My friend and co-editor of Misc, the “lifestyle” section of the Queen’s Journal (the main student paper at
My only directive, and I quote: “No boobies.” This was relayed to me second-hand, but I suspect it’s from Derek’s fiancee. I have every intention of respecting that directive, for while I may be a goofball, I am an honourable goofball.
This should be interesting. I’ll take photos.
On Wednesday evening, my friend Trysh and I went out for the complete suburban experience. First, dinner at Swiss Chalet (for non-Canadians, it’s a chain of family restaurants specializing in roast chicken with dipping sauce) followed by a shopping trip to IKEA, the home of BILLY bookshelves, Swedish meatballs with lingonberry sauce…
…and a bizarre “no photos” policy.
We discovered this policy when we passed by a bin of stuffed animals. Stuffed ants, to be precise.
“Eeeeeeugh,” said my pretty companion, “you know, the last thing that I’d like to snuggle up with would be…”
“…a three-foot giant ant?” I said, completing her sentence. I grabbed one out of the bin and gave it a big bear hug.
“Give me your camera,” she said, “we have to take a picture of this.”
Here’s the resulting picture:
Apparently, this is some kind of violation.
Immediately after the picture above was taken, an IKEA customer service representative came up to us and informed us that photography is forbidden in IKEA.
Since it was only a half-hour until closing and since Trysh needed to get some picture frames, I decided not to argue the point then and there. She was, after all, someone who didn’t make that stupid policy and probably not aware enough of the decision-making process behind that policy to debate it.
A “no photographs” policy for a furniture showroom is silly.
If I were from a competing store attempting to undercut IKEA’s prices, I could just as easily take notes. IKEA gives you golf pencils and paper so that you can take notes.
If I wanted to copy IKEA furniture design, I wouldn’t photograph it; I’d buy one so could study it in detail.
If I wanted to get a better idea of how a piece of furniture would look in my home or whether it would match my current decor, I would take a digital photograph.
If I wanted someone else’s opinion on a piece of furniture, I’d take a digital photograph so that i could show it to them.
Many people take their kids to IKEA. What if one of those “important moments” happens while you’re there, and you want to capture it? (It’s not as ridiculous as you think — my friend Bryce’s kid started walking for the first time while we were at a Mexican restaurant at a big dinner full of people from the CodeCon 2002 conference.)
I really hate being treated like some kind of criminal by companies who then expect me to give them money. I don’t like being told that I can’t have a friend take a picture of me inside their showroom when I’m quite certain that they themselves are monitoring me through the store’s security cameras. I’m with Lawrence Lessig when he says:
…it is bizarre that we increasingly live in this world where every movement is captured by a camera, yet increasingly, ordinary people are not permitted to take pictures with cameras. This is yet another part of a growing obsession with control that seems to mark so much of this society. At a minimum, we have a right to take note of this control, and criticize it where we can.
I think it’s time for me to write to IKEA’s customer relations department.
And take my business elsewhere, say a nice Canadian company like EQ3, who have funky furniture and are just down the street from me.
Or organize one helluva flash mob.
Perhaps all of the above.
Who’s with me?
The Photographer’s Right. A downloadable flyer that explains “our rights when stopped or confronted for photography”. Written with US laws in mind, but it should work for Canadians too.
The Starbucks Challenge. Starbucks doesn’t have a “no photography” policy, but some of its managers don’t know that. here’s the original story, and here are some comments.
You may have noticed that there’s no way to make non-anonymous comments without logging in. (Of course, you can simply put your name in the body of an anonymous comment.)
This software behind this blog — Blogware — was designed with a “membership has its privileges” philosophy. By giving readers Blogware accounts, it’s possible to create special members-only areas that are not visible to non-members. For instance, this blog has some super-secret sections accessible only to people within my section (Innovation and Research) of the company for which I work (Tucows). I could also create sections in which I grant certain people author status, so they can post their own articles — a collaborative blog, if you will.
I don’t agree with making users sign up for an account just so they can leave comments with their name and URL attached. I think that although signing up for an account is a quick process, it makes my readers jump through unneccesary hoops for “benefits” of dubious value. I think that the “if you get an account, you’ll get cool privileges” line of thinking is the kind of tunnel-vision one gets from working on a piece of software without getting a detached third-party point of view (and, speaking as a programmer and software designer, I’ve fallen into that trap myself).
(Please keep in mind, that this sticking point about accounts aside, I’m enjoying using Blogware.)
However, I have agreed to give this system a try. if you have an opinion on this subject, please let me know through by leaving me a comment or sending me some email.
If you would like an account, the sign up process is simple. Go to the account signup page. Fill it out, then submit it. You will then receive an email asking you to confirm your request. Once you have confirmed your request, your account will be automatically activated.
I fyou have any questions, let me know in the comments!
Here’s a tiny (130K) QuickTime movie showing everyone’s favourite semi-disposable Swedish furniture store. Note the Homer Simpson-esque awe in my voice as I narrate.
Taking pictures outside IKEA is a piece of cake. However, there’s a company policy against taking pictures inside. I’ll rant more about this later tonight.
Here’s a QuickTime video in which your ‘umble writer attempts to stay the name “Steve Mann” without following it up with a sarcastic “MISTER CYBORG”, enveloped in “sarcasm tongs”.
I tried, really I did.
But wow, is my new Nikon Coolpix SQ a really nifty camera!
Would you like to live with two world-famous computer programmers? One of whom is one of Canada’s best-known accordion players and writes one of Canada’s Top ten blogs? The other being one of Canada’s best-known anti-censorship software designers? Living in one of downtown Toronto’s most televised houses? In an area giving you walking-and-biking distance access to some of Toronto’s coolest neighbourhoods?
It’s one of the nicest houses in a quiet residential neighbourhood tucked a mere couple of blocks away from the corner of Queen and Spadina. The facade is designated a historical landmark, but the interior is completely renovated, with hardwood floors and high ceilings in the common areas. There are two full bathrooms, with the downstairs one also being a laundry room with full-size washer and dryer. The kitchen has the full spread of stove, oven, microwave and dishwasher. There’s a back deck for barbecues and a large tree for shade.
Want to go see the latest blockbuster flick? We’re a five-minute walk from the downtown Paramount. Indie film more your cup of tea? We’re a five-minute walk from the Art Gallery of Ontario, and a quick bike ride away from the Cinecycle, Royal and Carlton cinemas. Like big bookstores? Chapters is close by. Like small ones? Pages is close by too. You can fall out of bed and land in Chinatown, Kensington Market or Queen Street West. Walk a litte farther, and you can hit College West, the dance Club district, the financial district, or the Eaton Centre. We’re a hop, skip and a jump away from the subway, and you can be on the Gardiner Expressway in minutes.
This is no bachelor cave; you will not find any milk-crate or cinder-block furniture here. I own the world’s most comfortable couches, and they’re pretty sharp-looking, too. There’s a Parsons table in the dining room and some real, non-reproduced art on the walls. We have eschewed plain old Bell DSL and Rogers Cable modem service and gone for the gusto with high-speed business DSL and I’ve set up an 802.11g open wireless access point.
We have a small bedroom that’s becoming available shortly. Perhaps you’re looking for a place in downtown Toronto. Perhaps this sort of place appeals to you.
The successful candidate will possess the following qualities:
In return, you’ll live in a pretty cool house with two pretty cool housemates who make nice dinners, go out on the town reasonably often, make scintillating conversation, have interesting guests and generally live pretty well.
Interested? Drop me a line.
(I mentioned Law and Order in the last article…)
Just in case your day isn’t surreal enough, Ice-T is now promoting his new beverages, according to this canada.com article:
Samuel Adams, Billy Carter, and even Canada’s own Dave Nichols have done it: Why not Ice-T? Following a long line of celebrity brewers, rapper and actor Ice-T is launching “Royal Ice,” his own brand of malt liquor. But lest he lose out on a potential revenue source, Ice is also reaching out to the teetotalling Ice-T fan with “Liquid Ice,” a non-alcoholic energy drink. The New York Post quotes Ice-T as saying, of the latter, “A true hustler needs energy to keep his game tight.” So true. Hey — if he can sell that line to his boss, Dick Wolf, maybe he can get his Ice drinks product-placed on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit!
Maybe he can rewrite the lyrics to Cop Killer and call it Thirst Quencher.