From sduck409 at flickr, via matrixsynth:
Quote from sduck409:
This little cat was a real spark plug when we got him back in January of 2006. He would jump up and into anything.
Like matrix, we are reminded of Moogy the Moggy
Funny how this photo is tinted blue, and only a day or so ago we had a catsynth photo tinted red…
From Corey Anderson at American Idle:
Take that, MC Rove! W's band has a major Motown hit and an aardvark!
Only 634 days…
Another from Maggie Osterberg at flickr:
You might remember Osterberg's previous contributions, including this other photo of Scooter and Bob (Moog).
Well, it looks like we've been nominated for Blogger's Choice Awards in three categories:
Of course, half of all the sites I visit these days are nominated for Blogger's Choice Awards. But nonetheless, we at CatSynth ask for your support, if nothing else it's a bit of fun. I think our best chance is in the Geek Blog category. In the Animal Blogger category, there's very little chance of competing with sites like Cute Overload, dailykitten or the lolcats.
From the nominating statement:
“cats, synthesizers, music, art, opinion” Yes, it's a blog about cats and synths, a strange combination that seems to work. Lots of cute photos of cats posing with, and occasionally playing, music gear. Also features frequent appearances by the lovely black kitty Luna, pretty much the *star* of the site. This site is quite informative, in terms of various global issues, such as pet food recalls, interesting stats of highways, information about people and places (ie New Orleans). This website has many visitors, especially kitty lovers and those people who like music and synthesizers as well. It's got class, it's got variety, best of all, it's got kitties!
I'm glad someone out there appreciates my “highways” posts.
Remember Mimì, our intrepid little synth programmer?
Now she's taking her paws to the Russian (Soviet era) Polyvoks synthesizer.
Thanks as always to Eric of polynominal for submitting these photos of Mimì.
You can hear some samples of a Polyvoks at sequencer.de.
Seems approrpiate to feature a Russian synthesizer today, with the news of the passing of Boris Yeltsin today…
Tonight's podcast is an excerpt from the “Synthesizer Summit” at the Luggage Store Gallery in San Francisco. Basically, the performance is an improvisation by several artists playing hardware synths. If I recall correctly, the artists and their respective synths were:
Synthia Payne: Roland JP8000
Amar Chaudhary: E-MU Proteus 2000 (Mo'Phatt + Vintage) and Morpheus
LX Rudis: Oberheim Matrix 12
Jim Ryan: Arp 2600
Will Grant: E-MU UltraProteus
Note: many subscribers may have heard another excerpt fromt the Synthesizer Summit that I accidentally released a few weeks back instead of the advertised Woodstockhausen 2003 performance (that has since been corrected).
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On this Earth Day (or as Luna might say, “erfday”), we turn our attention to the big world outside the window.
Climate change is of course the big issue this Earth Day, and we encourage everyone to read the stats about climate change published earlier today. For Weeked Cat Blogging, we present some of the world's most endangered wild cats. The Cat Specialist Group of the World Conservation Union maintains information on the status of the 36 species of wild cat. We only have room for a few of them here.
Among the most endangered is the Iberian Lynx. According to IUCN CSG:
The decline of the lynx population since the 1960s has been primarily caused by habitat loss and a decline of their main prey species, the European rabbit…Nevertheless, there are some areas where habitat quality and rabbit density appear sufficient, yet no lynx are found. Particularly in these areas, it seems that humans are directly responsible for an appreciable level of lynx mortality (Delibes 1989).
Certainly, the policy of Fascist-era Spain of paying a bounty for killing lynxes didn't help. As if there weren't already enough resons to despise fascists.
In the Andes of South America, we find the gato andino or Andean mountain cat. This odd little cat (look at that tail!) is quite rare, living only the high-altitude rocky and semi-arid sections of the Andes. There is not a lot of information known about it, but the low population and specialized habitat would suggest that it is quite vulnerable to climate change.
The U.S. is not without its endangered cats. Perhaps the most endangered is the Florida Panther. Yes, it's not just the name of a hockey team, but a subspecies of cougar that were almost wiped out by development and bounty hunters, and now the few remaining panthers live in southwest Florida, one of the areas of the U.S. most threatened by global warming, tropical storms and rising sea levels.
Although Ocelots as a whole are not considered endangered, the subspecies found in Texas is in serious danger, according to the Environmental Defense Fund:
The tiny fraction of ocelot habitat that remains is largely fragmented, leaving most ocelots stranded on the 45,000-acre Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge and on a handful of private lands, with very little new habitat for the cats to raise future generations. Because the south Texas ocelots are found in such small and isolated groups, they tend to inbreed, making them increasingly vulnerable to extinction.
There are numerous groups working to protect wild cats from the many threats they face, climate change, habit loss, hunting, etc. The links throughout this article take you various agencies and private groups. Another is the International Society for Endangered Cats. And throughout the U.S., there are wild cat sanctuaries for displaced and/or abused animals.
We are happy to report that felis silvestris domesticus is doing quite well, and you can see many happy examples of this species at Weekend Cat Blogging #98, hosted this week by the three lovely striped kitties at Pet's Garden Blog.
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Some “chilling facts” from the Environmental Defense Fund:
1 Rank of 2006 as hottest year on record in the continental United States.
1 Rank of America as top global warming polluter in the world. [though China is doing their best to capture title]
20% Percent increase of America's carbon dioxide emissions from the burning of fossil fuels since 1990.
15% Percent increase of America's carbon dioxide emissions forecasted by 2020 if we do not cap pollution.
80% Percent decrease in U.S. global warming pollution required by 2050 to prevent the worst consequences of global warming.
78 Number of days by which the US fire season has increased over the past 20 years – tied closely to increased temperatures and earlier snowmelt.
200 million Number of people around the world who could be displaced by more intense droughts, sea level rise and flooding by 2080.
358 Number of U.S. mayors (representing 55 million Americans) who have signed the U.S. Mayors Climate Protection Agreement pledging to meet or beat Kyoto goals in their communities.
0 Number of federal bills passed to cap America's global warming pollution.
0 1 Number of times President Bush has mentioned “climate change” or “global warming” in his previous six State of the Union speeches.
Well, there's more disturbing news on the pet food recall.
First, from MedicineNet:
The massive recall of pet foods expanded again Thursday with the recall of products containing rice protein concentrate imported from China.
Blue Buffalo, of Wilton, Conn., said it was recalling all of its Spa Select Kitten dry food labeled “Best Used By Mar. 07 08 B.” … On Wednesday, Natural Balance Pet Foods, of Pacoima, Calif., recalled all its venison dog products and dry venison cat food after discovering they were contaminated with melamine…
So now it's not just wheat gluten, but rice protein as well, again from China. And also in dry food for kittens. But things get worse:
Meanwhile in South Africa, melamine has been found in Royal Canin pet food company's Vets Choice and Royal Canin dry dog and cat food sold exclusively in South Africa and Namibia. The source of the melamine appears to be from corn gluten imported from China, according to published reports.
Corn gluten is exceptionally scary for us because it's a major ingredient in Luna's food. So far, the contaminated corn gluten has not been found here in the United States, and I can't understand why as the largest corn producer in the world we would get any corn products from China. But it's enough of a scare that I have contacted the manufacturer or Luna's main dry food (which is not one of the main brands in the news) for additional information. I will share whatever information I find on this forum.
For more detailed information on individual brands, I recommend checking in with Pet Connection.
So we have three major food products from China. From the Associated Press:
“Melamine was found in all three of those ? it would certainly lend credibility to the theory that it may be intentional. That will be one of the theories we will pursue when we get into the plants in China,” Stephen Sundlof, the FDA's chief veterinarian, told reporters…FDA investigators were awaiting visas that would allow them to visit the Chinese plants where the vegetable protein ingredients were produced.
Good luck to the FDA getting any honest information on a visit to China if it ever happens. But there are questions about the FDA in this whole issue. On one hand, they are now floating the theory that melamine was introduced to purposely increase measured protein content. From David Goldstein at the Huffington Post:
One would expect the FDA to test this theory by directly measuring protein levels in melamine-contaminated samples to see if they otherwise fall below grade. One would also expect the FDA to release the names of all importers, distributors and manufacturers who are suspected of handling contaminated product. But then, one would expect a lot of things from the FDA that they have thus far failed to deliver.
Why are the FDA so slow to name names, particularly when it comes to the Chinese manufacturers and the US distributors that do business with them? Indeed, why don't we simply stop all Chinese imports of these ingredients?
Given the facts, it is now reasonable to assume either massive, industry-wide negligence, or intentional contamination, and that all Chinese produced high-protein food additives are now suspect.
China is becoming the Pakistan of food quality, and the danger is spreading to the human food supply (for those who are unmoved by the suffering of our companion animals). You have to wonder if there is politcal pressure not to go after China for this, as they are such an important partner for the big business interests in the U.S.
To date, 4,346 deceased pets reported by Pet Connection. We at CatSynth do not want to see this number continue to grow…
