2. Second, I had this idea a while ago (maybe two years ago) - a passive dating solution based on consumer lifestyle choices - and I think it's completely doable, though not entirely attractive or comfortable to most people.
The idea is this: you are going to get along better with someone with compatible (this could either be someone similar or not) consumption patterns. Consumption is a lot of things. Food, entertainment, etc. These things have their own ways of being tracked - grocery club cards, Tivo/ReplayTV, anything purchased with a credit or debit card. You create pseudo-Bayesian models of whether two people have compatible lifestyles - level of organicness or vegetarianness, what kind of milk they drink, vices, TV shows, etc. I think this could be done, but it's obviously about the creepiest thing in the world to have all of your purchases and consumption habits stored in one place.
3. Today at lunch I needed to return something and I fell asleep on the bus when I was headed to the store so I missed the stop I was supposed to get off and I found myself in a neighborhood that I hadn't been in before. I have a disgustingly downtown-centric perspective of this city and forget that there are actually areas that have houses with grass yards and driveways with basketball hoops.
