I learnt a thing or two!

PADI History

The PADI Story

Two Friends, a Bottle of Scotch and an Idea

It’s hard to believe that the world’s largest scuba diving training organization was dreamt up by two friends in Illinois over a bottle of Johnny Walker in 1966.
John Cronin, a scuba equipment salesman for U.S. Divers, and Ralph Erickson, an educator and swimming instructor, were concerned about the scuba diving industry. They felt that the current scuba certification agencies were unprofessional, didn’t use state of the art instruction and made it unnecessarily difficult for people to enter the sport. John and Ralph knew there had to be a safer, easy way for people to learn to breathe underwater.
In 1966, John brought a bottle of Johnnie Walker Black Label and thirty dollars to Ralph’s Illinois apartment in Morton Grove.  They decided it was time to start a scuba training organization. John insisted that the word “professional” be in the name of the company. Ralph wanted an “association of diving instructors.” After a few scotches, the acronym PADI was born: Professional  Association  of  Diving  Instructors.

The Underground Office

The initial start-up meetings took place at several restaurants in Morton Grove and Niles, Illinois. In a few months, Cronin finished a portion of his basement in his home on Main St. in Niles, Illinois to become the headquarters for PADI. He eventually hired his next door neighbor to be a part time secretary. His son, Brian stuffed and sealed envelopes.
The goal: Give more people a chance to enjoy the underwater world by offering relevant, instructionally-valid scuba diving training to create confident scuba divers who dive regularly.

A Torched Logo

When they were struggling for a logo design, John mentioned he wanted something classy like the National Geographic look. Years later in an interview, Ralph said that idea changed the way he was looking at this small two-man operation. At that moment, he could see a big vision for PADI.
Ralph was responsible for putting together the first PADI Logos. After many long hours of working with stick-on letters, he inadvertently left out the word “Professional.” The documents went to print and were used for almost two years before enough people noticed the error. One of the original documents was missing the “e” in “Professional” and hangs in Founder’s Hall at the PADI Americas office in California.

PADI Grows

In the early years, PADI grew slowly. By the late 1960s, PADI had 400 members and it was still a struggling entity. John Cronin had been promoted to Sales Manager at U.S. Divers and had moved the family to Huntington Beach, California.

Cronin went to a huge National Sporting Goods Association show in New York City. While he was there, he met with Paul Tzimoulis, who later became the editor of Skin Diver Magazine. Paul suggested that PADI put the diver’s picture on the certification card. That was a strategic move that helped PADI’s eventual global recognition.

Gaius Julius Caesar

Julie, don't go!

cell group / guitar

Father, thank You for refining me & growing my faith. I choose to stand strong in the midst of difficulty. I choose to bless You no matter what my circumstances are. I trust that You are leading and guiding me in paths of righteousness for Your name’s sake in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Nothings is better...

....than living now for the glorious hope, love and reward of the future, with all of it's uncertainty as the reward far outweighs the lack of things unknown.

I may not sing too well, yet I have found my singing bird

Too much light, I wonder why?

The Charge of the Light Brigade (poem)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Charge of the Light Brigade

Half a league, half a league,
  Half a league onward,
All in the valley of Death,
  Rode the six hundred.
'Forward, the Light Brigade!
Charge for the guns' he said:
Into the valley of Death
  Rode the six hundred.

'Forward, the Light Brigade!'
Was there a man dismay'd?
Not tho' the soldiers knew
  Some one had blunder'd:
Theirs not to make reply,
Theirs not to reason why,
Theirs but to do and die:
Into the valley of Death
  Rode the six hundred.

Cannon to right of them,
Cannon to left of them,
Cannon in front of them
  Volley'd and thunder'd;
Storm'd at with shot and shell,
Boldly they rode and well,
Into the jaws of Death,
Into the mouth of Hell
  Rode the six hundred.

Flash'd all their sabres bare,
Flash'd as they turned in air
Sabring the gunners there,
Charging an army while
  All the world wonder'd:
Plunged in the battery-smoke
Right thro' the line they broke;
Cossack and Russian
Reel'd from the sabre-stroke
Shatter'd and sunder'd.
Then they rode back, but not
Not the six hundred.

Cannon to right of them,
Cannon to left of them,
Cannon behind them
  Volley'd and thunder'd;
Storm'd at with shot and shell,
While horse and hero fell,
They that had fought so well
Came thro' the jaws of Death,
Back from the mouth of Hell,
All that was left of them,
  Left of six hundred.

When can their glory fade?
O the wild charge they made!
  All the world wonder'd.
Honour the charge they made!
Honour the Light Brigade,
  Noble six hundred!

"The Charge of the Light Brigade" is an 1854 narrative poem by Alfred, Lord Tennyson about the Charge of the Light Brigade at the Battle of Balaclava during the Crimean War. He was the poet laureate of the United Kingdom at the time of the writing of the poem.
 

D is overnighting here before the Argus, a gruelling race.

.. angel of the Lord appeared & said to him, ‘The LORD is with you, O mighty man of valour. Judges 6:12

In Scripture, God called Gideon a mighty man of fearless courage. Now Gideon looked around & said, “God couldn’t be talking about me. I come from the poorest family. I’m the least one in my Father’s house.” Gideon saw himself as weak, defeated, not able. But God saw him as strong, confident & more than a conqueror. >>>The question is: Are we going to believe what God says about us? Or are we going to believe what we feel, what we think, what the circumstances look like? You may feel weak today, but God calls you strong. You may feel like a victim, but God calls you a victor. You may be afraid, but God calls you confident. You may be in debt, but God calls you prosperous. You may be sick, but God calls you well. You may be addicted, but God calls you free. You may feel inadequate, but God calls you well able. >Today, get into agreement with God. No matter what the circumstances look like, you’ve got to dig your heels in and say, “God, I agree with what You call me. I’m free, forgiven and healed in Jesus’ name!”

Father, thank You for loving me & calling me Your own. I choose to receive Your Word which is life, health & strength to me. Fill me with Your peace & wisdom & help me see myself the way You see me in Jesus’ name. Amen.

lapu

boo hoo hoo

I will not partake in your fora...

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Which is the plural of “forum”: “fora” or “forums”?

up vote 12 down vote favorite 1	I'm active on many discussion fora, but I see that people more often use the form forums. Are both forms correct and adequate? If so, why there are two forms for the plural of such a short word? plural word-form shareimprove this question edited Mar 7 '13 at 22:44 StoneyB 43.9k23182 asked Jan 23 '13 at 21:45 FolksLord 781415
	2   This is a near-duplicate to an earlier question, "indexes" or "indices", because the answer is virtually the same: a link to a good general reference that will tell you. –  MετάEd Jan 23 '13 at 21:55 2   I would add here more words (just for sake of searchability), statuses/stati and bonuses/boni. –  bytebuster Jan 23 '13 at 22:10 add comment

2 Answers

active oldest votes

up vote 11 down vote accepted

Although the proper Latin plural would be fora, forum has been adopted into the English language--and in most cases follows the rules of English pluralization. Similar changes can be seen with the adoption of other words like octupus (the proper plural would be more like octopedes, but in English we usually say either octopi or octopuses). The current entry from the Oxford Dictionary says: The plural of forum is usually spelled forums; the plural fora (as in the original Latin) is chiefly used when talking about a public square in an ancient Roman city. Since you're talking about online discussion boards, I would use forums instead of fora when you are talking about more than one. An English speaker might understand fora, but it wouldn't come as naturally. ******************************************************************** Part TWO Forums or Fora? Fora is sometimes cited as the correct plural for forum. Although it is indeed correct, there is some debate over whether it is the only correct pluralisation. Most online dictionaries provide both fora and forums as acceptable terms. You will notice that we use the plural forums here at MediaCollege.com. This is for two reasons: It appears to be acceptable English. It is the pragmatic solution. Whilst we are against most forms of language dumbing-down, we are also against unnecessary complication. Everyone knows and understands the word forums. Most people don't know what fora means. There is almost no chance of changing that situation significantly, no matter how hard the purists might want to. Like the failed Esperanto language, we believe reality wins over idealism. It's sad but inescapably true. We don't believe it makes sense to promote fora as the "correct" pluralisation because it creates confusion, offers no real benefit, and can't work anyway so it's pointless trying.