I’ve recently completed the final book in Stephen King’s Dark Tower series. Seven books and thousands of pages later, I can only say, “Ka [fate, destiny] is a wheel.” If you haven’t read any of these — and you particularly like long, epic stories — then you should read these (even if you don’t consider yourself a fan). Start at the beginning with “The Gunslinger“, which opens with the memorable line:

“The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed.”

To me, at least, very possibly the equal of “Call me Ishmael.”

Now I’ve moved on to “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time“, a book I have been wanting to read for some time and have only just begun. It’s about an autistic boy who sets out to solve a murder mystery — the death of a neighborhood dog. So far, it’s fascinating. I’ll keep you posted.

In the interest of full disclosure: Yes, I’m getting old. Yes, I’m getting more conservative. But seriously, shouldn’t all of us have a problem with this?

“Pole dancing classes for British children cancelled after uproar”

LONDON – A plan to teach British children the risque art of pole dancing, usually the preserve of strip bars, has been cancelled after an uproar from child welfare groups, the teacher said. Dance teacher Sarah Davis announced pole dancing classes for children over 12 at her studio in Birmingham, arguing it was a demanding activity which would improve fitness.

The routine — at least, the version seen in late-night joints — usually involves a scantily-clad female draping her limbs around a pole in a sequence of highly suggestive poses.

But the children’s charity Childline, which campaigns on behalf of abused and at-risk youngsters, condemned the lessons. “At the least this is misguided, at worst it’s an outrage,” said its chief executive Carole Easton. “There are hundreds and thousands of other, much more appropriate ways in which children can keep fit, enjoy sport and dance.”

Davis said that because of the outcry, she had decided to restrict classes to adults only.

Feel free to pass this along; it’s surprisingly true…

Rebekah Tauber, a 15-year-old Houston girl, is suffering from a rare form of cancer and is undergoing chemotherapy in Texas. Rebekah is a Christian who believes in the power of prayer and is wearing a “prayer pager” supported by the Second Baptist Church in Houston. (The church is currently providing prayer pagers for five people, three adults and two children.) Here’s how it works: Take a moment to say a prayer for Rebekah, and then dial 1-800-250-6939 for her pager. You’ll be greeted by the following message:

You have reached the Second Baptist Church prayer pager for Rebekah Tauber. At the tone, please enter your five-digit zip code followed by the # sign and Rebekah’s pager will go off. Rebekah will know she’s been prayed for by you. Thank you and God bless.

After you finish your message, Rebekah’s pager will vibrate and she’ll know that someone is praying for her.

Is it worse to miss out on something that you never heard of, or miss out on something by missing a deadline? Or, in other words, if found out you could create your own custom postage stamps (legally, of course) using your own photos, and then found out the program was on hold, would you:

1. Pound your fists on your desk
2. Pound your fists on your head
3. Pound your fists on your mailman

Stamps.com has just finished up a market test where you could upload your own photos and have them printed as stamp sheets. They would accept photos of your kids, your pets, or your business logo, and the stamps were perfectly legal to affix to any correspondence traveling via the USPS. What a great idea! While the sheets were a little more expensive (one sheet of twenty 37-cent stamps costs $16.99), I think it’s a product that would definitely fly. Unfortunately, the market test is over, but the postal service is evaluating the program and trying to decide if they should roll it out as a full-time product.

The site now carries the following message:

The USPS has informed us that they plan to make a decision on the future of the PhotoStamps program within the next 90 days. If you wish to express your interest in seeing the program continue, it would be extremely helpful. You may write to the following person:

Nick Barranca, VP Product Development
United States Postal Service
475 L’Enfant Plaza, SW, Room 5012
Washington, DC 20260-5012

If you think this is a product you’d like to use, visit the web site for more details and take a minute to send a note to Nick Barranca at the address above.

[Ed. note: As of today (August 14, 2006), I noticed that this service is back up and running. You can now order your own Photo Stamps.

Well, here’s something to keep you up at night. “The United States remains woefully unprepared to protect the public against terrorists wielding biological agents despite dramatic increases in biodefense spending by the Bush administration and considerable progress on many fronts, according to government officials and specialists in bioterrorism and public health,” the Washington Post reports.

“There’s no area of homeland security in which the administration has made more progress than bioterrorism, and none where we have further to go,” said Richard A. Falkenrath, who until May was Bush’s deputy homeland security adviser and is now a fellow at the Brookings Institution.

There is good news buried in the story, however. For instance, spending has increased from $414 million to a proposed $7.6 billion since 9/11. We now have more than 300 million smallpox vaccines on hand, up from 90,000. But the basic infrastructure — including the organization of the management system — still seems haphazard and unwieldy.

In a related CATO Institute report, authors William J. Bicknell, M.D., and Kenneth D. Bloem argue that “we have not yet realized the complexity and difficulty of vaccinating millions of Americans rapidly after an attack. Nor have we come to grips with the need to make rapid, possibly draconian, post-attack decisions based on limited data of uncertain quality. That type of decisionmaking runs counter to the culture of public health.”

[Read the Washington Post story]
[Read the CATO Institute report, “Smallpox and Bioterrorism: Why the Plan to Protect the Nation Is Stalled and What to Do”]