Even Richard Branson has fallen under Jimmy Wales's spell. The oddly charismatic founder of the world's foremost compendium of ways to say "I ate my cat" is set to attend a global-warming summit on Necker Island, Branson's remote Caribbean getaway. The get-together is so exclusive, Wales told ex-girlfriend Rachel Marsden, that even Al Gore wasn't invited. In the aftermath of l'affaire Marsden and related disclosures about abuses of his position as a Wikipedia board member, it's not clear if Wales is still planning to go.

In mid-February, he'd Wales announced he wasn't leaving the U.S. for two months. (Necker is in the British Virgin Islands.) But a little white lite, so he can hobnob with the rich and powerful, ignoring his responsibilities as parent, startup founder, and spiritual leader of a social movement? That's the worldly Wales we've ungrudgingly come to admire. Go to Necker, Jimbo — carbon offsets be damned!