The Nerd's Eye View

In a stunning turn of events, famed Australian preservationist, Steve Irwin is dead at 44. Oddly, he was not killed in some sort of outrageous crocodile-related incident, but by a stingray while scuba-diving. This is not to say that his death was not as outlandish and improbable as his life was. Stabbed in the heart by a stingray's barb? This is not the stuff of Wagenerian epic but it does lend itself to discussions of fate. The likelihood of something as small as the barb striking the well-protected heart is so small that one would almost think it was foul play.

Should a guy whose M.O. was basically to say (in an Australian accent), "there's the most dangerous reptile in the wooorld, let's piss it off with a stick." die that sort of blameless death? It's hard to beleive that the stingray wasn't provoked at least a little bit. The only wonder is that it wasn't said reptile, but some fish that did him in.

disclaimer: my sympathies do go out to his wife and two small kids. It's got to be tough living with that and to lose a parent is not something I would wish upon anyone. It's a pretty big loss, as I'm sure his antics brought lots of money to the Australia Zoo.