Cats

Weekend Cat Blogging #327

Fellow black cat Jules at Judi’s Mind of Matter is hosting Weekend Cat Blogging #327, so we’re ready to participate with recent photos of Luna.

Yes, more fun with Hipstamatic on the iPhone. It’s a fun and unforgiving form of photography – you are pretty much limited to what you get from the capture. The standard digital manipulations would destroy the overall retro quality of the image.

Weekend Cat Blogging #327 is hosted by Jules at Judi’s Mind Over Matter. And they have cheezy fish!

Carnival of the Cats will be up tomorrow at Mind of Mog.

And the Friday Ark is at the modulator.

Animal welfare and wild cats for “Mo’ Cats Day”

Back in 2009, some individual or group declared that 09/09/09 would be “No Cats Day”, a day on which there would be “no cats on the internet.” It is true that there is a preponderance of cat-related material on the internet, some of it fun and endearing, some quite informative, and some downright insipid. But the idea of banning cats from the internet for one day is preposterous, and quite mean. So in defiance, many cat-related blogs declared “Mo’ Cats Day” on 09/09/09, and on every September 9 since then.

We have not participated in the past, but this year we are doing so with a brief post highlighting the work of organizations that promote the welfare of domestic and wild cats. The Humane Society of the United States is one such organization – one of their recent monthly magazines achieved coffee-table-quality and is shown in the above photo at CatSynth HQ.

Locally, we have the San Francisco SPCA, which has adoption and animal-welfare advocacy programs among their many functions. They are behind those holiday windows at Macy’s Union Square that feature adoptable cats.

Both the SPCA and our local Animal Services operate no-kill shelters, and indeed we became the first “no-kill city” in the United States.

Luna was adopted back in 2005 from the local shelter in Santa Cruz, and in gratitude we continue to support Friends of Santa Cruz County Animals.

We are also thinking about wild cats on this day and the organizations that work towards their welfare and conservation. The International Society For Endangered Cats (ISEC) Canada is dedicate to the conservation of small wild cats, who often don’t get the attention of their famous big-cat counterparts. The have lots of information and are involved in several programs around the world.

Closer to home the Felidae Conservation Fund “aims to advance the conservation of wild cats and their habitats planetwide through a combination of groundbreaking research, compelling education and cutting-edge technology.” They are involved in several research studies, some of them quite local to northern California, as well as conservation efforts.

Please visit our previous wild cats posts for more information and links to other organizations.

CatSynth video: Neon Indian – Step Into the World With Your PAL198X

Neon Indian – Step Into the World With Your PAL198X from Neon Indian on Vimeo.

The cat appears a little over three minutes into the video and “plays” the PAL198X. But I recommend checking out the whole video – it has very complete retro style.

Static Tongues Industries Presents:

“Step Into the World With Your PAL198X”

Pick up your own PAL198X only at neonindian.com

Written by Dr. Alan Palombro, PhD.
Directed by Dr. Alan Palombro, PhD and Johnny Woods.
Music written and performed by Alan Palombro, PhD / Neon Indian.
Editor: Johnny Woods.
Director of Photography: Stefan Fernandez.

Starring:

Dr. Alan Palombro, PhD as himself.
Leanne Macomber as “Clarissa”.
Jason Faries as Scientist #1.
Ed Priesner as Scientist #2.
Josh McWhirter as Scientist #3.

Filmed at the Static Tongues Amplidrome Facility, Arctic Circle, Earth.

For our friends outside of the United States go to the Rough Trade shop to get your PAL198X.
roughtrade.com/​site/​shop_detail.lasso?search_type=sku&sku=342647

Weekend Cat Blogging #326

In between days at my current photography show in Oakland, we are catching up with a little quiet time on the patio:

It’s actually a typically foggy San Francisco morning, which may not be clear from the distortion in the Hipstamatic photos.

In the second photo, Luna is perhaps showing a bit of disdain for my recent absence – in addition to the photography show, I had a performance this past Thursday with my band Reconnaissance Fly. And lots of time rehearsing and hanging for both events over the previous week. So I think someone deserves a little extra attention soon.

Weekend Cat Blogging #326 is hosted by Pam at Sidewalk Shoes, with help from Patchouli and Coco.

The Carnival of the Cats will be up tomorrow at Meowsings of an Opinionated Pussycat.

And the Friday Ark is at the modulator

CatSynth video: elka synthex demo by polynominal.com

In the midst of our busy performance/exhibition week, a little light fun with cats and synthesizers:

From polynominal.com on YouTube, home of Mimi. Look for some appearances by Mimi in the video (including a couple of photos that have previously appeared here on CatSynth.

If you have your own cat-and-gear photo or video to share, let us know via facebook, twitter @catsynth, or by contacting us directly.

Weekend Cat Blogging #325

We are sending thoughts for all our friends and family on the east coast of the U.S. today:

This graphic from our friends at the Cat Blogopshere is a reminder to take care of our companion animals during the storms as well. We hope everyone stays safe (and relatively dry). I am particularly watching events in New York, where I grew up and to which I am still connected.

Weekend Cat Blogging #325 is hosted by Kitties at Mom’s Sunday Cafe.

Carnival of the Cats will be up this Sunday at iMeowza.

And the Friday Ark is on hiatus this week.

CatSynth pic: RMI DK-20 (USA) Digital Synthesizer…from 1980s

Image from an auction, via matrixsynth.

“Rare very early digital synthesizer from 1981/2. Three seperate outputs ~ bass/solo & treble ~ in zones across the keyboard. Preset or user-change. Non-velocity basic polyphonic organ/clavinet/lute/bass tones with vibrato variants and decay/sustain features.”

This is not a synth I had previously heard of.

“HISTORY Made in USA by RMI (of 368X prog-rock fame). Imported by KK… The DK-20 was RMI’s attempt at digital synthesis; in 1981 this was the beginning of an age of synthesizers…..ARP/Moog/Oberheim to name a few more famous….”