- published: 22 Feb 2010
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John Rodney Mullen (born 17 August 1966) is a professional skateboarder who practices the disciplines of freestyle and street skateboarding. Mullen is credited with inventing numerous skateboarding tricks, including the kickflip, the heelflip, the impossible and the 360 flip. Mullen has appeared in a large volume of skateboarding videos and has co-authored an autobiography entitled The Mutt: How to Skateboard and Not Kill Yourself with Sean Mortimer (Mortimer also co-authored a Tony Hawk autobiography).
In a 2009 video Mullen sums up his passion for skateboarding:
I fell in love with skateboarding because it was individual. There were no teams, there were no captains... it was completely opposite of what I saw in so many sports: It was creative.
Mullen was born in Gainesville, Florida, United States (US), and began skateboarding at the age of ten after a neighbourhood friend introduced him to a skateboard. He promised his worried father, a dentist, that he would cease skateboarding the first time he became seriously injured. Mullen began practicing whilst wearing a complete pad setup, as part of the deal with his father, and spent time with his sister's surfer friends, who skateboarded on weekdays. Mullen subsequently became obsessed with the skateboard and practiced for many hours on a daily basis.
Bill de Blasio is a New York City elected official, holding the citywide office of New York City Public Advocate, which serves as an ombudsman between the electorate and the city government. De Blasio previously served as a New York City Council member representing the 39th District in Brooklyn (Borough Park, Carroll Gardens, Cobble Hill, Gowanus, Kensington, Park Slope, and Windsor Terrace).
As Public Advocate, de Blasio is first in line to succeed the New York City Mayor.
De Blasio was then elected to the New York City Council in 2001, and was subsequently re-elected in 2003 and 2005 to represent District 39, which includes the Brooklyn neighborhoods of Borough Park, Carroll Gardens, Cobble Hill, Gowanus, Kensington, Park Slope, and Windsor Terrace. In the Council, de Blasio chaired the Committee on General Welfare, and is a member of the Education, Environmental Protection, Finance, and Technology in Government Committees.
In 1999, De Blasio was elected a member of Community School Board 15.