Forbes Magazine has released their yearly list of the World's Billionaires, over 1000 individuals who have done extremely well for themselves (putting it mildly). New to the list this year is Spanx founder Sara Blakely. The woman who started her bodyshaper business with just $5,000 in savings now ranks up there with Bill Gates and Warren Buffet. And by the look of the Academy Awards this year, something tells me she's got nowhere to go but up. 

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Just recently, Kashmir Hill of Forbes dug through the results of a poll MTV and the Associated Press did about social networking and Internet use among young people. The staggering result she found is that around 21% of the 1,335 14-24 year olds reported that their email, Facebook, Twitter, Myspace, or "other" accounts or emails had been accessed and used by someone other than themselves without permission. The more staggering result is that, of those victims, 22% said it didn't upset them at all, and 37% said it only upset them a little. That's a total of 59% of victims that wouldn't say they were even moderately upset. When asked about whether they thought about the consequences of uploading things to the Internet, mainly that this is no going back, the numbers show that many younger users have barely given this any thought. 41% had given little-to-no thought to the fact that you can never tell where these things will wind up. 44% gave little-to-no thought that stuff might come back to haunt them. 69% gave little-to-no thought that, man, the cops could see this stuff.

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Earlier this year, Bill Gates lost his title as the richest man in the world. Not because Microsoft wasn't doing well, or because he was emulating MC Hammer or Antoine Walker, but because he gave so much of his money to charity that he lost the coveted top spot. Mexico's Carlos Slim edged out Gates by around one billion dollars when the riches of both were ranked earlier this year. Forbes released their ranking of the richest people in America, and Bill Gates managed to snag that title, so maybe if he's feeling a little down that Carlos Slim edged him out in the world rankings earlier this year, Gates can retreat to his American title. Gates is still worth the $59 billion that he was worth back when he lost out to Carlos Slim, taking the American title by a cool $20 billion from friend Warren Buffet, who is only worth a measly $39 billion. Microsoft was also represented by CEO Steve Ballmer, worth an even more meager $13.9 billion. How does that guy even afford groceries? Head on over to Forbes to check out the list, wherein the least rich guy is still worth over one billion dollars. (Seattlepi.com via Techmeme)

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Just like The Mary Sue, Forbes loves its lists, and I've loved the Forbes Fifteen ever since I found out about it, regardless of the rest of the magazine's content. I mean... I guess it's about money, right? And anyway how could I not? The first Forbes Fictional 15 I saw confirmed my own inter-DC rivalry: Bruce Wayne was richer than Lex Luthor. Rounding out this year's list is Scrooge McDuck, Carlisle Cullen (as in Edward Cullen's father), Artemis Fowl II, Tony Stark, Bruce Wayne, Mr. Burns and newcomer Smaug, soon to make his film debut. Forbes, as the people who would know, do their best to realistically estimate the net worth of each fictional character, and chose only those that are the richest and are known primarily for being rich. Their article on the process they went through to put a monetary value on the Smaug's hoard (not to mention the Arkenstone) is quite the interesting read, and involves citations from the D20 System Reference Document. Good geek detective work, gentlemen! Of the slightly more than one thousand billionaires in the world, there are little more than a dozen female ones, and Forbes has always made sure to include at least one woman on the Fictional 15, but it seems that fictional female billionaires are just as rare as real ones. Michael Noer admits that finding suitable and diverse female candidates for the list is something Forbes is committed to in an article specifically addressing the problem.

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According to Forbes, Microsoft founder Bill Gates isn't the richest man in the world anymore, and he will likely have to settle once again for a measly second place behind Mexican businessman Carlos Slim. Gates is currently only worth a paltry $49 billion, behind Slim's less-paltry $60 billion. The reason why Gates lost his spot atop the largest pile of money in the world? He gave a third of it to charity -- his own charity, in fact -- and would apparently be worth about $88 billion if he hadn't, demonstrating the old sentiment that it's much cooler to choose not to be something than it is to attempt to be something. This is only the second time since 1995 that Gates has lost the top spot, but he can certainly feel good about losing it for all the right reasons. (via The Next Web)

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Nowhere have the sparkly claws of Twilight failed to secure their grasp, for this week Forbes published their yearly Fictional 15, a compilation of the fifteen richest fictional people in current pop culture. Carlisle Cullen, the nearly 400-year-old patriarch of the Cullen family is the richest fictional person in the world with a net worth of $34.1 billion.

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