Bob wrote:

>My remainder time here is short, so please excuse the short reply.
I decide on mine, and you decide on yours.  The "graudually" ITSELF
is part of the "individualized" application of "KNOW YOUR LIMIT.<

No problem with that statement at all. But "new" divers in particular are
generally not in a position to make that decision wisely. So I don't really
have a problem with "agency limits". They have to make some suggestion
where depth is concerned, whether it's 20m, 40m or 50 m.

After certification, divers should definitely be allowed to make their own
decisions. And as far as I can see, that's what they generally do. Unless
someone uses a dive operation that imposes their *private* rules on the
divers. And then I have the option to not use them if I don't like the
rules.

And while anyone can dive any damn way (s)he pleases, I will still comment
on certain diving practices. There are always good ways and bad ways to
tackle a specific task. The commercial diving guys have known that all
along and have also paid the highest price for being wrong. And Strike
probably has more horror stories than tall tales to tell on that subject. 
(I would hope that he doesn't, but he probably does.)

To take this away from diving for a moment, I used to make a lot of poor
decisions in my "early" skiing days. Not for lack of skill, the skill was
there alright. Just poor decisions such as doing a certain tour on a
certain day under certain conditions (not talking about riding the chair
lift and going down groomed runs here). Of course I was 21 or so and
indestructible. And  I was definitely skiing within my limits every time,
but could have easily  been killed by an avalanche on several occasions due
to poor decision making.  And sometimes I was given advice that I didn't
listen too. I'm still here to talk about it. Doesn't mean that I was right
then.

michael