マンホールの蓋

I truly can't conceive of a world without 99% Invisible. So much of what passes for knowledge held within the confines of my brain has been uploaded to it from this peerless podcast. Take the episode I heard earlier today: who knew that Japanese manhole covers were works of art in their own right? If you have a spare thirty minutes then let Roman Mars tell you how he first discovered them.

These circular steel covers that keep us separated from the effluent below are all majestic installations that would not be out of place in major galleries the world over. Indeed, if anyone reading this has visited the Land of the Rising Sun and has examples on their photo roll please feel free to share them. 

Miss November

Back in 1972 Swedish model Lena Forsén couldn't possibly have foreseen that when she got the gig to pose topless for Playboy magazine in 1972 (she was their Miss November centrespread) her, cropped, image (above) would be used worldwide for decades as industry standard for most photo image processing algorithms - what we know today as jpegs; many years later she was credited with being the first Lady of the Internet.

I heard the fascinating story this afternoon on 99% Invisible the wonderful radio show/podcast hosted by Roman Mars - now in its 14th year and with well over 500 episodes in the can. Lena's story, as with most features on the show, is fascinating. Click on the above link to find out more and here the episode in full (it's on the 'Shirley Cards' ep. - another fascinating photographic story I wasn't previously aware of). In the meantime, here's the uncropped photograph taken by Dwight Hooker as it would have appeared at the time (minus the staples).