Not only is Bilal on the Afghan national paralympics basketball team, he also enjoys the Skateistan project. He’s looking to connect with other similarly challenged skaters and athletes in hopes of establishing a network for communicating and hopefully scoring some better wheelchairs for the basketball team. Check out the vid after the jump. – Thanks to Sandoric for the tip.

“There are times when you need car insurance.” And then there are times when you need to get some new blood in your marketing department, Clal Insurance in Israel does. – Thanks to Seth Levy for the tip.

For those of you not celebrating Thanksgiving, you can ignore this post. We’re Americans, and therefore selfish. I couldn’t find a decent turkey on a skateboard, so here’s a random skate video form Turkey. Those of you on the Windows OS can play Sakteboard Obstacle Course, Thanksgiving Edition.

I got tons of tips on Skateistan, and I’ve covered it before, going back to 2008. I ended up watching this latest video anyway, and guess what? It’s still pretty compelling. Oddly enough, the video is funded in part by Diesel. There’s a Benetton joke in there somewhere. – Thanks to… everyone who sent this in.

Skateistan has been making the rounds in the mainstream media again lately. CNN is just getting to it. Come on guys, you’re months behind schedule! BAck in the USA, there are a couple individuals actively engaged in helping out the cause. MapleXO has some autographed Corey Duffel earrings made from recycled skateboards. All proceeds from the auction benefit Skateistan, as do 100% of the proceeds from these Skateistan t-shirts. That’s proceeds folks, nut just profits. Best part is, you don’t have to pay for postage from Afghanistan!

Saturday Skateboards passed on these photos to us. There are two guys in the army in Iraq who managed to convince the Commander and First Seargant of Camp Victory to allow them to build what look like a pretty decent miniramp. It’s a lot better than what the other guys are skating in Iraq. Alex and Keane are calling it “Operation Dust Pipe.” Notice the giant concrete barricade surrounding it? I suppose that’s to keep the snipers from pinching them during big airs… The surface looks like it’s been painted white like a giant reflecting oven, which is probably why they are skating at night. Check out the gun leaning up against the side of the ramp. That’s got to be against some regulation! Enlarge the photos after the jump. Thanks again to Saturday Skateboards for sharing. You can see a little of Andrew Cannon skating Saturday’s indoor park in the cross country trip video at the bottom of this page.

Continuing the trend where I raid the archives of Dezeen Magazine, this is the Port of Tel Aviv public space by the architecture firm Mayslits Kassif. Their hope is that the rolling surface will act as “a reflection of the mythological dunes on which the port was built and as an open invitation to free interpretations and unstructured activities.” Sounds like a session to me.

We’ve covered it before, but another article and video has popped up in the New York Times, who seems to be having a skate-fetish lately. The most interesting part of the article Skateboarding in Afghanistan Provides a Diversion From Desolation is the accompanying video that among other things, talks about the unique position Afghanistan girls find themselves in while skateboarding. Basically, once they reach puberty they will be forced to quit. The video is both fascinating and sad. Another thing that was interesting, The government of Norway was primarily responsible for kicking down the cash to save the program after Skateistan’s founder Oliver Percovich maxed out his credit cards trying to support the project. Can you imagine being the person who literally introduced skateboarding to a country? Don’t forget the official Skateistan web site – Thanks to Mrs Grover and Ben Thistlethwaite for the tip.

I’m on the road with the family for the holiday. That’s why you’re not seeing the regular amount of activity here. For our readers outside of the States, we’re celebrating the memory of the white man spreading small pox to the indigenous population of North America, otherwise known as Thanksgiving. We cook and eat turkeys to commemorate it. Here’s what I came up with, old photos of an Emerica tour in Turkey from Skateboard Europe. If you want something more up to date, check out Skateboarding Turkey. I couldn’t find pictures of a turkey on a skateboard, there’s a video of a chicken on a skateboard after the jump. I know, it’s not the same thing. I’ll be back in time to se the Hanson Brothers.

I keep thinking this is a fake article, like something you’d find on the Onion, but it seems like it’s real. When I reported on it in June, it seemed like a bad idea, destined to go nowhere, but it popped up again in Denver’s Westworld News. Regardless of the plan to open a skatepark within an amusement park, I have to give him (Llewellyn Werner, the man behind the company) a little credit for advancing the sport. They are building four smaller “neighborhood” skateparks in Baghdad out of Freshpark Freshpark portable ramps to introduce kids to skateboarding free of charge. Is it working? The first park was finally installed on September 8. But since September also marks the Muslim holiday of Ramadan and daytime temperatures regularly reach into the 110s, no one has yet used the skatepark. So the official opening is planned for the second week of October. The mayor of Baghdad and Iraq’s Minister of Youth and Sport are expected to be in attendance. How did the the venture capital company come up with the idea? Jeff Wilson who is the “head of sport” has some sort of relationship with Grind King. It will be interesting to…