[OT] Steve Irwin died

On 2006-09-04 14:07:06 -0500, "Shiral" said:

As I told my friend, what Steve Irwin did for a living
seemed like the only possible job for him. He definitely wasn't the
sort of person who could sit behind a desk doing office work 40 hours a
week.

RIP, Crocodile Hunter.

Melissa

That is the truth! Probably about the best epithaph he could have too!

On 4 Sep 2006 12:07:06 -0700, "Shiral" wrote:

I just found out about this and thought I'd check to see if anyone had
already posted it here.

I always figured he'd die pulling one of his stunts ... but barbed by
a stingray? That seems anticlimactic, doesn't it, after everything
he's done? It's like spending your life free climbing and then
stepping out into the street on your way to get the mail and being run
over by a truck, or something.



Makes me feel a little bad because I always used to cheer for the croc
or gator and yell for it to "Get him"

wrote in message
...
Monique Y. Mudama wrote:

(At least he died doing something he really enjoyed doing - like a
conductor friend of mine who suffered a fatal heart-attack while
conducting an opera with a couple of international stars, at what was
a peak moment in his career.)

That's true. Although I wonder if the people who died doing what they
love would say that was more important than living longer. Probably
depends on the person.

It also depends on whether they are truly reconciled to the idea that
what they do is potentially deadly, and have made peace with the fact
that they have a much greater chance of dying young than many other
people. I think some people are just in denial. They haven't accepted
that they're taking great risks, they've just refused to think about it.
Such a person might choose not to take such great risks if they really
faced the reality of how dangerous their lives are. (Not that one
shouldn't take those risks - but they should at least understand and
accept the potential outcome.)

I've often wondered just how much risk takers consider acceptable risk.
Especially with something like the Challenger. Granted they didn't know it
was going to blow up, but they all had to have a pretty good idea that it
was something dangerous to do.

What would you consider acceptable odds for an opportunity like that?

Personally I'd even go with 50/50 but then I'm sixty years old and not in
good health anyway. I have more to look back on than to look forward to.

Jo

Monique Y. Mudama wrote:

On 2006-09-04, EvelynVogtGamble(Divamanque) penned:

Well, diving isn't exactly a 100% safe occupation, either!


Well, no, but it's pretty mainstream compared to playing with
alligators and snakes and whatnot. Depending on the article, this is
the second or third documented case of a person dying from a stingray
attack in Australian history! What a freak accident!

I kind of think it goes to show, you should do what you love, even if
it's risky, because it's not necessarily the risky things that will
kill you. It can be something as stupid as choking on a pretzel.
Although I do kind of think that kids change things. I'm not sure I
would continue doing some of the things I do if I had kids.


(At least he died doing something he really enjoyed doing - like a
conductor friend of mine who suffered a fatal heart-attack while
conducting an opera with a couple of international stars, at what was
a peak moment in his career.)


That's true. Although I wonder if the people who died doing what they
love would say that was more important than living longer. Probably
depends on the person.

I can only speak for myself and my own attitude toward life,
but I'll choose quality over quantity, any day! (I find
life too interesting to want to die before my time, but when
it ceases to be interesting and becomes mere waiting for the
final moment, possibly in a vegetative state......)

"Monique Y. Mudama" wrote in message
...
On 2006-09-04, penned:

It also depends on whether they are truly reconciled to the idea
that what they do is potentially deadly, and have made peace with
the fact that they have a much greater chance of dying young than
many other people. I think some people are just in denial. They
haven't accepted that they're taking great risks, they've just
refused to think about it. Such a person might choose not to take
such great risks if they really faced the reality of how dangerous
their lives are. (Not that one shouldn't take those risks - but they
should at least understand and accept the potential outcome.)

That's pretty close to how I feel about the whole thing. Although you
have to wonder, how often does anyone really come to terms with the
risks they run? Do most smokers, for example, really believe the
sort of pain and misery they're flirting with?

Teenagers do have a sort of immortality complex, but I think the rest
of us do, too. I think we almost have to just to get out of bed in
the morning.

Mentally, I understand how dangerous it is for me to ride my
motorcycle -- but do I really, viscerally feel it? My husband tells
the story of a friend of his who used to ride his motorcycle all the
time. Then he narrowly avoided an accident that was completely the
fault of a car driver not paying attention. He pulled over his
motorcycle, parked it, and left it there for a friend to ride home.
Never rode again.


My brother did something similar. Ended up laying the bike down and road
rash ankle to shoulder. He walked it home and put an ad in the paper to
sell it. He said he just never felt that much at risk until he hit the
road.

Jo

wrote:

Monique Y. Mudama wrote:

(At least he died doing something he really enjoyed doing - like a
conductor friend of mine who suffered a fatal heart-attack while
conducting an opera with a couple of international stars, at what was
a peak moment in his career.)

That's true. Although I wonder if the people who died doing what they
love would say that was more important than living longer. Probably
depends on the person.

It also depends on whether they are truly reconciled to the idea that
what they do is potentially deadly, and have made peace with the fact
that they have a much greater chance of dying young than many other
people. I think some people are just in denial. They haven't accepted
that they're taking great risks, they've just refused to think about it.
Such a person might choose not to take such great risks if they really
faced the reality of how dangerous their lives are. (Not that one
shouldn't take those risks - but they should at least understand and
accept the potential outcome.)

I think many people actually ENJOY the risk! Knowing
they're flirting with death adds spice to living. (I'm not
one of them - physical danger merely frightens me - but I
can sort of understand their viewpoint.)

Joyce

"EvelynVogtGamble(Divamanque)" wrote in message
...


Monique Y. Mudama wrote:

On 2006-09-04, EvelynVogtGamble(Divamanque) penned:

Well, diving isn't exactly a 100% safe occupation, either!


Well, no, but it's pretty mainstream compared to playing with
alligators and snakes and whatnot. Depending on the article, this is
the second or third documented case of a person dying from a stingray
attack in Australian history! What a freak accident!

I kind of think it goes to show, you should do what you love, even if
it's risky, because it's not necessarily the risky things that will
kill you. It can be something as stupid as choking on a pretzel.
Although I do kind of think that kids change things. I'm not sure I
would continue doing some of the things I do if I had kids.


(At least he died doing something he really enjoyed doing - like a
conductor friend of mine who suffered a fatal heart-attack while
conducting an opera with a couple of international stars, at what was
a peak moment in his career.)


That's true. Although I wonder if the people who died doing what they
love would say that was more important than living longer. Probably
depends on the person.

I can only speak for myself and my own attitude toward life, but I'll
choose quality over quantity, any day! (I find life too interesting to
want to die before my time, but when it ceases to be interesting and
becomes mere waiting for the final moment, possibly in a vegetative
state......)

I'm with you, Evelyn.

Joy

On 2006-09-05, Jo Firey penned:

I've often wondered just how much risk takers consider acceptable
risk. Especially with something like the Challenger. Granted they
didn't know it was going to blow up, but they all had to have a
pretty good idea that it was something dangerous to do.

What would you consider acceptable odds for an opportunity like
that?

Personally I'd even go with 50/50 but then I'm sixty years old and
not in good health anyway. I have more to look back on than to look
forward to.

For me personally, going into space isn't a temptation at all. So the
risk would have to be pretty much nil.

I'm trying to think of something for which I'd accept 50/50 risks.
Not much. We're talking 50/50 for any particular instance, right? I
mean, I know the odds of me being in some sort of scary accident with
my motorcycle over my lifetime are pretty high, but on any particular
ride they're pretty low (unless all my experiences thus far are
flukes).

I do think that experience reduces risk -- so, for a practiced dirt
bike racer, jumps of 20 feet may be no big deal, but for me (never
even having ridden a dirt bike) the risk would be very high.

--
monique, who spoils Oscar unmercifully

pictures: http://www.bounceswoosh.org/rpca

From what I'd heard of his show, I thought he was just a crazy TV
personality, but from the articles, it sounds like he also genuinely
loved wildlife, and was a legitimate naturalist.

What a freak accident! I figured he knew what he was doing, and would
someday die of old age like everyone else.

"Takayuki" wrote in message
...
From what I'd heard of his show, I thought he was just a crazy TV
personality, but from the articles, it sounds like he also genuinely
loved wildlife, and was a legitimate naturalist.

What a freak accident! I figured he knew what he was doing, and would
someday die of old age like everyone else.

I always thought he would get to over confident and a croc would get him