#My favorite HIStory!

[respectthepetty]

Because I need y'all to appreciate the man that is HIStory 4: Close to You's Li Cheng and his amazing boyfriend Mu Ren (who is taller than him), so you can make the right decision in the BL Bracket for Bisexual Swag.

"I didn't spam you! I only sent eleven pictures! I took over a hundred photos, but I only chose the best ones."

Li Cheng didn't snag his tall angel while trying to get the girl for nothing.

He put in the work!

VOTE FOR PEDRO LI CHENG!

[zytes]

this manatee looks like it’s in a skyrim loading screen

[deep-space-netwerk]

So Venus is my favorite planet in the solar system - everything about it is just so weird.

It has this extraordinarily dense atmosphere that by all accounts shouldn't exist - Venus is close enough to the sun (and therefore hot enough) that the atmosphere should have literally evaporated away, just like Mercury's. We think Earth manages to keep its atmosphere by virtue of our magnetic field, but Venus doesn't even have that going for it. While Venus is probably volcanically active, it definitely doesn't have an internal magnetic dynamo, so whatever form of volcanism it has going on is very different from ours. And, it spins backwards! For some reason!!

But, for as many mysteries as Venus has, the United States really hasn't spent much time investigating it. The Soviet Union, on the other hand, sent no less than 16 probes to Venus between 1961 and 1984 as part of the Venera program - most of them looked like this!

The Soviet Union had a very different approach to space than the United States. NASA missions are typically extremely risk averse, and the spacecraft we launch are generally very expensive one-offs that have only one chance to succeed or fail.

It's lead to some really amazing science, but to put it into perspective, the Mars Opportunity rover only had to survive on Mars for 90 days for the mission to be declared a complete success. That thing lasted 15 years. I love the Opportunity rover as much as any self-respecting NASA engineer, but how much extra time and money did we spend that we didn't technically "need" to for it to last 60x longer than required?

Anyway, all to say, the Soviet Union took a more incremental approach, where failures were far less devastating. The Venera 9 through 14 probes were designed to land on the surface of Venus, and survive long enough to take a picture with two cameras - not an easy task, but a fairly straightforward goal compared to NASA standards. They had…mixed results.

Venera 9 managed to take a picture with one camera, but the other one's lens cap didn't deploy.

Venera 10 also managed to take a picture with one camera, but again the other lens cap didn't deploy.

Venera 11 took no pictures - neither lens cap deployed this time.

Venera 12 also took no pictures - because again, neither lens cap deployed.

Lotta problems with lens caps.

For Venera 13 and 14, in addition to the cameras they sent a device to sample the Venusian "soil". Upon landing, the arm was supposed to swing down and analyze the surface it touched - it was a simple mechanism that couldn't be re-deployed or adjusted after the first go.

This time, both lens caps FINALLY ejected perfectly, and we were treated to these marvelous, eerie pictures of the Venus landscape:

However, when the Venera 14 soil sampler arm deployed, instead of sampling the Venus surface, it managed to swing down and land perfectly on….an ejected lens cap.

[cassandragemini]

its so crazy that for the last 5 years a small but annoyingly vocal online group has been acting like mob movies of all things are pretentious and inaccessible cinema. yeah the godfather is kinda slow but these are movies about criminals who shoot people

[utterdrip]

plans? nay, on a wing & no prayer (inspired by @snowberry-pie’s post)

[marzipanandminutiae]

what your favorite William Morris print says about you (a non-exhaustive list)

strawberry thieves: you're a basic bitch and there's nothing wrong with that. those little fuckers are cute

tree of life: you think we all moved on from the whimsigoth trend way too soon

pimpernel: you're going to put an Alphonse Mucha print on top of this and you know it

voysey: you're a massive goth. you've probably watched Bram Stoker's Dracula a lot

blackthorn: you're a massive goth who doesn't like making things too hard on yourself

willow boughs: you say "timeless" "classic" and "modern twist" a lot when decorating your house

owl and willow: admit it- you really just want mid-19th century panoramic wallpaper

melsetter: admit it- you really just want 15th-century Gobelin tapestries

lodden: you genuinely believe, deep down, that you will decode the Voynich Manuscript someday

marigold: you enjoy versatility. you probably own the same shirt in four colors- and why shouldn't you?

balmoral: your ringtone is Rule, Brittania

I don't have a favorite Morris print because I prefer [insert another late 19th century textile/wallpaper designer here]: you are a hipster

I don't have a favorite Morris print because I don't know any: you have a social life

[sharliexth]

to me it is so, so important that the Pale King loves. That the Pale King loved. That we don’t forget that it wasn’t just the Hollow Knight that turned to look to him, but the Pale King who turned to look to the Hollow Knight. His one surviving child.

it is so important to me that he has canonical powers of foresight. Meaning the Hollow Knight’s downfall was at best inevitable and at worst the result of constant denial. Or perhaps, his powers weren’t all that far in the future at all, which begs the question: how late was it until he realized all his efforts were futile?

A universe where the Pale King did not care for his children I find dull. Uninteresting. The story becomes a heartless king who does heartless things. Bland. Expected. I find it so much more compelling to imagine that the Pale King did care. After all, how much could it really mean that there’s “no cost too great” if what he committed cost nothing to him?

I think the guilt of his sealed children ate away at him, much as he tried to keep his mind off of them.

I think he loved the Hollow Knight, much as he tried to make his heart hollow and likewise theirs.

I think as much as he tried, when even the Hollow Knight failed, he fled. The guilt of his children, of the Hollow Knight, of failing his subjects was too great.

The Pale King is noble, wise, selfless. The Pale King is prideful, in denial, cowardly. He is many things but he definitely loved. At least I choose to believe so

[puppetmaster13u]

Prompt 162

“So,” Danny drawled from where he was sitting, legs kicking slightly. Really, what a fun reincarnation. A world with heroes and villains where he didn’t have to do shit in and could just vibe with Ellie. 

“So,” Tim responded from where he was typing on his computer, mostly in civilian clothes save for his gauntlets and boots. The Red Robin outfit was haphazardly dropped across the couch and his pole leaning against the end. 

“Technically there’s proper procedures for clones…” Danny motioned to both himself and Ellie from where they sat on the counter, snacking on a plateful of scones. From Alfred, he was certain. 

“Technically, yes… but do we want to actually do that?” 

All three of them smiled, something almost feral in the motion. Of course not. They all had the same memories after all, and Bruce had just returned from the past, from exactly where and when Tim had said he was. Despite no one believing him, hence why they were in his boathouse, and not in the apartment or manor. 

“Think we can pull it off?” Ellie took a sip of tea, mischief swirling in her eyes. 

“Of course we can.” Both Danny and Tim spoke at once, one pulling up a new doc and the other pulling the whiteboard out from under a curtain. 

[gum-iie]

on hold again w my insurance bro please just give me my antipsychotics br U H hh

[bixels]

I'm not explaining why re-imagining characters as POC is not the same as white-washing, here of all places should fucking understand.

[dinakisss]

Grown ass man btw

I know their relationship is not ideal but man they’re so straight yaoi I love them😭😭

[ejiguess]

And so the prophecy is fulfilled,

Not once,

Not TWICE,

BUT THRICE.

Leo x Window is my otp guys <3/j

[zipwhammy]

Guys I miss Wally… Im getting back into the groove with some Pokémon au/human doodles of him (and Ditto <3 Dittos always invited)

[spirk-trek]

Nor No Man Ever Loved | Virginia Lee Smith, 1982

[ourstaturestouchtheskies]

Summer – Thomas Dewing // The Hermit Thrush – Thomas Dewing // The White Birch – Thomas Dewing // seven – Taylor Swift

[aquanutart]