Phipps has announced that their Corpse Flower, named Romero after the director, is in bloom!

The bloom lasts between 24-48 hours and smells like “the rotting flesh of a mammal.”  Tonight (Tuesday the 20th) and tomorrow (Wednesday the 21), they will be open until 2 a.m. for visitors, and Wednesday will even feature two screenings of “Day of the Dead” at 8 and 10:30 p.m.

Phipps is amazing at night, and sadly, it’s been too light to really get the full experience over the summer for a night time viewing of the summer glass show, so that alone, is worth it, not to mention a bloom that only comes around every decade.

I sadly missed Anthrocon this year.  For years it was the last weekend before I left for the summer and my coworkers and I would wander downtown on our lunch break to grab some pictures.  Usually of, and sometimes with the furries.

And they’re totally kind, awesome people!  But it was in July this month (I have no idea how they didn’t die from heat exhaustion), and I was otherwise engaged, so I missed it.

However, Nerve’s ongoing series, “Talking to Strangers” picked up the slack, and I was taken aback when I was at their homepage and thought to myself, “that bridge looks familiar.”

Check out the article, it’s totally worth it.  Don’t judge them too hard, they’re nice people, and harmless, and found a place where they can be themselves, if only we were all so lucky.  Oh yeah, and the massive amount of money they bring to the city each year.  That’s pretty awesome too.

And I’m back.  I wanted to take a minute to talk about the most recent adventure I went on with Venture Outdoors: Fireworks Paddle.

At the start of the Pirates game, we headed down underneath the Clemente Bridge, got our kayaks, PFDs and paddles and after some brief instruction, headed out onto the water.

There were a lot of us, and we were much more spread out than on other VO events (since the boats bounce into once another and it’s generally annoying when you do), so it was more of a relaxing, solitary look at the setting sun bouncing off the skyline.

We made our way up to Herr’s Island and then headed back towards PNC Park, all the while, in my head, singing Ride of the Valkyries.  As the sun finished setting, the game finished up (Pirates won by the way) and we had the best seats in the house for the fireworks.

It was mentioned beforehand, but I was surprised how much the water and boats were rocked by each blast.

Aside from a jagoff motorboat boat operator (who said he couldn’t see us even though we had lights and to get out of his way as he started to move), it was an awesome night.  The staff at Kayak Pittsburgh are amazingly efficient and helpful.  VO talked about it on their blog, and there’s another one scheduled for August.  Make sure to check it out if you want to see Pittsburgh from a new perspective.  I’ll have some pictures posted soon!

Once again, we’re in my favorite week of the year: Pittsburgh Craft Beer Week!

There are special events all over the region, including a lot of special brews and tap takeovers.  Even if you think you don’t like beer, I promise you’ll be able to find a beer that you’ll like.

And, just like last year, the local craft brew community came together and created five special collaboration brews:

• D’Pomme Rye Saison – Rye Saison
• Fear of a Black Walnut – Smoked Black Wanut Oatmeal Stout
• Pennsyltucky UnCommon – PA Swankey/Kentucky Common
• Fakin the Funk – American Wild
• None More Black IPA – Belgian Black IPA

I went down to Rock Bottom to try the Fear of a Black Walnut, and it’s out of this world amazing.  I’m hoping to find all the others, but I’ll be hunting for the None More Black IPA.

There are also a couple other special beers out there from some craft brewing, and I have to recommend the Pittsburgh Left by Southern Tier.

Find out more, find a participating location and check out the myriad of events here.

Quantum Theater, once again, is pulling out all the stops.  And this time, it’s the world premier of “Dream of Autumn.”

What I’ve always liked about Quantum is how they use spaces in new and innovative ways, and especially how they use that mobility to support the local community.  “Dreams” is being staged in the former Park Schenley Restaurant in the Royal York, and the reviews have been very good.

The show runs through the rest of the week, and if you have a chance, certainly check it out (and hopefully I can make it to the next show!)

Find out more here.

In 2015, the Professional Disc Golf Association’s world championships will be here in Pittsburgh:

July 25 – August 1, the tournament will be played at Deer Lakes, Knob Hill and Moraine (state) Parks, as well as Slippery Rock University.

I’m very bad at Disc Golf.  It’s fun, but I just don’t have much aim.  While playing Ultimate in college (as one does), I was much better at catching than throwing, not that I was that great, but I made a few good plays between classes.

Calvary Church in Shadyside has an e-waste recycling event on Saturday, January 19, 10 a.m. – 1 p.m.

You can no longer throw out electronics with the trash, so this is a great chance to get those pieces recycled at no cost.

Additionally, if you need a hard drive destroyed, they will have a service available for $10 each

You can find out more at Calvary’s website.

The Chief, returns for its 10th anniversary production for a short run at the Pittsburgh Public Theater.

And in conjunction, at a special show on Sunday, January 6 there will be a beer and food tasting after the show.

The show starts at 7 p.m. and the tasting will begin around 8:30.

I went to the last special event the PPT did with Good People, and it was a lot of fun, if you can make it, call the theater to reserve your tickets.

Find out more here.

Last week, Uniontown held an anti-equality parade.  The kicker: the  mental gymnastics they put themselves through to try to convince themselves that they’re the victims and that they really love everybody.

You can read the entire story here (although I think you can only read 10 articles a month from the Herald Standard before you have to pay), but I’m going to pull out a lot of quotes and respond directly to them below.

I”m also confused as to why now.  There is no real movement for marriage equality in Pennsylvania.  Maybe they’re just afraid because of the historic gains in Maryland, Maine, Washington and Minnesota.

The parade was put on by a church, and I would just remind everyone that not all church’s are anti-equality (the Episcopal church has a ceremony for same-sex couples joining together in matrimony).  Read that aside again.  Notice how I used the word ‘church’ and ‘matrimony.’  Marriage is a civil contract, and the definition has changed quite a bit over the years (see the graphic to the left), not to mention what the Bible itself lists as acceptable (or sometimes forced) marriages.

It’s a bit long, so I’ll put it after the jump, please take a minute and have a read.  I swear a bit.  But we’re talking about civil rights here.  I’m surprised I didn’t swear more.

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It was posted elsewhere, but I wanted to make sure to pay tribute to Adam Paul Causgrove, the newly crowned “Mustached American of the Year”

Congratulations, Adam!

Read more at ManMade