It is the kind of event for which cliche sayings like "it's the end of an era" were made. Today is Bill Gates' last day as the chairman of Microsoft, the software company he created and made into an all-encompassing empire. While Gates will remain the non-executive chairman of Microsoft, his full-time job will be with the Gates Foundation, he and wife Melinda's international health non-profit. One of his first stops after bowing out of......

We guess Forbes went back to measuring rich folks. It was announced today, courtesy of Forbes' annual billionaires list, that Bill Gates is no longer the richest man in the world. The title now belongs to U.S. financier Warren Buffett, who had a very good year in 2007. He saw his wealth jump from an estimated $52 billion to $62 billion. A $10 billion year in the midst of a recession--wow. Interestingly, Buffett saw......

A big 'thank you' to Seattlest commenters for making the previous two posts on the Gas Works Park Mystery Party the definitive places for speculation and conjecture. Just this morning an unregistered guest indicated that they'd received an email asking for actors to "protest" the party at $100 a head, which kind of dulls the luster on a previous commenter's note that Melinda Gates's birthday is August, 15. Anyway, in lieu of any actual, factual......

On Saturday, Frank Hughes of the Tacoma News-Tribune reported that local real estate developer Dave Sabey had offered to buy the Sonics from Clay Bennett and make them the centerpiece of a development he's planning south of Boeing Field. By Sunday, Percy Allen of the Seattle Times had interviewed Clay Bennett, who said "I am a friend of Dave Sabey and I respect him as a businessman ... but there's nothing there." Now, today, Gary......

Last week we posted about the story the Los Angeles Times did on the Gates Foundation and how a lot of the Foundations investments are contrary to the charitable work they do. We refrained from heaping scorn on the Foundation because by that time they had agreed to review its portfolio "to determine whether its holdings were socially responsible" and what a portfolio, by the way: the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has some $65.95......

While it's tempting to make fun of the Seattle Times (or the P-I, for that matter) for not getting the story the Los Angeles Times reported this weekend on the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the conflicts that exist between the foundation's charitable work and its financial holdings, and while we're somewhat inclined to point out the fact that no one in Seattle is in a position to say boo to the Gates Foundation,......

Bill Gates announced today that he's leaving Microsoft to join Robert Scobleizer at Podtech.net where the two will do a call-in style podcast together to air three times a week. It will also include the two of them riffing on the tech news and prank dialing startups ("Hi, this is Bill Gates, I have a billion I'd like to invest in your...olefactorycasts? Ahahahahahaha! Right! Ahahahahaha!"). The two were said to share a moment of sad......

You've heard of Gawker Stalker, right? When someone spots a celeb walking around Manhattan they notify the Gawker website of the identity and location of said star and a bunch of weirdos can track them on a map. Celebrities hate it and stalkers and people who think it's funny to piss of celebrities love it. Well today and tomorrow Seattlest is adapting the stalker game for use here, except in our version there's only one......

Seattle's own Bill Gates was named Time magazine's Man, or "Person," of the Year. Well, he and that wife of his, Melinda, who will share the honor with 'You Too' front man Bono. The magazine chose the three because of their, "charitable work and activism, and not because, "we needed to pick two white people and a foreigner, " like in 1987. The Medina couple's Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (selfishly named after themselves) has......

Salon.com is reporting today that The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, local philanthropy extrodinaire, has pledged ten million smackaroos to the Discovery Institute since 2000. Wait, you say, the same Discovery Institute tank of thinkers that promotes Intelligent Design? Yes, we tell you, that same Discovery Institute. Say it ain't so, Bill. The money was specifically given to the Cascadia Project to research transportation issues in the area. Seattlest is anxiously awaiting a report from......

Thanks to Mister Snitch for alerting us that Bill Gates is legally changing his name to 'The Gates', after buying all rights to the name from the artist Christo for $30 million. The Gates was knighted last night in a private ceremony (hot!) with the Queen of England. The Redmond PR department has requested that Seattlest refer to the Microsoft founder as "The Gates, Knight Commander of the British Empire" from here forward. In other,......