#nasa handshake

[irrealisms]

the three worst girls since eve - we know the devil collages

[sources under cut]

jupiter

NASA - NASA - NASA and Seán Doran - wktd artbook - fakeyouth - creophagy, angelica alzona - nebula stories, paul juno - handshake, gabalut - shutterstock stock image - HANDS SPEAK SECRETS, sunsbleeding - chacoco - 10 am is when you come to me, louise bourgeois - hand sketch, magsmunroe - wuukasch - neon praying hands, alison ullman - life's anecdote, claine - kirkurada - birds hover the trampled field, richard siken - wasted, marya hornbatcher

venus

nebulous 12, tara andris - broken mirror/evening sky, bing wright - wktd artbook - aurora, jacob böhme - untitled eyes, shawn barber - sandalphon and metatron in their chrysalis, ultrainfinitepit - and the angel said, “DO NOT BE AFRAID.”, katz ripley - frommoon2moon - pinterest - effie lealand - ascending athena, amy judd - pinterest - soapstore - untitled (gabriel's wing), robert longo - pinterest - all EYES on YOU, elena kulikova - wikipedia page for lucifer

neptune

giorgio trovato - wktd artbook - contact, mé - swimming pool iv, margot olde loohuis - rorschach blot 02, wikimedia commons - dendritic drainage pattern, wikimedia commons - julia kadel - unsplash - brush elegy, robert motherwell - pinterest - rough seas near lobster point, robert henri - the great wave off kanagawa, katsushika hokusai - sol tenebrarum: the occult study of melancholy, asenath mason - dripping paint - pinterest - delectable-collectables

[linafinsterwald192]

This Soyuz-Apollo romance has me in shambles. SHAMBLES. It all starts with Sergei challenging Margo with the whole "No, that's not astronaut 3 and 4, that is cosmonaut 1 and 2." and "I suggest Soyuz-Apollo. For convenience." and "Soyuz will be the active part." He's such a cunt with it but he is also right. He needs to be doing this because otherwise, the Russian involvement in it will always just be an accessory. An afterthought. Also frankly I think it was funny for him to be a little shit. I hope it was funny to Sergei too.

Margo had absolutely no say in falling for him. But I also think that she puts an incredible amount of love into the people around her. Purposefully. She let Wernher close to her, and made herself vulnerable by asking how much he knew, and I think she was trying to find something that negates all the harm Wernher has done. Something that excuses his actions even a little bit. One can see how much she cares about basically everyone who is up in space at any point. She is so hopeful and scared when things go wrong. She made herself incredibly vulnerable with Aleida. She met up with her several times, knowing she needed it. Needed Margo as a parental figure in her life. She asked her to join NASA, knowing it was a risk, knowing that Aleida might slam the door into her face and hope it breaks her nose. Knowing Aleida might fuck it up big time and ruin Margo's reputation as she vouched for her. And Margo kept at it, until Aleida could stand on her own two feet. Despite how often she got hurt, she always keeps loving. Despite the constant paranoia and hatred towards Russia/Russians from the people around her, Margo and Sergei bantered over Apollo-Soyuz vs Soyuz-Apollo after Margo invited him to one of the places she never shows someone else. One of the sides she hides from everyone around her because that's HER space. it's her. Despite the revelations about Wernher, she trusts that Sergei won't be like him, even though it could very well be plausible for Sergei to have dark secrets as well.

She is so silly when she is with Sergei at first. She allows herself to just relax and be silly when she has to constantly be so fucking serious. The little paper ships docking. Them being stuck in the handshake tube thing. Margo never lets people get physically close to her like this. She isn't uncomfy. She is very comfy in there, despite being stuck and being super close to Sergei, despite Sergei clearly finding this amazing and hilarious, and MISSING THE COIN FLIP- Margo pushes him away because she has to. She doesn't want to push him away. She is MAD when he talks about work after they made out. Margo "I am always professional and this is not a place for feelings" Madison is livid this is interfering with literally anything - and livid that anyone would threaten Sergei like this.

She cares about him so much. She promises to keep him AND his family safe and it's clear she will do everything to achieve it. She doesn't shove him away going "this is fucking dangerous and I'm not risking everything I am and have for you". She goes "I'll get you and your family out of here." She KNOWS this might be the worst heartbreak she will ever go through. She KNOWS she might end up being tortured or killed or being seen as a traitor, a coward, a defector - And she does it anyway. She didn't stumble into any of this. She fucking ran praying to be fast enough.

That scene of her screaming into the pillow? fucking gold star. What I love so fucking much about this romance is that it's not a "it's too dnagerous to love me" shtick. it's "well FUCK. well FUCK. i love you and i can't do anything about it. so what do we do? how do we keep everyone safe, and be together? and be together.

It hurt her so much to constantly dismiss Aleida's efforts of finding out who gave away the engine design. And it scared her because she knows Aleida doesn't give up. And that is such a good thing.

Margo for sure wanted to run away with Sergei. But she couldn't promise him anything. And then, she didn't get to. She never got to say "I'll run with you." she never got to say "I love you." But everything she did conveyed just that. Everything she did was such a pure form of admiration, dedication, love, vulnerability, fear-

She was READY to rip Irina into pieces. She was. all she could say was "You knew him for years!" She couldn't SAY "I loved him and you know that." She couldn't SAY "he was always in a good mood, always happy, always loving, always caring, he was the best of the best, he was selfless and gorgeous and amazing" - she could only appeal to Sergei's supposed loyalty to the Russians. That was all the leverage she had. I WISH we knew what Irina thought in this moment. How much she knew. If she knew after Margo crying CRYING in a full room of silent people, in front of IRINA, maybe being aware that this might reveal her love for Sergei- And it hurt her so much that Aleida got pulled into this. Aleida was right, it had to be her typing the code. And it broke Margo that there was nothing she could do against it. Only for her to take the blame. Irina was in that room. Eli was there. Aleida was there.

Margo knew Sergei would be SO PROUD and SO PISSED if he had the chance of learning about this. Margo was stripped of the last tidbits of her honor, she was stripped of her diplomatic immunity - for all she knows, she could be kidnapped by the KGB and tortured for however long her body holds up. Especially if Irina pieced it together somewhere along the way. And she still went for it. And she let Aleida hug her in front of everyone because she knew that this was more important than the shit Aleida could catch for it. AND AFTER THIS. AFTER HER FEELINGS HAVE BROUGHT HER SO MUCH FUCKING PAIN AND MISERY, AFTER SERGEI ESSENTIALLY GOT KILLED FOR HAVING FEELINGS AND BEING IN LOVE, she says that feelings are a good thing. "Your honor, I was always told we shouldn't let personal feelings cloud our search for the truth. I don't think that's right. Feelings might not always be convenient," WELL . YOUR FEELINGS CERTAINLY WERE NEVER CONVENIENT- GOD- FUCK- THIS WOMAN. "they may even slow our progress, but they are also the only way to truly begin to understand the world around us. And the new worlds that await us." She EMBRACES it all. She might be in American prison from the sounds of it but this absolute powerhouse is looking forward to new worlds. She embraces that she felt all these feeings. She once thought she was like WERNHER VON BRAUN because of things she did. LIKE WERNHER VON FUCKING BRAUN- and now she is like "I did that." Also frankly I think she feels a little proud of herself when she gets escorted out of the mission control room. She does look a little smug, right? So anyway I will be reading all Margo Sergei fics I can find and post a thousand posts about them and I think Apollo-Soyuz should be a synonym for top Margo bottom Sergei and the other way around and I will now continue to scream into the void. thank you for your understanding. thank you for coming by on such notice.

[dianadeadwing]

This is from a scrapped sketch for @roudiseshipweek I decided to go a different direction with one of the prompts but I still had this fully complete sketch so it was easy enough to ink and color. So this is a hype piece I guess? Participate in #roudiseweek2023 !

It’s aged up Rudy and Louise. Probably about teenagers. Rudy became a tall boy who likes engineering and vehicles thus the cozy NASA sweater and acid wash jeans. Louise stayed “small and bossy” and exclusively shops in hot topic’s anime section. They’re going in for a completely platonic hand shake.

-

[ID:

Digital fan art on an aged-up Rudy Stieblitz and Louise Belcher from Bob’s Burgers. Louise stands in front of Rudy and looks up at him fondly with one hand outstretched for a handshake and her other arm at her side. She wears a large lime green sweater with a large light-colored outline of Kuchi Kopi on the right and Kuchi Kopi written in hiragana on the left. She also wears a knee length skirt with waves in different shakes of blue and green tentacles meant to be reminiscent of akkoro kamui. Rudy is dressed in a classic gray NASA sweat shirt with a white dress shirt underneath. He is also wearing acid wash jeans in a looser cut. He stands at about a head taller than Louise and looks down at her with a smile. He has a hand outstretched towards her palm down as if to either hold her hand or shake it.

/end ID]

[toaarcan]

One of my favourite spaceflight facts is that, due to some heavy technicalities on what the universally accepted definition of an astronaut is, and the intense secrecy surrounding the Soviet Union at the time, the entire Vostok program, AKA the thing that first took humans into space, technically doesn't count and everyone just agrees to ignore that.

Submitting my claim that Vostok is actually the cutest spacecraft ever, which is an entirely normal statement.

When they sat down and defined what counts as a successful manned flight, part of the requirements included the astronaut(s) landing in the vehicle. But Vostok didn't do that. Instead, the Vostok cosmonauts ejected from the vehicle after re-entry and parachuted to the ground separately. This continued until the later Voskhod missions, where they ripped out the ejector seat so they could fit more guys inside (and on the second one, one guy and an inflatable airlock so one of them could do the first spacewalk), and put in a rollcage so that landing inside the vehicle wouldn't turn them to goo.

But by the time Voskhod 1 blasted off from Baikonur, all of the Mercury flights had already been flown, so this means that, according to the rules, America technically completed the first manned space flights.

Another technicality was added to the list a couple of years back, when the guys that make the rules futzed with said rules in order to deny Jeff Bezos and Richard Branson astronaut status, because fuck 'em. Now, in order to be an astronaut, you have to actually do something on the flight, otherwise you're just a passenger. And many of the Vostok flights were indeed more like passengers than crew. The Vostok spacecraft is pretty much a big satellite with a passenger compartment and a re-entry module, and it's fully automated.

So why didn't these technicalities get called out? The USA and USSR were never shy about trying to embarrass each other, or make each other look foolish on the world stage. One of the biggest reasons why we know the Moon Landing Conspiracy Theory is total stupidity is that the USSR congratulated NASA on the successful landing, because if it had been recorded on a soundstage in Area 51, the Soviets would've been the first to call bullshit.

Well, part of it is just that the Americans didn't know about the specifics of the Vostok program at the time. Whereas the American space program was a very public affair with cheering crowds showing up to watch every launch, the Soviets were much, much more clandestine than that. Baikonur is in the middle of the Kazakh desert, and the Soviets were keen to lie about anything that went wrong.

When their attempt at a moon rocket, the N1, endured four successive failures on launch, mostly caused by the Soviets lacking the funding and the facilities to properly test the thing, and instead just had to launch fully built rockets and hope they worked, the Soviets simply scrapped the last two and declared that they'd never intended to go to the Moon and were all about Earth orbit instead.

The N1 was actually more powerful than the Saturn V, but because it never reached operational status and the Soviets preferred to pretend it didn't exist, the Saturn V remained the world's most powerful rocket until Artemis 1 flew last year. A similar situation is happening now, with SpaceX's Superheavy being more powerful than the SLS, but also being basically a giant bomb at the moment.

Most Americans had no idea how Vostok worked, and didn't even know what it looked like. They didn't get to see what a Soviet spacecraft actually looked like up close until the Apollo-Soyuz mission in 1975.

Behold, the setting for the most expensive handshake in history.

By the time the full details came out, the world had known that the Soviets did it first for decades, and challenging that doesn't really do much for anyone besides the people that want to go "Um, ackchully" about everything.

Additionally, the rules weren't even written yet at the time, so there's even less reason to start changing shit up now. Vostok might be technically breaking the rules, but nobody cares, and downplaying the immense technical achievements of Sergei Korolev, Yuri Gagarin, and everyone else that worked on the early Soviet spaceflights on account of a rules quirk that wasn't even written yet is just kinda dumb.

(Random sidenote, Korolev was the chief designer of much of the USSR's early spacecraft, including the R7 rocket that carried both Sputnik and Vostok into space, and still carries some of the Soyuz flights to this day. And, like pretty much every major achievement of the USSR, he wasn't Russian. He was, in fact, Ukrainian.)

[pinkbrries]

— A–Z with Izabella —

[find hannah’s version here] | [find june’s version here]  izabella’s masterlist

➤ A is for… atiny! i hope you all remember that you deserve flowers, love letters and pure love

➤ B is for… BLACKPINK IN YOUR AREA!

➤ C is for… currently emailing my selfies to the nasa because i’m the prettiest star;)

➤ D is for… do it because they said you couldn’t

➤ E is for… [reading a comment during a vlive] “everything’s balanced: we have seonghwa for woosan and izabella for yungi,” true, except for the fact that: woosan don’t like hwa and yungi do love me<3

➤ F is for… friendly reminder: i’m always right

➤ G is for… *woo beats her in a game* great! now he’s never going to shut up about it!

➤ H is for… *during a vlive* [reading comments] haha yeah.. by the way, whoever that said that dumb stuff about yeosang? not funny. didn’t laugh. i’m currently tracking your ip and plotting revenge

➤ I is for… i’m a goth girl on the inside. on the outside? a father figure for choi jongho

➤ J is for… ‘j’ is such a great letter! we can have words like ‘juice’, ‘jewels’, ‘justice’…. [mutters really quick] ‘jacobbae’

➤ K is for… kissing a boy? ew 🤢 i don’t think so. my kisses are only for atiny! [blows a kiss to the camera] *hongjoong gagging in the background*

➤ L is for… life’s a party and i’m the piñata

➤ M is for… my biggest flex is being me;)

➤ N is for… no because imagine being loved by me / hongjoong: why does it sounds like a threat? / … because it is [proud smile]

➤ O is for… [spots seonghwa] oh hey bro, let’s do our secret handshake [pushes him and runs away]

➤ P is for… [trips and falls to the ground] parkour

➤ Q is for… quality over quantity, always… except if we’re talking about money

➤ R is for… remember why you started

➤ S is for… song mingi is the love of everyone’s life and the only valid leo, i said what i said and i mean what i said

➤ T is for… the relationship between me and black clothes is a love story that can’t be explained

➤ U is for… *during a vlive* [reading a comment] ‘unnie, what do you look for in a guy’ pfft bro, i look away

➤ V is for… *woo starts doing aegyo* very cute!… i hope my next breath is my last

➤ W is for… what do you mean ‘no pets allowed’? this is literally my friend wooyoung

➤ X is for… xoxo by somi is a BOP

➤ Y is for… yeah, you shouldn’t have said that. now i’m going to have to write a rap about this experience

➤ Z is for… [pretending to make a bee sound] zzzzz– [suddenly slaps her hand on hongjoong’s forehead and starts running away]

[lonestarflight]

"An unprecedented 'handshake in space occurred on STS-100 Endeavour, as the Canadian-built space station robotic arm (right), also referred to as Canadarm2, transferred its launch cradle over to Endeavour's Canadian-built robotic arm."

Date: April 28, 2001

NASA ID: STS100-347-007

[jefferson-earthbound]

Jefe, Jeff, Jefferson! It's so good to meet you sir! Oh- Not one for handshakes. Alright. So! [clap2.sfx] We have a few questions over here at the station, we're studying the multitude of universes and what everyone is doing. I'm from another universe, so hopefully you don't mind my rather unappealing look, but what do you think your plans for the future might be? Any major projects? Perhaps attempts of visiting these said other universes? Or! Or just settling a stable life here without work?

-Unnamed Reporter (@tanejineri)

Hello! Glad you asked, currently I’m studying astronomy and going for a major in astrophysics in college. As a hobby, I fix broken gadgets and build Gundam model kits. I would love to visit another universe and have been doing lots of research of how to get to them, the whole topic just fascinates me so much! Sorry I tend to ramble on about topics that interest me a lot. I’m also hoping to work at NASA one day in their research team. Thank you for visiting this universe and I hope I didn’t go on too much about topics..

-Jefferson

[sinisterjelly]

Astronaut Thomas P. Stafford (in foreground) and Cosmonaut Alexey A. Leonov make their historic handshake in space on July 17, 1975.

Credits: NASA

Happy Apollo-Soyuz docking day!

[cantsayidont]

Recent hateration and holleration:

BEVERLY HILLS COP: AXEL F (2024): Geriatric latter-day revival of Eddie Murphy's action-comedy franchise is the best of the three COP sequels (no great achievement), but there's no reason for it to exist other than money, and it's so determined to replicate the beats of the 1984 movie that it even reuses several of its hit songs. Eddie Murphy returns to the streetwise wiseass humor that originally made him a star, but it now feels pretty stale, he's too old for this kind of thing, and the inevitable appearances of his original costars (Paul Reiser, Judge Reinhold, John Ashton, and Bronson Pinchot, though curiously not Ronny Cox) are further reminders that the elements that made the original entertaining were, shall we say, of their time. Taylour Paige is appealing as Axel's estranged daughter Jane, but an already flaccid story is further deflated by the casting of Joseph Gordon-Levitt, dreary as Jane's cop ex-boyfriend. Why Gordon-Levitt's character is in this movie at all is unclear; it felt like much of the role might have originally been written for Reinhold (who's absent through much of the story), but was split into a separate character because the producers got nervous about not having at least one male lead under 60. Gordon-Levitt isn't much of an action star, he has no flair for this kind of comedy, his chemistry with Murphy is nonexistent, and his supposed romantic chemistry with Paige barely rises to the "awkward handshake" level. Kevin Bacon, playing a villainous corrupt cop, is the only one who seems to be having fun, but the movie gives him precious little to work with. CONTAINS LESBIANS? Nah. VERDICT: Not unbearably awful as these things go, but the stench of desperation is hard to ignore. If you're tempted, just watch the original.

SPACE CADET (2024): Charmingly silly comedy, written and directed by Liz W. Garcia, about plucky Florida bartender and sometimes alligator wrestler Rex Simpson (Emma Roberts), who never got to go to college, scamming her way into the NASA astronaut candidacy program with the help of her friend Nadine (Poppy Liu) — who also pretends to be all of Rex's references, baffling the program's hunky deputy director Logan O'Leary (Tom Hopper), who's becoming a little sweet on Rex. Along the way, Rex and nerdy fellow AsCan Violet (Kuho Verma) help each other out, and Rex finds she might have a real flair for it after all. The story doesn't always pay off its amusing setups as well as it might, and credibility is obviously not a high point, but it's cute and funny, and Roberts is a delight. CONTAINS LESBIANS? There's a throwaway line or two suggesting that Violet is bisexual, but that's about it. VERDICT: Contrived but appealing, a movie I would have adored when I was about 12.

[theriu]

PART 1

I sit at my usual spot in Penny Lane Cafe, sipping a raspberry white chocolate no-coffee latte and watching the Protagonists strategizing at another table.

I'm sure they don't call themselves the Protagonists, but I don't know all their real names. I've picked up a couple over the last few dozen loops, though. I think the short and stocky brunette is Jessica and the skinny Black guy is something like Nasa (Naccsa, maybe? Nasa would be an awesome nickname for a smart guy, though.) The four of them tend to talk really quiet and fast, working out their next plan to fix the Problem. I'm always sitting just a little too far away to catch most of it, but I like to see what I can catch while pretending to type.

I like sitting and watching them until they leave. It doesn't change much on my end, other than not finishing the article I was editing, which happily won't matter anyway. As they get up and do their usual pump-up huddle-break secret handshake, I pack up my laptop, drain my cup and put it in the trash, and amble out the back door while they go out the front.

The sun and breeze hit me with their perfectly familiar balmy late-spring vibes as I wander over to the back entrance of the Mexican grocery store a few doors down. I walk down the aisles and look for something I haven't tried yet. I'm up to the snack section this week; yesterday was these yummy candy bars called Gonsito. I snag a Pulparindo this time because the name sounds fun, then head to the register. Francisco is even more pleasantly surprised by my halting but intelligible Spanish than he was yesterloop, which is a real win for me! It's amazing how much easier it is to practice a foreign language when you don't have to bear the humiliation of a perfect stranger remembering your terrible White person pronunciation the next day. And getting to spend the same few dollars on a different treat each visit really cuts down on one's fear of trying new things. It would feel like stealing if the stuff I bought didn't also get put back on the shelf each loop.

When I walk out the front door of the grocery, I see the Protagonists across the street at the building that used to hold the Rite Aid before it closed an out-of-loop month ago. They seem really interested in getting in; they must have a new theory about the source of the Problem. I wave pleasantly to them. Jessica is nice enough to both notice and wave back; she's my favorite of the group, seems very level-headed and earnest while the dark-haired girl (who I think might be Francisco's cousin) groans a lot and Nasa hyperfocuses on his notes. The blonde White guy seems to be the leader, and his eagle eyes don't leave the former Rite Aid building. I turn left and walk back past Penny Lane's front entrance and further into town. Probably should remember to wave to Jessica around this time each loop until they move on to a new spot or fix the Problem.

It's a bit of a walk to the library, but I don't mind the exercise, and the weather is so gorgeous I wouldn't be surprised if someone looped this day just to enjoy it longer. I'm a little bummed my physical body seems to reset as well when the loop restarts, since all this walking must be good for me. But it does take the pressure off eating junk food every "day"! There's only a few street crossings, and I've long since memorized the exact timing of all the vehicles on the road, so I set my pace perfectly and don't have to stop at all.

Most of the remaining afternoon goes to hanging out at the library. I like to mix it up; I picked through the middle grade kids fiction the first dozen loops (infinitely better than angsty teen or too-spicy "adult" fiction, in my opinion) before deciding this would probably be the best ever situation to do the boring work of broadening my horizons. The last few days were spent finishing a fascinating biography about Corrie ten Boom. Today, I brought a crochet hook and yarn ball from home and spend a couple hours laboring over an instruction book on making little yarn flowers. The attempts might not survive, but the practice will! Man, I wish there was a pottery place within walking distance of my house.

The librarians are just going around warning that the library will close in fifteen minutes when I wrap up today-loop's Spanish study session. I ponder if it wouldn't be feasible to start learning sign language, too, as I walk briskly out the door and turn back up Main Street the way I came earlier.

This is the only part of the loop where I move briskly. Any other time of the day, I'm golden so long as my path doesn't cross the Protagonists enough for them to notice irregularities. But I have to be at the four-way stop by Speedway before 7:52.

I'm right on time again; there's the older gentleman (Kevin, I now know, though he naturally still doesn't know my name.) He's just about to step out onto the crosswalk, the little red hand flashing its countdown for walkers to finish crossing: 10...9...8...

It's at the 7 when I yank Kevin back onto the sidewalk. He stumbles into me, looking up from his phone with a startled expression just as a red pickup truck blasts through the crosswalk, honking its horn as if that idiot wasn't the stupid one for running a red light. I help steady Kevin as he stares, obviously shaken, after the truck.

"Thank you, young lady," he quavered (from nerves, he wasn't THAT old). "I think you may have just saved my life."

He chuckles, some of the shock fading, and I walk with him through the next red light to the Speedway and sit him down at an outdoor table while I get us some drinks. Mt. Dew Code Red for me today; I'm in the mood for an old favorite over something new this loop. Kevin is always surprised when I correctly "guess" his favorite, a gas station hot chocolate.

"Not a problem," I reply as I always do, feigning my own nerves. "Some people don't have the sense God gave a pickle."

We hang out there for about twenty minutes and shoot the breeze. It's one of my favorite parts of the loop. At first, it was challenging getting him to tell me new things every loop, but it's been great practice for me to learn how to guide a conversation. I'm also pretty good at deflecting him from asking about MY life; I can only repeat those mundane details so many times before I feel like a robot. Today, I learn Kevin has four grandkids, one named after him. He also tells me about how he likes to tinker in his garage (which he must be passionate about it, because it ALWAYS comes up).

His watch beeps right on time, and Kevin jumps up and says his line. "For Pete's sake, I'm late! Sorry, Miss Jackie, I have to run. You're sure I can't offer you a reward of some kind for what you did?"

I wave him off breezily. It's not like I would have the reward when things reset, and I've long since decided that chatting with this interesting older guy about his life is a very nice reward. He shakes my hand again and hurries up the street leading away from Main and among the houses. I sit a while longer and peer at the sky as the light grows dimmer.

Sometimes I try to get farther from the Speedway lights so I can catch a glimpse of the stars popping on for the night. Tonight I'm enjoying the cool evening breeze as I sip my Code Red. One star can always be relied upon to say hello: the North Star is visible even while the sky still has wisps of pink and orange. I salute the distant celestial body with a tip of my Mega Gulp.

"See you in a few," I say aloud, and then there's a popping, fizzling, blurring sensation, and I'm standing on my front porch. It's 9:00 in the morning, exactly twelve hours ago. My laptop's in my satchel, I feel the last dregs of sleepiness from getting out of bed, and my Tuesday, May 21, 2024 is ready to start once again.

----

(A/N: I'm REALLY enjoying this prompt, but it's super late and there's a lot more to go for what I have in mind, so I'll stop here for now! Let me know if anyone wants to see the next part! :D)

someone should write a story where there’s ppl stuck in a time loop, but the pov is from someone who rlly doesn’t care. there’s a whole ‘protagonist group’ or whatever trying to figure out how to escape the loop but this dude has just kept living their life so no one has noticed that they’re also stuck. they’re just sipping the exact same coffee order for the hundredth time watching the group strategize at an adjacent table and thinkin “man, wonder if they’re gonna figure out how to fix that today.”

[condensedmatters]

Handshake: your new job recommendatiojns are ready :)))

The job recommendations in question: MURDER MACHINE SCIENTIST - Here at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, you'll solve the world's most complex challenges for killing children — and maybe once in a while you'll help out on a NASA mission, but no pinky promises :D

MURDER MACHINE ENGINEER - We don't hate brown children here at Boeraythrop Grummartin, but we do like the money from the people who hate them. Come work with us! We loves fags!

QUANTUM COMPUTER GUY - You will be payed an obscene amount of money to work to our dying startup, but also you'll probably need to jump ship in like two years. Please work here for the love of god.

WHITE BABY PROMPT ENGINEER -

[booksandwords]

Realigned by Becca Seymour

Series: Coming Home #1 Read time: 1 Day Rating: 4/5 Stars

The Quote: Heat spread over every inch of my skin. Wicked tongue. My brain had short-circuited at some point in the last thirty minutes or so. I didn’t know if it had started when he admitted his feelings for me or at the mention of seduction. I knew one thing for sure, though: my addled brain could not shake the thought of his tongue. — Shaun O'Ryan

Warnings: None. Just a rock-loving scientist and his selfless idiot.

Realigned is Shaun's story. Shaun O'Ryan is an Australian country boy, a geologist employed by NASA. He's been living in America for 8 years not coming home in all that time, talking to his family by phone and occasional visits by them. Now he's in Australia for a two-week stay. The first event in the book is Shaun getting pulled over for speeding... a joke by his lifelong friend Sergeant Mitch Harris. It is kinda funny and is a perfect example of their relationship dynamic.

The novellas epigraph is Take risks.. This sets the tone for the whole story. Shaun is being headhunted by a big company, his family (especially his mum) wants him to stay in Australia for good, taking the offer and coming home. They decide to use Mitch as a weapon knowing full well that Shaun and Mitch have had a thing for each other for a decade. Honestly, it's simple enough. It is Shaun saying I can't have sex involved if I'm going to make a logical decision here. It's a premise a liked and I appreciated that Becca choose to use a single narrator to tell her story. Sometimes having both spoils the surprise for some events.

Have some of the long quotes I liked.

Since it was midweek, there were only a handful of patrons propping up the bar. I greeted every one of them with a handshake when they declared the astronaut had returned. I simply smiled and indicated to Mitch to hurry the hell up with our drinks. There was no point even attempting to explain I wasn’t an astronaut. Yeah, I was lucky enough to work for NASA, but I was all about geology and research. It didn’t matter in a small town like this though. Six hours from civilisation in the arse of the outback, most of the residents heard NASA and decided for themselves I would be travelling the solar system at some point in the future. Who was I to spoil their fun? — I have nothing to add to this really. It just feels like he is the ultimate hometown boy made good. This quote almost said more about him than anything else we got early on. (Shaun)

Apparently everyone knew whatever it was Mum was failing to act coy about. Even my brothers-in-law looked prepped for a reveal. I took a few moments to try to figure out what was going on before returning my attention to Mum. This time her expression was more relaxed, just too much so considering everyone else’s reaction. — Oh the pure joy of this level of this family dynamic. I love it so much. Meddling mothers are the best. (Shaun)

“Not quite sure yet.” I indicated Mitch with a chin lift. “That’s a question for Sarge.” I looked over at him and threw him a wink. “God help us all.” Lorna chuckled, and I glanced back to see her watching the two of us, an amused smile on her lips and a gentleness in her eyes. “You boys back together again.” She shook her head. “Not sure if it’s a good or bad thing Mitch here is now the sarge. Does that mean you’ll get away with even more, rather than not getting up to any crazy stunts?” With her brows raised high, she studied Mitch then clucked. I had no idea what she’d read on his face, but by the time I looked at him, his face was a picture of innocence. I rolled my eyes, not at all convinced. — There are several reasons I like small-town romance, particularly back home after a long-time romance, moments like this are one of them. The people who knew them as kids, the trouble making them, get the whole oh help us all vibe. It's fun and funny. (Shaun and Lorna)

"I’m happy with weird if it means you keep looking at me the way you do.” “What way is that?” I squeaked. “Like you want me to be yours and you don’t want me to ever let you go.” I was done. It was time to stick a damn fork in me. — I just love that last line. I know this is a fairly common quote but somehow it feels like home to me. I can't explain it. I also like the set-up here. (Mitch and Shaun)

I like Becca Seymour for her Australian romance. They have some angst, a whole lot of sweetness and Australian linguistics. Realigned is no exception to this. Better yet it is free on both amazon and Prolific Works (likely other platforms as well), giving this broad access option if a reader wants to try her writing for the first time. I'm giving this 4 rather than 3⭐ because it is free, yes it is short. But it is a HFN, not a HEA and I'm more than okay with that. This does have a follow-up Amalgamated, I will be reading that as well I think. It follows the same sort of ideas.

[michaelgabrill]

Marshall Bids Farewell to Former Center Director with Retirement Ceremony

By Jessica Barnett Hundreds filled Activities Building 4316 on Sept. 21 to offer their best wishes to former NASA Marshall Space Flight Center Director Jody Singer as she takes on her next big adventure: retirement. Marshall team members brought gifts, recorded messages, and lined up for a hug or handshake with Singer as part of […] from NASA https://ift.tt/ysrISHj

[sunshinelittlethings]

July 02, 2023 - Monday

Hello Tumblr!

Second chika ko for the last day of June! Wieeee! So okay, June 30 is the day for Annual Pinning Ceremony ng Department namin and required kaming nandoon na mga council since kami din yung magfafacilitate hihi. Maaga na naman ako nakarating don at akala ko malalate ako kasi medyo late na ako nakasakay ng bus pero sakto lang ako nakarating sa school, ako pa pinaka naunang dumating. Gutom pa naman din ako non so bumili ako ng Richoco sa may canteen at naloka ako kasi ang mahal niya don yawa 15 pesos sha huhu pero kailangan ko kumain para hindi ako magutom agad, naka white uniform din kami kasi pinagrequired kami na ayon ang suotin.

Nagsidatingan na ang mga tao sa multi purpose hall kasama ang mga magulang nila, unti unti na sila nabubuo don at kami ding mga council. Ngayon ko na lang nakita ulit yung mga classmate ko na council din and ayon tulong tulong na doon sa mph. Around 9AM nagstart na din ang program at ayon tuloy tuloy naman ang maayos na flow ng program. Pinning part na so ayon nandon kami para magbigay ng mga pins kina Ate Pres and VP Pres. After ng pinning ceremony, recognition part naman for the student council. Nakakashookt kasi nagkaroon ako ng certificate, pin, and medal din grabe hindi ko din inexpect na magkakaroon din ako non hehe. Tapos nakapag handshake pa ako sa VPAA ng school na pinapasukan ko, pati si Dean nakapag handshake din ako sa kanya. Nagspeech din si Mami (Ma'am Adviser) namin sa council and medyo naiyak ako kasi siya yung the best adviser na naranasan ko sa buong experience ko na nag council ako sa buong buhay ko. Napaka-gentle kasi ni Ma'am and mamimiss ko yung mga random mcdo treats ni Ma'am and yung mga chika namin tuwing kumakain sa mcdo :( grabeee huhu.

Next AY Council kasi iba na ang MTSC Adviser and napagdesisyunan na din namin na hindi na sasali sa council. Okay lang naman yung magiging bagong adviser pero pass na talaga ako sa council stuff, mahirap pagsabayin ang studies sa council duties.

So ayon, after the program nag-order si Ate Pres ng food sa Mcdo for our lunch---our last lunch bilang council :( that time, sobrang nahihilo na ako at nagugutom na kaya bumaba ako para bumili ng kwek kwek snacks ko lang kasi sobrang gutom na talaga ako :( e matagal tagal din ang dating ng mcdo kaya ayon. Past 1PM na din kami nakakain kaya nagsabi ako kina Mama na nasa school pa ako at kumakain pa pero uuwi na din maya maya. After non, sumama pa ako sa mga classmate ko sa faculty kasi may ipriprint sila na related pa rin sa council stuff since mga Treasurer and Auditor sila.

Naging instant photographer pa ako ng mga teachers don kasi sinurprise nila si Dean ng ice cream cake kasi parang kakabirthday lang ni Dean non hindi ko matandaan when birthday niya pero tapos na yon. Pinicturan ko sila kasi inutusan ako at ako lang naman walang ginagawa sa aming tatlo HAHAHAHAHA. After non, nagpaalam na din ako na aalis kasi uuwi na talaga ako. Pero girl, bumalik pa ako mph kasi nakalimutan ko yung certificate ko don! Kakaloka, buti nandon pa sina Ate Pres kaya nakuha ko agad.

Pagkarating ko dito sa amin dumaan na muna ako sa SM para bumili ng Coco at Candy Corner kasi wala lang HAHAHAHA. After non umuwi na ako.

Sobrang pagod ko pagkauwi ko gusto ko matulog pero nag-grocery kami nina Mama pagkauwi nila at hinintay sina Ate para makarating sa Walter.

So ayon lang po ang chika ko AHAHAHAHHA. Napaka productive po ng last two days ng June ko po at nagulat pa ako kasi naging busy pa ako sa lagay na yon. XD

Next chika ko naman ay nung nagpunta kami sa SM ni Mama hehe. Next blog na lang yon~

Song of the Day: Lucid Dream - aespa

[easton-m]

This is a dangerous game they're playing, that could ruin his reputation, his family's, too, even Rahi's - but caught in the moment, Easton allows himself to not care for a moment, to just be Easton, some forty-year old man at a party that just wants to make out with his boyfriend for a second.

So don't cry, and Easton gives a soft smile, because he knows the idea of it alone could be enough, could make his knees weak. When Rahi's fingers find his, Easton notices he does not solely want them removed, so he falls back into a familiar motion from their first date - rubbing his thumbs over Rahi's hipbones, the tall athlete listens to his boyfriend as he that yes, it had been hard work.

"Of course it was.", Easton confirms, taking his hand off the stone wall and gently placing his fingers beneath his chin instead to lift it up, "And you did such a good job, Baby. I'm so proud of you for pushing through." Look what it got you. Look what it will get you. At least one tiny son begging him to show him the moon, the stars, the planets, NASA -- and the other rather calling the moon a 'ball', because what the hell, football is way cooler. And not only that, Easton remembers as he thinks of the ring, it literally got you the moon, too.

"I'm feeling better.", Easton confirms before leaning down to murmur something directly against Rahi's lips, "But you know what would make me feel great?" The wine is urging him to say what's on his mind, "Look.", deep breath, "I've been trying to ignore him all night, but he keeps getting into my field of view, and that coffee thing he took you on recently." Easton takes a deep, annoyed breath, "Makes me really want to pin you against a wall right next to him, and to kiss you breathless." The quarterback straightens his back, huffing, "Best thing would be if he buys my football. If he dares, I'm going to hand it to him in person with a strong fucking handshake, and I'll make sure he knows who your real f- boyfriend is." Fiancee almost slipping and Easton bites his tongue hard, while fixing his tie, "Sorry, I didn't want to curse again." Good save.

It's shameless and it's torture, to have his throat and jaw kissed like this. Enthralling also, with how Rahi seems to entirely forget where they are — and just how much trouble they could be toying with. He drowns a little deeper into that kiss, hands around Easton's neck which are satisfied with keeping him there, unescaping.

It looks a lot like lust. Rahi can't deny it. Yet, it stretches beyond — marking something deeper, and not always sexual, that begs to have him close.

"I guess I better get to practicing, then," he laughs. "If you cry, I'll cry. So don't cry." Spoiler alert: they'll both fucking cry. "I can get used to that." Being stuck with you.

Rahi's hand finds Easton's wrist, which had snaked under his sweater. He laughs, "God, you're gonna get us kicked out." A half-spirited attempt to drive Easton's hand away — while not so secretly hoping that his touch would fight back.

Then, comes the rest. It's true — Rahi had worked hard, and even harder, in comparison to his peers which fit a certain mold. At the Space Centre, his skin was darker than most. He had boyfriends, not a wife, despite knowing of the type of setback that would come to be. He'd pushed himself to exhaustion and back, climbing steep hills while others enjoyed their everyday strolls.

"...It was really hard." It feels like the first time he's ever admitted it. Always used to being a genius — or at the very least, perceived as one. Geniuses never complain, and they never struggle, and challenges are nonexistent. Or so the legend says. "Really fucking hard."

Understatement of the century. "In a way, I think it almost killed me." But not only did it get him the moon — it also got him this.

This paradise he hadn't known he was working towards, until it parked a Porsche in front of his house on an unassuming October afternoon.

The kiss soothes, then it ignites — soothes and ignites, again and again, in the most addictive pattern Rahi's ever known. "I love you." In the comedown, he runs his fingers through Easton's hair; not particularly fixing any strays, but certainly pretending to. "...Are you feeling better?"

[technicalnextstuff]

NASA Curiosity Rover Sends Home New Photo as it Climbs Martian Slope

[ad_1]

The ‘Martian selfie’ taken by NASA Curiosity rover, stitched together from 86 photos. (Photo: NASA/JPL)

After its epic 1.8-gigapixel panorama of the desolate Martian surface, Curiosity scaled a 31-degree slope of the Greenheugh Pediment before taking this photo.

News18.com

Last Updated: March 25, 2020, 12:42 PM IST

NASA’s Curiosity rover has sent us yet another…