Not Surprised, but Saddened

Steven Irwin is dead. I am sure that most readers of this blog, all dozen of you or so, have heard of this already. The title echoes my thoughts exactly. Deep down, I always suspected this would happen, yet am sad all the same. Steve has children, and I really think it would have behooven him to keep them in mind, and take a little less risk in order to ensure that he will be there for them. Now they will grow up without a father. For all the wonders and joys of the natural world, Steve will miss seeing his children grow up, his daughter graduate High School and College, and will not be there to hand his daugher off at her wedding. In his death, remember what he missed, and try to take a lesson from this all: Whatever opportunities you may not want to miss in life, those of family top the list.

The Great Battle of Our Time

Glenn Reynolds has tipped me off to this article by Walid Phares. In short, it covers the recent message from an American member of Al Qaeda to various people's and groups around the world. Rather than quote from part of it, read the whole thing. I intend to go over it again, and try to compose some thoughts based on what it said, synthesized with some of my own thoughts and those of others.