OpenStax College is an initiative at Rice University which has been creating peer-reviewed open textbooks, available in both print and digital formats, since 2012. To compete with major publishers’ offerings, the project was initially funded by Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation along with the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, the 20 Million Minds Foundation, and the Maxfield Foundation. The textbooks are published under Creative Commons Attribution Licenses and could be changed to suit the users’ requirements.(source)
14 Bill Gates offered $100,000 to scientists to develop a next generation ultra-thin “barely there” condom that can offer better sexual pleasure and make men less reluctant to use protection.
Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation received many proposals from scientists as a part of a program known as Grand Challenges. This program aims to improve the lives of the poor. So far, the foundation has given a grant of $100,000 to the University of Manchester to research a condom that uses the super-light conductive material called graphene. $100,000 more went to the University of Oregon for a proposal that uses polyurethane to create a seal around the penis and is half as thick. The idea is to create a “barely there” feel as men say they experience decreased sexual pleasure while using condoms.(source)
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15 Bill Gates has sponsored a machine that can turn feces into drinking water and electricity.
As part of an effort to improve the lives of people in developing countries, the Gates Foundation has been funding research on “Omniprocessor”. This is a machine that burns human waste matter, and in turn, produces water and electricity. The project is an effort to, as Gates says, reinvent sewage treatment plant. He also says that, if the waste is fed to the Omniprocessor instead of dumping it in water bodies, it would be burned safely at a 1000 degrees Celsius. The machine uses a steam engine and is self-sustaining in the sense that it produces enough energy to burn the next batch of waste. Manufactured by Janicki Bioenergy, a new larger model, which is under development, is capable of turning waste from 100,000 people per day and turn it into 86,000 liters of water and 250KW of electricity.(1, 2)
16 Bill Gates has a lifetime McDonald’s Gold Card for unlimited free food.
According to Warren Buffet, Bill Gates’ longtime friend and a holder of the fabled Gold Card himself, Gates’ Gold Card is valid worldwide. Apart from Gates, other lucky people who received the card include the actor Rob Lowe, Charles Ramsey, a goalie named Andrew Hammond, and a philanthropist emcee named Larry Crandell.(source)
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17 The net worth of Bill Gates is 5 times more than North Korea’s expected GDP
As of 2014, the Gross Domestic Product of North Korea was $17.4 billion, which comprises 0.03% of the world’s economy, while Bill Gates’ net worth was estimated to be $90 billion. Apart from his company, Microsoft, there are various sources of income for Gates such as his possessions in Canadian National Railway Company and Ecolab.(source)
18The only thing left on Bill Gates’ bucket list is “Don’t die.”
In a Reddit AMA, Bill Gates has answered many questions posed by various Redditors on topics varying from his technology and his philanthropic work to his personal life. One Redditor asked why, despite being a billionaire, he would only leave $10 million to his children. He answered that “giving kids massive amounts of money is not a favor to them.” Another Redditor asked if he could still jump over chairs, to which he replied that he can’t do it as well as he used to and that it was part of an exercise for snow skiing.(source)
