Just when you think people can't get even more pathetic.

[ABSTRUSE]

Wind From Hurricane for Sale on eBay


By RACHEL LA CORTE, Associated Press Writer

MIAMI - For anyone who didn't get enough of Hurricane Frances as it blew through Florida, remnants of the storm are for sale.



More than 170 items were listed on eBay's Internet auction site Monday, a day after the eye of the Category 2 storm came ashore.


The starting bid for Tupperware filled with wind was a penny. Photos showed Broward County residents running around with the containers "catching" the wind. Surprisingly, someone had already bid $10 for one of the four containers.


Somebody had bid $6.99 for beach sand a Broward County surfer had collected. Three Frances survivors had bid 15 cents each to have a woman pray for them.


One-cent vials of rain that fell in Orlando as the storm passed over had no bids. Neither did a woman's offer to sell the T-shirt she wore during the storm, nor did the request by a Longwood resident for someone to help get a large oak tree off of the seller's home and car.


"Winning bidder will receive branches, leaves, sticks, stumps, whatever you would like!" ... What a conversation piece! ... You can own a part of meteoroligical (sic) history!"


Carol Baroudi, industry analyst and author of The Internet For Dummies, said "I think these are all tongue in cheek. I don't think anyone's serious about these things. I think it's trying to find a sense of humor, which is a good thing."


Ebay has canceled auctions that coincide with tragedies, such as items billed as debris from the space shuttle Columbia or pieces of the World Trade Center and Pentagon (news - web sites).


Ebay officials did not return a phone call seeking comment about the Frances auctions.


When Hurricane Charley tore through southwest Florida, causing 27 deaths and billions of dollars in damages, the same type of auctions popped up. Pieces of damaged homes, signs and bottled rain all made it to eBay.


"It's a different kind of thing," Baroudi said. "So far I don't think it's crossed the line of totally tasteless. I don't see anybody being victimized by this stuff. I've seen a lot of positive stuff here."


But some people in the path of Frances didn't find the humor in the various auctions. The storm damaged homes and businesses and at least four people were killed.


"This is a disaster," said 77-year-old Gloria Aragona, who was evacuated with her husband from their Palm Bay mobile home. "It's nothing to make money on."

 

[Marsipanne]

Do you think, perhaps, that if somebody famous farted into a bucket, it could be sold for $100 on ebay?

 

[ABSTRUSE]

Do you think, perhaps, that if somebody famous farted into a bucket, it could be sold for $100 on ebay?

but of course, and someone would buy it...LOL.

 

[shereads]

I'm selling Cheeze Whiz that survived Hurricane Frances. The starting bid is $2.99 plus shipping.

There's also a pretzel that became stale from humidity during the power outage. No reserve!

 

[ABSTRUSE]

I'm selling Cheeze Whiz that survived Hurricane Frances. The starting bid is $2.99 plus shipping.

There's also a pretzel that became stale from humidity during the power outage. No reserve!

Is that a full can?
and how stale?

 

[shereads]

It's a full can. The power has to be out for 3 days before I hit the Cheeze Whiz. The pretzel is fully, authentically stale. You could use it as a substitute for spackling compound if not for the fact that it's a hurricane artifact.

PayPal only. Pick up in Miami or arrange own shipping.

Is that a full can?
and how stale?

 

[shereads]

Also at auction with NO RESERVE:

Algae-like living organism that grew inside air conditioning drainage pipe and was flushed from hiding with garden hose at great personal risk (local mosquitos carry West Nile virus.) Invaluable for school science projects. Ziplock Baggie provided at no extra cost.

 

[shereads]

Get me out of here! Hurricane Ivan is coming! People shouldn't live here in the summer! It's wrong!

 

[ABSTRUSE]

It's a full can. The power has to be out for 3 days before I hit the Cheeze Whiz. The pretzel is fully, authentically stale. You could use it as a substitute for spackling compound if not for the fact that it's a hurricane artifact.

PayPal only. Pick up in Miami or arrange own shipping.

Okay, you can keep the Cheeze Whiz, I don't want you to starve, but I am interested in the pretzel.
I'm going to shellac it, and paint the date on it and re-sell it myself.
I thought shipping was included?

Also interested in anything imbedded into wood by high winds. Will pay extra for a poodle in a telephone pole.

 

[shereads]

I have a spaniel embedded in an old down comforter, and some termites imbedded in wood.

 

[shereads]

There may be an issue regarding the spaniel and the pretzel.

 

[ABSTRUSE]

There may be an issue regarding the spaniel and the pretzel.

Oh, so now you wanna play hardball.

 

[cheerful_deviant]

Do you think, perhaps, that if somebody famous farted into a bucket, it could be sold for $100 on ebay?

Maybe. I remember a couple of years ago someone was selling bottled exhaust fumes from one of the famous Formula 1 racers, (from his car, not from him ). I'm pretty sure it was Schumacher. If memory serves it went for 100 bucks a bottle, sold out too.

 

[cantdog]

I wanna be the guy who wholesaled to Gary Dahl for his Pet Rock business.

 

[R. Richard]

Do you think, perhaps, that if somebody famous farted into a bucket, it could be sold for $100 on ebay?

There is an artist (I can't remember the name) who canned his shit and sold the cans for big bucks. 'There's one born every minute.' (It may now be down to 30 seconds.)

 

[Virtual_Burlesque]

You MUST thinking of Piero Manzoni


The Medium Is The Messiest
A brief history of excremental art
by Lex Lonehood

November 4, 1999

The world lacks not for shitty artists. But it's rare to find artists who actually use excrement as part of their palette. With the elephant dung Sensation controversy freshly smeared across the media, it seems a good time to take a survey of the noteworthy purveyors of this most organic of art materials. . . .


Piero Manzoni

But we must give credit to the conceptual artist Piero Manzoni for transmuting shit into gold nearly forty years ago. In 1961 he canned his own feces in 30-gram tins and labeled them "Merda d'artista" (artist's shit). The Italian artist, whose life came to an end two years later at the age of 29, made an edition of ninety pieces. As a critique of the art market, the cans were sold at the current price of gold. Ironically, Manzoni's art prank has risen in value over the years. At a Sotheby's auction in 1991, one of the cans sold for a m'mmm good $67,000. Apparently, like fine wine, shit ages well. . . . .


http://www.gettingit.com/art/whoa/mediumisthemessiest_art2.jpg

 

[Just-Legal]

My god, this is the new breed of "ambulance chasers" isn't it?

 

[minsue]

Maybe. I remember a couple of years ago someone was selling bottled exhaust fumes from one of the famous Formula 1 racers, (from his car, not from him ). I'm pretty sure it was Schumacher. If memory serves it went for 100 bucks a bottle, sold out too.

Don't forget Luis Gonzalez's chewed gum

 

[shereads]

I happen to own the working prototype he submitted to the U.S. Patent Office. It can be yours for a reasonable sum.

Edited to add: I have a collection of Dahl's original 1/8 scale prototypes. I sell them individually or by the 20 lb. sack.

I wanna be the guy who wholesaled to Gary Dahl for his Pet Rock business.

 

[shereads]

Don't forget Luis Gonzalez's chewed gum

Who could forget?

 

[Lord DragonsWing]

Let's not forget the guy who put his soul up for sale or the ladies who were selling their babies. Each were kicked off ebay when they were reported. It just goes to show you what people will do to make a buck.

 

[shereads]

The Medium Is The Messiest
A brief history of excremental art
by Lex Lonehood

Uh-oh.

This is where learning a second language would have come in handy, huh.

I thought I was buying discount meat from Europe.

 

[shereads]

Let's not forget the guy who put his soul up for sale or the ladies who were selling their babies. Each were kicked off ebay when they were reported. It just goes to show you what people will do to make a buck.

I did not offer to "sell" the babies. They were available on a long-term lease basis, and only to buyers who passed a credit check or had previously purchased a kidney or a liver graft. You make it sound so sleazy.