Rugged Elegance, LLC: RE: Change

Fri, 23 May 2003 01:51:03 GMT

RE:Change Is Moving Due to the tremendous response we've gotten on our RE:Change observations page, we've decided to give the RE:Change site room to grow by moving it to a new, improved location: http://www.ruggedelegantliving.com/change/ Please re-set your bookmarks as all the new change observations will occur in the new location. We've also transitioned to a Moveable Type content management system, which will allow us to add more editors while providing better search and categorization capabilities. Thank you your continued support. Change is good. -Tim

Thu, 22 May 2003 06:50:09 GMT

Atkins Studies Report Meaty Results USATODAY.com:

Just a month after his death, controversial diet guru Robert Atkins may be getting a little more respect. Two new studies in Thursday's prestigious New England Journal of Medicine show that dieters who followed the meat-lovers' low-carb diet lost more than twice as much weight as those on a traditional low-calorie, high-carb diet.

Thu, 22 May 2003 04:19:50 GMT

Camera Phones Send a Pretty Picture Business 2.0:

In the quest to stay one step ahead of the law, organized crime syndicates have become the quintessential early adopters. Thus, it came as little surprise last week when the Mafia was accused of using camera phones and next-generation wireless networks to rig elections in Rome. Mobsters allegedly coerced voters into photographing themselves in the voting booth to prove they had cast their ballots for the Mafia's candidate. Morality aside, the scheme highlights one of the wireless industry's fastest growing, and most successful, trends: mobile photography.

Thu, 22 May 2003 04:14:47 GMT

LPGA To Hold First-Ever Open Monday Qualifying The Golf Channel:

The Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) will hold its first-ever open Monday qualifying round at the start of the ShopRite LPGA Classic tournament week, on Monday, June 23, at the Marriott Seaview Resort Bay Course in Galloway Township, N.J., host site for the ShopRite LPGA Classic.

More 'girl power!' -Tim

Thu, 22 May 2003 04:10:15 GMT

Flat-screen Displays Outsell CRTs by 4:1 PC Advisor -U.K.

High street retailer PC World today revealed a huge increase in flat-panel display sales following computer maker Advent's first ever TV debut.

Looks like Steve Jobs was right when he predicted the end of the CRT. -Tim

Wed, 21 May 2003 17:44:37 GMT

Case of Mad Cow in Canada Prompts U.S. to Ban Its Beef New York Times:

Mad cow disease was diagnosed in a cow in Canada today, and United States health authorities immediately placed a ban on imports of beef, cattle and animal feed from Canada.

Wed, 21 May 2003 17:20:17 GMT

World Health Body Adopts Historic Anti-Smoking Pact New York Times:

More than 190 countries on Wednesday approved the first ever international treaty against smoking, including an advertising ban. By Reuters.

Wed, 21 May 2003 17:01:50 GMT

FedEx Delivery Trucks Go Green New York Times

The FedEx Corporation announced today that it planned to replace 30,000 of its delivery trucks with energy-saving, environmentally friendly hybrid-powered vehicles. The company said that it had already purchased 20 such trucks to begin building what would be one of the first big commercial fleets of hybrid vehicles. The new trucks [~] powered by both diesel engines and electric motors in a mix controlled by onboard computers [~] will be introduced over the next several months in four American cities

Wed, 21 May 2003 03:00:59 GMT

Chimps Are Human, Gene Study Implies New Scientist:

The latest twist in the debate over how much DNA separates humans from chimpanzees suggests we are so closely related that chimps should not only be part of the same taxonomic family, but also the same genus.

Could one also argue that humans are chimps? -Tim

Wed, 21 May 2003 02:51:26 GMT

New Hope for AIDS Vaccine BBC NEWS:

The search for an AIDS vaccine could be a step closer. Researchers have discovered that a small group of Ugandans seem to have natural protection against HIV.

Sobering fact: 13 million children have been orphaned by AIDS. -Tim

Wed, 21 May 2003 00:48:04 GMT

Pentagon Reassures Congress on Spy System ABCNEWS.com :

The Pentagon assured Congress that its planned anti-terror surveillance system will only analyze legally acquired information and changed the name of the project to help allay privacy concerns that prompted congressional restrictions.

Wed, 21 May 2003 00:09:14 GMT

Nanotech Spins Futuristic Furnishings, Functional Fibers Small Times:

Imagine pressing a dot on the arm of your sofa to start the kettle boiling. Davina Jackson enters the inventive world of fabric technology.

Tue, 20 May 2003 18:14:26 GMT

Discovery of Fast Winds Breathes Life into the Corpus of Climate and Energy Solutions Business Wire:

Can we light up the world and fuel our vehicles without polluting the environment? The answer may be blowing in the wind. Since the wind isn't always blowing, its reliability has been a barrier to its exploitation as an energy source. But wind's intermittence would no longer be a problem if wind farms were networked to reduce the effect of unproductive days at individual sites, the researchers say. Linking at least eight wind farms virtually eliminates the chance of a windless hour during the year.

Tue, 20 May 2003 18:12:46 GMT

Tainted Harvest Mercury News:

The winter and spring harvests are nearly over in Southern California's Imperial Valley, where imported water has made the desert bloom for a century. But the miracle of irrigation seems a tainted blessing these days, with the discovery that the water is contaminated by the rocket fuel chemical perchlorate.

Mon, 19 May 2003 23:05:07 GMT

New U.S. Policy on Dollar Financial Times:

It is not uncommon for the emperor to be accused of having no clothes. It is less usual for the emperor himself to say he is naked and proud of it. This is essentially what John Snow, the US Treasury secretary, has done with his recent comments on the strong dollar policy.

Mon, 19 May 2003 22:50:43 GMT

Anti-Terrorist System to Use 50X More Data Than Library of Congress Guardian Unlimited:

To track and thwart terrorists, the Pentagon wants to give U.S. agents fingertip access to records from around the world that could fill the Library of Congress more than 50 times. The library's collection includes more than 18 million books.

Mon, 19 May 2003 21:08:53 GMT

America's Prison Popluation: 2 Million and Growing International Herald Tribune:

The population of America's jails and prisons passed two million last year, for the first time in history. The United States has one of the highest incarceration rates in the world, and one that falls unevenly. An estimated 12 percent of African-American men between 20 and 34 are behind bars, more than seven times the rate for white men the same age.

There is clearly a direct tie-in with the research I saw presented last Wednesday. According to Mark Coehn in The Monetary Value of Saving a High Risk Youth, the lifetime cost to society of a career criminal is $1.3 million per prisoner. The cost to society, therefore, is $2.6 trillion to deal with 2 million prisoners. What to do? Support an early prevention and intervention program, such as Friends of the Children, which finds seriously at-risk children and gives them a paid adult mentor from age 6 through 18. An ounce of prevention is certainly worth a pound of cure. -Tim

Mon, 19 May 2003 20:05:41 GMT

Girls Rule at the Intel Science Fair CIOL:

Girls stole the show at the Intel International Science & Engineering fair held in Cleveland. The top awards this year went to Anila Madiraju, of Canada, Elena Glassman of Pennsylvania and Lisa Glukhovsky of Connecticut.

This is further evidence of the advances that girls are making at all levels. -Tim

Mon, 19 May 2003 18:07:08 GMT

Where are the fans? Baseball attendance in free-fall Atlanta Journal-Constitution:

There are explanations, and all of them are valid. The weather has been brutal. Schools are just now letting out. The economy is restless. There was a war.

Mon, 19 May 2003 17:09:50 GMT

Iris Recognition Could Mean the End of Physical Privacy PBS.org by Robert X. Cringely

Security and privacy always seem to be in the balance when we think about emerging digital technologies. Encryption vies with detection Entire industries are built around the opposite ideas of maintaining privacy and invading it. Ultimately, we have to decide how much we are willing to give up in order to feel safe. Or at least, it seems we have that decision when actually we probably don't. Get ready for a brave new world where someone will likely know where you are at every second, whether it is at the movies with your kids or at the Bide-A-Wee Motel with your neighbor's wife.

Sounds much like the future envisioned in the recent Tom Cruise's movie, Minority Report. -Tim

Sun, 18 May 2003 07:45:44 GMT

Medical Apparatus Imports Skyrocket in Beijing People's Daily (China):

Beijing's imports of medical apparatus and medicines skyrocketed in the first four months of this year, according to statistics from Beijing Customs. Statistics show that Beijing imported 106 million US dollars worth of medical apparatus and instruments during the period, an increase of 54.6 percent over the same period last year. Affected by the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) epidemic, the imports consisted mainly of medical equipment such as respirators, monitors and X-ray machines.

Sun, 18 May 2003 07:36:40 GMT

Washington Post:

The World Health Organization, anxious to repair weaknesses exposed by the global struggle to contain the SARS epidemic, is seeking strong, new powers to fight future international threats.

A second-order effect from the SARS outbreak. -Tim

Sun, 18 May 2003 07:31:21 GMT

Oracle Hires Top-Level Strategist Mercury News

Oracle hired a prominent Wall Street analyst, Morgan Stanley's Charles Phillips, to a top strategy and business-development position, the Redwood Shores company said Friday. "An analyst moving to a top position at a company like Oracle is unheard of,'' said Ron Glantz, a former director of research at PaineWebber.

Sun, 18 May 2003 07:07:06 GMT

Why Mixing With Men Matters New York Times by Diana Nyad

(Annika) Sorenstam is a self-effacing, dignified, understated Swedish champion out of the Bjorn Borg mold. This woman is the center of the show, but she's no showwoman. She's teeing it up with the men in Fort Worth this week to find just where the ceiling stops at the top of that beautiful swing of hers.

Sat, 17 May 2003 21:48:04 GMT

Dowry Demands Too High. Lose Bride and Go to Jail New York Times by James Brooke

Nisha Sharma, who rejected her groom's dowry demands and had him arrested, has become India's new overnight sensation.

According to the bride's family, the dowry of two televisions, two home theater sets, two refrigerators, two air-conditioners and one car was considered to be too cheap by the groom's family. With the wedding about to start, the groom's family wanted an additional $25,000 in rupees, now, under the wedding tent. A fight between the families erupted and Nisha put her foot down by calling the police and calling off the wedding. Sounds like the makings for a blockbuster movie. I say, "You go girl!" -Tim