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ARTICLE: Garden Gnomes to add whimsey to your garden by Johann Erickson.

Garden gnomes are a fun addition to your garden, patio or landscaping. Adding a perfect touch of whimsy, you can count on a garden gnome to always put a smile on your face. Besides their obvious charm, garden gnomes are also believed to bring good luck to your garden. After all, a garden gnomes is supposed to help with your gardening!

First appearing in the 1840s in England, Garden gnomes are popular figures in all types of gardens. The whimsy and merriment of garden gnomes make them ideal decorations. Put a garden gnome at the base of a flowering bush, reclining by a flower bed, or peeking around the edge of your patio, and you'll have a delightful companion for your garden.

There are hundreds of types of Garden gnomes to choose from. Practical jokers, such as garden gnomes that appear to have their head stuck in the ground add a generous helping of humor. Antique reproduction garden gnomes look like busy little workers. There are brightly colored garden gnomes, color-coordinated garden gnomes and a few sweet female garden gnomes.

Garden gnomes are a world-wide phenomenon, and many stories and legends are told about their origin and behavior. In Britain garden gnomes are called Nains, in Sweden they are known as Nissen, and in Hawaii they are called Menehuenes. According to common lore, Garden gnomes originated in Scandinavia and later migrated, preferring hilly meadows and rocky woodlands. Telling melancholy tales and growing a thriving garden are said to be the garden gnomes favorite activities. It is also said that garden gnomes have made practical jokes an art form, so watch out! You never know what your garden gnome might be planning.

These cute little garden gnomes are just the thing to add some personality and fun to your garden. Place them in clusters or scatter them throughout the yard. It's always fun to come upon a garden gnome slightly hidden from plain view. Garden gnomes are a delightful addition to any outdoor setting.

About the Author

Johann Erickson is the owner of Online Discount Mart and TV Products 4 Less.

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ARTICLE: Computer Geeks and Garden Gnomes by Birmingham UK Com.

First and foremost before I begin my ranting it is worth mentioning that there are many very helpful and considerate people out there in the cyber wilderness who devote much of their time to providing open source and free scripts of all variations from PHP, CGI and Java to name but a few. They provide dedicated support, do not insist on payment, and spend much of their free time helping you avoid having to part with your hard earned cash to get free programs and scripts up and running on your websites.

Now, that having been said I have just spent an enlightening couple of days installing several PHP and CGI scripts, mainly because whilst I have some experience of installations, the only true way to become fast and efficient with all this geeky stuff is to install, de install and test a variety of applications and programs yourself.

After two days and over a hundred scripts I am left drained. Half of the scripts I just dumped immediately due to poor or non-existent documentation and bad layout of files. It amazes me that some quite intricate scripts are left high and dry without any installation documents at all. In other words, the author spent days programming and putting together complicated scripts, to fail miserably on poor or non existent documentation. Aside from this, some sites you visit in order to download this material insist on blitzing you with numerous pop ups - the end result of which is neither good for the person visiting the website or the website owner. Both part very quickly. Perhaps I am intolerant but any sign of boxes leaping up in the air and blind adverts and I am gone. I know I am not alone.

Add to this the frustration of taking the time to read through endless documents and CGI scripts on websites only to find that when you click on a link for more information or a download you find it is dead, the site under maintenance or what was advertised as free is not actually free. Either that or you go to the extreme of getting a script working only to find the writers advertisement popping up all over the place to the extent it warrants dumping the script. Yes I know you can remove it for a fee but why didn't you tell me that before I installed it?

Even quite clear documentation often omits what is to the writer an obvious requirement but not something that he or she chooses to share with their hapless user - classic example might be forgetting to mention that an SQL database is needed. Hardly a minor omission.

At the height of one frustrating and particularly badly written install attempt I imagined myself as John Cleese with a garden gnome under my arm hunting for the writer. Anonymity on the internet does has its advantages in this case.

Now, I know you will be cynical and say that most of this is down to the fact that many script writers are hoping you will pay them to install their scripts for you, indeed many do offer installation services. This really is a bad way of advertising your services. There are plenty of people who will have trouble with the easiest installs and if you wrote clear and concise documentation which any user can see is genuinely comprehensive, you are more likely to secure customers as a result of failed installs.

During this laborious exercise we went through scripts of all kinds some of which include; online photo albums, content management systems, member login and authentication scripts, virtual postcards, email programs, hosting scripts, live helper, communication, e commerce, shopping carts, quiz and chat programs to name but a few. We also purchased 3 scripts. Only one of those free scripts was simple to install and marginally better than the free versions available. Paying money does not necessarily mean better service. In fact one photo album provider charging around $30 dollars per script provided bad install information and less than helpful advice, immediately deleting anything that mentioned install problems from his forum.

It has been an experience. If none of this has meant anything to you and you have no idea about scripting or installing scripts then consider yourself fortunate and leave it to the geeks if you are able.

For those of you that regularly dive into scripting for your websites - here is a useful tip that saved us no end of time and frustration. The minute you come up against bad scripting, bad documentation or difficult to install scripts - trash them, ditch them and move on. There are plenty of others. Leave the tricky badly written stuff to the real hardcore freaks.

About the Author. From the website of www.birminghamuk.com

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ARTICLE: A house is not a Home without a Gnome by Hugh Harris-Evans.

When confronted by a garden gnome the common reaction is to hold up your hands in horror and utter an expression of disgust while wondering how anyone can bear to allow such a creature to remain in their backyard. On the other hand we are told on good authority that the gnome population of Southern Germany is close on four million and, when you start looking, there are quite a number visible in the US.

Perhaps we should not be surprised by the Germans since gnomes were first created in their country in the early 1800's. The earliest recorded sighting in England was in 1840 at Lamport Hall, the seat of Sir Charles Isham. It was not until 1872 that gnomes for the garden began to be manufactured in large numbers. According to German folklore gnomes were regarded as good luck charms. They were supposed to help around the house and garden and in rural areas often lived in the rafters of barns where they would keep a watchful eye on the owner's animals as well as the crops and garden produce.

Over the years the German gnome makers honed their skills and became master craftsmen. At its peak the Griebel gnome factory in East Germany produced some 300 different gnome characters. Following the collapse of communism in 1989 entrepreneurs in the Czech Republic decided to enter the market and to produce cheap imitations of the traditional characters. Initially they were prevented from entering Germany by a law which allowed customs to confiscate those gnomes infringing companies' copyright. However, now it is a free for all on the German border and Reinhard Griebel, the great grandson of the founder of the firm, has just one workshop and the gnome museum.

Whilst the original gnomes were depicted as gardeners engaged in the traditional rural tasks, the range was increased to include anyone from fishermen to musicians, sportsmen and farmers. It was not long before living individuals were being modelled in clay or stoneware. Among those currently available are gladiator Russell Crowe, TV gardeners Alan Titchmarsh and Charlie Dimmock and even a Tony Blair wall plaque.

For gnome lovers no trip to Europe would be complete without a visit to the Gnome Reserve set in the wilds of northern Devon in England. There you will find over one thousand gnomes and pixies in the four acre reserve. Gnome hats are loaned free of charge together with fishing rods, so you don't embarrass the gnomes!

There are some who view the cheerful little character sitting in your yard in a different light. FreeTheGnomes.com provides Garden Gnome Liberation information and calls to action. They proclaim that "Thousands of Gnomes are enslaved in Gardens across America. For too long we have let our neighbors usurp the rights of these gentle woodland creatures. Join our boycott. Organize a picket demonstration. Write to Congress. Free a Gnome. We'll show you how."

Some groups have taken the law into their own hands. In April 2000 in Paris the dormant Garden Gnome Liberation Front sprang back to life, stealing about 20 gnomes during a nighttime raid on a Paris exhibition. "We demand ... that garden gnomes are no longer ridiculed and that they be released into their natural habitat," the Front's Paris wing said in a statement following its weekend strike.

Disappearing gnomes have caused headaches for police forces worldwide. In May 2004 The Scotsman reported that a spate of bizarre thefts had left Lothians police with several unusual prisoners - 14 garden gnomes. An elderly woman complained to police that someone was stealing gnomes from her yard in Fairfax County, Washington D.C. Officers set up a spy-cam and caught their suspect in the act four times. Police revealed that their bad guy was really a not-so-bad Labrador retriever named Magnum. The dog had been retrieving the figurines and bringing them home. In Australia, garden gnomes started disappearing from one particular neighbourhood on a large scale. They were found in a clearing in the bush months later, where they were all gathered around the largest gnome, having a meeting.

If you have not yet succumbed to the temptation to acquire one of these cheerful little creatures, let me leave you with one final thought. A study carried out in England in 2003 into matters to be considered when selling your home found that having a gnome in your front garden reduced the value of your house by $840.

Hugh Harris-Evans

For gardening tips and resources visit my site: http://www.garden-supplies-advisor.com

About the Author: Hugh Harris-Evans is a retired 62 year old who divides his time between building his gardening web site http://www.garden-supplies-advisor.com and getting his hands dirty in his real world garden.

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