Our normally reliable web host had a few issues while switching us over to new hardware yesterday, and as a result, S&A was unvailable for about 12 hours today. As I’m writing this we’re still experiencing sporadic difficulties and outages. Kind of reminds me of the reason we switched web hosts in the first place, about 4 years ago. Check out some vintage GVK tech satire after the jump, and stick with us, they should have everything shorted out shortly.

These pics are from the “Catch ‘n Air” ride operated by Thomas Amusements in Newfoundland, Canada. I’d link to their site, but Google says it’s infected with malware at the time of this writing

As reported in The Onion. “Since 2001, recreational skateboarders have tried to perform 8.4 billion tricks and have successfully executed zero of them,” said social anthropologist and the report’s lead author Richard Burbridge, who confirmed that the overwhelming majority of failed attempts occurred after one of the riders remarked to another, “Hey, check this out.” “As it turns out, not a single amateur has landed anything since July of 2001, when a then 14-year-old boy by the name of Derek Wilcox carried out a basic ollie on an outdoor tennis court in Pasadena. And even then he didn’t get much height.” – Thanks to KC for the tip. UPDATE: This just in… Angelina Jolie Stuns In First Rollerblading Competition Since Double Mastectomy. Also via The Onion.

Steve Caballero and his wife own a little boutique in Campbell, CA. Thieves stole a bunch of signed boards from it Friday night. Tonight around 11pm at least two people broke into the store and stole about 14 signed Powell decks. If you see or hear anything please contact me @rachaelbluesky@gmail.com. They knew exactly what they wanted. The cops got some good fingerprints and found one deck stashed across the street under some leaves. #karmaisabitch Ebay buyers be aware.

…and other assorted crap. Man fights off a cougar (not Courtney Cox ) with a skateboard in Canada – See here. Low-tech version of high-tech motion capture provides instant feedback for learning skateboard tricks (Here’s some feedback… Weak!)- See here. Skateboard clipart and stock photography wallpaper for your Droid phone – See here. Bad clipart from the Texas State Library – See here Iphone case material tested on a skateboard for some reason – See here. French guy who looks like a Russian gangster riding a Vespa scooter in a skatepark – See here. – Thanks to… You ought to be ashamed of yourselves!

File under another good idea that is 20 years too late. Beavis & Butthead skateboards from Globe. – Thanks to Boy at skatemalaysia.com for the tip.

Spotted at an REI store in Washington. Thanks to John Aguilar for the photo.

In this edition of counterfeits we have a fake Brand-X deck. The original team deck from 1987 was designed by silkscreen-artist Bernie Tostenson. In the late seventies and early eighties Bernie was working for Sims where he created the famous ‘Winged logo’ and Brad Bowman’s ‘Superman logo’. In 1984 he and Bud (a photographer and salesman) started Brand-X. They ran the underground company for about 5 years illegally  from Bernie’s garage, where Bernie did all those crazy silkscreens. He said these were the happiest years of his life and they had fun, while the big companies destroyed the soul of skateboarding. In 1988 Brand-X made a partnership with one of their distributors and did well for about one year, but the story goes that the new partner stole the Brand-X name, fired the whole crew and amateur team, hired cheap artists and screeners and let the company die in only a few months. Bernie still designed for Flip in the nineties. He died in 2009. For sale at 2dehands.be. [Sources: Disposable 1 and 2 by Sean Cliver]

It’s September of 1967. You’re a horny adolescent boy and the Playtex Bra adverts aren’t due out in the paper for a couple of days. What are you going to do? Why, buy a copy of Henry’s Mod Teen Adventures of course! It’s jam packed with lots of quickly drawn buxom girls in short skirts bending over, falling down, and getting tangled up at the slightest provocation. SAT question and answer: Henry’s Mod is to the Rolling Stones as Archie is to the Beatles. The insides are not nearly as sophisticated as the cover. Interesting that “MOD” looks an awful lot like “MAD” as far as typography. There’s a guy on a sailboard on the cover, but that’s the only skateboard you’ll see in this mod, mod world. I unknowingly bought this from Scott Starr. The first thing I did after receiving it was accidentally get the scotch tape from the protective bag stuck on the comic while taking it out. Full goobered up cover after the jump.

I know the editor/publisher Michael Brooke, and we’ve had this discussion here on S&A about the editorial content of Concrete Wave before they switched to an unabashed longboard/downhill format, so we don’t need to rehash all that again. However, when I saw this article I immediately went to the kitchen and poured myself a cup of coffee, just so I could do a spit-take! Honestly though, this is the sort of article I would have expected from Skateboarder Magazine in the mid 70’s. To be fair, this was in an issue with a cover story on longboarding as therapy. Apparently there is an operation that uses longboarding in family therapy. OK commentators – I challenge you to try some gentle ribbing instead of a reactionary meathead approach.