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I just returned from a couple weeks of vacation with family and friends 
for the holidays.  After a gruelling flight home through serious 
turbulence with our 18-month old daugther, you can imagine how delighted 
I was to encounter 661 (no kidding) messages in my email inbox.

Folks....this is nuts! Now, I know I should have unsubscribed before I 
left and all, so I know it's my own fault.  However, this experience has 
illustrated so clearly to me the real signal:noise ratio of the list.

I actually wish I had the time to sift through all this stuff, because 
I'm sure there are some really funny parts.

Most (almost all) of the bulk involves this whole independents thing.  
I'd have to be a real masochist to jump into the fray, so I ain't gonna 
take sides.  I will point out that I respect the diving abilities of the 
folks on both sides of the debates equally.

I'll also add that my open-circuit trimix rig involves independent 
primary gas supplies, and if I ever do another open-circuit trimix dive, 
that is the rig I would use.  HOWEVER: before you bombard me with 
senseless, know-nothing dribble (which, I assure you, will be ignored), 
please note that one of my primary cylinders contained trimix, and the 
other contained nitrox, so a manifold would serve absolutely no purpose 
whatsoever.  I'm sure some will be tempted to bombard me with "deco gas 
on the back is stupid" jibberish, but this will also be ignored because 
my purpose and requirements for doing these dives are unlike those of anyone 
else in the world (as far as I know), and only one person has ever suggested 
an improvement to my rig that actually represented an improvement.

O.K., enough of the rhetoric.  Actually, I was prompted to write this in 
respose to something George said. I know this is old for the rest of you, 
but I just read it now...

> The hanging spare bottles bullshit is vestigal 
> eveidence of evolutionary interruptus - like you dopes are in the 
> twilight zone. > 

A couple of things here:

1) Evoltionary Interruptus: I'm an evolutionary biologist, but I've never
heard the term "evolutionary interruptus".  I kinda like it - especially
if it was intended to mean what I think it was intended to mean. 

2) Hanging bottles:  George, are you suggesting that it is not an optimal 
solution to hang bottles on certian open-water dives?  I hope not, 
because you keep telling us you also know how to dive in open-water, and 
I want to believe you - I REALLY do!  Such an assertion is akin to someone 
like me (a non-cave diver) saying something like, "The staging of spare 
bottles on a cave dive bullshit is vestigal eveidence of evolutionary 
interruptus".  Get a grip, dude.

3) Twilight Zone:  Do you mean in the sense of the coral reef environment I 
like to spend my time in, or do you mean it more in the Rod Serling sense 
(incidently, that bastard never gave me royalties for stealing my term).

Aloha,
Rich

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