Hi Bill,

Oh, what the hell.  When I wrote you the private, I was late for a
meeting, so I didn't have time to play.  The meeting was postponed, and I
have about 15 minutes to kill, so I'll go ahead and bite afterall.

Let me begin by introducing a new term.  Remember when you guys used to
use the term "Annellid-stupid"?  As a biologist, I always liked that one.
However, in recent weeks I and my critter-nerd ilk have invented a new
term that represents an even lower form of stupid - the lowest of the low.

No, it's not "bacteria-stupid" or "virus-stupid" or anything like that.
Rather, it is "Kansas-Board-Of-Education-Stupid", or "KBOE-stupid" for
short. It's not directed only at the Kansas BOE - they just happen to be
the ones in the limelight at the moment.  Other states, like Alabama,
Tennessee, and Arizona, among others, all have their versions of it.

At any rate....what does "KBOE-stupid" have to do with my reply to you?
For those who haven't followed the news lately, the KBOE decided that the
concept of biological Evolution (or "macroevolution", as the call it)
would no longer be part of the State's education standards.  They're not
forbidding the teaching of it or anything like that - they're just
removing it from the State standards, which means removing from state
exams.  The problem is that local district curricula tend to want to
produce students who do well on the state exams, which means emphasizing
only those topics covered by the exams. 

But the real point of bringing in "KBOE-stupid" is to illustrate the kind
of "stupid" that you are proposing in your message below.  The KBOE thing
was a weak attempt to thwart the dissemination of evolutionary theory to
students.  Many in the "bible-belt" of this country (note that all other
developed western countries have matured well beyond this silly but
seemingly perpetual problem) view evolutionary theory as a threat to
Christian Faith.  If Evolution happened, then not only is the Earth older
than 10,000 or so years, but it also means that God did not spontaneously
create humans in Her* own image (although She may have created Prokaryotes
[not necessarily in Her image], which begot eukaryotes, which later begot
multicellular organisms, which ultimately developed internal skeletons and
notochords, which at some point crawled out of the sea, went through some
funky changes and diversifications, grew hair, and led to [among a vast
multitude of other taxa] the species _Homo sapiens_). In any case, as many
eductaed people have come to realize, there does not need to be any sort
of conflict between religeon and science (or, more specifically, between
American breeds of Christianity and Evolution). Nevertheless, there are
still a disturbingly large number of KBOE-stupid people who see Evolution
as a threat to their faith - and thus something that needs to be fought.

The parallels between this sort of mentality, and the messages I am
hearing from you and the people who preach the same "gospel" as you (we
all know who I mean), are rather stunning, when you get right down to it.
By way of example, let me review a little history on the Evolution debate:

The first KBOE-stupid attempt - about 70 years ago, was to ban the
teaching of Evolution outright.  A guy named Scopes, in fact, had to fork
over a hundered bucks as fine for attempting to do so.  That lasted about
20 years, until the Supreme Court said "Ain't constitutional".  The next
real effort was to try to mandate the teaching of "Creation Science" (an
oxymoron of 'biblical' proportions, so to speak) alongside Evolution.
Once again, the Supreme Court steped in and said "Sorry Charlie - Creation
is religion, not science, and we have this thing about separation of
church and state...."

The KBOE thing is the latest effort - and a new tactic.  Rather than
promoting Creation, it's trying to surpress critical thinking.  By
omitting the discussion of topics that have been deduced from rational
thought, they apparently hope to hide people from reality.  They want to
shelter people from being exposed to what's so obviously going on in the
world around us.  The only way to supress Evolution is to promote
misunderstanding of it, which means hiding information, and perpetuating
misinformation. For example, there is a lot of emphasis that "Evolution is
a theory, not a fact".  HELLO!!! Welcome to the world of science, where
*everything* is ultimately, at its core, a theory.  The notion that matter
is composed of atoms, which are themselves composed of neutrons, protons,
and electrons - that's "just a theory" too. Hell, the very idea that the
Earth revolves around the Sun is ultimately "just a theory".  The point
is, Evolution is every-bit as well-supported as these other theories are.  
Eventually the evidence becomes so incredibly overwhelming (as in the case
of basic atomic structure, or Evolution), that we just accept it (keeping
in mind that new revelations may ultimately falsify it - but the prospects
for that are close to Nill).

I hope I've illustrated this point with enough clarity and depth that you
will grasp my meaning when I tell you that your suggestions in your email
to me (below) are a perfect example of "KBOE-stupid".  Both you and George
have repeatedly tried to get me to stop sharing my face-value thoughts
with respect to diving with the public at large. You want me to suppress
and distort my real-world information when presented publicly so that,
when it is presented, it conforms to your EXTREMELY MYOPIC view of the
diving world.  If some real-world experience of mine conflicts with your
perhaps well-intentioned, but otherwise grossly distorted perception of
diving, then you want me to keep it to myself.  You don't want me to
disrupt your efforts to put blinders on people.  In short, you don't want
me to encourage critical thinking among divers.

Sorry guys, but in the past, in the present, and with every intention of
continuing into the future, I call it as I see it.  Period. I do not lie,
despite your tireless efforts to accuse me of being a liar. I do not
distort my delivery of information to try to manipulate anyone or to
satisfy any political, egotistical, or other equally trivial agendas.  
When I see feces, I call feces.  When I feel I have something to offer to
a discussion, I offer it. As a scientist and as a scholar, it's just my
nature to be that way. Sometimes (more often than not, in fact), they way
I see things corresponds very well with the way you guys see things.  On
occassion, however, my perspective differs somewhat from yours.  This
doesn't surprise me at all, given our different diving histories and
different diving environments. You should have learned by now that all
your ranting and raving about me - publicly or privately - has absolutely
no effect. I continue to call it as I see it.

On the topic of air at 150 - as I told George in private - my response to
Chris was the most accurate.  I normally wouldn't have posted anything,
but I just felt so incredibly....well....violated....that he actually
agreed with me, I had to do *something*.  All I did was tell the truth -
if I didn't have my rebreather in a particular situation, *I* wouldn't
bother with helium much deeper than about 150.  That's the truth - as
painful as it may be to you.  Two weeks ago I was doing a film-shoot on a
sailboat.  One night a Manta Ray hooked up one of the surface-supply
cables to a 1000-watt HMI light and dragged it off.  I didn't have my
'breather and there was only air on board, so the next morning I started
my search at 150 and worked my way up the slope.  Lo and behold, I found
the light and saved the Production crew a lot of money and hassle.  I'd do
the same thing again if the same situation presented itself.  

Does this mean I think that all dives to 150 should be done on air?  Of
course not!  In fact, whenever I dive with the rebreather, which is
99.9999% of the time, the maximum PN2 I subject myself to is about 2.5 atm
(about 70 feet worth of air). Does it mean I think all divers should be
doing dives to this depth on air? Of course not!  I know people who
shouldn't be diving at all, and others who should never get below 60 feet.  
I also know others who I would trust more as a diving companion while
breathing air at 200 than I would trust probably half the poplulation of
trimix divers at the same depth on trimix. Do I think all diving
environments are equal?  Of course not!  In cold or dark water I'm
hammered at 90 feet - and can feel it. But I very rarely dive in cold or
dark water, which is why I said that *I* probably wouldn't bother with
helium on most OC dives shallower than about 150 or so.

On the topic of solo diving, the real-world reality is that I usually
*don't* dive solo.  That is, on my more extreme dives of late, I usually
have a true buddy (either Joe Dituri or John Earle).  But the bottom line
is that *I* still prefer to be alone on more challenging dives because *I*
feel more comfortable being able to devote 100% of my concentration to my
*own* safety.  You can cry about it all you want, but I'm not going to
hide this fact, or be ashamed of it in any way. 

There will always be stupid people out there doing stupid things.  I'm not
going to compromise my own safety just to conform to someone else's
perception of what the best way to do a particular dive is - especially
when that someone else understands very little about what I actually do.  
Nor am I willing to play the KBOE game of hiding the reality from the
masses - I am always going to be honest and forthright about what I do,
and why I do it.  I always have been, and intend to continue to be
equally honest and forthright about when I make mistakes. My record of
doing so speaks for itself.  If stupid people misunderstand me or try to
emulate me without understanding their own limitiations (incidentally, the
list of people ending up in chambers after trying to emulate George's deco
philosophy is growing....), then that's what I would call "natural
selection" (another tie-in to the overall Evolution theme).

I do what I do, the way I do it, because I think it's the best for me in
my situation. Because I'm a nice guy, I'm willing to share with others
specific details about how I do what I do.  Trash from you and others like
you will only continue to decrease my willingness to share.

What is my point to you, Bill?  It's the same point I've been making to
George in private.  It's simply this:  I'm bored of playing these email
games with you guys, and I've got better things to do.  So do all the
people on this CC list.  I decided the forward it on to the whole list
with the hope they would enjoy some of my musings.  To those who found it
a waste of their time, I apologize.  To you, Bill, I do not apologize --
you don't have to be KBOE-stupid.  You can grow up, share with us your
experiences of what work in your diving environment, and even question the
practices of others who you think are unsafe.  But Please, PLEASE, spare
us the BS crusade crap.  It's so unbecoming of you. After this post, I
will *not* help you perpetuate it any more.

Ciao,
Rich

*Note: In case anyone is wondering why I apply the female gender pronouns
to the Lord Almighty, it's not because I'm sort of new-age freak or
militant feminist or anything.  It is because, as any biologist worth
his/her saline knows, all human beings (and indeed, all mammals) are
fundamentally females.  Female is the default gender - we all begin life
as females.  If nothing gets screwed up along the developmental pathway,
we would all be born females too.  However, about half of us, however
happened to have received a deffective X-chromosome from our daddies at
conception (reduced in size - we call it a "Y"-chromosme.  This deffective
chromosome leads to a very slight flaw - only one hydrogen atom out of
place - in the structure of estrogen.  This flawed estrogen also goes
under the name "Testosterone".  Testosterone is the enzyme which alters
the development of our reproductive organs, inhibits breast development,
and encourages a wide array of aggressive behavior like bar-room brawls,
horn-honking, and tireless efforts to beat one's chest on internet email
lists).  Bottom line is; if there is, indeed, a Supreme Being; and if,
indeed, Homo sapiens was created in Its image, than "It" would surely be
the defualt, fundamental, female form.  Since the only real purpose of
males is to facilitate the exchange of genetic material among females, it
would seem odd that any sort of Supreme Being would serve such an inane
purpose.

On Thu, 26 Aug 1999, Bill Mee wrote:

> Subject: RE: DEEP AIR VOTE, was: (RE: Re:IANTD vs 70 m air instruction
> and158m air dives You gotta be kidding)
> 
> 
> >snip
> > I personally am comfortable breathing
> >air to a maximum depth of about 150 feet (as I said in the post that seems
> >to have garnered so much attention). All the senseless name-calling in the
> >world won't change my feeling on this,....>
> 
> >Aloha,
> >Rich
> >
> Richie,
> 
> Is this my imagination or are you just joking here?
> 
> Diving in the 100 - 150 fsw range on air is a recipe for disaster and we
> don't need double blind studies and scholarly treatises to confirm what
> should long ago have become obvious to anyone serious about so called "tech
> diving".   This is the worst sort of treason coming from you, especially
> since you were one of the early people to use mixed gas in the ocean. In
> fact I was cleaning out some magazines last week and lo and behold a dusty
> old Aquacorps Journal with your youthful picture on the back turned up and
> the subject was said same.
> 
> Of particular horror is your advocacy of solo diving, a practice which has
> claimed quite a few lives of late.  To make matters worse you promote, by
> example, solo diving with rebreathers which is another endeavor with a
> disturbingly morbid track record. The problem is that you are considered the
> leading civiliam expert on computerized electronic ccrs and like Tom Mount,
> everyone wants to emulate you.  If Richie Pyle can dodge the bullet why
> can't Joe Shinola?
> 
> If Tom Mount can point to you and say "the leading practicing authority of
> solo deep open and closed circuit mixed gas diving endorses intermediate
> deep air" then a lot of people will listen to this lie and the end result is
> some over weighted poor fat bastard will go and get himself killed solo
> diving with an air pony on the Andrea Doria or some such deep junk pile. I
> know, I know, I know you will just disount what I and George say  as so much
> threadbare hyperbole, but the freshly minted dead people of this summer were
> very real and had names and families and believed the bs.  There is no
> shortage of 12 inch tough guys who want to prove that they are just as tough
> as Tom Mount and you.  Like Chris Werner said:
> 
> > Hey Richie, how is that you can deal with the deathtrap
> > (Cis-Lunar) that you
> > swear by diving, with all the complications and it hideous fatal track
> > record, but yet you cannot mix the right gas for OC?  You are one
> > lucky guy
> > and tougher than nails.
> >
> That's the problem.  You are articulate, tough and very lucky.  Mount and
> IANTD are on the wrong side of this air thing and resolutely refuse to
> change the standards. Unfortunately, for all involved, the standards will be
> changed, by mandate from the insurance companies, which are choking on the
> endless lawsuits and settlements. I fully expect that it is only a matter of
> time before you will be called as an expert witness (or defendant) in one of
> the many wrongful death lawsuits now pending and you will have to vigorously
> defend your above statement.  I surely hope that you have the bona fide
> belief and conviction to do so.
> 
> Best regards,
> 
> Bill
> 
> 
> 

Richard Pyle
Ichthyology, Bishop Museum                deepreef@bi*.or*
1525 Bernice St.                          PH: (808) 848-4115
Honolulu, HI 96817-2704                   FAX: (808) 847-8252




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