Word: gnomes
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When German artist Ottmar Hörl created a gold-colored gnome giving the infamous Hitler salute earlier this year, he meant it as a satirical work, a mockery of Nazi ideology. When gallery owner Erwin Weigl put the gnome in the window of his Nuremberg store, he didn't even notice the Nazi connection - he just thought the gnome was waving. But when a local newspaper published a photo of the gnome, both Hörl and Weigl suddenly found themselves at the center of a criminal investigation that became a national talking point. Giving the Hitler salute...
After a week-long probe, the authorities dropped their investigation, having decided that, as a work of art, Hörl's gnome is exempt from the law. But the fact that there was an investigation at all is proof of how seriously Germany takes its anti-Nazi laws. More than 60 years after the end of World War II, the horrors of fascism and the Holocaust remain etched in Germany's collective consciousness. (See pictures of Hitler's rise to power...
Though if Six Flags thought he had "more fans than not," it seems odd to strike the campaign in the first place. Vieira Barocas contends that the original commercials put the gyrating gnome too front and center. Now he has more of a supporting role. In the new ads, Mr. Six rates the fun of various activities on a scale of 1 to 6 flags. Throwing a baseball at your dad's crotch? "Two flags," Mr. Six chirps. Riding a Six Flags roller coaster? "Six flags," Mr. Six tells us in a voice that sounds like a cooing father...
When the CFTC's acting director of enforcement, Stephen Obie, was asked what the most outrageous use of investor money he's come across has been, his list was appropriately wacky. "The craziest things we've found recently," Obie said, "are a bust of Julius Caesar, an extensive garden-gnome collection, a $300,000 Mickey Mouse drawing, bejeweled ink pens, several of which cost more than $100,000, $4 million worth of custom tailored clothes, a silver set allegedly belonging to Paul Revere, and two purple Jaguars with hand-painted leopard-skin roofs." It should be added that Ruth Madoff...
...five minutes later, reporters hardly let him step over the threshold into the hall, thrusting dozens of digital recorders in his face, shuffling together as sentries made a path for other, less in-demand Senators to come and go. The stocky Nebraskan took it all in with a garden-gnome grin, patiently deflecting questions with an easy charm...