Quivering Quakers
The Daily Pennsylvanian had an article today about a new sort of campus cyber-matchmaking service - "random hook-ups" for 'orney Ivies.
A freshman couple - Allison Karic and Scott Becker - brought the idea with them from Los Angeles, where they'd dated since attending Harvard-Westlake H.S. The article quotes Karic as saying:
"You go to a party in high school, all your friends will be there, nobody was comfortable enough to make a move," Karic said. "That sucks that everyone is watching and everyone would know. We need a way to fix that."
Their way was to create a site called theinterestlist.com that lets those with Penn email addresses list those they "want to hook up with," the article goes on. (Well, actually, they first called it whatevericanget.com, but they've changed it.) That list is kept confidential until two people list each other. Then - cue Cupid - an email is sent to each of them, informing them of their good fortune. The rest is up to them.
The site had 577 registered users by Monday, according to the piece. Becker explains the quick success: "It's a totally intellectual response to something so physical."
With great expectations we visited the actual site. Cold shower city.
Long disclaimer greets us.
"Whatevericanget.com was a humorous name, but it didn't accurately represent the philosophy behind the system.: It goes downhill from there. Says the new name "lacks the connotation of promiscuity falsely suggested by our previous title.... We apologize for the suggestion of a prurient intent; we merely intend this site to be a tool to find out if your interest is interested in you."
How could anyone have thought this was about sex?
.......
In completely unrelated news, the FBI is looking for a few good porndogs. The bureau's Washington, D.C. office started recruiting people for its anti-obscenity squad, the Washington Post reports.
The article includes this excellent way to describe why a source was not willing to be identified.
"I guess this means we've won the war on terror," said one exasperated FBI agent, speaking on the condition of anonymity because poking fun at headquarters is not regarded as career-enhancing.
Bwwwahahahahahaha, Albert! Too funny.
it just had to be said