

“I have an idea worth minus a million.” - audionerd
http://www.artlebedev.com/mandership/161/

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jmatt
Beyond being an interesting quip on business ideas, I love the interesting
site design and the $2400 dream keyboard [1].

As for ice cubes for the $10 bottle of water - the ice cubes need to be
packaged and delivered with the water. Sounds like a good way to differentiate
yourself from other brands of expensive water.

[1] [http://store.artlebedev.com/computer_add-ons/optimus-
maximus...](http://store.artlebedev.com/computer_add-ons/optimus-maximus/)

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TeHCrAzY
Couldn't one just pop open a bottle, freeze some ice cubes, tell your
customers you are using "ice made from _brand of water_ " and ignore the
expensive, prepackaged option from the supplier?

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ghshephard
When I was in Thailand, at a reasonably nice hotel in Bangkhok, when we
ordered water the water "opened our bottles for us" - I immediately sent them
back for unopened bottles. My friends thought I was a little paranoid, but we
were all cautious about the water, so not that big a deal.

I killed myself laughing when I saw the same scam being pulled by one of the
characters in Slum Dog Millionaire.

In other words - if it doesn't come with a factory seal, presume that it's not
factory fresh.

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mos1
Demanding that the factory seal be intact is standard practice for traveling
in the developing world. You definitely weren't paranoid.

In areas that don't have bottled water from a brand I recognize, I drink
nothing but fermented beverages (I've brushed my teeth with beer).

I'd use brand-name ice cubes, if they were packaged in a known, trustworthy
manner.

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billybob
Carbonated drinks are also safe - the acid kills pathogens.

You can also easily carry water purification stuff - a bottle of polarpure
lasts many many uses, and there are stirring wands that use UV light to kill
germs. You may need to do a bit of research about what kills what, though.

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HeyLaughingBoy
_Carbonated drinks are also safe - the acid kills pathogens_

What acid? There's no hydrogen in CO2.

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ThomPete
Many gems on that site

Here is one more

<http://www.artlebedev.com/mandership/141/>

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tome
I thought this was going to be about a different lesson.

For an idea to be worth a million, it's got to be worth the customers _paying_
a total of a million, i.e. to them it's worth _losing_ a million.

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Mz
I have an idea worth "minus a million" in a different sense:

My medical condition is supposed to cost big bucks to manage and the doctors
promise you no hope of actually getting well. Getting healthier has been
cheaper than the conventional treatments and yields the bonus that the
healthier I get, the more productive I am while at the same time costs have
steadily declined.

Now I just need to "package" it and figure out how to market it.

