mrshl | blog

• Most Popular Free Quality Fonts | Tech Magazine
  (tags: fonts design free graphics webdesign lists)
• SrslyCool - The latest seriously cool stuff.
  (tags: lifeblogs blogs images photos)
• On the Legalization or Not of Marijuana - Freakonomics
  The Freakonomics dude solicit opinons on the legalization of the devil’s weed.
  (tags: marijuana drugs freakonomics government law politics nytimes)

Ninja Parade Slips Through Town Unnoticed Once Again

• The Whole Internet
  Seriously. It’s a map of the interweb. On one page. It’s pretty big.
  (tags: internet visualization network maps data interweb neato)

The New York Post has the story:

The former CEO of the leading supplier of body armor to U.S. soldiers in Iraq was charged yesterday with looting the company to bankroll a lavish lifestyle that included a $10 million bat mitzvah for his daughter.

In addition to the bat mitzvah - which included performances by Aerosmith, 50 Cent, Tom Petty, Kenny G and the Eagles - prosecutors said David Brooks got the firm, DHB Industries, to pay for other goodies.

Among them were a face lift for his ex-wife; vitamins for his stable of 100 horses; pricey vacations; fancy jewels; an armored car; a $194,000 Bentley; and a $100,000 diamond-studded belt buckle.

The elaborate scheme exploded yesterday when federal prosecutors unsealed a 21-count indictment accusing Brooks, 53, of securities fraud, insider trading, tax evasion and obstruction of justice. If convicted, he could spend the rest of his life behind bars.

Sandra Hatfield, 54, the company’s former chief operating officer, was hit with similar charges.

Kenny G AND 50 Cent? I bet that was some green room.

At an excellent named blog srsly cool, there are some fine examples of Lego artwork that should start you wandering after your own missing pieces.

Behold this Lego-y take on M.C. Escher’s Relativity.

• Police Blotter: Craigslist toddler giveaway ad sparks suit | CNET News.com
  Lady tried to give her kid away on Craigslist. Child services took her up on the offer, and of course there’s a lawsuit now.
  (tags: children news articles police wtf)
• Protecting Whistleblowers, You Bet! | MetaFilter
  Congress takes care of anonymous tipsters by identifying them in an email. Twice.
  (tags: wtf congress politics whistleblowers email)
• Grey’s Law
  “Any sufficiently advanced incompetence is indistinguishable from malice.”
  (tags: quotes wikipedia humor laws greylaw incompetence)

And it happened this weekend.

Easily one of my favorite Cardigans songs because of it’s gorgeous descending hook, "In the Round" (from Super Extra Gravity) includes some pretty basic relationship-type lyrics from Nina Persson. As is so often the case with Cardigans, it’s either about communicating with one another or getting it on. Or both:

I am young and I’m alive
I want to talk about things
I am young and I own my life
I need to talk about it, baby

I am one but I asked for two
I didn’t get anything
This puppet’s lonely without you
It’s tough to walk without strings

I do my dance in the round

You might have heard of this concept before: Dancing in the Round. Maybe from Michael Jackson?

Billie Jean

She says I am the one
Gonna dance on the floor
in the round.

I’m fairly certain these allusions to dancing in the round refer to the centuries old practice of celebrants surrounding a single dancer and watching them throw down some virtuoso moves while everyone claps and kicks their legs up high. For Jackson, the reference is probably explicitly related to breakdancing.

But Persson and Jackson invert the context for this tradition by focusing on the isolation inherent in round dancing. Dancing alone in the center of the circle brings with it a pressure to perform under intense scrutiny. This kind of alienation can be exhilarating for a while. But in "Billie Jean" Jackson seems to use performance as both an escape from and, a metaphor for, the norms of a society that would have him care for a woman and a child suspected to be his.

Persson, too is feeling the pressure of performance, and she wants someone to share it with. Or maybe she doesn’t:

I am young, coming at you live
People gonna talk about me
When I’m done, please hang me high
For everybody to see

Cause I do my dance in the round
So people clap your hands

But whether you spurn it or succumb, there is always centrifugal urge to break from the circle and find a partner, where one can find the comfort and trust that comes with an audience of one.

• Turn Thunderbird into the Ultimate Gmail IMAP Client
  Gmail supports IMAP now. Here’s how to take full advantage.
  (tags: gmail thunderbird imap lifehacker howto email)
• Scientists Create Lesbian Worms
  Scientists were able to change its sexual orientation so that it was attracted to other females. Scientists activated the gene that makes male structures develop in the body, but only turned it on in the brain.
  (tags: science worms genetics sex)
• About those burned-down houses in California - The Smirking Chimp
  Intreresting take on why so many houses burned down in San Diego. Apparently they were built with the wrong materials. But take it with a grain of salt (see the comments).
  (tags: architecture fire sandiego wildfires stucco tile)
• flauntR- Free online photo editor with thousands of one click effects
  Free web-based photo editing that’s fast and easy to use. The profile photomaker alone is worth the price of admission: it lets you automatically resize and edit your profile photo for more than 30 social networks.
  (tags: photo editor webapps photography profiles)