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[BigLee Haslup <biglee AT haslups.com>]

At 12:09 PM 7/29/2003 -0400, Beth wrote:

> And it's already been canned.


Pity, actually, I think the plan was brilliant.  As for the objection that 
terrorists will benefit from their own actions: it is silly.  In order to 
claim the payoff for a "lucky guess" one would have to, well, claim the 
payoff.  The only person to bid heavily on a highly unlikely event would 
not only get all that money, but would also never be lonely again.  There 
would be someone sitting in a nondescript car with the engine running 
across the street at all times.

If you think about it, for a participant it would be a bit like playing the 
lottery only the odds would be better.  People who think they have 
information will have an incentive to play the game, those who have good 
information will win -- and their winnings will be provided by those who 
only thought they knew something.  The odds are better than a lottery 
because the financial part can be zero-summed.  In a lottery, the 
government takes 50%.  In this system the government would skim off the 
information but let all the money flow through.  For the government it 
represents free information -- how cool is that?

BigLee