Giant New Python Species Invading Florida

Africa's largest snake—the ill-tempered, 20-foot-long (6.1-meter-long) African rock python—is colonizing the Florida, new discoveries suggest. Six African rock pythons have been found in Florida since 2002. More troubling, a pregnant female and two hatchlings have been found, which means the aggressive reptiles have set up house.

More dangerous than even Burmese pythons—which are known to eat alligators (alligator-python picture)—the African pythons are "so mean, they come out of the egg striking," said Kenneth Krysko, senior herpetologist at the Florida Museum of Natural History in Gainesville. "This is just one vicious animal."

So far the giant snakes have been found only in a single square mile (2.6 square kilometers) of suburban area west of Miami. Pet breeders unprepared for the pythons' ferocity may have released them. If this is true, and breeders or pet keepers have set them free, then they should all be charged in court and sent to jail, this is a disaster! Un-be-freakin'-leivable, some people are just morons.

I agree with Florida State on this one!

Florida State says it's unfair to take wins off the individual records of football coach Bobby Bowden and other coaches and athletes who had no role in an academic cheating scandal. In an appeal to the NCAA on Wednesday, the university argued that a proposal to strip the school, its coaches and athletes of victories in several sports is too harsh and should be reversed.

If not, the penalty would cost Bowden up to 14 wins. Taking that many victories off his personal record would give Bowden little chance of catching Penn State's Joe Paterno in their race to be major college football's winningest coach. Paterno has 383 wins, just one more than Bowden, who is entering his 34th season at Florida State.

One argument is that even if wins should be stripped from the school's record, the individual records of innocent coaches and athletes should not be docked. Under that scenario, Florida State would still lose its 1997 national championship in track and field and the football team would lose victories, but Bowden would not.