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Bill Gates Unleashes Mosquito Swarm

  • 05-02-2009 8:44am
    #1
    Sherifu
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 17,727 ✭✭✭✭


    Bill Gates at TED
    TED, the annual gathering of the most pretentious people from the fields of technology, entertainment, and design, just got punk'd. Microsoft chairman Bill Gates released a swarm of mosquitos into the crowd.

    Ending malaria is a particular passion of Gates's, whose Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has spent millions fighting the disease. But he apparently didn't feel like TED attendees were taking the threat seriously. "Not only poor people should experience this," Gates said as he let the bugs loose on his audience, according to Facebook manager Dave Morin. (eBay founder Pierre Omidyar and Twitter CEO Ev Williams confirm the report.)

    A showman's way of making a point, perhaps. But it doesn't do much to undo Gates's reputation, borne out of the Microsoft antitrust investigations of the 1990s, that the man considers himself above the law. Doesn't California's Health and Safety Code have something to say about insect infestations?

    Link

    I can't wait to see this TED video :)

    A genius way to get publicity or completely reckless move?

    I'm thinking genius. :D

    "This is what you get for having the gall inviting someone who actually matters to a pseudo-celebrity circle jerk."
    Tagged:


Comments

  • #2
    Slidey
    Closed Accounts Posts: 12,811 ✭✭✭✭Slidey


    He probably got a right buzz out of it.


  • #3
    RATM
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,591 ✭✭✭RATM


    Those bugs wouldn't be the first ones Bill Gates has sent around.


  • #4
    Slidey
    Closed Accounts Posts: 12,811 ✭✭✭✭Slidey


    I wonder if someone closed all the windows then opened them again to see if it solved the problem?


  • #5
    Caoimhín
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,789 ✭✭✭Caoimhín


    I doubt he was reckless enough to release Mosquitoes that carried malaria.


  • #6
    The_B_Man
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 7,876 ✭✭✭The_B_Man


    ye he obviously checked each one individually to make sure they werent diseased!

    or maybe he did an anti-virus scan....


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  • #7
    Wossack
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 7,021 ✭✭✭Wossack


    maybe he's just a frickin lunatic


  • #8
    Sherifu
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 17,727 ✭✭✭✭Sherifu


    Tweets from Ebay founder in the front row are funny...

    http://twitter.com/pierre/statuses/1177480483

    more here


  • #9
    Silverfish
    Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 16,696 Mod ✭✭✭✭Silverfish


    Steve Jobs would never release mosquitos.


  • #10
    humanji
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 19,976 ✭✭✭✭humanji


    Silverfish wrote: »
    Steve Jobs would never release mosquitos.
    He'd release something a lot more pretentious.


  • #11
    Hogzy
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 7,544 ✭✭✭Hogzy


    Imagine someone got malaria from the mozzies and Billy ended up being locked away for some sort of assault causing harm or manslaughter! I call the company!!:D


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  • #12
    AnonoBoy
    Closed Accounts Posts: 22,559 ✭✭✭✭AnonoBoy


    humanji wrote: »
    He'd release something a lot more pretentious.

    Yeah but it'd look cool when you sit with it in Starbucks.


  • #13
    Robbo
    Moderators, Social & Fun Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 10,567 Mod ✭✭✭✭Robbo


    Silverfish wrote: »
    Steve Jobs would never release mosquitos.
    He'd release gnats with one wing that fly upside down and will only feast on the faeces of a particular breed of cow, call it a feature and make millions from selling it to quasi-autistic "creatives".

    The real reason Gates used mosquitoes is part of some elaborate Jurassic Park cloning plot.


  • #14
    ScumLord
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 28,789 ✭✭✭✭ScumLord


    TED is a very unfortunate name for anything trying to be serious.


  • #15
    madmik
    Closed Accounts Posts: 423 ✭✭madmik


    slideways wrote: »
    I wonder if someone closed all the windows then opened them again to see if it solved the problem?

    im sure they just restarted the meeting a few times

    that fixes all microsofty problems


  • #16
    Sherifu
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 17,727 ✭✭✭✭Sherifu


    The video is up:

    http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/bill_gates_unplugged.html

    5 minutes in...

    Good talk if you have time to listen to it.


  • #17
    K-9
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 43,311 ✭✭✭✭K-9


    Ach, they'll get a patch for it.

    Mad Men's Don Draper : What you call love was invented by guys like me, to sell nylons.



  • #18
    Compak
    Registered Users Posts: 428 ✭✭Compak


    what a load of crap. I was expcting some mass invesation with people running and ducking etc. Instead he releases a few bugs the just fly away. Wow!:rolleyes:

    That was honestly a waste of time and the talk was poor. He has no charisma and a poor spokesman.

    However he did back up his own point about interest only being in areas that affect the rich. As the only way people feigned interest in that speech is because he is rich.


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