#talking opinions

[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.

[3rdsday]

Tommy basically said "the DSMP was good because it was, and still is, loved" and that basically sums up my feelings on the matter too.

[nixiecat]

can't believe someone tried to tell me to shave my pits on the hairy dyke pits website

[spiribia]

[soupinaboot]

In my opinion, Bruce should be above average height or at least average. But since he surrounds himself with demi-gods, aliens, meta humans, etc, he's just dwarfed next to them. Like maybe about 6'1 or 6'2, but that's NOTHING compared to Diana '7'3 feet tall' Prince. Or Clark '6'9' Kent.

All the tabloids claim he has to be at least 5 feet tall because the only photos they can get of him are when he's next to his giant ass friends.

It is also my personal headcannon that all the robins stay shorter than him, except Jason, who should be at least 4 inches taller.

[juney-blues]

any time a transfem audience takes interest in a character, there is an immediate backlash to any transfeminine interpretations of that character. Suddenly it becomes popular to interpret them as trans in literally any other way than transfem.

while it's not *uncommon* to see an audience call a character an agender any pronouns genderfuck, you see it a lot more the second someone goes "but what if she was a girl"

[theabigailthorn]

"Good" Acting

i have a theory that a lot of people say acting is "good" when they're emotionally moved by it, and a lot of cishet white people have a lifelong habit of not listening or empathising when minoritised people speak, so minority actors get called "bad" even when they display some pretty fucking amazing technical skill

[kierancaz]

Does anyone else not like the way Damian is drawn in the new Batman and Robin comic ????

Like, after his solo Robin series, I just cannot look at him like that. He looks almost exactly like Jon.

Where is his tan skin ??? His green eyes ??? HIS HOOKED NOSE ???? They took away everything that made his design cool and interesting and new and pretty and also just like a huge part of his ethnicity.

It just bothers me so much like I want to read the comic bc it does seem pretty interesting but Damian’s design is making it soooooo hard. It extra sucks bc the art style is amazing. I actually love the way Bruce is drawn and also White Rabbit is super cool. Damian is just throwing me off so hard like that’s literally not him that’s Tim or Jon or Dick but that isn’t Damian Wayne/AL GHUL like tf look at this

He’s pretty yah, whatever, now look at this:

THESE ARE NOT EVEN THE SAME FUCKING PEOPLE ???? It’s not even a difference in art style bc there was plenty of variations in art style in the Robin series but he still had his main features I mentioned earlier.

Idk call me a nitpicker or smth but this bothers me so much if it doesn’t change at some point I don’t think I will be able to read the new Batman and Robin series.

[werevcookie]

discovered a new type of red flag: people that want the adaptation to be identical to the source work. like, if it's an adaptation there's a reason. if you want the exact same things, go read the book.

[teslacoils-and-hubris]

*gore and body parts everywhere, just absolutely drenched in blood* yeah I'm being normal about people misinterpreting a fictional character whom I enjoy a normal amount

[soup-mother]

Lesbian subreddits with "trans inclusive" in the rules when a trans woman makes a post: "uh well this isn't about our unique AFAB experience so maybe go back to the trans subreddit"

[cryptidjeepers]

okay im not british and i admit my understanding of british politics is not great but i found out that david tennant's speech when he accepted the lgbt celebrity ally award made british politicans BIG mad. the way conservative transphobic politicans will weaponize any part of their identity to silence criticism agaisnt them is so disingenious and shitty.

THIS is what he said. okay

and this was the reaction of badenoch and sunak

literally weaponizing her identity as a woman and a woman of colour to distract from how dangerously transphobic she is. like what the fuck. anyways i just wanted to bring this up because it's something that terfs do constantly. especially to shut up trans woman and cis male allies. not to mention david tennant is a father of a non-binary child and i believe one of other kids is queer. he's not just being a performative ally, trans rights are important to him and his family. anyways fuck sunak fuck badenoch.

[bbbbbbbbatman]

When Bruce is feeling petty he'll arrange an interview with the Daily Planet and specifically request Clark, then spend the entire interview in character as Brucie, refusing to break no matter how many times Clark tells him to knock it off, and then Clark has to write an article on whatever inane topic Bruce could come up with.

[heejayy]

Step sibling fics make me gag, yall enjoy reading that shit? It’s honestly disgusting…and don’t give me that bs it’s a preference or it’s fanfic- YOU LIKE READING ABT FUCKIN YOUR SIBLINGS?! SEND EM TO PRISON! 😭🤢