Pep September 13, 2011March 25, 2017 If you’re an early bird, or even a normal bird, you may have missed the updates yesterday, so here it is again: SHOULD MATH BE TAUGHT IN SCHOOLS? I assume this clip from the Miss America try-outs is a spoof. How can it not be? It’s hysterical. I love the girl from Vermont the most. But a quick search on Snopes turned up only this related item (wherein the Alabama legislature supposedly passes a law to round Pi down from 3.1415 to “3” to be more in line with Biblical teachings). In case it’s not a spoof, please don’t tell me – I would have to kill myself. [UPDATE: Peter Kronenberg: “It IS a spoof – on a real video where they asked Miss America contestants if they thought evolution should be taught in schools. The point being that it would be ridiculous to ask if we should teach math in schools, as if some people don’t believe in math.”] [Update: Chuck McLean: “Here is the earliest version I can find, from 2005: A good bit different.” And not attributed to John Cleese. So perhaps stolen from him? And then tweaked over the years, by him or some who couldn’t resist a little enhancement as they passed it on?] PEP TALK “By the way,” Chuck continues, “I should thank you for the little pep talks you have been giving us. I went into quite a snit fit around the time of the debt ceiling debacle and determined that I was through with Obama and maybe even politics. You talked me off the ledge, and I am now ready to do whatever I can to help the President get re-elected.” I stoop to posting this (self-congratulation not being among Dale Carnegie’s top ten methods) first to suggest this as a model others might relate to – Chuck is safely back in off the ledge, climb back in with him! – and second to suggest that if you start giving friends pep talks, you might well be rewarded with notes like this, too. Not to mention the crucial help that your doing so will be to the outcome 419 days from now, on which SO much hangs in the balance. I say again: can you imagine how much better off our country and the world would likely have been if a few of the 97,488 Nader voters in Florida had seen the bigger picture, had been true idealists, and had voted for Gore? And, for that matter, inspired those of like mind in swing states to do likewise? ITMN Guru: “They are launching in Germany on Sep 15. The price is fully paid by the government. Nothing to the patient. The price is slightly above what analysts have been estimating (so they will raise price target today), though within the range of other drugs for similar diseases. Should be no issue with reimbursement. Other launches will occur this year and next year. Company will have big presence at European respiratory conference Sep 24. In a neutral market – which of course we may not have – ITMN should go higher. Price target is 45-55 over the next year.”