N.F.P. Zine #1 was published (1985?) out of Grosse Pointe Farms, Michigan by Andy Rogers, Greg Fadell and John Shock, with photos by Davo or Dave-O. Issue number one is short and simple, and never actually explains what the “N.F.P.” stands for! Pictured skaters: Mark Gonzales, Ralph Rogers, Chris “O.P.” Moore, Greg Fadell, Bill Danforth, Bill Tocco, Steve Caballero, Todd Bray, Bob “Boarder Patrol” Romero, Neil Blender, Bill Fergusson, Eric Grisham and Squid Dickman. Spots: Surf Ohio mini ramp, Dude ramp, Endless Summer, Middletown, Sarnia Canada, St Louis arch competition, Richard school. Highlights: Interview with Chris “O.P.” Moore. He talks about old skateparks like Surf & Turf in Milwaukee and Apple in Ohio, as well as the MESS and GLSA skate contest series and pros and ams of the day – Ray Underhill. “A look back at 1984”, Eric Grisham’s skatepark ID from Endless Summer skatepark. Mentions Jim Gray’s new board, mentions G&S trucks, but doubts their pros will ride them. Rumors: Will Jyme George (Surf Ohio & Cow Saktes) build a skatepark in Ohio? (In hindsight, the answer is no, but his protégé Rob Dyrdek certainly did..) The Zorlac team all riding for Alva. Check out N.F.P. Zine #1…

Tyler Chastain went by the West Linn skatepark and found it closed for repairs. They are replacing that missing fence and are going to reopen by thursday or friday, but then again they were originally supposed to be finished by the 14th. Don’t barge, cops are quick around there. What to do in the meantime? Check out these three pictures from a 2002 session. I swear I am senile because I think I’ve posted these already.

Boards, bikinis, bombs and boneheads is the working title for this post, but I don’t want people to get the wrong idea. I’ve got a mish mash of skateboarding action from Dubai and Israel. Some of it has more serious overtones, and some of it is stupidity. The rest falls in between.

While some braniacs write about skateboarding, others are using it to trick poor defenseless little kids into learning about math. Math and skateboarding just don’t mix. Ok, that’s not true. But since I can’t read this German public service advert about math, I have to make up something. Closer to home, the Oregon Museum of Science and Industryjust got a $2.9 million grant for a traveling exhibit called Access Algebra to stoke middle-school kids to “promote creativity and innovation and build math literacy… …focusing on math as a tool to create and invent everything from rap music to race cars to a skate park.” – Thanks to Dave Tobin for the tip. $2.9 million seems like a lot of dough. Maybe someone at the National Science Foundation needs to work on their math a little. The Germans are ahead of the game already. They’ve got a web site and a video trailer for what I guess is their math museum. I’ve heard they aren’t too good at math, all their answers come up Nien! (Sorry.) [Source: Red Box via Skateboardgeruechte.de ]

This weeks SOTW is Casey Mcmaugh at a hush hush backyard DIY spot in California. How hush? The Walrus wouldn’t even give up the name of city! Photo by the ubiquitous MRZ. Check out the larger uncropped version.

There’s no better way to combat a buzzkill than enjoying a session in some unseasonably dry and warm weather. if you can’t actually go out and skate today, you can still enjoy some photos from a session at Pier Park last Saturday.

Are you trying to watch any of the skateboarding commercials and other media flotsam and jetsam that we posted? My user account has been unceremoniously and permanently disabled. The only notice I got was something about the Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation complaining about the clip I had posted titled T Bag gets hit with a skateboard. It was about 15 seconds of the character T Bag from the Show Prison Break, getting hit in the head with a skateboard. I can understand how Fox or anyone else wouldn’t want entire episodes of their intellectual property put online where people can watch it for free and Fox doesn’t get the ad revenue. However, short clips? Why not? It doesn’t cost them any lost revenue, and it generates publicity for the show. I suspect that particular offense had less to do with copyright infringement and “the suits not getting it” than it did with the fact that Fox owns the YouTube competitor MySpaceTV. Oh well, it was fun while it lasted. I think I only had one other incident where a video was removed, and it was for reposting our appearance on Attack of the Show. They must have actually looked…

Are you pressing your own skateboard blanks with a vacuum press? If you are looking for a little less labor intensive method of constructing a mold, Ted over at Thin Air Press, home of the Roarockit has posted a lengthy set of illustrated instructions on how to make your own custom mold out of foam insulation. While his choice of shape and mold style may not appeal to you, the basic technique is still valuable if you want to make the next step in DIY skateboard construction with vacuum pressed boards. Sure beats the other method if you are still experimenting with your geometry. Check it out. [Source: Ted on SnA comments]