Borbin the 🐱

Ringling Museum of Art

Established in 1927, the John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art was completed in 1928 and welcomed its first visitors in 1930.

1/3745s f/1,6 ISO 50/18° f=5mm/26mm

1/1316s f/1,9 ISO 45 f=5mm/25mm

1/2755s f/1,6 ISO 50/18° f=5mm/26mm

Started as a circus, now a museum by the bay.
Ringling turned seasons on the road into an art collection in Sarasota, and these panoramas take the long view in wide frames.

1/10s f/5,6 ISO 500/28° f=7,5mm

In case you get lost in the art, here is the official map. The place is big.

As tripods were not permitted, all panoramas were captured handheld, increasing the risk of minor stitching errors due to alignment and parallax sensitivity. Ironically, I tend to rely on a tripod only when it truly matters and museum panoramas happen to be one of those rare cases.

Gallery 1

Rubens opens the walk with five towering canvases from his Triumph of the Eucharist series. Once made for royalty, now casually greeting anyone who steps inside.

Interactive Panorama Gallery 1

1/50s f/5,6 ISO 2000/34° f=7,5mm

Gallery 3

Late Gothic and Renaissance works from Northern Europe, including pieces by Cranach the Elder, Cornelis van Cleve, and Quinten Metsys. Sculptures, furniture, and smaller objects complete the atmosphere and give a good sense of the period.

Interactive Panorama Gallery 3

1/50s f/5,6 ISO 10000/41° f=7,5mm

Gallery 5

Renaissance life shows up in softer tones. A 16th century daybed and devotional pieces, including a gentle Della Robbia Madonna and a warm Ghirlandaio, set the mood.

Interactive Panorama Gallery 5

1/50s f/5,6 ISO 10000/41° f=7,5mm

Gallery 6

Sixteenth century Italy comes into focus with Veronese's large Rest on the Flight to Egypt. Palma and Fasolo add drama and family presence to the room.

Interactive Panorama Gallery 6

1/50s f/5,6 ISO 10000/41° f=7,5mm

Gallery 8

Drama finds its home here. Italian Baroque painters like Fede Galizia, Guercino, and Benedetto Gennari II pull the room into motion with sharp light, deep shadow, and stories that never quite sit still.

Interactive Panorama Gallery 8

1/50s f/5,6 ISO 6400/39° f=7,5mm

Gallery 15

This room dives into French Rococo with its lighthearted portraits and playful decoration. A highlight is the richly decorated harpsichord, almost 400 years old.

Interactive Panorama Gallery 15

1/50s f/5,6 ISO 5000/38° f=7,5mm

Gallery 19

Here the Astor Mansion lives on. Ringling saved these Gilded Age interiors from demolition in 1926 and gave them a new home in Sarasota, where they now sit in quiet comfort.

Interactive Panorama Gallery 19

To keep the camera and my reflection out of the mirror, I photographed the scene from below the line where the fireplace mantle touched the mirror and projected the frame back into the panorama. In the index, the first frame is the one captured from that low angle, the others were taken from the normal viewpoint. The approach avoided the need for editing altogether.

1/50s f/5,6 ISO 5000/38° f=7,5mm

Ancient Art at the Ringling

The Ancient Art galleries at the Ringling bring together a small group of Greek, Roman, and early Mediterranean pieces. Most works are modest in scale, but their materials and craftsmanship make the room an unexpectedly quiet stop in the museum.

1/50s f/5,6 ISO 2500/35° f=7,5mm

1/50s f/5,6 ISO 2500/35° f=7,5mm

Circus Museum

The Ringling story shows its roots here. Original wagons, trains, and gear capture the life on the road that started everything long before the art collection took shape.

Interactive Panorama

1/50s f/5,6 ISO 12800/42° f=7,5mm

Contemporary Art

A different world entirely. The room abandons traditional paintings in favor of bold objects, sharp angles, and ideas that challenge more than they clarify. A concrete structure dominates the center as if making a statement only it fully understands, while a few quiet surprises wait in the corners. It is modern, very modern, and it certainly invites the ongoing question of what exactly we are looking at.

Interactive Panorama Contemporary Art

1/50s f/5,6 ISO 2000/34° f=7,5mm

Inner Courtyard, Skyspace

The atrium echoes the Pantheon in Rome through its square opening, offering a calm pause of light and air between the rooms.

Interactive Panorama Inner Courtyard

1/160s f/5,6 ISO 125/22° f=7,5mm
Exposure for the ceiling: 1/400s f/5,6 ISO 125/22° f=7,5mm

Grand Courtyard, Michelangelo's David

The 21 galleries surround a wide courtyard of fountains, sculptures, and a marble loggia. At its center stands a bronze replica of Michelangelo's David, looking out over the classical architecture.

Interactive Panorama Grand Courtyard, Michelangelo's David

1/800s f/5,6 ISO 100/21° f=7,5mm

Full-Frame Fisheye Projection

1/800s f/5,6 ISO 100/21° f=7,5mm

Equirectangular Projection

The Sarasota copy is nice, but here is the original.

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More Sarasota panoramas

Sarasota leans into the edge of Southwest Florida, facing the Gulf of Mexico. The horizon opens to the west, the light settles low in the afternoon, and shallow water draws long arcs along the coast. The city rests between the Tampa Bay area and the beaches to the south.

• Art Ovation Hotel
• The Jumping Fish
• Gulfstream Park
• Marina Drive
• War Memorial
• Five Points Roundabout
• Siesta Key Beach
• Bayfront Park
• Milan Art Gallery
• Katy's Cat Cafe
• Farmers Market
• Ringling Museum of Art
• Coquina Beach
• Lido Beach

Art Ovation Hotel

An evening with a clear sky and a full moon above the rooftop pool marked the beginning of a winter escape in Sarasota, a quiet moment that shaped the days ahead.

Interactive Panorama Rooftop Pool

1/10s f/5,6 ISO 2500/35° f=7,5mm

The Jumping Fish

A morning view with The Jumping Fish sculpture in the first sunlight, a small piece of Sarasota art set in the roundabout near our hotel.

Interactive Panorama The Jumping Fish

1/800s f/5,6 ISO 100/21° f=7,5mm

Afternoon streetview approaching The Jumping Fish roundabout.

1/500s f/8 ISO 250/25° 16-50mm f/2,8 VR f=16mm/24mm

Gulfstream Park

Gulfstream Park sits between the waterfront and downtown, a small strip of green that links the marina area with the city streets. The pond in the center gives the park its quiet character, with a few paths and patches of shade that slow the pace for a moment. It is a simple space, but it fits naturally into Sarasota's mix of water, traffic, and public art.

Interactive Panorama Gulfstream Park

1/800s f/5,6 ISO 100/21° f=7,5mm

Marina Drive

Marina Drive runs just behind Gulfstream Park and borders the marina itself. It is a short stretch where boats, water, and the edge of downtown meet. Palm trees everywhere.

1/500s f/8 ISO 100/21° f=17mm/18mm

1/400s f/7,1 ISO 100/21° f=21mm

Interactive Panorama Marina Drive

1/1250s f/5,6 ISO 100/21° f=7,5mm

War Memorial

The War Memorial stands at the edge of J.D. Hamel Park, marking Sarasota's tribute to residents who served in World War I and the conflicts that followed. The bronze Doughboy figure adds a direct link to the era, reproduced from a 1920 design and placed here after a later restoration. It is a small but steady presence on the bayfront, easy to pass but worth a quiet look.

Interactive Panorama War Memorial

1/800s f/5,6 ISO 100/21° f=7,5mm

Five Points Roundabout

The Five Points Roundabout sits at the center of downtown and pulls several streets into one compact junction. Traffic moves steadily around it, framed by shops, cafés, and a bit of midday noise. It is one of those places where you notice how close the city, the bayfront, and the quieter neighborhoods actually are.

Interactive Panorama Five Points Roundabout

1/1000s f/5,6 ISO 100/21° f=7,5mm

Next to the roundabout is Selby Five Points Park.
A Christmas market is missing here with all the good things: air that smells like roasted almonds and gingerbread, and you are mysteriously holding a Bratwurst in one hand and a paper cone of roasted chestnuts in the other.
Once in France I came across a Christmas market that kept going well into February.

1/40s f/2,8 ISO 1250/32° 16-50mm f/2,8 VR f=16mm/24mm

Half a block further you arrive at the Opera House of Sarasota. It has a sign, it has a door, and yet at first glance you could be forgiven for thinking you are entering a well behaved municipal building. If you pause for a moment, a faint aria seems to rise through the stairwell, as if the building is politely reminding you of its true purpose.

1/640s f/5,6 ISO 100/21° f=7,5mm

Siesta Key Beach

Siesta Key Beach is all about light sand, a wide beach, and a clear horizon. Even on busy days the shoreline feels open, with shallow waves and long stretches to walk. It is the quiet blend of sun, breeze, and open space that makes Siesta Key stand out on Sarasota's coast.

Interactive Panorama Siesta Key Beach 1

1/1250s f/5,6 ISO 100/21° f=7,5mm

Siesta Key Desert Planet

Exploration of perception for the Worldwide Panoramas event.

Perception is shaped not only by what is visible, but also by the position from which it is experienced.

Just off the beach but not out in the water, that in-between place changes the way the scene reads. At the edge, everything is in motion, and you are between two worlds, seeing both at once.

There are no footprints to hide here, but the moving waves bring their own challenges. Masks guide the transitions between frames and help maintain alignment where the surface never stays still.

Photographed in winter, the scene carries a tropical atmosphere. That quiet inversion sets the tone for how the image is perceived.

Interactive Panorama Siesta Key Beach 2

1/1250s f/5,6 ISO 100/21° f=7,5mm

With my camera in hand, I noticed a seagull staring and inspecting me. Surely one panorama should be acceptable, right? It watched calmly like a tiny director and never blinked.

1/50s f/2,8 ISO 100/21° 16-50mm f/2,8 VR f=50mm/75mm

Driving away from the beach, the palm trees lined the street in a clean row, like they were guiding the way.

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Bayfront Park

Bayfront Park sits right on the water between the marina and the bay. A few paths, some shade, and benches facing the boats make it an easy stop on the way along the waterfront.

Equirectangular Projection

Mercator Projection

1/640s f/5,6 ISO 100/21° f=7,5mm

Interactive Panorama Bayfront Park 1

1/1000s f/5,6 ISO 100/21° f=7,5mm

Interactive Panorama Bayfront Park 2

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Interactive Panorama Bayfront Park 3

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Interactive Panorama Bayfront Park 4

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The four bronze dolphins by sculptor Steve Dickey rise in a clean upward arc. The figures stand a little over three and a half meters tall within a circular basin of about twelve meters. In the bright light the moment feels like a paused film frame, held just before the scene continues.

1/4000s f/2,8 ISO 100/21° 16-50mm f/2,8 VR f=37mm/55mm

We arrived by plane, not by boat.

1/500s f/8 ISO 100/21° 16-50mm f/2,8 VR f=28mm/42mm

Milan Art Gallery

Visited the Milan Art Gallery for the opening of the Mini Masterpieces Collection exhibition. It featured original works from a variety of artists. The paintings were striking, with a level of detail and character that kept drawing us back for a second look. It was part of Art Walk, a recurring evening that brings the local art scene together, and one of the highlights of the night.

Interactive Panorama Milan Art Gallery 1

1/80s f/5,6 ISO 500/28° f=7,5mm

Interactive Panorama Milan Art Gallery 2

1/80s f/5,6 ISO 500/28° f=7,5mm

Katy's Cat Cafe

Parsley checks the minimum focus distance.

1/500s f/2,8 ISO 6400/39° 16-50mm f/2,8 VR f=30mm/45mm

Audrey poses with the confidence of a professional model.

1/25s f/2,8 ISO 400/27° 16-50mm f/2,8 VR f=35mm/52mm

1/30s f/1,9 ISO 314/26° f=5mm/25mm

Farmers Market

Not many farmers, but lots of stitching errors. Handheld usually works fine; here it refused.

Interactive Panorama Farmers Market

1/320s f/5,6 ISO 500/28° f=7,5mm

Ringling Museum of Art

Panoramas from the Ringling Museum of Art, with views from galleries to courtyard.

Ringling Museum of Art

Coquina Beach

Soft light, almost no wind, and water that barely moved. Dark clouds moved in from the gulf, and the brightness faded. Minutes later, the storm closed in around the bay.

Interactive Panorama Coquina Beach

1/1000s f/5,6 ISO 100/21° f=7,5mm

Lido Beach

The last light of the day settled in as the sky dimmed, the colors softened, and the shoreline eased quietly toward evening.

1/4000s f/8 ISO 100/21° 16-50mm f/2,8 VR f=50mm/75mm

Interactive Panorama Lido Beach

1/800s f/5,6 ISO 100/21° f=7,5mm

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A winter escape at 25°C, with days shaped more by place than by schedule. The coast offered space, the water stayed calm, and the light guided the course of the trip. It became a quiet record of a season lived differently.

Zwischen Rückblick und Ausblick liegt dieser Augenblick.

1/30s f/5,6 ISO 800/30° 16-50mm f/2,8 VR f=50mm/75mm

1/125s f/2,8 ISO 2800 16-50mm f/2,8 VR f=33mm/49mm

1/30s f/5,6 ISO 3200/36° 16-50mm f/2,8 VR f=33mm/49mm

Combine pictures with PTGui, Focus stacking

Ein häufiges Problem bei Digitalkameras: Die Sommerzeit ist noch in der Kamera aktiviert, obwohl bereits Winterzeit ist. Die Zeitstempel in den Fotos sind dadurch eine Stunde falsch und das fällt oft erst später auf, wenn man die Bilder sortiert oder mit anderen Fotos abgleicht.

Viele Kameras speichern die Sommerzeit-Einstellung in den EXIF-Daten. Bei Nikon-Kameras findet sich das "Daylight Savings"-Flag in den MakerNotes. Solange dieses auf "Yes" steht, sind die Zeitstempel um eine Stunde vorgestellt.

Das PowerShell-Script durchsucht alle Bilddateien (z.B. NEF bei Nikon), prüft ob das Sommerzeit-Flag noch aktiv ist, und korrigiert dann:

Die EXIF-Zeitstempel werden um 1 Stunde zurückgestellt Das Sommerzeit-Flag wird deaktiviert Die Windows-Datei-Zeitstempel (Erstellt/Geändert) werden angepasst.
Das Script nutzt das kostenlose Tool exiftool und zeigt für jede Datei übersichtlich an, was geändert wurde. Dateien mit bereits korrekter Zeit werden einfach übersprungen.

Der exiftool-Pfad ist oben im Script konfigurierbar. Einfach das Script im Foto-Ordner ausführen. Unterordner werden automatisch durchsucht.

Das Ergebnis: Konsistente, korrekte Zeitstempel in allen Fotos, ohne manuelle Arbeit.

# PowerShell Script zur Korrektur der Sommerzeit in NEF-Dateien
# Stellt die EXIF-Zeit um eine Stunde vor für Dateien, die Sommerzeit in Nikon MakerNotes haben

# Testaufruf um DaylightSavings auszulesen:
# C:\tools\exiftool -DaylightSavings DSC_1234.NEF
# Daylight Savings                : No

# ===== KONFIGURATION =====
$exiftoolPath = "C:\tools\exiftool" 
# =========================

# Pfad zum aktuellen Verzeichnis
$baseDir = $PSScriptRoot

# Alle NEF-Dateien finden
$nefFiles = Get-ChildItem -Path $baseDir -Recurse -Filter "*.NEF"

Write-Host "Gefundene NEF-Dateien: $($nefFiles.Count)" -ForegroundColor Cyan

$correctedCount = 0
$skippedCount = 0

foreach ($file in $nefFiles) {
    Write-Host "`nPrüfe: $($file.FullName)" -ForegroundColor Yellow

    try {
        # Lese Nikon Daylight Savings Flag aus MakerNotes
        $daylightSavings = & $exiftoolPath -s -s -s -DaylightSavings $file.FullName 2>&1

        if ($LASTEXITCODE -ne 0) {
            Write-Host "⚠ Konnte MakerNotes nicht lesen" -ForegroundColor DarkYellow
            $skippedCount++
            continue
        }

        Write-Host "Daylight Savings: $daylightSavings" -ForegroundColor Cyan

        # Prüfe, ob Sommerzeit aktiviert ist (Yes oder On)
        if ($daylightSavings -match "Yes|On") {
            Write-Host "→ Sommerzeit ist aktiviert - Korrektur erforderlich" -ForegroundColor Magenta

            # Zeige aktuelle Zeit
            $currentTime = & $exiftoolPath -s -s -s -DateTimeOriginal $file.FullName
            Write-Host "Aktuelle Zeit: $currentTime" -ForegroundColor White

            # Stellt die Zeit um 1 Stunde zurück (-1 Stunde)
            # -AllDates betrifft DateTimeOriginal, CreateDate und ModifyDate
            Write-Host "Stelle Zeit um 1 Stunde zurück und setze Sommerzeit zurück..." -ForegroundColor Magenta

            & $exiftoolPath -AllDates-=1:0:0 -DaylightSavings=No -overwrite_original $file.FullName 2>&1 | Out-Null

            if ($LASTEXITCODE -eq 0) {
                $newTime = & $exiftoolPath -s -s -s -DateTimeOriginal $file.FullName
                $newDST = & $exiftoolPath -s -s -s -DaylightSavings $file.FullName
                Write-Host "✓ Erfolgreich aktualisiert: $newTime" -ForegroundColor Green
                Write-Host "  Sommerzeit jetzt: $newDST" -ForegroundColor Green

                # Setze Windows-Datei-Zeitstempel auf korrigierte EXIF-Zeit
                try {
                    $exifDateTime = [DateTime]::ParseExact($newTime, "yyyy:MM:dd HH:mm:ss", $null)
                    $file.CreationTime = $exifDateTime
                    $file.LastWriteTime = $exifDateTime
                    Write-Host "  Datei-Zeitstempel aktualisiert" -ForegroundColor Green
                } catch {
                    Write-Host "  ⚠ Konnte Datei-Zeitstempel nicht setzen: $_" -ForegroundColor DarkYellow
                }

                $correctedCount++
            } else {
                Write-Host "✗ Fehler beim Aktualisieren" -ForegroundColor Red
            }
<#
 #>
        } else {
            Write-Host "→ Keine Sommerzeit - wird übersprungen" -ForegroundColor Gray
            $skippedCount++
        }
    }
    catch {
        Write-Host "✗ Fehler: $_" -ForegroundColor Red
        Write-Host "Stelle sicher, dass exiftool installiert ist und im PATH verfügbar ist." -ForegroundColor Yellow
        break
    }
}

Write-Host "`n=== Fertig ===" -ForegroundColor Cyan
Write-Host "Korrigierte Dateien: $correctedCount" -ForegroundColor Green
Write-Host "Übersprungene Dateien: $skippedCount" -ForegroundColor Gray
Write-Host "Gesamt geprüft: $($nefFiles.Count)" -ForegroundColor Cyan

Connecting AI to the Physical World with Model Context Protocol

As detailed in StickyMCP: Notes That Stick, Even in the Cloud, MCP servers open the door for AI systems to interact with real-world tools far beyond their usual diet of static training data and existential boredom.

This project brings together two cutting-edge technologies: the Model Context Protocol (MCP) and Arduino Microcontroller. The result is an MCP server running directly on an Arduino Nano ESP32, allowing AI assistants control physical hardware in real-time.

(Some prompts were typed a bit wrong because I had the camera in the way, but Copilot Chat did not mind at all)

Since no official C++ MCP SDK exists, I built one optimized for embedded systems. Features automatic JSON schema generation, registry-based tool discovery, and memory-safe execution. Architecture mirrors official SDKs (TypeScript/Python) while addressing embedded constraints. Demonstrates full MCP protocol compliance with hardware control tools. I kept it small and readable, and made it work to run simple tools like switching lights on and off.

esp32-mcp on github

What is it?

This project implements a fully-compliant JSON-RPC 2.0 MCP server on an Arduino Nano ESP32 microcontroller. It exposes hardware controls (LEDs in this case) as MCP "tools" that can be invoked by AI assistants through natural language commands.

Key Features

• MCP Protocol Support: Implements the MCP 2024-11-05 specification with proper initialization, tool listing, and tool execution
• JSON-RPC 2.0 Compliance: Standard protocol interface for reliable communication
• WiFi-Enabled: Runs a web server on port 8000, making it accessible over the network
• Server-Sent Events (SSE): Real-time notifications and logging stream for monitoring
• Multiple LED Controls: Manages built-in LED plus RGB LEDs (red, green, blue) independently
• Echo Tool: Simple text echo for testing and demonstration

Technical Implementation

The server uses the ESPAsyncWebServer library for handling HTTP requests and ArduinoJson for JSON parsing/serialization. It exposes two main endpoints:

• POST /mcp - Main JSON-RPC 2.0 endpoint for all MCP methods
• GET /sse - Server-Sent Events stream for real-time notifications

Each LED is implemented as an MCP tool with a simple boolean parameter to turn it on or off. The server handles all the MCP lifecycle methods including initialization, capability negotiation, and tool invocation.

Real-World Applications

This project demonstrates how AI assistants can seamlessly control physical devices. Instead of writing custom scripts or manual API calls, you can simply tell an AI assistant "turn on the red LED" and it happens. This opens up possibilities for:

• Smart home automation controlled by natural language
• Laboratory equipment control through AI assistants
• Educational demonstrations of AI-hardware integration
• Rapid prototyping of IoT devices with conversational interfaces

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Technical Stack:

• Arduino Nano ESP32
• ESPAsyncWebServer
• ArduinoJson
• Model Context Protocol (MCP) 2024-11-05
• JSON-RPC 2.0