Unwavering and Honest @a-steady-flame - Tumblr Blog

targetedknowledge

pwlanier

Hedgehog-shaped jar, Neolithic period (3500-3000 BCE)

Courtesy Alain Truong

redscharlach

I feel you, Neolithic hedgehog. I feel you.

ishowdespair-deactivated2026012

orcboxer

not what I thought they was talkin about

algrenion

The Insulindian Phasmid……..

homoquartz

i’ve warmed up significantly towards the concept of small talk ever since i learned that its sole purpose is to make friendly noises.

as long as you smile and nod, people are satisfied. it’s just to show that you are nice and there with good intentions. we’re small in a big world and have to rely on other people to be decent to us. so we do our little human dance to each other to say, “i’m not here to hurt you. here’s something we have in common, like the weather or sports or itchy sweaters, so we both know we’re on the same team. we both agree on a basic fact, like that it is rainy or that being itchy is uncomfortable, and this proves we can get along. i’m being light-hearted and non-threatening right now.”

small talk isn’t to get to know a person. it’s just a greeting to affirm you’re buddies in the universe.

i am motivated by wanting the other person to know i am friendly, so i have gotten pretty decent at small talk when i used to hate it.

piratedgender

themisally

garaks-padded-bra

Once i got into a genuine fight with a friend cuz they thought i was problematic for saying dating a neanderthal would be cool

garaks-padded-bra

Like to be clear they considered it BESTIALITY

garaks-padded-bra

Anyway need to smoke with her

salbertwolf

Christina Koch (Mission Specialist), Artemis II - April 6th 2026

magicalgirlcrazycatlady

Casting Artemis fanart into the future, let's see how far we can carry this Moon Joy.

jv

This may be the worst use of LLMs anyone has attempted, ever. Up there with recognizing mushrooms.

ashenmind

binturong-of-the-day

The binturong of melancholy

majestictortoise

sometimes reading fanfic is like enjoying a gourmet tasting menu from a team of expert chefs who all have different styles and approaches to a favorite cuisine

and sometimes reading fanfic is like standing in front of the open fridge at three in the morning shoving handfuls of shredded cheese into your mouth

im-literally-so-dun

Me because I got to witness a major historic event but it was a Good One for once

seravph

“what’s the worst fruit” i hope you fucking die im strangling you what the hell is wrong with you. ‘the worst fruit’… has god not made all of these fruits in the same light???? cunt

rottenlittlefink

Red Delicious Apples

punk-rocking-nerd

parakeet

5th from the bottom on applerankings.com

j-train13

Astronauts are so funny man. Here's just a couple of things I've found hilarious from this past week of space stuff:

It's probably already been spread around here enough already, but in case anyone's missed it; 7 hours after launch, commander Reid Wiseman, dealing with tech issues, uttered the generational quote "I have two Microsoft Outlooks and neither one of those are working."

After fixing the issues that were afflicting the onboard toilet, mission specialist Christina Koch (who has quickly become my favourite of the four) laughingly said “I’m the space plumber, I’m proud to call myself the space plumber.”

On Easter Sunday, the Artemis II crew hosted a makeshift egg hunt, by hiding packets of dehydrated scrambled eggs around their Orion capsule.

The way the crew always makes sure to make it very clear they're in space when doing interviews. From stuff like Wiseman just hanging out floating sideways on screen or Koch letting her hair loose so it can freely span out flowing around her.

While in transit, the crew decided to record a parody of those bad 80s sitcom intros where everyone turns and smiles at the camera.

When the crew reached the furthest point from Earth in the mission, they jokingly clambored over each other in an effort to get to the far side of the capsule, so that they could individually claim to be the furthest person from earth.

At the same time, on the ISS which was at the time on the other side of earth, the 7 astronauts onboard had a light-hearted race to the far side of the station, making jokes about being the furthest humans from Artemis.

On the way back to earth, NASA actually managed to establish an audio call between the crews of the ISS and Artemis II (where they shared the above info), and Koch called one member of the ISS crew, Jessica Meir, her "astro-sister" as the two of them previously spacewalker together in 2019. Meir then responded I'm so happy that we are back in space together, even if we are a few miles apart" (a few here being 230,000).

While Jeremy Hansen was doing an interview, Wiseman and Koch were just in the background swatting the mission mascot (a little moon plush toy named Rise) back and forth between each other.

gambleputty

all powerscaling is dumb as everyone knows the strongest character in fiction is mr rogers in a bloodstained sweater as per the prophecy of 2006

tam--lin

I don't want to put the user on blast but I just saw a "you're never too old to start" post about the Artemis II astronauts, and, respectfully, they are astronauts on our first trip back to the moon since Apollo because their entire lives have been building up to it. Christina, the youngest on the crew, wanted to be an astronaut since childhood, has two bachelor's degrees, and has been involved with NASA since 2001, well before she joined as an astronaut. Jeremy joined the Canadian equivalent to Civil Air Patrol at 12 and did his undergrad in space science. Reid started out as a Navy pilot in the late 1990s. Victor went to a public Ivy, has three master's degrees, and became a Navy test pilot 20 years ago. These people's whole lives have been building up to this.

We are not yet at the point in human space travel where you can just up and career change to being a working astronaut* unless you already are very well-established in a closely relevant career (like medicine), or you're part of a specialty program training mission specialists (like Christa McAuliffe was).

*as opposed to a space tourist

tam--lin

Perhaps a better message, if we insist on mining on here, is, "it's normal for people who are experts in their fields to be middle-aged, actually"