Is this guy smoking something or is he on to something?

[Jax]

Of course! I love diving with my techie friends, and giving them h3ll about their getup: "Ooh, black - how original!" "Doubles today, eh? Planning on selling tank fills underwater?" "I wish I could afford one of those fancy knives" [referring to the chopped-off steak knife] "Planning to lasso you some grouper with that long-a$$ hose?"

Of course, you can't give without receiving, and I take plenty of ribbing for my bright colors, splits, Air2, taking my pony along on 15' sharktooth dives (because I *always* dive my pony), lagging waaay behind the group on drifts (which I do on purpose, so the reef life comes back to photograph - I'm one of those "I don't start my dives solo, but I usually end them that way"), etc. Even my preference for "frilly" reef dives over "manly" wrecks, I catch h3ll for.

 

[Moonglow]

DIR is for North Florida cave diving, use of the term for other types of diving is a label misappropiation.

 

[OkiMike]

Second, it HAS become fashion in this country to claim offense to anything you do not like anymore. I see this as a direct attack on one of the very core values our country was founded on...freedom. Think about it, freedom is not needed if all you do or say is fine with everyone else. Freedom protects our right to do and say dumb things. And I like being dumb.

Agreed. As the saying goes, "You DON'T have a right to never feel offended." Thorough ridicule, debate, and opinion is what made America (and other countries that granted freedom of speech) great.

 

[kanonfodr]

DIR is for North Florida cave diving, use of the term for other types of diving is a label misappropiation.

Peace,
Greg

 

[Nemrod]

ODG, so now that I finally got all DIR compliant gear with strange long hoses and bicycle inner tubes galore and all in slimming black, you go and tell me I am still not "doing it right" because the old right is the wrong right and not right at all, damn.

N

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

ODG, so now that I finally got all DIR compliant gear with strange long hoses and bicycle inner tubes galore and all in slimming black, you go and tell me I am still not "doing it right" because the old right is the wrong right and not right at all, damn.

N

Well, you just have to keep in mind that two wrongs don't make a right ... but three lefts do ...

DIR is for North Florida cave diving, use of the term for other types of diving is a label misappropiation.

Those of us not in North Florida are calling it "Doing it Left, Left, Left" ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[EastTNDiver]

Well, you just have to keep in mind that two wrongs don't make a right ... but three lefts do ...



Those of us not in North Florida are calling it "Doing it Left, Left, Left" ...
... Bob (Grateful Diver)

So...you have the new NASCAR specialty card?

 

[DaleC]

Thorough ridicule, debate, and opinion is what made America (and other countries that granted freedom of speech) great.

You're kidding right? I'm pretty sure those attributes are what contribute to the modern, sarcastic, over educated, do nothing slackers who can tell you why its not worth doing anything yourself because you can pay someone else less to do it for you. You do collect a lot of "stuff" that way but one also becomes lazy, unskilled and generally unhealthy as a result.

I'm fairly certain what made America great was hard work, ingenuity and a "Can do" attitude.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

You're kidding right? I'm pretty sure those attributes are what contribute to the modern, sarcastic, over educated, do nothing slackers who can tell you why its not worth doing anything yourself because you can pay someone else less to do it for you. You do collect a lot of "stuff" that way but one also becomes lazy, unskilled and generally unhealthy as a result.

I'm fairly certain what made America great was hard work, ingenuity and a "Can do" attitude.

I'm fairly certain that what made America great was cheap labor (Africans, Chinese, Irish, etc) to build our infrastructure ... and having more and better guns than everybody else. But perhaps that's a topic best left for The Pub ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[FritzCat66]

The following is from Bret Gilliam’s letter expelling Irvine from TDI and sums him up pretty nicely...

Reading this, it occurred to me that I may have indirectly absorbed some negativity about Irvine and DIR. Back in the 90's, I was hanging out a lot with Joe Odom, who really gave me the dive bug. I was just getting into it and had started my OW with Joe; now, at the time I was oblivious to anything going on with divers online, but I know Joe was constantly on his laptop using the forums of the day, and I remember him & Bret getting worked up about stuff (both of them being big honchos at TDI at the time).

If you know either of those guys, you know they were also quite opinionated about tech diving, and quite vocal about it, too. Makes me wonder if I "absorbed" some of their attitudes without being consciously aware of it, although of course I ultimately decided against taking a technical route for my diving altogether.