A Home isn't a Home without a Gnome

Sometimes there are pretty clever advertising campaigns out there that make me laugh. They don't do what advertising campaigns are supposed to and get me to go out and buy their product. But they do entertain me, and for that, I'm grateful those corporations decided to throw away millions on these ad spots.

The Real Men of Genius radio spots started airing in 1998 and continued to be created and aired until 2008. The one below is on this blog for obvious reasons.

Best Costume Ever

I found this while perusing the internets... This costume is full of win! The shoes are the best part.

Like Notes in your Lunchbox

I think books like this are hilarious. Not only are the notes funny, but from a historic perspective, they are a window into the everyday life of modern people, the people's history, if you will. Oonagh O Hagan has published a few books of these notes, and there are a few photo websites that post them as well. This one below is my favorite, for obvious reasons...

That Gnome is Radioactive!

Sometimes I like to watch television. Bones is a forensics show on Fox, and episode 106 dealt with a murder involving a very valuable gnome. The plot of the episode can be found here.

This particular episode had to do with the found body of a hoarder that fell through the ceiling of his apartment after being dead for a little while. The team ends up discovering that a possible motive for the murder could be his acquisition of a rare garden gnome made by the famous Fiesta Ware company from the 1940s.

Fiesta Ware is known for using radioactive glazes on their ceramics, and this discontinued line has become collectible. Of course, I looked into this, and there is no record of Fiesta Ware ever manufacturing garden gnomes. This is another cool concept created for television.  Bummer. The good news... because of the much more creative brains that write for television, we were treated to the whimsical cameo appearance of a garden gnome in primetime.  Speaking of primetime...

There is a show on A&E called Hoarders, which is about people who suffer from compulsive hoarding. Basically, the idea of reality television is to show humanity at its worst, and hoarding exposes this upsetting psychological disorder for the masses to see. Impressively, this show has lasted 6 seasons.

 In the television show, this particular gnome is napped by a collector that can't accept the words "no sale" from a crazy hoarder. $50000 is a lot of money to pass up. Hoarders can be pretty strong willed, and a little nuts!  

But what if they decide to hoard gnomes?  Apparently this is just called collecting... no intervention needed.

David Bowie and the Chipmunks?

 I can't believe I've never heard of this until now.

David Bowie's song the Laughing Gnome predates his break out album Ziggy Stardust. I've heard he hates this song. It is different than his later rock sound, but not really completely out of character. He starred in the Labyrinth with a bunch of Jim Henson Muppets, remember? Anyway, enjoy this track and it's silliness. It sounds like David Bowie is doing a duet with Alvin from the Chipmunks.

You may have to go to YouTube to listen, because the company that owns the rights lets YouTube post the song where everyone can hear it for free... but posting it on another blog where everyone can hear it for free isn't allowed. I never understood common sense.  

Waiting for the Robots to Take Over

Most people recognize the two major software frameworks. When asked, I would assume the Apple and Microsoft frameworks to be the only ones most people would recognize. However, there are others, and for obvious reasons, this post is about the best one.

As part of the freeware project GNU, Gnome used to be an acronym meaning GNU Network Object Model Environment. No longer part of GNU, Gnome is the default desktop interface for all Linux and Unix operating systems. Gnome has strived to be user friendly, cognitively ergonomic for all users, including the disabled.

In 1997, Gnome was developed for GNU in order to no longer be reliant on a toolkit program that had an expiring proprietary license. Gnome operated under a public license, which better suited the freeware philosophy of GNU. By 2011, Gnome had become the default interface for Ubuntu. 

David and Goliath is a Cheater

Awhile ago I used the above image in a silly post about Pink Floyd's song about gnomes. You can find it around here somewhere. I'm kind of ashamed at how ridiculous my writing is, so I won't link to it. The photo is from a tshirt produced and sold by David and Goliath Tees from Florida.

David and Goliath was founded in 2000 by Todd Goldman. The company followed an internet shopping trend that saw many tee shirt companies pop up selling similar fare. TShirt Hell, Threadless, and BustedTees are a few examples of the competition.

This is by far David and Goliath's best t-shirt design. I'm not biased, I swear.

In 2007, the company did get into plagiarism trouble. Some of his designs were proved to be ripped off of internet creator content sites. These claims were all settled, but like plagiarism claims against clothing giants Zara, Versace, Forever 21, and American Eagle, it opened up the discussion of what is protected on the Internet, how copyright law works, and how easy it is for independent creators to get screwed over by corporations.