Wow, Paul Allen RIP
- Thread starter F4Gary
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Around 20 years ago I was on a dive trip to the little island of Utica, off the coast of Honduras. One of his yachts was anchored in the harbor, with him aboard (he tendered in to the lodge some while I was there; I didn’t have the chance to meet him but some of the other guests did).
The yacht was massive and beautiful. It was called the Meduse, or something like that. He’s had several through the years.
The yacht was massive and beautiful. It was called the Meduse, or something like that. He’s had several through the years.
At one time I’m pretty sure he owned 3 or 4 of the 20 largest yachts in the world...at the same time.
Plus the Seattle Seahawks & Portland Trailblazers.
Plus the Seattle Seahawks & Portland Trailblazers.
Yes, Meduse is an awesome yacht. The crazy thing is he was so rich and into yachts that the 200 ft. Meduse was only his third best yacht. His most impressive yacht was the 414 ft. Octopus, worth $250 million. It includes two submarines, two helipads and has been used by the British Navy to find a sunken British battleship.
It will be interesting to see where he left his fortune. He was single with no kids. A lot, no doubt will go to charity, but I'm not sure what that means for his sports teams. They will probably go up for sale I guess.
Like Bill, he was very into philanthropy I wouldn't be surprised if a lot went to charity foundation etc
Cancer is such a mf. All the money. All the time. Doesn’t matter a lick. $20B and it’ll still get you.
There was something a while back on TV about him, UAE king, Russian guy and Larry Ellison in a competition with each other to build the better/bigger Yacht.
Was thinking the same based on him and Steve Jobs...
Don't get me wrong, I know there has been some advancements on certain fronts-but compared to everything else I have seen change on my 46 years on this planet, it feels like the war on cancer is not making great jumps forward in the big picture these last 30-40 years.
It depends on the age group.
Adult cancer has had only incremental improvements in treatments but pediatric cancer has undergone a true revolution in the last 30 years.
When I was in residency the pediatric heme/onc chief told me that in the 1970s, 95% of kids with leukemia would die within a few months. Now the cure rate for the most common form of leukemia (pre-B cell ALL) has a 5 year survival rate of 93%. Within 30-40 years tens of thousands of kids who would have previously died from leukemia are now survivors. Absolutely amazing.
Unfortunately we haven't seen the same kinds of treatment revolution for adult cancers. A big problem with adults is that adults can't handle the treatments very well because it messes up our livers, kidneys, heart, etc
Kids who have cancer generally have excellent overall organ function, so they can get slammed with chemotherapy at much higher weight-based dosing which greatly increases the cure rates.
It just shows that it doesn't matter if you have $20 billion in the bank... no one will avoid the last four things.
(Death, judgement, Heaven or Hell)
(Death, judgement, Heaven or Hell)
I’m confused. Only one of those things actually exists.
On a side note, I want to go to Utica to dive! There is an operation there that will hire you as an instructor if you get your ratings from them. My semi-retirement job. Supposed to be cheap to live there. I know you had a place in Roatan, but that has a lot of cruise ship traffic now.
I met a divemaster (female early 20s) in Grand Cayman and said she did not go to Utica to work because of the party lifestyle. Probably something I don't need at my age. But..if I could live cheap and make a little income, retire today....
Judgement exists. Just be a female poster from Iowa and someone on here will judge you.
I was in Chicago this summer for a class dealing with security architectural design and met a guy who was on Allen's executive protection team at Vulcan. Cool guy. Former special forces. Anyway, we get to talking about music and he tells me that he has a video on his phone that he wants to show me.
He states that the clip was taken in a place that Allen called "The Vault", which was located in the basement of Vulcan. He said it was like going to the Smithsonian Institute in D.C., just one amazing piece after another that Allen had collected over the years. Really just a huge and varied array detailing Allen's many interests.
The clip was around 2 mintues long. It was just Allen and Derek Trucks in the Vault and the security member was recording on his phone. Trucks was playing a black strat that belonged to Hendrix and was also plugged into a Marshall amp that belonged to Hendrix as well, which Allen had purchased over the years. Allen was a huge Hendrix freak and collector. Trucks was sitting down on a chair and Allen was standing over him, just smiling as Trucks was playing this beautiful melody on Hendrix's gear. It was a very intimate setting and it was very cool to see something like that behind the scenes so to speak.
He states that the clip was taken in a place that Allen called "The Vault", which was located in the basement of Vulcan. He said it was like going to the Smithsonian Institute in D.C., just one amazing piece after another that Allen had collected over the years. Really just a huge and varied array detailing Allen's many interests.
The clip was around 2 mintues long. It was just Allen and Derek Trucks in the Vault and the security member was recording on his phone. Trucks was playing a black strat that belonged to Hendrix and was also plugged into a Marshall amp that belonged to Hendrix as well, which Allen had purchased over the years. Allen was a huge Hendrix freak and collector. Trucks was sitting down on a chair and Allen was standing over him, just smiling as Trucks was playing this beautiful melody on Hendrix's gear. It was a very intimate setting and it was very cool to see something like that behind the scenes so to speak.
Allen's collection includes Hendrix's guitar from Woodstock.
His airplane collection includes a Mig 29.
His airplane collection includes a Mig 29.
Funny how taxes used to be on that list but we've all learned if you have enough money, you don't have to pay those.
I expect he loaned it out for the salvage project, so really it is just a revenue venture. Thats how I will be submitting my yacht request to my wife.
Funny how random it is, pretty bright guy, seems nice enough, had ideas that revolutionized the world. Dies young. We have old useless %#@^^@s just hanging out, being a PITA for the rest of us. Stuff is so random. Thats not a political dig before people get themselves worked up.
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