“The guy over there at the end of the bar? That’s kayaker, the dude who won 10 billion dollars and managed to blow most of it.”
I’d buy you 10,000 fur coats.
I’d shop at Whole Foods.
10 billion is enough to get some traction. 1 billion would secure all my family members and close friends. I would hire program writers and any other experts I needed to get a world wide collaboration site off the ground and running. Once the collaboration site was going I would create a town called Fertile Ground which would really be a huge research and development, creative arts and hobby paradise.
I’d buy this message board. Get rid of adverts and make a few other changes I’m sure everyone would love.
I’m also quite confident I could create a Star Trek franchise that would be more successful than any of them since DS9.
Sounds about right. I would love to be a Warren Buffett type, as long as I could be anonymous and not targeted by ne’er-do-wells.
Wallow in it.
Build a few space probes and a few science museums, fund a ton of research.
Buy this message board and hold weekly “A random poster gets banned” contests 
Hide for about a year to consider the options. Most I would end up spending philanthropically but where becomes the question for me. Knee-jerk says something healthcare related but what would get the most bang for my bucks? Lets face it; to blow on myself even 10 million is hard to figure out let alone a sum like that.
I’ve always wanted to do two huge projects
set-up some sort of a sanctuary to preserve the genetic heritage of canines
[I’d need expert assistance for any details]
create a campus dedicated to teaching and preserving ancient arts and skills
sailing, stellar navigation, pottery, yoga, vintning, kung fu, etc.
I’d need a small tea of experts just to lay the foundation of either of these.
We’ve been through this before and my plans are documented on the board. I’d build a giant statue of a guy with a croquet mallet nearby the St. Louis Arch.
Real fur coats?
Whenever I drive around and see undeveloped land for sale, that will probably end up being stupid strip malls or oil change outlets, I fantasize about buying in and preserving it as a racoon sanctuary.
I’d probably spend 100 million on that.
I’d spend about a billion on college scholarships.
I’d buy a cool boat.
9.5 billion would be put into a charitable trust, which I would manage as my full time job, carefully investing the money and dispensing it to worthy causes.
With 500 million we’d live a life of incredible luxury, but I would still expect the kids to get summer jobs. I’m not gonna spoil them.
It’d take me awhile to decide, really, what KIND of luxury I’d want. A big house with a pool, sure. A beautiful cottage, of course. Big boat for the cottage, well, naturally. Al the standard crap. I guess we’d travel a lot.
Buy the Yankees, move them to New Jersey and make A-Rod GM
Use it as a down payment for a loan to get health insurance.
Not real fur coats, that’s cruel.
Funny you should mention that. I know an outfit that does, and teaches, those things. I was just hanging out with them this week.
I’d buy Straight Dope and ban the asking of whacko hypotheticals. ;>)
I would hire the best investment broker who exists (and I have a friend who is an international finance lawyer, so I’d go to him for advice first).
After I invested it, and had returns established, I’d do two things:
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I’d establish a charitable trust, which I would run full time for a salary, but it would be fairly modest. We’d still be middle class on what my husband and I would make.
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Build a theme park that runs on alternative power. Some kind of wind/solar power. I’d want to license all the best roller coasters (tallest, fastest, longest, etc.) from around the world, and build duplicates, so it would be sort of a museum of roller coasters. In addition to the coasters, I’d have regular midway type rides, and a kiddie area. It would be smaller than most theme parks, but it would be cheaper too. I’d locate it centrally, with the idea that a lot of people could drive to it, do it in a day, and drive home.
I’d look for a location in an economically depressed area where land is cheap, but it’s near a large city, and there is high unemployment, that way, I’d be supplying jobs where they are needed. I wouldn’t want to deforest to build it-- I’d rather find a dying town, repurpose as much infrastructure as possible, and raze condemned areas for the rides.
Since I wouldn’t need investors, I’d pay real wages, non just minimum wages to everyone who worked there, even the part-timers, and anyone who worked full-time would get a great benefits package. I want to make it one of the best places to work ever.
Ditto for my charitable trust. It would need some full-time workers besides me, and they would get compensated in a way that would make it possible for them to build a career working for the trust, including retirement packages. It’s a fine line to walk, doing charity work, and spending money on your inner workings, but if you try to be too stingy with spending on the running of the thing, you end up being inefficient, and lose money to waste, which is a lot worse than using it to pay people a living wage.
Now I get to fantasize about what charities I want to support. I think I don’t just want to do pure charity, but maybe have a research grant branch as well.
But one thing I want to do is to work on one preventable cause of homelessness by helping foster children who age out of the system.