Gnome sex.

It’s what you get if you run Gnomedex through an iPhone’s spell checker. Just one of the minor bits of wisdom I picked up at this years conference.

Gnomedex came and went last week in Seattle, Washington. What did you miss? Well, Chris and Ponzi Pirillo put on a stellar event, the Web proved it can change the world, and an incredible set of gadgets and gizmos were showcased for a crowd all but salivating over its Venti mug of Seattle-brewed Geek.

Sleepless In . . .

Why then is all of this dark-roasted, organic (no sugar please) fun being drowned out in popular reporting by a certain footnote involving a certain former Businessweek journalist?

Why?

Well, for one, it makes for darn good headlines. Secondly, bickering has the best soundbytes. Still not quite sold? Let me fill you in on the real secret then — blow for blow contention fills 1000 words way more easily than detailed analysis.

Moving on.

What was there to learn at this years Gnomedex if you weren’t watching the scuffle? Let’s start from the beginning.

• Icanhascheezburger has an origin and growth story that deserves a major motion picture, or at least a treatment staring Keanu Reeves and Bruce Campbell.

• Danny Sullivan of SearchEngineLand is the David Blaine of Google. Sure, it’s not that difficult to find random audience member’s phone numbers, addresses and family details on a search engine but it takes real talent to do it all with panache.

• Ignite Seattle is a fantastic concept, if you aren’t sure what that is think speed-presenting. If you haven’t heard of Ignite, do yourself a favor and check them out.

• Cyborg Anthropology. Don’t even try to parse that before reading this post on the subject written by Amber Case. If you are interested in fringe technology, welcome to the ragged edge.

• Million dollar question — how long does it take a room full of geeks all with checkbooks, laptops and free-range access to Twitter to raise $3,000 to send a Cambodian child to college? If you have Beth Kanter in the room, the answer is somewhere around 30 minutes. The true power of media has nothing at all to do with echo chambers and A-lists, take that to the bank.

• A picture is worth . . . just about nothing, unless that picture is of something meaningful. Kris Krug showed us how to take beautiful shots and Amanda Koster gave us one option on how to scrape some meaning out of them with her collaborative photography project, Salaam Garage.

• Your voice is the next pointing device, SkyNet will be a collaborative route-tracing tool, hardware is going open source and if you want to get a hall full of Gnomedexers to give you a standing ovation all you need is the first picture of Earth taken from the surface of another planet. Take notes.

What does it all mean?

Maybe we should call this a lesson in Media bias or maybe it has something to do with squeaky wheels and grease? Most likely, it’s just human nature. Regardless, here is your thought for the day — next time you see the “roundup” of a major event, ask yourself what story you are really being fed and whether the picture you’re being shown is an accurate one.

There are a thousand tales in this fair city, which one are you hearing?

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