Once mighty lions' prides are thinning very substantially.
- This week’s journal Biodiversity and Conservation published a study showing African lion populations "dropped to as low as 32,000, down from hundreds of thousands estimated just 50 years ago." This is due mostly to habitat infringement by man, of course. At least beloved Andean bear Billie Jean at the National Zoo is pregnant with twins.
- Electric cars, so 2012: New York Daily News reports Honda, Toyota and Hyundai may have hydrogen-powered FCEV (fuel cell electric vehicle) vehicles on the market by 2015.
- Push Play: Federal Communications Commission tells the Federal Aviation Administration it's time to allow passengers to play with portable electronic devices during take-off and landing.
- Newark, NJ mayor Cory Booker is participating in Mario Batali’s Food Stamp Challenge and for a week, he will eat only what he can buy with $29.78. This is slightly more than the $28 individuals receiving food stamps tend to spend on average. Booker shares his day to day experiences on a LinkedIn blog. He says, "anyone in Washington who proposes cutting [SNAP] should do it."
- Major Wes Rishe of the Oregon Air National Guard was honored to be invited to be a White House holiday "treemaster." Even better, he got to bring his boyfriend, Chris Schwarz. "It was the first time I felt comfortable doing this...because of Don't Ask, Don't Tell," Risher tells US News and World Report.
- The Nation runs a series of essays from L.R. Runner, Keith Ellison, Dorian T. Warren, Benjamin Todd Jealous on "How to Save the Democratic Party." I'm glad someone's on it, I've thought of nothing else since Nov. 7.
- Palace intrigue: A nurse privy to England's Prince William and wife Kate's pregnancy information was punked by Australian radio station djs on Tuesday and was found dead in an apparent suicide on Friday. So not worth it.
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- Better than expected jobs numbers didn't improve the mood of Wall Street's confidence fairy says Reuters.
- FAIL, Trenta: National Organization for Marriage's homophobic Dump Starbucks boycott campaign has been so devastating to the bottom line, the company has been forced to open another 1,500 new stores.
- Big Brother 4.0: Google TV, Microsoft, Comcast, and Verizon filing patent application for DVRs that spy on you while you watch TV. What could go wrong with that?
- XX in the NH: Local station WMUR hosts the all-female New Hampshire delegation to talk politics. It's like Sunday am talk in bizzarro world.
- American Airlines finally reached an agreement with their pilot's union on Friday. Seventy-four percent of union ballots cast approved of the new contract.
- Nice work if you can get it: Dick Morris raises money for his SuperPac, then uses his SuperPac to rent his own email list at least 46 occasions. Hey, if the GOP wants to waste their money on Dick Morris' email list, who are we to complain? We can only hope Morris will open a polling firm and an ad shop too.