Overnight Briefing & General Reality Check

Equal time:

Billionaire developer and media mogul DONALD TRUMP says he'll decide by mid-year on whether or not he'll make a run for president. Trump's been floating the idea for weeks, and said he'll run as a Republican if he in fact makes that move.
   He told Fox host NEIL CAVUTO yesterday, "I'm certainly thinking about it very seriously." (Pacelli)

Dot-com mania:

There's been reports that News Corp, which owns the Fox TV network, is considering selling off the social networking site MySpace.com. The social-networking site reportedly loses about $100 million a year, and execs there laid off nearly half its work force earlier this week.

The Weather:

Residents of blizzard-beset cities in the U-S and Europe may find this hard to believe, but 2010 tied a record for the warmest year since global temperature data started being kept in 1880.
   The global surface temperature in 2010 was 1.12 degrees above the 20th-century average, which matches the 2005 record set five years ago.
   That's consistent with overall warming trends: "Nine of the Earth's 10 warmest years on record have occurred since 2001, and all 12 of the warmest years have occurred since 1997."
   But wait, haven't these years also been some of the worst for epic snowstorms? Yup. Last month, a forecaster explained to the NY Times how hotter-than usual global temperatures make for colder, snowier winters. (Maiman)

Filling a need:

Attention beer lovers: you now have a new favorite airline.
   The New York Daily News says Japan's All Nippon Airlines plans to start serving draft beer from kegs aboard their flights. A cold, fresh-pulled in-flight brewskie will cost about 11-bucks.
   Draft beer couldn’t be served before because of fluctuating cabin pressure. But, the airline says they've solved that problem with new beer keg technology.
   They plan to starts serving cold ones next summer. (Still)

Looking at Logos:

The blogosphere was full of accusatory declarations that SARAH PALIN’s bullseye graphics on her web site to mark congressional districts to “take back” for the GOP inspired the Tucson shooting spree Saturday. Some suggested all language and symbolism could therefore be suspect, and more than one commenter jokingly noted Target stores should reconsider their logo.
   Target has, according to TheStreet.com, but is removing the company name from its web site, leaving its familiar red-and-white bullseye to speak for itself.
   The company has reportedly been wordless for several months. "Target uses both logos --with and without the Target name-- for different purposes and has been doing so for some time," a spokesperson for the company tells TheStreet.com. (Kaye)

Turn off that phone:

Another day, another business person "too busy" to turn off their smartphone in an airplane.
   This time it was ARIANNA HUFFINGTON, the author and columnist who runs the popular online site the Huffington Post.
   Arianna actually was yelled at by another passenger after she ignored crew members, who told her to turn off her Blackberry phone aboard a United Express flight from Washington's Dulles International.
   "Hey, lady! Don't you speak English?" the man allegedly heckled Huffington.
   For her blatant disregard, she was met by Port Authority Police officials at La Guardia airport in the Big Apple.
   But the guy was also questioned by the cops as well; nobody was arrested.
   As you probably remember, actor JOSH DUHAMEL was escorted off a US Airways Express plane in December for texting.