Code, nerd culture and humor from Greg Knauss.

I'm in Robinson's or May Company or some damned department store, shopping for the sort of useless trinkets that pass for Mother's Day gifts after you've had kids for the better part of a decade and the intersection of Want and Afford has been pretty much exhausted. Joanne said she'd like a charm bracelet this year. Case in point.

So I'm in the jewelry department, pawing through the ironically named charm rack: tiny little cell phones and Visa cards and martini glasses and I wish to God I was kidding. But a few are nice and so I pick those up and one last one catches my eye.

It's a book, a pinky-tip-size book, with a working hinge. On the cover it says, "I love you!" and when you lever it open with a thumbnail, the inside says:

YOU'RE
THE BEST
OX

And while, sure, you could interpret that as "You're the best [hug] [kiss]", I'd much rather believe that there is a monumental, barely tapped market out there: Mongolian plainsmen, buying delicate silver charms for their favorite plow animals.

At least they're easy to shop for.

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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