A 2-year-old Florida girl died after being strangled by a pet python that escaped from its aquarium and attacked her in her crib, police said.

Shaiunna Hare was strangled early Wednesday morning by the 8-foot, 5-inch snake as she slept after it got out of its tank in another room of the house, according to Sumter County Sheriff's Lt. Steve Binegar.

Paramedics said the little girl was dead when they arrived at 10 a.m. Wednesday at the central Florida home in Oxford, about 50 miles northwest of Orlando.

Deputies told FOX Tampa affiliate WTVT that the live-in boyfriend of the little girl's mother may face charges for not having a permit for the snake, a Burmese python.

Jaren Ashley Hare, 21, and her daughter shared the home with Hare's boyfriend, 32-year-old Charles Jason Darnell, deputies said.

"The baby's dead!" a sobbing caller from the house screamed to a 911 dispatcher in a recording. "Our stupid snake got out in the middle of the night and strangled the baby."

There's probably a moral to this story somewhere but I can't find it.

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin said Friday she is resigning from office at the end of the month, raising speculation that she would focus on a run for the White House in the 2012 race.

The former Republican vice presidential candidate made the surprise announcement from her home in suburban Wasilla on Friday morning. She said she would step down July 26 but didn't announce her plans.

"Once I decided not to run for re-election, I also felt that to embrace the conventional Lame Duck status in this particular climate would just be another dose of politics as usual, something I campaigned against and will always oppose," Palin said in a statement released by her office.

"It is my duty to always protect our great state. With that in mind, my family and I determined that it is best to make a difference this summer, and I am willing to change things, so that this administration, with its positive agenda, its accomplishments, and its successful road to an incredible future, can continue without interruption and with great administrative and legislative success," she said.

Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell will be inaugurated at the governor's picnic in Fairbanks at the end of the month, Palin spokesman Dave Murrow said.

Palin was first elected in 2006 on a populist platform. But her popularity has waned as she waged in partisan politics following her return from the presidential campaign. Her term would have ended in 2010.

I appreciate what she's trying to do. Everyone complains about the governors and senators who are absent from their posts as they campaign for yet a higher chair. It seems to me though that the next presidential election's a long way away and it's good to finish what you start.

Collector's Pruritus III: cobalt and tangerine.

After more than 120,000 years trapped beneath a block of ice in Greenland, a tiny microbe has awoken. The long-lasting bacteria may hold clues to what life forms might exist on other planets.

The new bacteria species was found nearly 2 miles (3 km) beneath a Greenland glacier, where temperatures can dip well below freezing, pressure soars, and food and oxygen are scarce.

And now let's tighten that shot up LOL:

The family of American actor David Carradine has asked the FBI to help investigate his death after his body was found in a hotel closet in Thailand's capital with a rope tied to his neck, wrist and genitals.

Carradine's family does not believe he committed suicide and is troubled by conflicting accounts about the circumstances of his death, Mark Geragos, an attorney for brother Keith Carradine, told CNN's Larry King late Friday.

"They want an investigation," Geragos said. "I would think that the people in Bangkok would want to support an investigation and allow the FBI to go over there and assist in the investigation so we can get the answers to the questions."

Thai police said Saturday they have not been contacted by the FBI.

Police initially said Carradine's body was found "naked, hanging in a closet," causing them to suspect he committed suicide, though no suicide note was found.

On Friday, however, police said the actor may have died from accidental suffocation or heart failure after revealing that he was found with a rope tied around his neck and penis — leading to speculation that Carradine may have engaged in a dangerous form of sex play.

Can't imagine why the family would want it publicized either way, but the ways of B-list acting dynasties are not for me to fathom.

Guitars, Cadillacs, Etc., Etc.

This is my favorite cover of "Ring of Fire" but not Mr. Cracker's. He said this one is too "chipper," causing me to ponder his emotional landscape. Elation not desperation, sweetie.

And just to show you I'm an equal opportunity spritzer: Dickey Begone!: