Military Coup in Honduras

From Reuters:

The Honduran army ousted and exiled leftist President Manuel Zelaya on Sunday in Central America's first military coup since the Cold War, triggered by his bid to make it legal to seek another term in office.

U.S. President Barack Obama and the European Union expressed deep concern after troops came for Zelaya, an ally of socialist Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, around dawn and took him away from his residence. He was whisked away to Costa Rica.

Zelaya, who took office in 2006 and is limited by the constitution to a four-year term that ends in early 2010, had angered the army, courts and Congress by pushing for an unofficial public vote on Sunday to gauge support for his plan to hold a November referendum on allowing presidential re-election.

Link: Reuters

Workplace Productivity Falling

American workplace productivity is slumping, resulting in inflation fears. What is the cause of the productivity dip?

- Fantasy baseball teams can't manage themselves

- Personal vendetta against Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke

- Nationwide crippling fear of success

- Recent hiring of 86.8 million lazy fuckoffs

- Proliferation of bulleted satirical online office humor

- Post-lunch realization that life is nothing more than the inevitable march toward death

- Muffins in the break room

- Chickswithswords.com

Link: Workplace Productivity Falling

School of Seven Bells - "Half Asleep"

Half Asleep

Sometimes I go whole days
listening bored, half sleep
I won't say anything
that's worth a thing to me
One day, suddenly, time
took a turn that once felt so brief
I blinked to see polite ghosts fading quickly

What begins as an unguarded
train of thoughts slowly can become
an addiction to the slumber
of disconnection and the resonance
of memory that no longer has a shape
but keeps you numb through
the hours till gone is another day

Be aware, my darling
these things I say I mean
are just traces of something
I long to feel again
I see our time expand
in the air almost forcibly,
spreading thinner till it dissolves completely

- School of Seven Bells

Phoenix on Jimmy Kimmel 6/27

Watch the drummer.

-Matt

Animal Collective - "Summertime Clothes"

And there's no one pushing for a place
As we enter at an easy pace
And I want to walk around with you
I want to walk around with you

Yet Another Benefit to Slipping People Roofies

Link: Cyanide and Happiness

Hungover Couple Unaware They Broke Up Last Night

Via: The Onion

Having-One-Beer Plan Goes Awry

Via: The Onion

Suns trade Shaq to Cavaliers

The Cavaliers have agreed in principle to acquire Shaquille O'Neal from the Suns for Ben Wallace and Sasha Pavlovic, an NBA source confirmed late Wednesday night. Phoenix also will receive a second-round pick in Thursday's draft and cash. | SI.com

Can we have the Matrix back?

-Matt

US To Trade Gold Reserves For Cash Through Cash4Gold.com

10 Things You Didn't Know About Alice in Wonderland

With Tim Burton’s very UN-Disney take on "Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland" on its way into theaters, we’re in for another tasty cinematic version of this classic story. (Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter? sign us up!). But first, until the toys get here, let’s take a look at some of the most frequently asked questions about Lewis Carroll, Alice and the entire gang—all stuff that’ll help you enjoy the new movie even more. | The Toy Zone

See also: First look: What a weird 'Wonderland' Burton's made | USATODAY.com via Boing Boing

Phoenix: June 18, 2009 at Music Hall of Williamsburg

Here are a couple of reviews of Phoenix's show Thursday night in Williamsburg I went to. Check out the sound check video at the bottom of the page of the first review. Both have good pictures from the show.

When even the spaces between songs are applauded, it's not just about the band tearing it up (which of course, they did). One of Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix's song titles suggest they've been thinking about their music's manic effect on a crowd, and last night illustrated why that is pretty perfectly. | stereogum

When did Phoenix become the biggest band in the world? I’m guessing sometime around the time they started putting on the best live rock show in the world... Taking the stage well past midnight, they wasted no time in building on the already frenetic atmosphere of the room in blazing through a pitch-perfect version of Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix’s lead track “Lisztomania”. | EAR FARM

Before the show, they played live on David Letterman. Here's the clip from stereogum:


The show Thursday night and the show Friday night at Terminal 5 were both great. They are so much better live than recorded. There is so much more power to their music and the drummer is one of the most entertaining drummers I've ever seen live. The drums really drive the band live and you don't get that as much from their recorded tracks.

-Matt

See also:
Phoenix - "1901"
Phoenix - "Long Distance Call"

Play Him Off Keyboard Cat

See also: Keyboard Cat does The Shining | LOL Factory

Phoenix - "1901"

Crocodiles

San Diego thrash band, Crocodiles. I'm seeing them tomorrow night at Mercury Lounge in SoHo.

-Matt


Crocodiles "I Wanna Kill" LIVE at Pianos NYC 4/4/09 | YouTube

Band To Watch: Crocodiles | Stereogum

Quit Your Day Job: Crocodiles | Stereogum

Crocodiles on IMEEM | IMEEM

Crocodiles on MySpace Music | MySpace Music

Crocodiles - 6/20/2009 | The Mercury Lounge - New York, NY

Phoenix - "Long Distance Call"

I'm seeing them tonight at Music Hall of Williamsburg in Brooklyn and tomorrow night at Terminal 5 in Hell's Kitchen on the west side of Manhattan.

-Matt

Fallen Princesses

These works place Fairy Tale characters in modern day scenarios. In all of the images the Princess is placed in an environment that articulates her conflict. The '...happily ever after' is replaced with a realistic outcome and addresses current issues. | JPG Magazine

You think anybody wants a roundhouse kick to the face while I'm wearing these bad boys?

Wikipedia Printed

Rob Matthews aims to illustrate the incredible convenience of digital content by reproducing it in completely futile analog format: A 5,000-page tome of Wikipedia's featured articles. | GOOD via PicoCool

America's Double-Standard On Economic Crises

Nobel laureate Joseph E. Stiglitz has written an article talking about the double standard the American government has when it comes to controlling economic crises in developing nations vs its own.

During the East Asia crisis, just a decade ago, America and the I.M.F. demanded that the affected countries cut their deficits by cutting back expenditures--even if, as in Thailand, this contributed to a resurgence of the aids epidemic, or even if, as in Indonesia, this meant curtailing food subsidies for the starving. America and the I.M.F. forced countries to raise interest rates, in some cases to more than 50 percent. They lectured Indonesia about being tough on its banks--and demanded that the government not bail them out. What a terrible precedent this would set, they said, and what a terrible intervention in the Swiss-clock mechanisms of the free market.

-Matt

Link: Wall Street’s Toxic Message | Vanity Fair via Boing Boing

Lightning in Arlington

Great photo from the Dodgers game on Friday night as storm clouds gather over The Ballpark in Arlington. Saturday night, the storm knocked out power to the stadium and delayed the game.


Via: True Blue LA

Milton Bradley Forgets How Many Outs There Are

The other day, Milton Bradley, who has recently complained about his lack of playing time, decided to show off by acting like hot shit then throwing the ball into the stands... with only two outs.


Via: Vin Scully Is My Homeboy

Bee Stuck Between Screen Door, Front Door Going Fucking Nuts

HUNTSVILE, AL—Users of the front door at 1418 Sycamore Avenue report the appearance of a common bumblebee ricocheting back and forth between the front and screen doors in a manner described as "pissed." According to witnesses, no one has been able to ascertain how the bee became trapped between the two portals, but it is totally losing it and will absolutely sting someone if it gets out, most likely in the eye. "Look at the size of that thing," homeowner Tony Paris said. "He's just going nuts. Just fly out of there, bee, come on." At press time, the bee was resting for a moment before resuming flipping the fuck out. | The Onion

Cool Guys Don’t Look at Explosions

Via: Geeks Are Sexy

UPDATE: For some reason the video isn't loading. It's posted HERE, otherwise Google it. It's a must watch.

Animal Collective - "Lion in a Coma"

If I let my work get tired, if I let my spirit cry out
Always be that fear battle is it just tryin to divide?
It makes me think my purest dreams are not what they're supposed to be
I trick myself when it is hard I've got to keep up, oh my god
And hope that I will not be wrong and keep my faith in sound and song
I'm blooming but my roots remind me not to leave them back in time.



Come dig me out my lucid brain

SF Goal to Send Zero Waste to Landfills by 2020

The Board of Supervisors passed new recycling and mandatory composting rules on Tuesday in a 9-to-2 vote. The city already diverts 72 percent of the 2.1 million tons of waste its residents produce each year away from landfills and into recycling and composting programs. The new ordinance will help the city toward its goal of sending zero waste to landfills by 2020. | The New York Times

Band of Horses - "The Funeral"

How Sesame Street Changed the World

How Sesame Street Changed the World | Newsweek
If you haven't watched recently with your children or grandchildren, you'll be relieved to know that impending middle age hasn't wrinkled Sesame Street all that much. Big Bird still waddles, Cookie Monster still goes on his sugar binges and Ernie still wakes up Bert at all hours with questions (none of them, mercifully, about the nature of their relationship). In a world where cultural touchstones are dropping faster than the Mets in September—sorry, Guiding Light fans—the endurance of Sesame Street is nothing short of a miracle.

See Also:
Classic Sesame Street Animations | mattmaison
The 13 Greatest Sesame Street Musical Guests | mattmaison
Feist Counts on Sesame Street | mattmaison

Pelosi Hits Back

The House speaker discusses the stimulus battle, prosecuting top level Bush officals and the limits of bipartisanship. | Rolling Stone
The Republicans do a disservice with their message of "I hope you fail." It doesn't help build confidence, and we all have a responsibility to do that. No matter what we are criticizing or commenting on, we have to do so in a way that does not undermine the public's confidence. I think that aspect of what they're doing is irresponsible. They're entitled to their economic philosophy, but it is a failed economic philosophy. We're not going to dilute what we're doing to get a few of their votes and lose many, many jobs in the process.

Motor City Breakdown

Does the decline of the auto industry mean the end of Detroit? | Rolling Stone
No matter how badly they screwed up, the Big Three — Ford, Chrysler and General Motors — continued to exercise a psychological hold on residents, thanks to their place of importance in the city's history and a sense that, for all of their faults, they had made Detroit great, once, and might do it again.

Look At This Mess. Just Look At It! How Did This Happen?

Kobe Brygdanov Leads Red Wings To Game 2 Win

Chipotle’s Absurd "Calorie Range"

Chipotle has a "Calorie Range" posted for all of the items on their menu. But as Midtown Lunch explains, when you compare the ranges on Chipotle's website, the ingredients don't add up to the posted "Calorie Range".

The Chipotle in my building has the range for any Burrito as 420-918 calories....

According to the nutritional information on the Chipotle website, the flour tortilla *alone* is 290 calories, leaving one to wonder, what exactly is in this 420 calorie burrito?...

So, by process of elimination, if you want a burrito on the low range of the calorie scale (420), you will be ordering a flour tortilla, filled with vegetarian black beans. No salsa. No sour cream. No rice. No cheese. Can that even be considered a burrito? Has anybody ordered a burrito like that? Ever?

Not that I'm about to stop eating it or anything.

-Matt

Link: Midtown Lunch

Michael Moore's Nine ways to Transform GM

At the deathbed of General Motors, says Michael Moore, "the company's body not yet cold, and I find myself filled with—dare I say it—joy." As the federal government and courts "reorganize" the auto giant, Moore proposes a plan to President Obama "for the good of the workers, the GM communities, and the nation as a whole." | The Daily Beast via Boing Boing

Stop Worrying About Your Children!

Kids today are just as safe as they were in the '70s, says "Free-Range Kids" author Lenore Skenazy, and what's really distressing is an alarmist culture that refuses to let them grow up.

Lenore Skenazy has written a book titled "Free-Range Kids: Giving Our Children the Freedom We Had Without Going Nuts With Worry," which talks about why raising children in the U.S. today isn't more dangerous than it was 30 years ago. With parenting magazines and the alarmist media stressing constant supervision, bike helmets, and plastic baseballs, parents today are being brainwashed into thinking the world is a lot dangerous than it really is. My mom told me the other day that now they are even saying that baby powder is bad for children! How did we survive?!


"I grew up in the Houston suburbs in the '70s and '80s. Back then, we kids waited for the school bus without our parents. Now, in that exact same neighborhood, parents always wait at the school bus stop with their kids, although the neighborhood has not changed significantly." - Skenazy

Skenazy's points aren't that we should stop using safety devices like seat belts and car seats altogether, just that we need to chill out a bit. She says that today's parents have been swept into a hysteria about child safety, driven by constant media coverage of child abductions, safety tips from alarmist parenting mags, and companies marketing products that promise to protect children from any possible danger.

Skenazy is famous for letting he 9-year old son rid the New York subway by himself. A move that got lots of headlines labeling her as an neglecting parent, but in reality, riding the subway is significantly safer than driving on America's roads.


Read more about Lenore and her views on these topics on her blog and at the links below. The Salon article is a must-read. The interviewer does a great job of bringing up counter-points to Skenazy's views and she does a great job of explaining her rational behind her thoughts.

-Matt


FreeRangeKids

Stop worrying about your children! | Salon

Helicopter Moms vs. Free-Range Kids | Newsweek

Free-Range Kids: Giving Our Children the Freedom We Had Without Going Nuts With Worry | Amazon.com

Toy Story 3 Teaser Trailer

A Gallery of Mind-Blowing High School Photos

Rolling Stone has posted a bunch of pictures of rockers from their high school yearbooks. Some are easily recognizable (Eddie Vedder, Anthony Kiedis), some are hard to tell until you read the name (Roger Daultry, Jim Morrison) and some are unbelievable (Stevie Nicks, Prince!).

As the class of 2009 graduates, check out what your favorite rockers looked like in high school in a gallery of mind-blowing yearbook photos including Madonna, Prince and James Hetfield.

We’ve got Scott Wieland with a ‘do worthy of a John Hughes film, Tommy Lee rocking a teeny-bopper ’stache, an angelic Gwen Stefani, Travis Barker with hippie hair, Anthony Kiedis looking surprisingly like a young Mick Jagger, a pre-beard Jerry Garcia, a crazy-maned Mariah Carey and many more.

-Matt

Link: What Madonna, Prince, Eddie Vedder and More Stars Looked Like in High School - Rolling Stone

Cold War Kids - "Mexican Dogs" on Carson Daly

See Also: mattmaison: Cold War Kids

12 Ways to Save Money on Your Electric Bill This Summer

According to recent studies, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates that the average family household is spending nearly $2,000 per year in utility costs. And wasteful kitchen appliances alone are at fault for almost half of these costs. That's a whole bunch of Benjamins that could be back in your pocket. So here are some tips to help you reduce your need for the juice, and give you a greener (as in more money) summer. | The Bachelor Guy

See Also: Vampire Energy: Electronics that drain your wallet, even when they’re off. | Geeks Are Sexy

New Clip From G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra

Here's new clip from G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, which debuted Sunday on the MTV Movie Awards.

-Matt

If it werent for the dumb costume and dealing with kids I would make a great clown

Pearl Jam Debut "Backspacer" Track "Got Some" on Conan O’Brien

Monday night was Conan O'Brien's debut on the Tonight Show and Pearl Jam was his first musical guest. They debuted the song "Get Some" from their upcoming album "Backspacer", which you can watch here.



-Matt

Via: Rolling Stone

Dodger Stadium Facts

mental_floss has a list of 10 uncommonly known facts about Dodger Stadium. Some of the better/more unknown ones on the list are:

- Since the demolition of Yankee and Shea Stadiums, Dodger Stadium is now the third oldest ballpark.
- Dodger Stadium is the only stadium in the whole National League with a symmetrical outfield.
- The Dodgers were the first team to get more than three million fans to games in the span of a single season.
- Dodger Stadium sells the most hot dogs of all MLB parks.

Read the detailed list at mental_floss.

-Matt

220-mph Solar-Powered Train Proposed In Arizona

An ambitious Arizona company has recently revealed plans for a solar powered bullet train that will streak across the desert at 220 mph, traveling from Tuscon to Phoenix in 30 minutes flat. Proposed by Solar Bullet LLC, the system comprises a series of tracks that would serve stations including Chandler, Casa Grande, Red Rock, and Marana, and may one day be extended to Flagstaff and Nogales. The train would require 110 megawatts of electricity, which would be generated by solar panels mounted above the tracks. | Inhabitat via Slashdot

Is Eating Less Meat Better than Eating No Meat?

I eat as much meat as I want, but our increasing population is making it harder and harder for us to be meat eaters as a species. Here is a great article that pretty much sums up how I feel on the issue.

Just because we’re currently treating animals inhumanely and raising them in ways that our bad for the planet does not mean that the entire concept is flawed. The argument that some meatophiles make that cows exist for us to eat them is pretty reductive, but if we weren’t here, cows would be getting eaten by other things. That is just how the food chain works. The size of the human population and our lack of predators may be screwing up the food chain, but we don’t exist outside of it—we exist at the top of it. And if everyone started only eating vegetables, we would have environmental problems with irrigating giant lettuce fields, and so forth. The problem goes well beyond what we eat. It’s really about how many of us there are and how much we eat.

Read the full article at | GOOD.

-Matt