Is Bill Gates Still the Richest Man in the World and Other Trivia Questions

Answer a series of forehead-slapping anecdotal factoids. It's up to you to weigh each fact in each anecdotal factoid. They're tricky. One might seem like total B.S. until it's revealed to be strangely and disturbingly "True." Another anecdotal factoid might seem to contain all solid and verifiable facts until it's revealed to be yet one more big fat garden variety "Bald-Faced Lie." And here's the trickiest part: an anecdotal factoid might even be "Half-True"; in other words, a mishmosh of truths and bald-faced lies, where you don't know where one ends and the other begins, much like the usual slop served by Madison Avenue, Washington D.C., and the Internet in its entirety.

Category: The Geeky Geek's Geek Quiz

Decide for yourself, and mark "T" for "Truth", "F" for "Bald-Faced Lie" or "TF" for "Half-Truth" in the blank slot next to each factoid.

The answers will be revealed on the next page.

1) __ For the past thirteen years, Microsoft's Bill Gates has held the title of the world's richest man. Number two is his close friend Warren Buffett.

2) __ In 1979, Bill Gates toured Xerox PARC, Xerox's laboratory, and saw the "Alto", the first computer to have a graphical user interface and the first to use the "desktop" as a metaphor. At the time, Xerox thought that the icon-driven interface was too experimental to bring to market, so Gates hired several engineers away from Xerox PARC to "adapt" the Alto's graphical user interface for Windows.

3) __ In 1983, Bill Gates posed for a "photo-spread" for Tiger Beat, a magazine aimed at prepubescent girls. It was a seductive pose with Gates sprawled on a tabletop alongside several computers.

4) __ In 2006, Melinda Gates urged her husband to get a medical exam. She was feeling concerned that Bill's usual tic-like rocking motions and flat tone of speech were getting worse. After the exam, the doctor diagnosed that the billionaire has Asperger's Syndrome, a mild version of autism, an affliction popularized by Dustin Hoffman's character in "Rain Man."

5) __ In 1994, Gates bought the Leicester Codex, Leonardo DaVinci's 72-page notebook, for $31 million. The Codex contains some of the master's greatest drawings.

In director Ron Howard's film "The DaVinci Code", Bill Gates has a cameo role, appearing in a monk's cassock in a crowd scene.

6) __ In 1977, Bill Gates was pulled over by Albuquerque, New Mexico police and arrested for DUI. At the time, he was driving his friend and business partner Paul Allen's car. In a Time Magazine interview, Gates said, "they put me in with all the drunks all night long. And that's why the rest of my life, I've always tried to have a fair amount of cash with me. I like the idea of being able to bail myself out."

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Here are the answers for The Geeky Geek's Geek Quiz.

Answers:

A reminder: "T" is for "Truth", "F" is for "Bald-Faced Lie" or "TF" is for "Half-Truth".

1) TF: This anecdote is both true and false. It's true that, for the past thirteen years, Microsoft's Bill Gates has held the title of the world's richest man; however, his 2007 #1 spot is being challenged by Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim Helu. While Forbes still claims that Gates is the world's richest, London's Guardian claims that Helu has overtaken Gates. Only because Forbes has been taking this tally longer will I side with their assessment as truth.

It's false that Bill Gates' close friend Warren Buffett is still the second richest man in the world. Forbes awards this honor to Carlos Slim Helu.

2) F: It's false that Bill Gates toured Xerox PARC and saw the "Alto", the first computer to have a GUI and the first to use the "desktop" as a metaphor. This story actually is applicable to Apple founder Steven Jobs. He was the one who took the tour. He was also the one who hired several engineers away from Xerox PARC, who helped "adapt" the Alto's graphical user interface for Apple's Lisa personal computer, which was later developed into the Macintosh. Later on, Microsoft "borrowed" some of the elements used in Apple's GUI for its Windows operating system. "Open source", as they say.

3) F: It's false that Bill Gates posed for a "photo-spread" for Tiger Beat, a magazine aimed at prepubescent girls. These series of 1977 photos of Gates were actually taken in a publicity shoot for the launch of Windows.

A side note: The magazine rumor began recently on the Internet.

4) F: It's false that Bill Gates has Asperger's Syndrome, although some pundits in the mainstream news media have speculated their own "diagnosis." This has all the makings of yet one more idiotic Internet rumor.

5) TF: This anecdote is both true and false. It's true that Gates bought Leonardo DaVinci's Leicester Codex notebook for $31 million.

It's false that Bill Gates dressed in a monk's cassock for a cameo in Ron Howard's film "The Da Vinci Code".

6) TF: This anecdote is both true and false. It's true that in 1977 Bill Gates was pulled over and arrested by Albuquerque, New Mexico police. It's false that he was arrested for DUI. No evidence has surfaced to support DUI as the cause of the arrest. It's true that, at the time of the arrest, he was driving Paul Allen's car. And the Time Magazine interview quote is also true.

SOURCES:

"Inventors of the modern computer", Mary Bellis, About.com, URL: (http://inventors.about.com/library/weekly/aa043099.htm)

http://www.snopes.com/photos/people/gates.asp

"Would you have allowed Bill Gates to be born?", Arthur Caplan, MSNBC, URL: (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7899821/)

"The Geek Syndrome", Steve Silberman, Wired, URL: (http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/9.12/aspergers_pr.html)

"The real Da Vinci Code", Jonathan Jones, The Guardian, URL: (http://arts.guardian.co.uk/features/story/0,,1860869,00.html)

"Bill Gates unveils electronic version of Codex Leicester", Raphael Satter, USA Today, URL: (http://www.usatoday.com/tech/products/2007-01-30-gates-da-vinci_x.htm)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_Eno

http://www.news.harvard.edu/gazette/2007/06.14/99-gates.html

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2007-03-22-gates-harvard-degree_N.htm

Bill Gates goes back to school", Lev Grossman, Time, URL: (http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1630188,00.html)

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/mugshots/gatesmug1.html

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070704/ts_afp/lifestylemexico

"Carlos Slim Helu now world's second-richest man", Helen Coster, Forbes, URL: (http://www.forbes.com/business/2007/04/11/billionaires-helu-telecom-biz-cz_hc_0411helu.html)

"Mexican tycoon overtakes Bill Gates as world's richest", Fiona Walsh, Guardian, URL: (http://business.guardian.co.uk/story/0,,2117330,00.html)