The honorable John Feroce posted a picture today which he got from Glenn Beck. The picture shows a bookshelf with Obama-themed children’s books with a large sign above it saying “Religion”
It seemed bizarre to me, so I started doing some research. Apparently there are at least two versions of this picture on the Internet. One, the Beck version, has been scrubbed of EXIF data (hidden information recorded to the picture by the camera), but the other one has the EXIF data intact, at least this copy of it does. If you take a look at the hidden data, it is very enlightening. The image was captured by an iPhone. This is key to our research, since the iPhone also has a built-in GPS.
Here is a sample of the EXIF data:
# Camera Make = Apple
# Camera Model = iPhone
# X-Resolution = 72/1 = 72
# Y-Resolution = 72/1 = 72
# X/Y-Resolution Unit = inch (2)
# Last Modified Date/Time = 2009:02:13 11:55:37
# GPS Latitude Reference = N
# GPS Latitude = 32/1,4842/100,0/1 [degrees, minutes, seconds] ===> 32° 48.42′
# GPS Longitude Reference = W
# GPS Longitude = 96/1,4785/100,0/1 [degrees, minutes, seconds] ===> 96° 47.85′
The hidden data reveals that the image was captured at the following coordinates:
32° 48.42′ N by 96° 47.85′ W Which translates into Borders Books at 3600 Mckinney Ave, Dallas, TX 75204.
So I called this Borders and asked them if they had such a display now or in the past. The answer was a resounding “No”
Tyler offered the suggestion that perhaps this was done by some employee thinking he was being funny. This is possible, since it was taken at 11:55AM. It depends on whether the timestamp is in GMT or local time. It appears to be 6AM Dallas time.
Perhaps I’ll call the store back and suggest that one of their employees that was working at 6AM on Feb 13th rearranged their store shelves to make a political point. Oh, and he owns an iPhone.