Weeks 4 and 5

Just a post to say that weeks 4 and 5 are complete.

Wikis and tags should only be brought out at Hallowe'en!!!!!!

Week 3 on feeds

There are a lot of feeds to choose from on Bloglines and adding feeds appears to be simple.

Pareto's Law

Vilfredo Pareto 1848-1923, a well-published economist is widely noted for his wealth distribution theory and formula, published as "Pareto's Analysis". Misconstrued as "Pareto's Law" over the past 20 years this law is now found widely quoted, albeit incorrectly in words and intent. In fact, "Pareto's Law" attributed to Pareto cannot be found.Pareto's focus aimed at drawing a mathematical conclusion on the deep and disproportional divide between the wealthy class and the rest of the French population who were poor. Pareto admitted the underlying theme was political in nature. Most economist books include references to Pareto's work as originally intended.However, the business community have taken part of the original message intent, made it into a rule of enterprise and applied it to a wide number of topics. The most common use is found in productivity and asset behaviour circles where statements such as: "80% of the work is completed in 20% of the time", or "80% of plant failures are caused by 20% of the equipment", are quoted.This suggests that the business community requires 80% less workforce and equipment to be truly effective. This goes against the grain of common sense. Could we have a fully functioning industrial community using a radically diminished workforce and asset base? The results of such nonsensical "laws" would indeed cause economists to quickly calculate the shift of wealth and the impact of hyper poverty.One English consulting company contends Pareto's "Law" stemmed from an observation he made while enjoying his favourite pastime- gardening. To date this statement is not substantiated in Pareto's writings. Were it true, it defies all logic of land management and agriculture skills. Such a statement would be indicative of poor gardening skills, not something such an intelligent economist would publish as a law.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pareto_principle