CATSYNTH

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Tag: anniversary

  • CatSynth 6th Anniversary

    Today marks our 6th anniversary! It’s amazing to think that we have been going on with this for 6 years. The past year has been a good one, in terms of quality of the post and engagement with readers here on the blog as well as via Facebook and Twitter, and we’re looking forward to an even better year ahead.

    And we are celebrating as we always do, with statistics.

    1933 posts.
    10714 comments.
    463,958 visitors.
    258 reviews of art, music and technology.
    621 catsynth pics and videos.

    57% of posts feature cats
    19% of posts feature Luna

    Most frequently-cited synthesizer brands:
    Korg (100)
    Moog (72)
    Roland (70)

    Via Google Analytics, a map of where people are visiting from:

    Top countries:

    United States
    United Kingdom
    Canada
    India
    Germany
    Australia
    France
    Italy
    Poland
    Netherlands

    The non-anglophone country that sent the most visitors to CatSynth is Germany.

    Our top commenters for July 2011-July 2012:

    Kitty 141
    Tillie and Georgia 135
    meowmeowmans 132
    Gattina 77
    Snowcatcher 61
    AVCr8teur 55
    Beth F 50
    Sue St Clair 46
    Marg 45
    Beth @ 990 Square 44
    Daisy the Curly Cat 39
    SandyCarlson (USA) 39
    Cafe au lait 37
    Judi 33
    Louis la Vache 33
    Mitch 32
    Maria @ LSS 32
    The Chair Speaks 31
    caite@a lovely shore breeze 29
    Indrani 29
    Robin from Israel 27
    Sweet Purrfections 26
    Carol @ There’s Always Thyme to Cook 24
    Sukhmandir Kaur 24
    Katz (And Other) Tales 21
    Li 19
    Cats of Wildcat Woods 18
    Daisy Deadhead 15
    Fuzzy Tales 12

    Our most commented articles this past year:

     

    Happy Birthday Luna! 36
    Happy Gotcha Day, Luna! 27
    Wordless Wednesday: Green Window 26
    Wordless Wednesday: Cat and Koi Street Art 24
    Wordless Wednesday: Installation views of upcoming show 24
    Wordless Wednesday 24
    Wordless Wednesday: Portals 24
    Wordless Wednesday: Blue Barrels 23
    Wordless Wednesday: Oakland Maze 23
    Wordless Wednesday: View from Brooklyn 23
    Wordless Wednesday: Ominous Sky 22
    Wordless Wednesday: Ferguson 22
    Dona Nobis Pacem 22
    Wordless Wednesday: Union and Octavia 22
    Wordless Wednesday: Looking Upward 21
    Wordless Wednesday: Quicksilver 20
    Wordless Wednesday: LACMA 20
    Wordless Wednesday: Jungle Cat 20
    Wordless Wednesday: Doll and Fish 19
    Wordless Wednesday: Mystery Sunburst from New York 19

     

    And finally, the posts most “liked” by Facebook users.

    Broadside Attractions | Vanquished Terrains at Intersection for the Arts 40
    CatSynth pic: Happy Minimoog Monday (On Tuesday) 37
    CatSynth pic: Bengal Cheetah Cat on a Moog Little Phatty 22
    CatSynth pic: Bessie and Korg Monotron 21
    Pas Musique and Thomas/Levin duo, Luggage Store Gallery 21
    CatSynth pic: Mog Moog 20
    CatSynth pic: Missy and Nord 20
    Paul Stapleton improvisation sets, Luggage Store Gallery 17
    CatSynth pic: Mimi and Korg MS-20 16
    CatSynth pic: Techno Puff (JL Cooper CS-32) 16
    CatSynth pic: Binary Heap 16
    CatSynth pic: VideoCat and Korg Mono/Poly 16
    CatSynth pic: Video the cat with Wurlitzer and Fender 15
    CatSynth pic: Steerke and Korg Mono/Poly 14
    ReCardiacs Fly, Surplus 1980, PG13 at Hemlock Tavern 13
    CatSynth pic: Lenny 13
    Robert Reich at #OccupySF 13
    CatSynth pic: I smell a rat 12
    Alan Turing and Computability 12

    It is quite interesting how the set of posts receiving the most blog comments and those receiving the most Facebook likes are completely disjoint.  The former tends towards Wordless Wednesday and Luna, while the latter tends towards cat-and-synth pics and art/music reviews.  Certainly something to reflect on as we move forward into this next year.

     

  • Alan Turing and Computability

    Yesterday (June 23), would have been the 100th birthday of Alan Turing, the mathematician who was one of the founders of modern computer science – indeed he is often considered to be the “father of computer science.”

    In the 1920s and 1930s, much attention in the mathematics was on the subject of “computable numbers” and finding automatic systems for proving mathematical statements.   Based on a series of problems stated by David Hilbert, the mathematician Kurt Gödel ultimately proved that this not possible.  Essentially, there is no formal mathematical system that can decide the truth or falsehood of all mathematical statements.   This is quite profound and simple to state, but Gödel’s mathematics is cryptic and at some times impenetrable.   By contrast, Alan Turing’s formulation of the mathematics as a simple device is quite accessible and laid the groundwork for the positive use of Gödel’s results.  Sure, we cannot solve all mathematical problems computationally, but we can do quite a lot with the right tools.  The Turing Machine is one of the simpler of such tools.

     

    A Turing Machine consists of a tape, or an infinite sequence of cells, each of which contains a symbol that can be read or written.  There is a head, which (much like the head on a tape recorder) moves along the tape and is always positioned at one cell.  The state register contains one or more states of the machine.  Finally, the transition table contains a series of instructions of the form qiaj→qi1aj1dk where q is a state, a is a symbol, and d is a number of cells to move the head left or right along the tape (including not moving it at all).  So, if the machine is at a given state qi and the head is over a symbol aj, switch to state qi1, write the symbol aj1 at the head, and move the head dk positions to the left or right.

    The description of the Turing Machine is very mechanical, which makes it a bit easier to understand.  But it is nonetheless a formal mathematical model.  It was used to demonstrate that the “halting problem”, the ability of such a machine to determine if any set of states and transitions will stop or repeat forever, is not solvable.  This remains today, one of the great unsolvable problems in computer science.

    About the same time as Turing published his results, American mathematician Alonzo Church published an equivalent result using lambda calculus, a system I personally find more intuitive and elegant because of its basis in functions and algebraic-like expressions (it will be the subject of a future article).  But Turing’s work has been more prominent both in mainstream computer science and in the culture at large, with computer designs and languages being described as “Turing complete”.  And then there is the “Turing Test” for evaluating artificial intelligence systems.  So far, no system has ever passed the test.

    During this centennial, especially coming as it does during Pride Weekend in much of the United States, there has been much written about Turing’s homosexuality and his being convicted for homosexual activity that was then illegal in the UK and stripped of his security clearance.  This is a very sad statement on the time in which he lived, that someone who was both one of the most influential mathematicians in a growing field of computation and a hero of World War II for is code-breaking exploits was treated in such a mean and undignified way.  There was also much written about the mysterious circumstances of his death – long considered a suicide, a recent BBC article on the centennial suggests otherwise.  You can read for yourself here.  As for us at CatSynth, we prefer to focus on his achievements.

    Google honored Turing yesterday with one of their trademark “Google Doodles” in which they implemented a functioning Turing Machine.

     

  • Fun with Highways: The Golden Gate Bridge at 75

    Fun with Highways: The Golden Gate Bridge at 75

    Today we at CatSynth and countless others celebrate the 75th Anniversary of the Golden Gate Bridge.

    The tallest suspension bridge in the United States, the second longest, and painted in International Orange, it is instantly recognizable. In a sense, the Golden Gate Bridge is San Francisco’s “Empire State Building”. Both are iconic architectural centerpieces that represent their respective cities, and both date back to the 1930s and feature the distinctive Art Deco elements of the era. Both are often present in the background during everyday life of the cities. And (at least for me), they are also places rarely visited except when hosting out-of-town visitors.

    But the Golden Gate Bridge is an important practical part of the city. It is a busy transportation carrying US 101 and California Highway 1 north from San Francisco into Marin County and points beyond on the north coast. It is very unusual for a modern roadway in that the opposing lanes are separated only by short poles that are moved to adjust the number of lanes in each direction. It seems a bit quaint, in fact. On the city side, the highway split into a boulevard carrying CA 1 south and Doyle Drive (US 101) until this past month when the latter was demolished. From these points, travelers are dispersed onto the city streets of San Francisco. There is no easy highway or rail connection between my part of the city (near the Bay Bridge) and the Golden Gate Bridge, owing to the city’s hilly geography and quirky political history. As such, I find myself not near the bridge very often except when I need to be. But when I am nearby it is worth stopping to take notice.

    This is what we most often see when we look at the bridge, the orange structure partially shrouded or occasionally completely enveloped by another of our famous landmarks, the San Francisco fog. But the interplay of the fog, the bridge structure, and the other natural and human elements of landscape can make for interesting compositions.

    With the anniversary upon us, much attention is being paid to the history of the bridge, its engineering as well as the politics and economics surrounding its construction. For me, the most interesting part of the history is the work of Charles Ellis, a senior structural engineer and mathematician. In many ways (including his early academic credentials), he was more mathematician than engineer, and did much of the theoretical work on the design of the bridge with large amounts of detailed mathematics, along the way publishing highly cited works such as “Williot Equations for Statically Indeterminate Structures” in Transactions, American Society of Civil Engineers, 1935. Indeed, he is now recognized as a principal designer of the bridge, but at the time he was not given any credit after being fired by Joseph Strauss, chief engineer of the bridge project. He was only officially given credit in 2007 (as described in this San Francisco Chronicle article).

    This film from the time chronicles the building of the bridge, but also exemplifies the mythology that Strauss created around himself.

    Nonetheless, the bridge itself opened to huge fanfare, as seen in this Prelinger Archives film:

    Another copy of this video can be found here.

    The festivities for this year’s 75th anniversary began about a month ago with the demolition of Doyle Drive, the elevated highway connecting to the bridge.


    [Photo by toyzrus8 on flickr. (CC BY-NC 2.0)]

    The old highway had elements such as metallic beams in the International Orange color that connected it to the bridge, and it definitely looked to be of the same vintage. It is being replaced by the new Presidio Parkway that will more gracefully connect to the surrounding parkland but also contain the iconic orange color and architectural elements to connect it to the bridge.

    Today’s festivities include a planned fireworks display at the bridge. Perhaps most notably there is an ongoing art exhibit at Fort Point called International Orange in which several prominent artists present works inspired by the bridge. I am hoping to see this exhibit soon (perhaps on a quieter day when I can observe the pieces in detail). I did see a preview recently at one of last weekend’s art fairs where Anandamayi Arnold wore one of her dresses for the exhibit, appropriately colored in International Orange. I am also inspired by the concept of this project and the mathematical work of Ellis described above to try my own hand at a creative piece in honor of this occasion.

    Please join us in wishing the Golden Gate Bridge a happy 75th Anniversary!

  • Fun with Highways: The Bay Bridge Turns 75

    Fun with Highways: The Bay Bridge Turns 75

    This past Saturday, November 12, marked the 75th anniversary of the opening of the San Francisco – Oakland Bay Bridge, known conventionally as “The Bay Bridge.” It is a regular part of life for many of us here, one of our main connections to the communities across the bay and a principal landmark during walks in my part of the city. It has been featured in many previous articles here on CatSynth.

    The Bay Bridge is a workhorse, spanning over 4 miles and carrying an estimated 270,000 vehicles a day, making it second busiest in the U.S. after the George Washington Bridge in New York. But the western double-span is quite a beautiful structure, both as seen from the hills of San Francisco and from up close.


    [Click to enlarge]

    [Click to enlarge.]

    Don’t let that last photograph fool you. Even though it may look like it was taken 75 years ago, it was actually taken yesterday using the iPhone Hipstamatic app during an early afternoon walk by the bridge.

    It was quite an engineering feat when it was built, the longest bridge of its time and built in challenging geography of the bay.

    [Image from Wikimedia Commons.]

    This video (as seen on the official Bay Bridge info site) captures both the era and the engineering:

    Much like the Brooklyn bridge when it was first built, the Bay Bridge towered over the surrounding architecture of the cities it connected. It is anchored in the middle to Yerba Buena island with tunnels connecting the two spans of the bridges. On the the San Francisco side, it is anchored to Rincon Hill, once an upscale neighborhood in the late 1800s that fell into rapid decline and largely destroyed in the 1906 quake. The eastern bridge was built resting on mud rather than bedrock. It was the most expensive bridge built to date.

    The idea of a bridge crossing the bay has been around since the 1800s. Indeed, such a bridge was proposed by Emperor Norton in the 1870s (I think this even made it into Gino Robair’s opera I Norton). But unlike his other proclamations, this one seemed like a good idea. After that, there were many proposals, such as this one that in some ways resembles the bridge that was actually built.

    The bridge proposed in this drawing connected to Telegraph Hill rather than Rincon Hill, and has suspension bridges on both sides of Yerba Buena island.  The spires also make it look like some of the older suspension bridges on the East River in New York.

    When bridge first opened, it carried US Highways 40 and 50 as well as the trains from the Key System in the East Bay. The upper deck had longer ramps leading to Harrison and Bryant Streets at 5th, roughly the same as the rather long ramps at those streets today. On the Oakland side, the bridge had viaducts from Cypress Street (Highway 17) as well as San Pablo Avenue and the Eastshore Highway (US 40). The bridge now carries Interstate 80 across the bay. The railway is long gone. Gone also are the connections to the old Transbay Terminal and Embarcadero Freeway, both of which have been demolished. The area under the bridge on the San Francisco side, once a gritty industrial waterfront, is now a picturesque boulevard that is great for walking. Through all of the changes, the bridge itself has not changed very much at all…

    [Bay Bridge approach, 1940s]

    [Bay Bridge and Embarcadero, 1970s and 1980s. Photos from Wikimedia Commons.]

    [Present day, Bay Bridge and southern Embarcadero. Photo by CatSynth]

    …until now. The eastern truss span, which was badly damaged in the 1989 earthquake, is now being replaced with a new more graceful cable-stayed span. The construction has progressed to the point where the tower is in place and the cables are being hung. It is indeed a bit distracting when traveling the bridge. But I am looking forward to seeing it completed, probably around the 77th anniversary in 2013.

  • CatSynth 5th Anniversary!

    Today we mark the 5th Anniversary of CatSynth!

    I started this site on July 19, 2006 as a novelty when a friend and former colleague at E-MU systems suggested that I “should make a website about cats and synths.”

    Every anniversary we feature the photo of Luna from the inaugural post.

    I still have that Novation keyboard, though it does not get used as often of late. Luna of course still is very territorial about that beanbag chair. Times have changed a bit, here is an iconic photo of Luna from this past year, this time with an iPad app (in this case, the Smule Magic Piano):

    Another quirky way we like to celebrate is with statistics. First the basics:

    1559 posts.
    0.85 posts per day.
    8784 comments.
    5.63 comments per post.
    476 posts featuring cats and synthesizers.
    195 reviews (and gig reports).
    381,735 visitors.

    Even after five years, people from around the world continue to send us pictures of cats and music gear. These days most of those come via our Facebook, which together with twitter has become a major way people engage with this site.

    From Google Analytics (which we finally got working properly over the past year), here is an overview of where our visitors come from around the world.

    By far and away most of our visitors are from the United States, followed by the United Kingdom, Canada, India, Australia, France and Germany. I’m gratified to see so many visitors from India, though I’m curious why we never receive any comments from there…

    It’s also interesting to look at cities.

    Not surprisingly, the top cities are San Francisco and New York. In Google, it’s SF followed by NYC, while in Facebook, New York is the top city.

    Our most popular posts judged by number of visitors are the annual endangered wild cats on earth day.  Over the past year, our most commented posts were:

    Wordless Wednesday: Herman (Groundhog Day) 35
    Wordless Wednesday: Doll and Metal Beams 28
    Wordless Wednesday: 6506 (Baker Beach) 27
    Wordless Wednesday: Matzoh Man 27
    Happy Birthday Luna! 25
    Wordless Wednesday: 7643 (New York, Late Autumn) 25
    Wordless Wednesday:  Wet Paint 25
    Wordless Wednesday: Mosaic with Saxophones 24
    Wordless Wednesday: Summer Solstice 24
    Wordless Wednesday:  Harrison Street Hipstomatic 23

    Our top commenters the past year:

    Kitty 199
    Mickey, Georgia and Tillie 146
    Gattina 94
    CatSynth 90
    The Chair Speaks 66
    meowmeowmans 65
    Snowcatcher 56
    AVCr8teur 51
    Daisy the Curly Cat 48
    Cats of Wildcat Woods 41
    Beth @ 990 Square 40

    Thanks to all our friends (in time zones earlier than U.S. Pacific Daylight Time) who already sent in comments for the anniversary, and to the Cat Blogosphere for their anniversary shout-out!

    And while we will continue to keep doing what we do, it has been more of a challenge over this past year to keep up with posts, especially the longer-form reviews. There is a trade between doing music and art, and writing about people doing music and art. But I still love doing everything here, and will find a way…

  • Weekend Cat Blogging: 6th Anniversary Edition

    This weekend marks the 6th anniversary of Weekend Cat Blogging.  It was started by a group of food bloggers who took a break from the regular topics every weekend to post about their cats.  It is not an in appropriate combination, as like their human counterparts cats enjoy good food and good company.

    We at CatSynth found Weekend Cat Blogging back in 2006 and have been regular participants ever since.  This is of course not a food blog, but we do appreciate food and have indeed made recipes posted by long-time participant.  Indeed, a diverse collection of bloggers have participated on and off over the years.

    If you would like to participate in this anniversary edition, please leave a comment below, or tweet us @catsynth with hashtag #WCB.  We always welcome new participants!

    We are also celebrating another anniversary this weekend: Luna’s adoption.  If you have not had a chance to yet, please visit Luna’s Gotcha Day post.

    And so let us get on with round-up.

    Jules of Judi’s Mind Over Matter has been a regular participant, and he can be counted on to make an appearance whenever we host.  Call it “black cat solidarity” if you will.  In any case, we think he makes a very handsome outdoor model, though he sometimes wants to eat the props.

    Catsparella has a Caturday post featuring several cats from around the internet, including Mar (aka Mar(ilyn) Manson aka Tuxedo Bad-Ass).  In addition to having an interesting namesake, he is a cancer survivor.  He also loves eating spaghetti.  We wish him the best for a healthy and happy future!

    Over at Gattina’s “My Cats and Funny Stories”, Rosie is practicing her seduction skills on one of the many cat statues that adorn their garden.  It makes for some very cute photographs.

    At Pam’s Sidewalk Shoes, Smudge is posing on the garden pathway in an apparent attempt to distract us from the garden weeds.  We think it is a very handsome portrait.  And the weeds in the stones of the pathway add a rich texture to the image.

    At The Chair Speaks, Pebbles enjoys a day of relaxing.  She evokes an image of poolside bliss on a deckchair.

    Regular reads know that we at CatSynth are regulars in our local arts community in San Francisco, so it’s great to see our “TX furriends” Samantha and Clementine featured at a gallery near you.  That’s a gallery near you, not near us.  But it’s great to see their virtual art show – and nice prominent placement of their images (I particular like the big one of Clementine).

    Our friends at Animal Shelter Volunteer Life present the cats in Cat Room 8 taking it easy on Sunday.  Our Sunday is busy as usual, so we will just have to live vicariously through their great photos.  These cats are likely dreaming of loving homes in their futures.

    At Herman’s Hideaway, it appears that Herman and Emma are stuck in an infinite loop (are stuck in an infinite loop) as each watches, ready to pounce if the other does anything.  Read the post to find out the full story.

    Our dear friends from Vienna Kashim, Othello, Salome and Astrid have been participating in Weekend Cat Blogging just about as long as we have.  They look back on WCB’s origins this week and link to their original post.  They also discuss the fun and value they have received from sharing these posts over the years, and we could not agree more!

    As we wind down this edition of WCB, Ritzi shares a contented moment with a blanket at Mind of Mog.

    Our friends Georgia and Tillie along with the rest of their household stopped by for the WCB 6th Anniversary.  Check out their Friday Close-ups!

    It’s always great to here from another Luna!  This week Luna T Katt and Zulu are remembering Luna’s littermate Keiko, whom they lost to the rainbow bridge last year.  The kitten pictures are very cute – and they all miss her very much.

    It seems that Gracie has been having trouble with the blogger monster and thus having trouble leaving comments for friends.  But she was able to make it though and wish Luna a happy 6th Gotcha Day and everyone a happy 6th Anniversary of WCB.

    We will continue to post entries throughout the weekend, so please continue to comment or tweet us if you would like to participate.

  • Happy Gotcha Day, Luna!

    June 10 is Luna’s “Gotcha Day”. It was six years ago today that she was adopted from Santa Cruz County Animal Services and became the much beloved member of our household that readers have come to know and love.

    As we often do on this occasion, we look back at some early photos in comparison to the present. This particularly cute one was taken during her first week at home in June, 2005.

    By contrast, here is one of the most recent photos of Luna:

    She is quite fond of that PurrPad at the moment.

    Another interesting comparison. Here is Luna sitting with our often-featured glass table in June, 2005:

    And here she is again in 2010:

    Some things stay the same.

    Please join in me in wishing Luna a Happy 6th Gotcha Day! It is a day to celebrate, and to remember what’s important in life.

    We would also like to give a mention to Friends of Santa Cruz County Animals – I support them every year in gratitude connecting us.

  • Photo Hunt: Anniversary

    Photo Hunt 230 is hosted by tnchick.  This week’s theme is Anniversary.

  • CatSynth 4th Anniversary

    Another year has past since we started this site four years ago.  Thanks to everyone who already wished us a happy anniversary, and to the folks at the Cat Blogosphere for their shout-out today.

    And just as we have with previous anniversaries, we are celebrating with statistics of questionable import.

    Over the past four years, we have written 1220 posts, and readers have contributed 6699 comments.  We have received 293,916 visits.  This comes out to about 5.5 comments per post, and about 43 visits for every one comment left.  We also have about 270 “catsynth pic” or “catsynth video” posts.  Make of these numbers what you will.

    In terms of tags and categories, there are not really any surprises.  These top terms do reflect what the site continues to be about:

    Cats (cat) 704
    Synthesizers 449
    Luna 277
    Music 246
    Art 190
    weekend cat blogging 183
    WCB 181
    San Francisco 160
    Personal 153
    News 151
    Wordless Wednesday 147
    Reviews 134
    Photography 132
    Modernism 91
    Highways 82
    Art 74
    analog 74
    video 74
    cats on tuesday 70
    electronic music 62
    synth 62
    performance 55
    carnival of the cats 45
    Travel 45
    black cat 44

    We now turn to stats specific to the past year.  The top five days for visits since July 19, 2009 are:

    November 6, 2009 1036
    April 18, 2010 859
    May 11, 2010 808
    October 15, 2009 787
    March 22, 2010 780

    Hmm, November 6, 2009.  Who knew our post on Reconnaissance Fly and Noertker’s Moxie at the SIMM Series would get so much attention 🙂

    The posts that received the most comments over the past year:

    Wordless Wednesday: Morning Sunshine 36
    Wordless Wednesday: Cooper River Bridge, South Carolina 32
    Wordless Wednesday:  High Line 32
    Dona Nobis Pacem: Blogblast for Peace! 31
    Wordless Wednesday: Asians.com 28
    Wordless Wednesday:  Bay Bridge from Pier 14 25
    Wordless Wednesday: Yan’an Elevated Road, Shanghai 25
    Wordless Wednesday:  Before Winter 24
    Wordless Wednesday: 5946 (Vacant Lot, California) 24
    Wordless Wednesday:  Three Circles 23
    Wordless Wednesday: Coffee Cup on the Patio 23

    And the top commenters over the past year:

    kitty 203
    Mickey 143
    CatSynth 96
    Gattina 75
    SandyCarlson 51
    Sukhmandir Kaur 50
    Robin from Israel 38
    Beth @ 990 Square 37
    Katz (And Other) Tales 32
    cindy 31
    AVCr8teur 30
    jams o donnell 47
    Carver 26
    Sniffie and the Florida Furkids 23
    Beth F 23
    Cats of Wildcat Woods 22
    Ms. Latina 20
    Snowcatcher 19
    Digital Flower 18
    Susan Adcox 18
    Cafe Au Lait 17
    The Chair Speaks 16
    Harry Spotter 16
    Jewelgirls Katz 15
    Judi 15
    Nikita Cat 15
    jason 12

    These are the stats that change the most from year to year, as we welcome new readers and others fade away for any number of reasons.  One interesting thing to note is our two top commenters (who have retained those spots for the last two years running) are both from Canada.

    Our Facebook page gives us a new source of questionable stats to reflect upon.  We have received  about 30 contributions (pictures or videos).  The city with the most declared CatSynth fans is New York.  The countries with the most fans (after the United States) are Canada, the United Kingdom, and Finland.  These are all plausible, but I am a bit skeptical of Facebook’s data gathering and presentation tools.

    Thanks to everyone who has read and supported us, wherever you happen to be, and we’ll look forward to more over the next year…

  • Weekend Cat Blogging: 5th Anniversaries

    This past Thursday we celebrated Luna’s adoption anniversary (aka “Gotcha Day”).  For Weekend Cat Blogging we present some photos from our celebration that evening.

    Of course, there was yummy food.  In this case, Sardines, inspired in part by a (human) recipe I had heard on the radio few days earlier and still want to try out.  Luna devoured her feline fish treats with aplomb:

    There were some cards from friends.  And of course, new toys.  I was particularly fond of this toy, which seemed apropos of this year:

    Luna was not quite as interested (though I did see her kick it around briefly):

    On the other hand, she took right away to this black mouse toy and spent quite a bit of time kicking it around, even getting it stuck on a shelf and pawing diligently to get it out.

    And after a spell of vigorous play, it was time to relax:

    Not only is this Luna’s fifth adoption anniversary, but it is also the 5th Anniversary of Weekend Cat Blogging. It was started by group of primarily food bloggers who set aside a post on the weekend for their cats. We found it back in 2006 as I was first starting this site. This special edition is being hosted by LB and breadchick at The Sour Dough.

    The Carnival of the Cats will be up this Sunday at Nikita’s Meowings of an Opinionated Pussycat. And the Friday Ark is at the modulator.