Read everything on the web? Tired of cloying high school chums on facebook bombarding you with pictures of their recent trip to Michigan? Angry that the Dateline NBC folks ruined myspace.com? (You only wanted to mentor the boy!) 

Visit Omegle.com, a website that boils the internet down to a simple yet potent concoction: anonymous 1 on 1 chats with strangers from around the world, with the distinct possibility of dirty talk. 

Launched in March 2009 ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omegle) by an 18 year old boy from Vermont who is obviously still a virgin, www.omegle.com instantly connects two strangers in a one on one IRC style chat. You're free to withold or divulge any information you want about yourself. There are no online handles; on Omegle the chatters are simply known as "You" and "Stranger".

I had a test run on the site when a friend recommended it in the spring. My first impression being that I was impressed. The site garned enough chatters (about 3,000 at any given point) to connect to someone without a wait, and more often than not "Stranger" was from somewhere outside the US or UK. And while the strangers are from around the globe, the chat is inevitably in English, or at least almost always starts out that way.

My first couple chats were engrossing; I recall a Polish economics student and a radiologist in Istanbul who wanted to talk about Obama. The best chats to be had on Omegle are with people in developing countries practicing their written English. Often, I find myself restraining the desire to outsource some of my more tedious office work to these bright foreigners.

However, my third or fourth chat started in a manner that would become uncomfortably familiar.

Stanger: asl?

You: ?

Stanger: age/sex/location ;}

You: oh, sorry

You: 27, male, South Carolina, USA

Stranger: No thanks.

 Your conversational partner has disconnected.

About 90% of Omegle chats begin this way. And as I learned, the age/sex/location question is a thin cover for "are you sexual prey or predator?". I tested my theory out, answering that I was anything other than a sub 30 female got me  a message saying my partner had disconnected. Isn't it just like the internet to make a simple communication tool all about porn?

I quit omegling after a run of five or six "asl" demanding strangers in a row. A couple weeks ago, I complained to the friend who'd pointed me towards the site. He admitted that, regrettably, omegle did serve as the hunting ground for some sickos, but that if I persevered past the predators I would occassionally have a legitimate conversation with a stranger half a world away.

Last week, boredom with both work and Michael Jackson centered journalism inspired my triumphant return to Omegle. This time I immediately enjoyed a long and fascinating conversation about smokeless tobacco with a grad student in Sweden. Later that day, I chatted with another Turkish student about Muslim perceptions of Western culture and vicy-versy.

True, I did have to wade through the sea of asl'ers. I found I couldn't resist the impulse to fuck with these people. Though I'm loathe to admit it, a couple times I lured them in by assuming the guise of a lonely young coed. I told these guys that I had things I wanted badly to tell a stranger. I told them how as a young girl I desperately longed for a man to save me with his love, to touch me deep in my core. 

Stanger: Yes, good. Did you find a man to touch you? 

You: Yes I did.

You: A man named Jesus. Heard of him?

Your conversational partner has disconnected.

As of this week, omegle.com is suggesting at the start of each chat that "asl?" is a boring way to start a conversation. My sincere hope is that this will scare the creeps off to a different site, but we'll see. Maybe they'll have to work just a little harder to get their cyber rocks off, making small talk before getting to their strange, strange business.

(This morning I also encountered someone chatting in Chinese characters for the first time. Cool for sure, but didn't make for a great convo.)

The chats are hit or miss, but at the very least it's a great way to waste time. At it's best, Omegle serves as mind-blowing reminder of how small our world has become. If you get bored of pondering Palin today, give omegle.com a shot.I'll be the stranger chatting about Jesus.