When people visit Australia, we locals like to play up the dangers, like the most poisonous snakes and spiders, poisonous jellyfish, sharks, the drop bears, and of course the crocs. Very few of these are actually dangerous, in that with a bit of sensible precaution and awareness, you can avoid them pretty easily.
Unless you are drunk. A new report suggests that even just a bit of alcohol on board lessens people's risk awareness, particularly with saltwater crocodiles. So, don't drink and share space with crocs near briny water. Don't walk in the water, gut fish on the shore, or take active dogs, because these things can attack explosively.
Of course, we love our crocodiles, don't we Steve? So we make sure they are fed a steady diet of British and American tourists.
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Particularly the drop bears. It's fortunate that there's such a simple, low-risk method for checking for the presence of drop bears in a tree.
...as Isabel von Jordan found out tragically to her cost.
Happy Birthday, John (if the rumor is true via Pharyngula)!!! When is your birthday? What is your time zone? This can be especially mind-boggling for Americans who always seem to be behind the rest of the world.
Actually I think the report is from 2005, but that's still pretty recent. I actually just mentioned it on my blog yesterday with a clip from an old documentary called "The Crocodile's Revenge."
Rogue looks like it might have some crocodylian competition, too, as I've heard that Black Water has been gotten better reviews.
Also, happy birthday!
We in the Americas need to be mindful as well, since it turns out that alcohol and alligators are also a deadly combination:
http://www.theonion.com/content/node/48203
Aw, you've gone and done it now! John's gonna have to lay in some extra fine beer for when PZ visits Oz.
Whenever it was, whenever it is or whenever it might be Happy Birthday and watch out for those drop bears.
Let's see now, how does it go?
Happy Birthday to you,
Squashed tomatoes and stew,
Bread and butter in the gutter,
Happy Birthday to you.
Nope, that's not it.
Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday to you,
You look like a monkey,
And belong in a zoo.
That's more like it.
Many happy returns, John. May you find the job you want and may your impermanence be long postponed.
I was going to answer Ian, but I got drunk and a croc took me.
Your private life is your own...oh, I see!
By the way, I thought your many friends and admirers might like to see this TV interview you did a few years ago...
Hey, wait a minute, I read the story, and you're concealing an essential fact.
These are Aussies, and 33 out of 62 were not full of alcohol? By Bayes' Theorem, it seems alcohol would be an effective croc repellent.
Happy Belated birthday, John.
Happy birthday, whenever it was/is/will be, and congrats on successful completion of your most recent orbit of the Sun.
Many happy returns! SH