Two prodigies
A vast, motley mishmash humanity is.
On Reddit, one of the most influential users is 12-year-old Adam Fuhrer. At his desktop computer in his parents’ home in the quiet northern Toronto suburb of Thornhill, Mr. Fuhrer monitors more than 100 Web sites looking for news on criminal justice, software releases — and the Toronto Maple Leafs, his favorite hockey team. When Microsoft launched its Vista operating system this year, he submitted stories that discussed its security flaws and price tag, which attracted approving votes from more than 500 users.
Besides an electric guitar and an iPod, “my favorite thing in the whole world is my computer,” says Mr. Fuhrer, who has lately also been studying for his bar mitzvah in June. In spite of a content filter his parents use to block him from viewing certain sites (including YouTube), he has managed to consistently make it onto the list of Reddit’s highest performers.
“I watch my son’s page while I’m at work,” says his father, Gerald Fuhrer, and “gush about his achievements to my co-workers.”
Jamin Warren and John Jurgensen, The Wizards of Buzz
Speaking of prodigies, Michael Dell is back at the helm (well, he never really left) of his (rather relatively) ailing company E. That’s exciting news, I remember reading Dell’s semi-autobiographical book, Direct From Dell AM, particularly the first and some of the second chapter, and thinking of, well, Mozart WP — here was a marketing prodigy, a gifted boy who could play the market like Mozart could play the piano.