From the interwebbies

Two cute things I came across on the interwebbies this week.

First, a very interesting look at breakups based on facebook status updates. Hmmm, looks like we're in a phase where breakups start ramping up in November to rise to a peak two weeks before Christmas.

Secondly, you know how you hear about these crazy romantic ways that some couples meet? Check out this story from the NYTimes wedding section. Let me copy a part of the announcement:

"The couple met on a flight to Los Angeles in June 2008. Ms. Cho was unaware that, before boarding, Mr. Hires had noticed her as she was changing her shoes in a line adjacent to his at Dulles International Airport in Washington.


“She kept getting farther and farther away,” Mr. Hires said. “I was thinking of being both frustrated at the slow line, and that I missed a magic opportunity.”


He was soon glad to discover that they were both on the same flight, to Los Angeles, and noted her seat number as he walked past.


Ms. Cho, who was living in Los Angeles then, had found herself next to a very chatty fellow. An hour later, she couldn’t believe her eyes when a message popped up on the seat back monitor in front of her. “Seat 19C would like to initiate a chat,” she recalled its saying. “I was in seat 17F. I turned around, and he was looking at me and smiled.”


Mr. Hires, who had never engaged in a seat-to-seat chat before, recalled having a glass of wine — or two — to summon the courage to send the note. “My opener was, ‘How are your feet feeling?’ ” he said.


Messages zipped back and forth from screen to screen. During a lull in their conversation, a flight attendant, figuring that Ms. Cho had heard enough from the man next to her, asked if she wanted to change seats, and she found an empty one next to Mr. Hires. They spoke for the rest of the flight.


Before they landed, Mr. Hires, who was going to his brother’s college graduation that weekend, took Ms. Cho’s telephone number."

It looks like this seat to seat chat that was mentioned was a service that Virgin Atlantic offered at the time (I don't think they have it anymore). You could choose people and seats to chat with using the screen on the seat back in front of you.

But can I just say, what the heck?!?! Given all the flying I've done for work over the past three years, how come I've never met anyone on a flight?

Sigh. Just sigh.