Friday Cat Blogging – 12 February 2010

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Today we have an exciting double feature of cat videos. On the left, Domino jumps onto my lap. Exciting! On the right, Inkblot heads out to his favorite spot to…..well, I don’t want to give away the ending. You’ll have to watch to see what he does when gets there. It’s always the same — though I’m not sure just what the attraction of that exact spot is. Plus the whole thing is accompanied by authentic neighborhood background sounds! Just remember: the key to enjoying this kind of thing is to have low expectations.

And in other news, we have this:

A poll of 2,524 households found that 47.2% of those with a cat had at least one person educated to degree level, compared with 38.4% of homes with dogs.

“We don’t know why there is this discrepancy,” [said Dr Jane Murray, a lecturer in feline epidemiology at Bristol University]….”Our best guess is that it’s to do with working hours and perhaps commuting to work, meaning people have a less suitable lifestyle for a dog.”

Pshaw. It’s because people of discriminating taste prefer cats. Let’s not sugar coat this in order to be politically correct. And now, on with the show!

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WE CAME UP SHORT.

We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

So we urgently need this specific ask, what you're reading right now, to start bringing in more donations than it ever has. The reality, for these next few months and next few years, is that we have to start finding ways to grow our online supporter base in a big way—and we're optimistic we can keep making real headway by being real with you about this.

Because the bottom line: Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism Mother Jones exists to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

And we hope you might consider pitching in before moving on to whatever it is you're about to do next. We really need to see if we'll be able to raise more with this real estate on a daily basis than we have been, so we're hoping to see a promising start.

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