Posted by MHK on July 19, 2001 at 14:57:51:
In Reply to: Technological evolution? posted by SLANG on July 19, 2001 at 14:25:54:
Steve,
You throw up a bit of a red herring, but we'll deal with it ;-)
Technological advances... How about recreational diver's getting access to Nitrox and Helium??
You got my point..
As for teh superiority thing, I keep saying it's safer and more efficient.. Of course everyone wants to focus on such insane issues [ atleast they are in my view].. If I were taking a basketball class and Michael Jordan told me that his way was *better*, I wouldn't waste so much time on the name, it wouldn't bother me at all.. All I would want to know is how can I take something away that makes me better.. If he was an arrogant jerk, or the nicest guy in the world, it wouldn't matter one iota to me.. I'd want to know what he has that made him the best and how could I do that..
I'm comfortable saying that George and JJ, along with other's, developed a system that has made me a better diver.. And I'll define better as safer and more efficient. I used to do a lot of f*cked up stuff underwater and I thought I was a bad-ass, no-one could tell me otherwise, Jacques Coustea wanna be..
I fought DIR, and George, tooth and nail... But at the end of the day, they were right and I was wrong.. Once I stopped fighting with George, Walker and I went to Florida and spent some time with George, Bill Mee and Dan Volker and almost immediatley it became clear that I had my head up my ass and that these guys had thought, and solved, things I had never dreamed of.. Bill Mee may be one of the smartest guys I have ever met. Irvine had done things I couldn't fathom. After re-training my diving habits I now do them regularly without incident.. It simply took a little pride swallowing and a little reavaluating of did I want to keep recklessly pushing the envelope or did I want to learn how to do it safer and more efficient.. Ince you get over the Irvine is mean, or I'm mean thing and look at what's going on you'll see more often than not we have it right but yet we are fought day in and day out on all the lists.. Sadly, most of the guys that fight us can't come close to doing what we do so the firestorm then gets focused on that we are always in fights.. I hate to be brutally honest, but it takes two to fight.. And while you'll see a few common combatants [ ie; George, MHK et. al] you'll also note there is no shortage of people who always throw a punch and then are surprised when we punch back.. I say all the time, atealst we are fighting to advance a cause that makes diving safer.. More often than not those that are also throwing the punches are advancing dangerous diving practices.. No other sport would back someone that makes the sport more dangerous, but in diving because George or I am perceived as mean on the internet, many flock to more dangerous practices because the message is delievered in a softer tone... Of course, lost in the argument is guys like JJ and Andrew G who couldn't say a bad word about anyone if they tried it..
Oh well...
Later