Guess Who's Coming to Dinner? 370
theodp writes to mention a C|Net article about Chinese President Hu Jintao's historic first visit to the U.S.. The catch is that his first dinner won't be at the White House. It will be at Bill Gates' manse. From the article: "The approximately 100-person guest list is a who's who of the U.S. Pacific Northwest power elite, including Starbucks Chairman Howard Schultz and Washington state Gov. Christine Gregoire, said event organizers. The guests will undergo strict security checks before entering Gates' lodge-style, 66,000-square-foot home overlooking Lake Washington with a reported seven bedrooms, six kitchens, 24 bathrooms, a domed library, a reception hall and an artificial estuary stocked with salmon and trout. Gates and Gregoire are expected to introduce and welcome Hu, who will then offer a toast in front of the gathering."
Oh boy, here we go.... (Score:4, Funny)
Rove: "Sir, Hu is going to be attending a dinner at one of your biggest campaign contributors houses, Mr. Bill Gates."
Bush: "Who?"
Rove: "Yessir, Hu."
Bush: "No, I'm asking you..... Who's coming to the US to have dinner with Geeky Gates?"
Rove: "That's right sir, Hu."
Bush: "...............Daggummit Turd Blossom! I'm asking you who is coming to the US to have dinner with Geeky Gates?"
Ad nauseum
Re:Oh boy, here we go.... (Score:2)
Re:Oh boy, here we go.... (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Oh boy, here we go.... (Score:5, Funny)
Bush: What about when?
Rove: Wen?
Bush: Yes, when.
Rove: I don't know if the Premier is coming.
Bush: Who asked about the Premier, damnit!
Rove: Oh, did he? I assume he would know.
Bush: Who?
Rove: Yes, Hu would know Wen.
Bush: Rove...
Rove: Yes?
Bush: Don't make me feed you a pretzel.
Re:Oh boy, here we go.... (Score:2)
Re:Oh boy, here we go.... (Score:2)
http://fundrace.org/neighbors.php?type=name&lname
Full contrubution to Bush, none elsewhere.
I'm surprised you're surprised. Have you ever used his company's products?
Re:Oh boy, here we go.... (Score:2)
Re:What non-MS products are actually better? (Score:3, Informative)
There is no way we could afford Windows licenses (we have placed about sixty boxes since January). Kubuntu is free.
To the end-user, who in this case only needs to type papers, send e-mail, and surf the web (ie, the vast majority of users), Kubuntu is a much better deal than XP. There
Re:Oh boy, here we go.... (Score:3, Insightful)
I'm not against social services to a point. At the cost of inflating government, I'm against it. You just can't give out handouts because people will expect them and rely on them. People have to - absolutely have to - learn how to fish on their own.
I want better things in life and I am
More pressure to move to Red Flag Linux? (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:More pressure to move to Red Flag Linux? (Score:5, Funny)
All three copies!
It's all down to relevance ... (Score:2, Insightful)
Who does number 2 work for (Score:5, Funny)
I bet the 1:3.4 ratio of sleeping to dumping at Gates' place has to be the highest in the nation.
Re:Who does number 2 work for (Score:4, Funny)
Didn't you know Bill likes to host bathroom-orgies?
Re:Who does number 2 work for (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Who does number 2 work for (Score:2, Funny)
This proves that Gates just pretends to be one of us geeks. A real geek would never bathe that much.
-- --
Terrorists can destroy our trains and buildings, but they can't destroy our rights and our freedom. Only we and our lawmakers can destroy that.
Re:Who does number 2 work for (Score:2)
Re:Who does number 2 work for (Score:2, Funny)
Where do you think the spyware's been installed?
Mutated Trout from The Evil Empire. (Score:4, Funny)
I'll bet those trout are ill tempered and have lasers on their heads. Hey, the work for Microsoft so they have to be in a bad mood. Everyday is a bad day, then they serve you for dinner when they "fucking kill" you as they've done before and will do again.
It's nice to see the head of Evil Industry's Starbuck's division getting some publicity and credit. Number two's idea there was quite profitable.
Gates, stroking a bald cat: "Do you like my quasi futuristic clothing, Chairman Hu? I designed them myself."
Chairman Hu: "Ah yes, they are much like Chairman Mao's favorites, but he liked drab blue."
Master Gates: "A toast then, to $400,000,000 and the drab."
-clink-clink-
Chairman Hu: "I have a thing for Red."
Flunky S. Baller: "Tell me you are not talking about Red Flag Linux!" Perspiration half moons show under his arms.
Chairman Hu: "I am."
Baller, raising chair "I'm going to fucking kill Linus. I've done it before and -"
Master Gates slaps Baller on the back of the head: "Down boy!" Turns and smiles. "He's a little fired up tonight."
Baller: "I love this company! I work in the swamp. Though I do not fall in the trenches of coding, I am yet a soldier! Developers, Developers, Developers!"
Master Gates laughs and pats Baller on the head. Yes, this is my favorite number two.
Everyone laughs.
Re:Who does number 2 work for (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Who does number 2 work for (Score:2)
Or he just throws really bitchin' parties.
My hat is off (Score:2)
Talk about nouveau riche (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Talk about nouveau riche (Score:3, Informative)
Then you should not look into the latest retirement package of the CEO of Exxon. He received a $400 Million package that works out to what...... over $1,095,000/day over the past year?
Rotten but small scale. (Score:2)
That's small time next to Bill's $40 billion, dollars skimmed in part from companies like Exxon. Exxon at least makes gasoline and other petrochemicals.
Also, when is the last time you heard Exxon flaunting it like this? The press release contained details about the freaking meal, smoked foul salad and all that. It's like read
Re:Talk about nouveau riche (Score:2)
They say money can't buy happiness, but I'm thinking that could go a long way. You'd be hard pressed to find a way to spend that amount of cash. You could buy a nice new house every day for a year and stock them with two decent cars and a network of the highest end computers money can buy (plus the requisite 10TB media server), and still have enough left over for your nightly 16-oz filet mignon. I think after ownin
Re:Talk about nouveau riche (Score:2)
nouveau riche parenting skillz. (Score:2)
Yeah, the house arrest must be for their own protection. Is Steve Baller so careful with his? Will Bill keep his own safe from Ipod and Google [forevergeek.com]?
Inside the Baller residence, Steve is fishing around under his son's bed. His son fidgets helplessly.
Steve finds a CD, pulls it out and thrust it in his son's face. "What's this, son?!"
Steve Jr: "It's ... it's my homework."
Steve: "No it's not. I can tell you are lying to me. What is it?"
Steve
Re:Talk about nouveau riche (Score:2)
No, Bill Gates doesn't live at a castle. He just owns a mansion and a yacht. If you want a real American castle, check out Hearst Castle. [wikipedia.org] Among other things, I doubt the Gates estate has grown to 250,000 acres, with a phone almost behind every tree.
Pirated Windows easy to spot... (Score:5, Funny)
Spotting the pirated copies of Windows will be easy.
Instead of "Start," the button will say "Very Much Go."
Planned before (Score:3, Informative)
He cancelled it on the last day, and the time before, they were also going to dine at Gate's mansion where they had already prepared the salmon, which were airlifted from Alaska on the same day.
Dunno what happend to them.
Need directions? (Score:3, Informative)
Bill Gates's House [perljam.net]
Takes One to Know One (Score:5, Funny)
And that another is the slightly less powerful guest of that tyrant, the president of China?
Microsoft Security, Plays for Sure. (Score:5, Funny)
If it works like most Windoze "security" a little report is generated, a few files are wiped out, stability suffers and they all contract bird flu anyway.
Re:Takes One to Know One (Score:2)
Be careful, Starbucks has spies everywhere.
Awkward Moment turns to Opportunity (Score:3, Funny)
Gates: Please, I'm not the president, I have more power
Hu: I am still pleased to present you with the Chinese version of Windows
Gates: Hey, that's a pirated copy!
Hu: Yes, we made it just for you, need a key?
Gates: No, you go and post in on YOUR internet, be sure not to censor it. BTW, you do know that RED Hat isn't a communist version of Linux. It actually promotes human rights.
Hu: Oh yes, we know, and based on what I am allowed to read about your decline in human rights, it appears that the US isn't using it either.
Gates: Cheers
Now that your country has purchased XP (Score:5, Funny)
Hu: Yes, the view of Lake Washington is magnificent.
Gates: Hee hee, that's not what I'm talking about...
Animal Farm (Score:5, Insightful)
"Gentlemen," concluded Napoleon, "I will give you the same toast as before, but in a different form. Fill your glasses to the brim. Gentlemen, here is my toast: To the prosperity of The Manor Farm! "
There was the same hearty cheering as before, and the mugs were emptied to the dregs. But as the animals outside gazed at the scene, it seemed to them that some strange thing was happening. What was it that had altered in the faces of the pigs? Clover's old dim eyes flitted from one face to another. Some of them had five chins, some had four, some had three. But what was it that seemed to be melting and changing? Then, the applause having come to an end, the company took up their cards and continued the game that had been interrupted, and the animals crept silently away.
But they had not gone twenty yards when they stopped short. An uproar of voices was coming from the farmhouse. They rushed back and looked through the window again. Yes, a violent quarrel was in progress. There were shoutings, bangings on the table, sharp suspicious glances, furious denials. The source of the trouble appeared to be that Napoleon and Mr. Pilkington had each played an ace of spades simultaneously.
Twelve voices were shouting in anger, and they were all alike. No question, now, what had happened to the faces of the pigs. The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again; but already it was impossible to say which was which.
Forty years ago, Nixon invented the policy of engagement to balance the dangerous Soviet Union against an equal dangerous but hungry Communist China.
Ten years ago, with the Soviet menace defeated, Bill Clinton invented the complete sell out. Slave made goods have flowed into out country, jobs and money have flowed out. Parallel to this was born the myth of the "information economy" where the US would own ideas and the rest of the world would do our bidding because of it. Of course, for this ownership to be complete, it must apply to our own citizens. To enslave others, we must first prove our dedication to ruling by enslaving ourselves.
You can draw a straight line to today, with the DMCA, Patriot act and rampant domestic spying from a tremendously expanded federal government. As the rich and powerful gateher in Redmond, ask yourself where the rhetoric of freedom has gone and why your boss is dining with a Communist. What in the hell are we doing?
A friendlier "Communism" (Score:4, Insightful)
Certainly we should petition for greater freedoms in mainland China and in particular for the rights of imprisoned [ethanzuckerman.com] journalists, political opponents, and religious leaders. Still, considering how terribly China's citizens suffered under previous incarnations (Mao) of the present post-Tiananmen regime, I'm optimistic for the future. I believe the Party will continue on its path of liberalization as a younger, more cosmopolitan generation of Oxford- and Columbia-educated Chinese accedes to power. Who needs revolution, after all, when you can build democracy from within?
Nordic-style welfare capitalism? (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Nordic-style welfare capitalism? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:friendlier to who? (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:friendlier to who? (Score:2)
It seems to me there's already a country out there that (ostensibly) centers its core values on such things as freedom of speech, which makes me think that it's not going to do so well in weeding out corruption.
Re:Animal Farm (Score:2)
Ten years ago, with the Soviet menace defeated, Bill Clinton invented the complete sell out. Slave made goods have flowed into out country, jobs and money have flowed out. Parallel to this was born the myth of the "information economy" where the US would own ideas and the rest of the world would do our bidding because of it. Of course, for this ownership to be
Re:crazy, eh? (Score:2)
So now you speak for the Dalai Lama?
No, he's complained on his own.
Shit dude, hook me up with some of that mojo -[mindless insults]
It's not funny. See here [wikipedia.org] for a start: Hu was responsible for a political crackdown in early 1989 that lead to the deaths of several Tibetan activists. He also worked towards some liberalisation of cultural activities. Hu's harsh stance towards in Tibet led him to be reputed as a leader of conviction, and further attracted attention from the Central Govern
Re:Animal Farm (Score:2)
I can't help but wonder if Yahoo will be there. Maybe they have more data on political dissidents they want to help Mr. Hu imprison. Alternatively, maybe collecting data on dissidents will be a new feature of Vista. I'm sure the US government would also happily take advantage.
That was the best post in this thread (Score:3, Insightful)
Related to that, everyone, and I mean everyone - liberal & conservative alike (including libertarians
I'm hatching plans (Score:2)
Birds of a feather .... (Score:3, Interesting)
Security? (Score:3, Interesting)
What the hell is this? (Score:4, Funny)
Just...strikes me as odd is all.
If you think that's strange... (Score:2)
geek pres (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:geek pres (Score:5, Funny)
Because we elect ours. Sad but true.
Re:geek pres (Score:5, Interesting)
>Did you know Hu Jintao got his degree in hydraulic engineering? Why can't we
>have an engineer presient?
Because we elect ours. Sad but true.
Umm, India is the world's largest democracy and has a rocket scientist and engineer for a President [wikipedia.org] and an economist/professor of economics for a Prime Minister [wikipedia.org].
Your point?
Re:geek pres (Score:2)
PhD and Taiwan politics (Score:3, Interesting)
In fact, I ran into a guy from Taiwan in
The Indian prez and prime minister (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:geek pres (Score:2)
Re:geek pres (Score:4, Informative)
JC tried to get America back on course of doing our own energy, rather than being dependant on outside energy. Sadly, we had 17% importing back then. Now we are up to 66% imports. Now, we have ex-NSA/CIA directors who are concerned with the amount of oil imports that we do.
Re:geek pres (Score:2)
Re:geek pres (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re:geek pres (Score:2)
Re:geek pres (Score:2)
Vulcan proverb: Only Nixon can go to China (Score:3, Funny)
oo oo oo! Now say wessel!
Hu Cares? (Score:4, Funny)
Not a Crib? (Score:2)
Maybe I missed the memo - is 'manse' a word now?
Re:Not a Crib? (Score:2, Offtopic)
How the worm has turned (Score:2, Insightful)
And now he invites a communist to his house. In the words of Lucille Bluth from Arrested Development, "How the worm has turned."
buddies (Score:2, Interesting)
Ladies and Gentlemen... (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Ladies and Gentlemen... (Score:3, Insightful)
As Marx told me one day ... (Score:3, Funny)
He just likes to collect China.
Big business is evil (Score:3, Insightful)
Most innovation and growth comes from small and medium companies. Large companies exaggerate the power of economies of scale because being nimble is more important in a fast changing world. Big biz survives by bullying smaller companies, not by doing the job better or being more efficient. Anybody who has worked for a big company knows that they are inharently disfunctional.
American car companies didn't grow bloated and slow because of lack of foreign competition, but because of a lack of domestic competition, ei. smaller but more car companies. Japan's auto makers grew competitive because Japan had about 12 car companies before going overseas.
Big businesses should be split, or at least mergers above a certain size should curtailed. Most mergers result in a net loss of profits. The only reason they still happen is because of a select few who make big bucks off such deals and the ego power of being big.
Free markets (Score:3, Insightful)
Legislation and governmental action is not needed unless that specific entity has been playing unfairly by being anti-competitive or predatorial.
I agree that smaller companies tend to be more innovative, but larger companies have their place as well. Large companies allow for mass production, thus lower costs and more savings to the end consumer. This means t
Bill Gate invites President Hu Jintao of (Score:2)
How fitting...
Clever (Score:5, Interesting)
Honestly, I'm really not sure how many times since Western style diplomacy became the Gold standard internationally that something like this has happened. For a foreign head of state to visit a country and not visit at least someone in the government first is highly, highly irregular. This isn't so much a tech story, I think, as a political one.
Re:Clever (Score:5, Interesting)
Perhaps China realizes this. Why meet with Bush when you know trade policy is going to be in the hands of the American tycoons? Heck, we probably wouldn't go to war unless it somehow served the interests of America's business power elite.
I'm not saying this is exactly how it is with America's politics, but it sure as heck seems that way. And if it's true, China is snubbing Bush because they simply want to talk to who's really in charge.
Re:Clever (Score:4, Interesting)
Bush is the crowning achievement of the anti-intellectualism movement in America, couldn't imagine doing something good for another human being, but rather would lie and thieve his way to his own and his frieds' personal benefit at the expense of everyone else.
Fault Gates as you will for his business practices (although they're tame compared to Balmer and nearly every other CEO or ex CEO in business), but I know which of the two I'd rather spend time with.
Re:Who is better? President Bush or Gates? (Score:4, Insightful)
MBA's aren't intellectuals. The intelligence required to get an MBA, even somewhere like Harvard, is a fraction of the intelligence required to get into Harvard as a technical major. Given that Gates has shown both far more intellectual capacity than Bush, technically, as well as having been orders of magnitude more successful as a businessman, I find your point to be positively silly.
If you call opposing the creation of a race of subhumans bread only for their stem cells to be anti-intellectual then I hope we have more of it. You are intellectually dishonest.
Who exactly is proposing creating a race of subhumans breed for their stem cells? Do you have a good grasp on how the technology works? The stem cells come from disposed fetuses (which are about as human as a piece of steak), and it is the cells that are cultured, not the fetuses.
Anti-piracy talks (Score:2)
Intresting (Score:2)
You only have to look at the difference between america's threathment of Cuba (a couple of million consumers) vs China (over a billion consumers) t0 know what the US is about when it comes to world politics.
But what about China's motivation for this? China has been doing very well for itself following its own unique style of goverment.
While it ain't exactly communism it sure as hell isn't capatalism either. Neither has it given
Re:Intresting (Score:2)
Or, in other words, for the same reasons the US wants to engage with China...
Re:Intresting (Score:2)
I'm not saying spying might not be a motivation, but surely, more employment could be one of the more obvious reasons for this wooing?
Chinese are buying Windows licenses . (Score:2, Flamebait)
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstec
I thought the Chinese were interested in Linux ? I am guessing Uncle Sam forced Windows onto them.
Kind of a shame.
Google Search (Score:4, Funny)
result:
Your search - Hu visit to US - did not match any documents.
IP Logged.
Re:This is disrespectful (Score:2)
Guess Who.
Guest Hu.
It's a joke.Re:This is disrespectful (Score:2)
It was a Star Trek reference, double dumb ass.
Re:Wait a minute. (Score:4, Informative)
The pigs are walking upright.
China isn't reall communist (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:China isn't reall communist (Score:2)
Also, very often the details make all the difference. A fly in the soup will ruin the whole thing.
Re:Security? (Score:2)
Re:Security? (Score:2)
Re:Only 7 bedrooms? (Score:5, Funny)
You obviously never lived with 5 sisters. They need all the bathrooms they can put there hands on.
Re:The word is MANSION (Score:2, Informative)
The word is MANSION
Actually, mansion is a totally different word, I suspect they really did mean "manse".
However, I'll admit to *almost* emailing the editor to correct it, the difference being, I decided to check my facts first...
Manse (noun): A large and imposing residence.
Mansion (noun): A large stately house, a manor house.
Given the description of the house and the person we generally believe Bill Gates to be, "large and imposing"
Re:The word is MANSION (Score:2)
Reference.com defines "manse" as "A large stately residence." I think it's just a matter of which dictionary you're looking at, but the term doesn't seem to be out of line.
Re:The word is MANSION (Score:2)
Re:Bedroom count (Score:2)
Re:Figures (Score:2)
I can't speak as to whether this is correct or not, but that doesn't look like new ground. It sounds like feudalism to me.