Posts Tagged ‘ Maps & Directions ’

Where manual labourers came to die

Posted on October 8th, 2009 1 Comment

Well now I’ve gone and done it. I’ve brazenly ripped off yet another set of photos from the Toronto Archives.

That’s what happens when I’m knackered and I’ve spent most of the night swooping around the financial district in Street View instead of posting! Oh well, if you’ll forgive a few sentences that don’t quite seem to make sense, we’ll be able get through this.

Man, I wish Google never came out with Street View. Between every few words … I manage to travel another couple of blocks.

It’s been thirty minutes since my last sentence!

Back in the olden days they wouldn’t have had these frivolous time wasters. The men with their genitals exposed to the raw atmosphere had enough to occupy their time.

the frigid berry regiment

The Royal Alex isn’t one of those locations that’s changed much. Guys are still freezing their nuts off out there.

still freezing the brass

The next random location — just because it happens to be a few steps down the street doesn’t mean it’s not random! — the next random location I decided on for comparison was the Elephant and Castle across the street from Roy Thomson Hall. In this case, there was a world of difference between then and now.

and rook

I figured I’d include something in the picture that I could match to something in the archives. Luckily, I was right. It’s the black building in the above photo that stands in the spot where the building below stood.

even the photos look dirty

Hahaha! What the hell was that?! No one’s getting drunk in that podunk town!

… Continue Reading

Filed under: B Sides, Pictures

How Google killed Toronto City Life

Posted on October 7th, 2009 6 Comments

Oh … my … freakin’ … God.

It’s here. Street View is here.

The loss of productivity in Toronto this morning must’ve been staggering; into the billions I bet. Once you start flying around the city, it’s kinda hard to stop. I know I was on a tour of my neighbourhood for hours.

Addictive, packed to the rafters with photos, and backed by Google; TCL’s so screwed. How the hell am I supposed to compete with that?!

As a minor consolation, it took the Google car a really long time to capture the whole city, so maybe I can produce something more up-to-date. Well, eventually.

barbershop of struggle
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You tried the Street View thing, didn’t you?

See? It’s hard to resist. But until Google figures out how to incorporate street festivals or higher resolution dead musicians, at least there’s some hope.

as worried as me
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I’m also glad that the Google car seems to have avoided alleys and sidewalks. It saved the lives of thousands of pedestrians, but more importantly, it left a small window of opportunity for something unique.

it doesn't even look like a fountain!
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*sigh*

Why do they always have to pick on the little guy? Just when I thought I was getting the hang of this blogging thing, along come Larry and Sergey and kick me in the painful bits.

What did I ever do to them?!

Filed under: B Sides, Pictures