How much for the goat?

What do you mean? There's no goat.

But if you had a goat, how much would it be?

How do I know? I don't have a goat.

You're not getting it. If you have a goat someday, how much would it be?

What are you selling?

I'm not selling anything, I want to buy your goat.

But I don't have a goat.

But I want to buy your goat. So how much?

Uh...a thousand dollars?

Are you crazy? For that goat? A thousand dollars? I'll give you five hundred.

Deal!

Alright, so here's five hundred dollars. When you get that goat, ship it on over to me.

Shipping is another five hundred.

Oh, well. I'll pick it up then. Just give me a call when it comes in.

Okay! Good doing business with you.

*****

You ever get the feeling that we've been had? Constantly being had.

If they tell you to buy gold, it's because they want to sell you their gold. And it's not even gold. It's just an electronic blip of gold. But there's never been a better time to buy. And gold stays gold forever. Even when it's not actually gold. It's the idea of gold.

How much is an idea worth to you. A notion. Sometimes a great notion. Sometimes a novel that is so impenetrable you wonder why they printed the thing up on actual paper. Maybe they should have just said there is a novel and you can buy it, but all you get is the title. And a dream of a notion.

People buy and sell ideas all the time. Ideas for things that don't actually exist. Kinda like Iraq having WMDs.

There might be a lot of things. There are a lot of things. And then there are things that aren't.

Y'know, back in the 80s, the record companies were telling everyone that cassette tapes were killing music. Stealing money from musicians. And now the umbrella corporation representing all the "musicians" (but really the record companies that own the musicians) sue music consumers for millions of dollars because they didn't pay for some digital file. Something that exists, but doesn't really exist. It's so ephemeral that with one click it can be deleted forever. And this thing that's not really a thing is so valuable it will bankrupt some nobody who "stole" it off the Interwebs.

I don't have a point this week. I just have an idea. And this idea isn't really worth that much. I'll sell it to you if you want, though. I'll make up an invoice and send you a bill through Paypal.

Once you put the money down, my idea goat can be yours forever.

Matt Worley went on a trip. But he didn't go anywhere. And when he got back he couldn't remember what happened. He forgot to take pictures, too. But he did get the bill.