What does DIR mean?

[MXGratefulDiver]

Yes it is true that some DIR people give the whole concept a bad name by taking it to attitudinal extremes. Here is an example of one that went so far that The Deco Stop actually closed the thread, something rarely done there. In this case, the DIR devotee expresses relief to be posting in the DIR forum, away from the non-DIR divers, whom he categorizes as "tards."

The Deco Stop

Yup ... and you'll notice that all the other divers participating in the forum disapproved of his behavior, and the thread was quickly shut down (this was in the DIR forum).

What that should tell you is that while there are "Rambo" types in every crowd, they in no way represent the majority.

On the other hand, I didn't read that as a slam on non-DIR divers so much as I did someone who would mark a deco bottle "Oxygen - 70" ... :shocked2:

Yes, GI3 contributes much to it, and yes he gave stroke definitions in other places that go well beyond the one Bob quoted. For example, I read one in which he said that any diver who used 80% O₂ for decompression was automatically a stroke. (He said it with his customary great emphasis and vigor.)

I have personally had someone use the quote Bob supplied as a reason why non-DIR divers are all strokes. Irvine's list of characteristics of strokes includes anyone whose gear is not "optimal." As this person pointed out to me, if my gear was not precisely as prescribed, then it is not optimal, and therefore I am a stroke.

As I mentioned previously ... GI3 had some social issues. Frankly, I think his mommy should've taken his keyboard away from him. Would've made it a lot easier for people to look past the colorful language and see that DIR goes well beyond backplates, long hoses, and bad attitudes.

The 80% discussion was where I learned the term "farm animal stupid" ... which led me to wonder what George had against farm animals.

As for me, all my techncial training has been strictly DIR. My instructor is technically TDI, but he is openly DIR in his approach, based on his own GUE-training. (Why he is a TDI instructor is a complicated story.) I was the only one of his students with background knowledge in this issue, so I did not need the warning, but he implored his students not to be like that, not to be among the ones contributing to that image.

With the exception of my first trimix class (IANTD), all my tech training is NAUI. But when I do tech dives with GUE-trained divers, I find that we're on the same page pretty seamlessly. The real work, for me, was figuring out how to do a tech dive with a buddy who dives a Megaladon.

I have dived with a number of DIR-trained divers, every one of who was very skilled, and every one of whom was a pleasant and gracious dive buddy. It is sad that extremists (perhaps on both sides) have created this image.

... only if you take them seriously ... and I'm just a bit too ornery to give them that much satisfaction ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[TSandM]

Anybody who thinks divers are bad about politics and getting outraged about how many angels can dance on the head of a pin should have been following the dressage world for the last 20 years -- Heated arguments about training methods, including a LAWSUIT from an Olympic athlete because a reporter took pictures of her warming her horses up before a competition and posted them on the internet. Divers are pikers, when it comes to political nastiness.

 

[jpsexton]

I know bass players who think bassists who use picks instead of fingers should burn in hell.

Sorry to get off topic but that is hilarious to me. I thought I was the only one that thought that...

 

[PfcAJ]

I can't believe people are STILL whining about an old dude from ten years ago. Are you all really that sensitive?

Dive how you want to dive, I'll dive how I want to dive, but don't get offended when I (or people like me) don't want to dive with you. Get some tough skin and MOVE ON!!!

 

[Reg Braithwaite]

Sorry to get off topic but that is hilarious to me. I thought I was the only one that thought that...

Don't "fret" about it. You want conversation, try slapping and tapping the darn thing.

 

[jpsexton]

Don't "fret" about it. You want conversation, try slapping and tapping the darn thing.

Shure can't use a pick to do that now can ya!


We now return to our regularly scheduled DIR debate...

 

[Doc Intrepid]

slapping a bass is musical abuse, isn't it? something like "instrumental assault in the third degree"?

(Defiant bass-picker...)

(But I really like the Kentucky Headhunters!)



Back to DIR...

 

[JeffG]

a pick is a gear solution to a skill problem.

 

[Gombessa]

slapping a bass is musical abuse, isn't it?

Only if it's a big mouth billy bass.

 

[Gombessa]

a LAWSUIT from an Olympic athlete because a reporter took pictures of her warming her horses up before a competition and posted them on the internet

Wow. Barbara Streisand Effect much?