Even if you're not from Missouri, it's easy to say "Show me" when first told about the Semantic Web. Maybe we've all become skeptics in the wake of so much failed dot-com exhubarance. Maybe it's the way semweb advocates sometimes sound, describing it as this self-evident holy grail, forever in the future, but arriving any moment. Maybe it's the word "semantic", which to most people gets prefaced by "just", as in "let's drop this pointless argument, it's just semantics." Maybe our society loves to see successful people fail. Who better to take a dive than the founder of the last decade's biggest success?

Whatever the reason for our skepticism, there's one way to remove it: show irrefutable real-world results. I've read lots of semweb intros and opinion pieces. I've trudged through technical papers and project writeups. I've watched presentations and demonstrations, and talked and talked for hours on end.

What I haven't found is a clear, concise, compelling survey of actual accomplishments in the Semantic Web space. Who's using this technology? What's working now? Who's making money? Research is one thing, but the businessman in me says, "Give me something I can sell."

So, today I'm starting a new secton of this website, called "Tangle Yarns", which chronicles viable products and popular projects. Each "yarn" will tell a single success story. My hope is that when people later say, "Show me," we can point them to "Tangle Yarns" as a compelling resource for results.