OPEN THREAD: Ring in the weekend.

MY LATEST SUBSTACK: And Away We Go! Starship Puts Us On The Path To A Kardashev II Civilization.

Plus, thoughts about Jerry Pournelle.

As always, if you like these essays, please take out a paid subscription. I really appreciate it.

ALIENS: Strange stacked stones spotted on Mars.

OBESITY WILL BE A CHOICE: New Weight-Loss Pill Could Help Solve a Major Problem With GLP-1 Drugs.

A SUCCESSFUL LAUNCH AND SEPARATION:

SpaceX team chanting: "USA! USA! USA! USA!"

🇺🇸🚀 pic.twitter.com/3iQctERDWB

— Sawyer Merritt (@SawyerMerritt) May 22, 2026

SpaceX’s first Starship V3 rocket has just successfully lifted off!

This is the first test flight of Starship version 3, which features thousands of upgrades from V2. With this launch, SpaceX is debuting a new launch pad, booster, ship, engines and much more. pic.twitter.com/mnxXAVBKdo

— Sawyer Merritt (@SawyerMerritt) May 22, 2026

UPDATE:

SpaceX's Starship rocket just successfully performed a flip maneuver and precisely splashed down on target in the Indian Ocean next to a buoy with @Starlink on it.

The SpaceX team ends the stream with a "USA! USA! USA!" chant 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/rKwFHda4Jc

— Sawyer Merritt (@SawyerMerritt) May 22, 2026

Not sure a crew at Boeing would chant “USA!” Or be allowed to. If Boeing could do something like this.

UPDATE: From the comments: “Damn, how I wish Jerry Pournelle could be watching this.”

WELL, GOOD: Breakthrough Parkinson’s Drug Targets Disease at Its Genetic Roots.

JUST LIKE ACID-LOWERING DRUGS PUT ULCER SURGEONS OUT OF BUSINESS: As GLP-1 drugs surge in popularity, bariatric surgery rates plunge across the US.

WELL, GOOD: New and Affordable Vehicles Coming From Jeep, Ram, Chrysler, and Dodge.

OH, I NEVER DID: Don’t Believe Claims That New Jerseys GLOCK Sales Record Subpoenas Are About Crime.

NEWS YOU CAN USE: 7 ways toilets have killed people.

SCIENCE: Why are so many people right-handed? New study sheds some light.

VITAMIN D UPDATE: Higher vitamin D intake in pregnancy linked to some cognitive benefits in children.

FUTURE TECH: The Next War Will Be Won — or Lost — in Orbit.

HEY, IT’S NOT LIKE HE DID A DONUT ON A RAINBOW CROSSWALK:

"In America, if you're stupid enough, you're allowed to shoot people in the head" pic.twitter.com/VxM9Rn8Obt

— skepticalifornia (@skepticaliblog) May 21, 2026

SCIENCE:

As summer comes into view, always remember that more Europeans regularly die in heat waves than Americans die in guns violence. pic.twitter.com/xwBpUaZm5E

— Werner Zagrebbi🇦🇿 (@zagrebbi) May 21, 2026

MASSIVE RESISTANCE: U. Florida’s presidential finalist boasted about injecting DEI into classes.

THAT WAS OBVIOUS FROM THE BEGINNING: Cornell trustees clear president after activist confrontation.

JOHN BROWN WAS NO HERO: Hakeem Jeffries’ brother invokes John Brown’s violence while discussing white supremacy ‘in the White House.’ But he was more of one than Hakeem Jeffries, or his brother.

DON SURBER: Thune Joins the Resistance.

COLOR ME UNSURPRISED: Phone ban in classrooms has caused ‘jaw dropping’ change in students’ attention.

JUSTICE: Lawsuit Against Virginia Tech Alleging Anti-Male Bias in Title IX Proceedings Can Go Forward in Part. “Johnny has alleged abundant facts that, if true, raise grave concerns about the way VT, through these administrators, conducted the investigations of Pauline’s and Jane’s sexual-assault claims, as well as the ultimate outcomes of those inquiries. Simply put, Johnny has alleged facts that, if true, raise a plausible inference the VT discriminated against him in these investigations because he is male and, in so doing, violated Title IX.”

SECURITY & CIGARS: So You’ve Got the Gear… Now What? Training, Practice, Preparedness, and Mindset.

CHANGE: Trump Administration Forcing Big Changes to $1.7 Billion in Biden-Era Auto Grants, Scaling Back Electric Vehicle Production and Boosting Hybrids.

YOU MEAN AN ARMY OF DAVIDS, I BELIEVE: “[A]n army of fans [are] now competing to produce the catchiest and most outrageous videos supporting [Spencer Pratt’s] campaign.”

THIS GUY IS SUCH A TWO-FACED JERK:

Tillis voted for a $500,000 per senator fund for senators who were illegally spied on by the Biden. It wasn’t available to any normal Americans whose rights had been violated—just senators. But now Tillis is mad that actual American citizens might receive restitution. What a… https://t.co/M5GZER43yI

— Sean Davis (@seanmdav) May 21, 2026