What the fuck are these fuckers even doing on these behemoths?
I get the appeal of sailing a yacht around the Mediterranean but with the size of these juggernauts you probably can’t even dock at most smaller harbors.
I can actually think of a rational purpose for Newell specifically, although it doesn’t remotely justify the extravagance of his yacht. From what we know, he seems to be COVID-conscious:
Newell had previously requested a remote deposition, saying “that he is at risk of developing a serious illness were he to contract Covid-19,” according to the filing, and thus “has structured his life to minimize exposure to possible Covid-19 transmission. According to Mr. Newell, an in-person deposition, even with the health measures which plaintiffs propose, is not consistent with those safeguards.”
He has indeed taken steps to avoid exposure to the pandemic: Newell famously spent a good chunk of time through 2020-21 in New Zealand as a “Covid refugee.” The court rejected his argument, however, saying that while Covid-19 presents “continued public health risks,” Newell failed to present any substantial evidence that he’s at greater risk of serious illness arising from Covid-19 than the general public—and even if he had, Wolfire’s lawyers “would be unduly prejudiced by a remote deposition given Mr. Newell’s unique knowledge as to defendant’s business strategies.”
To accommodate Newell’s concerns, the court ordered that everyone in the courtroom must wear an N95 or compatible mask during his appearance, although Newell himself will have to remove his mask when answering questions.
Speaking from personal experience, one of the greatest obstacles to creating a COVID-safe bubble is trust. The only person I trust to fastidiously take precautions is, mercifully, also my roommate. But I’ve heard so many horror stories of people infected by family and “friends” who lied about precautions and/or test results. From the perspective of a billionaire who has close contact with a bunch of staff (cleaning, cooking, administrative, etc.), there’s just no way that you can trust (or legally enforce) that people are taking precautions when they go home at the end of the day. But what if they didn’t go home? And what if you could ensure this, beyond a shadow of a doubt? Therein lies the appeal of living on a yacht. You do one set of PCR tests when the crew boards, and then you can relax as long as you’re at sea.
To be clear, I am in no way defending the purchase of such a grotesquely expensive yacht. He’s apparently involved in some research on technology for instant detection of airborne pathogens, but detection is sort of beside the point at this stage…for the rest of use who DON’T live on megayachts, we need to clean the air. He could, for example, equip all King County (Seattle) public schools with top-of-the-line ventilation and filtration systems, or set up a matching grant system to fund programs like that across the country, fund (and perhaps more importantly, publicize) research to show how these measures drastically reduce disease burden and improve student outcomes. He could use his wealth and influence to campaign for laws to require monitoring of air quality and enforcement of indoor air quality standards. But no, he’s content to use his massive wealth to insulate him, individually, from the consequences of the COVID pandemic, and let the rest of us fend for ourselves. I can at least understand it (unlike billionaires crashing out on Twitter, which truly boggles the mind), but that doesn’t make it defensive.
As for people not named Gabe Newell…some combination of dickwaving and horrifying criminal acts, I’d guess.
He needs to have more than one yacht if he’s that distrusting. He would need his main yacht that never contacts with the outside world on top of a quarantine yacht that only contacts with the outside world for food and fuel at select times and only makes contact with the main yacht after two weeks have passed since contact with the outside world.
What the fuck are these fuckers even doing on these behemoths?
I get the appeal of sailing a yacht around the Mediterranean but with the size of these juggernauts you probably can’t even dock at most smaller harbors.
I can actually think of a rational purpose for Newell specifically, although it doesn’t remotely justify the extravagance of his yacht. From what we know, he seems to be COVID-conscious:
https://www.pcgamer.com/court-rules-gabe-newell-must-appear-in-person-to-testify-in-steam-anti-trust-lawsuit/
Speaking from personal experience, one of the greatest obstacles to creating a COVID-safe bubble is trust. The only person I trust to fastidiously take precautions is, mercifully, also my roommate. But I’ve heard so many horror stories of people infected by family and “friends” who lied about precautions and/or test results. From the perspective of a billionaire who has close contact with a bunch of staff (cleaning, cooking, administrative, etc.), there’s just no way that you can trust (or legally enforce) that people are taking precautions when they go home at the end of the day. But what if they didn’t go home? And what if you could ensure this, beyond a shadow of a doubt? Therein lies the appeal of living on a yacht. You do one set of PCR tests when the crew boards, and then you can relax as long as you’re at sea.
To be clear, I am in no way defending the purchase of such a grotesquely expensive yacht. He’s apparently involved in some research on technology for instant detection of airborne pathogens, but detection is sort of beside the point at this stage…for the rest of use who DON’T live on megayachts, we need to clean the air. He could, for example, equip all King County (Seattle) public schools with top-of-the-line ventilation and filtration systems, or set up a matching grant system to fund programs like that across the country, fund (and perhaps more importantly, publicize) research to show how these measures drastically reduce disease burden and improve student outcomes. He could use his wealth and influence to campaign for laws to require monitoring of air quality and enforcement of indoor air quality standards. But no, he’s content to use his massive wealth to insulate him, individually, from the consequences of the COVID pandemic, and let the rest of us fend for ourselves. I can at least understand it (unlike billionaires crashing out on Twitter, which truly boggles the mind), but that doesn’t make it defensive.
As for people not named Gabe Newell…some combination of dickwaving and horrifying criminal acts, I’d guess.
He needs to have more than one yacht if he’s that distrusting. He would need his main yacht that never contacts with the outside world on top of a quarantine yacht that only contacts with the outside world for food and fuel at select times and only makes contact with the main yacht after two weeks have passed since contact with the outside world.
They have second yacht for the help