(Non BB) Crocodile Hunter killed by stingray.

[Jose Cruz III]

RIP Mr. Irwin.

 RIP

[HurricaneDavid]

I'm sure he was a nice guy and everything, but didn't everyone think this was a matter of time?

[Alkie]

When we started watching Crocodile Hunter religiously in college, back in '96, we were all POSITIVE we'd wake up one morning and find out he'd been eaten by something.

A fucking stingray?  Incredible.

[Fredia]

how random is this? i guess his 9 lives where up. they keep showing on fox news when he was holding his baby and feeding the crocks. my daughter in college at the ripe old age of 21 said that is how he would have wanted to go. not retired sitting in a home in a rocking chair.
may he rest in peace.

[Alkie]

I'm not sure I see how this is "random."  The man played with deadly animals for a living and one of them finally killed him.

[geezerdonk]

crikey

[Nate in IA]

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I'm sure he was a nice guy and everything, but didn't everyone think this was a matter of time?

Yup

[Rosalie]

  I remember watching the Crocodile Hunter show and probably 1,000 times thinking, damn this guy is out of his mind! It's certainly not surprising he eventually was killed, sad, but not surprising.
  Moral of the story, Don't bother the fascinating but deadly animals and usually they won't bother you.

[Matt]

It's sad and all but to be honest I'm surprised it took this long for him to be killed by any kind of animal.

[Bench]

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It's sad and all but to be honest I'm surprised it took this long for him to be killed by any kind of animal.

But of any kind of animal, out of the deadly vicious nasty animals he messes around with, a stingray? Stingray's don't kill people. They sting people, but it's really really rare to be killed by a stingray. It just happened to sting him right in the heart. It's insane.

[Matt]

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But of any kind of animal, out of the deadly vicious nasty animals he messes around with, a stingray? Stingray's don't kill people. They sting people, but it's really really rare to be killed by a stingray. It just happened to sting him right in the heart. It's insane.

The man loved nature and nature turned around and stung him in the heart with a sting ray's barb.  What a cruel mistress.

[Fredia]

they dont even keep stats on stingrays causing deaths cuz it is so rare. they said it just does not happen

[matadorph]

that's because most people don't go sticking their thumb up an innocent stingray's bunghole.

[Holly]

Was that supposed to be funny?

[UpTooLate]

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Was that supposed to be funny?

I believe that Metadorph is referring to a South Park episode that featured Irwin going around and sticking his thumb up animal bungholes.  While the timing of the joke is insensitive, it was close to what crossed my mind when I heard about the accident.  I figured he was messing with the ray and got hit.  The report I read since then says that he was just swimming above the animal.  Not an activity that is considered lethally dangerous.  Bad luck for Mr. Irwin.  What is interesting, is the speculation that if he had left the barb in place, he might have survived.  Rule of thumb for any puncture wound in which the foreign object has not been removed, is to leave the object in place until you get to the hospital.

[chuck]

Does anyone know how large the ray was supposed to have been? I've seen rays as large as a Volkswagen; I assume he was tangled up with a huge specimen.

[Savage]

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Does anyone know how large the ray was supposed to have been? I've seen rays as large as a Volkswagen; I assume he was tangled up with a huge specimen.

According to  this, about 2.5m (1m wide body).

[Lefty]

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I've seen rays as large as a Volkswagen

Manta rays don't have barbs & poison & are generally very agreeable sorts.

[chuck]

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I've seen rays as large as a Volkswagen

Manta rays don't have barbs & poison & are generally very agreeable sorts.

I'll take your word for it. I've never felt inclined to get close enough to one to find out for sure. They are just breathtaking animals, though.

[Limey]

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Manta rays don't have barbs & poison & are generally very agreeable sorts.

I believe Devil Rays are pretty meek and inoffensive too.

[MusicMan]

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Manta rays don't have barbs & poison & are generally very agreeable sorts.

I believe Devil Rays are pretty meek and inoffensive too.

Did someone say  meek and inoffensive?

[Navin R Johnson]

 

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Stingray's don't kill people.  

I think Mr Irwin would beg to differ.

There have been 17 recorded (18 now), deaths caused by stingrays.  
 
 StingRay Deaths

[Taras Bulba]

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Stingray's don't kill people.  

I think Mr Irwin would beg to differ.

There have been 17 recorded (18 now), deaths caused by stingrays.  
 
 StingRay Deaths

I have wade fished at the coast for over 35 years.  Though I have never been hit, others that I have fished with have with various degrees of pain, but nothing even near fatal.  Maybe this is attributable to them wading, not swimming and maybe we're talking about smaller rays, though I have walked by some fairly sizable ones that caused quite a jolt to my heart rate.  Sometimes, stingrays seem to pod up--you can find yourself in the middle of a slew of the things, and it makes for some very careful shuffling.

If you go to the Cayman Islands, you can go on a "swim with the rays" excursion and let the tourist conditioned rays slurp squid out of your hand.  Or, as a preferable outing, you can just stay on the beach and drink.

[strosrays]

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Quote:
 

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Stingray's don't kill people.  

I think Mr Irwin would beg to differ.

There have been 17 recorded (18 now), deaths caused by stingrays.  
 
 StingRay Deaths

I have wade fished at the coast for over 35 years.  Though I have never been hit, others that I have fished with have with various degrees of pain, but nothing even near fatal.  Maybe this is attributable to them wading, not swimming and maybe we're talking about smaller rays, though I have walked by some fairly sizable ones that caused quite a jolt to my heart rate.  Sometimes, stingrays seem to pod up--you can find yourself in the middle of a slew of the things, and it makes for some very careful shuffling.

If you go to the Cayman Islands, you can go on a "swim with the rays" excursion and let the tourist conditioned rays slurp squid out of your hand.  Or, as a preferable outing, you can just stay on the beach and drink.

FWIW, I have heard if you go into a restaurant (using the term loosely) around these parts - a Red Lobster, say - and order scallops, there is a decent chance what you will actually get was punched out of the wing of a manta ray, inadvertantly brought up in the nets with everything else.  There is supposedly even a special tool for doing this.

I have no idea what is done with the rest of the ray, but I am thinking of something like Louis Kemp's imitation crab meat.

I saw some of CrocHunter's tribute last night on Animal Planet (do they just go ahead and fold that network now?), and he seemed like a decent sort.  As far as his wife, I kept being reminded of Linda McCartney, for some reason.

[HudsonHawk]

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FWIW, I have heard if you go into a restaurant (using the term loosely) around these parts - a Red Lobster, say - and order scallops, there is a decent chance what you will actually get was punched out of the wing of a manta ray, inadvertantly brought up in the nets with everything else.  There is supposedly even a special tool for doing this.
 

There are no doubt unscrupulous fishmongers out there who will do this; however I believe it is illegal, and I doubt you will get ray when you order scallops from any reputable restaurant.  Red Lobster, for example, while far from fine dining, I believe is fairly legitimate and above board in their dealings with the public.

[Taras Bulba]

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FWIW, I have heard if you go into a restaurant (using the term loosely) around these parts - a Red Lobster, say - and order scallops, there is a decent chance what you will actually get was punched out of the wing of a manta ray, inadvertantly brought up in the nets with everything else.  There is supposedly even a special tool for doing this.
 

There are no doubt unscrupulous fishmongers out there who will do this; however I believe it is illegal, and I doubt you will get ray when you order scallops from any reputable restaurant.  Red Lobster, for example, while far from fine dining, I believe is fairly legitimate and above board in their dealings with the public.

Beyond fishmongers and whoremongers, what other type of mongers are out there?  I'm thinking the Astros could use a hitmonger, or two.

[Limey]

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There are no doubt unscrupulous fishmongers out there who will do this; however I believe it is illegal, and I doubt you will get ray when you order scallops from any reputable restaurant.  Red Lobster, for example, while far from fine dining, I believe is fairly legitimate and above board in their dealings with the public.

Right.  They may not be serving what they say they're serving, but it ain't fish.

[HudsonHawk]

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Beyond fishmongers and whoremongers, what other type of mongers are out there?  I'm thinking the Astros could use a hitmonger, or two.

I'm told fearmongering is quite popular these days.

[Limey]

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Beyond fishmongers and whoremongers, what other type of mongers are out there?  I'm thinking the Astros could use a hitmonger, or two.

Rumourmonger and warmonger.  I've also heard the term hatemonger, but I believe it was more correct to say hate-stylist.

[HurricaneDavid]

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Beyond fishmongers and whoremongers, what other type of mongers are out there?  I'm thinking the Astros could use a hitmonger, or two.

I'm going to start using the term "womanmonger" instead of "pimp."

[UpTooLate]

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Quote:
 

Quote:
Stingray's don't kill people.  

I think Mr Irwin would beg to differ.

There have been 17 recorded (18 now), deaths caused by stingrays.  
 
 StingRay Deaths

I have wade fished at the coast for over 35 years.  Though I have never been hit, others that I have fished with have with various degrees of pain, but nothing even near fatal.  Maybe this is attributable to them wading, not swimming and maybe we're talking about smaller rays, though I have walked by some fairly sizable ones that caused quite a jolt to my heart rate.  Sometimes, stingrays seem to pod up--you can find yourself in the middle of a slew of the things, and it makes for some very careful shuffling.

If you go to the Cayman Islands, you can go on a "swim with the rays" excursion and let the tourist conditioned rays slurp squid out of your hand.  Or, as a preferable outing, you can just stay on the beach and drink.

Pending the results of the autopsy, the likely cause of death will be sharp object puncturing the heart.  The size of the stingray or the strength of the venom will likely be irrelevant.

As far as stingray meat being sold as scallops, that is true.  I would be surprised if a large chain such as Red Lobster would try that deception.  I believe that the grain on the meat of scallops is verticle and that of the stingray is horizontal.  I've been told the way to make the scallop is to skin the wing of the ray and use a metal pipe as a hole punch.

Last night I was flipping thru channels on the cable and I catch Fox News anchor babe stating "we are devoting the entire next hour to the death of Steve Irwin".  And they were serious too.  This hour was not covering his life and accomplishments, but rather his death.  They interviewed Dr. Michael Baden, the famous forensic pathologist to ask EXACTLY how he died, how much did he suffer (with standard "we hope he didn't suffer" disclaimer), how quickly did he die, was he aware of what happened to him, etc.  Even the doctor looked shocked at the innappropriate timing and blunt questions from the anchor babe.  Anchor babe then goes on to speculate whether the video footage of the attack will be/should be shown (duh...of course it will be shown.  If not on network t.v. with special repeat viewings, then certainly on the internet).  Fox news should be called the National Enquirer network.

[Matt]

Mmmm gotta love them anchor babes

[austro]

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Beyond fishmongers and whoremongers, what other type of mongers are out there?  I'm thinking the Astros could use a hitmonger, or two.

Two, I think, if they're available.

I think that hardware-store types in Limey-land are known as ironmongers.

[Limey]

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Fox news should be called the National Enquirer network.

Apparently Fox News' rating are down about 28% since last year.  Viewership seems to be moving to CNN, which isn't much better in the looks over brains / scandal over news dept.

At least you didn't get stuck with wall-to-wall John Mark Karr coverage.  Now that was a complete waste of one week of everyone's lives.

[Ty in Tampa]

Now that was a complete waste of one week of everyone's lives.

If you chose to invest in it.

[homer]

 

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Apparently Fox News' rating are down about 28% since last year. Viewership seems to be moving to CNN

Got a link for this?

[chuck]

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Now that was a complete waste of one week of everyone's lives.

If you chose to invest in it.

Precisely. Broadcast news of any type is a sad disgrace and you get what you ask for if you elect to watch it.

[Limey]

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Got a link for this?

Here's a link to the stats, but if you Google (or Gizoogle for fun) the phrase "Fox News Ratings", you'll find the back-story.

[strosrays]

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As far as stingray meat being sold as scallops, that is true.  I would be surprised if a large chain such as Red Lobster would try that deception.  I believe that the grain on the meat of scallops is verticle and that of the stingray is horizontal.  I've been told the way to make the scallop is to skin the wing of the ray and use a metal pipe as a hole punch.

I'll defer to you and HH on the Red Lobster question.  I irresponsibly pulled their name out of the air, for illustrative purposes.  I know I have had a meal in a Red Lobster before, but I can't remember when it was.

At the risk of baselessly casting aspersions on that no doubt reputable restaurant chain again, I will hazard that your average Joe Bob takin' the family out to Red Lobster for dinner on seafood night wouldn't have any idea of the differences in the grain between the meat of a scallop and that of a ray, or of a nutria rat, for that matter.  Or, to quote an old ex-roommate of mine who I once saw knowingly eat a bowl of red beans and rice I'd seen a cockroach crawl across just a few moments before, "Ah, well, its just extra protein really, when you get down to it."  Yep, it sure is.

Today on the cable the theme seemed to be, Do animal show hosts exhibit inordinately risky behavior in order to garner ratings?

As Topics of the Day go, not one to really grab my interest, personally.  But you never know.  Tonight, Bill O'Rielly, of all people, featured this on his Factor show on FOX.  In fact, I believe he was even able to work it into a partisan political debate actually, which is why he is The Man.  

For all the crap one has to wade through surfing up to the nether reaches of the cable spectrum, sometimes there are rewards.  So tonight I was able to see O'Rielly throw down with Jim Fowler, Marlon Perkin's old sidekick, over the just this question.  That's right, Jim Fowler, this mild-mannered, khaki-clad old guy who I mostly remember for doing all the legwork for Perkins on Mutual of Omaha's old Wild Kingdom show, and later for sitting between Ed McMahon and Johnny Carson and letting a marmot or something similar run loose on his head, was all over O'Rielly's case, saying his style of confrontational TV was a perfect example of the sort of "lowest common denominator" programming required nowadays, and why guys like Irwin feel compelled to take senseless chances for their own audiences.  It was beautiful, man.

BTW, I am not accustomed to Animal Planet, but while watching a bit of their Irwin tribute last night, I noticed several commercials hyping upcoming shows about "mutants of nature", and animals with the most "bizarre appendages", which makes me wonder just who the hell the core audience of Animal Planet is, anyway.

Apparently Discover TV, which owns Animal Planet, is worried about losing viewers sans Irwin, although I'm guessing they have enoigh of him on tape to keep the enterprise going for awhile.  Sorta like A & E -- if Bill Kurtis ever gets run over by a bus on a Chicago street corner, look out.  Then again, they got enough Cold Case Files and American Justices in the can to keep Kurtis on the air well into the middle of the century.

Re: mongering, a similarly archaic term is a slinger, as in "hash slinger", a cook in a diner.  Besides that, what other kinds of slingers are there?  And who the hell eats hash anymore?  That brings back some bad childhood memories, boy.

[lc_db]

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...differences in the grain between the meat of a scallop and that of a ray, or of a nutria rat, for that matter...  

Who are you trying to kid???  Nutria is dark meat.  (from what I've read)

[T. J.]

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Re: mongering, a similarly archaic term is a slinger, as in "hash slinger", a cook in a diner.  Besides that, what other kinds of slingers are there?  And who the hell eats hash anymore?  That brings back some bad childhood memories, boy.

Gunslinger and webslinger (Spider Man) come to mind.

And yeah, hash sucks.  It's better than scrapple though.

[JaneDoe]

And no impending Cat 5's to worry about.

[Ty in Tampa]

Thank you! The only Cat 5 I'm worried about right now is being installed in my home office.

[Limey]

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Re: mongering, a similarly archaic term is a slinger, as in "hash slinger", a cook in a diner.  Besides that, what other kinds of slingers are there?  And who the hell eats hash anymore?  That brings back some bad childhood memories, boy.

Gunslinger and webslinger (Spider Man) come to mind.

And yeah, hash sucks.  It's better than scrapple though.

Muckslinger

[Col. Sphinx Drummond]

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Now that was a complete waste of one week of everyone's lives.

If you chose to invest in it.

Precisely. Broadcast news of any type is a sad disgrace and you get what you ask for if you elect to watch it.

Only occasionally is there something of importantce on a news channel. On any channel for that matter. Most of what they choose to present is pure crap under the guise of useful information or entertainment. I have television so I can watch baseball and college football. My weakness.

Still, sometimes I'll spend a while wasting time spacing out in front of the tube scanning the range of offerings and stop on Animal Planet, TMC, HBO, FOXNEWS, CNN, MSNBC, Discovery, TLC, etc... so I'll at least be aware of what people are talking about.

I also like music and books.

I've never cared much for bi-valves.

If I had to I'd probably rather spend all day watching Animal Planet, than CNN or FOXNEWS.

[Ty in Tampa]

It's all about titillation. Even what passes as political discussion these days is really just argumentative confrontation that we all get to enjoy voyeuristically.

I agree with you about Animal Planet.

[chuck]

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It's all about titillation. Even what passes as political discussion these days is really just argumentative confrontation that we all get to enjoy voyeuristically.

I agree with you about Animal Planet.

Yet I disagree about the bivalves.

And, not to be insensitive or anything, I very much enjoy skate.

[Col. Sphinx Drummond]

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It's all about titillation. Even what passes as political discussion these days is really just argumentative confrontation that we all get to enjoy voyeuristically.

I agree with you about Animal Planet.

Happy Birthday!

Not a fan of mollusks either.

[strosrays]

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Only occasionally is there something of importantce on a news channel. On any channel for that matter. Most of what they choose to present is pure crap under the guise of useful information or entertainment. I have television so I can watch baseball and college football. My weakness.

Still, sometimes I'll spend a while wasting time spacing out in front of the tube scanning the range of offerings and stop on Animal Planet, TMC, HBO, FOXNEWS, CNN, MSNBC, Discovery, TLC, etc... so I'll at least be aware of what people are talking about.

I also like music and books.

I've never cared much for bi-valves.

If I had to I'd probably rather spend all day watching Animal Planet, than CNN or FOXNEWS.

I don't mean to give the wrong impression.  I revel in this stuff.  I don't look to televiion for any sort of enlightenment or anything, but I do think it is wonderful, a benchmark achievement of our culture, that any time I want to I can flip on the TV set and quickly find some of the sleaziest, most degraded human thought and/or behavior imaginable, all packaged and crisply presented specifically to satisfy my basest prurient interest.  

I'm talking about the "mainline" networks now; lets not even get started on all the offshoots and ancillary "specialty" channels.  

And all of it for the price of expanded basic, too.  What is it Elvis once said?  I used to be disgusted, now I'm just amused?

[Ty in Tampa]

What is it Elvis once said? I used to be disgusted, now I'm just amused?

He tries to be amused. Even he may admit it's getting harder and harder to achieve amusement.

[Col. Sphinx Drummond]

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I don't mean to give the wrong impression.  I revel in this stuff.  I don't look to televiion for any sort of enlightenment or anything, but I do think it is wonderful, a benchmark achievement of our culture, that any time I want to I can flip on the TV set and quickly find some of the sleaziest, most degraded human thought and/or behavior imaginable, all packaged and crisply presented specifically to satisfy my basest prurient interest.  

I'm talking about the "mainline" networks now; lets not even get started on all the offshoots and ancillary "specialty" channels.  

And all of it for the price of expanded basic, too.  What is it Elvis once said?  I used to be disgusted, now I'm just amused?

I think you would like Mike Judge's new film, Idiocracy.

While we agree TV is a wonderful benchmark achievement of our society, I feel it has been so thoroughly hijacked by commercial interests that its utility has been severely limited and therefore, it is kind of shitty.

[HudsonHawk]

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Not a fan of mollusks either.

Not a huge fan of scallops, but I love squid.

[Limey]

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While we agree TV is a wonderful benchmark achievement of our society, I feel it has been so thoroughly hijacked by commercial interests that its utility has been severely limited and therefore, it is kind of shitty.

There's about 6 large corporations who control almost everything you see, hear and read in the mainstream media.  This here internet is one of the few remaining sources of unfiltered information and comment, which is why net neutrality is so very important, lest these same commercial interests get a stranglehold on the internet too.

Of course, "unfiltered" can also mean "stinky".  But I'd rather there be all kinds of crap on the 'net with a few peanuts, as opposed to heavily controlled and agenda'd crap.  Neutrality is also important because the ranking Senator on the committee that regulates the internet thinks that it's a series of tubes and that Netflix cram movies down it that get in the way of his interns receiving his e-mails.

[chuck]

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While we agree TV is a wonderful benchmark achievement of our society, I feel it has been so thoroughly hijacked by commercial interests that its utility has been severely limited and therefore, it is kind of shitty.

There's about 6 large corporations who control almost everything you see, hear and read in the mainstream media.  This here internet is one of the few remaining sources of unfiltered information and comment, which is why net neutrality is so very important, lest these same commercial interests get a stranglehold on the internet too.

Of course, "unfiltered" can also mean "stinky".  But I'd rather there be all kinds of crap on the 'net with a few peanuts, as opposed to heavily controlled and agenda'd crap.  Neutrality is also important because the ranking Senator on the committee that regulates the internet thinks that it's a series of tubes and that Netflix cram movies down it that get in the way of his interns receiving his e-mails.

You mean they get in the way of his interns receiving his internets.

[Billy Zabka]

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Here's a link to the stats, but if you Google (or Gizoogle for fun) the phrase "Fox News Ratings", you'll find the back-story.

According to Gizoogle:

"A few weeks ago, hustla Playa Cruisin' System CEO Phil Kizzy told tha Hollywood Brotha tizzle CNN was Hatin' tha gizzap" on its "primary competizzles a Fox News spokesman accused tizzle of "employ'n fuzzy math." "