Tragedy Down Under

[jre58591]

today is truly a sad day for fans like myself.

https://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060904/ap_on_en_tv/obit_irwin

i really loved his tv show. i was looking forward to more episodes.

[brewtality]

very tragic indeed and I happened to be listening to mozarts requiem when I found out which compounded the emotions. I'd imagine most aussies feel pretty upset and fans too. RIP.

[ada]

Huuuuuge story! The ABC website crashed a few minutes ago, there was so much traffic.

A little bird tells me the boys from the Chaser are planning a tribute....

[harjoydes]

I hope it's in good taste. 

[nicco]

r.i.p. steve irwin.

at least he died doing what he loved

[jre58591]

this is too much for me. its gonna be nothing but sad music for at least the next week or two. its a good thing that depressing music thread popped up when it did, cause i need it now.

[pianistimo]

he's one of my favorite's too.  the suspense he used to build up.  it was great.  especially with snakes and crocodiles.  i liked how he'd look at animals and then let them go.  never purposely hurting them.  the kind of person that helped kids understand animals and what they were about.  he was one of a kind.

[arensky]

He did more to advance the cause of nature conservancy in our time than any other single person. The animals have lost their best human friend.  

Very few people have been able to communicate their love for anything with the enthusiasm, sincerity and good humour that he did. A rare and wonderful person.

I'm actually choked up and that doesn't happen to me much. Not since my mother died.

But you know, his life was time well spent. I hope I can say that when it's my time.

Crikey. He was a beaut....

RIP Steve. We miss you.

[Waldszenen]

r.i.p. steve irwin.

at least he died doing what he loved

Touche.

It's tragic for his kids, too - they're only like 5 and 8 or something.

[pianistimo]

they're probably hardy stock - but they'll have to see reruns.  it is terrible they won't have him with them.  the lucky thing is that they have a great mom.  she'll pull through.  she went with steve on his treks and seems like a hardy person herself.  maybe God will pull her through this and send her someone just like steve - into animals and stuff - and will help her with her kids.  of course, she might be terrified of this happening again and settle for someone with a desk job at the zoo.  or, be like christopher reeves wife and die a year later out of sadness.  i hope not, for the kids sake.

[pianolearner]

I was shocked when I heard the news this morning. I never watched any of his shows but I know he was a great ambassador for animals and Australia alike. What is especially shocking is the way he was killed. I could understand if he was eaten by a crocodile or shark, or bitten by a venomous snake. I thought stingrays were docile, harmless creatures. I have gone snorkelling on the Great Barrier Reef off Port Douglas and the only things I was worried about were sharks.

[pianistimo]

did he step on one?

[Waldszenen]

did he step on one?

Apparently you've got to seriously piss off a stingray badly before it attacks you - they're known to be really friendly, even amongst humans.

[BoliverAllmon]

did he step on one?

no it stabbed him directly in the heart.

[letters]

aww its really sad... especially for his family. And although a lot of the time people took the piss he really was loved!

[nanabush]

Ya it said the stingray's barb can be 10 inches long... it went under his ribcage and directly in his heart, and they said the odds of him getting it in the heart are insanely low.  damn... i used to always watch his show

[quantum]

This was a fast update for an encyclopedia:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Irwin



https://www.pianoworld.com/ubb/ubb/ultimatebb.php?/topic/1/15313.html

[jre58591]

   Due to recent vandalism, editing of this article by anonymous or newly registered users is temporarily disabled.
Such users may discuss changes, request unprotection, or create an account.

it saddens me even more that people would do such a thing.

[debussy symbolism]

Greetings.

It is really sad indeed.

[lisztisforkids]

I grew up watching him with awe and fascination. One of the few childhood heros I had.

[alwaystheangel]

The aussies apparently hated him.  The general Austrailian public, I mean, esp. after the incident with his son in the crocodile pen.  Kind of along the lines of Wacko Jacko and his son.

I loved that show.  I didn't know they were still running it.

[shun]

The aussies apparently hated him.  The general Austrailian public, I mean, esp. after the incident with his son in the crocodile pen.  Kind of along the lines of Wacko Jacko and his son.

That's not true. Most people I've spoken to were quite upset by the news, though we never saw or heard much of him once he became famous in the U.S. His show hasn't aired for a long time over here (at least not that I know of). I think most of us view him with a kind of cautious admiration (cautious because you can't be too sure wheater or not he was wacko). But I thought he was a champion, even if he was mad, which I think we all are anyway. It's just that many of us suffer the same affliction, while people like Steve Irwin are more original in their madness.

[lostinidlewonder]

I'm Aussie, loved Steve Irwin although he made a lot of people think all Aussie talk like him

Everyone in Australia heard about his passing hours after it happened, the word spread like fire. He had many near death encounters through his life, I guess the odds caught up with him, tragic. I would love to die doing what I love though, I can only hope the piano explodes one day.

Those stingray barbs are as sharp as a bayonett! Deatly things and covered in poison, what a painful way to go. I've swam near one before and absolutely Krapped myself! They rarely attack people though, unless you step on them or they freak out. So this was definately a freak accident to happen to poor Steve. There has only been 2 deaths in the history of Austarlia from stingrays.

[le_poete_mourant]

Touche.

It's tragic for his kids, too - they're only like 5 and 8 or something.

3 and 8, I think.  That's where it's truly tragic.  To lose a father, even when you're older it's hard... but how do you explain it to a 3 year old? 

When I first heard the news this morning, I thought it was just a rumor, it sounded so wild.  Then I got home and saw the paper.  You couldn't make up

The aussies apparently hated him.  The general Austrailian public, I mean, esp. after the incident with his son in the crocodile pen.  Kind of along the lines of Wacko Jacko and his son.

I can only imagine what happened.  I don't know that story.

[jre58591]

someone told me that tonight on the news theyre supposed to show footage of him dying. i didnt think they could show someone getting stabbed in the heart on tv. and if they can, i dont know whether i should watch or not. i think it would be traumatic to see one my childhood heros die before my very eyes, however, at the same time, it is his final adventure.

[shun]

I can only hope the piano explodes one day.

Ha! Ha! Ha!......... me too.

[ramseytheii]

Incidentally, how exactly did he die?  Was it from the poison, or was it just from the heart wound?

Walter Ramsey

[maul]

I believe it was cardiac arrest from the poison, but I think he would have died either way because it supposedly punctured his heart. He also pulled the thing out right before he died so it probably ripped a huge hole in his chest. Not cool.

[ramseytheii]

I believe it was cardiac arrest from the poison, but I think he would have died either way because it supposedly punctured his heart. He also pulled the thing out right before he died so it probably ripped a huge hole in his chest. Not cool.

So if he had left it in, would he have lived?  Or at least have had the chance?

Walter Ramsey

[maul]

Hmmm, I doubt it.

[BoliverAllmon]

so there is a possibility of seeing the video footage. who hear will watch it if it does come out?

boliver

[jre58591]

so there is a possibility of seeing the video footage. who hear will watch it if it does come out?

i doubt that iw will come out anytime soon. john stainton, steve's director, says that the video will continue to be in the hands of autralia's government and police. he doesnt want it to fall into the wrong hands. even if it does come out, i wont watch it until i can emotionally take it, which wont be for a while.

[BoliverAllmon]

I figure that Discovery channel will eventually get it and make a tribute to him.

boliver

[jre58591]

I figure that Discovery channel will eventually get it and make a tribute to him.

they already have a tribute planned. its gonna be called something like "steve's last adventure". i dont think they will show his death though. thats too graphic and could be too traumatizing.

[pianolearner]

i doubt that iw will come out anytime soon. john stainton, steve's director, says that the video will continue to be in the hands of autralia's government and police. he doesnt want it to fall into the wrong hands. even if it does come out, i wont watch it until i can emotionally take it, which wont be for a while.

There is bound to be some idiot who will risk his/her job to make a name for themself on youtube or myspace or some other public video uploading site.

[ada]

Haha has anyone read Germaine Greer's comments?

For another perspective on Our Steve's demise check this out:

https://www.guardian.co.uk/australia/story/0,,1865124,00.html

And this is the response from the Daily Terror:

https://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/opinion/story/0,22049,20364316-5001031,00.html

[jre58591]

Haha has anyone read Germaine Greer's comments?

ive read her comments. like all feminists, she's a complete disrespectful idiot. this quote is a nice closer:

Australians loved him. Who will mourn Germaine Greer when she keels over and dies in her mud-brick cottage in West Buggeryshire?

[brewtality]

I personally couldn't care less what some old dyke thinks. It's very easy to attack people when they're dead. I'd hardly call her Australian.

[zheer]

 I was sad when i heard the news, he seemd like a very nice guy. I think yesterday thy showe some photo of the tragedy in the paper in the UK, Stupid F***ing Bas***ds .

[Waldszenen]

Germaine Greer, in short, is a pregnant dog. No one with half a brain can make comments as low as hers.

[ada]

Guess I won't be starting the Germaine Greer appreciation thread then ...... 

[ada]

It was described as Australia's Princess Diana moment and in many ways the death of the Crocodile Hunter was.

News that Steve Irwin had been killed while diving with sting rays shot around the world as quickly as the story broke. Ironically the first story posted here was a US report by the AP wire agency.

What emerged during the following days was that although we knocked him and squirmed at his antics before an international audience, Australians really loved Steve Irwin, our own poster boy for ADD.

As the tributes poured in from everyone from the PM to the Blue Wiggle, the single voice of dissent was that of the expat Aussies love to hate, Germain Greer.

In comments that riled the nation, Greer suggested that Irwin was a serial intruder into the personal space of animals who had finally got what had been coming for a long time.

Greer's comment's attracted an immediate and vicious response that illustrated two things: Aussies don't like dissenters and watch out if you speak ill of the dead.

It also showed that our affection as a nation for this "lovable larrikin", this real McCoy of a Crocodile Dundee, this loving father and husband and committed conservationist, went deeper than many of us could have imagined.

As the world approached the anniversary of September 11 our reaction to the death of Steve Irwin reflected a longing to retreat back into his innocent enthusiasm and childlike idealism.

In a case of rare Aussie largesse we forgave him his grating presence, his khaki shorts, even his one-time presence at a function hosted by George Bush.

As the world says goodbye to Steve Irwin Australia has lost something indelible.

Vale the Crocodile Hunter.

[jre58591]

well said. ada.

well, ive heard some interesting things over these past few lamentous days. terri irwin and bob iorwin have turned down a state funeral for steve, saying he was "a normal bloke". also, john stainton says that once he gets the tape of steve's death back, he will most likely destroy it.

[prometheus]

ive read her comments. like all feminists, she's a complete disrespectful idiot.

Uuh? Are you out of your mind? Would you call those that call out against mutulation of female genitals in North African cultures 'disrepectful idiots' because they stand up for oppressed females?

Face it. Females were oppressed in western culture. Thanks to feminists, male and female, this oppression is now largely gone, though still people have a natural problem with two sexes. Now it still exists in other parts of the world and in minorities in the west as well.

[jre58591]

well, i admit my comment was a little extreme. feminists have done their part in that specifc subject, yes, but they have their problems. lets not get off topic though. this thread is made to honor the crocodile hunter's memory, not to discuss feminism. make your own thread if you care to do that.

[leahcim]

He did more to advance the cause of nature conservancy in our time than any other single person. The animals have lost their best human friend. 

Yeah, more than any other conservationist called Steve.

C'mon it's sad that he died, especially for the wife and kids he didn't quite manage to feed to a crocodile and thus left behind.

I shall remember him as a guy who teased, provoked, poked and prodded animals and then shouted "Crikey!" when they did what you'd expect them to do when teased, poked and prodded.

You can see folk doing it with human animals in town every Friday "You looking at my pintsh? Shtep outshide, I'll show you...crikey! He's really schwinging hish fishht at me cobbers..."

The fact he died is not at all unexpected. I'd like to see the footage showing the "freak" accident. Sure, stingrays don't normally attack. OTOH, they don't normally come across mr Crikey-poke-and-prod.

There are plethora of wildlife films that show the same dangerous animals using their stings / poisons / teeth or whatever they are equipped with in their natural setting, which together with the modern small cameras and other tech are showing what nature is like. [When we get them in HD it'll be even better]

So I don't buy much of this stuff about us seeing aspects that we might not see, as though other wildlife programs are just showing a picture of a docile animal.

OTOH, there are an increasing number of wildlife films that sensationalise and take the poke / prod approach [even a few that get celebrity contestants to eat them] these are about as close to showing us nature and conservation as tying a banger to a cats tail or sticking a straw in a frog's arse and blowing does.

The basic difference, aside from the content, is probably how cheap to film the latter are.

Hopefully some of these similar copycat shows with buffoons grabbing snakes by the tail and letting cobras spit at them or folk "hunting the most deadly insect" and then poking it with a stick, will die with him. That would be a good legacy and perhaps do more for the conservation of buffoons who want to poke animals and shout "crikey!" than anyone else has. The animal pokers should learn from losing their friend.

[jre58591]

a new development:

https://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060914/wl_asia_afp/australiapeopleirwinwildlifestringrays

it angers me to know that people are doing this, for steve wouldnt have approved of this. however, i can see why they would do this.

[ada]

How about people queuing up for 25 hours to get tickets to his memorial service?

 It's as if it's a bloody grand final or Madonna concert  .

[jre58591]

How about people queuing up for 25 hours to get tickets to his memorial service?

 It's as if it's a bloody grand final or Madonna concert  .

hell, if i lived in australia, id do the same.

[ada]

you yanks are crazy