Mildly interesting
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Most people stroll through Central Park without ever realizing they’re walking past the oldest monument in New York City—and one of the oldest man-made objects in all of America.
Rising 69 feet into the sky and weighing over 200 tons, the Obelisk—often called “Cleopatra’s Needle”—was carved in Egypt more than 3,500 years ago. It was created to honor Pharaoh Thutmose III, long before Cleopatra was even born, from a single block of red granite quarried in Aswan and originally erected in the city of Heliopolis.
After being toppled and buried during the Persian conquest in 525 B.C., it was rediscovered centuries later by the Romans, who moved it to Alexandria and placed it near a temple built by Cleopatra. That’s when it earned its famous nickname—even though she had nothing to do with its creation.
Fast forward to 1879: Egypt gifted the obelisk to the United States as a gesture of goodwill. But how do you move a 200-ton granite column across the ocean in the 19th century?
With brilliance and sheer determination.
It was carefully lowered, loaded onto the wooden cargo ship Dessoug, and shipped across the Atlantic. Upon arrival, it took 19 days to transport it through Manhattan—using a custom-built carriage pulled by horses and winches.
Finally, on January 22, 1881, before a crowd of 10,000 spectators, the Obelisk rose again—this time in Central Park, where it still stands tall.
So the next time you’re in New York, stop for a moment beneath Cleopatra’s Needle. You won’t just be looking at a monument… you’ll be standing in the shadow of 3,500 years of human history.
#AncientInNYC #CleopatrasNeedle
~Weird Pictures and News -
In 1959, police were called to a segregated library in S. Carolina when a 9yr-old Black boy refused to leave. He later got a PhD in Physics from MIT, and died in 1986, one of the astronauts aboard the space shuttle Challenger. The library that refused to lend him books is now named after him.
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@jon-nyc said in Mildly interesting:
Amazing.
The incredible amount of hours spent practicing those shots should be posted by an account called Dudes Posting Their L's
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Think Cinderella was born in a European fairytale? Think again.
Long before glass slippers and fairy godmothers, there was Rhodopis — a beautiful young slave in ancient Egypt.
As the story goes, recorded by the Greek geographer Strabo in the 1st century BC, Rhodopis was bathing when a falcon — symbol of the god Horus — snatched one of her golden sandals and dropped it in the lap of the Pharaoh.
Struck by its beauty and the mystery behind it, he launched a kingdom-wide search to find its owner.
When he finally met Rhodopis, he was captivated by her grace and nobility… and made her his queen.Yes — this is considered the oldest known version of Cinderella.
It dates back to the Hellenistic period, blending Egyptian and Greek mythologies long before Disney gave it a glittering twist.Back then it was a falcon, not a fairy. A golden sandal, not glass. A Pharaoh, not a prince.
Amazing how some stories live on — only their shoes change.
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Why did a slave girl have golden footwear?
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When a crow feels sick… it visits an anthill.
Sounds strange? It’s actually one of nature’s most fascinating healing rituals.
When a crow senses it’s unwell, it will intentionally find an anthill, spread its wings wide, and remain completely still—waiting for the ants to crawl into its feathers.
Why?
Because ants release formic acid—a natural antiseptic that kills bacteria, fungi, and parasites hiding in the bird’s feathers.
This behavior is called “anting”, and it’s been observed not just in crows, but in many bird species.
No medicine.
No vet.
Just pure instinct and nature’s built-in pharmacy.
A brilliant reminder that the natural world is full of intelligent, self-healing systems…
We just need to stop and notice. -
When a crow feels sick… it visits an anthill.
Sounds strange? It’s actually one of nature’s most fascinating healing rituals.
When a crow senses it’s unwell, it will intentionally find an anthill, spread its wings wide, and remain completely still—waiting for the ants to crawl into its feathers.
Why?
Because ants release formic acid—a natural antiseptic that kills bacteria, fungi, and parasites hiding in the bird’s feathers.
This behavior is called “anting”, and it’s been observed not just in crows, but in many bird species.
No medicine.
No vet.
Just pure instinct and nature’s built-in pharmacy.
A brilliant reminder that the natural world is full of intelligent, self-healing systems…
We just need to stop and notice.@Mik said in Mildly interesting:
When a crow feels sick… it visits an anthill.
Sounds strange? It’s actually one of nature’s most fascinating healing rituals.
When a crow senses it’s unwell, it will intentionally find an anthill, spread its wings wide, and remain completely still—waiting for the ants to crawl into its feathers.
Why?
Because ants release formic acid—a natural antiseptic that kills bacteria, fungi, and parasites hiding in the bird’s feathers.
This behavior is called “anting”, and it’s been observed not just in crows, but in many bird species.
No medicine.
No vet.
Just pure instinct and nature’s built-in pharmacy.
A brilliant reminder that the natural world is full of intelligent, self-healing systems…
We just need to stop and notice.Let me introduce you to doTerra… Now, you can purchase a starter kit of essential oils for $95, but for $375, you can become a doTerra Wellness Advisor. Have your friends and family host parties to set them and their friends onto the homeopath of natural wellness, and you will receive a commission in addition to discounts on your own orders. And should any of them decide they would like to become wellness advisors, then you will earn a portion of their revenue as part of a pyramid of wellness!
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@jon-nyc said in Mildly interesting:
@Renauda said in Mildly interesting:
Jon, that’s just sick.
We call that ‘kink shaming’.
Perverts.
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Fun fact: The swimming pool on The TItanic is still full of water.
