Photostitching software for MacOSX

Photostitching software provides a way to create a single panoramic photo from photos of partial  sections of the full scene.  Some cameras come with panorama functionality built in; Canon has excellent on-board ability, however the Panasonic Lumix FX7 I have does not.  In fact, other than its small size, it's not a great camera - terrible noise and so-so color reproduction.

I tried PTGui but found the interface to be pretty crude and not very Mac-like.  In fact, it is a cross-platform application, however simple Mac things like drag-and-drop don't work the way they should on MacOSX.

I don't have Photoshop - it's possible that it has  a photo-stitching mode, but at whatever-hundreds-of-dollars it costs, I'll never know.

I wanted something that would work well with iPhoto.

I ended up purchasing DoubleTake which is very easy to use, accepts drag-and-dropped photos from iPhoto, and costs $24.95.  I  posted my first  panorama photo on flickr.  The  results  for a very quick-and-dirty run look really good.  With some work I can warp the images to fit better  (where the lower edge of the car don't meet well in the merged image).

Feeling collars

There's an article about the possible suicide of Manchester police chief Michael Todd where a colleague says "He wanted to get out there, he wanted to feel people's collars."  What a vivid image, this guy itching for the stiff feel of someone's - anyone's - starchy collar in his firm grip.  Or did he just enjoy running his hands lightly over them.  I hope the ghosts in the "bottle of spirits" found next to his body didn't rise up and feel his collar.

Her Space Holiday new (to me) disc

I just picked up The Telescope, a CD of Her Space Holiday rock that was released only in Japan. The jacket is a book, with a short story called The Telescope, as well as the disk and some postcards by the Japanese artist PCP, or real name Heisuke Kitazawa. He does sometimes ornate, psychedelic tableaus, other times spare portraits, like Groove Design figures done by hand.