mervelek 1st generation author

yet another new experience has just been announced, called "train for gladiator ii glory." among all the other icons, this one is arguably the most iconic. it's set to take place in the actual colosseum in rome, and they've shared a bit about it on their site. it will feature real gladiator fighting. *

i'm not sure if they'll be choosing actual fighters for this, if not, it might be boring to watch. and will there even be a mass audience allowed to attend? so many questions... it's happening on november 27th, so i guess we'll just have to wait and see.

what i like about this entire icon series is how airbnb focuses on individual experiences rather than trying to cater to everyone, yet still manages to capture the attention of a large audience.

there's a lot of heated debate about whether something like this should even be allowed, but honestly, amidst all the crazy, bad things happening in the world, why not let a crazy good thing like this happen? can't we just enjoy something, even for a little while?

aaand here's their promise: (i'm sold!)
"you will feel the adrenaline rush, the sand between your fingers, and the weight of your armor. you will hear the echoes of gladiators past in the colosseum's catacombs and the unmistakable clank of steel in its arena. you will see the moon's reflection off the travertine stone through the sweat dripping down your face. you will become a gladiator."

one of those books that opened a whole new window to my view of life. i started looking at mice, dolphins, and even the plants around me in a completely different way. i also feel the need to give a shout-out to those dusty pages with the meat-eating conversation at the restaurant at the end of the universe, and that hilarious bit about the robots going offline because of arthur's demand for the perfect tea :)

(and no, i'm not even gonna dive into the whole 42 thing). also i dedicated the limeguide footer note to this masterpiece:

"creating limeguide is our desperate attempt to make "the hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy" a real thing --minus the intergalactic hitchhiking... for now."

a renaissance man, fun, intellectual, nerd, multicultural, and genuinely good person; at least this is how i see him. as someone who is a regular reader of his essays, i can say his ideas, insights, and overall demeanor in both professional and everyday life make him a role model worth emulating. his education is equally extraordinary (as mentioned above).

in a y combinator interview, he mentioned how, while working on the website they later sold to yahoo, he and his friend stumbled into the dark web out of curiosity. if i remember correctly, they were at harvard's library when the fbi detained them. during the interrogation, his friend explained, 'we were just curious to see what's going on there.' after a long questioning session, they were placed under fbi surveillance for a while. classic hacker stuff, right?!

oh, and here's a photo of him (he's the second from the left).