Chew on this game theory gurus - what's the best solution?

Party A has a 12 digit code number. Party B has a 12 digit code number. The two parties want to exchange numbers - but how do you do it and guarantee that both parties get what they want?

You can't really just exchange parts of the code; no matter how small you cut it, one party always has an advantage.

How about escrow? What's a creative way to escrow these two numbers so that both parties can make the exchange simultaneously? Who's a trusted third party?

Here's the final kicker - you don't know that a code is valid until you enter it in, and the minute you enter it in, you've "won" and don't need to give the other party your code.

Apple and TiVo

Who wants to bet that Apple is going to announce a partnership with TiVo next week? The Series 3 is coming... wouldn't it be neat if it got iTunes videos on demand?

(It's the content, stupid!)

Shit I got it!!

Okay, so here's the solution. Stupid, but it would work.

Both parties get web cams. They show the unscratched cards to each other on cam. They then simultaneously scratch the tickets, and then simultaneously show the codes to each other.

Now where am I going to get a web cam? And does Party B have a web cam?

Immigration

This is not nearly the intractable problem that politicos are suggesting it is.

The simple fact is this: the country is addicted to drugs, it's addicted to oil, and it's addicted to immigrants. The Republican party is split down the middle on this issue because half of them represent racists and xenophobes, and the other half represent big business. It's the most schizoid love/hate I've ever seen - they despise immigrants, yet they must also employ them illegally for slave wages.

The American economy needs immigrant workers. Immigrant workers have always been a boon, and have been able to work up the ladder; leaving the lower rungs empty for new immigrants to come aboard and improve their lives. The solution is this: LET THEM IN. Give them temporary work papers and just let them cross the border freely; make it easier to come in legally. Bus them in for pity's sake. But make the companies that employ illegals accountable!! Stop letting corporations exploit people, and actually enforce laws against the greedy profiteers who are stomping on the faces of immigrants who need these jobs. Because this is how it is - the demand for immigrant workers exists and is strong, and as long as there are jobs for immigrants, they're going to come here. And we want them to, because it's great for our economy! But just like with oil and gasoline... the consumers want it on the cheap, so they want to keep the price down. But too bad!! Find other ways to make profits you pig-ass corporate stooges; how about cutting some of those ridiculous multi-million dollar executive salaries, huh?? Pay people a living wage and stop holding their illegal status over their heads like an axe you can drop at any moment.

But no - this will not happen because we have the best government corporate money can buy. Instead we'll build useless fences and not solve any real problems.

Lastly - Pat Robertson is a cryptoracist. He claimed on NPR this morning that Mexicans won't assimiliate into our country; they are not "Western" because they aren't from Europe like the Irish and Italians... basically saying "because they aren't white". Well, Pat... how do you explain all those "involuntary immigrant" African people that your ancestors brought over to work on the plantations of this great nation? They seem to have assimilated pretty well into American culture, and contributed quite a bit to our country. He insisted that only "Western" people who were Christian could properly integrate with American culture.

Yeah Pat, Mexicans aren't Christian either... just Catholic.

(lucidandawake, you may jump my bones now)

Listen To Old Pat (real audio)