My former co-blogger, Sam Dinkin, has challenged teevee weatherman Willard Scott to a wager.

From the link:

Nine months ago, economist/entrepreneur Sam Dinkin set up an on-line skill game called Space Shot. People paid $3.50 a shot to forecast the weather, in hopes of winning a future suborbital trip into space. But so far, the competition has yielded no winners - so today Dinkin launched the venture's second stage.

Instead of pay-for-play, the contest is now free for players, and dependent instead on advertising revenue.

Indeed. Good luck to you Sam!

Sam Dinkin nails this point on how to grow support for space exploration:

Who on Earth would have the motivation and the time to put so much playing effort into something so speculative? Dinkin is putting his money on the 9- to 12-year-old market. He pointed to statistics indicating that pre-teens can spend several hours a day playing video games - and said the kids represent a coveted market for advertisers.

Create a realistic space exploration theme product line and SELL exposure to more mundane advertisers rather than BUYING exposure.

NASCAR does not pay a penny for national media attention. NASCAR gets paid while others grow NASCAR's national media profile. When Tony Stewart is photographed in a Home Depot racing suit, it is Home Depot paying to grow NASCAR's public image, not NASCAR.

NASA cannot do this, of course, but NewSpace can.

The trick is to get NASCAR working for NewSpace too.