Now, 20 some-odd years later, he’s still continuing to impress but instead of resisting becoming a werewolf, he’s resisting giving in to the horribly debilitating disease known as Parkinson’s. Ever the optimist, Michael is holding out hope that they will find a cure for his illness in time to help him as well as the many thousands who are also affected.

In doing his part to help find a cure, he started The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research in 2000. His foundation takes a very aggressive approach to raising money for research and has already funded more than 142 million dollars.

The foundation website – www.michaeljfox.org – has an extensive amount of information including facts about Parkinson’s Disease, what living with the disease is like, and how you can help find a cure.

In case you missed it, there’s also a link to the very inspiring story ABC did on Michael, “Michael J. Fox: Adventures of an Incurable Optimist”. I watched it when it aired a couple weeks ago and found it to be very inspiring.

When so many celebrities are using their public appeal to spew venom and promote themselves shamelessly for a few extra bucks, it’s nice to see someone like Michael J. Fox putting himself out there. He’s on a mission to find a cure for the disease and he’s willing to do whatever he can to help – even if that means letting all of America see him candidly living with Parkinson’s.

If you’re interested in finding out what you can do to help, visit www.MichaelJFox.org.

Anyone who would like can create a prediction which becomes a bet when someone accepts it. Each side then chooses a charity that the other will donate to if they win. Each bet is carefully documented and detailed so there’s no arguments. The bet must go at least two years from the time of agreement and much be societally or scientifically important. There are other rules as well, but you get the idea.

Although I haven’t placed a prediction or taken a bet yet myself, I’ve been amused reading some of the current and completed predictions. I was reading a few that made me a little concerned, though. For instance how badly does Mr. Rees want to win this bet?

Most of the bets on LongBets.org will spark some thought if nothing else and make you ask the question “How will Mr. Keane collect if he wins?”