Steve Berra - Professional, Professional Skateboarder

Here's one of the coolest things I've ever read:
(click the image below)




Steve Berra Photos:
A collection of Steve Berra Photos from his site.





Find out more on his site: www.steveberra.com

Skateboarding capitalist style
The old mall (which will remain nameless as will the city and skaters) rested on the side of a well traveled road in an area of the city that had seen its prime. Open doors beckoned us, voices of the skate gods seeped from within as we approached. It had already been scouted, hushed roumers had moved thought the close knit community of skaters with details vague to keep the rabble away.

The crew rolled deep, three full carloads, most from out of town who had came in to hang. Rain had broken plans for a streetbattle, so we had no choice but to follow the hints and cryptic clues for some kind of session. Anticipation mounted, Can we getin? Will we get busted? Whats it like? Is it worth it?

Then came the moment. We stood in the center of a capitalist's dream gone bad, an abandoned mall. Steps and inclines, even benches had been set upfor our grinding pleasure by those who came before us. Vandals had also beaten us to this place, broken glass littered the floor. We used our boards and fingersto clear the necessary path. Then it was on. Grinds and slides and ollies, sounds of wood hitting the hard floor and the screechof wheels replaced what must have been the murmurs of conversations and jingle of cash registers. Just as quick it was overas the light left the skylights and forced us to our cars and homes and late night hangs. Used to be when we walked through a mall we looked around and thought "It would be nice to skate this..." now when we walk through the mall we look around and say yea "I hit this".

The Cause of Suppression

Why are some people ill more often than others? Why are some accident-prone? And is there a reason others live their lives on an emotional seesaw, doing well one day and badly the next?

There is an explanation, and it has nothing to do with the gods, fate or the position of the stars. In fact, the actual reason behind these phenomena-and their resolution-has been explained in Scientology.

L. Ron Hubbard was able to see through the complexities of human behavior and discover the underlying factors which explain the phenomenon of suppression in people-for it is suppression by others that causes these seemingly haphazard events.

The Antisocial Personality

There are certain characteristics and mental attitudes which cause about 20 percent of a race to oppose violently any betterment activity or group.

Such people are known to have antisocial tendencies.

When the legal or political structure of a country becomes such as to favor such personalities in positions of trust, then all the civilizing organizations of the country become suppressed and a barbarism of criminality and economic duress ensues.

Crime and criminal acts are perpetrated by antisocial personalities. Inmates of institutions commonly trace their state back to contact with such personalities.

Thus, in the fields of government, police activities and mental health, to name a few, we see that it is important to be able to detect and isolate this personality type so as to protect society and individuals from the destructive consequences attendant upon letting such have free rein to injure others.

As they only comprise 20 percent of the population and as only 2 1/2 percent are truly dangerous, we see that with a very small amount of effort we could considerably better the state of society.

Well-known, even stellar, examples of such a personality are, of course, Napoleon and Hitler. Dillinger, Pretty Boy Floyd, Christie and other famous criminals were well-known examples of the antisocial personality. But with such a cast of characters in history we neglect the less stellar examples and do not perceive that such personalities exist in current life, very common, often undetected.

When we trace the cause of a failing business, we will inevitably discover somewhere in its ranks the antisocial personality hard at work.

In families which are breaking up, we commonly find one or the other of the persons involved to have such a personality.

Where life has become rough and is failing, a careful review of the area by a trained observer will detect one or more such personalities at work.

As there are 80 percent of us trying to get along and only 20 percent trying to prevent us, our lives would be much easier to live were we well informed as to the exact manifestations of such a personality. Thus, we could detect it and save ourselves much failure and heartbreak.

It is important then to examine and list the attributes of the antisocial personality. Influencing as it does the daily lives of so many, it well behooves decent people to become better informed on this subject.

(learn more >)

The Social Personality

Man in his anxieties is prone to witch hunts.

All one has to do is designate “people wearing black caps” as the villains and one can start a slaughter of people in black caps.

This characteristic makes it very easy for the antisocial personality to bring about a chaotic or dangerous environment.

Man is not naturally brave or calm in his human state. And he is not necessarily villainous.

Even the antisocial personality, in his warped way, is quite certain that he is acting for the best and commonly sees himself as the only good person around, doing all for the good of everyone-the only flaw in his reasoning being that if one kills everyone else, none are left to be protected from the imagined evils. His conduct in his environment and toward his fellows is the only method of detecting either the antisocial or the social personalities. Their motives for self are similar-self-preservation and survival. They simply go about achieving these in different ways.

Thus, as man is naturally neither calm nor brave, anyone to some degree tends to be alert to dangerous persons and, hence, witch hunts can begin.

It is therefore even more important to identify the social personality than the antisocial personality. One then avoids shooting the innocent out of mere prejudice or dislike or because of some momentary misconduct.

The social personality can be defined most easily by comparison with his opposite, the antisocial personality.

This differentiation is easily done and no test should ever be constructed which isolates only the antisocial. On the same test must appear the upper as well as lower ranges of man’s actions.

A test that declares only antisocial personalities without also being able to identify the social personality would be itself a suppressive test. It would be like answering “Yes” or “No” to the question “Do you still beat your wife?” Anyone who took it could be found guilty. While this mechanism might have suited the times of the Inquisition, it would not suit modern needs.

As the society runs, prospers and lives solely through the efforts of social personalities, one must know them as they, not the antisocial, are the worthwhile people. These are the people who must have rights and freedom. Attention is given to the antisocial solely to protect and assist the social personalities in the society.

All majority rules, civilizing intentions and even the human race will fail unless one can identify and thwart the antisocial personalities and help and forward the social personalities in the society. For the very word “society” implies social conduct and without it there is no society at all, only a barbarism with all men, good or bad, at risk.

The frailty of showing how the harmful people can be known is that these then apply the characteristics to decent people to get them hunted down and eradicated.

The swan song of every great civilization is the tune played by arrows, axes or bullets used by the antisocial to slay the last decent men.

Government is only dangerous when it can be employed by and for antisocial personalities. The end result is the eradication of all social personalities and the resultant collapse of Egypt, Babylon, Rome, Russia or the West.

You will note in the characteristics of the antisocial personality that intelligence is not a clue to the antisocial. They are bright or stupid or average. Thus, those who are extremely intelligent can rise to considerable, even head-of-state heights.

Importance and ability or wish to rise above others are likewise not indexes to the antisocial. When they do become important or rise, they are, however, rather visible by the broad consequences of their acts. But they are as likely to be unimportant people or hold very lowly stations and wish for nothing better.

Thus, it is the twelve given characteristics alone which identify the antisocial personality. And these same twelve reversed are the sole criteria of the social personality if one wishes to be truthful about them.

The identification or labeling of an antisocial personality cannot be done honestly and accurately unless one also, in the same examination of the person, reviews the positive side of his life.

All persons under stress can react with momentary flashes of antisocial conduct. This does not make them antisocial personalities.

The true antisocial person has a majority of antisocial characteristics.

The social personality has a majority of social characteristics.

Thus, one must examine the good with the bad before one can truly label the antisocial or the social.

In reviewing such matters, very broad testimony and evidence are best. One or two isolated instances determine nothing. One should search all twelve social and all twelve antisocial characteristics and decide on the basis of actual evidence, not opinion.

(learn more >)

Creed of the Church of Scientology

We of the Church believe:

That all men of whatever race, color, or creed were created with equal rights;

That all men have inalienable rights to their own religious practices and their performance;

That all men have inalienable rights to their own lives;

That all men have inalienable rights to their sanity;

That all men have inalienable rights to their own defense;

That all men have inalienable rights to conceive, choose, assist or support their own organizations, churches and governments;

That all men have inalienable rights to think freely, to talk freely, to write freely their own opinions and to counter or utter or write upon the opinions of others;

That all men have inalienable rights to the creation of their own kind;

That the souls of men have the rights of men;

That the study of the mind and the healing of mentally caused ills should not be alienated from religion or condoned in non-religious fields;

And that no agency less than God has the power to suspend or set aside these rights, overtly or covertly.

And we of the Church believe:

That man is basically good;

That he is seeking to survive;

That his survival depends upon himself and his attainment of brotherhood with the universe.

And we of the Church believe that the laws of God forbid man:

To destroy his own kind;

To destroy the sanity of another;

To destroy or enslave another’s soul;

To destroy or reduce the survival of one’s companions or one’s group.

And we of the Church believe that the spirit can be saved and that the spirit alone may save or heal the body.

DIANETICS: UNDERSTANDING THE MIND

Here's a good basic explanation of Dianetics:

Dianetics: Dia (Greek) through, nous (Greek) soul.

Prior to 1950, prevailing scientific thought had concluded man’s mind to be his brain, i.e., a collection of cells and neurons, and nothing more. Not only was it considered that man’s ability cannot be improved, but it also was believed that with the formation of his cerebral cortex, his personality was likewise irrevocably established. These theories were, however, inaccurate, and as a consequence science has never evolved a workable theory of the mind nor a means to resolve problems of the mind.

L. Ron Hubbard changed all that with Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health. Its publication in 1950 marks a watershed in the history of man’s quest for a true understanding of himself.

Dianetics is a methodology which can help alleviate unwanted sensations and emotions, irrational fears and psychosomatic illnesses (illnesses caused or aggravated by mental stress). It is most accurately described as what the soul is doing to the body through the mind.

Like Scientology, Dianetics rests on basic principles, easily learned, clearly demonstrated as true, and every bit as valid today as when first released in 1950.

(Learn more about Dianetics >)

IF YOUR CITY DOESN'T HAVE A SKATEPARK, THEN YOUR CITY IS A SKATEPARK

I just found a site with some really cool stuff on it:

http://www.skatersforpublicskateparks.org

Skaters for Public Skateparks (SPS) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit skatepark advocacy organization, international in reach, dedicated to providing the information necessary to ensure safe, rewarding, freely-accessible skateparks are available to all skateboarders.

If you are a landscape architect, parks and recreation professional, member of law enforcement, or otherwise serve your community, you will come to rely upon us as your trusted skatepark expert. We are your well of seasoned experience and provider of insider information pertaining to skateboarding in general and skateparks in particular. We are here for you.

If you are a grass-roots advocate seeking a skatepark in your town, we are your "technical support" group, available to assist and direct your efforts by the sharing of our hard-earned, pertinent experience.

Another cool thing I found on this site is a visual glossary of skate park terms: