Miscellaneous
British War Graves
We live in a comparatively free society in the UK. We can park on double-yellow lines, smuggle in more than our Duty-Free allowance, smoke illicit material and even cheat on our Income Tax returns; that is until we get caught. During a summer in the early1980s I had a project in Yorkshire and, living just north of London, I found that I could easily commute if I travelled in the early morning. I drove my exotic sports car at high speed up the M1 each day, leaving at 4.00am, and rarely saw another vehicle on the road. I drove so quickly it was like low level flying without actually leaving the ground. It was also illegal. On the fourth day I was ambushed by a group of police patrol cars that lay in wait, one with a radar gun and the others to block the road. They had clocked me at 140mph. Later in Court, I pleaded guilty and walked away with the opportunity to get a new driving license. I certainly didn’t try to prove that the law was wrong and that I was perfectly safe driving at that speed at that time of day. The law is the law. For many years, in Spain, one had to get permission from the Navy to use scuba equipment. In Greece, if you were merely found to be in possession of scuba equipment on your boat, the vessel was liable to confiscation. These laws were very inconvenient but those that chose not to abide by them had only themselves to blame when they got caught. Thankfully things there have changed for the better. Now there may be some British laws that people disagree with. The subject of wrecks listed as protected War Graves might be one of them. We all know that the lost souls have... More »
Dad and Daughters take Family Vacation Diving with Great White Sharks
PADI and NAUI Professional Divemaster and Assistant Instructor Roger J. Muller, Jr. takes his Daughters on a Trip to Remember By Sally Deering Some families vacation in the mountains, some visit Florida's Disneyworld, but Roger J. Muller, Jr. of Hoboken, New Jersey, Professional Divemaster and Assistant Instructor who holds 80 PADI, NAUI, TDI, SDI and SSI certifications decided to give his daughters Kelsey, 19, and Taylor, 15, a trip to remember. Muller took his daughters, who are also certified divers, aboard the Nautilus Explorer to Ensenada, Mexico's Guadalupe Island where they plunged 40 feet below the water's surface to observe the behavior of the mysterious Great White Sharks. Muller chose the Nautilus Explorer, which takes small groups of scuba divers on unique diving expeditions to give his daughters a memorable vacation away from the daily demands of their busy lifestyles. Muller, a Certified Professional Insurance Agent oversees Muller Insurance, the family business, in Hoboken, and in his spare time serves as General Manager and Captain of the Hoboken Rockets Ice Hockey team; Kelsey is a sophomore studying economics at Harvard College in Cambridge and Taylor is a high school sophomore. "It's a wonderful bonding experience," Muller says. "They get the opportunity to see Great White Sharks in their natural habitat and learn about shark advocacy. It's also five days on a boat with no Internet access or cell phones to text boyfriends." Based in British Columbia, Canada, the Nautilus Explorer takes divers to the giant mantas and dolphins of Socorro Island and adventures into Alaska, British Columbia, the Sea of Cortez, the California Channel ... More »
The Use of Trial Exhibits by Expert Witnesses in Litigation
I did an article for Undercurrent called "Anatomy of A Diving Lawsuit" in 2009 that dealt with the analysis of a specific single case and trial that I worked on as the defense maritime and diving expert. This involved the disappearance of two divers at Cocos Island, nearly 500 miles offshore of Costa Rica. This is follow up piece that expands the narrative. A key thing at trial is being able to use exhibits during testimony to help the jury understand complicated facts, theories, and the geography on an area where an accident or fatality has occurred. It's a complicated process and most trials end up being won by primary expert witnesses during their live testimony. Doing the "grunt" work on the files is fairly routine but takes time and a bit of careful strategy in coming up with a defense posture that can play effectively to a judge or jury. But there is nothing like the pressure of a live deposition or trial wherein the absolute necessity for extemporaneous and calculated quick thought plays such a vital role. As an expert witness, it is impossible to fully anticipate where the cross-examination will go, what ploys are attempted by opposing counsel, what tactic to deceive you about the actual evidence or prior testimony may be taken, etc. It is a very stressful role to play as you must not only protect the defendants' conduct with sometimes very extemporaneous responses, but also remember to maintain control and speak to the jury as a credible, likable, and professional witness in whom they should place their trust to explain the complicated facts and nuance so they choose to favor your opinion over that of the opposition. It is an arena that few people do well in and requires a tremendous degree of control and... More »
Working to Protect Marine Ecosystems: Oregon Bans Shark Fin Trade
In June 2011, Oregon passed legislation that prohibits the distribution and possession of shark fins within its state. Oregon House Representative Brad Witt, House District 31, sponsored House Bill 2838, which declares that an individual may not "possess, sell or offer for sale, trade or distribute a shark fin" within the state. Bill 2838 effectively closed a loophole that existed in Oregon state law, which prohibited the practice of "shark finning" within state waters but did not address the possession, distribution or trade of shark fins. House Bill 2838 prohibits such activity and effectively clarifies the rules adopted to prevent the establishment of a shark finning industry within Oregon. Shark finning is the process of removing the dorsal, pectoral, pelvic, anal, and tail fins of a shark. After all of a shark's fins and its tail are cut off, the rest of the shark is discarded back into the ocean. The shark is then left to survive without any of its limbs, which often results in starvation, suffocation and eventually death. In 2010, nearly 73 million sharks were killed as a result of shark finning. Sharks' slow reproduction rates raise many concerns over the survival of many shark species. Sustained growth in the demand for shark fins, which are used in traditional Chinese shark fin soup, may deplete worldwide shark populations and leave marine ecosystems without an important natural predator. Representative Witt's bill follows the passage of Hawaiian Senate Bill 2169, which also prohibits the sale, distribution, possession or trade of shark fins within the island state. Guam, Chile, the Bahamas and Washington State have already approved similar legislation. California [passed! -- editor] and the Northwest provinces of Canada are currently considering adopting shark finning laws as well. In 2012, Taiwan will move to ban shark finning at sea, and it will be... More »
New World Record!
I was in the Bahama Islands in the late 1960’s. I had just awakened my mania for Scuba and decided that Going Diving was I wanted to do with my life. I was glowing with the excitement of self-discovery when I was confronted with the shocking news that two local divers had died trying to break the World Depth Record for Scuba Diving on Air. I seem to remember they were diving out of Small Hope Bay on Andros Island. The team of three had successfully completed previous practice dives to record depths and were ready for the officially sanctioned Record Dive to make them the World Record holders. Just hearing of the attempt got me thinking weird thoughts. I had just been studying partial pressures of gasses, and learned that their medical effect changed as the partial pressures increased. Nitrogen became narcotic and produced “Rapture of the Deep” – Nitrogen Narcosis. Oxygen at a high enough partial pressure became toxic and could produce out-of-control muscular spasms. The gases in air become poisonous with increasing depth. It seemed to me that what these divers were actually doing was equivalent to seeing how much Arsenic they could take before they would die. Pretty stupid, I thought, what is the point? And more than that, what organisation could possibly sanction such a record. Would it qualify for the Guinness Book of Records? But these divers claimed they had developed special techniques that prevented them from getting poisoned, something to do with ice packs and... More »
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