The Change Mariner: Category: Quadrant

January 6, 2005

Working Women Inspired Toward "Life Simplication" in 2005: Turn Off The Phone...

Rugged Elegant Living: Baileys reported the results of a recent survey today regarding British working women. Their findings revealed that "information overload" is a major cause of stress in women's lives. In 2005, "Life Simplification" will be the key to...

Posted by Jennifer King at 12:36 PM | See the full story | TrackBack

September 1, 2004

Philadelphia Considers Wireless Access For All

Yahoo! News: City officials believe they can turn all 135 square miles of Philadelphia into the world's largest wireless Internet hot spot. The ambitious plan, now under discussion, would involve placing thousands of small transmitters around the city -- probably...

Posted by Timothy Fredel at 10:50 PM | See the full story | TrackBack

July 8, 2004

Singapore TV Show Encourages Baby-Making

Boston.com: Baby-short Singapore was to get a glimpse of the highs and lows of pregnancy and childbirth Saturday with the premiere of a television series that follows a couple through the entire baby-making process. The show -- dubbed "Here's Looking...

Posted by Timothy Fredel at 7:54 PM | See the full story | TrackBack

Literary Reading in Dramatic Decline

New York Times: [A] new survey to be released today by the National Endowment for the Arts, which describes a precipitous downward trend in book consumption by Americans and a particular decline in the reading of fiction, poetry and drama....

Posted by Timothy Fredel at 7:46 PM | See the full story | TrackBack

The Chinese Century

Interesting tidbits from cover story of The New York Times Magazine cover story, The Chinese Century: Because 12 percent of China's exports to the U.S. end up on Wal-Mart's shelves, and because Wal-Mart's trade with China accounts for 1 percent...

Posted by Timothy Fredel at 7:18 PM | See the full story | TrackBack

June 28, 2004

Mobile Phones Exceed Fixed Line Phones

Financial Times: The number of people attracted to voice calls continues to grow. Throughout 2004, around 800,000 new subscribers have joined the mobile world every day, driven by strong growth in emerging markets such as China, India and Brazil. There...

Posted by Timothy Fredel at 4:11 PM | See the full story | TrackBack

Real Estate Drive Coastal 'Brain Drain'

Yahoo! News: Soaring property values in California have made many homeowners there rich -- and many real estate agents here delighted. In an exodus that some demographers say could reshape the American landscape, young professional families are increasingly fleeing the...

Posted by Timothy Fredel at 3:56 PM | See the full story | TrackBack

June 24, 2004

Digital Impact: Television Advertising

Yahoo! News: With TiVo's fast-forward, viewers' shrinking attention spans and new media choices, the 30-second TV ad has more rivals for consumers' attention. That is pushing marketers' thinking increasingly outside the TV box for ways to make the costly but...

Posted by Timothy Fredel at 12:36 AM | See the full story | TrackBack

June 23, 2004

BEDD: Social Networking Meets Bluetooth

Yahoo! News: Student Gracinia Lim has made new friends thanks to mobile phone software that alerts her to compatible people nearby. She is an early customer of a service in Singapore called BEDD that uses Bluetooth wireless communications to scan...

Posted by Timothy Fredel at 11:21 PM | See the full story | TrackBack

June 16, 2004

Cars: A Glut In The Ultraluxury Segment

AutoWeek.com: ...Last year, U.S. consumers purchased 16,000 vehicles priced more than $100,000, a 43 percent increase over 2002. But if one adds up sales forecasts for luxury vehicles entering the United States in the next two years, affluent Americans would...

Posted by Jennifer King at 7:37 AM | See the full story | TrackBack

June 14, 2004

Blog Readers Defy Stereotypes

MediaDailyNews: Blog readers are just a bunch of kids with too many opinions, too little money, and too much time on their hands. Think again. According to a survey of blog readers conducted by Weblog ad network Blogads, they're older...

Posted by Jennifer King at 6:23 AM | See the full story | TrackBack

Research: Natural Demand for Mobile Video

A recent, end-user survey performed by In-Stat/MDR found that 13.2% of US wireless subscribers are extremely or very interested in purchasing mobile video services for their wireless phones. "While still a relatively small niche of the market, this figure is...

Posted by Timothy Fredel at 6:11 AM | See the full story | TrackBack

June 6, 2004

RV Industry Grows as Boomers Hit Highways

Yahoo! News: The recreational vehicle capital of the world is in the midst of a hiring boom. In the sprawling manufacturing plants south of Interstate 80-90 in Elkhart County, the scene resembles a bustling construction site, the sound of drills...

Posted by Timothy Fredel at 5:34 PM | See the full story | TrackBack

May 31, 2004

Driven To Obesity?

CTV.ca | CTV News (Canada): You could be driving up your weight -- literally. According to a new study, the length of time spent driving translates into the size of the "spare tire" around your waist. Even more than income,...

Posted by Timothy Fredel at 9:05 PM | See the full story | TrackBack

May 25, 2004

Lesbian Moms a Growing U.S. Phenomenon

Yahoo! News: "I love my lesbian moms," read a hand-lettered sign a teen-ager held up recently to motorists passing a county building in Portland, Oregon, where gay couples lined up to get marriage licenses. The message, prompted by the heated...

Posted by Timothy Fredel at 3:56 PM | See the full story | TrackBack

May 15, 2004

More Youths Opt For GED vs High School

The New York Times: The testing system created more than half a century ago to help World War II veterans earn the equivalent of a high school diploma has increasingly become a way for teenagers to short-circuit high school. Roughly...

Posted by Bob King at 9:04 AM | See the full story | TrackBack

EU: Genetically Modified Food OK To Eat

San Jose Mercury News: The European Union's head office said Friday that it would approve a type of genetically modified corn for human consumption, ending a six-year biotech moratorium that the United States has challenged at the World Trade Organization....

Posted by Bob King at 9:01 AM | See the full story | TrackBack

May 14, 2004

Game For A Little Therapy?

BusinessWeek Online: Wild Divine is heralding the arrival of a new genre: healthful games. While not all experts agree, there is an accumulating body of evidence that indicates they can aid relaxation, improve self-esteem, help to overcome phobias -- even...

Posted by Bob King at 4:50 PM | See the full story | TrackBack

May 13, 2004

Barcardi Pays Town To Change Its Name to Mojito

Kentucky.com: The entire Buena Vista Township has only 8,000 people, spread over a 42-square-mile area where about half is agricultural land. Most of the family-owned farms have had to turn to niche crops like mint in order to survive. The...

Posted by Bob King at 4:52 PM | See the full story | TrackBack

Gay Marriage: Opening A Pandora's Box?

Town Online (MA): The Supreme Judicial Court's recent decision to allow gay marriages can't prevent same - sex siblings from marrying, says Town Clerk Robert Shea. "I definitely see that happening," said Shea. "There is nothing in the law that...

Posted by Bob King at 4:46 PM | See the full story | TrackBack

Perfecting Yourself Via Digital Photography

Perfect Pictures Students are smiling about a new trend. It's called "Digital Creation,"and it can make your picture perfect. Marc Lattin of Lattin Photography says, "keeping up with the changes in what's involved in technology and what the students and...

Posted by Bob King at 4:42 PM | See the full story | TrackBack

May 10, 2004

Gangster Rappers Latest Passion: Cognac

newkerala.com (India): Gone are the days when Cognac was associated with black bows and cigars. This time round it is the chain wearing, politically incorrect American "gangsta rappers" who are the latest ones to endorse the drink and give it...

Posted by Timothy Fredel at 1:53 PM | See the full story | TrackBack

Media Pendulum Swings To Self-Censorship

The New York Times: Television and radio broadcasters say they have little choice but to practice a form of self-censorship, swinging the pendulum of what they consider acceptable in the direction of extreme caution. A series of recent decisions by...

Posted by Bob King at 1:06 PM | See the full story | TrackBack

'Jesus Is My Homeboy' Becomes Fashion Statement

Rugged Elegance: Driven by the success of "The Passion of the Christ" at the box office, "Jesus Chic" has become the new Hollywood fashion trend. Celebrities such as Madonna, Pamela Anderson and Ashton Kutcher have been recently spotted wearing "Jesus...

Posted by Timothy Fredel at 12:09 AM | See the full story | TrackBack

May 9, 2004

Pac-Man Hits The Streets

The New York Times: One recent sunny morning, in the student center overlooking Washington Square Park, four New York University graduate students wearing brightly colored sheets and sneakers and carrying cellphones gathered for a mission. Somewhere out there on the...

Posted by Timothy Fredel at 10:22 PM | See the full story | TrackBack

May 8, 2004

Global Obesity

My Way News: About every fourth person on Earth is too fat. Obesity is fast becoming one of the world's leading reasons why people die. In an astonishing testament to globalization, this outbreak of girth is occurring just as doctors...

Posted by Bob King at 4:44 PM | See the full story | TrackBack

May 7, 2004

Low-Carb Impact Affecting Krispy Kreme

Yahoo! News: Could the Krispy Kreme doughnut be the latest victim of the low-carb diet craze? The Winston-Salem-based doughnut maker said Friday that it is cutting its profit projection for this year by 10 percent because of lower demand for...

Posted by Timothy Fredel at 6:54 PM | See the full story | TrackBack

May 3, 2004

Healthcare Cost Weigh On California

San Jose Mercury News: From care delivered through the mammoth Medi-Cal program to grants that subsidize university research, the burden of health care is woven into nearly every page of California's $99 billion budget. Last year, the state's medical bill...

Posted by Bob King at 8:34 PM | See the full story | TrackBack

Eastern Europe's Immigration Challenge

International Herald Tribune: The changes are small but plain to see: the stray African face on the subway, Ukrainians who clean and build, vegetable markets run not by Czechs but by Vietnamese who offer something truly foreign here - a...

Posted by Bob King at 5:10 PM | See the full story | TrackBack

April 30, 2004

Controversial Youth Ministry Spreading Like Wildfire

Contra Costa Times: It's Wednesday night, and the hottest teen hangout around is packed and throbbing with what seems an unholy beat. A disc jockey spins dance tunes upstairs, sending boys in sagging pants into contortions. Downstairs, girls surf the...

Posted by Norm M. Wada at 10:50 PM | See the full story | TrackBack

Asian Population Surging Across America

Yahoo! News: The scents of herbs and spices waft out of a Vietnamese medicine store, down a hall and past a restaurant where diners sip tea and eat bowls of pho. Pulsing Vietnamese music plays in the background. It's a...

Posted by Timothy Fredel at 7:31 PM | See the full story | TrackBack

April 28, 2004

Compstat Shakes Up Police Departments from NY to Baltimore to Boston to LA

New York Region > New York's Gospel of Policing by Data Spreads Across U.S." href="http://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/28/nyregion/28NYPD.html?pagewanted=print&position=">The New York Times: In the mid-1990's, a new management program called Compstat shook up the New York Police Department. Detectives stopped working 9-to-5 and...

Posted by Bob King at 8:43 AM | See the full story | TrackBack

April 27, 2004

Harvard Urged to Expand the Reach of Its Undergraduate Curriculum

The New York Times: For the first time in 30 years, Harvard University has reviewed its undergraduate curriculum, concluding that students need more room for broad exploration, a greater familiarity with the world that can only be gained from study...

Posted by Bob King at 1:45 PM | See the full story | TrackBack

Heightened Surveillance in Wealthy Florida Town

NewsObserver.com: Manalapan, Florida -- One of the nation's wealthiest towns will soon have cameras and computers running background checks on every car and driver that passes through. Police Chief Clay Walker said cameras will take infrared photos recording a car's...

Posted by Bob King at 1:11 PM | See the full story | TrackBack

April 26, 2004

Diabetes Reportedly to Double Worldwide by 2030

Yahoo! News: Diabetes rates will double worldwide by 2030, to 366 million people with the disease, even if the obesity rate remains stable, an international team of researchers reported on Monday. But the rate will go up even higher if,...

Posted by Timothy Fredel at 12:36 PM | See the full story | TrackBack

April 25, 2004

Life Expectancy: Now Only Death Is Certain After 100

New York Times: For nearly 150 years, people who lived past 100 could claim this accomplishment: They had outlived the point at which the life insurance industry technically predicted they would die. Now the industry is raising the bar, and...

Posted by Bob King at 9:29 PM | See the full story | TrackBack

April 20, 2004

Studios Rush to Cash In on DVD Boom

The New York Times: Not since the advent of the videocassette in the mid-1980's has the movie industry enjoyed such a windfall from a new product. And just as video caused a seismic shift two decades ago, the success of...

Posted by Bob King at 11:29 AM | See the full story | TrackBack

April 19, 2004

Southern Arizona: Epicenter of Obesity Epidemic

The Arizona Daily Star: Americans are in grave danger of undoing the greatest achievement of medical science - the doubling of the human life span from four decades just a century ago to nearly 80 years today. The culprits are...

Posted by Timothy Fredel at 10:47 AM | See the full story | TrackBack

April 17, 2004

Christian Music's New Wave

The New York Times: Sales of praise and worship albums have doubled since 2000, to about 12 million in 2003. While music sales over all slumped last year, including Christian music in general, worship music was up 5 percent. A...

Posted by Jennifer King at 12:09 PM | See the full story | TrackBack

April 11, 2004

Keratoplasty: Surgical Fix for Near-Sightedness

New York Times: "I'm a little vain," Mr. Miller conceded. Though the new procedure, which uses radio waves to correct near-vision problems, had not yet been approved by the Food and Drug Administration for his problem, he had it done...

Posted by Bob King at 8:56 AM | See the full story | TrackBack

April 8, 2004

Religious Use of the Internet Climbs

San Jose Mercury News: Jimmy Chu sent a mass e-mail to his Bible study group asking for help setting up for Easter services. He posts the group's prayer requests on his Weblog, downloads hymns from his church's Web site and...

Posted by Bob King at 10:00 AM | See the full story | TrackBack

Bay Area Cemeteries Bowing to Cultural Needs

San Jose Mercury News: In the Bay Area, where whites are no longer the majority, diversity is redefining communities for the dead as well as the living. From Richmond to Fremont to San Jose, funeral homes are building rooms where...

Posted by Bob King at 9:58 AM | See the full story | TrackBack

April 6, 2004

The Altered Human Is Already Here

New York Times: Many people, however, have already made a different kind of leap into the posthuman future. Their jump is biochemical, mediated by proton-pump inhibitors, serotonin boosters and other drugs that have become permanent additives to many human bloodstreams....

Posted by Bob King at 5:30 PM | See the full story | TrackBack

April 4, 2004

Fukuyama: Our Posthuman Future

Maybe we have a future after all: Our Posthuman Future is political historian Francis Fukuyama's reconsideration of his 1989 announcement that history had reached an end. He claims that science, particularly genome studies, offers radical changes, possibly more profound than...

Posted by Bob King at 8:24 PM | See the full story | TrackBack

The Cure for Child Abuse is Prevention

Mercury News: Julie Serrano is on the front lines in the war against child abuse in San Jose, but she's lost her most potent weapon because the nation's outdated child welfare system won't pay for it. Study after study shows...

Posted by Jennifer King at 5:47 PM | See the full story | TrackBack

Finding Happiness by Trading Up

Boston.com: Consumers get emotional payoff from splurging Public-relations executive Kristin Dormeyer works hard for her extra cash, but some people might say she doesn't spend it wisely. She buys face cream that costs $50 for two ounces and splurges on...

Posted by Jennifer King at 5:34 PM | See the full story | TrackBack

April 3, 2004

The Rise of Eurabia

New York Times: To begin with, consider the extraordinary prospect of European demographic decline. A hundred years ago -- when Europe's surplus population was still crossing the oceans to populate America and Australasia -- the countries that make up today's...

Posted by Timothy Fredel at 10:39 PM | See the full story | TrackBack

March 31, 2004

Low-Carb Revolution Shakes Food Industry

Louisville CourierPress: America's growing appetite for low-carbohydrate foods has left people like Tony Stallone struggling to keep pace with demand. A vice president at online grocer Peapod, Stallone already offers more than 300 low-carb products featured in a special "aisle"...

Posted by Timothy Fredel at 10:44 PM | See the full story | TrackBack

New College Craze: Poker

CNN.com: The popularity of television shows such as Bravo's "Celebrity Poker," the Travel Channel's "World Poker Tour" and ESPN's coverage of the Texas Hold 'em championships have fueled a card-playing craze on campuses. College students are perfecting their poker faces...

Posted by Timothy Fredel at 10:35 PM | See the full story | TrackBack

March 30, 2004

Ireland's National Ban On Smoking

New York Daily News: Smokers hid in toilet stalls Monday as Ireland's ban on tobacco in the workplace -- including the country�s 10,000 usually smoky pubs -- began its first divisive day. ... Health Minister Micheal Martin, who pushed for...

Posted by Norm M. Wada at 10:13 PM | See the full story | TrackBack

The Change Mariner Quadrant - Social