RSSGates sets TED a-buzzing (and a-swatting)
By Angela Gunn | Published February 5, 2009, 2:58 PM
Bill Gates certainly knows how to get one's attention when he wants to. According to a FOX News report, he did so at the latest TED conference by unleashing a jar full of mosquitoes on the crowd.
At the tech conference to discuss the Gates Foundation's progress on efforts to halt malaria, Gates spoke for a bit, then grabbed a jar full of mosquitoes, which are the transmission vector for the debilitating disease. Saying, "Here, I'll let them roam around. There is no reason only poor people should be infected," Gates opened the jar and shook out the flying insects, doubtless making those in the first few rows feel much less pleased with their seating picks than they had earlier in the day.
The Gates Foundation announced in September that it had awarded $168.7 million to the PATH Malaria Vaccine Initiative, which is working to inoculate at-risk populations against the disease. Those populations do not include the TED crowd; after letting them stew for a good minute, Gates announced that those particular mosquitoes in that particular jar were not malaria carriers.
Three little letters: DDT http://www.junkscience.com/ddtfaq.html
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|yeah, i saw a video on NBC Nightly New of him releasing the bugs.
I suppose nothing funnier than seeing a room full of bug eyed geeks run for thier lives from little ol'mosquitos.
oh Bill, what will you do next for excitement...???
LMAO!
if i were in the audience, i wouldn't mind slapping a couple of faces claiming i was trying to hit a bug...
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|the mosquitoes had a rare but serious windows virus that happened to be called 'malaria', but good news is none of the mosquitoes were harmed during his presentation. :-)
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|They should sue his rich ass.
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|?! Not sure what anyone would sue for (JUDGE! HE THREW BUGS AT ME!), but believe me, that's not the TED vibe. Sometimes I swear that conference is 3/4 performance art -- not that there's anything wrong with that of course.
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|Was tongue-in-cheek, but as and aside, I just realized no one knows more about bugs than Bill, so it was well... a perfect stunt.
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|This is the first I'd heard of it. Wow, that's ballsy.
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|The mosquitoes had Windows Malwaria
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|Well done Bill.
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|No, their not malaria carriers, just the carriers of several OTHER deadly bloodborne diseases and parasites. He should've been pummeled with rotten tomatoes and thrown out of the building. I can't wait for the lawsuits.
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|Well good for Bill. Make all those rich people worry a little.
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|As we know, rich people don't have a worry in the world, except keeping your slacker-ass employed. Oh wait, that's Obama's job. Sorry.
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