From: dalton.spence@canrem.com (dalton spence)
Newsgroups: alt.callahans
Subject: a square grand
Date: 2 Sep 92 00:49:14 GMT
Reply-To: "dalton spence" <dalton.spence@canrem.com>
Distribution: alt
Organization: Canada Remote Systems

In <1992Aug25.220213.12174#kakwa.ucs.ualberta.ca>,aaron@space.ualberta.ca
(Aaron Humphrey) said the following about A square grand...

>"All right, here's a new game for you all.  What would you do if you
>had a million dollars?  After taxes--you won the lottery, you
>inherited it from a long-lost uncle, whatever.  You have a million
>dollars--heck, two million or ten million.  More money than you
>could possibly get rid of without buying most of a city or Van
>Gogh's "Sunflowers".  So, what do you do?

S-N-M ponders the question. "Unlimited wealth?  I think everyone
has, at one time or another, created their ultimate shopping list.
However, when I think windfall, I usually think in terms of 10 to 15
million dollars (a VERY good Lotto 6/49 prize).  I have a hard time
imagining what I'd do with more, but let me try."

"My most expensive fantasy is financing a motion picture based on
Anne McCaffery's Dragonflight.  It would of course use state of the
art computer generated special effects.  If it was a hit, I might
produce movies based on her other Dragonrider books, and maybe even
a TV series.  A la Hitchcock, I'd play the role of a recognizable
extra (eg. one of the Holders who marched on the Weyr in the first
book).  In time, I would try to make movies or TV shows out of all
my favorite science fiction and fantasy stories."

"Science fiction isn't my only interest.  I have one idea for an
original TV series of romance stories set in the Regency period
(1800-1820) with a regular cast of the notable figures of that time
(Prinny, Beau Brummel, the patronesses of Almacks) as background
characters (sort of a historical Love Boat)."  S-N-M opens his ever
present umbrella to deflect an incoming barrage of peanuts.

"On the personal front, I would buy into my favorite bulletin board
and become a part time sysop (something to fill my idle days after I
quit my job.)  At night, I'd attend computer language courses to
increase my technological vocabulary, and make a career of writing
little utility programs that nobody finds profitable but everybody
needs (and usually have to write themselves).  I would also buy up
as many basic software copyrights and patents as I could and put
them in the public domain (making sure that the authors lose nothing
in the process).  This would (I hope) kickstart the software
industry, and hopefully the economy after that.  As to a change of
residence, I would find a house in a mixed residential-commercial
area and run a small BBS on SOTA equipment out of my home.  I would
hire a small live-in staff that would provide chauffeur, cooking,
cleaning, co-sysop and other (ahem) personal services. (I know what
you're thinking and, uh, you're right <BG>.)"

"I wouldn't forget my family, but sharing the wealth with them would
probably be the most difficult task of all.  I would have to walk
the thin line between being thought niggardly and a soft touch.  My
best bet would be to set up trust funds for my immediate family
(that includes my sibling's spouses and children) to provide them
with a comfortable (but not luxurious) income for life.  My (ahem)
staff would handle the purchase of gifts for special occasions,
subject of course to my personal approval (a personal service you
weren't thinking of, I bet).  As to friends, I only have one close
personal one who is getting married soon, so I could get him and his
bride something really special as a wedding present."

He looks around the Place.  "Of course, I'd get a little something
for all my new net-friends, too."  Pausing, he notices that a few
patrons have forgotten this is all hypothetical.  "How about free
passes to Dragonflight: The Motion Picture?"  Up goes the umbrella
again.  "Maybe an autographed picture?"  He braces himself for an
onslaught of Arachis hypogaea.

/ Dalton S. Spence : UUCP: canrem!dalton.spence  RIME: ->CRS \
\ Scarborough, Ont.: Internet: dalton.spence@canrem.com      /
---
 ~ 1st 1.01a #141 ~ Otherwise Known As: Stranger-No-More (or SNM for short)
--
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