I'm not sure how, but I've received two robocalls from the McCain campaign and the Republican National Committee. Here's the text of one received Thursday, Oct. 16 at 12:41 p.m.:

Hello, I'm calling for John McCain and the RNC because you need to know that Barack Obama has worked closely with domestic terrorist Bill Ayers, whose organization bombed the U.S. Capitol, the Pentagon, a judge's home, and killed Americans. And Democrats will enact an extreme leftist agenda if they take control of Washington. Barack Obama and his Democratic allies lack the judgment to lead our country. This call was paid for by McCain-Palin 2008 and the Republican National Committee at 202 863 8500.

That's just sick.

The other, received Tuesday Oct. 14 at 3:27 p.m. from 877-431-2572 isn't quite as offensive but still...

Hello, I'm calling for John McCain and the RNC because Barack Obama and his fellow Democrats got caught putting Hollywood above America. On the very day our elected leaders gathered in Washington to deal with the financial crisis, Barack Obama spent just 20 minutes with economic advisers, but hours at a celebrity Hollywood fundraiser. Where are the Democrats' priorities? This call was paid for by McCain-Palin 2008 and the Republican National Committee at 202 863 8500.

I hope I received these calls just because my telephone number is still listed in Pennsylvania. You'd think being registered Green would be prevention enough.

Ohio isn't the only place with ignorant people. Here's video from a Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, campaign stop.

Not sure that I should continue the drama started by (e:Joshua)'s post and I haven't read all the comments and related posts, but this came across my desk today and I wanted to share it with y'all.

(excluding specific people)

1. Stars
2. Mountains
3. Dirt roads
4. Joneses' Pond (that's what the sign says)
5. Pirate's Rock
6. Feeling like I've accomplished something just about every day
7. Nisha (my dog)
8. Kitten
9. The office
10. The Bear Ass Bar & Grill
11. Cast & Crew
12. My library


Pirate's Rock in October a couple years ago

I need to be a way for a few days and China Cat Sunflower says she's willing to go with me, but would rather stay here. Anyone have recommendations for someone who would stop by once a day to make sure she's got food and water and give her some lovin' if she wants it? (Allen Street)

(e:Lauren) and (e:FellyConnelly) frequently go to the Battle at Buffalo held at Verve Dance Studio, 910 Main Street, the last Saturday of every month. I went with them Sept. 27 and I'm very glad I did! If you don't know anything about this subculture (like I don't), go with Lauren & Felly. Lauren's a very knowledgeable guide and wrote at least one research paper on breakdancing for which she interviewed studio owner Shane and several b-boys and b-girls. They attend classes at the studio, too.

I took my camera - it was a challenging situation with low light levels and fast action. (Flash photography is a no-no in these kinds of situations - distracting and dangerous to the participants.) I took about 700 shots - if these are the best, you can imagine how bad a lot of them were :-) It's very difficult to capture the "toprock" elements like popping without the dancer just looking awkward. ((e:Lauren) - feel free to correct me on my presentation.) A couple of the dancers looked more like skaterats... is there an intersection between those groups?

Shane, Verve Dance Studio owner, emcee:



The DJs - Miss Shing-a-ling and DJ Simple... I'm finding out that I really like good DJing. I can't describe how awful the DJs are at home.


Interplay between the dancers heightens the sense of "battle"







The youngest (looking) participant held his own among the older dancers.


Teddy Krueger (aka Theodore Krzykowski in his real job at the Buffalo dance company LehrerDance) has amazing flexibility and strength. He won a Lipton Iced Tea competition for this video:

And here's video of another Battle at Buffalo competition between Teddy and Pete Nasty.




Lauren pointed out that observing dancers will slap the floor for technical inaccuracies - Teddy's background in gymnastics, stunts and professional modern dance serve him well in performing complicated, difficult tricks but he gets a lot of floor slaps, too.

Pete Nasty might have been my favorite, but I think I need to go back to be sure :-)



I definitely want to see more b-girls. There were only two that night.








The view from the rooftop outside the studio was great!