5 ms·

I should start a business selling thin air. Thin air from France, thin air from Japan, thin air from Mexico, and so on, you can collect them all, it is super fu

by wott 9y ago

I should start a business selling thin air. Thin air from France, thin air from Japan, thin air from Mexico, and so on, you can collect them all, it is super fun. Then I could introduce cold captured thin air, warm captured thin air, etc. Wet thin air, dry thin air for year 3. More fun every year. Even better, I should sell just a paper (well, an electronic one) stating you own some thin air. Hey, geeks, how cool can this get? I am sure I could find buyers in the same market as cryptocurrencies. PS: This is not directed at you, but you expressed the level of pointlessness and... void that reigns in this 'market', so I picked your message to place my joke/rant.

antisthenes 9y ago
As long as you record the transactions for air in a blockchain, you should be good.
malikNF 9y ago
this reminds me of, http://www.cnn.com/2016/02/08/world/fresh-air-britain-china-bottles/index.html http://www.cnn.com/2016/02/08/world/fresh-air-britain-china-...
tootie 9y ago
A few years ago, Cards Against Humanity ran a Black Friday campaign where you send them $5 and get absolutely nothing in return. https://cardsagainsthumanity.com/blackfriday/ https://cardsagainsthumanity.com/blackfriday/
- TheDauthi 9y ago
  I wish they'd run this campaign again so I could buy a second.
  - _pmf_ 9y ago
    Now, now; don't be greedy!
  - jnordwick 9y ago
    I'll sell you mine.
- jameshart 9y ago
  I wonder what that's worth now? Be interesting to see what you could fetch by putting up the 'nothing' you bought from CAH for sale.
yeukhon 9y ago
http://www.bbc.com/capital/story/20170515-the-entrepreneurs-making-money-out-of-thin-air http://www.bbc.com/capital/story/20170515-the-entrepreneurs-... Of course, this just shows how bad the air pollution is in China. Then again, water bottle brands like Nestlé's Poland Spring Water are just using "Poland Spring" as a gimmick and a ad-bait. So you definitely can sell thin air at different price based on "where the air was collected."
yoodenvranx 9y ago
> Thin air from France, thin air from Japan That reminds me of "Perri-Air" from the movie Spaceballs: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gzbIrb7LUJA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gzbIrb7LUJA
- stryk 9y ago
  At times I feel a lot like Prince Valium when reading about all the crypto-currency hubbub.
- velodrome 9y ago
  Perri-Benzene http://www.nytimes.com/1990/02/10/us/perrier-recalls-its-water-in-us-after-benzene-is-found-in-bottles.html http://www.nytimes.com/1990/02/10/us/perrier-recalls-its-wat...
__sha3d2 9y ago
I'm not kidding when I say that you would be surprised at the size of the market for canned air. I made this same joke several years ago and then looked into it and was blown away.
- notjustanymike 9y ago
  Canned Air: It'll Blow You Away
- heartbreak 9y ago
  There's value added to canned air at least.
- SAI_Peregrinus 9y ago
  That typically isn't air (80% Nitrogen 20% Oxygen) but a liquefied compressed gas such as 1,1,1,2-tetrafluoroethane. They're very handy for cleaning things, especially computer heat sinks. Much more portable and cheaper than an air compressor.
- scarmig 9y ago
  You're not paying for the air. You're paying for the pressure differential.
Joeboy 9y ago
Named "Useless Ethereum Token", with the strapline "seriously, don't buy these tokens", raised $187k worth of ETH. https://uetoken.com/ https://uetoken.com/
- velodrome 9y ago
  A+ for transparency.
SyneRyder 9y ago
That also reminds me of Yves Klein's Zone de Sensibilité Picturale Immatérielle:: In the performance piece, Zone de Sensibilité Picturale Immatérielle (Zones of Immaterial Pictorial Sensibility) 1959–62, he offered empty spaces in the city in exchange for gold. He wanted his buyers to experience The Void by selling them empty space. In his view this experience could only be paid for in the purest material: gold. In exchange, he gave a certificate of ownership to the buyer. As the second part of the piece, performed on the Seine with an Art critic in attendance, if the buyer agreed to set fire to the certificate, Klein would throw half the gold into the river, in order to restore the "natural order" that he had unbalanced by selling the empty space (that was now not "empty" anymore). [1] [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yves_Klein https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yves_Klein [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zone_de_Sensibilit%C3%A9_Picturale_Immat%C3%A9rielle https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zone_de_Sensibilit%C3%A9_Pictu...
gregcrv 9y ago
http://www.airdemontcuq.fr/ http://www.airdemontcuq.fr/ It's already sold in France. "Air de Montcuq" -> air de mon cul ( air from my ass )
cgb223 9y ago
I'm going to fork your thin air, and create "Thick Air" with the only difference being the blocksize of the available air It'll be able to handle 8x as much air transfer as yours and have a minority following that will always bite at your heels
koolba 9y ago
> Even better, I should sell just a paper (well, an electronic one) stating you own some thin air. Hey, geeks, how cool can this get? That idea has been around for hundreds of years: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indulgence https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indulgence
dsp1234 9y ago
Even better, I should sell just a paper (well, an electronic one) stating you own some thin air. That's basically what this is: https://www.star-registration.com/ https://www.star-registration.com/
kinkrtyavimoodh 9y ago
You joke but I'd be happy to invest if I think that I could sell that thin air after a month for twice what I bought it for. So make THAT happen for thin air and we are good.
- scarmig 9y ago
  But you can hold onto it for two months, and sell it for quadruple what you bought it for instead! You just have to make sure not to be one of those idiotic idiots left holding the idiot bag like an idiot.
martin-adams 9y ago
If you can make an app that has some variable change in the air investment every few minutes, hitting that dopamine high, you could be onto a winner.
remcob 9y ago
This has been done! At least, as a joke. Back in the dot-com bubble the financial website IEX.nl announced an April first IPO for 'F/rite Air' (fried air). They received a significant sum in offers… Source: https://web.archive.org/web/20050831124638/http://www.iex.nl/columns/columns_artikel.asp?colid=3622 https://web.archive.org/web/20050831124638/http://www.iex.nl...
lloyd-christmas 9y ago
> Even better, I should sell just a paper (well, an electronic one) stating you own some thin air. http://www.airrightsny.com/ http://www.airrightsny.com/ In concept, it's obviously not the joke you're making. In practicality, it's exactly the content of your joke.
y04nn 9y ago
Salt, sea shells and gold were used as currencies in the past, any limited limited ressources would do. Companies even trade CO2 emissions... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emissions_trading https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emissions_trading
RileyJames 9y ago
You joke, but they buy fresh air in canisters in China, shipped from non-polluted locations, like Australia, NZ & Canada. All things are not abundant in all places: http://www.bbc.com/capital/story/20170515-the-entrepreneurs-making-money-out-of-thin-air http://www.bbc.com/capital/story/20170515-the-entrepreneurs-...
dannygarcia 9y ago
You couldn't get me to pay a cent for air now. But please let me know when the air futures exchange opens.
phil248 9y ago
No offense taken, but how can I purchase some of your foreign air bonds? I hope cash is OK!
worldexplorer 9y ago
Maybe you can sell thin air from here in Himalayas. It will actually hold some value too for polluted places.

by wott 9y ago

antisthenes 9y ago

As long as you record the transactions for air in a blockchain, you should be good.

malikNF 9y ago

this reminds me of, http://www.cnn.com/2016/02/08/world/fresh-air-britain-china-bottles/index.html http://www.cnn.com/2016/02/08/world/fresh-air-britain-china-...

tootie 9y ago

A few years ago, Cards Against Humanity ran a Black Friday campaign where you send them $5 and get absolutely nothing in return. https://cardsagainsthumanity.com/blackfriday/ https://cardsagainsthumanity.com/blackfriday/

TheDauthi 9y ago
I wish they'd run this campaign again so I could buy a second.
- _pmf_ 9y ago
  Now, now; don't be greedy!
- jnordwick 9y ago
  I'll sell you mine.
jameshart 9y ago
I wonder what that's worth now? Be interesting to see what you could fetch by putting up the 'nothing' you bought from CAH for sale.

yeukhon 9y ago

http://www.bbc.com/capital/story/20170515-the-entrepreneurs-making-money-out-of-thin-air http://www.bbc.com/capital/story/20170515-the-entrepreneurs-... Of course, this just shows how bad the air pollution is in China. Then again, water bottle brands like Nestlé's Poland Spring Water are just using "Poland Spring" as a gimmick and a ad-bait. So you definitely can sell thin air at different price based on "where the air was collected."

yoodenvranx 9y ago

> Thin air from France, thin air from Japan That reminds me of "Perri-Air" from the movie Spaceballs: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gzbIrb7LUJA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gzbIrb7LUJA

stryk 9y ago
At times I feel a lot like Prince Valium when reading about all the crypto-currency hubbub.
velodrome 9y ago
Perri-Benzene http://www.nytimes.com/1990/02/10/us/perrier-recalls-its-water-in-us-after-benzene-is-found-in-bottles.html http://www.nytimes.com/1990/02/10/us/perrier-recalls-its-wat...

__sha3d2 9y ago

I'm not kidding when I say that you would be surprised at the size of the market for canned air. I made this same joke several years ago and then looked into it and was blown away.

notjustanymike 9y ago
Canned Air: It'll Blow You Away
heartbreak 9y ago
There's value added to canned air at least.
SAI_Peregrinus 9y ago
That typically isn't air (80% Nitrogen 20% Oxygen) but a liquefied compressed gas such as 1,1,1,2-tetrafluoroethane. They're very handy for cleaning things, especially computer heat sinks. Much more portable and cheaper than an air compressor.
scarmig 9y ago
You're not paying for the air. You're paying for the pressure differential.

Joeboy 9y ago

Named "Useless Ethereum Token", with the strapline "seriously, don't buy these tokens", raised $187k worth of ETH. https://uetoken.com/ https://uetoken.com/

velodrome 9y ago
A+ for transparency.

SyneRyder 9y ago

That also reminds me of Yves Klein's Zone de Sensibilité Picturale Immatérielle:: In the performance piece, Zone de Sensibilité Picturale Immatérielle (Zones of Immaterial Pictorial Sensibility) 1959–62, he offered empty spaces in the city in exchange for gold. He wanted his buyers to experience The Void by selling them empty space. In his view this experience could only be paid for in the purest material: gold. In exchange, he gave a certificate of ownership to the buyer. As the second part of the piece, performed on the Seine with an Art critic in attendance, if the buyer agreed to set fire to the certificate, Klein would throw half the gold into the river, in order to restore the "natural order" that he had unbalanced by selling the empty space (that was now not "empty" anymore). [1] [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yves_Klein https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yves_Klein [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zone_de_Sensibilit%C3%A9_Picturale_Immat%C3%A9rielle https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zone_de_Sensibilit%C3%A9_Pictu...

gregcrv 9y ago

http://www.airdemontcuq.fr/ http://www.airdemontcuq.fr/ It's already sold in France. "Air de Montcuq" -> air de mon cul ( air from my ass )

cgb223 9y ago

I'm going to fork your thin air, and create "Thick Air" with the only difference being the blocksize of the available air It'll be able to handle 8x as much air transfer as yours and have a minority following that will always bite at your heels

koolba 9y ago

> Even better, I should sell just a paper (well, an electronic one) stating you own some thin air. Hey, geeks, how cool can this get? That idea has been around for hundreds of years: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indulgence https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indulgence

dsp1234 9y ago

Even better, I should sell just a paper (well, an electronic one) stating you own some thin air. That's basically what this is: https://www.star-registration.com/ https://www.star-registration.com/

kinkrtyavimoodh 9y ago

You joke but I'd be happy to invest if I think that I could sell that thin air after a month for twice what I bought it for. So make THAT happen for thin air and we are good.

scarmig 9y ago
But you can hold onto it for two months, and sell it for quadruple what you bought it for instead! You just have to make sure not to be one of those idiotic idiots left holding the idiot bag like an idiot.

martin-adams 9y ago

If you can make an app that has some variable change in the air investment every few minutes, hitting that dopamine high, you could be onto a winner.

remcob 9y ago

This has been done! At least, as a joke. Back in the dot-com bubble the financial website IEX.nl announced an April first IPO for 'F/rite Air' (fried air). They received a significant sum in offers… Source: https://web.archive.org/web/20050831124638/http://www.iex.nl/columns/columns_artikel.asp?colid=3622 https://web.archive.org/web/20050831124638/http://www.iex.nl...

lloyd-christmas 9y ago

> Even better, I should sell just a paper (well, an electronic one) stating you own some thin air. http://www.airrightsny.com/ http://www.airrightsny.com/ In concept, it's obviously not the joke you're making. In practicality, it's exactly the content of your joke.

y04nn 9y ago

Salt, sea shells and gold were used as currencies in the past, any limited limited ressources would do. Companies even trade CO2 emissions... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emissions_trading https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emissions_trading

RileyJames 9y ago

You joke, but they buy fresh air in canisters in China, shipped from non-polluted locations, like Australia, NZ & Canada. All things are not abundant in all places: http://www.bbc.com/capital/story/20170515-the-entrepreneurs-making-money-out-of-thin-air http://www.bbc.com/capital/story/20170515-the-entrepreneurs-...

dannygarcia 9y ago

You couldn't get me to pay a cent for air now. But please let me know when the air futures exchange opens.

phil248 9y ago

No offense taken, but how can I purchase some of your foreign air bonds? I hope cash is OK!

worldexplorer 9y ago

Maybe you can sell thin air from here in Himalayas. It will actually hold some value too for polluted places.