may be the biggest buzz in the medical world since the cure for the common col… oh.  The cure for the bli…. oh.  Whatever.  At least we’ve found Viagra.

On a side tangent, I went looking for images to include in the post and found this.  Apparently it’s an ad promoting awareness for AIDS prevention:

Go to town, lady. There's a 1 in 3 chance you'll be just fine.

Where AIDS and arachno-compulsive porn merge is besides me.  But she seems to be enjoying herself.  Maybe AIDS isn’t such a bad thing after all.  Now that I think of it, I should totally hook up with a spider.

Adolph Hitler. One of the most despised men ever to walk the face of the earth, and up until around the 2000’s was still considered taboo in comedy and life in general. Now, hes apparently a popular person to dress your 5 year old kid up as.

"Don't you steel my sippy cup!"

As is usually the case, I feel bad for the kid (the parents are beyond help at this point). He has no idea who this Hitler fellow was and probably thinks he’s being punished because hes wearing uncomfortable clothes. As he grows up and moves through life, this poor boy will be subjected to this picture time and time again – the worst when his first serious girlfriend stumbles on the picture.

“Oh, great. My boyfriend was a Nazi youth. He’s emotionally stable and a rational human being. This relationship is going to go great!”

So for all you parents who will be dressing up kids for Halloween this year, please just go with a standard pumpkin or ghost. Disillusion dictators from the early 20th century is really just a bad idea all around.

President Obama was overheard referring to Kanye West as a “jackass,” while waiting to begin an interview with John Harwood of CNBC,  referring to West’s latest kleptomaniacal microphone-heist at the MTV Video Music Awards.

Story from AP (Courtesy of Yahoo! News):

ABC News says it was wrong for its employees to tweet that Obama had called West a “jackass” for the rapper’s treatment of country singer Taylor Swift. The network said some of its employees had overheard a conversation between the president and CNBC’s John Harwood and didn’t realize it was considered off the record.

…

“I thought that was really inappropriate,” Obama says. “What are you butting in (for)? … The young lady seems like a perfectly nice person. She’s getting her award. What’s he doing up there?”

A questioner chimes in, “Why would he do it?”

“He’s a jackass,” Obama replies, which is met with laughter from several people.

The president seems to quickly realize he may have gone too far, and jovially appeals to those assembled that the remark be kept private. “Come on guys,” he says. “Cut the president some slack. I’ve got a lot of other stuff on my plate.”

E-mails shot around among ABC employees about Obama’s comments, said Jeffrey Schneider, ABC News spokesman. Before anything was reported on ABC’s air or Web site, at least three network employees took to Twitter to spread the news.

President Obama’s democratic pawns must be concerned, but Obama’s ranking just shot up exponentially in my book.  I don’t care if healthcare costs $20 trillion a month, so long as Obama keeps calling out intractable celebrities.

Hell, he could even start his own blog, where he’d just chime in every now and then with an obvious insult or contrived rant.  He could give it an odd-yet-catchy name and attract young readers… wait a minute.   Oh shit.  Forget I said that last part.

A collection of fun iPhone commercial parody’s. Whether you hate the iPhone and get a huge kick out of making fun of it, or you love the phone and find these videos entertaining, one thing we can all agree on is that YouTube has made our lives better.

The best-selling version of the Bible in the North Americas is being re-tooled; most notably it will be edited for more current diction and terminology to make it easier to read for new generations.

Story from Associated Press (courtesy of Yahoo! News):

The top-selling Bible in North America will undergo its first revision in 25 years, modernizing the language in some sections and promising to reopen a contentious debate about changing gender terms in the sacred text. The New International Version, the Bible of choice for conservative evangelicals, will be revised to reflect changes in English usage and advances in Biblical scholarship, it was announced Tuesday. The revision is scheduled to be completed late next year and published in 2011.

“We want to reach English speakers across the globe with a Bible that is accurate, accessible and that speaks to its readers in a language they can understand,” said Keith Danby, global president and CEO of Biblica, a Colorado Springs, Colo.-based Christian ministry that holds the NIV copyright.

The problem is most North American citizens don’t exactly adhere to the Queen’s English anymore.  The revisions are going to have to be drastic to hold any meaning with an average teenager.

Courtesy of Google

You get the idea.  I was going to insert more quotes but after the last one, I quit.  Even my threshold is beginning to be breached.

Oh, and supposedly revising the Bible is supposed to start a flame war over homosexual’s rights again, and the definition of men and women in relation to God and sexuality.  Whatever.  PWND!!!!!

Senator Ted Kennedy, Steve McNair, DJ AM, Michael Jackson.

What do all of these men have in common besides death? The public’s outpouring of affection for them. Michael Jackson’s funeral was a global event, McNair had a whole league of football players, and Ted Kennedy had 3 living presidents at his funeral and re-purposed construction signs “Thank You Ted: From the People of Massachusetts” all along the Mass Pike. There is certainly a reason for such support, they are after all public figures who have done notable things in their lives often to the benefit of others.

However, they are only human, a fact many people choose to either accept or ignore during the days/weeks after their death. McNair was having an extra-marital affair with a young woman he met at a Dave & Busters. Jackson was presumably enjoying an entire pharmacy worth of prescription drugs which he took in excess. DJ AM enjoyed illicit drugs and died because of his addiction to them. Ted Kennedy’s death, while not directly associated with anything out of the norm, did practically kill a woman back in 1969.

But we the public choose to mostly ignore these facts in death. Perhaps we can’t bring ourselves to be critical in a time of mourning; no one wants to come across as the jackass who doesn’t care. But more to the point, I feel we simply accept the imperfections of their lives and turn our heads the other way. What type of culture are we creating then, one in which as long as you do a few things that are good, the things which are bad are simply accepted?

John Smith down the street does some community service for local organizations, is the coach of his sons little league team, and is an active member of his church. He is by all accounts a typical middle-upper class family man. But Mr. Smith has a problem – he is addicted to gambling and hookers. He finds time to slip away through a bunch of lies which, to those who know him, seem like rational explanations. Due to this, relations with his wife sour and he realizes that hes lost so much money he won’t be able to put his kids through college. Mr. Smith then takes his life.

In death, his family, friends, and those who knew him will say how wonderful he was; and to be sure doing those things in the community is a great thing to do. They will say to everyone in attendance, “Be like John Smith, help your community, and spend time with your family”. What they wont say is “John Smith as you may now know, had a gambling problem, something that if anyone else is going through should use this example and seek help. Let Mr. Smith’s unfortunate circumstance give you the motivation you need to turn your life around”

At the end of the day, we are defined by the company we keep, and the decisions we make. Consider every decision you are about to make and how it will define you. Once you die, you stop writing the story of your life and it begins being re-written for you; do your best to make sure the re-write is exactly what you wanted.