POINTS TO PONDER XLII

From Reader's Digest
Nicholas Negroponte in Wired

   The most astonishing part of the Internet is that nobody is in charge. Football teams have captains, orchestras have conductors. We take for granted some form of authority, some hierarchy in almost everything. In childhood it comes from parents and teachers. In adult life it comes from bosses and government. While we may not always be pleased with where we stand in the hierarchy, at least we understand it.
   The Net - a reliable system comprised of loosely connected and imperfect parts that work because nobody is in control - shakes up all our centralist notions of hierarchy.
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From Reader's Digest
Lee Gomes in The Wall Street Journal 

Bill Gates' net worth of nearly $37 billion is one of those numbers that defy easy comprehension, much like the size or age of the universe. And so there's a new national pastime: putting Mr. Gates' stratospheric wealth into down-to-earth terms. For example, spending $250,000 for a Lamborghini would cost Mr. Gates - in terms of percentage of his wealth - what a 63-cent purchase would set back the average American. And because of the value of his time at the office, were Gates to see a $100 bill lying on the sidewalk on his way to work, he would actually lose money spending the few seconds required to stop and pick it up.