THE INTRADE CLASSIC: My brother Eric and I have swapped a couple e-mails about a site called intrade, which bills itself as "a trading exchange for Politics, Current Events, Financial Indicators, Weather & other Unique Contracts." Pretty cool stuff. Basically you can wager on the outcome of events like the Michael Jackson trial or the 2008 U.S. Presidential election. Check it out.

Eric suggested we have a Hess Male Showdown, where each of the Hess men puts up a hundred bucks and, over the course of the year, we see who can make the most money (or lose the least). Sounds like a pretty fun idea. But I started to think it might be even more fun to expand the field somewhat, and let some other folks join our merry band of speculators. Folks like Steve, Bart, maybe some Hess women, and anyone else who feels lucky. We don't have the rules figgered out 'zactly yet, but I was thinking something like everybody agrees to "buy in" with a hundred bucks for starters, and then we run it for a year, and at the end the loser all ante up an additional $20 to the guy/gal who amasses the largest fortune. Something like that. Any interest?

(No, this headline does not refer to a song or a book or anything like that.)