Vacation Panoramas

2008.09.14 - Sunday

I've posted a bunch of my standard size vacation photos on Facebook, but because it automatically sizes pictures down, Facebook isn't very good for panoramas or large format images. Luckily I have other means at my disposal. I've tried to take a few panoramic shots whenever I'm travelling or visiting a place that warrants it. The process of stitching multiple images together is made a lot easier by Autostitch, a great utility that interestingly comes out of the University of British Columbia. There are still usually errors that need to be fixed, such as anything that was moving when the photos were taken, but they can be ironed out in less than an hour of work per panorama, in most cases. It depends on the subject matter, and how steady your hand was (tripods make it a lot easier, but aren't required). I usually try to fix as many blending errors as I can, but sometimes it's just not worth it. Moving leaves, for example, I'd rather take a pass on.

So, here are the shots I managed to get during the trip:

This unassuming driveway off of Sand Lake Road near Elgin, Ontario leads to...

...my Aunt and Uncle's "cabin". Yeah, we were roughing it.

View from the swimming dock.


Across from the hotel, a large building. Downtown Montreal.

Downtown Montreal from Mt Royal.

Montreal from the other side of Mt Royal.


Montreal street, looking towards McGill.

Welcome to Quebec City!

The Chateau Frontenac lit up at night.

And again, but during the day.

McCuaig home in Hubbards, Nova Scotia.

Steve and Julia's wedding reception dining room, all set up!

Site of the wedding. Perfect!

View from the 7th fairway at Chester.

I've never trusted Google, and I never will.

2008.09.03 - Wednesday

Google's Omnibox could be Pandora's box

This Post Not Made In Chrome; Google's EULA Sucks

That may seem like a hypocritical comment coming from someone with their own public website, not to mention a recently signed up Facebook member, but there it is. Google has a great search engine and I still use it, but these days I'm really thinking about trying something else. I don't care how many times Google's PR team tells me that their motto is to "Do No Evil", the legal and corporate behaviour of the company tells a different story. Even though they will be changing the EULA for Chrome due to well founded and outraged concern, the fact is that they tried to pass it off as is, and I just can't believe that it was an innocent mistake as they claim. The language in that document doesn't belong in the EULA of any piece of computer software, let alone a web browser. The possibilities stemming from their Omnibox feature truly should boggle and terrify the mind of any sane internet user.

People want to love Google because they aren't Microsoft, or even Apple. The only reason the company is even enjoying success right now is because they're running tiny little applications on the backs of incredibly complex and expensive operating system software and computer hardware. Don't think you can take that stuff away and be left with the same product in Google Earth, or Picasa, or Chrome. Google fans and tech geeks dream of some weird future where everything just runs off the internet, where all of their data, emails, work, and digital personal property is stored; watched over benevolently by a single multinational corporation with a cute name.

I'll pass.