While the Item Club, using the Treasury forecasting model, has also downgraded its UK forecasts, both years put Scotland behind.

BBC: Stands Scotland's economy where it did?

The item he had to have: A model of a Disneyland rocket-ship ride painted in a Trans World Airlines motif.

WSJ: Airline Collectibles Take Flight

But of course, with any news on the internet comes a percentage of skeptics, and those questioning the free TF2 model are wondering if it means that item drops in the game will be slowed to encourage microtransaction purchases in the store.

FORBES: Valve's Team Fortress 2 Goes Free to Play

Valve is beloved by its consumers for their vast array of free updates and map packs, and the move seemed to signal a shift to a more modern model of microtransactions aimed at players who wanted every item they could get in the game at any cost.

FORBES: Team Fortress 2 Hats Amass $300K for Japan

But it is thought to be a Luger, an early model issued to the Swiss army before World War I, a collector's item.

BBC: News, Annecy

Similarly, when you improve an existing model, you improve five at once, assuming that the improvement is to a platform item.

FORBES: Businessman of the Year

Love With Food operates on the same model and claims that between 15% to 20% of members come back to purchase at least one item.

FORBES: Walmart's Inside the Box Gamble on Goodie's Gourmet Subscription

This is much like the old model of telephone bidders, with the difference that the remote participants can see the room, examine each item and lurk, rather than bid.

ECONOMIST: The new old thing