I had an excellent conversation over the weekend with one of my brothers and my sister about quantifying -- or perhaps modeling would be more precise -- the ways that one makes and retains friends over the course of a lifetime. We identified certain categories such as Pfs (permanent friends, which can really only be discerned over time) and Tfs (Temporary friends that may very well be very good friends for a short period of time but may disappear when the contingent circumstances of the friendship disappear). We didn't spend much time on the idea of what a Good Friend is -- I'm not even sure I know, but friendship can mean anything from the person who you will leave your LP collection to to the person who you'll ask to watch your kids in an emergency.
Quantifying friendship and friendship patters seems to me to have some sort of relationship to the question of quantifying anecdotes but I haven't figured this out yet.
