What would you do with a $500 million lottery win?

[grantwilliams]

I thought it would be cool to see what people would want to do if you just 500 million dollars through the lottery. I think I would want to be a professional student and earn a bunch of degrees, or be a fireman/EMT.

 

[Curious3141]

Race car driver. Also frontman of my own death metal band.

 

[grantwilliams]

Race car driver. Also frontman of my own death metal band.

I thought buying crap cars and fixing them and racing them would be awesome as well

 

[Monique]

I'd use the money for funding of my research, 500 million should do the trick.

 

[turbo]

I'd set up a trust fund to help poor kids go to college, and continue to live in the woods and tend my garden. Maybe I'd buy a bigger piece of land farther away from others, but I'd still build nothing bigger than this place, all on one floor. I'd add a root cellar, too, but that's about it.

 

[grantwilliams]

I'd set up a trust fund to help poor kids go to college, and continue to live in the woods and tend my garden. Maybe I'd buy a bigger piece of land farther away from others, but I'd still build nothing bigger than this place, all on one floor. I'd add a root cellar, too, but that's about it.

There is something oddly satisfying about working on a ranch or a farm/garden. I used to love to go to my uncle's ranch and help him with various jobs and I wouldn't mind a job like that either.

 

[cobalt124]

Buy a cottage in the middle of nowhere for me and my family and keep horses and possibly start an animal sanctuary.

 

[leroyjenkens]

Buy a ton of rockets, strap them to the ground facing the same direction, and slow down the Earth's rotation.

 

[Chi Meson]

With 500 million dollars... what a thought!
I'd set aside a cool million for each kid once they finish college... hmm, 497 mil left...

I'd get an architecture degree, and then build a couple of thousand tiny-footprint homes across the country; pick the one I like best, sell the rest.

 

[zoobyshoe]

I spend about 100 million buying rental properties outright. Then I'd rent them out and start raking in the income.

Then I'd buy a machine shop, people it with retired machinists who wanted something to do, and have them manufacture scientific demonstration equipment from Navy scrap metal to be given free to high schools.

I'd poll the high school physics teachers here to see what equipment they wished they had, and get the PF engineers to design prints of the sturdiest practical embodiments.

The labor would be all volunteer, but there'd still be electricity bills, shipping costs, etc. That would come out of the rental properties income. I'd own them outright, fee simple, so their only expenses would be taxes, insurance, and maintenance and management. Plenty of profit to put into the shop.

Then I'd buy a 24 hour coffee house and sit in it all day and night and draw in between answering the phone.

 

[wuliheron]

I'd found a TV channel dedicated to exposing the abuses of corporations and then see how much they offer to buy me out.

 

[Evo]

I'd fund animal sanctuaries and free veterinary clinics for people that can't afford it, especially emergency or major illness.

 

[D H]

I'd give a small amount to good tax lawyer so as to avoid "donating" half of it to various governments as taxes.

 

[Drakkith]

I thought it would be cool to see what people would want to do if you just 500 million dollars through the lottery. I think I would want to be a professional student and earn a bunch of degrees, or be a fireman/EMT.

Other than going to school and buying myself an awesome telescope or twelve, I'd go to the guys at EMC2 and pour some money into their fusion research using the Polywell.

 

[rootX]

Go around the world and become a Nat Geo Explorer :!)

 

[Dr Transport]

sell my house, move farther into the woods off of a road without a name. I'd put a sign out in front saying "Trespassers will be shot, survivors shot again". As for the job, I'd keep the one I have just to tick off all of my co-workers.

 

[nonequilibrium]

Start my own university.

 

[AnTiFreeze3]

I would like to address the issue of poverty, starvation, birth control issues, disease, warfare, lack of education, and lack of proper medication that arises when you examine Africa. I still find it relatively difficult to believe that one continent is so far behind the others, but I suppose that's what happens when their borders and tribal boundaries are completely neglected when European countries exploited their people for labor and profit, and then left the continent, with the hopes that it wouldn't fall to pieces.

Neil Degrasse Tyson put it eloquently when he examined how, in the earlier states of mathematics and all intellectual progress (the invention of Algebra, examination of the number '0', numerous contributions to engineering), the Arabs were ahead of everyone else. Baghdad, around 1000 A.D, was the intellectual haven of the world, where everyone was welcome to express their knowledge without scrutiny of any religion, which might suppress their findings at the time.

(Notice how our numbers are called 'Arabic' numerals).

Hamid Al-Ghazali, an Arabic and Islamic scholar, introduces the widely devoured philosophy that mathematics is the work of the devil. From that point forward, the whole intellectual community of the Middle East collapses, and has never recovered from this state.

Neil Tyson emphasizes strongly how, since the installation of the Nobel Prizes, there have been two Muslim winners, one of which was from Pakistan, yet Jews have won upwards of 1/4 of the Nobel Prizes. Proportionally speaking, almost every one of those Nobel Prizes should be given to Muslims, because of the ridiculous number of people in the world who are Muslim.

I essentially see that same scenario happening with Africa, but instead of it being fueled by fear of religious persecution that smothers intellectual progress, it's a staggering lack of necessary and fundamental tools for life that is potentially stopping any contributions from Africa. If you choose to look at it this way, then instead of only bettering the lives of humans who are in despairingly cruel situations, you are also tapping into the intellectual power held within an unjustly impoverished continent.

 

[Curious3141]

Neil Degrasse Tyson put it eloquently when he examined how, in the earlier states of mathematics and all intellectual progress (the invention of Algebra, examination of the number '0', numerous contributions to engineering), the Arabs were ahead of everyone else. Baghdad, around 1000 A.D, was the intellectual haven of the world, where everyone was welcome to express their knowledge without scrutiny of any religion, which might suppress their findings at the time.

(Notice how our numbers are called 'Arabic' numerals).

Just to correct a misconception here: those numerals should properly be called "Indian numerals" or "Hindu numerals", since they were first devised by Indian mathematicians. They were later propagated to Persian and Arabian mathematicians, centuries later. The concept of zero also came from India.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hindu–Arabic_numeral_system

Hamid Al-Ghazali, an Arabic and Islamic scholar, introduces the widely devoured philosophy that mathematics is the work of the devil. From that point forward, the whole intellectual community of the Middle East collapses, and has never recovered from this state.

Religious fundamentalism is the bane of intellectual progress, but similar factors were at play in the Western countries, too. Yet, they somehow overcame that with great and heroic efforts.

Neil Tyson emphasizes strongly how, since the installation of the Nobel Prizes, there have been two Muslim winners, one of which was from Pakistan, yet Jews have won upwards of 1/4 of the Nobel Prizes. Proportionally speaking, almost every one of those Nobel Prizes should be given to Muslims, because of the ridiculous number of people in the world who are Muslim.

If Tyson said this, he's really treading on thin ice, IMO. I have no idea the insinuation that he (or you) intends by bringing up the Jewish winners. If he wants to talk about underrepresentation of certain groups in Math and Science, that's fair game, but to talk about overrepresentation of other groups borders on offensive.

 

[chiro]

I'd buy some land and property, and create places for people to live and make the conditions that the land and property can never take any ownership of any sort by anyone (basically make it sovereign) and then spend some time establishing a framework for giving citizens the opportunity for using the properties to live in, when they face extenuating circumstances. Basically a kind of public housing with a committee that follows a protocol for allocating properties for people in need.

The protocol itself would be the hardest thing because you would want the conditions to promote independence and to use it as a temporary means rather than as a permanent one, meaning that if people try to abuse the privilege, they get kicked out and the place is given to other people who really need it and want to get back on their feet.

Anything that is left over after the project is finished is to be placed in a trust with very strict conditions about use of funds that helps keep the project going.

 

[member 392791]

travel the world all the time.

 

[Ryan_m_b]

I'd use the money for funding of my research, 500 million should do the trick.

This..

travel the world all the time.

...and this

 

[Drakkith]

travel the world all the time.

Pff...I'd make the world travel to see ME!

 

[Pkruse]

I'd park the money someplace safe for one year and spend that time studying my options. The I'd make a decision.

 

[AnTiFreeze3]

If Tyson said this, he's really treading on thin ice, IMO. I have no idea the insinuation that he (or you) intends by bringing up the Jewish winners. If he wants to talk about underrepresentation of certain groups in Math and Science, that's fair game, but to talk about overrepresentation of other groups borders on offensive.

I can't really argue with everything else, seeing as I would be arguing against facts, but his issue wasn't with over-representation, he was merely bringing up the fact that, if you compare the number of Muslims to Jews, then proportionally speaking, there should statistically be far more Muslim recipients than a measly two.

He (and myself) were not expressing some personal vendetta about Jews being awarded too many Nobel Prizes, that would be unethical.

Here's a link to the video, so that you can judge it for yourself, if you wish: http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Ti3mtDC2fQo

(I'm using a tablet right now, so I can only access the mobile version of the video. If it becomes necessary, then I'll edit it later and add the normal link.)

 

[leroyjenkens]

Neil Tyson emphasizes strongly how, since the installation of the Nobel Prizes, there have been two Muslim winners, one of which was from Pakistan, yet Jews have won upwards of 1/4 of the Nobel Prizes. Proportionally speaking, almost every one of those Nobel Prizes should be given to Muslims, because of the ridiculous number of people in the world who are Muslim.

There's more Christians than Muslims.

 

[turbo]

There is something oddly satisfying about working on a ranch or a farm/garden. I used to love to go to my uncle's ranch and help him with various jobs and I wouldn't mind a job like that either.

I'd have to leave out the "oddly", since I was brought up gardening as a pup, and had to help out on my uncle's little farm tending the Herefords and feeding and helping slaughter the pigs. It's in my blood. I have had enough of traveling. There is nowhere I want to go. I have enough here, and would use the money to send poor but deserving kids to college.

I had to quit college because my funds ran out. I did fine in the construction industry and ended up doing consulting work all over the East after a stint in pulp and paper, but that's an exception, probably. I'd rather educate a steady stream of kids from this rural back-water and see what they can give back.

 

[zoobyshoe]

I can't really argue with everything else, seeing as I would be arguing against facts, but his issue wasn't with over-representation, he was merely bringing up the fact that, if you compare the number of Muslims to Jews, then proportionally speaking, there should statistically be far more Muslim recipients than a measly two.

I didn't watch the video but the implication I got from your post was that the unbalance should be ascribed to Islamic Fundamentalism which teaches Muslims to shun math and science (in other words, they just don't pursue the kind of work the Nobel Prizes are given for), rather than a pro-Jewish bias by the Nobel Institution, which isn't even remotely suggested.

 

[BobG]

I'd become a public high school teacher.

 

[Containment]

President of the United States 500 mill should be enough to buy that job right?

No actually I would never want to have that much money so I would probably become an arborist and make a tree and leave.