Saturday, March 24, 2001



The Non-Pareto Principle; Mea Culpa J.M. Juran "The "Pareto principle" has by this time become deeply rooted in our industrial literature. It is a shorthand name for the phenomenon that in any population which contributes to a common effect, a relative few of the contributors account for the bulk of the effect. "Years ago I gave the name "Pareto" to this principle of the "vital few and trivial many." On subsequent challenge, I was forced to confess that I had mistakenly applied the wrong name to the principle.1 This confession changed nothing - the name "Pareto principle" has continued in force, and seems destined to become a permanent label for the phenomenon."

[5:10 PM | wl | permalink

Wednesday, March 07, 2001



Into the Mystic : Science News Online, Feb. 17, 2001 Scientists confront the hazy realm of spiritual enlightenment By Bruce Bower "After spending 8 years training in the meditative practices of Zen Buddhism, neurologist James H. Austin spent a sabbatical year from 1981 to 1982 at the London Zen Center. On a pleasant March morning, while waiting for a subway train on a surface platform and idly glancing down the tracks toward the Thames River, Austin got his first taste of spiritual enlightenment."

[3:33 AM | wl | permalink

Saturday, March 03, 2001



Book Reviews "One of the most rich subfields of cyberculture studies is, for lack of a better term, cyberfeminism, the study of gender and the Internet in general and the study of feminism and the Net in particular." " Recent and relatively recent contributions to this field include Anne Balsamo's Technologies of the Gendered Body: Reading Cyborg Women, Lynn Cherny and Elizabeth Reba Weise's Wired Women: Gender and New Realities in Cyberspace, and Sadie Plant's Zeros Ones: Digital Women the New Technoculture. "A new and important contribution is women@internet: Creating New Cultures in Cyberspace, edited by Wendy Harcourt. Our coverage of this book is unique. First, we begin with a review from Kalí Tal, a Professor of Humanities at Arizona International College of The University of Arizona. Next, we feature a lengthy and engaging rejoinder from the book's editor, Wendy Harcourt. Finally (for the moment at least!), Kalí Tal replies to Harcourt's rejoinder. This is interesting stuff. The site is great, it has a walth of reviews and rejoinders and so on. Navigate it by hacking the URL!!!

[3:06 PM | wl | permalink