Hey all, I'm going out of town for a couple weeks, but I'll try to post updates if I can get access to a net connection. I have lots of things lined up and will be working on pages locally while I'm gone, posting changes when I get back.

So don't fret, and don't run away! If you'd like me to drop a reminder when I get back, scroll down and input your email address in the field for the 'savant' weblog entry and I'll let you know when there's more to see!

See y'all soon!

Though published in 1997, this report from the University of Calgary's GroupLab on how people revisit web pages is a fascinating piece on real people's activity patterns on the web. It's the most scientific look I've seen at an area usually dominated by anecdotal evidence. Take that, focus groups!

Why do we pass strict laws on what mood-altering substances are legal, are doubly cautious about what our kids get in contact with, but have no problem giving our cats catnip?

Does anyone have info on what catnip is analogous to in people?

Some days, I swear my cat gets more done than I do.

Gotta get motivated. Gotta clean, gotta code, gotta share random life details to strangers.

Gotta go!

So by now you've no doubt read that a federal judge has ordered that Microsoft be split into two companies. Microsoft's primary defense has been that to do so would stifle innivation and have 'chilling effects' on software innovation, if enacted.

So I went to Yahoo and noticed there's a live web press conference with Bill Gates and I try to watch, only to have the site offer to fetch the needed plug-in (Microsoft Streaming Media Player) and then to find out that Microsoft doesn't make a plug-in for Unix boxes (I'm running Linux). Mind you, they don't tell you this, you discover it when you get just a blank page, and open up the HTML source to find they've written the page with IE-specific DHTML so any browser other than Explorer can't see it at all.

Funny, but it occurs to me that if Windows was made by one company, and streaming media products were made by another, as the ruling proposes, they might actually have a Unix version. Impediment to innovation my ass... Sigh.

Seems I'm not the only one who thinks people might want to read/hear what I have to say:

O.J. Simpson is planning a live net chat, for a price. He claims anyone expecting an admission of guilt will be disappointed, which leads me to wonder why anyone would watch. It's like watching Geraldo opening Al Capone's vaults when you know there's nothing inside, only this time having to pay for the privilege. In case that's not enough, there's also word that O.J. wants to have a pay-per-view polygraph test to make even more money proving his innocence. I'm sure he's had lots of time to practice his polygraph skills in the last 5 years, but you'd think being on live TV in front of millions (okay, dozens) of people proclaiming you didn't murder your wife would be stressful enough that a polygraph would be inconclusive anyhow. Besides, at this point O.J. trying to convince people he's innocent is like Richard Simmons trying to convince people he's straight: It's almost impossible and even if he did, what would it really matter?

On a lighter, but just as vapid note, the California Lottery is hosting a "Chat with a Lottery Millionaire" on June 29th. I can't imagine all the secrets on how to make money will be divulged there. I really can't. Hey, at least this one's free!

Anyhow, cool stuff coming up tomorrow. Be sure to sign up for the savant notification below if you want me to drop you a reminder!

Today's soundbyte comes from Babylon 5. Only Ivanova can sound optimistic about pessimism...

Blatantly tangenting off of a thread from peterme I wanted to share an article that theorizes nerdism may be a mild form of autism.

It seems that M.I.T. has a course to help nerds get along in a social world, but for those of you interested in pushing the other way, I'm working on two microsites to help bring forth your inner savant. Each microsite is devoted to teaching mere mild geeks two of the tricks often demonstrated by the true autistic savants.

First is the "human calendar" exercise. This site will teach you how to convert any date in the past two-thousand years or the next two thousand (or however far you want) into a day of the week (what's more, you'll get the right day of the week).

Second is the 'one-function calculator' exercise where somebody gives you a 9 digit number and you tell them its cube root instantly.

Both of these tricks are often performed by autistic savants as demonstrations of their remarkable gifts, but remarkable as they may be, they can both be mastered within an afternoon by anyone with a reasonable memory and the ability to do two-digit math in their head.

So the microsites aren't done yet, but if you'd like an email reminder when they're available, enter your email address below and I'll drop you an email when it's done. I promise not to use it for anything else.

Enter email:

I'm going to Valhalla Faire this weekend, playing and dancing with the Travellers Union and Merrie Pryanksters. I'll bring my camera so I'll have something to share when I get back.

If I really get moving today (and the IKEA movers who are dropping off Karen's sofa appear towards the latter end of their 4-hour window) I may actually get a few Cameo cameras ready to disseminate at faire as well.

Anyhow, if you're in the Lake Tahoe region this weekend (or next, it runs two weekends) go to the faire! Having worked most of the Northern California ren faires, I can say without a doubt that this is the best one. Not as big as Novato (now Vacaville), and definitely not as commercialized, it's a real blast filled with a lot of people having real fun, and you can't beat the forest location.

Hope y'all have a great weekend whatever you do!

How on the heels of the abomination of all that is unholy that calls itself 'Clerks: The Animated Series' comes proof that no action comes without an equal and opposite reaction.

What this means, decoded, is that the animated cartoon The Tick (as great animated as Clerks is live), is being made into a live-action show.

I have high hopes that The Tick: Live Action will be better than Clerks: TAS, mostly because of the audacity of the Tick's character and the versatility of the lead, Patrick Warburton (aka 'Putty' from Seinfield).

Time will tell, but hopefully this show will eat justice for breakfast, and hold the milk.