What I learned while flying

Most airline magazines put me to sleep, but on this last Southwest flight I really enjoyed their October issue. The feature article was actually a collection of pieces about the art of storytelling and the varied ways we do it today. There was a lot more in the magazine than shows up on the website, and a texting version of Romeo and Juliet had me in stitches.

There was also a fascinating article about the future of book publishing by Stuart Wade. They're starting to enhance  regular books with ancillary items, like additional essays, maps, illustrations, and even original source material via a QR code imprinted on the inside cover that can be scanned and accessed either over the internet or by e-mail.

And there were other interesting tidbits too.

Did you know it takes 1.8 cents to make a penny?
And 9.2 cents to make a nickel?
Why don't they find cheaper metals to make these coins? It doesn't make sense to spend more than the item is worth to produce it.

I had no idea October was breast cancer awareness month. Did you? And did you know that one in eight women will have invasive breast cancer at some point in her life? Rather disconcerting, isn't it? I did find it interesting that a new treatment -- practiced for some time in Europe -- has finally made its way to the U.S. Still only available in a handful of hospitals and treatment centers, intraprative radiation therapy (a.k.a. IORT Novac7) is a promising addition to treatment options.

It "allows patients to receive one dose of radiation during surgery, as opposed to multiple treatments over several weeks". It also has the advantage of "destroying microscopic tumor cells left behind by surgery before they have a chance to divide or migrate to other parts of the body". Plus, it is applied directly to affected tissue, helping to avoid exposing the healthy tissue. Sounds like a good plan to me!

I also learned that those who eat primarily plant-based foods have a "strikingly" lower rate of breast cancer. Not sure I could give up meat totally, but that little statistic did make me want to cut waaaaay back on it.

I have to say, I was very impressed by the Southwest magazine. Kudos to something worth reading while flying!

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P.S. Saw the surgeon Tuesday but the earliest they could do the biopsy is Friday. Since the results won't be back until Tuesday or Wednesday, and we'd planned on flying home Tuesday, we're delaying our departure to Argentina for a week or two. Keep praying!