Posted 9:45 PM by Blah blah

Speed Dating

Patrick, my rollerblading teacher, actually arranged a speed dating event a while back. One of my Berkeley friends tried a very small version of this in Berkeley one or two years ago. He told me that some of them were the most repulsive people he'd ever met. The great thing, of course, is your agony lasts only 3 minutes. I would definitely try it! I usually form quick impressions of people and believe that if she and I don't have some good chemistry and banter at the beginning, it's highly unlikely that we'll have more months later. I tend to be unsentimental and move on.

Some speed dating sites:

Xdate, 8minuteDating, Pre-Dating, HurryDate.

Maybe we should have "Speed Breakups" too!

Hundreds Flock to New 'Speed-Dating' Singles Night (Reuters):
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Hundreds of love-hungry singles flocked to London's biggest night of "speed-dating" -- the new craze for brief encounters sweeping the British capital.

The aim is simple: boost the chances of dating success by getting a three-minute preview.

Drawn by the excitement of a mass blind-date in a nation known for its reserve, nearly 1,000 young singles turned up at Wednesday night's sold-out event.

Speed-dating brings production line techniques to the field of romance. Singles are seated at tables around a room and for three minutes try to make an impression on their "date."

When time is up, an adjudicator blows a whistle and one group, usually the men, moves to the next table in a process that is repeated many times. Players tick the names of those they want to meet for a real date, and the organizers put them in contact later.

"Three minutes goes really fast," said 33-year-old Caroline Earl. "It was easy to talk to each other, though."

The idea started in the U.S. in the late 1990s as a way of helping young Jewish men and women meet spouses of their faith. [See Jewish speed dating.]