Posted by Brind Really? I've ruptured my ear a couple of times (including during an ascent from a dive) and it's never been a problem.

The rupture was pretty bad. I lost a lot of my hearing ability in that ear, AND its painful. Whenever I go through pressure changes (e.g flights, climbs) its actually quite painful. Even blowing my nose - the doctor I saw refused to clear me for dives.

I'm also a big wimp, clearly: I didn't bother seeing another doctor for it.

Posted by Freak I don't think the US counts as a civilized country when it comes to ocean dumping

I was just about to ask "which part of 'civilized world' you didn't understand"... ;)

Yes, scuttling ships or selling them to third world countries for scrapping is pretty retarded in my view. It's illegal to transport hazardous waste (that is, ships) from EU to developing countries, but shipping companies often go around the laws by selling their ships to someone else before the final voyage. However, I'm sure they'll become more strict in enforcing the Basel Convention in the future and there are already "green" shipbreaking facilities in Europe. With the whole world watching, Costa has no alternatives but to scrap Costa Concordia in Italy. Luckily, it's a relatively new ship, so it does not have asbestos etc.

As for dumping in general, all the ships I'm currently designing follow the "zero dumping" principle. Even the shower water is retained onboard.

the video is awesome! I would love to dive but my swimming skills are very limited... ahah

Now hellfire, that's a good dive! Better than my dive yesterday, anyway. Damn student divers muckin' up my water with their lack of buoyancy control...

to clarify, Navy, or any military vessel, don't have follow the same protocols and laws as commercial or civilian ships?

Posted by RescueMe1060 to clarify, Navy, or any military vessel, don't have follow the same protocols and laws as commercial or civilian ships?

Doesn't make it any less retarded.

Also, within the European Union, I think naval ships are put on the same line with commercial ships. The French aircraft carrier Clemenceau was sold to India to be broken up, but eventually returned to France and was later broken up in the UK.