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Twenty Things We Saw At The Fair

Monday, August 20th, 2012

We went to Altamont Fair the other day. Here’s twenty things we saw:

1) A new ride, called Speed. It’s apparently the tallest portable ride in America. I didn’t ride it 🙂

2) Another new ride, which I found technically more impressive. The ride has several axis of rotation, and riders spin around while upright or upside down. I didn’t ride it 🙂

3) We also saw some old favourites! (No, I didn’t ride it this year either!)

4) We saw a National Grid electrical safety demonstration, which appealed to the part of me that likes sparks, plasma trails and fire!

5) I saw delicious – but admittedly terrible for me – fair food disappear into my own mouth.

6) I saw a giraffe…

7) And a red kangaroo…

8) And some very friendly Cavy’s…

9) And even a baby coatimundi that would have fit into the palm of my hand 🙂

10) A new addition to the fair was a bigtop circus! We went to it and saw many acts, including acrobats, a hoop dancer, globe-of-death riders and a clown.

11) We also saw this…

12) And a bit later, a tiny dog dressed as superman walking on his backfeet like a man. Shortly after we even saw a dog in a hoop dress dancing with a human, and another dog doing a spider climb up parallel laders. As I wiped tears of laughter from my eyes, I heard KLS comment “I can’t believe what I am seeing!”

13) In the art show, we saw the first prize winner for ‘found art’. You can appreciate it as well…

14) Oh, I forgot to mention the creepy pay-extra freakshows, of which there were more this year (none of which I visited). For instance, the 100 pound rat…

15) The ‘chicken freak’…

16) And the headless-but-still-alive woman…

17) We also saw vendors selling all manner of un-needed items. We bought a $2 laundry bag!

18) Oh, and there were many, many many farm animals. This is, of course, a county fair! Here’s a handsome chicken…

19) In the same area we saw some tiny, tiny quails. KLS commented they looked like living eggs 🙂

20) And last but not least, we saw racing pigs. They were perhaps not as exciting as you may imagine!

Speaking of pigs, with the exception of the above they are one animal that was noticeable absent. My guess is this is due to a recent spate of cases of swine flu contracted at US county fairs. Probably in the interest of public (and porcine) safety, they kept the little oinkers away 🙂

Posted in Animals, Family, Tech | 1 Comment »

Very Dearly Departed

Tuesday, August 14th, 2012

I’ve always lived in homes with cats, ever since (and long before) I can remember, including in New Guinea.

Growing up in Australia we had a long line of cats, all of whom were outdoor. Their names will never be forgotten: Louis, Chookhead, Boris, Sarah 1, Sarah 2, Nelson, Momus. These cats were an important part of my life, and I loved them dearly. However most of them they existed only as dim memories for me, until now.

That’s Louis. He was the first cat I remember, and lived until I was in my mid-late teens. He was a massive and friendly fellow, equally happy outside or in. As the friend of two boys through their growing years, Louis put up with an awful lot, but he was always good natured about it and always came back for a hug even after we’d teased or tormented him too much! If I recall correctly, as with many of the cats pictured here, Louis ultimately lost a fight with skin cancer. I can remember vividly his final trip to the vet, even though it was probably over 25 years ago.

We think this is our only photo of Chookhead, ‘my’ first cat (for some reason, I think of him as mine), who we had for a short time around when I was about 10. I remember Chookhead used to get under the covers with me at night and fall asleep, even when he was full grown. Sadly, I don’t remember much more about him, or his eventual fate 🙁

That’s Boris, happy as she always was in the sun. Boris was aloof and mysterious, and as I recall spent the vast majority of her time outdoors. A fond memory was the time she almost passed out on our hot tile roof and I had to climb up to ‘save’ her (she was probably amused by the fact I thought she was even in trouble). Like her brother Louis, Boris also succumbed to skin cancer, the evidence of which is visible in some of these photos (look at her ear tips).

And this is Nelson. He’s a charmer isn’t he? I loved this cat so much, since he was a replacement for one that had died. He used to sleep on my bed when I played C64 games in my bedroom. Sadly Nelson’s life was cut short far too early. I’ll remember him warmly forever 🙂

Posted in Animals, Time | Comments Closed

The Lovely and Picturesque Golden Gate Bridge

Tuesday, August 14th, 2012

Yesterday B and I drove up to San Francisco for some sightseeing and shopping. We started with a visit to Fort Point, which is an old fort that has stood for over a hundred years at what is not the southern end of the Golden Gate Bridge. You can see it in the lower left of the photo above.

When we got there, the sole access rode to the fort was being blocked by some police since CSI:NY was filming on a pier on the road. The place was full of ‘hollywood types’ and gawking onlookers. It’s very likely we drove right past some ‘famous’ actors. But we wouldn’t have known since neither Bernard or I have ever seen the show.

It was cold at the fort. As in really, really cold. As in frigid winds of Tartarus cold. The entire structure was open, and the icy winds from the ocean raged through it endlessly and mercilessly. The above shot was taken on the roof, and Bernard and I were mere seconds away from hypothermia at the time. Insignificant shelter was afforded by the rooms inside the walls, most of which held exhibits of fort life back when it was occupied or art installations to celebrate 75 years of the bridge. It is perhaps evidence of how interesting much of this material was that we didn’t run screaming back to the car within seconds.

The above is Bernard posing before a tapestry said to be evocative of the emotions of the bridge.

Two more shots of the bridge, one from inside the fort and one from the roof. The shot from inside is taken through a camera obscura used as part of one of the (very good, actually) artworks. The fog persisted during out entire stay, and made the bridge very mysterious and looming. We were also treated to the periodic wail of the foghorn, which must be virtually unnecessary in these days of GPS.

After the bridge we headed to Fisherman’s Wharf, a tourist location on the bay. I’d never been here before, and it was much better than I expected.

As you can see the weather was quite nice away from the freezing hall that was the bay entrance. Lunch was expensive but delicious (‘Alaskan cod’) fish and chips:

It was very tasty. Bernard said it was the best fish and chips he’d had in the USA.

While wandering and shopping at Pier 39 we found an ‘infinite mirror maze’. Tourist trap it may be, I couldn’t resist and bought us each a ticket.

It was extremely well engineered. The mirrors were at 60 degrees to each other, and very clean. They actually have guests wear plastic gloves to avoid fingerprints! Darkness and flashing lights make it quite tricky to navigate, and after we’d done it in both directions (taking about 10 minutes each way) the attendant showed us the map and it was amusing how short it actually was. Thumbs up for this if you’re in the area 🙂

The rest of the day included shopping at Japantown, at which Bernard purchased some origami paper to add to his massive collection. He’s very good at origami, and there are lots of it scattered around the house. Over dinner I asked what the most difficult piece he’d ever made was, and afterward he took me to his work cubicle and showed me this elephant:

It’s made from a single piece of paper, and stands only about an inch tall. Impressive, isn’t it?

The most famous origami fold is probably the crane. I asked Bernard how fast he could make one, and he said “Two minutes”. My question had no motive, but he was so confident I just had to put him to the test. Do you think he was able to finish it in two minutes? Let’s see…

Posted in Animals, Art, Family, Miscellaneous, Otaku, The Unknown, Trip | 4 Comments »

Chicken Whisperer

Sunday, July 22nd, 2012

Yesterday we went on a drive to visit Catskill Animal Sanctuary. They are a sanctuary for abused or neglected farm animals, and have over 200 animals on a 110 acre farm about an hour’s drive south of Albany.

From pigs to ducks to horses to rabbits, they have just about every type of animal you’d find on a farm. Except donkeys! Although they do in theory keep donkeys, apparently donkeys are very easy to adopt out so they rarely have any living permanently on the sanctuary itself.

It’s quite a lovely place, ran by volunteers and funded by donation. We went on an hour-long guided tour, in which we learned all about the animals including where they came from and why. Some of these beasts have endured hardships that even our cat Emi couldn’t imagine, so it’s heartwarming to know they are now in a safe and happy place.

I was particularly surprised by how far they go to rescue animals. For instance they flew to Kansas and rented a truck to drive 40 chickens back with them to the farm! Unfortunately many animals that are the victim or abuse (including unintentional from pathological animal hoarders) are euthanized, and places like Catskill only have a very narrow window of opportunity to rescue them.

Particularly moving were the three blind horses they keep. One is shown above (the mask is not because he is blind, it’s to stop flies from bothering him). None of these horses were intentionally blinded, mostly it happened because of a lack of medical care or just old age. But I never knew horses had a predilection for blindness, and it was striking to see three together (one with ‘false eyes’). I can assure you they liked being petted as much as any horse!

Look at those pigs! We learned that baby pigs are disciplined by their mums (via headbutts!), so when babies are separated from parents early they can grow up to be rambunctious. The pig in that picture is a monster 1000-pounder. It was so dense that you can (and people did!) sit on it like a sofa 🙂

Sheeps! They actually had a different type of sheep in another paddock, but I guess they were a bit mean to the other sheep and had to be separated. These guys were part of a bigger flock that had been separated between several sanctuaries and had originated from a guy in upstate NY who was running an illegal abattoir.

As you can see, I made a friend in this rooster. He was heavy and snuggled up to me like a cat does. His feathers were so soft! I think he loved me as much as I loved him 😉

The place was absolutely worth the trip, and it was reassuring to know there are people out there who dedicate their time to helping animals in terrible situations. If you’re ever in the area, I recommend a visit.

Posted in Animals | 3 Comments »

Super Ox Wars

Thursday, July 19th, 2012

A couple of weeks ago, Llamasoft released their latest game for iOS, Super Ox Wars.

It’s a vertical shooter inspired by Star Force that includes an Ikaruga-like polarity system. Depending on what pickups you obtain (and seemingly what you kill) your bullets will be blue stars or red hearts.

It’s frantic, fun, and gets challenging very quickly. Although it’s not difficult to obtain massive amounts of firepower, the same is so for the enemy, and after a few levels the game becomes a real bullet hell shooter.