Check out the image, at left, which greeted me this morning when I opened up Yahoo. Poor Oscar the Cat. If he's like my cats, he probably gets up everyday to start his busy daily regimen of napping and looking out the window. Somehow, though, this poor kitty has become known as an all-knowing seer of imminent demise, stalking the last days of nursing home patients. So, now, every time Oscar enters a room, hoping to maybe get the space between his ears skritched, everyone freaks out. You also have to love the way Yahoo aggregates all the Sad Pet News of the day into one snapshot. Hero 9-11 dog dies of cancer? We love hero dogs for the way they place a finite limitation on how cynical about the world one can be, but wow, thanks a lot, Captain Bringdown!
Speaking of, I usually begin my day casting a quick look over fifty or so websites and newspapers so that I can have a snapshot of the day's media news. Now, for the past few months, this has meant wading through a metric ton of articles pertaining toward Rupert Murdoch and Dow Jones. As time has gone on and on and on and on and on, the daily yield of Murdochiana has shifted from the sublime to the ridiculous: "Murdoch's Taste in Suspenders Proves He's a Bad Fit for Dow Jones," "Jack Shafer on Murdoch: He's a Great Big Poo Poo Head," "Nearing the Endgame, Bancroft Family Members Finally Learn How To Cuddle." That sort of thing.
Which brings us to today, which, compared to the 2,371 that preceded it, is notably light on new Murdoch-related content. Now, we at Eat The Press pride ourselves on having a healthy, skeptical attitude toward augury, but we can't help but wonder: maybe this means Today is going to be the Day where Something Finally Happens. The Bancrofts have been holed up for a couple days now, and their agenda of hemming and hawing has got to end sometime. Is the entire media world waiting, watching, hands poised over their keyboards, subliminally aware that today is fated to be the final day of this saga? We don't know. All the same, James Ottaway should probably pay special heed to any felines that cross his path this morning.