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Steve Irwin Dead
mkosmo writes "News.com.au is reporting that Steve Irwin was killed in a freak accident while filming one of his well known documentaries. Surprisingly it wasn't a crocodile, it was a sting-ray."
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what did he do to cause a stingray to kill him? TFA says it was a freak accident. but was it really? what were the stingray's intentions?
I only live 30 minutes from his Australia Zoo at Beerwah and have watched him perform the croc stuff a couple of times and it was very entertaining.
I remember trying to take a photograph of my kid at the petting zoo while his kid was in there and I was politely asked not to. Mind you, it was just after the whole 'dangling the baby in front of the baby eating crocodile' incident, I can understand the paranoia at the time.
Task Mangler
This is the fastest I've ever seen news hit the front page on slashdot.
In fact since this news broke an hour ago I've received 1 phone call, 4 SMS's and 6 e-mails about it. A coworker came running to tell me about it and 88+ news items about it have appeared so far on Google News. Just goes to show that people really care about Steve Irwin.
With that kind of influence it makes you wonder what he might have achieved if he hadn't died.
Australian running a company that does C# / C++ / Java / SQL / Python / Mathematica
Yes. Very sad for the kids, especially. Sad for his wife too, but she made the choice to marry such a risk-taker. Speaking of which, who was watching the kids anyway? The Age reports: It's believed his American-born wife Terri is trekking on Cradle Mountain in Tasmania and authorities are trying to reach her with news of her husband's death.
I feel sorry for his kids too, one of them is named after a weed http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bindi_(plant) which grows in all sorts of places in Australia...
"damnit, trolley I want in your signature." - Elburrito
..there's a very good chance his death was captured on video. How long till it hits the net?
The first time I saw Steve Irwin, I cringed horribly (I'm Australian), but he got to me. I can honestly say I've never seen a happier person, with so much energy & such a good, innocent heart. I was mocking him a few years ago, mercilessly. Now, I'm feeling kind of weepy. RIP Steve, and my heart goes out to the Irwin family & friends. Thanks on behalf of the animals :)
Hell, he dangled his child over crocs before. It must have looked exactly like the whole chickens they feed them. This was a man who wanted to go out exactly as he did. doing what he loved. He might have regretted the timing, but I think we all expected a croc to get him anyway. The stingray kinda came out of left field.
Funny and sad. Sweet and sour. mmm. Chinese.
"I love deadlines. I love the whooshing sound they make as they fly by." -D. Adams
I use those words all the time with regards to people. I used those exact words to put mother's cancer into perspective. I don't believe in Jesus, so I get no consulation(sp?) from the bible, or any other religious text. Thinking about my mother's genes living on in my offspring helps me.
Does this sig remind you of Agatha Christie?
For your unending enthusiasm, commitment and teamwork (how many people to catch a croc!) in bringing folk a little nearer to those wonderful animals.
You'll be missed by both the many who never met you, and by those who loved you.
To your family, may your God comfort you and protect you during these days of mourning.
RIP.
I'm a big fan of Attenborough too, but I think Irwin's show reached a different kind of person, and everybody could stand to have more appreciation of nature. Really, sneaking a nature show into a stunt show is what he did, and it's really sad that the odds caught up with him. Steve Irwin's off-camera work showed he really cared about wildlife, and it's really sad to lose someone like that.
A stingray barb to the chest - ouch, that's a painful way to go. If I'm right, only one person has ever survived that.
As awful as it sounds, I'm glad that he won't be screwing with animals any more. The way he dealt with animals always made me feel like they should get a good chomp or poke back at him. Glad that one finally did!
He earnt my hatered spreading that stereotype, but i learned to live with it, its just like alot of people i know stereotyping americans as arrogant fat self loving over patriotic wankers. Every country has their stereotypes I guess
Make SELinux enforcing again!
Seeing how he has kids I fail to see how this is darwinian.
It's still darwinian. If he lived till he died of natural causes, he might have had a lot more children. Having 2 instead of 4 means that there are greater chances that his genes will not carry on (2 children more likely to die that all 4, even if they are all in the same car crash, for example) or will otherwise slow down the march of his genes.
The more intelligent, more healthy person will likely have more healthy intelligent children which will out number his. We are fucking with natural selection with medicine anyway. I should be dead for example.
It might be interesting to note that the Wikipedia article on stingrays has already been locked due to vandalism, only hours after the news hit the Web. Mr Irwin's death has had a much greater impact online than I originally anticipated.
You know I used to think exactly the same as you - I also cringed that the world thought this was what Australians were like. But the more I saw of the bloke the more I realised it wasn't an act, it was genuine, unbridled enthusiasm. He wanted people to be as fascinated as he was, his enthusiasm was magnetic, and real. He wanted to teach all this stuff to kids. He wanted people to respect these (dangerous) wild animals the way he did. He never held back, he always smiled. And for all those reasons and more, he completely turned me around - I am more than happy that the world thinks this represents Australians at their core - genuine, enthusiastic, and a good mate.
RIP Steve.
"Because it's there." - George Mallory, when asked why he wanted to climb Mt Everest, March 18, 1923 (New York Times)
I think he probably landed on the bottom without checking the sand first. This is something I've seen him do more than once in underwater documentaries and it makes me cringe every time. He wouldn't go wading in murky water he knew has crocodiles in it so why does he scuba dive onto sandy bottoms containing hidden crabs, stingrays, stone fish, stargazers, flounder, sand worms and other sea life? Some of these critters can inflict a lot of damage.
I read his heart got pierced by the barb (fatal injury) - so he either landed on the stingray, chest first, or he was trying to ride it.
-- it must be true, it's on the internet.
It's best to admire nature from afar... like on TV. People think we're just lazy fat hermits but you don't see us getting ate by bears!
You know, this is off-topic, but earlier I saw a showing of Mike Judge's new film "Idiocracy". The premise of the film is that, without predators to stop such things, the stupid breed the intelligent out of existence. Entertainment or prophecy?
If you watch the interview by Andrew Denton (Enough Rope) you will see what sort of person he was. He wasn't some one who chased profits as his primary motivation and really did love the work. The shows were only a side to everything else like Australia Zoo and reserves. I would much rather that people looked up to him, even if you think he is just putting on a tough act, than say Bill Gates. Just my opinion though.
I ate your fish.
The kids have always had the extended family of the Zoo staff.
There is more footage than just the crazy stuff of Steve, there is a lot of him being a caring father during the filming of the TV series. Who else would be laying concrete with a toddler?
This is true. Popular Science did an article where the author kept a diary of the risks he was encountering and would rate them, then they showed the diary to risk experts and got comments. What you said is exactly correct: people downplay the risks of, say, riding in a car, because they do it so often, while they worry a lot more about the risks of flying - despite the fact that flying is far safer than riding in a car.
Was probably cardiac tamponade. The heart has a little baggy/sack around it called the pericardium. With penetrating injuries to the heart, sime blood leaks out with each beat and gets into the bag, thusdepriving the heart of room to expand. The heart is then basically "choked", and it can't pump blood, unless someone withdraws the fluid from the sack and plugs the hole. The pericardium only holds about 40 cc of fluid or so - not much.
..........FULL STOP.
Well, I am a brazilian, never had travelled to the US at that time, had no american friends (at that time, also), and didn't know a single person that has died on Sep 11th. Yet, it struck me with a feeling of personal loss and it definitelly changed my views on life. I remember walking as a zoombie on Rio de Janeiro streets and trying to be close to people I love. For me, and for all the folks I knew that were not stupid pseudo-leftist dumb-asses 9/11 was as close and as real as if someone droped a nuke on Rio de Janeiro. Just because you're a cold guy that could never feel anything for people beyond your closed circle, it doesn't mean everybody acts the same.
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Well, I have this amazing revelation to give to you, which is that every society on earth comes across as a little self-absorbed. We're all loud eccentrics; it's called being human.
"Sufferin' succotash."