"The central struggle of men has ever been to understand one another, to join together for the common weal. And it is this very thing that the machine helps them to do. It begins by annihilating time and space."

Today is the 106th anniversary of the birth of Antoine de St-Exupery, whose words I quote. Was he right? Are we any closer because of air mail, or e-mail? If not, why not?

I think we are, Asa. I feel very connected to the UK because of this board and PMs, emails, etc., to people I have met here. Before this board, hearing about problems or tragedies in England wouldn't have meant too much; however, now it seems very personal.

The great thing about email is that it allows you to get to know a person without his or her body getting in the way.

I was at a conference today, giving a talk. Several people came up to me afterwards and wanted long explanations. It had been a long day, and I was under the weather (where did that phrase come from?) anyway, so I was able to give them my card and ask them to email me. How very nice that was! In fact, I asked my colleague what we did before email, and we both surmised that we had called. I know we hadn't written letters. Phone calls are more intrusive because you have to take them when they come in.