(oops meant to post this earlier, sorry)

If you haven’t already, and feel like being present for history in the making, you can sign up to get the announcement when tickets become available, to see Senator Obama accept the presidential nomination for the Democrats.

I know the DNC is gonna royally hose up downtown life, but I’m damn excited that it’ll be right here in my own backyard!

So apparently I’m not the only one noticing that Burger King has joined the anti-photography crusade. Another blogger, Jenn Shuey, was taken aback by the sticker and decided to investigate…

I knocked on the window until I got the guy to come back, then I asked for an explanation. He claims it’s because cameras distract the employees causing it to take longer to complete their jobs.

Bullshit.

I concur. I’m rather more fond of some of the other guesses this blogger has come up with, especially the one concerning Dateline’s Dirty Dining segment, in which “Burger King was rated the dirtiest chain after hidden cameras visited the chain among many others.”

(Remember the U.S. Armed Forces’ initial response to the Abu Grhaib torture scandel? Not to punish those responsible, but to ban cameras? Because torturing wasn’t the real crime, to them; witnessing torture was.)

It gets worse. The children’s party angle? Five-year-olds wearing cardboard Burger King crowns and thier parents unable, because of this stupid rule, to take pictures for the family scrapbook? Shuey brought this up:

When I asked the guy about it he said “if you want to have a party contact our manager. We may be able to arrange for a professional photographer.”

Yyyyeah. You just might. And you just might get a nice kickback from that pro photographer, mightn’t you, since your policy guarantees them a lot of business?

One of the people commenting on my previous piece scolded me for bringing it up at all:

Seriously, who cares? As a business they have a right to deny service. Plus, this isn’t a new thing. Grocery stores and Malls have had this rule for YEARS, way before 9/11. They basically don’t want someone coming in and stealing marketing ideas. Fast food chains pay a lot of money to a lot of people to figure out the best method for laying out their stores, product placement, etc, etc. I can see a lot of reasons why they would ask people not to take pictures in side their store.

If you don’t like it, don’t go *shrug*

You know what? Apathy and cynicism aren’t good substitutes for wisdom. (Besides, if your stance is “Who cares?” then why do you bother leaving blog comments about it? Why don’t you just leave the conversation to those who do care? Do you think your “who cares” stance makes you superior, and you want to show off how superior you are? Do you have a vested interest in attempting to sneer others into silence?)

Obviously some people think it makes them more enlightened, more mature, to roll over and say “I for one welcome our new anti-camera overlords.” Do enjoy that smug little warm fuzzy, folks. But me, I’m not only going to avoid any store or market vendor with a “no photo” policy, I’m in favor of telling others about it so they can make informed decisions.

Jenn Shuey did me one better. She took her complaint up the chain of command:

After my little rant Friday about Burger King I decided to do something about it. I called their customer relations department for answers. The customer service rep I spoke with was very nice, and her reaction to the stickers saying no cameras was one of shock. She honestly didn’t know what I was talking about and thought it was absurd. She immediately put me on hold and started trying to contact someone who could give her an answer as to why there is this no camera policy now.

Apparently, this customer service rep thought it was the stupidest policy she’d ever heard of. She couldn’t get immediate answers, but took down Shuey’s complaint–along with the list of other bloggers’ reports Shuey had collected (including mine).

Two days later, Shuey discovered her local BK had removed the sticker.

The manager just happened to be running the window, so I asked him about it. I made mention that I’d seen the sign a few days ago, and he said “yeah, we took it down because we’re having too many complaints. We had 2 birthday parties canceled because the parent’s couldn’t take photos of the party.”

(I don’t know whether the Gunbarrell location has followed suit, as I haven’t been up there since. Would anyone up in the area like to report?)

I think it’s important to challenge these “no photo” rules wherever we find them. Increasingly, amateur photography is becoming our primary method of holding accountable corporations, police forces, and other organizations, including local and federal government bodies. To treat photographers like criminals is to seriously disempower us laypeople. (Do watch the Dateline segment - Shuey has the video embedded at her first blog post on the matter.) So It’s important to not only refuse to patronize businesses that don’t want their business practices caught on tape, but also to let them know why you are no longer giving them your money. Ask them what they’re ashamed of, that they don’t want any witnesses.

And spread the word! The only way that this free market/democracy ideal works is when consumers/citizens can make informed decisions about who to patronize, who to support, and who to vote for. If a business has a policy that you think is unethical, tell your friends about it–tell them about the policy and why you think it’s unethical. Give them the power to make a conscious decision about what policies they will support.

In closing: “Who cares?” makes a shitty rallying cry. “Change for the better!” has a much nicer ring to it. Just ask Jenn Shuey.

If Metblogs is a city, hub.metblogs is the playground. We kept hearing from people that one of their favorite parts of Metblogs was meeting and interacting with readers and writers from other parts of the world, as well as getting requests for more ways that readers could be involved besides just posting comments. We thought about this for a while and decided that with a network like this, a giant community area where folks from all over the world could hang out, post photos and videos, talk with each other, form groups, play games, send messages, and do about a million other things was probably a pretty fun idea. The Hub is that.

If you have any tech ideas or suggestions join this group and speak up. See you on hub.metblogs!

VIA Joe Murphy from the Denver Post there’s to be a Bring Your Own Squirt Gun fight Tuesday 7/15/2008 @ 3:30pm. Details are below. I would join but working second shift prevents. If you’re in Denver and have the wet weapons…come on down and have some fun.

Denverites: There’s a squirt-gun fight Tuesday at 3:30 p.m. at the Civic Center Park fountain on Colfax, between Broadway and Bannock. BYOSG

So…… In the “things you don’t see everyday” column, redux.

Earlier tonight, my wife and I saw about 40-50 folks come into the dirt lot in front of our house. They showed up with cameras and tools, cleared the field (most of it) of the weeds and debris.

Once the area was cleared, they dug three holes and planted three saplings. They also planted a few shrubs and a good dozen or so nice purple flowers.

Once the trees were planted, they gathered up the trash bags into a pile, took each others photos in front of the trees and plants, watered the plants, and left. Yeah that was weird.

It goes on.

We went out and took the above photo. We went back into the house, ate dinner and just after we finished, the truck pulled up again and two of them got out. We got up to see what they were doing, thinking maybe they’d put up a sign or something to explain what had just gone down.

Instead, they pulled up the trees, and shrubs, stomped the flowers into the dirt. To our horror they put the trees into pots (Yeah! we thought they were taking them back to where they got them, or to another place to be planted), and proceeded to hurl them into the back of the truck with force.

They also dumped out about 20% of the bags they’d filled back into the field. So now we had a pile of weeds, and three holes in the ground.

wow, I can’t wait to hear what this display might have been, my money is on a Republican “we’re great and love everyone and nature” campaign. Just my opinion of course ;)

The duo in the truck showed up again about 10 minutes later in the truck, where they proceeded to sweep it out. They also tossed two segments of chain link fence back out of the truck. The last blow was circling around in the field and driving over the flowers and shrubs.

I’ve no idea what was up, but it sure did suck on the karma level.

According to the Post (my new favorite source of info, it seems!) McCain will be at the Denver Center for the Performing arts, tomorrow at 10am.

From the article

“People can enter the Donald R. Seawell Grand Ballroom to see the Republican presidential candidate starting at 10 a.m. Monday.”

Have republicans, say ‘hi’ to your boy for us, maybe he can scope out a job here in Denver, since winning the election sure ain’t in the cards ;)

Two of our own, well Boulderites (inos?) Summitted Mt. Kilimanjaro!

From the Denver Post

“Kaylee and Matt Moniz are 10-year-old twins who will be entering fifth grade at Flatirons Elementary School in the fall. They went to Tanzania with their parents, Dee and Mike Moniz, to climb Africa’s highest mountain, which stands at over 19,300 feet. “

All I can say is wow! I’m working on doing 14′er number 2.

Sounds like their whole family are mtn climbing nuts so congrats to the whole clan!

Having just done a piddly 5.4 mile hike through Gregory Canyon, my appreciation for their skills is immense.

The Denver Post has an article and poll right now on the topic.

It seems that Senator Obama is looking to give his acceptance speach at Invesco Field, in order to accomodate more of the public. w00t!!! is all I gotta say. I’d love to be at the DNC, but it’s pretty unlikely. But if the Senator decided to give his speach at Invesco, I’ll be there! Funny that the first (and maybel only) time for me to be there won’t be to see the Broncos, LOL.

From the Post

“The move would mark a major departure from tradition, but would be in keeping with the candidate’s desire to build a large grass-roots campaign focused on “change.” “

What I’ve always liked about Obama is that he does change things. Just because “it’s the way it’s always been” doesn’t make it right, and I think that’s especially super duper 100% the case in politics!

I figured I’d try out polling tool out, too so feel free to read the Post’s article and do their poll, but do ours too, Come on Metbog readers! Get Involved!!!

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I wasn’t surprised to find the article, “Tanks, but no thanks: Gas station owners driven off” in the Post today. There has been much talk about how gas station owners have been losing money by selling gas. I was surprised that the article focuses on gas station owners closing or not selling gas in Boston. Last week down here in Highlands Ranch, there were two gas stations close to C-470 between Sante Fe and Broadway not selling gas. So this has hit our own backyard. Anyone else encountered this in Colorado yet?

Sorry I’m a little behind due to a sick household, but in Tuesday’s Post I found the amusing article, Bumper Stickers Signal Hostility. Apparently a CSU professor concluded, as the result of a recent study, that people with bumper stickers on their cars are more aggressive drivers. And the more bumper stickers, the more aggressive the driver. I find the study interesting, because I have frequently driven on I-25 between Denver and Colorado Springs for nearly ten years. Boy have I encountered some aggressive drivers–I don’t know how truck drivers do it! Though I can’t say I’ve noticed people with bumper stickers being more aggressive drivers, I might start paying more attention to their driving. Especially if the bumper sticker gripes about gas prices.