Things that are Awesome!

The pyramids were the tallest man made structure for about 5000 years, until this tower was built. Tall, but also beautiful in a very modern way. I’m sure people today don’t ask “when are the finishing it”, as they did when it was built. It also stretched the engineering skills of the time.

[quote]I am awed by the pyramids, and by how close they are to regular housing!

It would be spectacular to have a view of them from your living room.

The downside for the pyramids is that such proximity to urban centers is contributing to their slow decay and destruction from noise, vibration, dirt and pollution.

When I was in Rome for a week, despite limited time, I had to go to the coliseum twice. In addition to the architecture, you must imagine the history occurring in that very spot. I was awed.

R2, the pyramids are made from limestone, and that effectively melts in acid rain.

I have a photo of a 150 year-old limestone grave marker taken in 1970 in the US. It is perfectly legible with quarter-inch deep engravings. Today, it looks like a sponge, and is barely legible. That’s due to acid rain.

The Rockies, Yellowstone, sunset over the Pacific.

When with the Chinese representative, Trump sniffed his way through a bit on restoring fireworks to Mt. Rushmore. The Governor already had gotten that approved, and he was just taking credit. He said he’d be there for the 4th of July. Can you imagine if it started a wildfire then!?

OP refers to "regular housing." Obviously she has never been in the vicinity of Gaza plumbing or the lack of ac in those "lovely" domiciles.

I have not, R7.

Do they still let people climb the pyramids?

not any more- of course if you go at night...

infiniti

The rice terraces of the Philippine Cordilleras

Trekking Fiordland National Park, South Island, New Zealand

Jerusalem

Venice

The Exit door opening after a 15 hour non-stop plane ride.

Dolphins bow surfing

Three-day weekends with Casey Spooner, Marcia Cross and Garcelle Beauvais Nilon.

Monument Valley

This sheep

I found Washington DC awesome. We got in to the Obama grounds tea party, where there was no Obama or tea, but we got within 20 feet of the WH back door. Walked all around.

But the Smithsonian, the Portrait Gallery, there is so much there worth seeing!

A spotted zebra.

Awesome, R18!

Organ transplants. Pretty fucking awesome!

Nancy Pelosi.

DNA tests. NatGeo knows about when my mother (~150,000 years ago) and father’s (~180,000 years ago) ancestors left Africa, and how they traveled to Europe, plus how much intermixing they made with the other primitive species then around.

I meant to post this link at R22.

Dates. Nature's candy, and good for you, too.

the pillars of creation

Oprah’s va jay jay

I have a telescope, and I can see four of Jupiter’s moons. Also, Saturn’s rings, and I can see that Venus has phases, like the moon does.

Teflon (or similar) cookware. I just cooked eggs and cleanup was a snap. Remember the old says? You’d use butter to try to line the pan. Afterward, you’d have to soak it, then scrub it. It’s just so easy, now!

I'm awed by the wealth, history, facilities, book and art and history collections, knowledge culture and collective brain power, at the world's greatest universities. Harvard has a 40 billion USD endowment. Cambridge museums are breathtaking.

Alcohol. It gladdens the hearts of man. Psalms 104:15

Turducken! How they got these three to interbreed really is an accomplishment of the modern age.

My new toupee!

Datalounge.

Hahaha. Just kidding.

Gap In-Store Playlists, of course.

The February 2002 Gap In-Store Playlist is AWESOME!

Anyone been to the Vatican? It really is awesome. I hope to see the Sophia Mosque in Istanbul someday. When these buildings were built, the stretched the engineering knowledge of the day as far as building a wide dome without supports directly underneath.

The same goes for many of the medieval towers, as in Venice. They seem routine today, but “building high” was a challenge then.

The Vatican - St Peters especially - was awesome. The scale is indescribable. More impressive than the mosques in Istanbul.

Look at OP's pic: the place looks like a shithole, sérieusement.

Our honeymoon was four days in Cairo, five in Sharm and four in Luxor. We stayed at the 5* Les Meridiens Pyramids and woke up to see the pyramids only a few hundred metres away from our balcony. Incredible views.

^ "metres"? Are you an Egyptian frau R38?

The migration of birds. How do they just know where to go?

Sharks have a sixth sense for magnetism. It’s not something we can quite comprehend, not having it ourselves.

R40, how about Monarch butterflies? They migrate to the same places in Mexico to hang out with their friends there. I think the migration may take a couple generations, too, though I’m not sure about that.

Ancient skyscrapers are cool. Illustration of Medieval Bologna. 2 are still standing.

Dental surgery on big cats!

R43 reminds me of this one.

R42, me too, I’m awed. In the Renaissance, they had an informal contest for the prestige of what city could build the highest towers.

Ditto for what city could build the largest, unsupported hall within a Cathedral. The Basilica of St. Sophia was the largest, IIRC. There was a very large one in Italy which still stands and for which the plans no longer exist. It’s larger than could be expected given the engineering of the day. They don’t know how it was built, except that the brickwork in the dome is in a woven pattern. Like a parquet floor or more like a herringbone pattern. Does this ring a bell with any of you travelers?

R44, I like seeing how the second lion is clearly distressed. He prepares three times to grab and rescue his friend if he was in trouble. Awww.

10 awesome bridges for animals.

This is a cross post, but it is awesome, so here it is.

This thread!

Me!!!

A blossoming cherry tree outside. I love spring.

The Osmothèque

Harvard Endowment

The terraced vineyards from Lausanne to Vevey. click the pic to see the full view. Yes it really looks like this.

R51, when my Mom died, I put her Rosaries in a plastic bag, just to keep them together. Ten years later, I opened it up, and the contents still smelled like Mom. I’ve read that scent is most evocative of memories, IDK.

Bump

R23, thank you, that was awesome. Now I want to do it.

Gay sex.

R1, the know-thing "historian," never heard of Lincoln Cathedral.

The Matterhorn on a sunny day.

Seashells.

Medieval cathedrals.

Mont St. Michel.

A dog's love (from what I've read and observed; never had a dog).

Gravity.

Gobekli Tepe.

The Series 1 Jaguar XK-E, open headlights.

R59, a dog's love IS awesome. My cats were awesome, too!

Also, camping in Sequoia Nat'l Park.

Hubble images