Code, nerd culture and humor from Greg Knauss.

So there's this thousand-year-old tree in Encino, and it's enormous, and it's a source of great local pride -- the way enormous trees can be -- and the city government's done quite a bit to protect it -- supports, wires, gates, just about everything you can do to a tree and still build a city around it.

But in the past several years the tree's gotten sick, and it's weakened to the point that a recent storm upended it onto Ventura Boulevard.

The next day, I'm watching the news and they're interviewing people who have crowded around the tree to watch a work crew clear it away.

"Oh, it's so sad," says one misty-eyed woman into the camera. "It's like going to the funeral of a friend."

And right as she says that, a guy behind her starts up a chainsaw.

Which kind of put a damper on the moment.

Hi there! My name's GREG KNAUSS and I like to make things.

Some of those things are software (like Romantimatic), Web sites (like the Webby-nominated Metababy and The American People) and stories (for Web sites like Suck and Fray, print magazines like Worth and Macworld, and books like "Things I Learned About My Dad" and "Rainy Day Fun and Games for Toddler and Total Bastard").

My e-mail address is greg@eod.com. I'd love to hear from you!

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