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”]

My sister sent this to me today (I think it’s the second time) along with the message “Each time I see this, I view it differently.” She’s right. The “interview” is interesting and thoughtful, and will no doubt find a way to touch you in the manner you need it most, but the photography is stunning. It’s truly humbling to view these photos, these examples of God’s great brush strokes, presented plainly and perfectly. If you haven’t seen it, please do. If you have, isn’t it time to see it again?
[View the Interview With God]
[Visit the web site]
[Read the poem]

This is a subject near and dear to me… As most of you know, Abby and Grace were born almost two months early and spent a month in the Neo-Natal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). Thanks to great doctors and nurses (and a great NICU facility), they’re doing great now. As you can imagine, not all babies are as lucky.

Over the past twenty years, the number of premature births has increased by almost 30%. And in half of these cases, the cause is unkown. Most of these babies do very well, but some suffer a variety of long-term affects. The March of Dimes, they of FDR and polio vaccine fame, is putting its considerable weight behind tackling this issue. In 2003, the March of Dimes launched a massive Prematurity Campaign to support the work of top researchers and to assist and educate families across the country. You can read more about this effort on their website.

What can you do to help? There are a few easy ways…

1. Prematurity Awareness Day is November 16.
2. You can sign the petition heading for Washington to support research funding.
3. Make a small donation to help.
4. Make a donation to buy a band (like the one above) in honor of a premature baby you know
5. Use the little email symbol below (or this link) to send this article to other people you know!

Thanks for your help!

It’s hard to believe they’re already five months old! This is a short video clip of Grace (left) and Abby (right) lying on their bellies talking to each other. This was taken with the digital still camera, so the quality isn’t great, but I thought you might enjoy it.
[View the video clip]