Pre-Ramble: For the uninitiatied, the word Flugtag is pronounced “flew’- tog” … rhymes with “blue’-fog” and it means something like ”Flight Day” in German. 

I consider myself an expert, now that I have attended the goofy event which was recently held in a big Saint Paul park on the banks of the Mighty Mississippi River. Once you’ve shared the Flugtag experience with 90,000 people, you can’t help but be a fan.

Basically, the Red Bull Flugtag features a bunch of teams of five folks who design and  fabricate largely aerodynamically challenged human propelled contraptions that are launched off a 30 ft. tall platform into a body of water below. The Flugtag events are as much about creativity and showmanship as they are about actual flight. (In some years, the winning teams put down some pretty pathetic distances.)

According to wikipedia, Flugtag was invented by Red Bull owner Dietrich Mateschitz, “… although the format was originally invented in a small English seaside town under the name “Birdman Rally.” The first Red Bull Flugtag was held in 1991 in Vienna, Austria. It was such a hit, that it has been held every year since in over 35 countries across the world.

Flugtag 101 – Anyone is eligible to compete in the Flugtag event, although I’m guessing that there is a mutant genetic component found in the DNA of individuals who would actually sign up. To participate, each team must submit an application and their contraption must meet the criteria set by Red Bull. For example, each flying machine (again, the term “flying” is used loosely) must:

• have a wing-span of no more than 30 feet
• have a maximum weight of 450 lbs. … including the pilot
• be powered by muscle, gravity and/or imagination
• be unsinkable (Wasn’t the Titanic billed as unsinkable?)
• be constructed entirely of environmentally friendly materials
• have no loose parts (… it is unclear how rules officials can control for the flotsam and jetsam created by entries that break into smithereenes upon impact)
• have no greater than one square foot of advertising
• be accompanied by some kind of clever/lame skit and choreography to cool amped up music

Team members must wear a helmet, life preserver, mouth guard, goggles and are probably asked to sign a big fat Flugtag waiver. Entries are scored by a random panel of judges in three categories – distance, creativity and showmanship.

The Take-Away:  Are you ready for this?!! … The record for the longest Flugtag flight is 207 feet, set on July 24th, 2010 IN SAINT PAUL, MINNESOTA by the team “Major Trouble and The Dirty Dixies” (record-breaking contraption shown above) in front of more than 90,000 people, which also set a record for the biggest attendance at a Flugtag event in any U.S. city!!!  To see the record-breaking flight, click on the Red Bull Flugtag link here.

Pre-Ramble:  I have always admired, … no, more than that, … I have always revered people who could get by with very little sleep … folks who could presumably get more awesome things done in a day because they weren’t drooling on a pillow for seven or eight hours a night.

Somewhere I read that geniuses don’t need a lot of sleep — folks like Albert Einstein, Leonardo daVinci, Steven Jobs … Presumably, these guys have more hours in a day to spend on meaningful activities like dreaming up theories and inventing things. I’m sure Steven Jobs has been up these last few nights festering over this and that. 

Well, so, if you’re not sleeping, it is a pretty safe bet that you are also not dreaming.  Which, according to dreaming experts means that you are missing out on a whole other way to think and “find solutions to things that confound us during waking hours.” Research suggests that dreaming, which happens in the state of sleep known as REM (Rapid Eye Movement), has been around for 220 million years and plays an active role in our evolutionary history.

In his book Dream Language (2005), founding director of the DreamScience Foundation and past president of the International Association for the Study of Dreams, Robert J. Hoss describes the brain functions suspected of instigating dreams:

“The brain stem and limbic system act as “activators” of the REM state of sleep we typically associate with dreaming and arouse us into the pseudo-consciousness of REM sleep whereupon the amygdala modulates the internally generated cortical input, thus activating the emotion-related processing that stimulates the dream.”

ZZZzzzz…….

Once thought to be a result of “neurons firing randomly,” dreams are now believed to be “mash-ups created by the subconscious mind as it processes, sorts and stores emotions from the day.”  Rosalind Cartwright professor of neuroscience at Rush University Medical Center and author of a new book titled “The Twenty-Four Hour Mind,” explains that the dreaming mind will recall something that happened during the day and connect it with bits and pieces of older memories that are somehow related … “old memories and new memories Scotch-plaided into each other.”

Harvard psychologist Deirdre Barrett, suggests that the “highly visual and often illogical” quality of dreams is “simply a different form of thinking” and an avenue by which the brain can engage in out-of-the-box thinking and problem-solving. Barrett has documented the phenomenon in her extensive study of problem-solving in dreams,

“In one experiment, [she] had college students pick a homework problem to solve … Students focused on the problem each night before they went to bed. At the end of the week, about half the students had dreamed about the problem and about one-quarter had a dream that contained the answer.”

Barrett also reviewed scientific and historical literature to find examples of the types of problems most likely to be solved in dreams. Many of these involved problems that required individuals to “visualize something in his or her mind, such as an inventor picturing a new device.” 

The Take-Away: It’s great to know that a few extra hours of shut-eye can actually serve a useful purpose … and that those of us who enjoy 7 or 8 hours a night aren’t automatically relegated to the sloth heap. Sounds like dreamtime can be busy and productive. (Personally, I prefer to use mine to fly.) Steve Jobs might want to tuck himself in early this week and reset the dream-dial to something like “rubber-baby-buggy-bumpers” … And, maybe if Einstein had slept in once in a while, he may have been able to work out that whole Theory of Relativity thing.

Post-Note: Talk about a dream-sequence … check out recently released film, “Inception” written, directed and produced by Christopher Nolan and starring Leonardo DiCaprio. The plot features a thief who enters the minds of individuals through their dreams to steal – or plant – information. No sleeper, this action packed film is layered with nuance and meaning, lots of shoot ‘em up action, and Leo is looking dreamy.

Pre-Ramble: While you’re hanging around the Old Course this weekend waiting for Tiger to blow up, you might want to trot on over to the Althorp Estate and check out the goods.

Apparently Earl Spencer, brother of our beloved Diana Spencer, auctioned off a bunch of family heirlooms last week, bringing in over 21 million pounds to cover a few restoration projects. 

The 14,000 acre estate, located in Northamptonshire, England has been in the family since the early 16th century. An old joint like that is bound to need a few repairs… he’s probably putting in one of those trendy sport courts and upgrading the home theatre with HD.

I’m not big on Rubens (a portrait went for over 9 million pounds … ), but I am drawn to the spectacular collection of 19th century carriages listed in the sale (one shown above right). Reported to be among “the most important examples in the world,” the carriages (which run exclusively on biofuel, by the way) went for up to 130,000 pounds apiece.  There appears to be ample hauling capacity in these rides and the horsepower is undeniable.

The Take-Away: Nothing like a good old-fashioned garage sale to purge the estate of all that clutter. If you haven’t used it in a year, it’s got to go … isn’t that the suggested metric for this kind of thing? I understand there were also some really good bargains on military uniforms and old LPs.

Post-Note: After the first round of the British Open, Rory McIlroy, 21-year-old punk from Northern Ireland, is in the lead with a record-tying 63.

Pre-Ramble:  Just the sound of the word “innovation” gives me a rush of energy that rises up out of a cross section of art, science and the romantic notions of resourcefulness and hard work. Over the past decade, this glorified word has been slapped all over everything from business schools to soap, claiming the “frontier spirit” and trading on its appeal to dreamers and pragmatists alike. 

There is growing concern, however, that the U.S. prowess for innovation is in danger, and that steps must be taken to ”reclaim our edge.”  John C. Lechleiter, chairman, president and CEO of Eli Lilly and Company expounds upon that sentiment in a recent Opinion page article (WSJ, 7/9/10, p. A17).

A stream of inventions helped make the 20th century the American century … Unfortunately, America’s economy is in danger of losing what has always been our greatest competitive advantage – our genius for innovation. … A recent study ranked the U.S. 6th among the top 40 industrialized nations in innovative competitiveness, but 40th out of 40 in the rate of change in innovative capacity … In other words, we’re at serious risk of falling behind.”

(Forgive me if I’m missing something here, but how much farther behind can we fall if we’re already dead last?)

Building capacity. In crafting a turnaround plan, Lechleiter talks about an “ecosystem” of conditions that are required to foster an environment of innovation, among them the “seeds of innovation” meaning, us human beings with our talent and energy, creativity and insights, “…  a priceless resource and one that is woefully underdeveloped in this country.” Lechleiter goes on to suggest that, along with simplified immigration policies and adequate funding for our research infrastructure, one way to bolster America’s “capacity for innovation” is to step up the rigors of science and math instruction in our schools.

At the recent Apsen Ideas Festival, education gurus like Bill Gates, Jeffrey Canada, and Howard Gardner discuss the future of education in America. They suggest all kinds of great ideas, innovative ideas even, that strive to engage young people in real learning and give them the tools they will need for a successful future. They talk about innovative models for reform … a longer school day, … an articulated curriculum, … more rigorous testing, … accountability for results, … teacher quality and parent involvement.  Certainly, these are all important elements in a high-quality education, and important building blocks for innovation as well.

Jack Hidary, a successful innovator/entrepreneur in the tech and finance camp, former philosophy and neuroscience student at Columbia University, and also a speaker at this year’s Aspen Festival, puts things in another perspective, 

“Problem-solving is not correlated with grade scores on a transcript.”

Science and reading and math – Oh my!  Sure, high performance in math and science (and reading ) are critical skill sets that must be nurtured in the well-rounded innovator, but so too are the critical traits of curiosity, independence and engagement. What is going to actually engage these kids?  Why are they going to want to sit in the classroom longer and take harder courses?  What is going to get them excited to come to school and apply themselves?  To get excited about learning?  How are they going to find what they are looking for in life unless they are given an opportunity to access their their imagination, their chi, their passion, their hidden sources of motivation? What is going to compel these students to shift their internal paradigm such that they see barriers and obstacles as exciting ”challenges to be overcome”?

Follow the yellow brick road.  Sometimes the answer is to go off of the beaten path and find yourself in a whole new place … maybe even one with rainbows, a tin man and ruby slippers (awesome, magical sparkliness shown above). Problem-solving – a gateway to innovation – involves critical thinking, exploration, resourcefulness and creativity. Future  innovators need to develop the motivation and capacity to snoop around … to follow their whims … listen to their gut, and rely on instinct and insight to make new connections among an infinite sea of random data points.

We need to provide kids with opportunities to venture down the yellow brick road … to get out of the black and white and see the world in color on a regular basis. In addition to a crabby Auntie Em and high winds, Dorothy’s data points were facilitated by her encounters with the Scarecrow, Tin Man and Cowardly Lion.  The future entrepreneur needs a firm understanding of math and science and literature, AND art and music and team-work and a whole bunch of other random and wonderful things.

The Take-Away: We’re not in Kansas anymore, Toto. Like Oz and the Fab 4, our the world is spinning and we need to figure out a way to make sense out of it. If we are to have any hope of rebuilding the American capacity for innovation, we need to engage and “nurture the seeds” in new ways. … Even clicking our societal heels in a spanking new pair of sparkly red shoes isn’t going to help us find our way back to innovation if we continue to ignore the critical role that the arts and extracurricular activities play in human engagement and continue to undervalue (cut funding for) them in our public and educational environments.

Pre-Ramble:  So, a friend of mine just got back from a trip to the Boundary Waters in northern Minnesota.  The Boundary Waters is a revered place to Minnesotans; it is a Mecca of all things good and rustic and wild and adventurous.  FYI - If you’re going to the Boundary Waters, you are going camping.

Camping …  you know … dragging a tent, musty sleeping bags, a flashlight and all of your food to a remote location and dumping it onto a clearing in the woods. You spread it all out like you’re playing house and then sit around on a log until the ”wildlife” can divine your location. 

The people who enjoy camping are the same people who jump at fishing and canoeing and hunting and hiking … the out-doorsy folks who have a knack for gathering sticks, reading maps and tying knots. These people use the racks on the tops of their cars.

According to National Park Service statistics, 5.4 million people camped last year, 3.1 million of them in traditional tents and another 2.3 million in RVs. Campers use all kinds of neat outdoor gear … lanterns, canteens, tarps, lots of bungee cords and stuff with netting.  Sure, it all looks real back-to-nature and doable in the retail environment, but you mustn’t lose sight of the fact that being outdoors is a critical part of the camping experience.

Outdoors is a whole nother thing … (you can quote me on that) … there’s dirt, sand, gravel, pointy rocks and picky grass out there. And, there’s nowhere to go to get away from it – except in your tent, which, after ten minutes, also has dirt, sand, gravel and grass in it. And then there are bugs. Bugs love the outdoors and they are everywhere – crawling, circling, buzzing and biting. Unless you’re doused in repellant or zip yourself into your sleeping bag, the bulk of your time will be spent On Patrol, … swinging, swatting, smacking, scratching and bleeding.  Bringing in the added menace of the potential to encounter actual mice, snakes, bats, coyote and bears makes the prospect of the idyllic camping experience simply absurd. 

But, wait!!  A new type of camping has emerged that offers a significantly less rustic experience — glamping.  According to Glamping Girl, an entire website devoted to this travel trend, there’s a whole new way to enjoy the outdoors. A cross between “glamour” and “camping,” glamping brings civilized accoutrements to uncivilized environments.  Glamping is an outdoor experience, often in an exotic location, that integrates cushy, high-end creature comforts like beds, linens, china, chefs, butlers, bathroom facilities, spa staff and cocktails. I bet there’s toilet paper too.

The five-star experience – There are glamping destinations all over the world and a wide variety of living quarters from which to choose … elaborate tents, cliff-side cabins, desert retreats, floating villages, … for example …

• Mille Etoiles offers 14 yurts in the Rhone-Aples region of France overlooking the Ardeche River gorge. Tents are built on oak platforms and furnished with four-poster beds, oriental rugs and antiques… “so guests feel like they are on an Edwardian safari …”
• Montana’s Paws Up Ranch has horseback riding and fly-fishing and accommodations that boast newly built “tents” on the Blackfoot River complete with king-sized beds, art on the walls, a personal butler and private master bath. Rates start at $695 per night for two and include three meals per day.
• Located in a hidden valley 1,000 meters above sea level near two inactive volcanoes in Gunung Gede Pangrango National Park, Situgunung is the oldest tourist destination in West Java and a perfect location for glamping.  Along with intrepid (and supervised) outbound activities, glampsite amenities include pre-pitched fire-proof tents, comfortable restrooms and a five-star buffet.

The Take-Away: How about a glamp-out at the Waldorf-Astoria? … take a day-pack into Soho … do a little white-knuckle shopping on Madison Avenue … hunt for vermin on Wall Street … and have close encounters with the wildlife in Times Square.  Throw in some marshmallows, and this is the perfect summer adventure!  Sign me up!