Hi All,
I happened to be surfing the web this evening (errr...
very early this morning...), and stumbled on this thread. I want to start by thanking everyone for the very and various kind words! I also wanted to remark on a couple of items:
Mike Veitch:
Richard Pyle should be here in May, i should get to meet him i hope.
Hi, Mike! I'm looking forward to meeting you when we get there (probably more like late April). Do you happen to know where Brian is right now? If so, tell him to check his email! (I'm guessing -- based on your locale and knowledge of our plans -- that you know him??)
tridacna:
Thanks for that! I took the time to read it again for the first time since I wrote it, and frankly it scared the wee-wee out of me (again). A good reminder of a good reminder.
ronski101:
Scout's Honor!
tridacna:
It's NEVER worth taking a hit for a bagged fish. Even if you lose naming rights. That's why I call him crazy.
Two things:
1) I couldn't agree more with the first two sentences! Though I am as candid as I can be about my mistakes, I am happy to report that ...well....there's not much to report along those lines since 1998. Lotsa new fishes, though.
2) Regarding the last sentence, I once wrote an article describing the differences between "brave", "crazy" and "stupid"; and the conclusion was unambiguously that my endeavors fell squarely into the "crazy" category. Thus, I again couldn't agree more.
mello-yellow:
"Practically"? I thought he did invent it, against all the conventional wisdom of the time.
There is NO WAY I can accept credit for "inventing" deep stops. Yes, it was true that I discovered them for myself, in the sense that nobody ever told me about them; and yes, it is also true that it was against the conventional wisdom of the time -- but only if you restrict "conventional" in this context to what most recreational divers and instructors were thinking. The fact is, harvest divers in the Torres Strait and Mediterranean (and no-doubt elsewhere) had figured them out on their own long before I was ever diving (indeed, before I was born). Several noteworthy publications discussed them early on (Brian Hills' work on divers in the Torres Strait -- leading to the thermodynamic approach to decompression, and David Yount's development of the VPM model come to mind). If I should get credit for anything (no, I did
not coin the name "Pyle Stops" -- that was something Will Smithers started), it would be that I happened to write a short article on the subject at a time when technical divers were ready to think about it.
Gad Zooks! Look at the time. Must sleep.
Aloha,
Rich
P.S. Now, what's all this stuff about "Tourette Syndrome" that people keep emailing me about? I'm sure I don't know what any of them are talking about.... :54:
P.P.S. Jesus, there are a lot of emoticon options on this forum!