I can dive anywhere I like (as long as the land-owner allows it) without ANY form of accredited training at all. Some land owners or dive centres ask for accreditation, PADi whatever, to satisfy their insurance policies. You can't mandate it outside a club and the minute you mandate it within...

At Point of Ayr colliery you could walk out to the face at the start of your shift and *just* reach up and touch the roof. End of the shift walking back your head could be bumping the same roof!  :o

You win. I'm done. I'm out.

Who's embracing a long-dead Empire? We're embracing the Britain of today. If i walked around punching a few foreigners in the face or pretending to shoot a few Boers or Zulus that would be as blasphemous and inexcusable as giving a Nazi salute. And you are unspeakable for even comparing the...

Without a doubt that is how it was intended: "Wider still and wider / shall thy bounds be set". Push your boundaries (borders) across continents. Expand the Empire. Doesn't apply now, neither does the sentiment of world domination. So we still sing the same songs but with different meaning...

We have a winner....what a cynical unpleasant view of the world you have.  :( I can't even be bothered to argue back; pointless.

You did, by and large, do the right thing.  :) There is some EXCELLENT content out there, especially for geeks like me, but it nothing that you can't get / find out / learn elsewhere and it is far, far outweighed by the tidal waves of dross that go with it. Some of this dross is just awful, some...

Link to the HSE report. http://www.mineaccidents.com.au/uploads/gleison-colliery-inrush-report.pdf The HSE investigated thoroughly but sympathetically; its definitely one of the better reports I've read. Obviously it assumes some knowledge of the working method; small scale and outdated drill...

Like most things in life, it's never as straightforward as it first appears. There were failings all round but a lot of what happened leading up to the final event was done with the best of intentions. A tragedy happened but it would be difficult to nail anyone to a tree for it and what good...

Common sense, thank you, agree! It's easy to go back 120 years into the past and put a spin on the context; people, the country and the whole world were very different then. Meanings and contexts get missed up and lost.

Seems I'm falling out with everyone on here. It wasn't self-righteous, unlike your attitude, although I accept it was a little sarcastic; intentionally I'm afraid. A weekend-long party with 60-70 people crammed into a caving hut and a bunkhouse is asking for trouble in my opinion.

How about the Covid ward in the ICU department of your local hospital; that's where most of you will end up.....

Yes, the joy of stats manipulation, interpolation and extraction; my quick calculation was that we appear to be 2-3 times more likely to catch it!! Considering that I am a geek in a geeky hobby with a small circle of geeky friends who, when not mine exploring, is tinkering in the shed, I don't...

Something we agree on Roy  :) Yes agree, I wouldn't be without mine. 20bar water resistant, dust resistant, minimum 5 year battery life although the last one lasted nearly 8 years. Replacement straps are cheap and the only thing that ever fails every few years. There is a massive range...

Load of old wazz. And, people being like sheep, fall for the hype. And don't get me started on the DJ who thinks she is an accomplished musician just because she can tap a few buttons in the correct order  :lol: