>The use of money is the purest act of faith; no anchorite who has followed
>a vision into the desert has acted on an idea as far-fetched as our belief
>that if we put a dollar in a machine we will be drinking a Diet Coke in a
>minute.
This act of faith is hardly pure; it's based in practical
are drawn to these stories; they have the allure of soft
porn, at least for those of us who congratulate ourselves on not jumping
for the bait, those of us who believe ourselves capable of the statement,
"It isn't worth it."
But what do we mean by "worth"?
When we use
