More OkTrends dating/data magic: The Mathematics Of Beauty.

The hits just keep on coming from OkTrends, Gay Sex vs. Straight Sex. The data diving has been top notch all the way along, but the commentary is getting funnier. An example, in discussing a “gay curious” U.S. map:

Awesomely, the mountain West lives up to its Brokeback reputation, and Canada is orange nearly coast-to-coast. Even in the yellow and blue areas, you can see pockets of gay curiosity in interesting places: Austin, Madison, Asheville. Anywhere soy milk is served, basically.

More OkTrends genius, The REAL ‘Stuff White People Like’, this time it’s the commentary that shines:

As for the interests of white women, you have romance novels, some country music, and a broad selection of Good Housekeeping type stuff. It’s also amazing the extent to which their list shows a pastoral or rural self-mythology: bonfires, boating, horseback riding, thunderstorms. I remind you that OkCupid’s user base is almost all in large cities, where to one degree or another, if you find yourself doing much of any of these things, civilization has come to an end.

OkTrends, where every post is fascinating: The Big Lies People Tell In Online Dating. For example, guys add 2” inches to their height, which isn’t really surprising, but what is surprising (to me) is that this is true for guys who are already tall. It’s not until they get to 6’8” that the exaggeration stops.

Mark Pilgrim’s sad, beautiful elegy for a 25-year friend.

I may just link to every OkTrends post. Fascinating, as usual. This one is preaching to the choir as far as I’m concerned, but The Case For An Older Woman needs to be made.

Men are idiots!

More fascinating stuff from the OkCupid numbers crunchers: The 4 Big Myths of Profile Pictures. For example, does showing ripped abs help a guy get messages on the dating site? How about boobs for women? And how do those number change with age, and do they change the same way? All kinds of questions like that. Great stuff.

(For the guys, it looks like doing a one-arm handstand in front of the Eiffel Tower while reading Tolstoy with your other hand (and therefore not making eye contact with the viewer), with your washboard abs “accidentally” exposed due to gravity is the way to go. Diminishing returns on the abs as you approach 30 though.)

When my daughters start dating, and we talk about it, I may lead with this, what boyfriends and girlfriends search for on Google. That’s it in a nutshell, right there. Sigh.

This is old news, but new to me. The folks behind the OkCupid dating site have a weblog where they analyze all kinds of interesting dating data. We all know that looks matter, but their number crunching is still fascinating.

Update: See also Your Race Affects Whether People Write You Back. Heck, just subscribe to the OkTrends weblog and read it all.

Not having much luck being selective, Maria Dahvana Headley spent a year responding positively to all flirtations and date requests:

The ensuing 150 dates included a homeless man, several non-English speakers, 10 taxi drivers, two lesbians and a mime.

She also got a husband, book deal, and possibly a movie deal out of it.