Bon Voyage

It’s always hard to go away on a trip and leave the ketzela behind. But Luna will be in good hands while I am gone, with our new cat sitter.

And this trip is very necessary. There has been a lot of fun, excitement, love, playfulness and beauty in our new life, but there are a lot of things that have been difficult. Getting away for a few days seems like the right thing to do. Even that simple decision has been challenging, with plans gone awry and sore feelings among friends dominating the start of this journey. But as things move forward, there might actually be a little peace, inspiration, and even a little fun.

In the meantime, please visit other Cats on Tuesday. And we’ll be back soon.


Pride 2008

Today was big Pride Parade here in San Francisco. And with the recent marriage ruling here in California, it was an even bigger celebration than previous years.

Of course, Zip was there for the festivities:

The parade is on Market Street, our main thoroughfare, which has been adorned with flags and other symbols for weeks in anticipation:


[Click to enlarge]

The parade is of course full of colorful characters:

Marriage was of course a major theme this year, with many couples displaying “Just Married” banners to thunderous applause.

This BART vehicle was decked out for trips to the chapel:

But with good fun there is also seriousness. We all need to be vigilant and make sure that our friends’ new-found rights are not taken away this November:

It is a not an issue of LGBT rights versus religion. Indeed, faith and religious groups were an important part of this year’s parade:

However, when this group from the “San Francisco Voice for Israel” marched by, it seemed like the crowds were strangely quiet.

I was actually invited last year to march with this group, after talking to a gay supporter of Israel while attending a birthday for a “nice Jewish girl” I was romantically interested in…but that is a story for another time.

Many city agencies were represented in the parade, including Animal Services, who had some amusing banners:

In all, a proud day for San Francisco and for California. And with the continued wildfires and other problems, we need something to celebrate.


Weekend Cat Blogging: Playfulness

A moment of play at CatSynth HQ:

This orange mouse is currently one of Luna’s favorite toys:

Often, it ends up knocked off the balcony to the floor below.

Indeed, we have a favorite game now where I throw toys, such as balls or mice, up onto the balcony and Luna knocks them off.

Weekend Cat Blogging #160 is being hosted at Stellaluna. Watch hamsters and cats playing together.

The Bad Kitty Cats Festival of Chaos is being hosted this weekend at Pet’s Garden Blog

The Carnival of the Cats will be up this Sunday at [url=http://2tabbys.blogspot.com/]Victor Tabbycat’s.

And of course the Friday Ark #197 is at the modulator.


Math Cats

In search of my next mathematics topics, I stumbled upon the Math Cats, a site that uses cats to explore a variety of mathematical topics, from the very basic to the more esoteric. The emphasis is really on “exploration” rather than a series of lessons or tutorials, though there is a collection of resources for teachers and parents. Beyond the basics, the attic is full of facts and definitions, some of which are quite sophisticated (for example, do you remember exactly what a geodesic is, and who doesn’t want to forget avoirdupois weights). Sadly, I could not make the “Animal Math” link work. I was particularly fond of the virtual mobile, which also introduces viewers to the work of Alexander Calder. There is also a visit to a more recent geometric artist George Hart. Indeed his art studio looks a bit like the music studio here at CatSynth HQ, festooned with stuffed cats.

Among the shapes the Hart uses in his work are the regular polyhedra, but also Archimedean solids, such as the truncated icosohedron, or “buckyball.” You can see an example here, as well as some of the more esoteric shapes.

This of course ties into our discussion of the 13 Archimedean solids at the last Carnival of Mathematics, and we at CatSynth of course like to see our mathematical discussions interconnect.

And who can go wrong with the intersection of cats, mathematics and art?


Bad Kitty Cats Festival of Chaos #50

Welcome to the 50th Bad Kitty Cats Festival of Chaos! Summer is now officially here, and we have been celebrating the solstice. We are also (yet again) experiencing a bit of a heat wave.

Nothing says summer heat like the desert. And that is where Chey finds himself lost this week.

From Egypt, we move on to Israel, where the Lady in Red enjoys hunting a mousie toy, at Elms in the Yard.

Ping is doing better this weekend, but still needs some good healing vibes from friends. Doesn’t he look a little like the Lady in Red?

Speaking of look-a-likes, Puddy is joining us again this weekend, and enjoys some chin scritches at A Byootaful Life. And honestly, who wouldn’t enjoy some chin scritches?

Meanwhile, Zorro puts an ugly vase out of its misery at the House of Chaos. We at CatSynth can sympathize with the desire to not be surrounded by ugly things.

Summer in Vermont means June bugs, and lots of them. But for Mouse, they are just more toys to be batted and squished. Andrée of Meeyauw presents Mouse’s June Bugs.

Now we go from pouncing to biting. Rosie may look sweet and innocent, but it turns out Rosie bites. Ouch!

And from sharp teeth me move on to the sharp claws of Bazel at Mind of Mog. Meanwhile, iInfidel enjoys some yummy food. And finally, the handsome Meowza relaxes as he tries to stay cool. 113F makes our own heatwave seem cool in comparison.

Samantha and Tigger are beating the heat in Florida with water. While Tigger drinks from the faucent, Samantha enjoys playing in the rain. Yes, a cat who enjoys the rain. :)

Well, that’s it so far for this weekend’s Bad Kitty Cats Festival of Chaos. We’ll continue to post submissions that come in today. Thanks to all who participated, and stay cool!


Garden of Memory 2008

I had to the opportunity to attend the Garden of Memory, a walk-thru performance to celebrate the summer solstice at the Chapel of the Chimes in Oakland.

The Chapel of the Chimes is a columbarium, a building dedicated to the placement of cremated remains. It is an exquisite building both in terms of shape and lighting, and thus a rather interesting place to experience late evening sunlight:

There were so many performances throughout the building that it was difficult to see them all, and we only provide a small sampling here.

Outside the chapel, I saw a performance by Jaroba that featured the gopichand, a single string instrument from India that we have mentioned on numerous occasions here at CatSynth.

Inside the chapel, performances ranged from more conventional to the more exotic. Sarah Cahill performed the music of James Tenney and others (yes, here at CatSynth James Tenney is considered “conventional”). Dan Plonsey’s Daniel Popsicle played several avant-guard jazz sets for most of the evening on the roof garden.

Edmund Campion, a former colleague of mine from CNMAT, performed with Daniel De Gruttola and John Campion, with digital piano, cello, live electronics, poetry, and a row of triangles. I was listening to hear how the triangles were being processed or used to trigger other sounds in the performance.

In the meditation chapel, Randy Porter performed a set of compositions that featured a 1940s portable electric organ, prepared guitar, and series of “brass instruments”, consisting of tubing and custom horns. The result was both musically and architecturally interesting, and seemed to “fit” into the space:

Custom instruments were in abundance, with these offerings from Walter Kitundu, including the “phonoharp” illustrated below:


[click to enlarge]

I am definitely curious to check out more of his instruments.

This installation by http://www.maggipayne.com/]Maggi Payne[/url] used one of the many fountains to control one of my favorite hardware synths, the E-MU Morpheus:


[click to enlarge]

I haven’t even plugged in the Morpheus since we moved into the new CatSynth HQ :(. Maybe this will provide some inspiration to do so.

More tubes, this time with both air and water. Krystina Bobrowski performs on special water glasses with electrical pickups, with Brenda Hutchinson (in the background) playing a large metal tube.

Brenda Hutchinson has also been involved in a project called dailybell2008, in which people observe every time the sun crosses the horizon and mark the event by ringing bells. The solstice sunset is a particular special crossing, and most everyone in attendance participated in bell ringing at 8:34 PM. Given the time and the location, it was also an occasion to remember those who have left us.

After sunset, darkness began to descend quickly and many of the chambers in the building, providing an appropriate end to the event.