The Finch Formerly Known As Gold

22 September 2006

Step 2 is the hardest

Okay, one white iPod. Here's the pitch:

Remember that dude who gradually traded up from a red paper clip to a house? Well, I was thinking about that this morning and got to wondering: What if you took that scheme, but started with something of substantial value, something most people actually want, something like an iPod? Then I did some math:

1000 paper clips cost $5.48 at Staples which means a single red paper clip is worth 0.548 cents.

The average home price in Saskatchewan (where the dude finally traded up for a house) is C$134,000 which converts to about $119,000 in American money or approximately 21,715,328 times the value of the original paperclip.

So, I concluded that if I begin with a lightly-used 20gb iPod Photo, which appears to be worth about $150, I should be able to trade up to something valued at around $3,257,299,200. The only question left was what I wanted that costs around $3 billion.

What he decided he wanted: Dreamworks SKG, which was acquired by Viacom recently for $1.6 billion.

Me, I think he's gonna have to adjust his goal slightly to allow for the been-there-done-that factor. I hear Facebook's for sale.

(Via Defamer.)

Posted at 3:03 PM to Almost Yogurt


Ah. Dreamworks comes saddled with Jeff Katzenberg, who once famously said that the reason DW's animations were laying large goose eggs at the box office under his watch was because the public only wanted 3D. (Factors such as a compelling plot, hummable tunes, the blockbuster South Park picture and The Simpsons never enetered his tiny mind. Because that would have meant DW's abysmal showing was -shudder- his fault.)

So, you know, insist on a discount.

Posted by: Mister Snitch! at 7:18 PM on 22 September 2006

Maybe he can trade Katzenberg for something else, like, say, a stone for a New England mill.

Posted by: CGHill at 10:39 AM on 23 September 2006

I personally would reimburse anyone able to use Katz in that way.

Posted by: Mister Snitch! at 3:31 PM on 24 September 2006