Toilets and chatrooms - the challenges of freedom

Toilets and chatrooms - the challenges of freedom

Sat, Nov 06, 2010 The China Post/Asia News Network

What would Dadaist artist Marcel Duchamp say to a group of divers who left a toilet carrying their signatures underwater off Taiwan's Green Island? What would the Chinese government say to Taiwan's Ministry of Education which recently suggested the island's top university harness its online chatroom posts? These two episodes made minor headlines this week in Taiwan media that has otherwise been overwhelmed the upcoming mayoral elections. But they provoke some thoughts about a fundamental value in this country - namely freedom, or the abuse of it. Those recreational divers apparently were not satisfied only with being able to enjoy the natural beauty of the coral reefs around the small island off the eastern coast of Taiwan. They wanted to do some "plastic surgery" - so to speak - to the marine world by creating their piece of installation art, which they reasoned would add fun to diving there. They brought along a new clean toilet, and signed their names on it. They carried it with them on their underwater trip, and left it there among the reefs. They filmed the entire process, and posted the video online. They did enjoy the trip, but their fun sparked the rage of many netizens who condemned their stupid, selfish and polluting act. They have since pulled the video from the Internet, and the authorities are mulling whether they have to be slapped with a fine for their act of pollution. These divers are not the only ones who have left such "we were here" objects around the Green Island. To be fair, underwater installation art is nothing new, though still quite rare. But is the Green Island toilet a work of art? What would be the verdict of Duchamp, who provoked a controversy by submitting a urinal to an art exhibition in 1917? In private, artists may embrace their own definitions of art, but when their works enter the public domain, the general public will have a say. Banksy's graffiti is widely recognized as art although many British people may not think so. But in Taiwan we can see many examples of graffiti that are much closer to vandalism than to art. These graffiti "artists'" messages - if any - fail to convey anything meaningful. They have the freedom to express their thoughts, but they abuse it. Those divers abused such freedom in a similar fashion. Freedom of speech and expression is also the core issue in the case concerning the education ministry's suggestion for National Taiwan University (NTU). After receiving complaints about political postings on a NTU-run social networking site, the ministry suggested the university tighten control to prevent students from being manipulated by politicians. The suggestion has prompted many of the site's users to accuse the ministry of trying to clamp down on the freedom of speech. The ministry has responded by claiming that it simply passed on the complaints to NTU. NTU's response is that it will ask the managers of the site to strictly enforce the house rules and watch out for libelous postings. The ministry may have committed the same kind of mistake that those divers did: they both attempted to force something on others. The divers tried to force others to share their "fun," while the ministry attempted to force its ideology on NTU and its students. Freedom of speech and expression is fundamental in Taiwan although under certain circumstances it has to be harnessed. The NTU students, as well as their counterparts from all other universities, must be allowed to exercise such freedom, as well as making their own judgments, instead of being told what they can say or read. In the divers' case, it is obvious that their "freedom" to have irresponsible fun should be restricted. Let's return to the questions we asked at the beginning of this editorial. The Chinese government would probably tell NTU to down the networking site, or filter out anything political or anti-government. And we are not sure what the French artist would tell the divers. But we suspect that Duchamp would tell the NTU students to speak freely, and not be afraid of expressing themselves or challenging the authorities. -The China Post/ANN

Incredible pictures of great white sharks taken by a diver with only a broomstick for protection | Mail Online

Incredible pictures of great white sharks taken by a diver with only a broomstick for protection Mail Online

Menacingly circling just a few feet away from unprotected divers these great white sharks are known as the most curious in the world.
Intrigued by the movement of these divers swimming in and out of cages 40ft under the water, the 14ft-long great whites even get close enough for intimate mug shots to be taken.
The great whites of Guadalupe Island off the coast of Mexico have gained a reputation as some of the most relaxed on Earth and offer brave divers like two-time BBC Wildlife of the Year photographer Amos Nachoum the chance to get up close and personal with the huge predators - his only protection against the sharks is a broomstick.

Serene: A Great White Shark approaches the camera of diver Amos Nachoum of the coast of Mexico

Brave: Amos uses a broomstick to push the sharks away if they get too close

The sharks were spotted last month as they made a migration to feed on elephant bull seals that congregate on Guadalupe at this time of year.
'Of course they are wild and unpredictable animals, but I have 45 years of diving experience to call upon to understand the movements and behaviour of these graceful creatures,' said Amos, 60.
'We use some small fish dangling from cages and allow their natural curiosity to take over. If you behave correctly In the water the sharks will only be interested to see only what you are doing.
They will come to within feet of myself out in the open water or close to a cage and then they will simply swim off.'
As the owner of Big Animal Photographic Expeditions, ex-Israeli special-forces member Amos takes paying members of the public to interact face to face with great whites.
'Great white sharks are one of nature's misunderstood creatures,' he explained.

'The great whites are not approachable': Amos insists his clients treat the predators with respect

A Great White Shark approaches the camera of Amos Nachoum

Operating adventure trips to see the planet's most spectacular animals since 1990, Amos has a 100 percent safety record in the water and most importantly with his customers and friends.
'During my latest expedition I took a group of 11 customers to observe the sharks in their natural habitat,' he explained.
'We would make up to five dives a day for a week, each one lasting up to one hour. Over the course of that week 15 different sharks came to see us and according to my own rules we would never continue an encounter when more than three sharks arrived.
'The aim of these expeditions is to show my clients that great whites are not the ferocious snarling creatures that we see in movies or in some documentaries.'

Close encounter: The wealthiest and most curious tourists can dive outside of the cage, perilously close to the sharks

Deadly: While the great whites of Guadelupe Island are typically relaxed, they could kill in an instant

Amos' clients pay £3,700 to travel on a privately chartered boat 150 miles off the coast of Mexico to Guadalupe.
'That enables them to go down 40 foot inside the cage as many times as they want,' said Amos.
'However for another £2,200 my clients can leave the cage and dive with me. Not all of the customers who come with me will be allowed to do this.
'I choose and me and my assistant Fernando only allow one person at one time to leave the cage under our supervision.
"They will never be as experienced as me and so I can not deal with more than one person. If you go near these creatures without proper guidance, then it is fair to say that you will get eaten.' 

'We should all realise that the danger is in your mind': Amos has a 100 per cent safety record on his shark expeditions

Trained by South African white shark expert Andre Hartmann in the 1990's, Amos is still stunned by the reaction of first time customers to his great white excursions.
'They have this look in their eye afterwards,' says Andre who has been diving since he was 14 and a photographer since he was 12.
Each customer must sign a legal disclaimer that in turn must be signed by the legal representative of the client.
'They have to exhibit a full awareness of what they are asking me to do with them,' says Amos.
'They must realise that I only have a broomstick to push the shark away. I do not carry a spear gun. It wouldn't help in an attack anyway.'
In addition to his incredible great white excursions Amos also takes clients round the world to encounter other big animals such as humpback whales and leopard seals.
'These high end holiday's enable me to indulge my photography and love of these giant creatures in the wild.'

U.S. Navy Divers are Made in Panama City

U.S. Navy Divers are Made in Panama City

Panama City - Recreational divers know the Gulf waters near Panama City as a hot dive spot, but few know that all U.S. Navy divers get their start at Panama City’s Naval Diving and Salvage Training Center (NDSTC), on Naval Support Activity.

Over 89 days, young men and women - some fresh out of Navy boot camp, others with years of service under their belts - must pass grueling physical tests, designed to push them beyond their limits. They must excel in the academic arena as well, before they can earn their Class “A” Diver certification.

By the time they arrive at dive school, students’ ranks have already been culled. It takes more just to get to NDSTC these days, and once here, the rigorous training will diminish their numbers even further. The first weeks, especially, are physically and mentally exhausting. Physical training starts at daybreak, and can last three to four hours, as Navy Chiefs try to find out what the students are made of, and expand the student’s threshold for pain.

As Chief Michael Duff, USN, explains, no matter what their prior experience is, no one gets an easy ride through the program.

“Intestinal fortitude is a challenge here for just about everybody. When I was a student here they told me, 'Everyone here is going to have THAT day. Your day may be today, it may be tomorrow, it may be next week, but you're going to have THAT day while you're here. It's the day when you've got nothing left to give, and you're going to have to reach inside and find it when you think you can't go any further. As a student here, I remember being in the leaning-rest -- the push-up position -- and saying, 'Okay, if I'm still here in 2-minutes, I'm quitting. I can't possibly stay here.' And five minutes later, you're still there, and you're going to have to tough it out, to find that within yourself.'"

While the physical training is tough, inside the classroom, students are hitting the books just as hard. Even in recent years, the classroom curriculum has expanded, and as the dive manual has grown from a couple hundred pages to nearly a thousand, instructors have been forced to find new and better ways to make the information stick. Technology aids the learning process, and students are schooled on technical skills in a “see, do, teach” method. Even instructors are monitored and graded, to make sure they’re on their game. According to Chief Timothy Alexander, the result is worth the effort.

"The quality of student we have now, and what we're expecting of him in the academic arena, is a lot tougher than when I came in. It makes them better divers. We have a lot better thinkers than we used to have."

But in the water, it’s not enough to just be good thinkers. Good decisions must become instinct, and panic is not an option. To take someone who may never have dived before, and turn them into rock-solid Navy divers in the space of three months, instructors guide their students through the basics of scuba and underwater welding, then take them well out of their comfort zones, testing the students in what may seem to be underwater attacks, as instructors yank regulators and masks from the students, turn their air off, and confront them in what are called underwater “hits.” The students must learn to work together, and recover without losing composure. For Navy divers, breathing and working underwater becomes a complete comfort zone.

By the time students near the end of their time in dive school, they posses a new confidence, and teamwork has become second nature. They have been trained, tested, and emerge trustworthy. In part, it’s knowing that they all share the same harrowing introduction to diving at NDSTC that forms the brotherhood shared by Navy divers.

With typical understatement, Chief Alexander explains the brotherhood like this, "We're not the sexiest or the fastest or the tri-athletes of the Navy. We're just guys that can grind it out."

 

SERMC Divers Keep Ships Ready | jacksonville.com

SERMC Divers Keep Ships Ready jacksonville.com

By MC2 Sunday Williams
Navy Public Affairs Support Element East Detachment Southeast
Do you think that U.S. Navy Divers have the easiest, most laid back job in the Navy? Southeast Regional Maintenance Center (SERMC) diving division proves that the job is not only hard, but very dangerous.
Chief Navy Diver (DSW/SW/PJ) Mark Cooper says he gladly will dispel the myth that diving is easy.
“People assume that we just dive in the water and look at stuff and play with equipment, they don’t realize that we fix things on ships and ensure that they stay mission ready.”
Cooper and his team of 10 divers perform task such as replacing and rebuilding Auxiliary Propulsion Units, (APU), replacing propellers and plugging valve holes for valve replacements. They work on various underwater jobs on the ships in the area in order to keep them mission ready at all times.
Cooper says the job is very physically demanding, which is why divers have to be in excellent physical condition.
Navy Diver applicants are tested in five areas of physical fitness: push-ups, sit-ups, pull-ups and running and of course swimming. The applicant must be able to swim 500 meters using either a side or breaststroke nonstop in less than 14 minutes. They have only a 10-minute rest and then must perform 42 push-ups in two minutes. The applicant gets a two-minute rest and they must perform 50 sit-ups in two minutes. After another two-minute rest, applicants are not timed but must do six pull-ups. They get a final rest period of 10 minutes long, then complete their test with a 1-1/2-mile run in under 12:45 minutes and Cooper says all of that is just to get into dive school.
Once an applicant is accepted into the dive program, the Navy Diver Preparation Course begins in Great Lakes, Ill. where the candidate endures 32 days of intensive training in engineering, academics, emergency medical services, physical training and water adaptability. Students become proficient in SCUBA, tying knots, using a mask and snorkel, and being comfortable under water. Once the prep course is completed, students move on to complete a 70-day training school at the Navy Diving and Salvage Training Center in Panama City, Florida, for Second Class Diver training.
SERMC Diving Division Leading Petty Officer, Navy Diver 1st Class (DSW) Christopher Coreil says being physically fit is one major part to the job and the other major part is safety.
“It is really important to have your head on straight on the job because when you have guys in the water we are having to not only focus on the job, but also make sure the guys are getting enough air and that they are getting it correctly as well as making sure that whatever equipment is being used is operating correctly,” said Coreil. “There is absolutely no room for error in this job,”
Coreil said though the job can be dangerous he and his team do not really worry because they know they can trust the guys above and below the water to take care of each other.
“This job is about teamwork, there is no room for individual thought here,” said Coreil. “One thing we all know as divers is that up and down the chain throughout this community we all know how important it is to be safe and we all know that all of our lives depend on each other doing what we are supposed to.”
Cooper and Coreil say “Customer service is job one,” but they make it very clear that safety of their team is top priority.
Cooper said the team he is working with at SEMC is some of the hardest workers he has had the privilege of working with.
“I am very lucky with the group of guys I have here,” said Cooper. “No matter what time it is when we call them in, no matter what the mission is, they deliver top performance and they never complain. They really are a great team.”
So no matter what the task, Cooper says his divers will do their very best work and they will do it safely and with 100 percent.

9NEWS.com | Denver | Colorado's Online News Leader | Divers head almost 200 feet under water for Cheesman Reservoir repairs

9NEWS.com Denver Colorado's Online News Leader Divers head almost 200 feet under water for Cheesman Reservoir repairs

Video Click Here

CHEESMAN RESERVOIR - Wanted: Deep-water diver who is not claustrophobic, has zero problems with isolation, works well under pressure and isn't ashamed to talk like Daffy Duck.

Cowards need not apply.

 

John Ventress has never authored a want ad, but if he had to his first one would probably look a lot like that. Such is life for the man who's heading up a multi-million dollar repair project currently taking place inside Cheesman Reservoir.

"This is a mindset. It's not for everybody," says Ventress who works for Seattle-based Global Diving and Salvage. "You have to be able to deal with things and not let things bother you."

Since August, divers with Global Diving have been working on repairing and replacing the dam's century-plus old valves at depths that sometimes take the divers nearly 200 feet below the surface of the reservoir.

"When they built the dam 110 years ago," says Ventress, "the valves were built into the dam, so they just can't shut off the upstream side of the tunnel."

The new repairs should be done by the middle part of November.

"This dam was quite the feat of engineering for the turn of the century," says Denver Water's Brian Daniels.

But time has caught up to the old dam, he says, and Global Diving offered up the best possible solution. It's a solution that has divers in the water 20 hours out of every day.

"I'm a certified rescue diver, but this is just a different deal," says Daniels.

For 28 days straight, four divers live inside of a highly-pressurized and rather small tube that rests on the top of a barge that floats on top of Cheesman Reservoir. Working in two-person teams, the divers spend about 10 hours a day in the water working on repairs.

When we went out to visit with them, the divers were working at a depth of 195 feet. The pressure down there is roughly the equivalent of nearly 6 atmospheres.

At that depth, the divers must breathe in mostly helium. The air we breathe in is mostly nitrogen, but at that depth, the pressurized nitrogen would lead to nitrogen narcosis. In that kind of environment, divers would be working on a "fuzzy" mind.

"Helium is an inert gas, so it doesn't affect us, where with nitrogen at depth you get a narcotic effect," says Ventress.

The 28 day shifts enable them to limit the number of times the divers must have to go through decompression, time that is considered "wasted time" for skilled divers. Even still, divers working at depths of close to 200 feet have to decompress for approximately 66 hours before they can safely breathe air at the surface.

"You have got to have your mind in the right spot," says a smiling Jimmy Giessler, a diver for Global Diving. "This is enough to drive anyone bonkers in here."

Global Diving has worked on projects from the Gulf of Mexico to the waters off of Alaska. The repairs at Cheesman represent phase one of a two-phase project that should be completed by the middle part of next year.

 

(KUSA-TV © 2010 Multimedia Holdings Corporation)

CPR switch: Chest presses first, then give breaths - Health - Heart health - msnbc.com

Geoff Rose shared this page that I thought would be helpful. Thanks Goeff

CPR switch: Chest presses first, then give breaths - Health - Heart health - msnbc.com

Haraz N. Ghanbari  /  AP file

Under the revised guidelines, rescuers using traditional CPR should start chest compressions immediately — 30 chest presses, then two breaths.

By JAMIE STENGLE

The Associated Press

updated 10/18/2010 12:30:22 AM ET 2010-10-18T04:30:22

DALLAS — New guidelines out Monday switch up the steps for CPR, telling rescuers to start with hard, fast chest presses before giving mouth-to-mouth.

The change puts "the simplest step first" for traditional CPR, said Dr. Michael Sayre, co-author of the guidelines issued by the American Heart Association.

In recent years, CPR guidance has been revised to put more emphasis on chest pushes for sudden cardiac arrest. In 2008, the heart group said untrained bystanders or those unwilling to do rescue breaths could do hands-only CPR until paramedics arrive or a defibrillator is used to restore a normal heart beat.

Now, the group says everyone from professionals to bystanders who use standard CPR should begin with chest compressions instead of opening the victim's airway and breathing into their mouth first.

The change ditches the old ABC training — airway-breathing-compressions. That called for rescuers to give two breaths first, then alternate with 30 presses.

Sayre said that approach took time and delayed chest presses, which keep the blood circulating.

"When the rescuer pushes hard and fast on the victim's chest, they're really acting like an artificial heart. That blood carries oxygen that helps keep the organs alive till help arrives," said Sayre, an emergency doctor at Ohio State University Medical Center.

"Put one hand on top of the other and push really hard," he said.

Sudden cardiac arrest — when the heart suddenly stops beating — can occur after a heart attack or as a result of electrocution or near-drowning. The person collapses, stops breathing normally and is unresponsive. Survival rates from cardiac arrest outside the hospital vary across the country — from 3 percent to 15 percent, according to Sayre.

Under the revised guidelines, rescuers using traditional CPR, or cardiopulmonary resuscitation, should start chest compressions immediately — 30 chest presses, then two breaths. The change applies to adults and children, but not newborns.

One CPR researcher, though, expressed disappointment with the new guidelines. Dr. Gordon Ewy of the University of Arizona Sarver Heart Center thinks everyone should be doing hands-only CPR for sudden cardiac arrest, and skipping mouth-to-mouth. He said the guidelines could note the cases where breaths should still be given, like near-drownings and drug overdoses, when breathing problems likely led to the cardiac arrest.

Ewy is one of the authors of a recently published U.S. study that showed more people survived cardiac arrest when a bystander gave them hands-only CPR, compared to CPR with breaths.

The guidelines issued Monday also say that rescuers should be pushing deeper, at least 2 inches in adults. Rescuers should pump the chest of the victim at a rate of at least 100 compressions a minute — some say a good guide is the beat of the old disco song "Stayin' Alive."

Dr. Ahamed Idris, of the University of Texas Southwestern in Dallas, said people are sometimes afraid that they'll hurt the patient. Others have a hard time judging how hard they are pressing, he said.

"We want to make sure people understand they're not going to hurt the person they're doing CPR on by pressing as hard as they can," he said.

Idris, who directs the Dallas-Fort Worth Center for Resuscitation Research, said that for the last two years, they've been advising local paramedics to start with chest compressions and keep them up with minimal interruptions. That, along with intensive training, has helped improve survival rates, he said.

He said they found paramedics hadn't been starting compressions until the patient was in the ambulance and lost time getting airway equipment together.

"The best chance was to start chest compressions in the house, immediately," he said.

Race to the Bottom: organizers hope underwater scooter racing is the next sky surfing - Wire - Lifestyle - bellinghamherald.com

Race to the Bottom: organizers hope underwater scooter racing is the next sky surfing - Wire - Lifestyle - bellinghamherald.com

MIAMI At 5-foot-7 and 130 pounds, Michael Vivona has never excelled in sports. But that changed last weekend when the 56-year-old engineering supervisor for an Orlando television station earned a championship in an emerging extreme sport: underwater scooter racing.
Vivona piloted his $7,000 Dive-X Cuda 1150 to victory in a fleet of 15 in the Wes Skiles Memorial Shootout in Key Largo, the third event of the newly formed Wreck Racing League's Formula H2O circuit. The race was held 45 feet deep on the wreck of the Benwood, a 360-foot merchant freighter.
Vivona, a self-described "tech-head" who overcame crippling migraines in both Saturday's practice and Sunday's race, credited his win to his size.

"I'm real small. I'm more streamlined. The whole thing in the water is drag," he said. "There are very few sports that require you to be small. This appears to be one of those - like a jockey racing a horse."
Vivona won a trophy, the checkered flag, a congratulatory underwater kiss from "mermaid" Toni Hyde and a decorative belt handed over by the series' defending champion, David Ulloa. The new champ said he hopes the sport will grow in popularity.
"It's so new. Nothing like this has been attempted before," Vivona said. "We don't know whether it's going to have continued impact. It could go on to be just another fun thing to do with your friends."
Racing underwater scooters, or diver propulsion vehicles (DPVs), is the brainchild of Joe Weatherby, who spearheaded the 2009 sinking of the Vandenberg as an artificial reef off Key West, and Dave Sirak, who works with Vivona at WFTV-Channel 9 in Orlando.
Pondering a way to celebrate the one-year anniversary of the missile tracker's deployment, they planned to race each other around the Vandenberg, but then decided to open the event. A fleet of nine DPVs lined up for the June 13 contest, which was won by Miami's Dean Vitale, inventor of the Pegasus Thruster, a hands-free DPV that attaches to a scuba tank.
Encouraged by the competitors' enthusiasm, the Wreck Racing League took its fledgling Formula H2O circuit to Fort Lauderdale for the Gold Coast Underwater Grand Prix on Aug. 22. A fleet of 24 racers did laps around the sunken freighter Tracey at 70 feet, with Ulloa, an underwater cinematographer from Reddick in Central Florida, taking the trophy.
Known among racers as the "Shark Whisperer," Ulloa is sponsored by Submerge Scooters, which he uses in his job shooting video in water-filled caves. His Magnus 950, which retails for about $6,500, can reach speeds of 300 feet per minute.
"This sport is not cutthroat," he said. "It's camaraderie. It brings people together from all types of diving for a very fun activity."
Following last weekend's Wes Skiles Memorial, dedicated to a pioneering underwater photographer who died in a diving accident in July off Boynton Beach, Weatherby announced tentative plans to hold a fourth race in Key West next month. (Check www.wreckracingleague.com for updates.)
"It's the new X-Games," he said. "We are about alternative power and all things environmental. Everybody's determined to make the league a success."
DPVs are among the most environmentally friendly forms of marine propulsion because they are battery-powered and quiet. Rather than disturbing marine life, one scooter practicing for the Key Largo race piqued the curiosity by a four-foot-long green moray eel that swam out of the Benwood wreck to check it out.
Originally used by scientific, technical and military divers, DPVs now are mainstream - albeit big-ticket - accessories for recreational scuba divers. Priced between $200 and $10,000, about a dozen models are expected to be displayed at the annual Dive Equipment and Marketing Association show in Las Vegas next month.
DEMA executive director Tom Ingram said the dive industry doesn't keep track of DPV sales, but he's glad for any emerging sport that boosts scuba diving's profile.
"People are always looking for ways to compete with each other," Ingram said. "There's not a lot besides breath-hold diving and spearfishing that you can have competition underwater."
Formula H2O racing has provided great fun and stress relief for Nathan Cruz, 37, a retired U.S. Army staff sergeant who lives in Miami.
Cruz survived his Chinook helicopter being shot down in Afghanistan in 2008 only to suffer severe injury days later when his motorcycle was struck by an SUV near Fort Campbell, Ky. Confined to a wheelchair, he underwent months of physical therapy, became a certified scuba diver through the Wounded Warriors program last spring and has scored two third-place finishes in Formula H2O.
"I was born to fly," Cruz said, smiling. "Every time I go diving, I come out and nothing hurts."