Author: Steven Garrity

Acts of Volition Radio: Session Eight

by Steven Garrity

Acts of Volition Radio: Session EightAfter being vocally out of commision for a while due to a bad cold, Acts of Volition Radio is back. This is a special session dedicated to the late Gene Eugene. If you haven’t heard of Gene Eugene, that is why I do this. His songs are among the most important to me of any I have known.

The music of Gene Eugene. Recorded Friday, March 19, 2004 by Steven Garrity. Run time: 27min.

Session Eight Playlist:

  1. Lost Dogs – Jimmy
  2. Adam Again – Worldwide
  3. Adam Again – Stone
  4. Starflyer 59 – Fell In Love at 22
  5. Adam Again – Every Mother’s Way
  6. Lost Dogs – If It Be Your Will

If this is your first time hearing Acts of Volition Radio, you may enjoy previous Acts of Volition Radio sessions as well.

Acts of Volition Radio
Acts of Volition Radio
Acts of Volition Radio: Session Eight
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Panoramas from the Left Coast

by Steven Garrity

While on a recent trip to San Francisco, I took about 400 photos with my digital camera. A few of these were adjacent shots intented to be stitched together with panoramic photo software.

All kinds of software packages are available to stitch photos together into panoramas. My friend Nathan recomended a package called Panorama Factory, and it is impressive. My camera (nothing high-end, it’s a 2MP Canon Digital Elph S330) includes a feature to help line up multiple shots for a panorama, but Panorama Factory is good enough that you don’t even need to use the camera aids (though I still did for the photos below).

These aren’t meant to be particularly good photos. As you can see by my photo gallery, I’m no photographer. However, I do manage to luck out and catch a few nice ones now and then (getting up at sun-rise always helps, as with this set from the North shore of Prince Edward Island). I thought I would post a few photos to show how easy it is to put together panoramas, to encourage others to try it out, and to point out the great software package I’ve been using (Panorama Factory).

Each of the files below are simple partial panoramas, but Panorama Factory is just as good with complete 360° panoramas. As I show below, it can export to flat images (JPEGs) or create QuickTime panoramas (it also exports to a few other proprietary panoramic formats).

Pacific Beach Panorama

A pitstop on the way from San Francisco to Monterey.
Pacific Ocean Panorama

One of the most beautiful landscapes I have ever seen (not really captured well here) – taken from the hills outside of San Francisco looking towards the Pacific ocean. As an added bonus, that’s the president of the internet on the right.
San Francisco Hills Panorama

A view of silicon valley from the hills – I’m not actually sure where we are at this point. That’s Stephen DesRoches on the right who was all about gettin’ the shots.
San Francisco Hills Panorama

Another shot from the same vantage point as the photo above. This one was with 3-times zoom.
 

Echo Hatchback Fuel Efficiency Correction

by Steven Garrity

Back in August of 2003, I wrote about my new Echo Hatchback and how it’s fuel effeciency was surprisingly good when compared to hybrid vehicles (and way cheaper). It turns out I was comparing miles per US gallon with miles per Imperial gallon.

A unit conversion problem caused the crash of a NASA Mars orbiter, so hopefully you’ll cut me some slack. I’ve updated the original post with the appropriate figures and added a note explaining the mistake and the change.

While the accurate data does put the Echo Hatchback further from the hybrids than my original (bad) data, I think it’s close enough that my original point still stands.

Thanks to the reader who pointed this out and sorry for the confusion.