Upcoming....

TAS goes on break tomorrow. Today, at a sweet, mid-19th century, one room schoolhouse up the street, we are having a formal lunch. Last year a number of students suggested some lessons in manners and such things. For the past couple of weeks, we have had a formal place-setting for 6 people set up in the foyer, and have been encouraging students to take lunches there. Today they will put the rubber to the road: dessert forks, champagne flutes, bread plates. Our venerable cooking and watercolor teacher, Buffy, is the force behind this event. Such a good idea.

In two weeks, our visiting musician Mr. Rawlings and I will be conducting a weeklong workshop in building, playing, and composing upon a simple dulcimer or monochord. The intent is to work out a version of the music and art program that we should have in place some time next year. Details will be posted over the next few days.

Also in the works is a version of the comtemplative education program we are developing. It may be a while yet, but stay tuned for details.

A few Quick Ones

Bob Dylan has a short interview in the Times of London, where he discusses Obama, the Civil War and a few other things. Very entertaining and interesting, I thought.

For the awful pictures of the earthquake in Central Italy (east of Rome, in the mountains that form the spine of the peninsula), go to La Repubblica's gallery. Apparently a prominent scientist predicted the earthquake a month ago, and was dismissed as a grandstander. Devastation.
We traveled north of there, in Umbria around this time last year. The finest of school trips, two wonderful students, a parent, and me, taking it real easy. But this earthquake shows, once again, how disfunctional Italian politics can be.

The Drug Reps, again

Every once in a while this blog bangs on the drums and insists that if, as a patient, you are receiving bad information, then you are not giving informed consent to the treatment you receive. What if the continuing education your doctor receives is strongly biased towards an unproven or even dangerous medication? Here's the article.
Here's a teaser:

• Pharmaceutical giant Pfizer is spending $12.3 million on an online UW course for doctors to tell them how to get their patients to quit smoking. A top priority is prescribing Pfizer's drug, Chantix, which has been linked to serious side effects, including a rash of suicides. But mention of the side effects can't be found in course materials.

•  The German company Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals paid more than $320,000 to fund a UW course on a condition known as restless legs syndrome. The course said 10% of adults have the disorder, when other research suggests the actual figure is much lower.

•  Two companies, Pfizer and Bayer, have spent more than $340,000 to fund a UW continuing education course for doctors that touts their drugs, among others, to treat an extreme form of PMS. Doctors taking the course online aren't told that some of these drugs may not work much better than a placebo.

Late Posting Monday

No posts til later in the morning; check back then.