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Tony Hawk puts his history-making '900' skateboard up for auction
Tony Hawk puts his history-making '900' skateboard up for auction

Straits Times

time01-07-2025

  • Entertainment
  • Straits Times

Tony Hawk puts his history-making '900' skateboard up for auction

Other items up for sale include Hawk's signed helmet, knee pads, sneakers, and the 1999 X Games Vert Finals bronze medal. PHOTO: AFP LOS ANGELES – Skateboarding great Tony Hawk has announced that he is putting his most famous deck up for auction with the goal of raising money to build skateparks in underserved areas. Hawk landed his groundbreaking '900' – 2½ full mid-air rotations – at the 1999 X Games in a moment that helped propel the sport out of the subculture and into the mainstream. The Birdhouse 'Falcon 2' board is expected to fetch between US$500,000 and US$700,000 (S$636,000 and S$891,000) when it goes on the block in Los Angeles on Sept 23, according to Julien's Auctions. A Julien's Auctions spokesperson said: 'This skateboard represents not just a milestone in sports, but a cultural moment that inspired generations.' Likewise, Hawk called the moment he became the first skateboarder to land the trick in front of a roaring X Games crowd after several failed attempts on June 27, 1999 'the best day of my life'. 'It was a huge moment in my career – the result of years of persistence and getting back up after every fall,' the 57-year-old said in a press release. Other items up for sale include Hawk's signed helmet, knee pads, sneakers, and the 1999 X Games Vert Finals bronze medal. 'I never imagined that my board, pads or helmet from that day would be of any interest to collectors,' he said. 'A portion of the proceeds from the sale will benefit The Skatepark Project (TSP), the foundation I started to help communities build safe and inclusive skateparks in underserved areas, where young people can experience the same freedom and confidence that skateboarding offered me.' TSP grant programs have awarded over US$13 million to help fund nearly 700 public skateparks in all 50 US states, enjoyed by an estimated 17 million people annually, according to the non-profit organisation's website. REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.

Skateboarding-Hawk puts his history-making '900' skateboard up for auction
Skateboarding-Hawk puts his history-making '900' skateboard up for auction

The Star

time30-06-2025

  • Sport
  • The Star

Skateboarding-Hawk puts his history-making '900' skateboard up for auction

Paris 2024 Olympics - Skateboarding - Men's Street Prelims - La Concorde 3, Paris, France - July 29, 2024. Professional skateboarder Tony Hawk of United States in action on the skate park before the heats. REUTERS/Angelika Warmuth/File Photo (Reuters) -Skateboarding great Tony Hawk has announced that he is putting his most famous deck up for auction with the goal of raising money to build skateparks in underserved areas. Hawk landed his groundbreaking "900" - 2-1/2 full mid-air rotations - at the 1999 X Games in a moment that helped propel the sport out of the subculture and into the mainstream. The Birdhouse "Falcon 2" board is expected to fetch between $500,000 and $700,000 when it goes on the block in Los Angeles on September 23, according to Julien's Auctions. Hawk called the moment he became the first skateboarder to land the trick in front of a roaring X Games crowd after several failed attempts on June 27, 1999 "the best day of my life." "It was a huge moment in my career - the result of years of persistence and getting back up after every fall," he said in a press release. Other items up for sale include Hawk's signed helmet, knee pads, sneakers, and the 1999 X Games Vert Finals bronze medal. "I never imagined that my board, pads or helmet from that day would be of any interest to collectors," he said. A portion of the sale proceeds will benefit The Skatepark Project (TSP), Hawk's foundation supporting skatepark construction in underserved communities. TSP grant programs have awarded over $13 million to help fund nearly 700 public skateparks in all 50 U.S. states, enjoyed by an estimated 17 million people annually, according to the non-profit organisation's website. (Reporting by Rory Carroll in Los Angeles; Editing by Ken Ferris)

Skateboarding-Hawk puts his history-making '900' skateboard up for auction
Skateboarding-Hawk puts his history-making '900' skateboard up for auction

Straits Times

time30-06-2025

  • Sport
  • Straits Times

Skateboarding-Hawk puts his history-making '900' skateboard up for auction

Paris 2024 Olympics - Skateboarding - Men's Street Prelims - La Concorde 3, Paris, France - July 29, 2024. Professional skateboarder Tony Hawk of United States in action on the skate park before the heats. REUTERS/Angelika Warmuth/File Photo Paris 2024 Olympics - Skateboarding - Men's Street Prelims - La Concorde 3, Paris, France - July 29, 2024. Professional skateboarder Tony Hawk of United States in action on the skate park before the heats. REUTERS/Angelika Warmuth/File Photo Skateboarding great Tony Hawk has announced that he is putting his most famous deck up for auction with the goal of raising money to build skateparks in underserved areas. Hawk landed his groundbreaking "900" - 2-1/2 full mid-air rotations - at the 1999 X Games in a moment that helped propel the sport out of the subculture and into the mainstream. The Birdhouse "Falcon 2" board is expected to fetch between $500,000 and $700,000 when it goes on the block in Los Angeles on September 23, according to Julien's Auctions. Hawk called the moment he became the first skateboarder to land the trick in front of a roaring X Games crowd after several failed attempts on June 27, 1999 "the best day of my life." "It was a huge moment in my career - the result of years of persistence and getting back up after every fall," he said in a press release. Other items up for sale include Hawk's signed helmet, knee pads, sneakers, and the 1999 X Games Vert Finals bronze medal. "I never imagined that my board, pads or helmet from that day would be of any interest to collectors," he said. A portion of the sale proceeds will benefit The Skatepark Project (TSP), Hawk's foundation supporting skatepark construction in underserved communities. TSP grant programs have awarded over $13 million to help fund nearly 700 public skateparks in all 50 U.S. states, enjoyed by an estimated 17 million people annually, according to the non-profit organisation's website. REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.

Fireballs Appear Around the World as Parts of SpaceX Crew Dragon Scream Back to Earth
Fireballs Appear Around the World as Parts of SpaceX Crew Dragon Scream Back to Earth

Yahoo

time26-03-2025

  • Science
  • Yahoo

Fireballs Appear Around the World as Parts of SpaceX Crew Dragon Scream Back to Earth

For all his faults, Elon Musk sure knows how to keep things interesting. Yesterday, skies around the world lit up with what seems to be returning debris courtesy of Musk's private space travel company SpaceX. Specifically, the Dragon Freedom-2 Deb, a module that launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida in September of 2024 as part of a NASA mission to bring two astronauts to the International Space Station. Last week, the crew module of the Dragon returned to earth, bringing back four astronauts, including Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore, both of whom became stuck on the ISS in June of 2024 after technical difficulties with Boeing's Starliner turned their eight-day stay into a months-long ordeal. But yesterday, the unmanned portion of the Dragon — assumed to be the unpressurized cargo trunk, due to publicly-tracked Dragon reentry data which closely matches reported locations of the fireballs — rained down on skies as far apart as California, Nevada, Morocco, and Australia. That caused some wild lightshows to illuminate the sky, driving curious observers to social media to speculate on the cause. Though the exact point of reentry is uncertain, we know that the Dragon whipped across the Pacific ocean, appearing over central California and western Nevada as it screamed toward north-eastern Canada, leading to fireball sightings from Portland, Oregon to Phoenix, Arizona. From there it arched over the northern Atlantic on a trajectory roughly on a path toward Morocco, reaching mid-reentry over Cameroon, finally completing its rapid global loop somewhere around the Indian Ocean and southeastern Australia. SpaceX and NASA have yet to release a statement on the trunk's reentry, and no debris has been found on the ground. That might have something to do with the nature of its return: as the crew module reentered, the Dragon trunk was jettisoned and left to dawdle in orbit uncontrolled. That's not unheard of for SpaceX, according to Harvard astronomer Jonathan McDowell, who wrote that "this is the last Dragon trunk to be intentionally left in orbit for uncontrolled reentry." The fiery return is driving some discourse around the near limitless freedom SpaceX has been given to rain down debris on the earth without oversight. "Would it be fair to say that 'most' if not all of this trunk section will burn up in the atmosphere on reentering?" one incredulous user asked McDowell on X-formerly-Twitter. "Anything left will not contain toxic fuels or materials that could cause major harm to kids and animals?" Earlier in February, people took to X to report random chunks of of debris from SpaceX's Falcon 2 launch falling willy-nilly across Poland. In January 2025 alone, over 125 of Musk's Starlink satellites fell out of the sky, prompting concerns about the consequences the equipment causes on reentry, like scattering dangerous chemical waste into the ozone layer and falling in unpredictable locations. As Starlink becomes the dominant provider of internet access to rural populations around the globe, questions of the network's costly upkeep — necessitating a nearly constant stream of satellite launches to keep stable — and of the man holding the reins are growing louder and louder. Though space travel holds exciting possibilities, it goes without saying that the health and wellbeing of those of us still on the ground shouldn't be taken for granted to make it possible. More on SpaceX: Elon Musk Got Humiliated by a Space Station Astronaut Immediately Before Announcing Space Station Should Be Destroyed

Why the Gulf must evolve or risk becoming obsolete
Why the Gulf must evolve or risk becoming obsolete

Arab News

time06-03-2025

  • Health
  • Arab News

Why the Gulf must evolve or risk becoming obsolete

Saudi Arabia's Seha Virtual Hospital is more than just a breakthrough in medical innovation. As patients receive artificial intelligence-powered diagnoses from home — leapfrogging half a century of infrastructure development in a single technological stride — we are witnessing more than just a healthcare revolution. This is a nation actively shaping its post-petroleum future. This leapfrogging strategy mirrors the breakthroughs unfolding in a cutting-edge Parisian lab, where GenBio scientists are not just discovering new drugs — they are rendering the pharmaceutical industry's plodding timeline obsolete. Their AI organism, AIDO, simulates millions of molecular interactions, transforming decades of research into mere days. GenBio's genius, however, lies in its geographic arbitrage: European scientific rigor, Silicon Valley's capital engine, and Abu Dhabi's ambition form an innovation triangle that the Gulf states would be foolish to ignore. The Gulf is at a crossroads familiar to anyone who has ever faced obsolescence. The vast oil wealth — the economic miracle that transformed desert kingdoms into global financial powers — now carries an expiration date. The carbon economy is terminal, even if the patient can still sit up in bed. Its leaders understand this with a clarity that eludes many in the West: adapt or die. The UAE has launched Falcon 2, its home-grown generative AI model. Not content with importing foreign technology, Abu Dhabi is building its own. Why? Because buying innovation keeps you permanently second-rate. It is the difference between owning the means of production and merely consuming what others create. History judges harshly those who miss technological inflection points. The Ottoman Empire, once the world's superpower, failed to embrace the printing press for political and religious reasons. Within centuries, it was dismembered by European countries that used the technology to accelerate learning and innovation. Today's printing press is AI, and those who master it will write tomorrow's rules. The Gulf's advantages are substantial: centralized decision-making that cuts through bureaucratic dithering, sovereign wealth that can fund ambitious projects, and, most crucially, freedom from legacy systems. When Kenya introduced M-Pesa mobile payments, it vaulted past the Western banking model because it had no established infrastructure to protect. Similarly, the Gulf can implement AI-native systems without fighting entrenched interests. But ambition alone is insufficient. A 2024 Boston Consulting Group study found the Gulf's digital maturity below global averages despite showcase projects and splashy conferences. The region suffers from a crippling talent shortage, fragmented data infrastructure, and an innovation ecosystem that remains more aspirational than actual. Too many initiatives remain gleaming facades without functioning interiors. What would real transformation look like? First, a talent revolution. Like GenBio, which draws researchers from several continents, the Gulf needs diverse intellectual capital. China's AI surge came when thousands of engineers educated at Stanford and MIT returned home. The Gulf needs to create similar knowledge pipelines — not just importing foreign experts but developing sovereign technical capability. Without this, every vision statement is merely an expensive wish list. The Gulf must leverage its 'no legacy' advantage. New hospitals, government services, and urban developments should be AI-native, not retrofitted. Adrian Monck Second, the Gulf must leverage its 'no legacy' advantage. New hospitals, government services, and urban developments should be AI-native, not retrofitted. When Estonia gained independence in 1991, it rejected Finland's free analogue telephone system, opting instead for a digital-first future. Such bold choices separate visionaries from managers. Third, rather than diffusing efforts across every AI domain, the Gulf should target strategic niches where its unique position offers advantages. Saudi Arabia could dominate in AI for energy optimization and climate adaptation — areas where its experience and challenges provide unparalleled datasets. The UAE might focus on supply chain optimization and Arabic language AI, addressing market gaps ignored by Western developers. The fundamental question is whether Gulf leadership possesses the intellectual courage to build truly new systems rather than shiny versions of Western ones. GenBio succeeded because it did not replicate existing pharmaceutical models — it reimagined them entirely. The Gulf must do the same with its economies and institutions. Singapore's Smart Nation initiative works because it integrates technologies into an overarching vision rather than treating them as separate showpieces. Every sensor, algorithm, and database serves a coordinated purpose. This systemic thinking remains rare in the Gulf, where too many projects exist in isolation. When Kenya revolutionized mobile banking, it was not because the government announced grand plans — it was because regulators allowed an ecosystem to emerge, stepping back as telecom companies, banks, and startups collaborated to solve real problems. The Gulf's top-down approach to innovation often substitutes announcement for achievement. Time is not the Gulf's ally. The window for technological leapfrogging closes rapidly as AI infrastructure solidifies globally. Two futures await: one where Saudi Arabia and the UAE become dynamic centers of innovation, exporting solutions rather than just importing them; another where they remain wealthy consumers of technology developed elsewhere, perpetually one step behind. The latter is not merely suboptimal — it is fatal in a post-oil world. The achievements in Riyadh and Abu Dhabi today are no mere modernization projects; they are early indicators of whether these nations can reinvent themselves. The question is not whether they can transform — it is whether they are bold enough to create rather than copy, to lead rather than follow. The answer may determine whether the Gulf's moment in history extends beyond the age of oil.​​​​​​​​​ • Adrian Monck is a senior adviser at the Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence and authors the geopolitics newsletter, Seven Things.

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