CATBLOGGING WITH THE GREY LADY

Looks like this whole business of Friday Cat Blogging has attracted the attention of the mainstream press, as evidenced by this article in the New York Times:

In the vitriolic world of political Web logs, two polar extremes are Eschaton (atrios.blogspot.com), a liberal, often anti-Bush site with a passionate following, and Instapundit (www.instapundit.com), where an equally fervent readership goes for hearty praise of the Administration.

It would seem unlikely that the two blogs’ authors could see eye-to-eye about anything. Yet Eschaton’s Duncan Black (known as Atrios) and Instapundit’s Glenn Reynolds have both taken part in a growing practice: turning over a blog on Friday to cat photographs.

[...]

Some participants take Friday catblogging very seriously. Laurence Simon, a 35-year-old Houston technical support engineer, decided a while back that with so many people catblogging, it would be good to have a weekly compendium of the best of each week’s entries.

So he began to post what he called the “Carnival of the Cats,” a roundup (www.carnivalofthecats.com) of that week’s Friday catblogging, available the following Sunday.

“The reason why I do it on Sunday evening is that most people aren’t online,” Mr. Simon said, “so on Monday morning, when people get into the office and are facing their first horrible cup of coffee, they can look at pictures of cats until they get screamed at for the first time of the day.”

For a while, Mr. Simon was the host of Carnival of the Cats, but he decided to pass along the honor. Now, a different person handles the Carnival of the Cats each Sunday, compiling a healthy group of Friday postings for that groggy Monday morning audience.

Laurence Simon, for those who don’t know him, writes a blog called “This Blog Is Full Of Crap.” It’s on my blogroll, and I make frequent visits. Laurence is on the conservative side politically, but his take on the Mideast is mostly right up my alley: Yasser Arafat Is Full Of Crap. [And, for that matter, so is Dear Abby.] Laurence lives in Houston, so I can appreciate the occasional local reference while at the same time thinking “better him than me.”

And I will confess to being a regular catblogger, thanks to Laurence...and to Hakuna and Matata, who provide plenty of photo ops. I have started participating in the Carnival of the Cats, mainly because I like the idea of my catposts reaching a broader audience. Plus, it annoys Acidman, which is a bonus. Acidman hates cats.

Unless they’re properly cooked...