

Tom Perkins's (of KP) Giant Yacht Sails to San Francisco - echair
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/09/26/a-giant-yacht-sails-to-san-francisco/

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dhuck
Quote: "“The issue of length is important to all these guys, and the way you
know that’s the case is how often they tell you that length is not important,”
said Mr. Kaplan, who sailed on the Maltese Falcon on its maiden voyage from
Istanbul, where it was built, around the Greek Islands to the French Riviera."

In a lot of ways, this story should be right up my alley - I am a hacker, I'm
very interested in starting my own company and finding someone to finance it,
and I have spent many days sailing on my dad's sailboat. Sailing is a
wonderful pastime - something I'm sure most hackers would love to do (you have
to work within a set of strict parameters in a given system, but you can beat
the system - temporarily - with the smallest adjustments to your equipment.)
That's cool - and very hackerish (imho.)

But I'm sickened by this boat. As cool as it is - and the technology behind
the sails is damn cool - it's just a disgusting waste of money. Do you really
think that Perkin's gets his value out of this boat - or do you think it's
just another exercise in Who-Has-The-Biggest-Dick?

We all want to have the biggest dick (excuse my language), but it's very
important to recognize who you have to step on to get to that point. How many
companies got shit term sheets because Perkins had to finance a boat that can
never be fully enjoyed? (Larry Ellison wants to sell his megayacht because he
can't even park it in normal harbors - he has to use industrial marinas to
dock up.)

I think it's extremely appropriate that this boat is sailing into an American
harbor for the first time as our financial system is going through one of the
biggest moments of turmoil in decades. You can't make up that kind of stuff.

Personally, I hope it sinks.

~~~
stupiduser
This boat is a great advertisement for progressive taxation; under more
extreme progressive taxation Perkins would still have the biggest boat (which
is all he really cares about), it just wouldn't have be nearly so big or
wasteful =P.

~~~
anamax
The only federal taxes that about half Americans pay are for their retirement,
and even that is subsidized by the other half.

Of the "not retirement" taxes, the vast majority is already paid by the
"rich", with a huge fraction coming from the top 5% alone.

How much more progressive should the system be?

And, in Biden's words, shouldn't the rest of America be patriotic, ie pay
taxes?

~~~
DanielBMarkham
When the communists took power in China, mobs would go from house to house in
what was euphemistically called "people's courts" The mob would bring out the
capitalist, demonstrate all of the rewards of their work. Usually they would
be whipped into a frenzy, the idea being that there was no way anybody needed
any of that wealth.

Either you understand how deeply immoral that is or you don't.

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jonknee
They had a tour of the boat on 60 Minutes during a profile of Perkins. Really
high tech, it's almost completely automated with custom software. Another
interesting bit is the amount of carbon fiber, Perkins claims that besides the
Airforce he is the largest purchaser of CF.

[http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/11/01/60minutes/main3442...](http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/11/01/60minutes/main3442193.shtml)

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tlrobinson
If I needed some other job, I think I would want to be a captain or crew on a
mega-yacht. Looks like they have a lot of fun (swimming with whales!):

<http://www.symaltesefalcon.com/log.asp>

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zandorg
I think Jim Clark wins the Big Dick contest with Giant Yacht + Supermodel.

~~~
wmf
I thought Ellison had a supermodel for each day of the week. Is he cutting
back?

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rms
Pssh. Ballmer has a submarine.

~~~
DabAsteroid
...So does Tom Perkins.

<http://www.symaltesefalcon.com/submarine.asp>

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DabAsteroid
Video of the Maltese Falcon in SF Bay:

From small boat #1 (0:14):

<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3nASo9FB78>

From small boat #2 (0:35):

<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LP3YPxEpXNA>

From small boat #3, chasing astride with horns blowing as Falcon transits
under bridge (1:58):

<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OENpqkU6Ihs>

From Marin Headlands (with song Hotel California) (3:29):

<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hhMYfIZWbJw>

From the deck of the Golden Gate Bridge (1:52):

<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CWp-sqM2tDM>

From small boat #4, with view of helicopter (1:04):

<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UuCUhs45Udw>

From small boat #5 (0:19):

<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iaHfLC2SMaE>

