Dating, by the numbers

I love data-based analysis.  I know that we humans lie to ourselves and others.  Vanity.  Pride.  Foolishness.  Whatever.  We often play fast and loose with the facts.

OkCupid is an online dating site.  The founder is apparently a data geek.  They are doing some fantastic data analysis, and posting the results in their official blog.  (Warning: contains potty words and frank discussions of very personal and non-PC topics.)

This fascinating post covers several of the big lies that users on OkCupid tell:
* Everyone overstates their height by 2 inches.
* Everyone overstates their income by 20%.
* Most people who claim to be bi-sexual are not.

This one covers the rules for taking a beautiful picture:
* Use a Panasonic camera with interchangeable lenses.
* Don't use the camera's flash.
* Everything besides you in the photo should be blurry.
* Take the photo in the late night (early morning) or late afternoon.

In that last one they also proved that iPhone owners have more sex than Blackberry and Android phone owners.  Remember that this is a dating site, so this only applies to single people...

Check out the 'All posts' box on the left for an array of fascinating statistical analysis of human behavior.