It could be argued that the world does not need a new science, but Laurence J. Peter, a professor of education at the University of Southern California, has invented one. He calls it hierarchiology, or the study of hierarchies in modern organizations. According to a satiric new book called The Peter Principle , which he wrote with the help of Canadian Freelancer Raymond Hull, the basic premise of hierarchiology is that "with few exceptions men bungle their affairs." The proof? Look at any large bureaucracy.The ...

We are a nation grown numb to the seemingly endless fine print that accompanies our purchases. But every now and then a product is sold with a warning that should command attention. Consider the little-noticed bit of legalese that comes in the safety manual for Apple's iPhone 4: "When using iPhone near your body for voice calls or for wireless data transmission over a cellular network, keep iPhone at least 15 mm away from the body, ...

The newest technologies--computers, genetic engineering and the emerging field of nanotech--differ from the technologies that preceded them in a fundamental way. The telephone, the automobile, television and jet air travel accelerated for a while, transforming society along the way, but then settled into a manageable rate of change. Each was eventually rewarded more for staying the same than for radically transforming itself--a stable, predictable, reliable condition known as "lock-in." Computers, biotechnology and nanotech don't work that way. They are ...

It's possible that the Navy Seal team that killed Osama bin Laden on May 1 carried communication equipment made by L-3 Communications. It's also possible that if you were a U.S. airline passenger that Sunday, you passed through the L-3 ProVision Millimeter Wave Checkpoint Screening System--the controversial body scanner being installed in airports across the country. L-3 was in the security business before 9/11. But the New York City--based company is one of many to benefit from the rising demand ...

Unlike his rival Jared Fogle, whose message of wellness has helped Subway overtake the Golden Arches as the largest restaurant chain in the world, Ronald McDonald doesn't look Unlike his rival Jared Fogle, whose message of wellness has helped Subway overtake the Golden Arches as the largest restaurant chain in the world, Ronald McDonald doesn't look like the picture of health these days. When a report recently surfaced that the 48-year-old clown was being retired, Ronald haters everywhere felt ...

There was nothing very special about the message that made Laurence Canter and Martha Siegel the most hated couple in cyberspace. It was a relatively straightforward advertisement offering the services of their husband-and-wife law firm to aliens interested in getting a green card -- proof of permanent-resident status in the U.S. The computer that sent the message was a perfectly ordinary one as well: an IBM-type PC parked in the spare bedroom of their ranch-style house in Scottsdale, Arizona. But ...

Syria's emergency law enshrines the autocratic nature of the Assad dynasty's rule. It restricts public gatherings and the free movement of individuals, it allows government agents to arrest "suspects or people who threaten security," it authorizes the monitoring of personal communications and it legalizes media censorship. It has been in place since the 1963 coup d'tat that brought the Baath Party to power. That plot was instigated in part by Hafez al-Assad, the previous President and father ...

Federal investigators on Monday may interview flight attendants from a Northwest Airlines jet that overshot the runway at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport last week by 150 miles, according to the National Transportation Safety Board.The report identified the pilot as Timothy B. Cheney and the first officer as Richard I. Cole. "The pilot ... indicated they had become involved in conversation and had not heard radio communications," the report said. "They indicated there had been no involvement from anyone in the ...

Every morning, Lisa Strong's 10-year-old son lifts her heavy prosthetic legs and screws them into the levers in her knees. He reaches for a pair of pants and pulls them up around her waist.The report identified the pilot as Timothy B. Cheney and the first officer as Richard I. Cole. "The pilot ... indicated they had become involved in conversation and had not heard radio communications," the report said. "They indicated there had been no involvement from anyone in the ...

A Northwest Airlines flight from San Diego, California, overshot the Minneapolis, Minnesota, airport by about 150 miles Wednesday evening, and federal investigators are looking into whether the pilots had become distracted, as they claimed, or perhaps fell asleep. Air traffic controllers lost radio communication with the Airbus A320, carrying 147 passengers and an unknown number of crew, when it was flying at 37,000 feet, according to the National Transportation Safety Board. There was no communication with the airplane for more ...