The Greener Grass

RPM: An Interview with John Van Eaton

2008-05-14T21:20:00.007-04:00

John Van Eaton, a.k.a. JHVE, has been on the road, in the studio and around the world as a technician for such acts as Nine Inch Nails, Guns and Roses, Linkin Park, and KMFDM, just to name a few.
Following up on an earlier posting on The Greener Grass, John paid a visit to Kaleidoscope's studio to have a discussion about the state of the music business.

What has been the most significant technical innovation that has the greatest impact on your profession?

JHVE: The biggest step has been the power of the personal computer, the successive improvements in computers from 20 years ago to now. By the time we could all get a Mac G3 laptop, that was the beginning of something amazing. The machines are just getting better, more solid, and faster. Most machines from the past three years are really reliable. I used to not be able to trust that a computer would be able to run an application like Pro Tools or play Logic files over long periods of time without crashing, you could not use them in a live environment. We would use Pro Tools in the studio, but tracks that were used to back up a band, all that data, would be put on a digital tape machine that was more a hardware device that did not have crash issues like an operating system in a computer. But those tape machines were susceptible to environmental conditions such as humidity and condensation. When the computers finally got to the point of being really stable, we were able to use Pro Tools, Logic and Ableton live out on the road. The other thing is the software growing stronger,more robust, supporting creativity. It used to be to that the only way to put an album together was cutting tape, then in Sound Designer - with just two tracks! Then came multi-track Pro Tools and that became such an industry standard. Recently, Apple bought Logic and created Final Cut and they decided that these tools would be their new standard. People can now get a Pro Tools or Final Cut system and computer for under $2,000. In audio and video editing, the minimum systems used to cost hundreds of times more!

What insight do you have on the current and future state of the music industry?

JHVE: In ten weeks Trent Renzor produced 36 songs for the Nine Inch Nails project "Ghosts 1-4" and achieved $1.6 million in gross sales through his own website and Amazon.com in the first week. This came after the end of his 15 year record deal with Interscope. He was a free agent. He moved 800,000+ pieces of product in the first week! On the previous NIN release "With Teeth" the record company moved 200,000+ units in the first week.
Where as Guns and Roses have taken much longer time to produce "Chinese Democracy" than the entire career of the Beatles!
I wonder if the big record companies can continue to exist.
Prince and Madonna may be making money but there are many others who are in debt because they have a record deal.
If you have a record deal you just get more expensive problems. In 2008 the record company thing doesn't seem to make sense anymore.
A painting is it's own hardware key. It really cannot be re-produced. A photograph can be easily re-produced and has less value. It is worth less than a painting. Music seems to have almost no value if it can be copied by millions, how do we make a living now as musicians?
My friends Sean and Juliette Beavan and their band 8mm have enjoyed great success through their MySpace page and their songs being featured on television shows such as Grey's Anatomy. That's what we are all trying to do as artists in this new world, find new types of income streams.

I think that music is an emotional experience rather than a commodity. The live performance seems to be the way to deliver that. With ticket prices what they are now, the payday for the musician now seems to be the show.

JHVE: Nine Inch Nails always puts on an amazing visual live show. U2 always puts on an amazing visual show. As the record sales have gone down, the tour schedules have become more demanding. It is getting tighter and tighter.
Now Radiohead and NIN have given their records away for free, their income has to come from the shows.

You live the life of musician and technician in the studio, on the road, and as an artist. Beyond that, what do you find that influences, stimulates and inspires you?

JHVE: The experience that made a 180 degree turn on my life was seeing the Cirque du Soleil in 1993. I had no idea what it was. I had such a beautiful evening and I remember everything from that night, from the girl who sold the tickets to the people I met at intermission. It has been a life-altering experience. It is always a celebration of the best, most beautiful things that mankind can do. It has none of the profanity, none of the rot, none of the decay. It shows the strength of the human body, mind and spirit.
It's the passionate pageant of humanity.

Check out John's music and more at www.jhve.com

Motocross as a Lifestyle

2008-05-13T17:47:00.009-04:00

In our study of Leisure and Entertainment I am focusing on opportunities within the dirt biking/motocross community/sport for advances in technology, riding area access, participation and safety.

Motorcycles are my passion. Especially dirt bikes and racing -- whether it be cross country or motocross. Mind you, I'm not saying I'm any good at it, but I do love it.

I was recently excited to come across an innovative company expanding the possibilities of the sport with a new, exciting product: an electric motocross bike. Quantya USA is the American arm of Quantya SA, a company founded in 2005 in Switzerland.

"How can a company be part of the solution to avert global warming without compromising performance and the spirit of enjoyable fun transportation?"

Quantya formed "with this question as the basis of its mission statement to create a line of high-performance, fun and efficient electric motorcycles and scooters for today's environmental conscious individual."

Their Track production model looks to be quite exciting. With a top speed of 45mph, a range of 2.5 hrs and a weight of 195 lbs it looks to be very comparable to a 250F four stroke motorcycle. And as luck would have it, Quantya USA is headquartered just down the road from Kaleidoscope's Long Island, NY office. I have scheduled an interview and test ride for next week. I can hardly wait!!

I'll be sure to post some pictures and perhaps even video with my interview/ride report, but in the mean time, check Quantya out here.

Whet your appetite

2008-05-07T10:06:00.003-04:00

I don't know how many of you out there get the DW (Deutsche Welle) channel but it is without a doubt my favorite on cable TV. It is a traditional news channel but they also feature some more lighthearted stories on art, design, and entertainment. I especially enjoy their segments on Food and Drink. So, go check it out. (I recommend the videos on the right hand side, "Best of the Best" which features some three-star chefs.)

Climate Counts launches their 2nd scorecard

2008-05-07T05:46:00.004-04:00

It's easy to get discouraged about sustainability, but Climate Counts offers hope that change is happening- and faster than you might think. Yesterday they released their 2nd annual company scorecard, and showed that 84% of companies surveyed have improved.

"Business is being pushed by consumers to do their part to solve the climate crisis," said Gary Hirshberg, chair of Climate Counts and CEO of organic yogurt maker Stonyfield Farm. "The Scorecard allows consumers to make good climate decisions in their everyday purchases,and it's having an impact."

Google, Anheuser-Busch and Levi Strauss had the largest score improvement among those scores, each jumping over 20 points. Improvement was broad however, with the average company score improving 22 percent over last year. Nike passed last year's high scorer, Canon, to as the top scored company.

"Company transparency is critical to allowing consumers to make good decisions," said Wood Turner, Project Director. "The time for companies to just say 'trust us, we're good on climate' has passed, consumers want to see the proof behind the green claims. They want to know it's not just marketing talk, but real substantive action."

Visit their site for more details, and stay tuned!

The Best Offense is a Good Defense: An interview with Paul Sparling from the Cincinnati Bengals

2008-05-01T09:23:00.005-04:00

In The Greener Grasses continued effort to interview experts and connect people that are doing, and thinking interesting, progressive things we called upon a local authority in the health and wellness community, The Cincinnati Bengals’ Head Athletic Trainer, Paul Sparling.
For you health conscious people, Paul has timeless words of wisdom- and for you sports fans, it’s just cool to hear directly from a member of a professional club.

As you mention the title here is Bengals Athletic Trainer. It unfortunately is a misnomer, in the old days simply calling somebody an athletic trainer would suffice, but in this day an age the head athletic trainer for an NFL team does much more than just the standard injury care and prevention.

So to start, what made you go into Athletic Training?
I had an interest in going into athletic training back in high school when I was too small for football, too short for basketball, and too slow for track. So it kind of limited my options. I had a coach there who was great and he asked me if I would help him out as a manager, so I toted the clipboard and the stopwatches, but then at the end of the season he asked if I was interested in athletic training. I had no idea what athletic training was, or what it meant. He spent $10 and sent away for a home correspondence course from Cramer products, one of the original product manufacturers for athletic training supplies and I absolutely fell in love with it. With the concept of seeing injuries, trying to prevent them, treating them when they happen, everything from open wounds to sprained ankles to torn rotator cuffs and all the sort of thing and really enjoyed being involved in athletics without having to let any physical limitations get in the way of my participation. So I did that through high school, I was a nine-letter winner in high school all as an athletic trainer. And interestingly enough Don Brown who was a sports director up at one of the local television stations up in Dayton, Ohio where I went to High School, reminds me of this he was a junior when I was a senior in high school and he asked me what I was going to be when I grew up and I told him my goal was ultimately to become the head trainer for the Bengals. Little did I realize that I would end up putting my self on a path that would get me there.

Tell us about your educational background.
I worked as a student trainer and manager at Dayton Stebbins High School, where I went to school. Then I went to Wilmington College I received my undergraduate degree at Wilmington College of Ohio. It was a triple major of industrial education, health education, and athletic training, and then I ultimately received my master’s degree from The University of Cincinnati in health administration. The reason I chose Wilmington was two-fold. One because it was a smaller school, at that time you had to have a teaching degree in order to sit for the certification test, because essentially we are teachers, unfortunately I think the National Athletic Trainers Association has gotten away from that concept and quite honestly you can see a difference in students today than what you had 25 years ago because now they do not have to have that teaching degree. But the other reason I decided I wanted to go there is because I figured if there facilities were good enough for the Bengals to go there for training camp, it had to be good enough for me, and maybe I’d have a chance to meet the head athletic trainer, little did I realize that I would ultimately become the head trainer.

How did that happen?
It turned out the Bengals were looking for a laundry boy to do laundry during training camp and they in the past had always hired somebody from the student trainers. At the college there were three kids ahead of me by seniority that had the rights to be offered the position first, and they all turned it down and I jumped at the chance, and after about two weeks of doing it getting done 3 or 4 hours before the guys in the past used to, the equipment manager asked me to start helping him in the equipment room so I was fitting helmets and shoulder pads, changing cleats and that sort of thing and then Marv Pollins who was the long time trainer there with the team at the time said “When you’re done helping out in the equipment room, why don’t you come in here and help me out in the training room”, once he found out I was a student trainer. So the next thing I knew I was taping ankles and mixing Gatorade and cold whirlpools and making ice bags and stuff. They took me on a couple of road trips that year, I worked all the home games, and in the next year they let me hire a couple of high school kids to do the laundry, so I still oversaw that but was working as a student assistant trainer in the training room and just kinda fell into it, right place at the right time.

Has the Head Athletic Trainer role changed from when you first started out at Wilmington to where you are now?
It is a unique position. It’s changed it’s evolved a significant amount. Probably 25 years ago the head trainer would spend 70% of their time out in the training room actually administering treatments and such, and 30% of the time in the office. Unfortunately now it’s almost reverse. Now you spend 70% of your time in the office doing administrative duties, 30% of your time out in the training room actually treating, and fortunately we’ve got good assistants and student trainer interns that carry out the appropriate treatments. That’s the big change I’ve seen.

What is a typical week like for you during the season?
It’s 7-days a week, there is no such thing as a day off. You use the day after the game as the starting point, which is a Monday. You’re taking care of all the bumps and bruises that occurred from the day before, scheduling MRI’s or x-rays, or administering treatments, and whatever else needs to be done. Tuesday is a player off-day, but for players that are injured, they are required to come in and do treatments. And in addition to treating the athletes, we also give our best forecast for who’s going to be available during the week and who is likely gonna be not able to play on Sunday, because that obviously plays a great deal in the game planning. Wednesday is a full practice day; you’re here from 6:45 am until about 5: practice, treatments, and I’ve got doctor clinic here first thing in the morning to see if there is anything else that we missed earlier in the week. Thursday is the same way. Friday is a lightened, shortened version of that where you practice, but they are in shorts and helmets, there is no hitting on Fridays. Saturday is a walk-through and Sunday is the game, then you start the whole process over again.

What is a typical week like during the off-season?
During the off-season, years ago, about a week after the season was over you could turn off the lights and lock up the doors and then come back in March when the players started coming back. Nowadays there is no such thing as an off-season; we just call it the “non-playing season,” - affectionately. You’re taking care of all the guys that were injured during the year; you’re doing off-season surgeries and doing their re-habs. To prepare for free agency, injury evaluation physicals on the players you’re considering bringing in. You’ve got the NFL combine, which is held every February, where you are looking at the potential draft eligible players - doing physicals on them. And then you’ve got the draft, and then mini-camps and then you’ve got the OTA days, which are basically organized team activities – that’s a nice way of saying practices, and then you’re getting ready for training camp. So you don’t have that long lull, and it makes it a little bit more of a challenge. You do what you can to manage your own personal schedule.

Nowadays there is no such thing as an off-season; we just call it the “non-playing season,” - affectionately.

When did the off-season phase out like this?
This change occurred gradually, over about the last 10 years. The OTA’s changed, free agency became a big deal about 15 years ago, off-season conditioning has become more of a standard around the league, I mean years ago, when the players were not making the kind of money they are now, a lot of the teams had the philosophy, and Paul Brown certainly had it, that the players during their off-season need to be preparing for life after football. That football is considered a short-term occupation, and you better be preparing for that by doing internships and that sort of thing. Nowadays, with the minimum salaries being what they are, if you are fortunate enough to play for several years, you can really prepare yourself quite well financially, where you don’t have to do those kind of things during the off-season, and you can kind of pick and chose what you want to do. So that has definitely changed.

How has this change affected your role?
As the responsibilities have expanded, the administrative aspects of the head trainer’s position have expanded. It’s forced us to increase our staff, which has been good because it frees me up to do the other things I need to do.

How big is your staff?
In addition to myself I have two full time assistant trainers, and then I have a season-long full time fellow. It is a fellowship that we offer to a person who has already graduated, already has their license and is certified. They work with me during the season, and we try to help them at the end of the season get hooked on with another NFL team or into a college setting. We started that last year, and the guy that we had last year we got him a full time position with the Tennessee Titans. And then in addition to the fellow, I have four college student trainers from local colleges and they work with me during the season as well as during the off-season. And they are again full-time college students as well, so this is considered an internship for them. Many of them get college credit for it and it really gives them a head start in what their going to do and what they want to be when they grow up. I’ve got a list of student athletic trainer interns that have worked with me over the past 15 years and on that list there are physical therapists, there’s a physician, there are chiropractors, there are professional athletic trainers- you name it, we’ve seen our guys graduate and move onto other fields related to athletic training, and we’d like to think we’ve played a little role in where they’ve gone.

One of the things The Greener Grass looks at it is how to help consumers sort through all the information out there. How do you find out about methods and products that are relevant to your field and how can the average consumer learn from those methods to evaluate products and services for themselves?
The consumers that I have obviously are my athletes. And we do everything we can to provide up-to-date research on given techniques and given products. There tends to be a general perception that if the team is doing it there’s got to be a newer way to do it. There are gurus out there that get their hooks into these players and sell them on ideas that they’ve got a better mousetrap or they have this better supplement or they have this better exercise technique and what have you, and sometimes it can become a little overwhelming when you’re continually bombarded by it. We have found that most of the other stuff that’s out there isn’t tested, isn’t researched independently, doesn’t have a lot of scientific data to back-up their claims, it’s one fad after another. This year it will be this, next year it will be that and by and large, the things that are time tested, and have research behind them, are the things that are consistent, safe, and effective.

Supplements are a common product between professional athletes and average consumers, what are your thoughts?

If you’re looking for an answer in a bottle, you’re looking in the wrong place.

The problem with supplements is that they’re not regulated by the FDA. So as a result they do not have to adhere to the high standard of purity as well as demonstration of true effectiveness. And as a result you get a lot of guys bringing in supplements that say it’s going to do this or it’s going to do that and it only has this in it or it only has that in it. Often times those items have materials in them that are actually banned by the league, although they may not be listed on the list of ingredients, and that is the problem you run into. I call it the Wild Wild West – anybody can put anything in a bottle, and put on a label that it only has this in it, but it’ll do that for you, and there is absolutely no oversight, no restrictions, no regulation, so quite honestly our philosophy as a team, and mine as a parent is that there is no shortcut. If you’re looking for an answer in a bottle, you’re looking in the wrong place. The old standards of hard work and eating healthy still are the tried and true techniques that work. Nothing in a bottle is going to take somebody who is a marginal NFL player and turn them into a good NFL player, unless there is something illegal in it like steroids. There is just no shortcut to it.

How do you address this topic with your athletes?
Number one we provide educational opportunities to the athletes a couple times a year. I will meet with all the players in a team meeting and review the latest research on certain items and just kind of give them a general warning. The league has set-up a hotline so athletes can do it either themselves or bring it to me, a particular item that they are considering taking and the hotline people will go ahead and research what is listed in the ingredients and determine if there is anything banned on it. The unfortunate thing about it is they always throw the caveat (because these things are not regulated), it’s called “buyer beware” and the athlete is responsible for what they put in their body, and that’s the one disadvantage to it.

Tell us about your methodology when you rush onto the field to treat a player.
You try to get them as comfortable as you can, and then come up with a game plan on determining what approach you’re going to take to getting them off the field, are you going to send them in for x-ray? MRI? Do we have to use a stretcher? or can we walk them off? Do we use the cart? All of this has to be determined in a relatively short period of time. When you’ve been doing it for a couple of years like I have, it’s not that difficult.

You have to make sure somebody’s taking care of getting the crowd away from you, so you can make good decisions and sometimes you do have to ask players around what they saw, because more often then not somebody else saw it or heard it. A player may say “I felt like I got kicked” and somebody else will say, “no he didn’t get kicked he was out in the open”. The more information you have when you get there the better, and then it’s a step-by-step process.

#1 preventing them from hurting themselves anymore
#2 evaluating what you are dealing with
#3 putting together a game plan on how you’re going to address it.

And then get them off the field and keep the game going.

How is the relationship between the athletic trainers and officials?
The officials are great. They will never, ever pressure or push the medical people to move a player before they are ready. It’s a good understanding that we have. And we don’t tell them - well I take it back - sometimes we do tell them what to call when it comes to penalties if they’re missing them...but they don’t interfere with us so we are good with that.

Concussions are a common injury associated with football, how do you determine the severity of the athlete’s condition?
They’re not as common as you would think, it is fewer than a dozen a year per team.

It is a very specific examination that we do on the field. The old days it was how many fingers do I have up and who are we playing and what’s the score – there is a lot more to it now. We are looking for finite, cognitive function in terms of reaction, emotion, memory recall, things of that nature.

Before we allow them to return we utilize a local neuropsychologist who has provided baseline evaluations of each player, (which is basically a brain function test) and we don’t allow them to return to the field until that player has returned to their baseline. We routinely wait 48 hours after the player has suffered the injury before we do a retest to see if in fact they have returned to their normal brain function. If they haven’t, then we hold them in terms of any practice activities until we retest them and see that in fact they have returned to their normal function level. If they have any lingering symptoms such as a headache, dizziness, nausea, insomnia, then we will not only limit their practice, but actually limit their physical activity, restricting them from engaging in even cardiovascular workouts, because we want to keep the blood pressure down. Studies have shown that if they have lingering symptoms and they’re exercising, they actually pro-long those symptoms. So it is a well thought out approach. The league did a good job last year of reminding the coaches, trainers, and physicians of the importance of never allowing competitive decisions to affect medical care, and I’m proud to say that here that’s never been a problem.

Football players are big guys with famously big appetites. What efforts are made to support healthy weight gains and loss? 
Yeah, we do have some big guys, they do have big appetites. We have a dietician who is on retainer who is a consultant but will work with our players, those who either request, or those that we direct to the dietician. We are able the ensure guys that are gaining weight or are losing weight are doing it in a healthy, and safe, and appropriate manner. We will also look at players’ family history, if they have family members that have suffered from coronary heart disease, heart attack, high blood pressure, high cholesterol; we assess that in when we are assessing the athlete. So in addition to not only treating football related injuries or illnesses we also treat and manage the non-football issues.

Fluid intake, to manage muscle cramps, is an age-old debate in fitness, what formula do you prescribe to your athletes? Strictly water, or sport drinks, or a combination of both?
We do an educational session at the start of training camp, talking about heat illnesses, and we include muscle cramps, heat exhaustion, and heat stroke. Most muscle cramps are related to dehydration although not all of them are. So sometimes it is a misnomer to tell people that all you need to do is to drink more fluids because that is not always correct, and also it’s not just a matter that you’re drinking it’s a matter of what you’re drinking.

The important thing is not just the fluid but what you have in it. Gatorade is the name brand that the league has endorsed and it’s endorsed for a number of reasons. One of which, their products are backed-up by science, it’s not just a beverage company that went into sports; it’s a sports company that went into beverages. Specifically designed for athletes and in our particular environment. We do know that in addition to fluids they also need sodium and potassium. I can remember when I was in high school, they were just at that time getting away from giving athletes salt tablets before they’d go out on the practice field, and the theory was that again it’d help prevent cramps, well actually they had part of it right, the sodium was true, they did need that, but they also discouraged water intake, which they needed as well. Gatorade corrected the concept, and we call it “it makes water work better”, yes it has a significant amount of water in it, but it also has potassium in it, and it also has sodium in it, and it also has sugars in it. If it’s not palatable, they won’t drink it. So we again, subscribe to using a significant amount of the sports beverage drinks, Gatorade in particular, water as well.

But again, there’s immediately an assumption if they guy’s cramping it’s because he’s not drinking enough. Often times there are other nutritional deficits that need to be addressed, or it can be a case where an athlete is taking a supplement that pre-disposes them to muscle cramping, and through education, we’re able to get them out of that cycle of putting themselves in a bad spot.

Throughout your initial injury evaluation and basic rehabilitation of athletes, and how your athletes follow your instructions, is there anything (a product or service) that would make it easier for everyone involved?

The easiest thing would be for people to get out of their head thinking that there’s a better mouse-trap, a better machine, or a better exercise, or a better drug, or a better whatever, to think that’s going to somehow shortcut biology – because it’s not there.

Everyone is looking for a short-cut or a magic elixir, or some super new machine that will cut your rehab time in half, accelerate your recovery – let me dispel all of that crap, because that’s what it is. The bottom line is, the body will heal if you let it. The most important thing that we do is to optimize the conditions for the body to heal itself. If we do that, the body will heal as fast as it is going to and no amount of medicine, exercise, different kind of electrical stimulation treatment, or other voodoo is going to change that. It’s not a glamorous thing to tell players, but it’s reality. Hopefully over time we’re able to educate these guys to understanding that there’s no magic, there’s no shortcut. It’s interesting to hear players say “Man, what are we doing using ice? Ice has been used for years, why do we still use it?” It’s real simple. It’s called, it works. The body hasn’t changed. The body’s reaction to hot, the body’s reaction to cold, it’s a physiological response that is consistent, it works, and that’s why we do it. And again, unfortunately it doesn’t have all the bells and whistles, it’s not glamorous, and it’s not fancy, and it’s not chic, if you will – but it’s effective.

The most important thing that we do is to optimize the conditions for the body to heal itself.

How do you address the fact that there is no shortcut to recovery?
The ideal thing is word of mouth. You get a couple of name athletes, veterans that have been around, that will take the younger guys under their wings. And that will help in some instances, but it’s a never-ending battle. There’s one manufacturer of a modality that actually called me and told me that what I needed to do was to get this machine, and put it on David Pollack’s neck while he was in a halo, and it would cut his rehab and recovery time in half. I mean it’s nonsense, the kid had a broken neck. Everybody’s looking for a quick fix, and part of it’s our environment we live in, look at what’s on television, look at what’s on the radio, look what’s in the magazines. It’s “take this pill, and you’ll lose all the weight you want, and you’ll look like this…Use this machine…Do this exercise…Take this supplement…and you can heal things in half the time.” That’s what they’re told, and ultimately that’s what they’re sold, and when you’ve got guys that have significant amounts of disposable income, I tell the players when they bring in some of the things that they bought I say you know what I’ll make you a deal, you give it back, and I’ll give you my machine for half the price, and it’ll be a shoe box wrapped up with foil with some wires coming out of it which will do just as much as what you bought. It’s a never-ending thing that we just continue to have to educate as best we can.

How does the NFL support the physical fitness and emotional wellness of players transitioning to life after professional football?
The league does not get enough credit for the programs that they offer for the athletes. Not only in terms of how to deal with life while they’re a professional athlete but also how to transition for when they are no longer a professional athlete, by encouraging them if they haven’t gotten their degree to get their degree, to provide internship opportunities during the off seasons- during the time they do have an off-season, to begin to think about what they want to be when they grow up – is kinda as I put it.

So it’s more of a league initiative than a team initiative?
Correct. Each team now has a player development coordinator, where one of their roles is to help the players deal with issues that come up, to help facilitate the managing of the educational opportunities, and they’re mandatory now – they didn’t use to be mandatory for the players to go through. We ourselves last season hired a psychological consultant to assist us as well. The idea is to have a well thought-out, well-rounded, multidisciplinary approach to help the athletes both on and off the field.

The idea is to have a well thought-out, well-rounded, multidisciplinary approach to help the athletes both on and off the field.

What can younger athletes (in all sports) do to make themselves more  injury-free?

If you tell most coaches that the player needs rest – rest is a dirty four-letter word in some peoples’ minds. The way I see it, rest can also mean “Resume Exercise below the Soreness Threshold – r.e.s.t.”

Understand that any time that you are involved in a physical activity there’s risk of injury. It happens. Obviously eating properly is a benefit, proper conditioning, proper warm-up, proper cool-down, all of those sorts of things are appropriate. I think in some ways we’ve almost gone from one extreme to the other, and I don’t say the club here, I say society in general, in that I think in many instances, whether people want to believe it or not, there’s the risk and there’s some evidence of episodes of over-conditioning / over-training, that are actually making players, or anybody, more pre-disposed to suffering injury. The body can only endure so much. When you’re off-season gets shorter and shorter and shorter, the physical demands get greater and greater and greater. I think there has to be an awareness that there has to be a proper balance of ensuring that athletes have the opportunity to fully recover from the rigors of a season, before they start training for the rigors of the coming season. And that’s something that we are continually looking at, the strength and conditioning coaches continually are reviewing what they did last year, what they did the year before, looking at injury patterns with us in the medical staff and seeing if there are things that we can and need to do to perhaps offset the mind-set of more is better. More is better to a point. But there is such thing as too much. If you tell most coaches that the player needs rest – rest is a dirty four-letter word in some peoples’ minds. The way I see it, rest can also mean “Resume Exercise below the Soreness Threshold – r.e.s.t.” Which means, rest doesn’t need to mean that they’re laying on a couch watching T.V. and playing video games, it can often times mean that you simply just back down contact, or you don’t have as much running, you don’t have as much pounding.

The body can only endure so much.

It’s hard because so many of them have the mind-set, “I need to do more, more, more – I need to work harder, harder, harder” – I disagree, I think you need to work smarter, smarter, smarter. There’s a balancing act that you have to take into account. As I see it now, the way things have evolved it used to be that training camp was to get players into shape to play, that’s not true anymore. If you don’t come into shape in training camp – you’re gone. I think there is a tendency to over-train, and when you get to training camp if you have over-trained; you’re going to struggle getting through training camp. Not because you didn’t do enough, but because you did too much.

More is better to a point. But there is such thing as too much.

And finally, on a lighter note, if you added up all the rolls of tape you have applied to athletes, how  many times would it circle the earth?
We use on average an excess of 50 miles of tape a season –that includes training camp and mini-camps. That’s a lot.

Census

2008-04-30T13:29:00.001-04:00

As an early step in determining opportunities in Leisure and Entertainment, I checked the latest US Census report. To my surprise, the category exists and lists 50 activities by frequency of adult participation. They range from Adult Education courses to Zoo attendance. Among the highest ranked activities are several that are somewhat similar. In descending order they are Dining Out, Entertaining Friends or Relatives at Home, Reading Books, Barbequing and Going to the Beach – all but one are social activities, usually involving food.

Gaming Addiction?

2008-04-30T10:35:00.004-04:00

More and more online gaming is becoming very popular. From games like Madden where people compete in a sometimes friendly game of football, up to the more intense online gaming and sometimes a new social world MMORPG's. I am a gamer myself, not so much the Online genre but games wide open such as the Grand Theft Auto series, And yes GTA4 is awesome, but this blog isn't about my likes. I have many friends that play MMORPG's, and it consumes their lives. I remember when my brother came home with Final fantasy 11, which is a MMORPG, and on the back of the box, much like on cigarette box's there was a warning telling you not to let the game affect relationships with family, friends, and work. These games are not only affecting social lives but they are affecting health as well. In Asia, MMORPG's are even more popular, than in the US, believe it or not, and there are reports of gamers DYING from playing too long with little sleep.
Is there some way to bring the online gameing fasination away from the computer? Many of us think that because it's a video game we're playing it is fun and relaxing, but should we start worrying? Here is a site that shows signs that someone you know might be addicted to gaming. It also has other interesting article on the genre of MMORPG's

Overnight Sensation

2008-04-29T19:01:00.006-04:00

We can access and enjoy any type of music now in so many different ways. The business model formerly known as the record industry has been completely changed by digital technology, computer software, and the internet. Myspace, i-Tunes, satellite and internet radio are just a few of the many options listeners have for enjoying music. Artists have creatively adapted to these new opportunities and are driving innovation.
As fast as everything is apparently changing, it is important to consider that what is happening is due to the cumulative effect of many people working very hard for a long time to get to this tipping point.
John Van Eaton has been involved in the world of poplar music as musician, digital audio technician and programmer. On the road and around the world on stage and in the studio, John has almost 20 years of experience with such acts as Nine Inch Nails, Guns and Roses, Linkin Park, KMFDM, The Lords of Acid, Love and Rockets and Bauhaus, just to name a few. A list like that certainly places John in the Electro/Industrial/Goth categories and may not be for a general audience, but to hear some great stories and insights into the state of the art then and now, check out this recent podcast interview at
http://www.sonicstate.com/news/shownews.cfm?newsid=6448
Later this week The Greener Grass will interview John where we will dig deeper into the subject of technology and music.

Leisure & The Workplace

2008-04-28T21:29:00.006-04:00

Back before the dot-bomb, businesses added foosball tables, Playstations, and exercise rooms to help increase productivity and improve company culture. While this isn't as popular as it was ten years ago, there is still a push to get the most out of our office space.

They're a couple years old, but Steelcase created some great ideas for collaborative and shared office furniture. I'm inspired to learn more about how leisure fits into the workplace and how our environment can help shape that.

Check out the Time magazine article on Steelcase's work here.

NFL Draft

2008-04-25T14:31:00.003-04:00

In our study of Leisure and Entertainment I’ll be focusing on professional football as a form of entertainment and leisure for fans.

In about 24 hours, the 2008 NFL Draft will commence. Fans will follow their favorite college player’s fate, and/or their hometown team’s future.

NFL fans have zero input into draft decisions (for obvious reasons) but we don’t mind, arguing about draft picks is a form of leisure and entertainment all in itself.

Sports writers and broadcasters conduct mock drafts every year, and fans follow it as intently as they do the real draft.

An interesting spin I found to the draft is the involvement of the fantasy football world. NFL.com itself brings this idea to the table.

“What if general managers and head coaches made their first-round selections based on how it would affect fantasy football?”
Click here to read the full article and draft report from NFL.com.

If this idea were to ever really happen, it would turn a leisurely form of entertainment into a full-time job for some fans – and I don’t think we would mind!

The Sideways effect

2008-04-25T10:21:00.004-04:00

In our study of Leisure and Entertainment I’ll be focusing on the culinary experience as art, entertainment, and leisure.

A few years ago, and in-between freelance jobs I worked at a movie theater that was playing the movie Sideways. The movie was a hit and we sold out the show at the theater for months. If you haven’t seen the movie it is a witty comedy-drama about two forty-something men, Miles (portrayed by Paul Giamatti) and Jack (Thomas Haden Church), taking a week-long road trip to the wine country of Southern California. In respect for those who have not seen the movie yet, I’ll leave the synopsis at that.

Miles Raymond (Giamatti) is a wine connoisseur/wine snob, and in the course of the movie he gives several ringing endorsements for the varietal, Pinot Nior. The most memorable is moment he is asked by Maya (Virginia Madsen), his romantic interest in the movie, why he is so into Pinot, “Uh, I don't know, I don't know. Um, it's a hard grape to grow, as you know. Right? It's uh, it's thin-skinned, temperamental, ripens early. It's, you know, it's not a survivor like Cabernet, which can just grow anywhere and uh, thrive even when it's neglected. No, Pinot needs constant care and attention. You know? And in fact it can only grow in these really specific, little, tucked away corners of the world. And, and only the most patient and nurturing of growers can do it, really. Only somebody who really takes the time to understand Pinot's potential can then coax it into its fullest expression. Then, I mean, oh its flavors, they're just the most haunting and brilliant and thrilling and subtle and...ancient on the planet.”

Also memorable is his line about Merlot, “No, if anyone orders Merlot, I'm leaving. I am NOT drinking any f****** Merlot!”

What continually amazes me is the results that this one movie had on Pinot sales.
The quantified results are here.

Was it the sincerity of the independent film? Was it the portrayals by a team of Oscar winning actors? Was it the excellent screenplay? Or is it the aspirations we have to be experts on wine? We may not ever be able to quantify that.

Dean Kamen is DA MAN!

2008-04-24T08:58:00.002-04:00

How is it that every project Dean Kamen takes on results in pure amazement? Have you seen his latest contraption? Its set up to turn ANYTHING into water! Also check out this sweet clip of him being interviewed on the Colbert Report. ANYTHING? Sea water? Yes! Poisoned slime? Yes! 50 Gallon drum of Urine? YES! and it all runs on cow manure! It's just a really positive reminder that we can find solutions to key human wellness issues through good science and design. Now we just have to find a way to equally share this technology to all.

Leisure and Entertainment

2008-04-23T13:34:00.003-04:00

The Greener Grass team is kicking of the next topic for discussion, Leisure and Entertainment. Leisure is all of the time spent doing the things we don’t have to do. It is a state of mind in which we can kick back, relax, and feel free from obligations. (The word leisure comes from the Latin word licere, meaning "to be permitted" or "to be free".)

We will be focusing on two types of leisure, active and passive. Active leisure takes either physical or mental energy. This could be physical activities like bowling, football, or gardening or it could be mental activities like playing checkers, reading, or painting.

Passive leisure is any activity in which very little physical or mental energy is put forth. This could be something like watching television, laying out at the beach, or playing video games.

We will be discussing such topics as travel, sports, vacationing, cooking/entertaining, video games, etc. We look forward to share our insights and concepts with you.

Papyrus

2008-04-18T09:51:00.007-04:00

With the growing popularity and widespread use of communication tools like texting, Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter, today’s students are more connected than ever. However, few educational solutions take advantage of these tools. Some schools use software like Blackboard, but the interfaces are clunky and outdated. Students don’t like it and faculty can’t or won’t use it. With that in mind, we present Papyrus.

Papyrus is an inexpensive, student oriented e-reader specially designed with collaboration in mind. It allows for on screen note taking with a stylus, as well as tagging the content. These tags are comments similar to those found on discussion forums, shared among all the students and the instructor in a given class. With all of this in mind, Papyrus also serves as a digital replacement for a student’s loaded backpack as it provides textbook, notebook and even a calculator all in one.

Papyrus’ stripped-down, specialized interface makes it accessible to a broad range of users. It’s simple enough that faculty and other adults won’t be intimidated or annoyed, yet functional enough that students will feel like they’re using something current.

One of the most important details about Papyrus is how it is so different from a traditional style tablet PC or PDA. First, the unit is far less expensive at around $100. With a combination of a removal of audio, high-end graphics card, Ethernet port, and a textbook publisher/manufacturer subsidy (due to the subscription based service now that they have no overhead costs of shipping/storage/most manufacturing costs since their books are now digital) the cost is quite reasonable. Second, the device has a much longer battery life (around 30 hours) from using an E-Ink screen. Third, Papyrus’ stripped-down, specialized interface makes it accessible to a broad range of users. It’s simple enough that faculty and other adults won’t be intimidated or annoyed, yet functional enough that students will feel like they’re using something current.

Many students don’t participate in class because they’re afraid of drawing attention to themselves. Papyrus places students in an environment which they’re already familiar with (Facebook, MySpace, etc), giving them a safe, familiar venue to speak out without unwanted attention. It also lowers costs for textbooks by eliminating manufacturing and shipping costs and passing the savings on to students.

Papyrus gives teachers the ability to respond to student issues as soon as they appear in a post and gives the chance to create a game plan for the next class meeting.

Papyrus gives teachers the ability to respond to student issues as soon as they appear in a post and gives the chance to create a game plan for the next class meeting versus going into the situation blind, wasting precious class time trying to figure out where to pick up from the last assignment. Most importantly, Papyrus provides collaboration and communication without the distractions of current technology like laptops.

With rising energy costs, other big beneficiaries to the Papyrus device include textbook manufacturers and publishers. This subscription based model means an optimized cost structure with steady revenue. Digital distribution lowers exposure to rising cost centers like fuel and raw materials. It eliminates the used textbook market, allows them to add rich content to books, and delivers updates and corrections without printing a new edition.

Papyrus may not be the end-all-be-all solution to better communication and collaboration in the classroom, but we hope that the concept can be a catalyst for discussion about improving the classroom experience for everybody involved. Please let us know what you think.

TGG wrap-up: Identifying the key themes of Family & Community

2008-04-16T15:55:00.019-04:00

These are the common themes we observed in our study of Family & Community. (Please note that these are just our observations, you may have made your own. You may not agree with us. What we hope, is that we have opened up an interesting discourse. Comments are encouraged and appreciated. Thanks, TGG team.)

The desire to be connected all of the time

We are becoming ubiquitous to each other. We know what our family, friends, and co-workers are up to, all of the time. Blogging continues to become one of the most popular ways to keep up with friends. Websites like Twitter, PartnerUp, Coroflot, and others allow us to connect in new ways. We can even get help with our homework on sites like Cramster. Electronic devices, cell phones and computers, allow us to be connected almost anywhere, anytime. They have allowed us more mobility and in general have improved our lives. However, the freedom they have allowed does not come without consequences. The demands of doing too many things at once has us stressed to the max, working longer, harder, and perhaps less effectively.

We seek to authentic connections locally

As we have continued to connect using our computers we have also taken a step back and started to value our time away from the electronic world. We are seeking ways to connect with nature and with our communities. Grassroots volunteer programs like Cincinnati Eco-Garden and the United Way help us to stay connected with our communities.

Eco friendly products and communities are applauded and valued

We don’t see this core value going away soon. We see it as becoming an integral part of everything we do. While some would argue we are suffering from “Eco-Fatigue” the trend of committing ourselves to reducing, reusing, and recycling shows no sign of slowing. We are continuing to seek out products, like Nau & Reef clothing, where the sources of the materials are known. We also see the consumer willing to donate a portion of their purchase towards this cause.

More participation in our products, more customizing
As we see the rise of customized blogs, online communities, etc. we also see that the consumer is looking for that same feature in the products they purchase. We will continue to see the rise of niche brands and brands that let us add our own personal touch, like our multitasking remedy, Tame. We also see the word-of-mouth buzz can make or break a new product.

Tame Your Multitasking

2008-04-09T10:37:00.009-04:00

Multitasking is impossible to escape in today’s world. As humans, we’ve always had the desire to stay connected to the people around us. Now that technology has made this easier than ever, we’ve developed a fear of urgency that any given phone call, email, or text might be really important. Multitasking is necessary, but it can be dangerous in some situations. Texting while driving is the number one distraction for new drivers, but it would also be difficult to restrict all phone use in a car. While we’re stuck with this desire to be connected, we think we can tame our multitasking.

Tame is a concept that sets a status message synced with all of your devices and applications. If you’re driving or need some privacy, you can tell Tame to handle auto-responses to your phone, IM, text, Facebook, and more. You can store messages on each face, and when you need to change your status, just rotate the cube to the desired face. Besides a written message, Tame uses a red-yellow-green color coding system to let people know at a glance if they can contact you.

An away message in Instant Messenger is useless to a person who is making contact via mobile phone. Tame delivers convergence of all these services, ensuring that someone trying to contact you will know your status regardless of the method.

Currently, multitasking requires people to manage multiple devices and applications indepedently. An away message in Instant Messenger is useless to a person who is making contact via mobile phone. Tame delivers convergence of all these services, ensuring that someone trying to contact you will know your status regardless of the method. Online software allows the user to customize their status messages from anywhere they have internet access, and Tame updates live via Bluetooth. Most importantly, the Tame interface is buttonless. To safely switch your status to “driving,” simply spin the cube to the right face.

Multitasking is an important part of our personal and professional lives, but sometimes you need to focus. Tame lets you concentrate on work when you need to, without giving up the peace of mind that you will still be able to receive a call if it is urgent. Tame doesn’t screen any incoming calls, so you can still answer any message if you choose.

Tame offers an alternative to the current method where all messages are of equal importance and difficult to screen. We see both the benefits and drawbacks to multitasking, and aim to create a dialogue on how to be both safe and efficient with it.

Cincinnati Eco-Garden

2008-04-08T12:32:00.001-04:00

We spoke with Luke Ebner of the Over the Rhine Eco-Garden, in Cincinnati, OH, about running a small community oriented non-profit. The OTR Eco-Garden is a non profit that pays local teenagers to work on an urban farm. The teenagers learn how to plan, plant, harvest, and market their produce.

What is the Eco Garden?

The Eco-Garden was started under “Impact Over the Rhine” in 1998, with Eric Powlowski as the director. “Impact Over the Rhine” was an environmentally conscious non-profit in downtown Cincinnati. It consisted of a recycle crew, an art group, and the Eco-Garden. The Eco-Garden is a small organic farm in the middle of Over the Rhine. The farm is an urban youth market-garden, and is similar to programs in other cities. The idea is to train kids to plan, plant, harvest, and market organic fruits and vegetables.

How do you find the kids?

Under “Impact Over the Rhine” we had a good location at Findlay Market and we found a lot of kids through word of mouth. Now we operate under Memorial Incorporated and we visit schools, like the Rothenberg School, to recruit kids. We also put up fliers to find kids in places where they hang out. After we find the kids, we teach them the whole process of farming. We are at Findlay market during the growing season, from May-November.

How many kids and gardens?

Right now, we only use the garden in Over the Rhine. The kids are paid $6 an hour, as a stipend, so no taxes are taken out. Right now the kids work five hours a week, because we are saving our funds for the summer when they will work ten hours a week. In the middle of the summer we sometimes have more kids working even more hours. Our program would like to involve the opportunity for sponsoring a kid. Anyone who sponsors a kid would get a weekly share of produce.

Other than Memorial Inc., who else support you in the community?

Our main partner is the Civic Garden Center. They support us with adult volunteers and seeds. Right now we have to truck water to the Eco-Garden. The Civic Garden Center recently received a grant that will help us get a water source into our garden. Turner Farms is also one of our biggest supporters.

How has the Eco-Garden affected the local community?

Many of our kids get to take home vegetables, and a lot of the kids retain the knowledge about farming. They are very proud to be at the Findlay market stand doing consumer education about why people should buy local food.

One of the main things that we teach the kids is that their job is not only a paycheck, it is a skill. In the great depression, Victory Gardens kept people from starving, and as we enter times where food is becoming more and more expensive because of gas, they are going to have an option to know how to survive.

We also try to teach the kids that the food that they are getting (from the garden) is superior. We teach them about genetically modified foods and pesticides. We teach them that most food that they buy from the store is basically nutrient dead, because it has often been almost two weeks since it was picked. The nutrient levels go down the longer food is shipped. When we are selling food at Findlay market, we harvest it the day before.

In the great depression, Victory Gardens kept people from starving, and as we enter times where food is becoming more and more expensive because of gas, they are going to have an option to know how to survive.

What are some of the frustrations you have?

A frustration to me is lack of city support. Last year we had a meeting with the health commissioner. He was interested in our program. We wrote a grant proposal for youth funding and for another an adult supervisor; so I can focus on producing the food and get more help with managing the kids. We never heard back from them. We want the city to give us more support: sponsor us, brag about us, and maybe even expand our space.

My other frustration is that they are doing development around the garden, and the developers want a part of the garden for their own uses. I don’t want to stop development around the garden, but I would like to work with the developers. Maybe, they could convince their tenants to sponsor a kid. They could sponsor a kid for 15 dollars a week.

Great! Let's check out the Garden!

MediaPost reports on Gen Y's demand for eco-fashion

2008-04-07T13:34:00.002-04:00

Echoing many of the things we heard in our interview with green fashion pioneers Nau, MediaPost reports that Gen Y consumers are driving demand for environmentally and socially conscious clothing brands higher than ever:

For years, clothing has lagged behind other industries. And it's hard to deny that "green fashion" is oxymoronic: The environmental police demand that consumers reuse and recycle, while the fashion cops urge shoppers to cast off anything left over from last season. So it's hardly a shocker that the government estimates that each American throws away about 68 pounds of clothing and textiles each year.
"After all, the entire fashion industry is predicated on planned obsolescence," says Ian Yolles, VP/brand communication for Nau, a Portland, Ore.-based clothing company launched last year by a group of former Nike and Patagonia executives.

Full article here

Design can Change: the Graphic Design community takes a pledge

2008-04-04T14:18:00.007-04:00

I frequently visit Eric Karjaluoto's site, ideasonideas which is a excellent collection of essays on design. (Eric is a Partner/Creative Director of smashLAB, a Interactive strategy & web development agency in Vancouver, Canada.)

His latest essay grabbed my attention, Reflections on Y13: Seeds of Change. Needless to say, I had to check out their initiative he mentioned in the essay, Design Can Change. It is a resource and commitment of a group of Graphic/Interactive Designers who seek design solutions that encourage sustainable design. I look forward to seeing this promising initiative grow.

So, please go check it out.

Coroflot talks about networking

2008-04-01T16:55:00.002-04:00

To follow up on our interview with Steve Nielsen, there are some great articles over at Coroflot's blog Creative Seeds. For those in creative careers, Carl Alviani discusses the new ways people network and find jobs.

What we're really talking about here is a two-way process, unlike the one-way "siege" that once characterized the job search. Even while the job-seeker is finding ever more ways of contacting employers and finding opportunities, those employers are discovering more ways of finding out about their applicants.

Check out the full article here.

PartnerUp's Steve Nielsen

2008-03-31T15:30:00.006-04:00

Sharing a common goal or interest is an essential element to communities. Struggling to grow his own small business, Steve Nielsen created PartnerUp to help fellow entrepreneurs network and communicate. We talked to Steve to learn more about how to get the most out of our social and professional networks.

Please tell our readers a little bit more about PartnerUp and how it works.

PartnerUp is the first online social network that focuses solely on bringing together and helping small business owners and entrepreneurs. We help entrepreneurs and small businesses find the co-founders, executives and board members they need to help make their business ventures a success. We help our members network with other entrepreneurs and small-business owners and find commercial real estate and small-business friendly service providers. And we also allow our members to ask for and offer up advice.

What inspired you to create this site?

I had an idea for a radio-frequency identification (RFID) company a few years ago. All I needed was to find the right electrical engineer to design and engineer the product. After I spent months exhausting my search for this person, I decided to scrap the whole idea. Some time later I found the man I had been looking for, but by that time it was too late. Then it occurred to me, "There has to be a better way for entrepreneurs to find the right business partners and co-founders." That is where the idea for PartnerUp came from.

The Greener Grass is studying communities. Have you seen shifts in how people collaborate and form relationships online?

Yes, dramatically. I think that the biggest shift has been from offline to online, and it's only going to continue to shift more and more toward online as time goes on. Offline networking doesn't allow you access to the people that you really need. Even if you are at a general networking event with more than 500 people, the chances of the exact right people being there and you stumbling across them are slim. This type of networking is non-targeted and requires a great deal of effort. The advantage of online, however, is that you can network with exactly the people you need, minus the clutter. So more and more people are opting for online networking because of its efficiency. The same principles apply to collaboration. There is a lot of noise and clutter with offline collaboration. Online collaboration allows you to focus in only the areas that you are concerned with.

What are the most important aspects to managing your social networking? Are there differences between managing a virtual group of people as opposed to a physical one?

Making yourself available to your members is first and foremost. You must be available to provide relevant advice to these people. You also must be available to be a facilitator and a gatekeeper for members of your network. Beyond that you also have to be willing to seek advice from people who have the experience you are looking for. You then, in turn, need to be willing to return the favor and offer advice of your own when asked for it.

Focus on quality over quantity. You don't have to network with everyone and his brother. If you do, you're going to end up with a ton of mediocre contacts that will become difficult to manage. Instead focus on those who have relevant experience to you.

There are huge differences between managing a virtual group versus a physical group. When your group is online, the effort you put into it is less, but the payoff is substantially higher because the effort is concentrated on the areas that are important to you. When your group is online, you can cut right to the chase.

Can you share any specific examples of partnerships created through PartnerUp?

Andy Wilson, a San Francisco entrepreneur and longtime Web developer, had an idea for a travel Web site but had no selling or marketing experience. He spent nine months searching for a partner to compensate for the skills he lacked. Then he heard about PartnerUp and posted on the site. A few weeks later he found the exact right person for the job. Today, they're developing a new web 2.0 travel site.

What advice would you give to someone trying to get the most out of their own social network?

Focus on quality over quantity. You don't have to network with everyone and his brother. If you do, you're going to end up with a ton of mediocre contacts that will become difficult to manage. Instead focus on those who have relevant experience to you. When you find those people, then you can take the time to foster those relationships.

Thanks, Steve.
To learn more, visit PartnerUp.