3 Places to get pre-formatted data:

A. Carnegie Mellon University Phonetic Dictionary

B. Central Park Weather Data

C. Yahoo Finance stock market data

Ideas of how to gather data:

1. Scrape data from the ITP list-serve, using the google group API.  Store data as (id, date, from, conversation_members, subject, number_of_posts)

2. Scrape data from Dictionary.com to supplement the CMU phonetic dictionary to include parts of speech.

3. Scrape McMaster Carr for all parts that they have 3d files for.

4. Put an accelerometer in all 4 elevator bays in my apt building, recording usage patterns.  Store data as (id, date_time, z_accel, accel_length, floor)

5. Put a hallway webcam in the peephole of my door.  Any time the image is moving, record date-time.  Any time the image stops moving, record date-time.  Cross reference time stamps with video footage logs.

6. Install a motion sensor, seismic sensor, and microphone on a subway platform.  Record amount of traffic.  Compare scheduled train times with actual times.  Flag times when decibel level is enough to cause hearing loss.

7. Wikipedia.  Crawl all articles and follow all links.  Assign a weight to each page for accuracy, dependent on how many refs are external from wikipedia.  Record how many unique contributors there are.  Record frequency of edits.