Islanders mourn death of iconic crocodile - South Florida

Longtime islander Paul Reynolds, who called the crocodile "Sanibel's biggest celebrity," offered his thoughts on her death.

"Refuge officials object to 'personalization' of wildlife, so they were never happy with the name 'Wilma' that some gave our only American crocodile. Don't doubt, though, that she was an individual of special privilege around this area," he wrote. "Word is she succumbed to the cold, since she was already north of her native climate. Those cold days were too much for her, and a Sanibel symbol is gone. You may be certain a huge number of volunteers and refuge officials mourn her passing as I do."

When crocodiles roamed the Arctic - environment - 18 June 2008 - New Scientist

...the fossil trees Shackleton's team discovered grew around 250 million years ago, when Antarctica was barely closer to the equator than it is today. What's more, the continent reached its current position roughly 100 million years ago, and an ever-growing list of fossil finds date from 100 to 40 million years ago. During this time, when dinosaurs roamed the almost subtropical forests of an ice-free Antarctic, conditions on the other side of the planet were even more remarkable: the Arctic Ocean was a gigantic freshwater lake infested with crocodile-like reptiles.

Daily Presidential Tracking Poll - Rasmussen Reports™

Just 12% say that Congress is doing a good or an excellent job. In his new book, Scott Rasmussen notes that “If we ever found a Little League team behaving as poorly at the Republicans and Democrats or the Congressmen or Senators, we’d probably disband the team and go home. Heck, we might even disband the entire league and bulldoze the field.”

Storm exits U.S.; leaves behind greatest snow coverage in years and sets dozens of records

...more than 70% of the U.S. (including a small part of southwestern Canada’s Columbia River Basin) is now under snow and ice. This topped the record set last month (December 2009) of 65.7% after a significant end-of-month snowstorm event.