Alex Schibli, a retired Port Authority worker, ponied up $160,000 at auction for Rat Island, a private island off the coast of New York City. What's this guy want with a two-acre piece of rock he can't even live on?

Richard Branson's sprawling home on his private island in the Caribbean tragically burned to the ground this week after it was struck by lightning caused by Hurricane Irene. Fortunately no one was injured, thanks in part to actress Kate Winslet, who was vacationing on the island and carried Branson's 90-year-old mother to safety.

Have you been "laboring" under the impression that our economy is bad right now. Not so! The WSJ points out that the super high-end real estate market, at least, is doing just fine, which is a relief. There's never been a better time to purchase a luxurious private island that could hypothetically be used as a terrifying sex dungeon!

Scientists who study islands have apparently been sleeping on the job for years, because get this: Researchers have discovered 657 new islands around the world, making for a grand total of 2,149.

What is happening in the field of paleontology, these days? Oh, not much. Besides finding the actual bones of the Easter Bunny on its ancient island kingdom of Minorca, that is!

[Here's two side-by-side pictures of Petermann glacier, before and after a huge ice island four times the size of Manhattan broke off of it. Talk about "breaking the ice"! Right? "Breaking the ice"? Pic via AP.]

Two days ago, an "ice island" four times larger than Manhattan broke away from a Greenland glacier and is heading for the Nares Strait, and could reach the Atlantic Ocean within two years.