This week I started giving computing lessons to a colleague of Walton. She came round with her laptop, and we are going through basic skills, as well as how to save time by learning various shortcuts. One hour of pure IT can be a bit much for the non-geeks out there, but luckily Karra and Muska (our kittens) were on hand to provide occasional distractions. Some of the cat products in our flat have seen better days - one of the toy mice had its ear ripped off whilst my pupil was here!
We also got out the squeaky mouse that sits on the end of an elasticated fishing rod-type affair. Karra tends to watch it jumping around, almost as though she is analysing the patterns of its movements, then pounces when she thinks she has the best chance of holding on to the grey squeaky furry thing Muska on the other hand will carry out all sorts of aerial acrobatics in her quest to trap the prey.
Once I had changed the batteries in their other favourite toy, we had a little laser show going on. I picked it up last September, as a replacement for the little laser pen we had previously been using. This version has two lasers, some mirrors and a couple of motors, to create pretty geometric patterns on the floor, and normally grabs the kittens’ attention. Hmmm, how old are kittens once they become cats?
Anyway, we need to find some new toys for them sometime, so I’ll keep my eye out in the local shops and online, to see what can be found.
As you know, Ira and I will be travelling to Britain this Saturday, and as her parents are coming as well, we can’t very well ask them to come and feed the kittens whilst we are away. A solution has been found in the shape of Mira, Ira’s colleague from work. She will come and spend some time in our flat§, seeing what independent life is like whilst not at work very much, and obviously making sure the kittens are fed, watered, and that the litter tray doesn’t over flow Anyway, I dug out her picture from a couple of months back
Or at least I am hope that’s the right picture, I very helpfully forgot to include any useful information in the folder name, other than the date. In case you are interested, the object in her right hand is a little laser toy I picked up on my last trip home, mainly to entertain or distract the kittens when we need them to behave well.
Anyway, huge thanks to her for making sure we can sleep well, knowing that Muska and Karra are going to be looked after
§ - I am trying to force myself to use the UK English word, rather than ‘apartment’, as I already find myself sometimes unable to recall which nation’s vocab I am using…
Following the 11th act, we had a big group dancing. From what we could tell, it was a mixture of local teenagers and professional dancers. There were so many performers they spanned the stage to both extremes on the left and right. The drummers had been temporarily kicked off their stage-topping position, to be replaced by some more dancers, who occasionally seemed to get out of sync with each other and the music. That said, I’m pretty sure I don’t know anyone who could have done better.
The 12th act, consisting of singing in Kazakh, as well as traditional Kazakh dancing performed by dancers wearing traditional Kazakh costumes. Once again, my three word vocabulary of Kazakh did not help with the meaning of the song, but given the context (Astana Day concert) and the word Astana is clearly audible, I’m pretty sure it is safe to say it was written especially for the evening.
This is probably the longest video of them all, from after the 12th act, where we have the laser show and then some more from the aerial gymnastics team we saw a little from earlier (still no safety harness or net!),then some dancers.
Part 2 of the 11th act, again with singing in English. I’ve heard this particular track a few times on the radio since.
Dancing combined with some trained doves, released into the sky from a crane, most of whom return to their handlers.The drummer on top of the stage scaffolding returns as well.
Second section of the dancing, continued from the video above.
In the next instalment, we will have some traditional Kazakh dances and a laser show
OK, as you may have read from earlier posts, I have been experimenting trying to find the best way to encode videos to ensure high quality clips on YouTube. So far things have not gone well. I have ascertained that I do need de-interlace the raw DV video from my camcorder. I have tried different ways of resizing from 720×576 to 320×240, including clipping, adding letter box strips, changing the aspect ratio, all to no avail - the video quality is still far worse than previous videos I’ve uploaded. I have tried both DivX and Xvid codecs, with medium to high bit rates, but I always seem to end up with quality that would look bad coming from an old mobile phone.
For now, I shall continue posting the videos as they stand. If someone has an idea about how to achieve better results, let me know. Similarly, if someone would like to have a copy of these, let me know which interests you, and we’ll sort something out…
First we have a short clip of the lasers being tested during the 7th Act at the Astana Day concert. Why have I included it? Watch out for a video taken later in the night, that shows just how impressive the laser show was As a small techy point, although the square and X don’t appear contiguous, to the naked eye, they were solid…
Here we have The 8th act singing in Russian…
Lastly (at least for this post), we have Alex, Ira and Ira’s Mum after the 8th act…
I recently ordered a hand held laser pattern producer, and will pick it up from the UK in 6 weeks time. It is meant to help keep our kittens entertained, as they currently enjoy draining the batteries on one of those standard laser pointers. This one is supposed to make patterns on the floor, or wherever you point it, so I’m hoping it will provide a little variety for Karra and Muska. Although I could have tried visiting a hobby shop in Cheltenham or Swansea, it was probably a little cheaper online, and also meant I couldn’t accidentally spend the kitten’s present money on other items in Amsterdam.
As you may recall from previous posts, we have a friend here in Kazakhstan that owns a taser. The obvious effect is one of improving his personal security, and perhaps confidence walking around town in the evening.
The use and legality of tasers and stun guns varies from country to country, but where they are allowed, they can make all the difference between a terrifying mugging, and an incapacitated criminal on the floor. As I have previously mentioned, I personally believe that an untrained, unaware person with a taser is not necessarily going to be any better off in a confrontation, however I was glad to see that SafetyEssentials provide an instructional DVD with some of their tasers, so hopefully people will find the defence accessory (it is not classified as a firearm in the majority of American states) tips the balance in their favour should they ever find themselves in a potentially violent situation.
In terms of crime prevention, this city obviously has its trouble areas, where people do not tend to walk around at night, unless there is a real need to. This is found in most areas of the world, and in some cities, even if the statistics do not alarm an inhabitant, simply walking around an unknown area at night can be enough to require some form of re-assurance. Obviously there are other items that can be used for self defence, ranging from batons to pepper spray, but different restrictions apply to them in different areas, and some would argue that a baton is the best sort of equipment for either a well trained civilian, or perhaps a security guard, rather than the elderly, especially as out in the open, the pepper spray can blow in an un-expected direction. The taser however, especially those with a laser guide for accuracy, seems a more appropriate defence mechanism for those without great physical strength - if you can point it in the direction of an assailant, and have enough finger power to squeeze the trigger, you are good to go!
What can you do with your old mobile phone, now that the iPhone is well on its way?
Well to be honest, I use one of my old phones as a bluetooth remote control, when we are watching movies on the TV, via the PC.
However, this would not have made such an interesting video, so I have filmed another use you can put your old mobile to…
Yep, set your phone to vibrate and see how your pets react If the mobile battery dies, the little toy laser works wonders as something to keep them entertained.
Every time I spend a little too long with our PC, and Karra does not receive enough attention, be it a stroke, or scratch behind the ear, or a little laser fun, she decides to inform me of my forgetfulness my jumping up on the desk. She then proceeds to head butt my hands until I give up typing, and give her the attention she is apparently over due Whilst this is cute most of the time, when she happens to sit on my mouse, or cause me too accidentally delete a paragraph or two, it can be a little frustrating.
Anyway, I probably need to work out some sort of time table - 45 minutes of typing followed by quarter of an hour of attention for the two kittens. Hopefully she will be happy with that sort of ratio…
Muska on the other hand will carry out all sorts of aerial acrobatics in her quest to trap the prey.
