"Hey, did you here about Steve Irwin?"
"Yeah."
"How about that? What a spinout."
That carpark conversation this afternoon between two young Australians is proof that Irwin, TV's larger-than-life Crocodile Hunter, made a huge impression.
People everywhere - in Australia and overseas - have been talking about him since the news broke. This afternoon, the ABC News website has gone into a minimalist mode to try to keep up with the demand for traffic.
As I said on the ie blog, Irwin will be remembered not just as a showman but as a person who shared his enthusiasm for nature with the world. He was also a great ambassador for this country. As one shopper was overheard to say, "they'll have to hold his funeral at a cricket ground" because so many people will want to come along and pay their respects. There's no doubt Irwin's family will be offered a state funeral. Exactly what arrangement they make is, of course, up to them.

From Aljezeera to Le Monde; from the BBC and USA Today to the Frankfurter Allgemeine. Almost every major global news service has reported on the death of Steve Irwin. Google News points to 1504 stories and, despite the short news cycle on the internet, it is still the major story on CNN.com as I write. As Premier Peter Beattie said last night, in America they know Steve Irwin but they don't know who the prime minister of Australia is.