If you're urban, single, and prepared to mingle (and, presumably, have some disposable income), a minefield of potential rejection awaits you. And not just because of your esoteric sense of humor, or your outdated wardrobe, or the fact that you eat your peas one at a time. As Gelf pointed out last week, you can also be rejected for having the wrong sheets in your bedroom, or a stuffed animal. But, it turns out, that's not all.

Potential dealbreaker

The Times has also reported that you can be rejected for your taste in literature. Do you like Ayn Rand? Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance? Virginia Woolf? The paper of record says you may not be suitable relationship material.

Additionally, you should beware of dating people whose culinary preferences differ from your own. If you eat meat, avoid grilling it alongside those vegan patties for your partner, lest he or she consider it "unenlightened and disturbing." If you've got an allergy to, say, bread, you could well encounter someone who "says you seem really great, but likes bread too much."

Then, of course, there's music, about which you could "craft [an] effective personal ad." This writer actually agreed with such a sentiment—in high school.

Luckily, we don't foresee these issues plaguing white people much longer. The human genome is mapped. Soon, we'll be able to determine the genetic traits of our children. Not long after, perhaps we'll be able to make opposite-sex clones of ourselves, and just date them. Because, clearly, dating is all about finding yourself, and subsequently sweeping yourself off your feet.