"Hey if you were rich and you couldn't give the money away, what would be something outrageous you've always wanted to buy but couldn't justify spending money on? Give me a completely selfish purchase you'd make."

I probably wouldn't do what a lot of rich people do and get into collecting property or cars or things.

I thought about what I'd actually get and laughed my ass off because it's kind of left field and very dweeby.

I'd get a decent piano and a home telescope that's good enough to see a somewhat decent look at Jupiter. I don't even know how to play the piano, but it would be fun to learn. I've always wanted to. The telescope thing is just because I think space is pretty and you can get pretty decent telescopes now for not that much money. The idea of seeing the surface of a gas giant with a small(ish) home telescope just seems kind of amazing to me.

I realised that both these things together would only cost me like $10k, but no way am I getting a real ass piano while renting. Not enough space and those things are hard to move. So I guess technically I'd have to buy a house too, but I'm not counting things people need like shelter in this thought exercise.

So much of our money just goes to things like healthcare, food, housing. All on basic needs. No wonder capitalists don't want those to be publicly funded, you take away that endless life subscription and profit chasing and I think most people wouldn't actually need that much to be happy.

Anyway what would you buy? The purchase has to be an object, has to be just for enjoyment, and the implication is you can't use the money to do something selfless like fund the revolution or give it to the hungry. I know, booo, but I think it's fun to see what people would do for fun with money, if they didn't have to use it solely for survival. What would your dream purchase be?

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[–] 7 points 2 days ago (2 children)

I think I'd rather travel than have a lot of stuff, but if it has to be possessions. A nice rustic cabin to have a very well appointed woodworking shop with all antique hand tools. Then a nice antique rifle and over under shotgun (Beretta) that happen to be missing the stocks... Oh look over here, a prime selection of walnut! See where I'm going with this? I'd also build myself a 36' sail boat and fucking disappear into the wild blue.

I also want a McLaren F1 LM.

I can do that first one, but it'll be in my garage. And my dad gave me a lot of antique tools that I've been gradually restoring. As for the boat, some day I hope to build a cedar strip canoe and that will have to suffice.

As for the car, I got to rent an exotic car for a birthday years ago and rip it around a track. But that's never going to be an option for a car that they only built 5 of.

All told, I partially live my dreams or they're within reach, and that's pretty nice. 😊

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  • [–] 4 points 2 days ago (1 child)

    Antique woodworking tools are the best. I'm still happy that I got my great grandfather's chisels and regretful that a lot of his other tools were lost because we didn't know what a treasure trove we had on our hand.

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  • Well, if you ever find an antique Stanley plane in rough condition, I can show you how to do a full restoration! I found a recipie for the japaning finish that nearly perfectly matches! Got a local machine shop to perfectly square them too.

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  • [–] 3 points 2 days ago (1 child)

    The Xiaomi SU7 Ultra could probably give some of that McLaren punch in a much more affordable package.

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  • Yeah, I'd love to take it for a spin too! But the thrill of the drive isn't the point of the McLaren. It's center driver position, no power steering, one of the first ever carbon fiber body, no computers, just the pinnacle of a mechanical engineering.

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