Hammer Factor – AMONGSTiT Inc

Well we’re back, kinda. Going to take a minute to get the groove back, but good things coming soon. Enjoy and thanks for listening!

In this episode Charlie Walbridge joins us to discuss the now protected corridor along the Cheat River in West Virginia. From there Charlie takes us through his career in paddling and gives us some behind the scenes details about his accident reporting.

And just like that we’re back. In this episode Scott Shipley joins us to discuss the merits and feasibility of modifying rivers to make them less dangerous. From there we bring in Evan Dyer, Pete Frazer, Lou Kronzer and Robbie Gilson to discuss a nearly fatal pin at Go Left on the Green River. Enjoy and we’ll see you on the river!

See all the highlights from NFC HERE! https://hammerfactor.com/nfc-live-2022/ This is a good one! We bring on Freestyle World Champion, Landon Miller, to give us all the highlights from the World Championship in Britain. Joining the discussion is previous World Champion and faather of the current World Champion, Brian Miller. This segment can’t be missed. From there we get the inside scoop on Jen Chrimes winning performance at the NFC. Rants and Raves, Listener Mail, it’s all here! As always thanks for listening. Enjoy! Hammer Factor Subscription Options Itunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/amongstit-inc/id1095013227?mt=2 Stitcher: http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/john-grace/the-hammer-factor?refid=stpr RSS Direct Feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/HammerFactor Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfNW1jev8xx84dc05QZGqKA Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/hammerfactor/?

Punch your ticket to the best seat in the house for the North Fork Championship HERE! https://hammerfactor.com/nfc-live-2022/ Take action on the Montgomery County boating ban HERE! Are carbon kayaks the future of whitewater? We bring on composites expert Ryan Bahn to tell us. As well Ed Gertler gives us the inside details on one of the most ridiculous paddling bans we’ve ever heard of. Enjoy! Hammer Factor Subscription Options Itunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/amongstit-inc/id1095013227?mt=2 Stitcher: http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/john-grace/the-hammer-factor?refid=stpr RSS Direct Feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/HammerFactor Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfNW1jev8xx84dc05QZGqKA Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/hammerfactor/?

A lot has happened since our last show. Weld went kayaking for 90 seconds in Chile, Louis came in with a top-ten result at the Little White Race, and Grace had a midlife crisis. #86 is gonna be a hell-of-a show! We have longtime and soon-to-be retiring Executive Director of American Whitewater, Mark Singleton on the show. Green Race and Little White Race Recaps. South American Trip Report from John Weld. Grand Canyon Trip Report from John Grace. Policy updates, rants and raves and more! Crappy picture of the “Raytheon Wave” Hammer Factor Subscription Options Itunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/amongstit-inc/id1095013227?mt=2 Stitcher: http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/john-grace/the-hammer-factor?refid=stpr RSS Direct Feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/HammerFactor Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfNW1jev8xx84dc05QZGqKA Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/hammerfactor/?

Learn more about and watch ‘Godspeed Los Polacos’ here: https://sourlandstudios.com/ Hammer Factor Subscription Options Itunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/amongstit-inc/id1095013227?mt=2 Stitcher: http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/john-grace/the-hammer-factor?refid=stpr RSS Direct Feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/HammerFactor Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfNW1jev8xx84dc05QZGqKA Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/hammerfactor/?

In the episode of the whitewater podcast, Eric Giddens joins us to discuss covering paddling in the Tokyo Olympics. From there we apologize for not checking our voicemail and cover a wide range of listener mail. Enjoy and as always thank you for listening. Access to the Ottawa story: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/whitewater-residents-fight-for-river-access-1.6069505 Hammer Factor Subscription Options Itunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/amongstit-inc/id1095013227?mt=2 Stitcher: http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/john-grace/the-hammer-factor?refid=stpr RSS Direct Feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/HammerFactor Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfNW1jev8xx84dc05QZGqKA Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/hammerfactor/?

In this episode, we are joined by Scott Lindgren and Rush Sturges who give us all the inside beta on the release of their new film, ‘The River Runner’. Alongside learning about the film’s creation we take a deep dive into the storied career of Scott Lindgren, one of the most influential paddlers of all time. From pioneering whitewater films, tackling some of the most savage missions ever attempted, and battling a cancerous brain tumor this episode leaves no stone uncovered. Sit back, relax and enjoy. This is a good one! Learn more about the film by following Scott here: https://www.instagram.com/scottlindgren_/?hl=en Rush here: https://www.instagram.com/rushsturges/?hl=en Check out some of Scott’s early work on his Vimeo channel here: https://vimeo.com/user36653280 Hammer Factor Subscription Options Itunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/amongstit-inc/id1095013227?mt=2 Stitcher: http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/john-grace/the-hammer-factor?refid=stpr RSS Direct Feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/HammerFactor Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfNW1jev8xx84dc05QZGqKA Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/hammerfactor/?

Order North Fork Championship Live Here: https://hammerfactor.com/nfc-live/ Purchase Hammer Factor 1 Non-Fungible Token Here: https://opensea.io/assets/0x60f80121c31a0d46b5279700f9df786054aa5ee5/1062457 This show is stacked! First, we have some big Hammer Factor Announcements with Live Coverage coming to the North Fork Championship. See some of the world’s best paddlers battle it out on the infamous North Fork of the Payette River. From there we announce the sale of the NFT for Episode 1 of the Hammer Factor. Next Matt Porter, Product Manager for Kokatat comes on to share some inside baseball. Grand finally, Sage Donnelly joins us to share her experiences running some of the world’s hardest whitewater while managing type 1 diabetes. Enjoy!

\nGet your Whitewater Journal HERE\r\n\n\n\n\nEugene Buchanan has been traveling the world exploring rivers for nearly 40 years. Along with being an accomplished expeditionst he is an award winning author and publisher. Enjoy this episode and learn more about Eugene at: https://www.eugenebuchanan.com/\r\n\n\n\n\nHammer Factor Subscription Options\r\n\n\n\n\nItunes:\r\nhttps://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/amongstit-inc/id1095013227?mt=2\r\n\n\n\n\nStitcher:\r\nhttp://www.stitcher.com/podcast/john-grace/the-hammer-factor?refid=stpr\r\n\n\n\n\nRSS Direct Feed:\r\nhttp://feeds.feedburner.com/HammerFactor\r\n\n\n\n\nYoutube:\r\nhttps://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfNW1jev8xx84dc05QZGqKA\r\n\n\n\n\nFacebook:\r\nhttps://www.facebook.com/hammerfactor/?\r\n\n

Get your Whitewater Journal HERE Benny Marr has a long list of whitewater accomplishments ranging from mind-blowing first descents to freestyle innovations on some of the world’s biggest waves. This two-time Rider of the Year who has bested Dane Jackson more than once shares compelling stories about not only the river but the mindset involved with running the hardest whitewater on the planet. Enjoy this episode and learn more about Benny at: https://www.bennyfcknmarr.com/ From American Whitewater…will it ever be safe to paddle the Tallulah? Overreach or common sense. https://www.americanwhitewater.org/content/Article/view/article_id/8cfCnFBZjZCt5nA7cXogN/?fbclid=IwAR2Icvh56HU9gnssAgu0nVG6WmFqRZaLhoJG3l9fu0npornsxDXHGIcUt3U How close are we to going insane. Was it the years of life on the edge, one too many bumps to the head, just too much weed or genetics that sent Dean over the edge? https://www.outsideonline.com/2421062/dean-cummings#close The disappearing waterfall. How does the tallest waterfall in Ecuador just vanish? https://dialogochino.net/en/infrastructure/33765-san-rafael-ecuadors-tallest-waterfall-disappeared-coca-codo-sinclair/

Get your Whitewater Journal HERE In our last episode of 2020 we are joined by Antoinette Lee Toscano to discuss Whitewater TV and her ‘clapback’ of a previous episode of The Hammer Factor. From there we bring on Chris Hipgrave to get the scoop on whitewater boat designs past and future. Next Grace gets roasted for being nervous about the Coronavirus Vaccine and of course we shut down with rants and raves. Thank you for listening and enjoy. Toscano Clapback on Whitewater TV: https://xotv.me/channels/359-whitewatertv/vod_videos/5891-bonus-episode-hammer-factor-plus-meme-boof-clapback Email From Allen Roberts: ‘Hey Hammer Factor, I’m an infectious disease epidemiologist and long time paddler. I heard some misconceptions about the Covid mRNA vaccines during your last episode. I want to help clear some of these up. This isn’t “hate mail” and I’m not calling anyone stupid or ignorant. Skepticism is healthy when it comes to any medical interventions that haven’t been rigorously tested. And our current administration’s attacks on health experts at the FDA, CDC, and NIH have only increased public mistrust. It’s completely understandable to be concerned. However, the evidence thus far for both efficacy and safety is looking really good for the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, which are the two mRNA vaccines that have results from rigorous testing. Here are a few common questions and misconceptions, many of which I heard on the podcast. I hope some of this information will be useful if you decide to keep talking about the Covid vaccine on the podcast or just in conversations with friends and family. Also, the CDC has a nice summary about mRNA vaccines here: https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/covid-19/hcp/mrna-vaccine-basics.html Thanks for making the Hammer Factor happen – it’s great company when I’m driving to the river solo in these quarantine days. Allen RobertsSeattle, WA PS: I don’t work for any pharma company in case you think Pfizer executives are paying me to write into Hammer Factor (although that sounds like the start of a good conspiracy theory!). My only interest is to avert deaths and get through this pandemic as quickly as possible. Those of us who work in a hospital setting see how bad this disease can be, both for those who are sick and for the families who aren’t allowed to visit them as they die alone in the hospital. And even though most paddlers may be at low risk for severe illness from Covid, vaccination is the fastest way for us to get back to huge crowds at the Green Race and cramped van shuttles without worrying about spreading the infection. Are the Pfizer and Moderna mRNA vaccines “self-replicating”?Is this “gene therapy in a needle”? Not at all. This vaccine is NOT modifying your genes, which would require changing your cells’ DNA. mRNA is the transcript that all of your cells use to make proteins. In this case, your cells are being provided a transcript to make a specific protein on the SARS-CoV-2 virus called the spike protein. This is the protein that your immune system mounts a response to. The mRNA in the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines is not “self-replicating”. Your cells take up the mRNA transcript, make the spike protein, and the mRNA gets degraded. The coronavirus itself is self-replicating – so if you are worried about self-replicating genetic material infecting your cells, you’re describing a virus, not a vaccine, and you should be worrying about getting Covid, not about getting vaccinated. There are self-amplifying mRNA vaccines (called sa-mRNA) that are in development, which is maybe where you heard this. This type of vaccine also includes mRNA to produce the viral polymerase, which can replicate the mRNA transcript for the spike protein.There is good reason to try this, since you could give much lower initial doses of the mRNA, but even this isn’t “gene therapy”. But these vaccines will have to go through rigorous testing before they could be approved. Have mRNA vaccines been tried before? Yes – mRNA vaccines have been developed for influenza, Zika, HIV, and others, and they have been tested in early stage clinical trials in humans. So far, none of these have been approved because they haven’t worked,but the technology has improved over decades of research. The notion that mRNA vaccines have never been tested in humans is not true. Why have we been able to develop and test the vaccines so quickly? Some people are understandably nervous about how quickly the vaccines have been developed. There are a few reasons that we’ve been able to test vaccines so quickly. First, a pandemic is bad for population health but good for statistics. It’s far easier to compare risk of infection in placebo vs. vaccinated groups when lots of people in the placebo group are getting infected. In fact, the surge in cases this fall meant that we got readouts on vaccine efficacy from these trials far faster than initially expected. Second, the amount of funding and potential market size for Covid vaccines has sped everything up. In normal times, vaccine development is much slower because vaccines, while great for public health, just aren’t as lucrative for pharma companies (an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, but  selling a pound of cure makes more money!) Finally, for mRNA vaccines specifically, they are far easier to produce than other types of vaccines like inactivated viruses. Do the Pfizer and Moderna mRNA vaccines work? Yes – in fact, they work really well. Placebo-controlled randomized trials are the most rigorous method for evaluating whether vaccines work. It’s incredibly affirming that two large (30,000 and 43,000 participants) and independent randomized trials of different mRNA vaccines both worked really well (about 95% reduced risk of symptomatic infection). Usually we don’t get to see the results of multiple independent trials at the same time, since trials are really expensive to conduct. The consistency between the two trials shows that the results aren’t a fluke. There are still some questions about how long the protection lasts, etc, that we’ll get answers to with longer follow-up, but these results are about as convincing as we can hope for. Are the mRNA vaccines safe? Yes, based on what we’ve seen from the tens of thousands of people vaccinated so far. The primary safety concerns with mRNA vaccines are that the body’s immune system would overreact to the vaccine. The goal of any vaccine is to elicit an immune response, but if the immune response is too strong, then it can do more harm than good. One of the goals of early clinical testing is to find the dose that strikes the right balance. This overreaction occurs shortly after the injection is given (within hours to a few days), and this is the reason that some people can get a low grade fever after getting vaccinated. Since the side effects tend to occur quickly, we already have solid evidence from the trials that vaccine reactions for the mRNA vaccines are mild, similar to other vaccines that are in use today. For example, the Moderna vaccine had about 10% of participants feeling under the weather for a day or so. For me, that’s an easy tradeoff to make. I will take a chance of short-term flu-like symptoms over the risk of getting Covid any day. And as a young and healthy person, the scariest thing about Covid is that I could pass it along to others who may be at higher risk of dying.  As with any medical intervention, it is important to continue monitoring for rare events that may not have been detected initially with smaller sample sizes. But those events, if they occur, are rare – if they were common, we would have seen them earlier. Unlike live virus vaccines, there is no chance that the mRNA vaccine can cause an infection. Furthermore, since the mRNA vaccine is NOT gene therapy, it’s not like the vaccine is sticking around to cause some sort of unexpected harm way down the line. Finally, while this is my reading of the evidence based on my epidemiology training, I encourage you to trust the decisions of the FDA. They have a rigorous process for approving vaccines that takes into account input from advisory panels of independent experts who aren’t paid by pharmaceutical companies or appointed by the president.’  

Get your Whitewater Journal HERE LISTEN TO 78 HERE In the second part of the series, Evan kicks us off with his Southeast Paddling experience. From there, our hosts talk about everything from boat design to the new Covid-19 vaccine. Of course, we shut this two-part series down with some epic rants and raves! Thank you for listening and enjoy. Hammer Factor Subscription Options Itunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/amongstit-inc/id1095013227?mt=2 Stitcher: http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/john-grace/the-hammer-factor?refid=stpr RSS Direct Feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/HammerFactor Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfNW1jev8xx84dc05QZGqKA Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/hammerfactor/?

Get your Whitewater Journal HERE LISTEN TO 78 HERE In the second part of the series, Evan kicks us off with his Southeast Paddling experience. From there, our hosts talk about everything from boat design to the new Covid-19 vaccine. Of course, we shut this two-part series down with some epic rants and raves! Thank you for listening and enjoy. Hammer Factor Subscription Options Itunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/amongstit-inc/id1095013227?mt=2 Stitcher: http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/john-grace/the-hammer-factor?refid=stpr RSS Direct Feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/HammerFactor Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfNW1jev8xx84dc05QZGqKA Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/hammerfactor/?

Get your Whitewater Journal HERE In part one of this two-part series Louis kicks os off with some important policy announcements. From there, our hosts dig into some disgruntled listener mail taking aim at Louis. From there we move into a Green Race recap with insider details on the live stream. Finally, we bring Evan Garcia on to discuss all things nerdy to whitewater. Thank you for listening and enjoy! Hammer Factor Subscription Options Itunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/amongstit-inc/id1095013227?mt=2 Stitcher: http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/john-grace/the-hammer-factor?refid=stpr RSS Direct Feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/HammerFactor Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfNW1jev8xx84dc05QZGqKA Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/hammerfactor/?

Get your Whitewater Journal HERE In part one of this two-part series Louis kicks os off with some important policy announcements. From there, our hosts dig into some disgruntled listener mail taking aim at Louis. From there we move into a Green Race recap with insider details on the live stream. Finally, we bring Evan Garcia on to discuss all things nerdy to whitewater. Thank you for listening and enjoy! Hammer Factor Subscription Options Itunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/amongstit-inc/id1095013227?mt=2 Stitcher: http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/john-grace/the-hammer-factor?refid=stpr RSS Direct Feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/HammerFactor Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfNW1jev8xx84dc05QZGqKA Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/hammerfactor/?

In part two of this series, we hear about the huge turnout at the Upper Yough Race.  From there we bring on the shadowy Instagram figure Meme Boof to discuss his page and somewhat genius sense of humor.  From there we dig into listener mail, rants and raves and more! Check out the complete LVM set here: https://vimeo.com/ondemand/lvm Hammer Factor Subscription Options Itunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/amongstit-inc/id1095013227?mt=2 Stitcher: http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/john-grace/the-hammer-factor?refid=stpr RSS Direct Feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/HammerFactor Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfNW1jev8xx84dc05QZGqKA Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/hammerfactor/?

In part two of this series, we hear about the huge turnout at the Upper Yough Race.  From there we bring on the shadowy Instagram figure Meme Boof to discuss his page and somewhat genius sense of humor.  From there we dig into listener mail, rants and raves and more! LISTEN HERE Check out the complete LVM set here: https://vimeo.com/ondemand/lvm Hammer Factor Subscription Options Itunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/amongstit-inc/id1095013227?mt=2 Stitcher: http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/john-grace/the-hammer-factor?refid=stpr RSS Direct Feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/HammerFactor Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfNW1jev8xx84dc05QZGqKA Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/hammerfactor/?

In part two of this series, we hear about the huge turnout at the Upper Yough Race.  From there we bring on the shadowy Instagram figure Meme Boof to discuss his page and somewhat genius sense of humor.  From there we dig into listener mail, rants and raves and more! LISTEN HERE Check out the complete LVM set here: https://vimeo.com/ondemand/lvm Hammer Factor Subscription Options Itunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/amongstit-inc/id1095013227?mt=2 Stitcher: http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/john-grace/the-hammer-factor?refid=stpr RSS Direct Feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/HammerFactor Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfNW1jev8xx84dc05QZGqKA Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/hammerfactor/?