Posted on 12/31/2022 6:30:31 AM PST by george76
I admire the author’s optimism, but America ain’t getting up from this one.
Many skaters I know of turned to drugs. Some dead.
The Jackass crew were skaters.
Yes, an optimistic take for sure.
May 2020 was when the local authorities, seeing how well pushing people around it was working out, decided to put up tape to block the bike trails and trail parking lots.
Sadly, cyclists tend to be health nuts and germaphobes, so not only did you see idiots on bikes with masks, but even with a mask on they were afraid to be downwind, following of another rider.
It drove me out of the sport, and I suspect many others too.
We went snowshoeing on Mt. Hood and crossed paths with two guys who put their masks on as they saw us approaching.
I remember when the news came out of SoCal about these “skateboard” things, around 1965. Every boy immediately stole one of his sister’s roller skates and nailed the two halves onto a piece of 2X4, and within a few months the first commercially made skateboards were showing up. Clay wheels were state of the art, the kind that would stop your board dead if you hit a pea-sized pebble. Good times and plenty of scabs for all.
I don’t remember any of my friends and classmates still skateboarding after high school, though I’m sure some did. Skateboards were pretty much considered toys for kids back then.
I live on the beach in the panhandle of Florida. The strangest thing to me was seeing the police close the beaches and patrol them with helicopters & pickup trucks. You’d see families sneak out of their condos, dad would stand looking one way down the beach for patrols and mom the other direction. The kids would run out and splash in the surf for a few minutes then dad would yell for them to run back into the condo. It was then I realized how quickly the U.S. could turn totalitarian and how little we could do to fight it. Seeing police helicopters constantly patrolling the beaches was surreal.
Olive pits were the worst for instant stop.
One of my brothers had a Makaha board and also made his own laminated board. I borrowed those or made do with lesser boards. My first was a Roller Derby #20, remember those?
No olive trees where I lived, though.
When in wood shop, I turned in my plans for my board, the wood shop teacher spent the entire hour lecturing us on the fact that a 1 inch board was in fact only 3/4 inch.
the things stored in the memory banks with random access!
“The move was a deterrent done in the name of preventing the spread of COVID.”
I disagree. It was a move intended to demonstrate control, solidify government power and prevent freedom of movement.
How absolutely crazy; may I assume they were white? Even at the height of hysteria here in NJ, many of our imported braceros never bothered with masks or distancing.
COVID protective measures are becoming the exclusive realm of middle-aged and older white people.
Not sure about that. Many of the maskers I see are parents with school-age children with them. The kids are masked, too.
What a sad message to send to young people...
Yup...white...and obviosly brainwashed
An ignominious demise to the freedom regulators.
10,000 curses on the mustaches of their ancestors.
May wild dogs scavenge their offspring.
Well, yeah, my very first was the homemade roller skate version, and it didn’t turn very well, as you say. The RD20 was my first ready-made board, with metal roller skate wheels that would slip out from under you in a sharp turn. Had a few other clay-wheeled boards, but I don’t remember the makers after 50-odd years.
One of my brothers broke a wrist skateboarding, and the other a collarbone, but I escaped with no worse than road rash.
In 2020, Safeway stores in Oregon created “one way” aisles complete with directional arrows on the floor. Needless to say, I ignored this absurd rule. Occasionally, I was confronted by scraggly gray haired white women pointing out that I was violating the rules. I pretended I couldn’t hear them, so I drew close to them asking them to repeat what they said. Of course they retreated yanking their carts away from me. It was hilarious fun!
I think many of these public health experts are morons and/or tyrants. That said, I'll play the devil's advocate. It is possible they weren't really concerned about people catching Covid on the trail, but rather getting in accidents going to the trail or on the trail which would put additional strains on hospital capacity.
When golf courses opened up after a month long shutdown in my area, only walking twosomes were allowed and tee times were 20 minutes apart. No overtaking was allowed. My golfing buddy and I broke that rule on the second hole first time out.
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