SmoothTeddy came out right about the time my own personal creativity sort of ran out. If I'd had this when I was a teenager, I'd have gone hog-wild. Same with Alice, a programming environment that uses Teddy objects.
I've never met anyone who ever actually met anyone else on one of those speed dating things. Nor have I ever heard of it as a good way to get laid. I think the process is designed to keep you coming back.
I saw speed dating on "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy" once. At the end of the evening, there was some registration or fee or other hoop he had to jump through in order to connect back with people he met, or at least something that disappointed both myself and the Fab Five watching the whole event in the green room. I suppose they, like me, imagined that after the speed date was over, people would be free to mill about and exchange contact info with whoever they were talking to.
I wonder if I could come up with a novel enough interviewing technique to make an impression at one of these things. I imagine other guys are thinking the same thing, especially if these things attract the number of other clueless guys with no game that I'd expect. Guys with no game are always looking for a way to be hilarious.
Huh, I hadn't heard of Alice before.
The personal creativity issue is a funny one. Sometimes I think it's not so much creativity in an Id sense that's running out, but a Superego-derived censor subjecting potentially goofy ideas to harsher self-criticism earlier.
This work and the work of an old teacher of mine, Jeffrey Ventrella ( http://wiggleplanet.com/ is his current work in progress ) has made me want to do more with little software toys...
yeah, Evil B mentioned that a developer-ish friend of his tried it, bringing a long Guy With Game as a wingman, final hit score:
developer, 0
guy with game, 8
So it might not be the right forum for a fella like myself. But as far as I can tell, it's not an extortion scheme, and the reserved information exchange bit is more for privacy and letting people defer refusal.