The Anchoress

After undergoing my second CAT scan in three days, I am feeling a little pooped (contrasting dye is no friend to me) and so I’m going to maybe climb under a book and let it fall on my face as I snooze a bit.

Wanted to show you these two stories, though, because they are unusual and interesting:

Distinguished Flying Cross Won by a Woman:

Back in March in Iraq, Chief Warrant Officer 3 Lori Hill, with the 2nd Squadron, 17th Cavalry Regiment, was piloting her Kiowa Warrior when the lead chopper came under heavy fire. She drew the fire away, simultaneously providing suppressive fire for the troops engaged with the enemy on the ground.

As she turned her attention to the aircraft, which was losing hydraulic power, the helo took on machine-gun fire, a round crashing into one of Hill’s ankles. Still, with a damaged aircraft and an injury, she landed at Forward Operating Base Normandy, saving her crew and aircraft.

Read the whole thing. A great story.

Then read this excellent piece on alternative therapies for treatment of Parkinson’s Disease, written by a Parkinson’s patient (and milvet) who is unimpressed with Michael J. Fox’s very narrow assessment of promising treatments for this disease:

If you haven’t seen or heard the ad, actor Michael J. Fox apparently manipulated his Parkinson’s medication so he could do a pro-stem-cell-research ad for a Missouri Democratic candidate, demonstrating what a Parkinson’s patient without treatment looks like. In the ad, Fox implies that stem-cell research is the only hope for “millions of Americans — Americans like me.”

As a Parkinson’s patient myself, I know that claim to be hogwash.

Some very promising therapies on the horizon which may well be in place before ESCR has its first success. Read the whole thing.

I’ll be back later.