The Skateboard As a Swiss Army Knife for Urban Living

Recently, Bettery Magazine had French street artist Florian Rivière and tree-dwelling German sustainability guru Michael Braungart ruminate on the question, "How can urban communities work together to increase happiness and overall well-being?"The answer, according to Rivière, relates to using facets of the public space in new and interesting ways. Of course he'd say that: This is a guy who made a roll-up crosswalk and turned Dublin into one giant gymnasium. But Rivière followed up his argument with an interesting experiment in "urban hacktivism." With a video crew in tow, the artist hit the streets of Brighton to see how many completely different uses he could find for a run-of-the-mill skateboard.
Seems that when you put your mind to it, a skateboard can become like a Swiss Army Knife of daily existence: coat hanger, laptop desk and bottle opener were some of the new functions the artist discovered for his board. I would argue that he missed out on "rump scratcher" and "bludgeon with which to threaten charity canvassers," but that's just me:A 50-year-old Kalispell man who allegedly stabbed another man multiple times pleaded not guilty Thursday in Flathead District Court to felony assault with a weapon.According to a court document, William Smith Jr. met Saylen Nielsen Dec. 11 at a friend's home, where they got into an argument. They eventually wound up at Cattleman's together, but got into another fight when they left the bar in Nielsen's vehicle.
Smith is alleged to have pulled out a knife and stabbed Nielsen three times in the abdomen and once in the neck when he pulled the vehicle over on Farm to Market Road.Nielsen fled the vehicle, escaping to a Barron Way home, where police found him on the back patio.Smith, driving Nielsen's vehicle, was arrested about a half hour later on U.S. 93 North. A Montana Highway Patrol trooper stopped him because he believed Smith was drunk.The trooper was able to identify Smith as the suspect in the stabbing. The court document states a knife was found in Smith's pocket and a fixed-blade serrated knife was found in the hatchback area of the vehicle.
A 15-year-old was arrested early Sunday morning after he threatened to cut off his older brother's genitals in an argument over a video game, police say.The incident happened at around 1:20 a.m. on Sunday in the 3800 block of East Ross Parkway The 15-year-old allegedly pulled a knife, held it to his 20-year-old brother's throat and made the threat, said Wichita police Sgt. Bart Brunscheen.The brother wasn't injured.Police do not know which video game prompted the fight.The 15-year-old was arrested and booked for aggravated assault and criminal threats. The parents were reported to be home during the incident.