"the dark side of the cone"

[Pat Chewning]

I fully expect to see both of those nice young ladies to be riding Pink SickSicks and Seven-O's at all of the slalom races in 2006.

Can any super good guesser tell us how big (in millimeteres) the SickSicks are and how big the Seven-O's are?

Can anyone guess the color?

I'm going out on a limb here: 66mm pink, 70mm pink

[Chris Chaput]

I fully expect to see both of those nice young ladies to be riding Pink SickSicks and Seven-O's at all of the slalom races in 2006.

Can any super good guesser tell us how big (in millimeteres) the SickSicks are and how big the Seven-O's are?

Can anyone guess the color?

[David Rudnianski]

Ella or Celine? Who's the best? Let's see on the next season !

[Sam Gordon]

Hands up:

Who knows a few words in French?
Who rides a deck that is exactly two-and-a-half times her age??
Who has beaten both Pink and Young Gun riders this Autumn???
Who has girly coloured footwear????



I said hands up.


http://www.ukslalomskateboarding.com/

[alavoine jean paul]

At the #1 Paris Pirate there was a young Ella with terribly worn out wheels.

Ella Ella!

[Chris Chaput]

No French women should ever have to ride bad wheels again. Let's get her hooked up with Pink!

[Etienne de Bary]

At the #1 Paris Pirate there was a young Ella with terribly worn out wheels.

[alavoine jean paul]

THIS JUST IN! THIS JUST IN!

The French Government today just raised the terror alert from "cower" to "run like hell!"
.

Run like hell, run like hell.

P.S.: Will there be any more song-quoting today? No milk today...

[alavoine jean paul]

Isn't she pretty in pink?

[Chris Chaput]

Pretty In Pink

[David Rudnianski]

Wooow... Celine is a real star now...Good choice Chris

[Vincent Berruchon]

Bravo Chris
You illuminated the Dark side with Celine

[Chris Chaput]

I know that this is supposed to be the DARK side of the cone, but there's something about Celine that just lights up the room. Although I haven't met with her face to face yet, I am very impressed with her wonderful attitude, her sweet spirit and her beautiful smile. And hey, the girl can SKATE! So far, everyone I've heard from has nothing but nice things to say about her.

When she approached me about sponsorship, I told her that I couldn't think of a better person to help share the joy of skateboarding with. She joins Isabelle, Midget, Isa, Judith and others as some of the "girls to watch" in 2006.

Now everybody can go back to the DARK side. But remember all you slaves to fashion, Pink is the new black!

[Sam Gordon]

Fast, French and feisty. Good going Celine!



So, who gets to be Rizzo?

[HUYNH BACH SAC Frédéric]

Nice shot Chris !

We use to train very often with Céline, she is getting faster and faster !!!! ( really cool girl too ! ).

[Chris Chaput]

Speaking of bombing...

This looks like a great time to drop a bombshell on you. A french bombshell that is. Pink Skateboards is proud to announce their latest and greatest rider, Celine.

As you can see, she likes to bomb. Hills that is. And she likes to beat people. She often beats women and children. Racers that is. Celine is French. For all of you geographically challenged Americans, that means that she is from France, not Frenchland. She speaks fluid French. And again, for all of you silly Americans, fluid French is NOT a salad dressing, it's a language. The French language is the second most beautiful thing to come from one's lips, closely following the French kiss. Speaking of native tongues, I speak a little French myself. Oui. Like when I pronounce my last name "shaw-PEW". Unfortunately, it sounds a bit like "stinky cat" in French, so most of just go with "CHAP-it". You see, my ancestors are French. Some of my relatives are French Canadian. I am however, French American, which means that technically I am French, but I bathe and don't smoke. Being French American means that I get to protest all wars, but I appreciate it when someone saves my ass by bombing the "real" enemy. It means that I get a little whine with my cheese, and I get to simultaneously love and hate Lance Armstrong.

As the famous American skateboarder Descartes once said, "Ice skate, therefore I am"
As the famous French King once asked "Can't we all just get a longboard?"

Thanks for letting me set the record straight, on The Dark Side of the Cone

[Mike Elwood]

I reckon he thinx Martians and Vulcans want to hear his noise. Or maybe he's not making enough $ to pay all those fines AND allimony too. Or maybe his radio audience is shrinking and this is a grab at survival. Wonder if it's available in other languages.

[Wesley Tucker]

What's all this I hear about a nice jewish boy like Howard Stern going to Syria's radio?

[Mike Elwood]

I hear CBS is looking for a good replacement for Dan Rather. Etainne should apply.
It's a darn shame that there are bad people in this world. Plain and Simple. Therefore some folks get beat up or killed. I remember as a kid some bad people picking on a kid who after taking all he could would get all radical and HE'd be the one to get in trouble. That unfortunaltly is how bad folks operate. And somewhere there's always some dummy who defends them. Here in America we are hated by a bunch of folks who have no idea what they'd do in the situations that our enforcement folks deal with. And like Monday morning quarterbacks, they always have some way of doing it better. In my line of work (roadbuilding) we call 'em "after-the-fact-engineers". It's too bad a bipolar guy got shot. It's too bad a cop had to be hassled for doing his tough job and that he felt he had to kill someone. It's too bad that someone out there blindly hates someone for this. It's too bad we ate the apple way back when and now have to deal with all this. But as for me I love America w/ all it's faults. Like it or not in the words of Rick Flair "it's the best thing going today" Wooooooo!!!! USA,USA,USA

[Vincent Berruchon]

I never read this topic and I probably won't read it much in the future

but Mr.Tucker -who perhaps tried to be funny and was at least insultant-
except that your dear president and his clan encourage you to do it (probably they have their reasons for that ok)
do you have explanation for this systematic french bashing and anti-french campaign that come again and again (including so often lies and disinformation eve from masses media or important personalities) ?

[Joe Iacovelli]

Etienne,

Did your in laws get "roughed up" or otherwise accosted and aprehended at an airport?

Joe

[Wesley Tucker]

THIS JUST IN! THIS JUST IN!

The French Government today just raised the terror alert from "cower" to "run like hell!"

Several threats were reported at the National White Flag factory on the outskirts of Paris.

Film at 11.

[Vincent Berruchon]

Once again, Etienne de Bary has trotted out his well-worn bias against the current US government and the socio-political and economic state of that nation. To do so, he has mis-stated facts, and selectively edited news articles at exactly the moment when he was sure he could get the greatest rise out of anyone not in agreement with his biased viewpoint. I've been aware of Etienne's ugly bias for some time now, and usually just ignore him when he gets this urge to flaunt his sense of personal (and national?) superiority. However, what has me interested (and dismayed?) this time is that otherwise intelligent individuals have chosen to take his bait, not only "wrestling with a pig" (where everyone gets dirty, and the pig loves the whole thing!), but not even challenging his clearly mistaken facts.
...

MORT DE RIRE!! (LOveryL)

so funny..
butI hope it was the goal and you don't take all that too seriously

[Justin Pannulla]

Im sure the guy would feel his death is justified by all the arguing and insults that are going around about this.

[Etienne de Bary]

We shout at one another just as much as they shoot one another

Really? So tell us, how many Algerians and Vietnamese died from all that shouting?

And the invasion of Rome by the Gallus harrg

[Etienne de Bary]

inside of Etienne's head, where Etienne is an authoritative expert on everything, and just because it seems to him that something must happen a certain way, then it happens that way. The problem is, this unbalances Etienne in the real world, where everything doesn't necessarily happen the way it thinks it does, just because he thinks it should.)

It really takes an expert to tell a bomber needs stealth to reach its target. How is that brain donnor search going on by the way ?

[Wesley Tucker]

We shout at one another just as much as they shoot one another

Really? So tell us, how many Algerians and Vietnamese died from all that shouting?

[Etienne de Bary]

I think america is just as messed up as france.

We shout at one another just as much as they shoot one another. As americans are afraid of simple words, and of these obcene queers who dare express their feelings, they think we live in a civil war, but it's only a debate and we are all still alive at the end of the argument.

Tear gas, wow ! A deadly weapon: you might cry.

[Mike Cividino]

I think america is just as messed up as france. At least the problems they have stay in France and they deal with them, You all, wait, ya`ll know thats not the american way. The american way is to get wrongly involved in wars, aside from WW2 of course. So at least France is not a global threat, sadly we all know america is. Canada aint perfect, but we keep to ourselves.

[Andy Bittner]

Wow! Firehoses and tear gas, just because some kids wanted to go to a party. I sure am glad I don't live in France.

(Pat... he's clearly making it up. That's a troll tactic. Not that I doubt he has a problem with what's going on in his own country, but do take notice of how much less energy and space he spends on that compared to the topics on which he knows he can attract the most vigorous and acrimonious argument. There's no argument/reward for him to come on here and start saying things like, "Gee, France sure is screwed up, right now." People would just agree with him, and what fun is that? The past few posts, about a guy asking for help, seem to be all about some kind of wild, psychological analysis of human behavior and the Miami situation that is going on in Etienne's mind, all so he can just keep arguing. He says that people who are really going to blow themselves up, do so silently. How could he possibly know this? Of course, he knows that because he's interviewed dozens of people who were standing and talking with suicide bombers as they detonated themselves. Ok... maybe not interviews, but from the numerous witness reports from people who were in the immediate physical proximity of a suicide bomber at detonation. The thing is... there just really aren't that many people who have had this particular experience and lived to tell about it. Nonetheless, Etienne knows exactly how it all goes down. Somehow, he's an expert. Don't get me wrong. I am not suggesting Etienne has anything to do with people who become suicide bombers or would ever support such people. I'm just saying there is apparently a world, inside of Etienne's head, where Etienne is an authoritative expert on everything, and just because it seems to him that something must happen a certain way, then it happens that way. The problem is, this unbalances Etienne in the real world, where everything doesn't necessarily happen the way it thinks it does, just because he thinks it should.)

[Etienne de Bary]

if you want to bomb, you bomb, silent, you don't ask a marshall to show the way. (No Andy i do not have a practical experience of bombing). A bombing is not a bank robbery.
A guy who says he has a bomb says he need help turning it off, if he wanted to blast it he just would. The guy is your witness.

More violence and brutality rarely rimes with more efficiency, if you think such events prove there is "high security", it just means the marshalls know the planes fly unsafe and unchecked. It's rather clear that quite a few years after 9/11, things are still in the same state of permanent panic. More and more violence and less and less security. High security is expensive and invisible.

Typical security administration is the NSA, most expensive and you never hear about it, i don't know if the NSA does any good, but i can believe it's a security administration. The less i know the best it sounds.

[Pat Chewning]

Whatever you say basic and simple if this guy said anything understandable, he kind of asked for help. So we should call that terrorism "overcover". pure abstraction. He obviously was not. Kill anybody, but not he who comes to ask your help.

Etienne: How do you make the leap from saying 'anything understandable' to asking for help? Lots of criminals say things that are understandable, but not pleas for help. Things like "Give me all the money in the register." "I'm gonna beat the shit out of you." Or my favorite: "I've got a gun and I'm not afraid to use it!" (Said to me as I was skateboarding in a local neighborhood.)

I don't see these, or statements like "I've got a bomb", as pleas for help. How can you?

Are you making this up, or are there actually some news reports that say the guy was asking for help?

-- Pat

[Ted Hall]

There is a simple fact at play here: anyone who screws around for whatever reasons in a high security environment can expect serious trouble. Defying law enforcement orders in an acute high security situation is to risk death; anyone who believes otherwise is simply stupid. Law enforcement is very hard work, and I respect the people who do it, even though I abhore violence of any type. I choose not to participate in violence, but I am wise enough to understand that there are others who do, including cops. If I am ever near any law enforcement agent who is on alert, then I make sure that my behavior is consistent with letting that agent know that I pose no threat to anyone. To act in any other manner is as I said, just plain stupid. An alerted law enforcment agent, in any circumstance, is going to act acutely if they perceive a threat. This is obviously what happened on that plane. It is indeed tragic, and I hate that someone had to die, but I understand why. Anyone who cannot behave appropriately in an airport, due to illness or anyother reason, really shouldn't be there (if this guy needed meds to function safely, why was he off his meds putting himself in a dangerous situation?). I don't like that this is the way our world is, but I am wise enough to recognize the reality of it. To assume that cops aren't going to shoot someone who they believe to be an acute threat to other lives, even though you may disagree with it, is foolish. There is no way to defend threatening behavior on an airplane -- we all know the stakes. If we aren't capable of controlling our behavior, they we cannot go into high security situations like that. Period.

[Etienne de Bary]

i can't, i answered this question to Jadranko earlier on.

[Andy Bittner]

I think the key post in this recent conversation is when Mike Ohm asked Etienne what he would do. Although the question is really answerable as, live in another country and not be in the situation in the first place, I wonder whether Etienne can even project himself into the situation to give a real, practical answer to the question, and if so, what would his actions have been.

[Wesley Tucker]

Hey, Etienne?

Whatever you do, don't drop it. Just keep at it. Keep it up. I'm sure if you keep at it and at it and at it that eventually you'll produce some bit of convoluted reasoning that will . . . accomplish nothing.

[Etienne de Bary]

OK, Andy and Wes, now. i do not think this is clear enough, a man who comes to an official for help is not very likely to be a terrorist undercover. Sorry to say, would he be, it would still be unforgivable to kill him, but it is a pure abstraction.
He might be a terrorist undercover pretending not to be a terrorist to hide he is a terrorist but probably not, more precisely there is less chances he, than anybody else.

Whatever you say basic and simple if this guy said anything understandable, he kind of asked for help. So we should call that terrorism "overcover". pure abstraction. He obviously was not. Kill anybody, but not he who comes to ask your help.

IF YOU WEAR A UNIFORM AND A GUY COMES TO YOU FOR HELP YOU ARE HIS SERVANT.
Killing a man who has comes to you for help is lower than anything one could think of, be him mentally ill makes no difference, ... or it actually makes it worst. You can kill your wife and kids, and your neighbours and yet be forgiven. But if a man ask your help and you wear a uniform you may not.

THE FOLLOWING IS TO WES AND ANDY:
You are so stupid you only try to justify this because i'm french and you feel agressed, but the more you argue the lower you go. You don't even realise what you are trying to justify is just subhuman.

If you shoot a man that has come to you for help there is no argument period. You make your buddies ashamed, you make the name human a shame.
If you think everybody is suspect and should be killed, just start with your miserable selves.

THIS WAS FOR WES AND ANDY, to everybody else: OK the Marshall was not prepared and panicked, this is it.

[Mike Cividino]

America picks fight and is now forever looking over its shoulder . . .

. . . at Canada!

(How's THAT for new material, ya' hoser?)

what are you coming to steal our freedom, or clean water? Or bad jokes?....we have a few left, wes didnt take em all yet.

[Wesley Tucker]

America picks fight and is now forever looking over its shoulder . . .

. . . at Canada!

(How's THAT for new material, ya' hoser?)

[Mike Cividino]

boy am I glad Im canadian and live in Canada, we arent so paranoid all of the time. America picks fights and is now forever looking over its shoulder with an itchy trigger finger.

[Andy Bittner]

Once again, Etienne de Bary has trotted out his well-worn bias against the current US government and the socio-political and economic state of that nation. To do so, he has mis-stated facts, and selectively edited news articles at exactly the moment when he was sure he could get the greatest rise out of anyone not in agreement with his biased viewpoint. I've been aware of Etienne's ugly bias for some time now, and usually just ignore him when he gets this urge to flaunt his sense of personal (and national?) superiority. However, what has me interested (and dismayed?) this time is that otherwise intelligent individuals have chosen to take his bait, not only "wrestling with a pig" (where everyone gets dirty, and the pig loves the whole thing!), but not even challenging his clearly mistaken facts.

The guy was shot while running away from the plane. Out of the plane. Running on the Tarmac, the longer they wait, the better the safety. You should read first, etc.

Wrong! According to Newsweek, Rigoberto Alpizar was shot in the jetway, which is the long, metal tube connecting the aircraft to the terminal building, not on the tarmac. Perhaps Etienne should "read first, etc." Boo and hiss to the individuals who took this bait and went on to argue about whether the guy might've run underneath another aircraft, without first researching the facts themselves.

- The victim's wife was screeming her husband was out of his mind all the time, her speech was clearly understood by the passengers.

...and she was clearly heard to be screaming things like "My husband's sick.", "He's bipolar and he's off his medicine." None of these statements are... "My husband does not have a bomb and he is no threat to anyone but himself."

- The victim was shot in the back while running away on the vast tarmac.

Nothing in my research, thus far, indicates the locations of Mr. Alpizar's wounds. I have been completely unable to find any data confirming Mr. Alpizar was shot in the back, and, again, far from being on the "vast tarmac", Mr. Alpizar and the Air Marshals were in the tight, restricted space of an airport jetway, and, as best as I can understand it, at the end of the jetway closest to the airplane's cockpit.

Some witnesses report Mr. Alpizar's frantic speech as being unintelligible, while others go so far as to say they never heard him mention a bomb. Apparently, if nothing else, the reports of the air marshals indicate Mr. Alpizar threatened to detonate a bomb in his backpack, while confronting those air marshals in the jetway. This could explain why no passengers report hearing Alipzar mention a bomb. Further, given the situation and the proximity of other witnesses, such as the plane's air crew, I find it hard to believe that these trained law enforcement officials murdered a man in cold blood and quickly convened a huddle, agreeing to a communal lie about Mr. Aplizar's asserting he was carrying a bomb.

I know a guy who, amongst other law enforcement duties, spent some post-9/11 time as an air marshal. He's a slalom skateboarder. There are few people in this world for whom I hold as high a regard or as much respect as I do for this person. He is thoughtful, kind, intelligent, gentle, funny, helpful, involved and honestly, earnestly dedicated to his role in the law enforcement community. He is nothing like a Wyatt Earp and, although he is certainly highly trained in the appropriate use of deadly force, not a killer.

I have every confidence that, if this particular individual had been one of the air marshals present and NOT heard Mr. Alpizar mention a bomb, he would not agree to lying to the contrary. I am equally confident that, had my friend heard Mr. Alpizar threaten the presence of a bomb in a backpack, and then, against the demands of the law enforcement officials around him, insisted on reaching into that backpack, my friend would most likely have shot Mr. Alpizar. Following that and becoming aware of the true, unfortunate nature of the situation, I can only imagine, based on what I know of him, it would never be easy for my friend to wash away the mental and emotional trauma of the situation and his involvement therein.

Unfortunately, a growing phenomenon in both the worlds of mental health studies and law enforcement is an act now known as "suicide by cop", where an otherwise mentally ill or emotionally unstable individual will bring his or her own life to an end by performing an act he or she knows will cause law enforcement officials to react with deadly force.

Rigoberto Alpizar is reported to have suffered from a mental illness known as bipolar disorder, a form of manic depression.

Rigoberto Alpizar is reported to have been "off his medicine". Medicines presumably prescribed to contain or control some of the effects of his bipolar disorder.

Witness statements indicate that Mr. Alpizar had been displaying agitated and disagreeable behavior on the first leg of his flight, from Costa Rica to Miami, Florida, and was in the midst of an argument with his wife, a loved one, immediately prior to this fatal incident.

I, myself, am a diagnosed bi-polar manic depressive, although clearly not as severe a case as Mr. Alpizar. Please let me explain to you the type of thoughts that come into such a mind, particularly during those times when one feels unable to get a seemingly important point across to a loved one, who is otherwise a pivotal figure in the bi-polar patient's life. As such an argument escalates, the bi-polar mind quickly rushes through more and more drastic methods of making it clear to the other party just how serious the point and the making of the point is to the bi-polar sufferer, even to the degree of considering self-injury or suicide simply to accentuate the importance of the misunderstood point. I am never going to commit suicide, as it conflicts deeply with my personal spiritual beliefs; but I can tell you, with all sincerity, it has been less than one month since I've been in such a situation myself and had my own thoughts race toward that same alternative, drastic method of making my point.

It seems to me that Rigoberto Alpizar was a mentally ill individual, who, off his medicine and in an escalating interpersonal disagreement with his wife, let the demons of his own mind carry him to this awful, drastic end. For Etienne de Bary to use such a very sad and regrettable situation to draw attention to himself and his own bitter and unbalanced opinions is horrid and, to me, smacks of some mental illness as well; a sad situation made sadder.

[Marty Schaub]

Reasoned with him by talking softly and asking please.....All while Brad was off to get him a latte and a muffin.

[Mike Ohm]

Etienne, what would YOU have done?

[trish erickson]

Darwin's Theory in action!

[Wesley Tucker]

Tom,

Nah. I was supposed to go to funeral today but woke up this morning feeling awful and had no desire to drive to Columbia. The Governor I worked for passed away Wednesday.

It was just as well, though. The church holds 600, the funeral started at 10:30 and it was full with people outside by 8:00. I'm kind of glad I decided not to go.

[Tom Thompson]

Wesley - I thought your were riding that big 'ol hill in North Carolina today??

Well said Justin....

[Justin Pannulla]

Its sad that the man had to lose his life, and im sure nobody is happy about that, but in the world we live in today, its hard....no, impossible to take chances like that when hundreds of lives are potentially at stake.

Im in no way glad that this is the world we live in, but thats just the way it is.

[Wesley Tucker]

The guy was shot while running away from the plane. Out of the plane. Running on the Tarmac, the longer they wait . . .

. . . the closer the guy raving like a lunatic with a bag gets to OTHER PLANES filled with people.

Etienne, ever been to an airport? You have dozens of airplanes all packed into a very tight space. The bomber doesn't have to be ON a plane to blow it up, just near it.

I supposed you'd want the air marshall to just watch this guy run away with a bag . . . and under a fully-loaded 767 right between the wheels where the gas tank is and set off his bomb?

You can make excuses for the perp all day long and condemn the air marshall til you're hoarse, but in the end it's simple: the guy was a threat and the air marshall eliminated the threat. That's what we want and we commend his actions.

[Justin Pannulla]

And what if he had a remote-detonation device, with a bomb still on the plane?
Did you ever consider that?
If he had had a bomb, and thats what he was "reaching into his bag" for, there could have been a plane full of dead people right now.

By the way, i wouldnt post a comment without first reading the posts before mine, i am not ignorant, and i am not stupid, i just try to consider ALL possible situations.
I dont see why your trying to prove peoples opinions wrong, isnt that why they are called opinions?

There are so many ways this can go back and forth.

[Etienne de Bary]

If the guy did have a bomb and they tried to "apprehend" him instead of using deadly force, he might have detonated the bomb, and killed everyone on the plane

The guy was shot while running away from the plane. Out of the plane. Running on the Tarmac, the longer they wait, the better the safety. You should read first, etc.