Quoting GW Swicord, reply 2Why not let the bears wander back off onto their own paths for a bit and focus on subjects that don't stir such intense feelings?
At the risk of fanning the flames, I still can't believe that light-hearted bear jokes and ubiquitous use of bears in examples managed to stir intense feelings.
I can't either, which is why I thought it might be time for some, ahem, hibernation. 
If I didn't make it clear enough up front, I'm no bear-basher (even though I'm a huge Stephen Colbert fan--Emmy, please!). I gave Luckmann karma for the "bearomancer" tag the first time I noticed it in his avatar.
To try getting partway back to seriousness, aside from wanting to cut the bear-o-phobes some slack, I'm still so hungry for more concrete details about the project so far that it's frustrating to see a fresh post and find it is naught but another reminder that you should hang your food before you leave the campsite for a day hike.
p.s. How many of you have been anywhere close to a real bear in the wild? I once had a grown black bear pass less than 20 meters away from me, and I was *very* glad that it's path was pretty much perpendicular to the park trail that my friends and I were hiking. It was moving at full speed somewhere, and dense woods didn't seem to be any real drag on it.
