what cost profit? (philosophical rant but slightly on topic)

-----Original Message----- From: George Currie [mailto:g@kurico.com] that is potentially worth $30000+ for only $1000 you would all pass it up? Hard to believe. Well I guess everyone else on this list is so rich that the thought of making 30x profit is nothing. Me on the other hand, even if I _hated_ Apple, wouldn't pass up such a bargain. Not everyone is in it for the money. This is a hobby, not a business. If I were a broker sure I'd take it, but that's not what I do. I write programs, I build controllers, I don't broker used equipment. I have a slot machine in my living room (and yes its legal, I live in Nevada). I could sell it for several times what I paid for it (even more if I sell it no questions asked), but it's there because I think the internal mechanisms are a work of art. I have some old radios from the 30's, again, I could sell them for more than I have invested, but the radios are there because they are works of engineering art too, for my enjoyment. And I enjoy owning them more than what the money I would get from them would bring me. The same with the computers. I'm sure I could get a good price for my '77 vintage IMSAI, in fact I got a few email offers the first time I mentioned it, but I'm not going to sell it. I bought it to own my own computer, I learned just about all I know about digital electronics from the years prototyping on it, and it still has a prominent place on my work table at home. It's a work of art too, even more because I put it together myself, I made it work, and I've kept it going all these years without help from anyone else. I put far more money into that machine than I ever got back in business, but that doesn't matter. Every dollar I spent on it paid off in other ways, personal satisfaction, knowledge, even entertainment at times. I don't buy equipment, be it computers, radios, or slot machines, because I think I'll make money on the deal. I do other things to make a living, I'll leave investing in antiquities and object d'art to the experts. Jack Peacock