Making the news

Whatever online newspaper I open, there is a story about Steve Irwin, an Australian wildlife TV documentary star, who got killed by being pierced in the heart by a stingray. Which kind of makes me wonder why that is big news. Yeah, yeah, its sad for the family, tragic accident, and all. But the guy was making a living getting close and personal with dangerous animals. How often *can* you put yourself in harms way before disaster strikes? I mean, he was in the water filming a documentary named "Ocean's Deadliest". And people are surprised that one of those ocean's deadliest is um, eh, actually deadly? For me that is kind of non-news, just like a "bungee jumper breaks his neck" headline.

Stingrays are relatively harmless, non-aggressive animals. There have been only 17 deaths by stingrays reported in the last decade. That is due to *most* people when seeing the animal quickly concluding that getting too close to it is not a good idea, and the stingray has no intention whatsoever to pursue them. But of course if you are a TV guy famous for wrestling crocodiles and insist on touching the stingray, you'll find out why he has that 10-inch sting at the end of his tail.

If you want to live the wild life, I can recommend computer games. You make a wrong decision and get shred to pieces by Onyxia, or barbecued by Ragnaros, but except for the time lost and a repair bill in virtual gold pieces, failing in the adventure doesn't cost you anything. If you insist on doing dangerous things in real life, you *will* get harmed sooner or later, potentially deadly.
- posted by Tobold @ 1:40 PM Permanent Link