Trick or tweet

Nothing is left to chance these days, not even how much of a haul a kid might make trick-or-treating:

The folks at Zillow.com have created their first Trick or Treat Housing Index, which draws on the site's real estate data to determine the top-five neighborhoods in Seattle and Los Angeles to maximize candy intake this Saturday.

Zillow factored in home values alongside additional data on population density, neighborhood walkability, and local crime. “Based on those variables, this Index represents neighborhoods that will provide the most candy, with the least walking, and minimum safety risks,” she wrote.

Of course, if the kids flood those "top neighborhoods," the residents are likely to run out of candy very quickly, meaning the Web site, by the very act of publicizing its calculations, will have made them untrue. But possible the kids can tweet each other to let everybody know where the good and bad spots are.

By the way, munchkins, feel free to flood the Oakdale neighborhood and pester all my neighbors Saturday evening. As usual, I will be elsewhere during the festivities.