One Red Paperclip

In the "wish I'd thought of it first" department comes this guy, who set out, in a series of trades, to a barter a red paperclip and wind up with a house.

So far, he's up to a snowmobile.

To summarize, he traded the red paperclip for a fish pen, which he traded for a funky doorknob, which he traded for a Coleman stove, which he traded for a small generator, which he traded for an "instant party" (a keg of beer and a beer sign), which he traded for the snowmobile.

He already has a slew of offers for the snowmobile, including cars and other interesting stuff. Of course, it has taken him 4-and-a-half months just to get to this point, and a lot of work, but what the hell. It's just sort of interesting to show how a series of trades, in which all the other people are happy with what they got, can turn a paperclip into a snowmobile.

Or a car. Or a house.

Plus the guy's blog is very readable. And yeah, if he pulls it off, someone will probably turn it into a movie.