cat

Cat is out of the bag on Saint John Airport security

With apologies to Harry Shearer, we present this “tale of airport security” from the CBC News:

Mary Martell discovered Ginger, the family pet, in her luggage after a two-hour plane ride to Toronto and an hour's drive to Niagara-on-the-Lake. The cat apparently snuck into a bag while Martell was packing.

Martell said her bag was scanned at the airport, but she was not stopped.

“They had asked me, when they put ? the luggage through the X-ray, whether I had a turkey,” Martell said…
…The bag was sent on and loaded into the cargo bay of the airplane. Ginger, 3, was discovered when Martell opened her suitcase in her hotel room.

Fortunately, Ginger is doing well after her adventure. But don't you think that airport security could have detected a live animal in a suitcase? From a follow-up article:

When the cat went through screening, the X-ray machine would have shown just a faint image of some bones,” [Canadian Air Transport Security Authority spokesperson said,] “That, in itself is not a threat object to civil aviation. That would have passed through, no problem.”

But of course my toothpaste is a threat to civil aviation, and my musical instruments (including the acoustic folk instruments) get passed through the X-ray machine several times before being allowed to pass. And a bottle of water (purchased outside the terminal) cannot be carried, but an animal that is 75% water is OK…

Well, since it appears to be OK security-wise to carry live animals in suitcases, can people check in their crying babies, please?




Weekend Cat Blogging #99: May Flowers

First time WCB hosts Spot, Mel, Shishi and Sirius have decided upon a floral theme for Weekend Cat Blogging #99. We at CatSynth are of course happy to oblige with this lovely photo of Luna posing with a California poppy:

As we saw last October, the color orange really brings out something in Luna. I thought this living-room photo of orange with black and grays was quite striking:

While the California poppy is aesthetically and geographically “purrfect” for Luna, it is not safe for cats. These photos were taken under very close supervision and the flower was immediately removed from the house afterwards. We at CatSynth want to remind our feline friends to enjoy May flowers responsibly. The Cat Fanciers Association has a list of plants considered non toxic for cats. Another list of resources on plant safety can be found here.



CatSynth pic: little cat and modular

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…





CatSynth pics: Mimì and Polyvoks

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…

Weekend Cat Blogging #98: Endangered Wild Cats on "erf day"

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.












You can't buy publicity like…

Well, just as we take up the question of cats-and-synths versus dogs-and-synths, the blog Create Digital Music asks the same question, prominently featuring CatSynth and our presentations of Convoy the Cat and the now infamous catsynth tatoo.

Speaking of the tatoo post, it made “CatSynth” of the Day over at dreamchimney a couple weeks back. Congrats to ben who seems to be enjoying the moment.

And while writing this, we find one more surprise reference today, from bloggins:blog, who says, “i don?t know what this is, but, cats with synths are cool.”

We've certainly gotten some attention from these sites, and like they say, there's no such thing as bad publicity.

Most of the “CatSynth” media that has appeared lately was submitted directly to this site, with the balance coming our way via places like matrixsynth and sendling. Thanks everyone, and keep those pics, videos, and whatever else coming…




More CatSynth pics today

We have more cat-and-synth pictures for today. Originally from pzlonvent, via matrixsynth:

There are more pics at pzlonvent from the same series, include this one:

So many fun places for a cat to play among racks and shelves of synthesizers…

The posting at matrixsynth spurred a discussion of why there are so many pictures of cats and synthesizers, and so few of dogs. Not the first time that subject has come up. Certainly, the fact that there are so many interesting spots for a cat to explore (or take a nap) allows for more photo opportunities. They are also gerally more nimble and less clumsy than their canine counterparts.

I also tend to think that cats are in behavior and personality more compatible with the personalities and aesthetics of “synth geeks” (and electronic musicians in general). The aloofness and independence and air of sophistication are characteristics I certainly find more appealing than the stereotypical “loyalty and obedience” of dogs. Dogs are also high-maintanance, need a lot of attention and of course their “walks,” taking away from time in the studio, while a cat is content to sit on a ledge or on a lap. Certainlly, Luna sometimes sits on my lap in the studio, as can be seen in at least one earlier post. And her presence in the studio is always a delight. By contrast, a clumsy and messy dog demanding attention would be quite unwelcome.

Consider the aesthetics of cats, too. Cats are common in still life paintings and photography and lend an elegant quality, while dogs are more common in, say, poker scenes or creepy Norman Rockwell illustrations with kids. That is not to say I haven't seen some really great or endearing photos of dogs – but it is a very different aesthetic from cats.

Certainly, these are all opinions, and we at CatSynth freely admit our feline bias. But to the best of our knowledge, there is no DogSynth site…