Neat Things I Saw This Week: Fourth Week of May

Number 1:

Awesome Japanese manhole covers: http://www.booooooom.com/2012/05/16/beautiful-japanese-manhole-covers/

I Like This Because: There is absolutely no reason why cities have to be ugly just because they're cities, and there's even less reason why something totally utilitarian has to be unadorned. There's all this talk about making cities better places to live, but I think just making them prettier would go a long way toward making people happier--it's why people lust after those gorgeous Italian espresso machines and all the charmingly beautiful Swedish rugs and so on: something that you see every day, that has a defined purpose, really should be something beautiful, too.

Number 2:

Trees in someone's back yard acting like a hundred pinhole cameras for the eclipse this past Sunday: http://www.itsokaytobesmart.com/post/23463228044/uselaine-solar-eclipse-projected-through-the

I Like This Because: How awesome it is! We weren't in the path of the eclipse, so I didn't get to see it, but the internet is full of amazing pictures of it from those who were and did. I never even would have thought of this, but look how well it works!