Cats

Weekend Cat Blogging: Cats of China

This weekend, we visit the cats of my recently concluded trip to China.

Suzhou is renowned for its silk. The climate is particularly suited to silkworm cultivation (though one would not think so given the freezing temperatures during this trip), and the city has long been a center for both production and craft. Cats are a common motif on the “two-sided” embroidered silk paintings of Suzhou:

Outside the Suzhou Number One Silk Factory, I encountered this stray cat running through the parking lot.

Cat in Suzhou, near the Number One Silk Factory

In Shanghai, I saw this cat in a clothing shop on Dingxi Road:

Dingxi Road is a commercial street in an outer neighborhood, not far from Zhongshan Park and completely devoid of foreigners. The shops that line the street cater to local residents, and the clothing shop where I encountered the cat was no exception. I think the shop’s owner was surprised and delighted to encounter a foreigner – and more surprisingly, a scruffy “white guy” – who was interested in cats. On the other hand, I think the cat was a bit annoyed by the attention and would prefer to sleep:

Some things are the same everywhere.

We are spanning continents, as Weekend Cat Blogging #190 hosted by Kashim at Paulchens FoodBlog in Vienna.

In the far away state of Florida, Pet and the Bengal Brats host the Bad Kitty Cats Festival of Chaos.

The Carnival of the Cats will be hosted this weekend by the House Panthers (of which Luna is a member).

And of course the Friday Ark is at the modulator.

CatSynth pic: Pallina and Solton Project 100

From Davide, via matrixsynth:

The synth under the cat is a pretty rare 12DCO Italian polysynth from the eighties [Solton Project 100]…. The cat is Pallina (little ball).

The blue details on the synth and in the background fit perfectly with the site theme of CatSynth, do they not?

From the same post, I also noticed this model from MFB:

The Kraftzwerg from MFB, a pre-patched but completely re-patchable mono analog beast (3 osc, a beautiful double LFO and a very nice sounding 24db VCF). The Kraftzwerg is REALLY the assembly of the modules from MFB so you are not going to loose any of the modulation possibilities.

Midnight Monday: Cat in the Window

No, this is not Luna. This black cat, featured in a holiday window display at Macy’s in San Francisco, did bear a strong resemblance.

Macy’s and the San Francisco SPCA have a longstanding program that features adoptable animals (cats and dogs) in the store’s holiday window displays. You can find more info at the San Francisco SPCA site.

Weekend Cat Blogging #187

Our first Weekend Cat Blogging of 2009 begins with Luna playing on the balcony, with some of the remaining construction in the background.

It really should be done sometime this month, after which all those extra columns and plastic will be gone. It will be great to have our full home back again. It feels like so much is waiting for that moment, including a few of our New Years resolutions.

This next photo was a lucky accident, a detailed close-up portrait of Luna giving and receiving love:

Weekend Cat Blogging #187 is hosted by Samantha and Tigger at Life from a Cat’s Perspective.

The Bad Kitty Cats Festival of Chaos will be hosted this week by Miz Mog and the Kitties at Mind of Mog

The Carnival of the Cats goes to The Whole Kitten Kaboodle this Sunday.

And of course the Friday Ark is at the modulator.

Some things never change.

CatSynth pic: Analogue Synthesizer ETI project

From an auction, via matrixsynth:

(The original post has a larger pic of the synth)

This ETI Synthesizer project was built around 1979 by my father, the modules all worked when I powered them up recently (the original keyboard and power supply is not available due to someone connecting the mains to a +/- 12Volt input!) The modules consist of :

4 x VCOs
2 x VCFs
2 x VC Variable state filters
1 x Reverb unit
1 x VCLFO
2 x VC Mixers
1 x Noise/Sample & Hold module
1 x DRF
1 x Ring Modulator
2 x Dual ADSR modules
2 x Dual VCAs
1 x Dual Envelope Generator
1 x VC Envelope Generator
1 x D-A Convertor
1 PA (not tested)