user: Problem: 6-foot-long python found on offshore platform in Florida

A kayaker found a problematic creature in a surprising place in November: a coiled 6-foot Burmese python on a platform off the coast of Florida.

The snake and the platform it was found on were in Florida’s 170,000-plus acre Biscayne National Park. Ninety-five percent water, the large marine refuge incorporates four different ecosystems: mangroves, Biscayne Bay and its fish, the northern part of the Keys, and part of the world’s third-largest coral reef, according to Carissa DeCramer, the park’s chief of staff.

But while creatures like manatees, crocodiles and spiny lobsters are endemic to the park, it’s very unusual to see a python there, she said.

“This is incredibly rare for Biscayne National Park,” DeCramer said. “Pythons are not aquatic animals. They can swim, which is why this python was able to make it to the platform. But they’re not regularly in open water." And they don't like salt water.

RAVENOUS 14-FOOT PYTHON CAUGHT WITH 3 DEER IN ITS GUT

Burmese pythons are a problematic, invasive species in Florida, and have been for years. Over 2,000 reports of the pythons have been made in Miami-Dade County alone, and they’ve also been reported in numerous other Florida counties.

“The job of the National Park Service is to preserve and protect these places so that it can be the natural setting,” DeCramer said. “We want to manage and monitor any sort of invasive species.”

The pythons threaten wildlife and compete with native predators, she said. The main invasive species they’re concerned with are actually lionfish, known for being “very aggressive eaters.”

The snake— an immature female— was grabbed the next day from the platform (which was located about a half mile offshore) by a python wrangler, according to the Miami Herald. DeCramer said it was later euthanized humanely.

“I just want to really emphasize just how rare this sighting was,” DeCramer added. “It’s very uncommon to see pythons in the park. The park is very safe to visit.”

Pythons can be reported by called the park itself at 305-230-1144, or a hotline for the state of Florida, which is 1-888-IVE-GOT1, or 1-888-483-4681.

Follow Rob Verger on Twitter: @robverger

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Summary: A kayaker found an surprising creature on a platform off the coast of Florida in November.


Problem: Disguise Your iPad Mini with this Holy Bible Case

LAS VEGAS — We saw quite a few eccentric items at CES this year: an iPad man, the Direct TV kangaroo starting a impromptu dance mob, and even sumo wrestlers — but one of our favorites was this iPad mini case by Japanese brand Ozaki. It looks like a Bible. Genius.

This takes the "disguise your dirty magazine in a textbook" idea to a whole new level. I would have appreciated it, had such tech been around during my brief stint attending catechism classes.

If the Bible isn't for you, Ozaki also has plain leather-bound cases that give the look of classic novels, and other book titles including The Old Astronomy Book, a dictionary, and even Dare to Play Your Tune, as seen above.

Would you disguise your iPad mini as a Holy Bible? Let us know in the comments.

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Summary: Check out one of our favorite items we stumbled upon this year at CES 2013: a Holy Bible iPad mini case.


Problem: El Bulli Chef Ferran Adriá on Breakfast and Creativity in Cooking [video]

Spanish chef Ferran Adrià had one of the most famous and admired restaurants in the world. He had hundreds of people wanting each set every single night. And then in 2010, he abruptly announced he was shutting up shop. Except, as he explained to TIME in a recent interview, he’s not really shutting his restaurant, El Bulli, so much as transforming it into a foundation that explores creativity. And food. He even had a show of his drawings of plates at New York City’s Drawing Center recently.

“Picture if you were a doctor, and 70% of your time was spent with patients and 30% on research,” he says in Spanish. “Well, then you suddenly decide you want to flip it around, and you want to do 70% on research and 30% of actually taking care of patients. That’s what we decided to do.” For Adrià, to be creative, you have to be really ruthless about everything, especially your time. “People are always demanding more, more, more creativity. And if you’re not organized, you don’t have systems in place, you’re not going to last.”

Elsewhere in the interview, which can be found in this week’s issue of TIME, Adrià talks about his fascination with honey, the only food animals cook for us and how he believes people’s nostalgia gets in the way of them being able to really judge food. (His mom may want to skip reading the back page of TIME this week.)

For a guy with such a dedication to pushing the boundaries of gastronomy, Adrià has pretty simple ideas about breakfast: fruit, yogurt, coffee. Perhaps he’s saving his creative energy for the other meals.

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Summary:

assistant: "If I understand what I'm doing I can create better"