-- do not always apply on eBay, where those last boxes of product -- the last boxes forever! -- for a value of 'forever' which equals 'a gap of a few months before someone else buys the license and gets their own machines rigged to go' -- are selling at prices somewhat above the original shelf value. I see one person getting $12.50 for a single box of Twinkies. I see someone else asking (and not getting) $10,000.

I was going to say something about the vast stupidity involved in this, but then my latest copy of The Hollywood Reporter arrived with its article about the most exclusive bars in Las Vegas -- places which will happily charge you $3400 for whiskey. One ounce of it. Aged fifty years.

So it's pretty much a question of what you're into and how much money you want to throw at it. And if that's stupid, well -- stupid arcs across all economic classes.

But if no one somehow picks up those brands, what are those boxes going to be in fifty years?

Fresher?