My daughter is totally bummed. She loved him too!

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Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.
Albert Einstein

You know, wars have been started over less of an insult.

Still, I'd rather be associated with Yahoo Serious than with Jacko, mentioned earlier in the thread.

I am very sorry about this news. Here in Australia, I think he was largely regarded as a bit of an oddity - he was far larger overseas than he was here and it often baffled us Aussies what other people saw in him. However, he was utterly tireless in his efforts to increase our understanding of nature and for that he deserves great respect. Additionally, as has been mentioned, he was an extraordinarily generous man who in real life was exactly as he appeared on TV - enthusiastic, uncomplicated, unpretentious and completely excited about life.

There are not enough characters like that around anymore. Sad.

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"I'd take the awe of understanding over the awe of ignorance any day." - Douglas Adams

"Certainly, in the topsy-turvy world of heavy rock, having a good solid piece of wood in your hand is often useful." - Ian Faith

He was a great nature conservationist. But, like Marlin Perkins (Wild Kingdom) he could not resist the urge to wrestle with the wildlife. Isn't that stuff for the circus?

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-----> Be prepared to accept that everything we know is wrong. <-----

Yeah, remind me to never ask you to say mine. I'm hardly perfect, and I'm sure I'd die by SOME stupid decision I'll make later in life. And I do mean "stupid decision", not "freak accident" like Steve Irwin suffered.

I liked him personally; so he wasn't perfect, and made a few mistakes now and then. Who hasn't? He put a new and interesting face on animal lovers, and he'll be sorely missed by at least some people, no matter what.

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"A long habit of not thinking a thing wrong gives it a superficial appearance of being right." -- Thomas Paine

Being intelligent is not a felony. But most societies evaluate it as at least a misdemeanor. -- Heinlein

Creationists make it sound as though a "theory" is something you dreamt up after being drunk all night. -- Isaac Asimov

I learnt about the Crocodile Hunter from Americans. He had quite a following over there and they took him quite seriously. Whether you like his ocker image or not he was good for the tourist trade. And Australians are a pretty forgiving people. We forgave that old city-based lawyer Banjo Paterson for playing up the ocker image so we can probably forgive Steve.

Apparently, you can get scuba gear that's specially reinforced so you can't get, oh, stabbed in the heart by a stingray. I'd go with "freak accident" if his whole career hadn't been based on antagonizing animals. It was probably going to be one of them eventually. Very few people's careers are, in essence, "get rushed repeatedly to bush hospitals for emergency medical care."

Note, all of this is based on his public persona. He may've been a great guy, though I don't think taking a child into an enclosure with a crocodile is responsible parenting, but it's the only moment of his parenting career that I can count on.

I also doubt that most people who watched his show cared about conservation. Frankly, I suspect most of them thought wrestling crocodiles and poking endangered animals with sticks is funny.

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Gillian

"Now everyone was giving her that kind of look UFOlogists get when they suddenly say, 'Hey, if you shade your eyes you can see it is just a flock of geese after all.'"

"You can't erase icing."

"I can't believe it doesn't work! I found it on the internet, man!"

Keep in mind that this is a discussion, not a eulogy. I'm kind of in the middle on this one. On one hand, it is tragic, and he should be commended for the many good things he did. If I were doing a eulogy, that would be the sort of thing I would speak about.

On the other hand, he obviously was a risk taker. We can't be sure about the details of the accident yet, but he was known for his "in your face" confrontations with wild animals. There were parodies (which used to be pretty funny) made of his antics. It isn't much of a surprise that he would have a fatal accident while getting close to a wild animal.

And, given that he is a public figure, in any discussion about him, the mistake with the baby is going to come up.

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I say there is an invisible elf in my backyard. How do you prove that I am wrong?

Disclaimer: Avatar is not an official NASA image and does not imply any specific interplanetary or interstellar capability.

The Leif Ericson Cruiser

When I was a kid, the only nature shows I can recall were Wild Kingdom and Animals, Animals, Animals with Hal Lindon. Oh, and somthing with Lorne Green in the 80's. All three featured someone talking about the animals over clips of someone else in the field.

Steve Irwin was the first person I recall actually doing the show while in the field. I think his style got people intersted in animal shows again. Soon after his came out, the market was hit with several others that all seemed to be trying to outdo him. The only one to follow him that I can stand is Jeff Corwin. His explanations are simple and complete, but they don't have all that false macho... umm stuff... that the others have. (Irwin not included in that).

I think Irwin was resposible for making animal shows cool to watch, as opposed to something people tried to hide that they did. I'm thinking here of the delivery people with whom I used to work.

That said, I think taking the baby into the croc pen was a really bad idea. Sure, if someone HAD to take a baby into a croc pen, he would have been my first choice, but it was still an option. NASCAR drivers shuld be considered to be among the best drivers in the world when it comes to accident avoidance at high speeds, but if one of them put a car seat in the race car it would be irresponsible at best. There are some jobs that just shuld have a "take you kid to work" day.

As for SUVs, I live in an area where the Chevy Suburban is an icon. They have been known for over 20+ years as MAVs (Mormon Assault Vehicles). Now that the other makers have similar models, SUVs are very common. This winter I'll keep track of the type and number of vehicles I see in the ditch, alone, after a snowfall. My prediction is SUVs will out number all other types. This is based on previous years' observations.

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I'm not evil.
An evil person would do the things I think up.

Animal Planet just ran a retrospective eulogy on him. Seems he was quite aware of his mortality quite early on. Nice capsulation of he and his wife's 1st meeting (with footage).

Considering the rarity of stingray attacks, who would bother?

The Queensland police have viewed the footage of his death and confirm that Irwin did not provoke the stingray - he simply swam near it. Just one of those things.

I've never made any secret of the fact that I always found Irwin to be a bit of a berk, but he did have a heart of gold. Capturing crocodiles wasn't an excuse for a televised freak show - there was a purpose. The amount of time and money he spent in the name of preserving wildlife (and not just reptiles ) far outstrips any "stupid" things he may have done.

Yeah, he made my cultural skin crawl, but he was a good egg!

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The plural of "anecdote" is not "data".

I must take issue with this comment. Irwin may have played the goose, but behind the scenes he did a huge amount for animal conservation.

"Wildlife Warriors Worldwide Ltd was established in 2002, initially by Steve and Terri Irwin as a way to include and involve other caring people to support the protection of injured, threatened or endangered wildlife – from the individual animal to an entire species.

Steve and Terri remain involved as patrons and significant supporters and advisors."

Or, from here:

"Australia Zoo Mission Statement: Australia Zoo has established a number of programs that will enable our wildlife to have the greatest chance of survival. The following is a list of programs we have in place:...." (followed by a list of 28 endangered species breeding programmes, 8 rescue programmes and 5 large-scale habitat purchases.)

Or just maybe he interested youngsters enough that they would seek to study animals as a career - a critical vocation given our difficulties in retaining a modicum of balance from the current rape of the environment. For me, if Irwin turned just one person to respecting wildlife, rather than regarding it as something to be killed from a distance with a hunting rifle and then stuffed & mounted on the wall, then he deserves respect.

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"I'd take the awe of understanding over the awe of ignorance any day." - Douglas Adams

"Certainly, in the topsy-turvy world of heavy rock, having a good solid piece of wood in your hand is often useful." - Ian Faith

Steve Irwin

R I P

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clear skies

If you want to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first create the universe. CARL SAGAN

I think the other reason that the comment bothers me (to a degree) is that he wasn't actually in a dangerous situation when he died. Saying that Irwin was going to cop it sooner or later is akin to saying that a racing car driver who gets knocked down on a pedestrian crossing was going to get it sooner or later.

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The plural of "anecdote" is not "data".

Bummer.

He was so full of life and enthusiasm.

But that's why they're called sting rays.

And no one is immortal.

BTW, Yahoo Serious in Young Einstein was Tasmanian, ergo semi-Australian.

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Cheers guys. I thank you for putting alot of great comments of Steve's death. It is very sad and whole planet is in moody (sad ways). I would like someone to make him to be with god and also adding him on the list which we will pray for your protection of dangerous animal who going to hurt you. (i know you all wouldn't understand this)

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Matt


Website:
www.freewebs.com/mattweather/

Forums: http://stormshunters.informe.com/

?

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A person's name, or a mark representing it, as signed personally or by deputy, as in subscribing a letter or other document.

In retrospect, my comment may have been insensitive. I've removed it.

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http://amssolarempire.blogspot.com