Mailing List Archive

Mailing List: techdiver

Banner Advert

Message Display

Date: Mon, 2 Jul 2001 08:30:34 -0400
From: "N.S. (Norm) Nopper" <nsnopper@pa*.ca*>
Organization: NSN Lakeside Consulting Group
To: techdiver@aquanaut.com
Subject: "After all this is technical diving and people are supposed to die now
     and then."

--------------F1514B35176F86EC6AB73B74
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit

"After all this is technical diving and people are supposed to die now and
then."
(Some recent wisdom offered here on techdiver)

Hello Everyone:

I am a long time lurker on this listserver group, and until today I enjoyed the
simple pleasure of sitting back and LISTENING to what people had to say here. I
agree that that is a lot of garbage and flaming on this forum, but you simply
have
to be selective in what you read, and filter out the noise.

During the 3 or more years that I have been reading the posts to this group, I
have come to respect the viewpoints and advice of Trey and his group at WKPP.
Like
many on this list, I was very uncomfortable with the way in which Trey expressed
himself. I even sent him a private email with a few words of advice on how to
make
his message more positive. In response, he sent me a friendly email of thanks.

HOWEVER, today I am forced to conclude that Trey is absolutely justified in his
communication approach. I became convinced of this when I read this little "gem
of
wisdom" in a recent email by Jim Cobb:

"Personally I think it would be better to teach something more along the lines
of
its best for nobody to die in the first place, but I know that's totally
unrealistic of me. After all this is technical diving and people are supposed to
die now and then."
(The bold lettering is my emphasis.)

ARE YOU KIDDING? Mr. Cobb, please tell us that you are being facetious, and
don't
really believe this. Put a smiley on it. Give us a sign that you're not serious.

If this is truly the philosophy that some "Diver Training Organizations" (and I
use the term loosely) are espousing, then they should be shut down immediately.

I took up diving back in 1990 for pleasure and relaxation. I have all of my own
equipment, and I have the best (Halcyon back plate and wing, Apeks Tek 50). In
all
my diving, I have broken below 100 feet exactly twice, because I have no need or
desire to go deeper. I enjoy wreck diving in the Great Lakes. I have no desire
to
enter 9 km into caves, or go to 1100 feet in depth, or push the envelope in any
other way. I leave that to those who have the time and motivation to train,
train,
train, and re-train to learn and develop the techniques to Do It Right.

I can see that we have unqualified people on this list who are trying to push
that
envelope. And worse, they are recruiting others - under the facade of offering
advanced training - to push that envelope too.

If I push the envelope and die, it's suicide.

If I encourage you to push the envelope and you die, it's murder (if not in the
legal sense, then certainly morally).

Sincerely,
N.S. (Norm) Nopper

PS: For the love of God, Mr. Cobb, please tell us you didn't mean this.

"After all this is technical diving and people are supposed to die now and
then."



--------------F1514B35176F86EC6AB73B74
Content-Type: text/html; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit

<!doctype html public "-//w3c//dtd html 4.0 transitional//en">
<html>
<b>"After all this is technical diving and people are supposed to die now
and then."</b>
<br>(Some recent wisdom offered here on techdiver)
<p>Hello Everyone:
<p>I am a long time lurker on this listserver group, and until today I
enjoyed the simple pleasure of sitting back and LISTENING to what people
had to say here. I agree that that is a lot of garbage and flaming on this
forum, but you simply have to be selective in what you read, and filter
out the noise.
<p>During the 3 or more years that I have been reading the posts to this
group, I have come to respect the viewpoints and advice of Trey and his
group at WKPP. Like many on this list, I was very uncomfortable with the
way in which Trey expressed himself. I even sent him a private email with
a few words of advice on how to make his message more positive. In response,
he sent me a friendly email of thanks.
<p>HOWEVER, today I am forced to conclude that Trey is absolutely justified
in his communication approach. I became convinced of this when I read this
little "gem of wisdom" in a recent email by Jim Cobb:
<p>"Personally I think it would be better to teach something more along
the lines of its best for nobody to die in the first place, but I know
that's totally unrealistic of me. <b>After all this is technical diving
and people are supposed to die now and then.</b>"
<br>(The bold lettering is my emphasis.)
<p>ARE YOU KIDDING? Mr. Cobb, please tell us that you are being facetious,
and don't really believe this. Put a smiley on it. Give us a sign that
you're not serious.
<p>If this is truly the philosophy that some "Diver Training Organizations"
(and I use the term loosely) are espousing, then they should be shut down
immediately.
<p>I took up diving back in 1990 for pleasure and relaxation. I have all
of my own equipment, and I have the best (Halcyon back plate and wing,
Apeks Tek 50). In all my diving, I have broken below 100 feet exactly twice,
because I have no need or desire to go deeper. I enjoy wreck diving in
the Great Lakes. I have <i>no desire</i> to enter 9 km into caves, or go
to 1100 feet in depth, or push the envelope in any other way. I leave that
to those who have the time and motivation to train, train, train, and re-train
to learn and develop the techniques to Do It Right.
<p>I can see that we have unqualified people on this list who are trying
to push that envelope. And worse, they are recruiting others - under the
facade of offering advanced training - to push that envelope too.
<p>If I push the envelope and die, it's suicide.
<p>If I encourage you to push the envelope and you die, it's murder (if
not in the legal sense, then certainly morally).
<p>Sincerely,
<br>N.S. (Norm) Nopper<b></b>
<p>PS: For the love of God, Mr. Cobb, please tell us you didn't mean
this.<b></b>
<p><b>"After all this is technical diving and people are supposed to die
now and then."</b>
<br><b></b> 
<br><b></b> </html>

--------------F1514B35176F86EC6AB73B74--

--
Send mail for the `techdiver' mailing list to `techdiver@aquanaut.com'.
Send subscribe/unsubscribe requests to `techdiver-request@aquanaut.com'.

Navigate by Author: [Previous] [Next] [Author Search Index]
Navigate by Subject: [Previous] [Next] [Subject Search Index]

[Send Reply] [Send Message with New Topic]

[Search Selection] [Mailing List Home] [Home]