tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7126131564610858851.post9178849409583241339..comments2023-09-09T10:21:32.853-04:00Comments on The Hackensack: Answering Requests, Part IIDaveinHackensackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01313169814904229272noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7126131564610858851.post-9742521305687619812009-08-25T23:59:10.901-04:002009-08-25T23:59:10.901-04:00Funny you should mention airbags. I was going to m...Funny you should mention airbags. I was going to mention this in its own post (I still may, if the motivation hits me), but remember that previous thread about books for entrepreneurs? In it, I linked to the venture capitalist Fred Wilson's blog, but after I wrote that post, someone mentioned Neal Stephenson's book Snow Crash in that thread. In that book, set in the future, one of the characters -- a teenage messenger girl, of sorts -- would hook herself up to cars, and cruise through traffic on roller blades. She didn't wear a helmet, but if she fell, an airbag would pop up out of the shoulders of her suit to protect her head. <br /><br />Back to the mention of this book on Fred Wilson's blog: after the commenter mentioned Snow Crash in the comment thread, Fred jumped in and said that Snow Crash was one of Union Square Ventures "guide posts" or something like this.DaveinHackensackhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01313169814904229272noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7126131564610858851.post-87958516485961493162009-08-25T23:49:36.751-04:002009-08-25T23:49:36.751-04:00That's a good idea. I don't think it's...That's a good idea. I don't think it's necessarily grandiose. All it would take would be for the robotics type of technology (or something along those lines--maybe a material that would become rigid, along the sides of the head, like in a gas spring mechanism, in response to that axial loading). I guess that's not really saying anything, for me to wish for a material with spring-like properties. I'm surprised that car safety hasn't progressed more. There should be computerized proximity alerts and airbags all over the place, down the center of the car, and so on. In most cases, it seems like people need to witness a disaster of some kind, such as a car accident, to develop ways of preventing the disaster in question.Johnnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7126131564610858851.post-85986389211849175672009-08-25T20:02:50.893-04:002009-08-25T20:02:50.893-04:00Glad you liked it. You're right that you could...Glad you liked it. You're right that you could do it incrementally by district (or by league) but you couldn't do it incrementally by player or parent. Generally, the schools buy the equipment, and they're not going to buy it unless A) the parents demand it; B) the other schools, the league, etc. are OK with it. <br /><br />When I still had a patent on this, I thought of approaching that football coach I mentioned in a previous thread about helping to sell this. He was a bright guy who sort of chafed a little about teachers' pay (even though he probably did pretty well for a teacher, working in a high-end district), and he worked a side job at a swim club run by another teacher. Smart guy + football coach (leadership skills) + teacher (presentation/platform skills) + wants more money = good sales guy. <br /><br />Coincidentally, Nick B...[don't remember the spelling of the rest of his name], the former college linebacker (and son of the former NFL star) who got paralyzed 20 years ago was on the cover of a magazine this week in Barnes & Nobel. I forget which one. You could conceivably get him as a spokesperson for you, and wheel him into a high school auditorium full of football players' parents. I wouldn't want to be on the other side of that pitch; it would be like kicking the late Christopher Reeve out on his ass.DaveinHackensackhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01313169814904229272noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7126131564610858851.post-85174067935048478802009-08-25T09:01:20.816-04:002009-08-25T09:01:20.816-04:00Wow, good post. I suffer from grandiose fantasy id...Wow, good post. I suffer from grandiose fantasy ideas too. That is an interesting concept, maybe when your websites take off you will have the capital to push it. I think it could be done incrementally, if you attack high school football first (like how amateur boxers wear protective gear the pros don't) district by district. First step would be fear-mongering the High School football moms about the risk of injury to their precious ones and then they'd lobby their school districts. You may have to shamelessy take advantage of some tragic injury to do this. And it would still be a hard sell. The kids would resist.<br /><br />(That face does have a mocking smile, doesn't it?)JKnoreply@blogger.com