June 2, 2011

The United States of Online Dating

<a href="http://music.columbia.edu/~luke/perfect/05CA.shtml">A More Perfect Union</a>

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Last year, an artist named R. Luke Dubois joined 20 online dating sites, not in search of love, but data. After sampling more than 19 million profiles, he created “A More Perfect Union,” an atlas that remaps America based on how we digitally describe ourselves to potential partners. In this new nation, where place names are dictated by the aggregation of proclivities and personalites, New York has become Now. Chicago is Always. Los Angeles is Acting. Las Vegas is Strip. Richmond, Virginia is Tobacco. St. Petersburg, Flordia is Dieting. Anchorage is Outdoorsy. Omaha is Steak. San Francisco is Gay.

Look closely at the maps and you’ll discover more previously uncharted communities. Zooming in on the San Francisco Bay Area reveals new towns and neighborhoods: North Beach and Chinatown are Folksy; Potrero Hill is Silkscreen; the Outer Richmond is Subconcious. Oakland is Hyperactive. Sausalito is Transsexual. The area near San Quentin is Bratty. Surrounded by locales with names like Dateable, Lucious, Unmitigated, and Kitten, the quiet delta burg of Crockett sighs: Whew.

Find your new hometown here.

(h/t Flowing Data)

WE CAME UP SHORT.

We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

So we urgently need this specific ask, what you're reading right now, to start bringing in more donations than it ever has. The reality, for these next few months and next few years, is that we have to start finding ways to grow our online supporter base in a big way—and we're optimistic we can keep making real headway by being real with you about this.

Because the bottom line: Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism Mother Jones exists to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

And we hope you might consider pitching in before moving on to whatever it is you're about to do next. We really need to see if we'll be able to raise more with this real estate on a daily basis than we have been, so we're hoping to see a promising start.

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WE CAME UP SHORT.

We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

So we urgently need this specific ask, what you're reading right now, to start bringing in more donations than it ever has. The reality, for these next few months and next few years, is that we have to start finding ways to grow our online supporter base in a big way—and we're optimistic we can keep making real headway by being real with you about this.

Because the bottom line: Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism Mother Jones exists to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

And we hope you might consider pitching in before moving on to whatever it is you're about to do next. We really need to see if we'll be able to raise more with this real estate on a daily basis than we have been, so we're hoping to see a promising start.

payment methods

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