Another Darwin Award Honorable Mention.

[voluptuary_manque]

What is this with people jumping into the animal exhibits in zoos?

 

[kendo1]

What is this with people jumping into the animal exhibits in zoos?

Some people like bears, I guess.

 

[voluptuary_manque]

Hmmm . . . yanno, there's bears and there's bears!

 

[Guest]

What is this with people jumping into the animal exhibits in zoos?

Good Christ.

Pretty frightening video, too.

 

[3113]

What is this with people jumping into the animal exhibits in zoos?

So, you don' t want any of us ladies jumping into your exhibit?

Actually, I suspect that Germans jumping into Polar Bear exhibits have something to do with the huge popularity Knut when he arrived. And now this new little one.. I think these cubs have made them all think polar bears are playful pets rather than predators.

 

[trysail]

Timothy Treadwell ( the subject of Werner Herzog's wonderful documentary Grizzly Man ) was a moron. He suffered a moron's death. People with no experience of the truly wild have an amazingly stupid ability to anthropomorphize nature.

If you look in a tiger's eye or a grizzly's eye, you'll have an inkling of what it feels like to be on the menu.

If you give Mother Nature half a chance, she will kill you.

She will not be troubled by any pangs of conscience or a moment's hesitation. That's her raison d'etre; that's what she does: kill stupid humans.

 

[amicus]

What he said, plus the 'lion laying down with the lamb' and PETA, bu then, you will never see the irony or the humor...

ami

 

[TE999]

What a colossal moron. Maybe he thot they'd offer him a Coke and a smile.

 

[DesertPirate]

What a colossal moron. Maybe he thot they'd offer him a Coke and a smile.

*snerk*
Some people are born stupid and some work at it, here is an example of near perfection.

 

[redpaint]

are we really getting that low in the gene pool that there are more and more of these people around?

 

[TE999]

are we really getting that low in the gene pool that there are more and more of these people around?

We've always had a plentiful supply of fools. With the advent of the video camera they get a lot more publicity.

 

[The_Fool]

We've always had a plentiful supply of fools. With the advent of the video camera they get a lot more publicity.

There you go. Talking about me again....

 

[Tricialen]

Hmmm . . . yanno, there's bears and there's bears!

But Bear, I thought you loved it when I.......

 

[Guest]

There you go. Talking about me again....

Hardly.

 

[TE999]

There you go. Talking about me again....

With your talent?...hardly. Your Foolishness doesn't extend beyond a nom de plume[/I ]...unlike that deluded soul in the bear pit.

 

[The_Fool]

With your talent?...hardly. Your Foolishness doesn't extend beyond a nom de plume[/I ...unlike that deluded soul in the bear pit.

Deluded soul. I like that....

 

[secretme]

Nature fact:
The polar bear is the only land animal that actually sees humans as a food source. All the other ones may feel threatened and kill you if you get too close, but a polar bear will hunt and eat you!

 

[voluptuary_manque]

Unlike the Panamahat Brown Bear who is only interested in close encounters of the extremely friendly kind.

Ever since Great Grandpa took that job with the U.S. Forest Service, we've stayed away from the uncouth relatives. Those polars . . . sheesh!

 

[Weird Harold]

Some people like bears, I guess.

Jumping into the bear enclosure at the zoo doesn't require a passport and expensive camping equipment like actually going out in the wild where the bears can avoid you if they don't want to eat you right away.

 

[jomar]

Timothy Treadwell ( the subject of Werner Herzog's wonderful documentary Grizzly Man ) was a moron. He suffered a moron's death. People with no experience of the truly wild have an amazingly stupid ability to anthropomorphize nature.

If you look in a tiger's eye or a grizzly's eye, you'll have an inkling of what it feels like to be on the menu.

If you give Mother Nature half a chance, she will kill you.

She will not be troubled by any pangs of conscience or a moment's hesitation. That's her raison d'etre; that's what she does: kill stupid humans.

What I thought too - interesting documentary, though. That dude from Krakauer's book (and movie) Into the Wild was also an idiot.

 

[trysail]

What I thought too - interesting documentary, though. That dude from Krakauer's book (and movie) Into the Wild was also an idiot.

jomar,
I agree with your take on Christopher McCandless though there was more ambiguity in the specific cause of his demise. The film leaves a viewer with an impression that McCandless had resolved some of his "issues" and would have returned to civilization were it not for being poisoned by his misidentification and subsequent ingestion of a plant. Krakauer's book is slightly less charitable in its hypothesis of the cause of McCandless' death.

The Wikipedia article refreshed my memory of the book and film.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Into_the_Wild

Can you imagine bringing down a moose with a .22? You'd probably have to riddle the damn thing.

I suspect there are many adolescents who, at one time or another, toy with the idea of fleeing civilization. If nothing else, Krakauer's account of McCandless' story is a good cautionary for anyone contemplating it. I fail to see much romance to slowly dying alone in the middle of nowhere.

If you or anyone else knows of any kids entertaining notions similar to McCandless', a gift of Krakauer's book would be a very, very good idea.

 

[trysail]

What can you say?

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601110&sid=aC0xyzL42fh4

Aug. 11 (Bloomberg) -- A drunk Belarusian man died when a five-meter (16-foot) statue of Soviet Union founder Vladimir Lenin broke while he was swinging on its arm.

The man, 21, died on the way to the hospital after injuring his head during the fall and subsequent toppling of the statue on top of him, the Belarusian state news service Belta said on its Web site today.

The statue was erected in 1939 in the town of Uvarovichi, near Belarus’s borders with Russia and Ukraine. A Russian man died after a similar accident in 2003, Russian state broadcaster Vesti said.

 

[R. Richard]

Nature fact:
The polar bear is the only land animal that actually sees humans as a food source. All the other ones may feel threatened and kill you if you get too close, but a polar bear will hunt and eat you!

The polar bear is an apex predator. There's nothing to eat in the polar bear's icy environment, except seals and people. The polar bears actually prefer seals, however, they're willing to accept second best, if it comes to that.

 

[trysail]

Nature fact:
The polar bear is the only land animal that actually sees humans as a food source. All the other ones may feel threatened and kill you if you get too close, but a polar bear will hunt and eat you!

The polar bear is an apex predator. There's nothing to eat in the polar bear's icy environment, except seals and people. The polar bears actually prefer seals, however, they're willing to accept second best, if it comes to that.

[ Polar bears are, of course, simply grizzly bears adapted to the Arctic environment ]

"...the polar bear is the only predator that will actively track down and eat a human being. The following two photos were sent to me by someone in Alaska…a polar bear that was waiting for a man to return to his truck..."
-Roy W. Spencer, Ph.D.

http://www.drroyspencer.com/wp-content/uploads/fast-runner-4.jpg

http://www.drroyspencer.com/wp-content/uploads/fast-runner-1.jpg

 

[TE999]

What can you say?

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601110&sid=aC0xyzL42fh4

Aug. 11 (Bloomberg) -- A drunk Belarusian man died when a five-meter (16-foot) statue of Soviet Union founder Vladimir Lenin broke while he was swinging on its arm.

The man, 21, died on the way to the hospital after injuring his head during the fall and subsequent toppling of the statue on top of him, the Belarusian state news service Belta said on its Web site today.

The statue was erected in 1939 in the town of Uvarovichi, near Belarus’s borders with Russia and Ukraine. A Russian man died after a similar accident in 2003, Russian state broadcaster Vesti said.

"Vorkers uf da vorldt, unite...vorkers uf da vorldt, u....YEEEK! *splat* *crunch* *WHOOMP*