+
upworthy
More

London just got a rainbow-themed surprise. Will your city be next?

While the rainbow road was just for a day, the group behind it has big plans for future events.

150,000 London commuters got an unexpected dose of joy on their way to work June 22, 2015.

On a dreary, gloomy, and somewhat rainy Monday morning, a movement called Spark Your City teamed up with BBC1 presenter Gemma Cairney to brighten the cityscape.

The collaboration was called "Love Mondays" and involved turning London Bridge into a 300-meter (a little less than 1,000 feet for us metric-system holdouts) rainbow brick road.


Yes, like an actual rainbow brick road. It's like the road to Oz, but more ... rainbow-y. Photo by Rob Stothard/Getty Images.

When someone says "rainbow road," my mind immediately is drawn to Mario Kart. Somehow, this is even better.

GIF via Mario Kart 64.

Of course, Cairney was there for the special one-day-only event, wearing an outfit as loud as the bridge's bricks.


But, by far, the best part of the event was seeing commuters crack an unexpected smile.

Photo by Rob Stothard/Getty Images.

There are SO many pictures on the #SparkYourCity hashtag of people enjoying the art (and dare I say, loving Mondays?). Be sure to pop over there for more.


But what about us who don't live in London (or who missed out on the event)? We're in luck.

According to their Facebook page, Spark Your City isn't done — not even close to it. The movement's goal is to put together a "fun and exciting journey linking 50 cities by a global chain of 1,000 events."

So maybe, just maybe, a Spark Your City event will be coming your way sometime in the near future. The best way to stay in the loop is to keep up with them on their Facebook and Twitter accounts and check out their website — because this is just flat-out really cool.

The world could always use more spontaneous joy. Don't you agree, Gemma?


Time travel back to 1905.

Back in 1905, a book called "The Apples of New York" was published by the New York State Department of Agriculture. It featured hundreds of apple varieties of all shapes, colors, and sizes, including Thomas Jefferson's personal favorite, the Esopus Spitzenburg.






Keep ReadingShow less

No better time to grab a little shut eye.

For those in the military, sleep can mean the difference between life and death. But shut-eye can be very hard to come by, especially during active conflict.

According to Sharon Ackman, the U.S. Navy Pre-Flight School developed a scientific method to help its pilots fall asleep. Through this technique, 96% of the pilots were able to fall asleep in two minutes or less.

Keep ReadingShow less

Melissa Pateras explains how dry cleaning works.


Have you ever wondered what happens at the dry cleaners? Or are you like me, who just assumed the people at the dry cleaners were wizards and never questioned their magic? Turns out, dry cleaners aren't magic and there's actually a pretty interesting explanation of how they came to be and what they do.

Melissa Pateras is known on Tiktok for her laundry knowledge. Seriously, her ability to fold laundry is hypnotizing. This time, she created a video explaining what actually takes place at the dry cleaner and the internet is aghast.

Before Pateras explained what happens in the mysterious world behind the counter of a dry cleaner, she asked a few of her friends what they thought dry cleaning was. Their answers were...interesting to say the least.

One friend surmised, "You put it in a box, right...and then you let some wind, really fast wind, blow around on your clothes and it wipes off all the dirt." The friend, whose username is @unlearn16, continued with her working hypothesis, saying that the clothes are then blasted with infrared heat to sterilize the garments. While that is certainly an interesting theory, that's not what happens.

Keep ReadingShow less

What dog is best for you?


PawsLikeMe might know you better than you know yourself.

Hello from the other siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiide!!! I'm a dog and I love youuuuuuuu!!!

Because PawsLikeMe knows about your dreams.

Your DOG dreams, that is.

How? A dog-human personality quiz!

A sophisticated one, too! From their website:

"The personality assessment is based on 4 core personality traits that influence the human-canine bond; energy, focus, confidence, and independence."

It also takes into account environmental factors and other special circumstances as well.

It's not uncommon for dogs that are adopted to be returned because they just aren't compatible with their owner's life.

Keep ReadingShow less
Education

A dad's hilarious letter to school asks them to explain why they're living in 1968

"I look forward to this being rectified and my daughter and other girls at the school being returned to this millennium."

Earlier in the week, Stephen Callaghan's daughter Ruby came home from school. When he asked her how her day was, her answer made him raise an eyebrow.

Ruby, who's in the sixth grade at her school in Australia, told her dad that the boys would soon be taken on a field trip to Bunnings (a hardware chain in the area) to learn about construction.

The girls, on the other hand? While the boys were out learning, they would be sent to the library to have their hair and makeup done.

Keep ReadingShow less
via Twitter

Everyone's childhood is different. But there are common objects, sights, sounds, smells, and memories from elementary school that most Gen Xers and Millenials share.

Personally, when i think back to being in elementary school in the '80s, I remember the taste of the chocolate ship cookie we got on Fridays (with the pizza). The humiliation of getting nailed in the back during nation ball. And the grumbling, grinding sound that happened when you slipped a disk into the drive on an Apple IIe computer.

Keep ReadingShow less