(no subject)

Moving a bit like a 90 year old today, still hurting from Saturday. Nearly 3 full hours of dancing and a good deal of floorwork that has my leg muscles aching. Still we got the damn choreography done and I feel like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders. Now we just need to really get it in our bones so we'll be ready to dance it for the entire class. Tonight we see the costume designs, which should lead to some interesting debates from what I've gleaned from rumors. We shall see.

We also made it into Rakkasah, but a side stage fairly late on Saturday so I doubt we'll have much of a crowd to impress. That's sad, but it does give us some practice before the competition season gets underway. We're shooting for a win this year, but I'll be content coming in second really.

Between now and then there will be much dancing, oh so much dancing. I'm looking forward to it, but I also realize I've got to get into better shape between now and when we start the serious work or I'm not going to be able to keep up. Well maybe this is just what I need to get motivated and exchange some of the flab for muscle. We'll see.

Some days I just want to hit something

There are no words...:

New details have emerged of how the growing number of prisoners on hunger strike at Guantánamo Bay are being tied down and force-fed through tubes pushed down their nasal passages into their stomachs to keep them alive.

They routinely experience bleeding and nausea, according to a sworn statement by the camp's chief doctor, seen by The Observer.

[...]

Edmonson's affidavit, in response to a lawsuit on behalf of detainees on hunger strike since last August, was obtained last week by The Observer, as a Guantánamo spokesman confirmed that the number of hunger strikers has almost doubled since Christmas, to 81 of the 550 detainees. Many have been held since the camp opened four years ago this month, although they not been charged with any crime, nor been allowed to see any evidence justifying their detention.

[...]

This and other Guantánamo lawsuits now face extinction. Last week, President Bush signed into law a measure removing detainees' right to file habeas corpus petitions in the US federal courts. On Friday, the administration asked the Supreme Court to make this retroactive, so nullifying about 220 cases in which prisoners have contested the basis of their detention and the legality of pending trials by military commission.

via Hullabaloo

I wish I could believe that the American public would respond with more than a resounding, "So?" but I'm afraid I resolved to give up on political optimism in 2006.

Quite possibly the funniest thread online today

So TBogg posts a link to Alec Rawls, the guy who thinks the new 9/11 memorial design is some kind of weird plot by cryptoislamofascists to turn Ground Zero into a giant mosque and then while the thread responders are having a good chuckle at the winger who's clearly gone off his meds, said winger shows up to try to defend his "theory". The result will leave you absolutely howling. One of my favorite summations of the thread:

I may be a bear of very little brain, but even with my modest cognitive abilities I can reach the conclusion that you are what the majority of people on this website have said you are: a righteous clown, full of hate, making a complete tit of himself.

If you've got a bit of free time on your hands I really suggest giving it a look. It's a classic case of the reality-based community trying to use things like "facts" to combat the paranoid ravings of the wingnut fringe to no avail, but actually quite funny.

(no subject)

How weird is it to be in on two conversations focused on the subject of breasts in one evening? Um, anyway, I think the costumes have been settled (yay) though they were a bit more...um...flash than I'd hoped for. Still I got some fringe and that's what I was really hoping for.

Ah, but the big news is that I just checked my email and guess who wrote me back? Bear McCreary, the composer of the BSG soundtracks! I asked when we could get our grubby paws on the season two one and he said early summer, and I squeed like the ridiculous fangirl I am. Dashed off a response thanking him and letting him know our troupe was going to be dancing to some of his music and that we'd send him video when available. How cool is it that he answered in a day? Very, very cool I think.