BREAKING NEWS!!! WINNER OF MEN'S EVENT WAS ACTUALLY...A MAN!

Tour de France winner Landis tests positive - Yahoo! News:

Tour de France winner Floyd Landis has tested positive for the male sex hormone testosterone, the U.S. rider's Phonak team said on Thursday

Yes the article says they haven't finished the main tests of determinine if it was natural or "doped", but still, they DON'T expect a man (or even a woman) in intensive training, to have occasional bursts of that hormone? While they're at it, they're not aware that men can go through cycles of hormone ups and downs as women do (same genes, people), merely not as drastic or noticeable because of the lack of visible physical effects that go with them?

I'm against "doping" as much as any, but the standards for what is and isn't are far too extreme for my tastes, as is the reaction of having such events become "world headline news" ruining the reputation of the athlete even when they are themselves innocent of any wrongdoing either due to nature (the likely cause in this instance) or a lazy doctor who doesn't pay attention to what they're doing (the gymnist in the olympics those years ago who had to give up her medal over f'in' pseudofed when she was fighting a cold).

Hell, for all we know, he may have just gotten laid the night before...it IS France, after all...

great quote on (alternative) medicine

Trevor Butterworth - A Tale of One Teen and Two Cancer Treatments:

The principles enunciated by Cherrix are, at best, those of 19th century medicine. Adults have the right to choose such principles in guiding their treatment if they so wish; but they need to be aware that you can’t practice 19th century medicine without achieving 19th century mortality rates.

Beauty way to put it, 'eh?

Cherrix here is Mr. A. Cherrix, the father of the teenager who is refusing conventional medicine for his cancer, instead trying to embrace the alternative-medicine Hoxsey treatment (which Orac has pointed out has no basis for its efficacy claims whatsoever).  The courts in his state have decided that he is too young to make that decision (though he's now 16) and that his parents by encouraging that are committing a form of child endangerment, and have ordered him back to chemo.  From a civil-liberties p.o.v., this is, of course, questionable, but on the other hand, the Hoxsey treatment is a death sentence for the kid, regardless of his "faith".  His tumor has, in fact, gotten worse since he started the alternative treatment.