"...the 1970 Chevrolet Nova is a lot better automobile than O.J. Simpson."

Apologies for going AWOL. Excuses abound: "Work deadline" is one. "Not writing anything" is another. "Early-onset delirium tremens" is better still. Let's just say I'm missing a shoe.

To recap: I still have a job, the Giants are satisfactorily inconsistent, and the Niners picked up a guy who could prove to be the second coming of John Taylor but is just as likely to channel fellow 10-pick J.J. Stokes. Also, John Starks has nothing better to do this Sunday than to ref some dbag kickball league in Brooklyn.

And since we've come this far, let's just charge the post to sports and toss in a vintage ad that would be funnier if both Potrero's Finest and Detroit's Worst weren't so utterly fucked at present:

Epidemic Polemic

So apparently, Nadja Benaissa, a 26-year-old singer in Germany's famed girl group No Angels (equivalent to the US's Danity Kane) has been arrested on suspicion of infecting one or more sexual partners with HIV. It is unclear whether or not she was in fact the transmitter, according to the source, so I don't understand how this is even publishable news at this point.

Many additional questions continue to float about in my head. I understand that it is incredibly immoral to have unprotected sex without disclosing the fact that you have HIV to your partner. But couldn't she have been unaware that she was carrying the virus? In that case, is she still culpable? And how did she become infected? If from a previous partner, is he also being prosecuted?

I gleaned the following info regarding US laws from a Yahoo answers result (cannot certify its accuracy):

"California has the "Willful Exposure Law" in which it's considered a felony and you can get up to 8 years in prison. Qualifications for guilt are:

1. Having sex

2. Know that you are HIV positive

3. Not telling your partner you are HIV positive

4. Not using a condom

5. Having the specific intent to infect the other person

Usually they get off because how do you prove "specific intent"? However, The AIDS Policy Center in Washington, D.C., reports that 27 other states have established criminal penalties for knowingly transmitting or exposing another person to HIV. If you want to press charges you need to contact a lawyer and find out what the law specifies in your state."

A Prison Tale, by Brickface Bill

So I was in the kitchen pulling slop duty one day, and just before we opened the doors for lunch this one skinhead dude tried to run up on Fishgut Frank, so I smacked that fool on his kneecap with a frying pan, and he fell down and started screaming. But then Pretty Mo ran over and whacked me in the teeth with a steel ladle! 

I was like, "Damn, Pretty Mo, you broke my teeth! I thought we were cool." And he was like, "Nope."

And that's how my front teeth got chipped.