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(completing my unfinished post.... wondering how joe_zop got all his wisdom (no kidding))
From now on I will take the test regularly (and only reveal a positive result after several different and independent tests (a few days I guess). It's a dirty game, but it can be played with some cleanliness.
Thanks for good advice. Going back in May. Will try to be more rational both economically and emotionally.
ph
[i]wondering how joe_zop got all his wisdom[/i]
Half a lifetime of making completely idiotic choices and getting back up off the ground :D along with a fair amount of time helping other people get up as well. I do my best to be forgiving and empathetic because I'm well aware of the magnitude of my own flaws. And despite what it might seem like here because of the amount of posting I do (a byproduct of sitting in front of a fast net connection all day) in real life I spend the majority of my time listening, not talking.
And for what it's worth, I've paid for tests as well as for some hospital care for TGs before, including several I didn't intend to sleep with. It's come back to me positively in a number of ways. There's playing the game, but there's also being true to who you are.
philo,
I'd hate to be a bore about these tests, but a flawed test taken repeatedly is just a series of flawed tests.
If you cannot deal with the (manageable) level of risk inherent to this hobby, then quit the hobby. Or indulge in low-risk behaviors, that can be rather satisfactory, like the famed balls massage ...
My advice is: do not submit yourself to the huge stress involved in repeated testing.
Seydlitz. Your argument is flawed.
Every medical test is flawed to some degree. Ever heard of the Heizenberg Uncertainty Principle? Though it's statement is in terms of quantum physics, it applies to everything upon which physics is built. This includes Chemistry and hence medical testing.
The point is that if a test has a failure rate of 10% and you get a positive result, then you go back and take it again to be sure. No sense just going on with your life assuming you have some horrid disease simply because you didn't want to get another needle stuck in your arm.
And, if the second test disagrees with the first test, then you go get a third, fourth, etc. Until you feel comfortable with the results.
Ah, but this is not about the efficiency or accuracy of the tests -- this is that Seydlitz disagrees about the truth and accuracy of the entire HIV/AIDS argument, and thereby the viability of those tests on the face of them. I would suggest that particular conversation be continued in the Safe Sex arena, as it's likely to be long and heated, as it has been in the past. I think you've got a new sparrig partner, Seydlitz... :)
Joe,
nope, I do not feel like getting into a debate about this, heated or otherwise, the day before I fly back to LOS.
And my point WAS about the efficiency or accuracy of the tests, which are non-specific, i.e. they react to lots of other things than the one they are supposed to track.
This is what people call a "false positive". Happens all the time. Abbot, the makers of ELISA, say themselves that their test should not be used (alone) to diagnose an infection.
Now, of course, if you do not believe that there is such a thing as HIV, then ALL the results are "false positives"... But I did not say that, because in fact I do not know.
What seems to be a well-established fact is that those tests are indeed very very unreliable. And enduring the agony of repeated tests is a very unnecessary self-inflicted agony.
purplengold,
and there is another flawed argument: why would a negative result be more believable than a positive ?
If you get tested, and it turns out positive, you check again, and it turns negative. What then ? You test another time, and again, ... When does it stop ?
But if you get tested negative. Why shouldn't you test again, and again and again ?
Seydlitz -- I hope you enjoy the trip immensely. Guess I'm just misreading and mis-stating like mad in this section of late! :)
Seydlitz. I personally, would get tested a couple times either way in that case.
It's not 'test untill you get the result you want'. It's 'test untill you're personally satisfied that the result is accurate.'
I will not indulge in any discussion over testing....... I will merely state the following fact of logic:
Given the premiss that the illness exists and knowing the test's sensitivity (probability of correctly giving a positive result) and specificity (probability of correctly giving a negative result); it's a fairly simple calculation (using Bayes law and probability calculus) to determine (ex ante) how many tests are needed to put a limit to the probability of false positive and/or false negative test.
philo (the mathematician)
Strange mystery of CM?
When I was first looking for Pandora, I came to the wrong place: a MP located at the second floor of a large white building in Montri Road (Map: BB D11, at the 'Montri' text just over the camera sign). This place had a fishbowl with 30-50 young stunning no-makeup fresh girls. They all wore white health-worker-like outfits. Some of them were f***ing knitting! The closest I came to sex was 2h oil with a few erections at 600B. I tried to give a red to two different managers, but they both said no boom-boom. The cutie I picked from the bowl was as untouchable as an iron maiden.
What's the point of a fish bowl for non-sexual massage?
Dunno what the point is, but I've seen it elsewhere also. I've always wondered if it they were just Thai-only places where extras weren't there for farangs, places that wanted to keep their options open and could easily switch away from massage-only, or if there was just a cultural difference in terms of showing off the attendents. But I've no clue -- maybe Freeler knows.
iahnrt.....
if you're still looking for info on Chiang Rai: read this:
[url]www.whorist.com/01Thailand/01_0_1TsO.htm[/url]
ph
just back from a week of atheletics in cm (well the int cricket sixes!!) did some very thorough research and can report the following.
bunny club - poor pickings, unless you like very fat dogs then you are in hog heaven!
stairway to heaven - otherwise known as the highway to hell!! great fun and passable. good range of young to not so young. us boss really tries to please with an arrangement of special evenings. our final party offered schoolgirls (actually the same girls in school uniforms!) imagine this in the us/uk it would be prison in minutes.
soapies very impressive from 1,400 - 2,000 if you go in alone. lots of fantastic babes and some mysterious back room babes from other countries - probably all **** so be warned.
verdict - it is not bkk but fun can be had.
Does anyone (non-thai) encounter any local police, army and guard patrol when visiting Thai's border towns? How is the mongering action there? TIA.