Fun with Stats: Nobel Peace Prizes by Country

In light of today’s Nobel Prize award in peace, a little number-crunching of peace prizes by country (using this Wikipedia page as a data source).  I actually did not guess this distribution in advance.

United States 22
France 10
United Kingdom 10
Germany 6
Ireland 5
Sweden 5
Belgium 4
South Africa 4
Switzerland 4
Austria 3
Israel 3
Argentina 2
Bangladesh 2
Canada 2
China 2
Egypt 2
Norway 2
Poland 2
Portugal 2
Russia / USSR 2
Costa Rica 1
Czech Republic / Austria-Hungary 1
Denmark 1
East Timor 1
Finland 1
Ghana 1
Guatemala 1
India 1
Iran 1
Italy 1
Japan 1
Kenya 1
South Korea 1
Macedonia 1
Burma (Myanmar) 1
Mexico 1
Netherlands 1
Palestine 1
Romania 1
Vietnam 1

You can read a speech by the most recent winner Liu Xiaobo here.

CatSynth pic: Pallina the Synth Cat Strikes a Pose

Two photos from Davide Mancini, via matrixsynth:

“Pallina, my housecat. She also loves the analog warmth.”

“Same cat, another synth. She loves to sleep near the SIEL DK80, KaossPad3 and Tenori.on power supply… should be warm and humming there…”

We have seen Pallina before, click this tag to see her previous posts.

Weekend Cat Blogging: Homecoming (temporary)

With delays in the construction at CatSynth HQ, I decided to bring Luna home for the weekend. It is nice to have her home, even though it is only temporary.

As one can see in the above image, things are a bit out of place in anticipation of the work, but that doesn’t stop us from enjoying our time here. Here we see Luna checking out a new toy (a birthday present from a friend of ours):

Note the picture frames neatly resting on the stairs behind her. Much of the artwork (paintings, prints, etc.) had to be moved as well.

Weekend Cat Blogging #287 is at Mind of Mog.

Kashim, Othello and Salome are pulling double duty this weekend, hosting both the weekly Carnival of the Cats and the monthly Bad Kitty Cats Festival of Chaos. We suspect they are going to be busy.

And the Friday Ark is at the modulator.

Keyboard Cat’s World Series Wonderful Pistachios Commercial!

From chuckieart on YouTube:

“http://www.playhimoffkeyboardcat.com – Keyboard Cat went to Hollywood and made a commercial for Wonderful Pistachios! Bento even met Perez Hilton and Rod Blagojevich! Get crackin!”

Really, Rod Blagojevich?!

Also on matrixsynth. The keyboard in this case is the classic Ensoniq Mirage.

Happy Birthday Luna!

Today marks Luna’s official birthday.  She turns six years old either today or sometime near today.

I arrived back in San Francisco last night, just in time to celebrate with her, although not at home.  There is (once again) construction at CatSynth HQ, so Luna is staying at her boarding facility until it’s over.  I know she will not only be safe there, but she will be doted on and receive lots of love and attention.  When I went to visit her today, she came over to greet me, but then immediately settled down to nap.  But I was able to get some “relaxed” birthday photos.

Please join me in wishing Luna a happy birthday!  And thanks to everyone who has already left her comments.

Weekend Cat Blogging: Tiger!

For this Weekend Cat Blogging, we present a particularly magnificent cat:

This is a Malayan tiger, though as one may be able to tell from the vegetation it is not in its native Malaysia, but rather is at the Bronx Zoo in New York.

It is hard to watch one of these tigers and not immediately see the similarities to the domestic cats that share our homes:

Like many other tiger species, the Malayan tiger is very endangered, with possibly only a few hundred left in the wild. The Bronx Zoo has a breeding program and recently saw the arrival of three cubs, though I did not get a chance to see them personally.

Weekend Cat Blogging #286 is hosted by Othello at PaulChens FoodBlog?!

The Carnival of the Cats will be hosted this Sunday by Nikita Cat.

And the Friday Ark is at the mouldator.