The news reports that the billionaire founder of Broadcom is alleged to have built a secret underground suite on the grounds of his mansion which he is alleged to have stocked with prostitutes and drugs is a titillating rumor, and obviously bad news for the man himself and his family (I won't add to the Google hits by naming him).
But riding home from dinner tonight, it occurred to me that true or not, it is actually great news for America.
Because today when that news broke, millions of teenage boys went "an underground lair stocked with hookers, Ecstasy and blow!! I'm gonna be a tech billionaire!!" and immediately drank a Coke, sat down and cracked their textbooks.
Twenty years from now, there will be whole industries founded by those kids, and all of us will benefit.
The Rocky Horror Picture Show has been telling people "Don't dream it, be it!" since 1975.
I can't help admiring a man who went ahead and lived his dream, even if it wasn't the noblest one.
And yes, the dream's incentive effect on boys can only be beneficial. :)
I almost got a job at his house as part of his personal I.T. team. Now, I'm kind of bummed I didn't take it.
What is left for the girls, marry a Kennedy?
What is left for the girls, marry a Kennedy?
Are you kidding? They get book deals, the talk show circuit...
If I were a tech billionaire, I'd build a cozy bunker and fill it with a stash of (automatic) weapons. Now that would be cool!
This story is sad, if true.
If he'd just paid his contractors and employee, they probably wouldn't be telling these stories.
Assuming it's true. He could probably afford to pay. But instead they reveal his secrets.
I'd kind of prefer to believe it isn't true and he refused to pay off liars to keep them from lying about him. But that sounds like even less fun....
#6 from J Thomas: "This story is sad, if true.
If he'd just paid his contractors and employee, they probably wouldn't be telling these stories.
Assuming it's true. He could probably afford to pay. But instead they reveal his secrets."
Well, his dreams were sordid ones, speaking of dubious character, and that lack of character had consequences.
But the idea of living your dream is still valid.
What I conclude from this story is that Bruce Wayne can build the Batcave and keep it secret.
Being a hero, he pays his workers on time and they shut up, and since he does not marry he avoids the other classic way for a rich man to be humiliated: your wife divorces you and splashes all over the papers everything that should not be splashed all over the papers.
Na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, Batman!
Na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, Batman!
Batman, Batman, Batman!
Vroom!
The trouble is that the guys that get into "technology" for the money make lousy tech people. I put scare quotes around "technology" because it's only those lusers that get into it because of the supposed money that talk about what they do as "technology".
And anyway, all they have to do (once they get on the job) is note that the people with the nice cars and hot chicks are all in sales and marketing, and they will drop "technology".
Is there still one teenage boy in America who doesn't already have Ecstacy, free sex, and an underground lair?
Yes, Glen. And it's shocking.
Which is why we need to vote for Obama.
Are you talking about the narcissistic teenagers walking around with half their brains tied behind their backs because that's public education?
Most teenagers won't make the connection between lots of money and hard work. It's not the way their immature brains work, unfortunately. No, money is the thing their parents give them.
If their parents don't give them enough money, they take the Menendez brothers' route if they can. Otherwise they buy lots of lottery tickets or plot to steal it.
Jonathan, you must not know the same kids I do. Try judging at a local Academic Decathlon; you'll see a lot of kids - from a variety of backgrounds - none of whom meet your description.
A.L.
So god bless him, where's the problem? Oh yeah, I agree about teenage boys. And as far as him paying his contractors, I suspect that even if he did pay, they perhaps thought they could get a bit more... kinda sorta. When it's known you have money, stuff will happen; you simply can't pay enough in all cases.