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Apr 2, 2024 13 tweets 6 min read Read on X
Art or Reality?

Let us explore Earth's most extraordinary secrets of nature's marvels, where the surreal landscapes defy not only the imagination but science itself! 🧵⤵️ The Door to Hell, a burning natural gas field in Derweze, Turkmenistan. By Tormod Sandtorv - Flickr: Darvasa gas crater panorama, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=18209432
Thor's Well in USA

Often referred to as the "drainpipe of the Pacific," Thor's Well is a seemingly bottomless sinkhole that swallows the seawater around it. The sheer force with which the water is drawn in and expelled creates a dramatic spectacle, especially during high tide or stormy conditions. This natural wonder is actually a sea cave that has collapsed, with its roof now gone, allowing water to fill it from the bottom.Credit: Nigel Ten Fleming @TenFleming on X
Danakil Depression in Ethiopia

Known for being one of the hottest places on Earth with temperatures that often soar above 120 degrees Fahrenheit (49 degrees Celsius), the Danakil Depression is also one of the lowest points on the planet, dipping more than 100 meters below sea level. This desolate landscape is dotted with acid pools, lava lakes, and mineral deposits in neon colors, a result of volcanic activity and salt mining.Credit: @beyzhive on X
Vinicunca in Peru

Also called the Rainbow Mountain, Vinicunca is famous for its multi-colored strata, which are the result of various mineral deposits that have been exposed by erosion. The stunning hues of red, yellow, purple, and green make it seem as if the mountain was painted. This visual phenomenon becomes particularly vibrant after a rainfall.Image
Zhangye Danxia in China

These are the Rainbow Mountains of China, known for their otherworldly colors that mimic a marbled painting. Layers of different colored sandstone and minerals pressed together over 24 million years and then buckled up by tectonic plates have created this natural masterpiece.Credit: Weird Science - @weird_sci on X
Lake Hillier in Australia

This pink-colored lake on Middle Island is one of the most striking natural phenomena. The distinctive color of the lake is due to the presence of the organism Dunaliella salina, which produces a pink pigment as part of its photosynthesis process, and possibly in combination with the presence of halophilic bacteria in the salt crusts.Credit: Nature Is Weird - @NaturelsWeird on X
Pamukkale in Turkey

Known as "Cotton Castle" in Turkish, Pamukkale's terraces are made of travertine, a sedimentary rock deposited by mineral water from the hot springs. The cascading white pools with warm waters are not just a visual delight but also a popular spot for therapeutic bathing.Image
Darvaze Gas Crater in Turkmenistan

Nicknamed the "Door to Hell," this burning natural gas field collapsed into a large cavern, which geologists set on fire to prevent the spread of methane gas, and it has been burning continuously since 1971. The fiery pit is a surreal sight, especially at night.Image
Rainbow River in Colombia

The Caño Cristales, often called the "Liquid Rainbow," gets its multicolored appearance from the unique plant species that line its floor. Different colors, including red, yellow, green, and blue, are visible at different times of the year, thanks to the reproductive process of the plants.Image
Chocolate Hills in Philippines

Over 1,200 uniformly cone-shaped hills dot the landscape of Bohol. During the dry season, the grass-covered hills dry up and turn chocolate brown, giving them their name. Their formation is still a subject of debate, with theories including oceanic volcano eruptions, uplift of coral deposits, and a combination of erosion and weathering.Credit: https://www.matteocolombo.com/media/b696b84e-ae59-4555-82da-20f6612b3c3a-dramatic-light-over-chocolate-hills-bohol-philippines
Sand Pyramids in Bosnia and Herzegovina

Formed through the natural phenomena of erosion, the Sand Pyramids are spire-shaped formations that resemble a landscape straight out of a science fiction novel. They are created as the softer material around the pyramids is washed away by rain, leaving only the harder stone spires.Wikimedia Commons
Red Beach in China

Located in Panjin, this beach is covered with a type of seaweed called Suaeda salsa, which turns bright red in autumn. It's a vibrant and unusual sight, differing from the typical sandy beach, and also serves as a nature reserve for hundreds of species of birds and other wildlife.Image
Uyuni Salt Flat in Bolivia

The world’s largest salt flat, it was formed as a result of transformations between several prehistoric lakes. It's covered by a few meters of salt crust, which is exceptionally flat. The flatness and the bright white of the salt make it a surreal landscape, and when covered with a thin layer of water, it becomes the largest natural mirror on Earth.Image

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More from @CultureExploreX

Feb 3
I didn’t turn to old Christian thinkers because I was looking for religion.

I turned to them because even though success answers many questions, it doesn’t tell you who you are becoming.

Here’s what 2,000 years of Christian thought taught me (🧵) about where to turn when modern life stops making sense.Image
Paul of Tarsus is the worst place you’d expect wisdom from.

He spent years hunting Christians, convinced he was right. Then his entire identity collapsed.

His lesson isn’t about self-improvement. It’s this: It's never too late to change.

Artwork: Conversion on the Way to Damascus by Caravaggio (1601).Image
Origen of Alexandria lost his father to execution as a teenager.

Instead of hardening, he went deeper. He believed truth isn’t meant to be skimmed or consumed.

It’s meant to confront you where you’re avoiding yourself. Image
Read 16 tweets
Jan 9
What if I told you there’s a country with
more UNESCO sites than Egypt,
borders with 15 nations,
and empires older than Rome

yet the world reduces it to nukes and veils?

That country is Iran.
And most people have never really seen it. 🧵 Created around 520 BC, the Bisotun Inscription stands as a monumental testament to the ambition and authority of King Darius the Great of Persia.
Iran isn’t new.
It’s older than the name “Persia.”

Ērān, meaning “land of the Aryans,” was carved into stone nearly 1,700 years ago.
This identity existed long before modern borders.

But the world stopped listening.

“Persia” sounded beautiful.
“Iran” sounded dangerous.
One became poetry. The other became a threat.A rock relief of Ardashir I (224–242 AD) in Naqsh-e Rostam, inscribed "This is the figure of Mazda worshipper, the lord Ardashir, King of Iran." Photo by Wojciech Kocot - Wikimedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Iran spans deserts, forests, mountains, and coastlines.
It touches the Caspian Sea and the Persian Gulf.
It borders 15 countries.

It has always been a bridge and a battlefield.
Too strategic to ignore.
Too rooted to erase. Image
Read 13 tweets
Dec 19, 2025
Forget the predictable Christmas destinations.

If you want a December that actually feels like Christmas, these places still get it right.

Snow, bells, candlelight, and streets older than modern life itself.

Here are 23 European towns that turn Christmas into something real. 🧵⤵️Old Town Tallinn, Estonia Christmas Market
Tallinn, Estonia

One of Europe’s oldest Christmas markets, set inside a medieval square that time forgot. Credit: @archeohistories
Florence, Italy

Renaissance stone glowing under festive lights. Christmas surrounded by genius. Credit: @learnitalianpod
Read 26 tweets
Dec 18, 2025
Christmas didn’t just change how people worship.

It rewired how the West thinks about identity, guilt, desire, reason, and the soul.

This thread traces the thinkers who quietly shaped your mind, whether you believe or not. 🧵 Neapolitan presepio at the Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh
Paul the Apostle did something radical in the first century.

He told people their past no longer had the final word. Not birth. Not class. Not failure.

That idea detonated the ancient world. Identity became moral, not tribal. A statue of St. Paul in the Archbasilica of Saint John Lateran by Pierre-Étienne Monnot
Origen of Alexandria shocked early Christians by saying Scripture wasn’t simple on purpose.

He argued that God hid meaning beneath the surface.

Truth, he said, rewards effort. If reading never costs you anything, you’re not reading deeply enough. Origen significantly contributed to the development of the concept of the Trinity and was among the first to name the Holy Spirit as a member of the Godhead
Read 17 tweets
Dec 10, 2025
We’ve been taught a false story for 150 years that Evolution erased God.

But evidence from science, psychology, and history points to a very different conclusion, one that almost no one is ready to face.

Nature produced a creature that refuses to live by nature’s rules. 🧵 During the 13th century, Saint Thomas Aquinas sought to reconcile Aristotelian philosophy with Augustinian theology. Aquinas employed both reason and faith in the study of metaphysics, moral philosophy, and religion. While Aquinas accepted the existence of God on faith, he offered five proofs of God’s existence to support such a belief.
When Darwin buried his daughter Anne, he didn’t lose his faith because of fossils.

He lost it because he couldn’t square a good God with a world full of pain.

Evolution didn’t break him. Grief did. Anne Darwin's grave in Great Malvern.
But here’s something we often forget.

The same evolutionary world that frightened Darwin is the one that produced compassion, loyalty, sacrifice, and love.

Traits no random process should easily create.

Why did nature bother?
No one has a satisfying answer. Hugging is a common display of compassion.
Read 17 tweets
Nov 21, 2025
This inscription was carved into a cliff 2,500 years ago. At first glance you see a king towering over chained rebels.

But this isn’t a carving of victory. It’s a warning.

The ruler who ordered it was watching his world fall apart and trying to warn us that ours will too. 🧵 Image
He didn’t carve this to celebrate power.
He carved it because rebellion nearly shattered the world he ruled.

A man rose up claiming the throne. People believed him. Entire provinces switched allegiance overnight.

Reality and Truth were twisted. Loyalties changed.

The king wasn’t concerned with rebellion, rather he was concerned with confusion.The Behistun Inscription is a multilingual Achaemenid royal inscription and large rock relief on a cliff at Mount Behistun in the Kermanshah Province of Iran.  Photo By Korosh.091 - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0
The purpose of the inscription was to leave lessons for future generations.

Lesson 1: A civilization dies the moment truth becomes optional.

His empire didn’t collapse because of war or famine. It collapsed because millions accepted a story that wasn’t real. And once people started believing the false king, the entire structure of society twisted with frightening speed.

Truth wasn’t a moral preference to him.
It was the ground everything stood on.
Read 16 tweets

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