Relative Position of Mistakes & (the Drew Carey Phenomenon)

The $90 webcam that helped launch the career of LonelyGirl15 (aka Bree). A nifty gadget which apparently uses up a lot of CPU resources.
(About the only worthwhile comment on the NYT blog):

Nietzsche once wrote that truth is nothing but the relative position of mistakes. Well, the topology changed, but the story remains. Personally, I’ve dropped the ‘ideal’ of reality. Relationships are just the purest kind of multipolar story-telling. The question is, what is your connection to Bree?

I have thoughts about the Youtube phenomenon (which maybe I’ll share later), but for now enjoy Michael Blowhard’s discussion of the cultural significance of webcam girls.

Speaking of which, Blowhard (that old Casanova) writes about meeting girls in the big city. Oh, I could write a book. Apparently many thirtysomething male bloggers are fretting about the so-called “woman shortage“. Some are even being unabashed about talking about their love for porn:

In terms of economics, dating when compared to porn just doesn’t make sense. Dating requires spending time, energy, and effort that in many cases ends up being wasted since the chance for success is very low. In contrast with porn, you win in nearly every circumstance, although, it’s a smaller, hollow victory. In my case, the smaller hollow victory from pornography hands down is just better. You get the benefit of a beautiful woman who meets your sexual fantasy and does all sorts of sexual enticing things that most women would NEVER do for their partners under any
circumstances. Porn easily meets my nail & high heel shoes fetish rather easily when compared to begging a girl to go out with me or hoping that some girl who I am dating will get her nails done so she can “compromise” with me. Ironically, it feels downright oppressive and patriarchal to ask a girl to do that to satisfy me.

(Personally I have faith in the Drew Carey phenomenon: that if they are patient, overweight men in deadend jobs can become chick magnets after women in their age bracket run out of other men to date).