I came across something that my good friend Anthony over at T&A should appreciate.  If memory serves, he had undertaken a similar project many moons ago and it has since disappeared.

The Bathroom Diaries is an effort, unparalleled since the Human Genome Project, to catalog all of the world’s public bathrooms. The website’s Mission Statement is rousing, inspirational, and should be read to the theme from Wild World of Sports:

The Bathroom Diaries scours the globe to rate the worlds’ toilets. Few would visit a country without some advanced information, yet our tender bits are exposed to uncharted territories with no help or assistance. At our most vulnerable, we are blind. Well, no more.

With listings in over 120 countries, TBD is the standard in commode chronicling.  Make sure you visit there before you visit anywhere else.

Bonus:  Feel the need to take it to the next level?  Read The Poop Report (somewhat NSFW).

(Found via Lifehacker)

 Uh, wow… what the hell happened to Jenna Jameson?

Does this mean her future videos will feature a series of Kodály method gestures and a repeating series of five tones?

A new addition for Angelina Jolie, courtesy of the Smoke Ball.

The last paragraph is stellar.

Every once in a while, I become privy to a world I had no idea existed.

While working offsite in Shadyside at Coffee Tree Roasters at the end of last week, my co-worker came back from getting a cup of tea and said as she entered our enclosed workspace, “Bill Peduto is out front.”

I said, “Oh yeah? What’s he doing? Is he doing some campaigning?”

My CW responds, “No, he’s sitting down having a meeting. Talking to some cougar.”

Now my CW had used this term before but I don’t think I had, until that point, really realized that it had some meaning. So I asked said CW (even though I thought I knew) what it meant. Turns out that even though my CW had been using it half-jokingly in this case, I was correct.

For those tragically un-enlightened as myself, a cougar (as defined in one of best entries in Urban Dictionary) is:

Any older woman who frequents clubs in order to score with a usually much younger man. The cougar can be anyone from an overly surgically altered wind tunnel victim, an absolute sad and bloated old horn-meister, to a real hottie, or milf. Cougars are gaining in popularity (particular the true hotties), as young men not only a fucking incredible sexual high, but many times a chick with her shit together.

There’s also the “less favorable” and most voted up definition:

An older woman trying way too hard to look young. Usually heavy makeup and way too tan, sometimes orange. Generally has leathery, smoking damaged skin, short skirt, and may have obvious breast implants.

So after confessing my unawareness of this term, my CW says “you’re kidding, right?” They then proceed to tell me about the urbancougar website complete with the “Cougar of the Month.” There, the modern-day cougar is described as a woman who “avoids the entanglements of a ‘relationship,’ in favor of the freedom of the hunt.”

Wow.

Moving over to cougarplanet.com (yes, an entire planet of this), I discovered that there is a whole ecosystem of cougars and cougar hunters. Did you know that Helen of Troy was a Great Cougar in History?*

Holy. Shit.

Now, believe you me, I respect an older woman’s desire to prey on enjoy the company of a younger male, as well as the desire of a young guy to bag court a cougar. The whole buildup around this phenomenon seems a bit much. I myself was once hunted by a cougar shortly after leaving college, and she even had me somewhat interested right up until she (in a drunken state) told me that her husband was coming to pick her up and that I’ll know him because he’ll be the state trooper waiting in his squad car outside the bar.

You then saw the WoyDeer get the hell out of there. Mutual of Omaha had nothing on that footage.

*Other famous cougars in history include Lana from Three’s Company, Ellen Burroughs from Class, Vera Prescott from The Secret of My Success, and of course Stifler’s Mom.

This past Sunday, I spent the afternoon taking in a really enjoyable afternoon at Heinz Hall with the Pittsburgh Symphony. Jonathan Mayes of the PSO was kind enough to invite a number of bloggers from the community to take in a concert and then blog their subsequent thoughts and feelings at an after-symphony reception.

While I had every intention of sitting down afterwards and blogging immediately, I had some great conversations with some bloggers and non-bloggers alike and never got time in front of my laptop. Sri has already posted an excellent recount of our experience with the PSO.

Music is an abstract medium and full of interpretations. I’ll set right out that I am quite the uninstructed soul when it comes to symphonic music. I can pick out the instruments and recognize many classical pieces, but I always feel like I’m “pretending” when I listen. Someone once told me though that it’s not important that you know what period music is from or which particular movement of a symphony it may be… it’s that you enjoy the music and that it impacts you in some way.

Pre-game

The talk by Greg Sandow before the concert really gave one a sense of context about the featured composer, Shostakovich. I had never heard of Shostakovich before, and it was fascinating to hear about his life behind the Iron Curtain. I imagine no worse fate could befall an artist than being forced to use your talent to support something you do not believe in… just as Shostakovich was under Soviet rule when he was compelled to write rousing Soviet anthems.

After the talk, the contingent of bloggers were led on a guided tour through Heinz Hall. From the outside the hall looks huge, and generally speaking it is. It has many large open rehearsal areas backstage… and of course the main concert hall is open and gorgeous. Yet there are areas that felt very claustrophobic in the narrow halls. The most interesting things I saw included the elaborate weight system that’s used to manage the stage and the music library, which is more expansive than you would probably think.

The concert

The performance opened with The Suite from The Bolt, which I remember most vividly for the piccolo performance and the swaying strings in the first played movement.

A moving piano performance by Vladimir Feltsman, highlighted with Charles Lirette’s trumpet made the Concerto No. 2 in C Minor a very enjoyable piece. I remember the occasionally playful quality of it, along with the rich sounds of two harp players. As I commented to Cindy at the Intermission, it’s amazing how one can have so many reactions in the midst of a played piece. Further, I was surprised how I would gravitate to either certain sounds or instruments, such as the harps or the bass ensemble. They were absolutely tremendous.

The concert finished with the very well done Symphony No. 5 in D Minor, with a building ebb and flow that eventually reaches a satisfying conclusion in the triumphant finale.

Post-game

The PSO was a very welcoming host for everyone who attended. Jonathan, who obviously had a number of things to deal with on a concert day, took time out of his busy schedule to give us our tour and also greet us at a reception at the conclusion of the performance. Greg was kind enough to speak to us once more about blogging symphonic music. Kevin DeLuca made sure we had wireless available for blogging, and the PSO gave us coffee and treats.

My normal regimen on a Sunday in the Fall is to take in a long afternoon of football. I thank the PSO for giving me the opportunity to experience something different, and become a little more cultured in the process. It was a wonderful time!

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