The landscape of now: anti-skateboarding clips.

San Francisco Chronicle--These have been around awhile, to be sure: They appeared in the early 1990s as a response to youths with skateboards and attitude who would launch themselves from a hard surface to a raised ledge wherever they could. But there are two recent twists. First, as any good skater would say, they're #*&% everywhere, dude. "A lot of time they put them on places where people don't even want to skate," says Jake Phelps, editor of Thrasher magazine. "They really overdo it." Second, the clips are putting on airs. On the San Francisco Embarcadero ledge-seating in Rincon Park is adorned with bronze starfish and sea turtles designed by artist Ronnie Frostad that, not coincidentally, serve as skating obstacles. Now the product line of the El Cajon firm Skatestoppers includes an "architectural series" with such imagery as frogs, maple leafs and flowers.