Pop Cesspool is mighty impressed with a letter from the Nationals which explained the firing of Manny Acta and gave a blunt assessment of the team's failings. After running down the season's few highlights, the Nats letter states:

"Much of the season, however, has been defined by weak relief pitching, poor defense, and youthful inconsistency. We have tried to work through this period with patience and focus but now we are faced with mounting losses which are beginning to take a toll on our entire roster. Clearly, some changes are required as we prepare for the second half of the 2009 season and, more importantly, build for a competitive future."

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A Chinese zookeeper has been suspended for denying food to Yong Ba, the elderly giant panda who birthed the National Zoo's Tian Tian (otherwise known as our beloved Butterstick's aloof father/sperm-donor). The keeper and a souvenir shop were involved in a scheme that forced 25-year-old Yong Ba to pose for photos with visitors. After she did (and after the tourists ponied up 10 yuan, or about $1.50), the elderly panda would get a piece of apple on a stick. Otherwise, according to media reports, she was fed only two plates of milk and three buns. Someone, identified by Chinese media as a "netizen," posted photos of Yong Ba's condition and predicament on a popular online forum, launching an investigation. Chinese officials assert that the sole panda at Shenzhen Safari Park in the Sichuan province is healthy, despite having to bang on the door of her pen for food.

A couple days ago, Gawker picked up on a sweet Williamsburg street battle that broke out last weekend between New York's finest and hipsters dressed up like panda bears.

The faux-animal collective, known as Pandamonium, is described as "a costumed, roving, street party, apocalyptic, dance, rock, battle." But it's also so much more, writes "The Panda Posse":

It is clear that NYC is becoming less and less hospitable to us pandas, and non-pandas alike, who wish to create an environment free from the restraints of commerce and police repression. We pandas refuse to settle for the pre-packaged lifestyles they wish to sell us. We know that, although we are part of a dying breed, we can and will create the city we wish to live in here and now. It is amazing what can be done with a group of friends, a few boom boxes and some courage.

Whatever. Those of us into the endangered animorphing scene know that hipsters masquerading as pandas has been outplayed for years. The real nail in the coffin for the cool factor of hipster pandas hit all the way back in October 2006. Photo evidence after the jump:

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