But while most of the phone giants have the bulk of their customers in the countries where they were once the national monopolies, Tiscali has pursued a strategy of acquiring lesser-ranked Internet companies, gradually assembling a European network without ranking at the top in any single national market.
Without ranking, all are given equal distinction.
At Kenyon College in Ohio, where 60percentt of freshmen now arrive without rank, admissions officers have become skilled at interpreting available data.
In addition to naming the year's top 10 films -- without ranking them -- the jury will identify up to five "moments of significance" from the year in film.
The stalks stand shoulder to shoulder like an army without rank, their sharp-edged, swordlike leaves forming a nearly impenetrable wall.
Many companies, he explained, adopt generic management models that tell people the roughly 20 things they should do as managers, without ranking those traits by importance.
In 1996, students who were ranked under a traditional system at Ridgefield High School in Connecticut had an acceptance rate of 24percentt at the most competitive colleges; the next year, without ranking, 38percentt were accepted.
He said the recalcitrant Republicans were calculating that Ms. Pelosi, Democrat of California, would not want to leave her caucus politically exposed in an election season by passing a bailout bill without rank-and-file Republican support.
Mr. Castro, wearing a long-sleeved green military shirt without rank insignia, was greeted by a standing ovation and shouts of "Viva Fidel" as he walked into the National Assembly with the help of aides.
Then, striking a populist note of his own, he said: "I want to speak to the little people, to those without rank, to the rural folk who don't want to die, to the workers who don't want someone who doesn't work to earn more than them, to the small pensioners".
