SpaceX IPO doubts

Trading view had an article about the SpaceX IPO - maybe wait a bit. 

Space company has never been profitable; posted a 2025 loss on tiny revenue and a Q1 2026 loss on, again, tiny revenue. The valuation target? Gargantuan.

IPO Dreams

SpaceX finally cracked open the vault and revealed its financials ahead of what could become the biggest IPO in market history (likely coming in June). The company is reportedly eyeing a valuation north of $1.5 trillion and could raise more than $80 billion in a Nasdaq debut under ticker “SPCX.”

Investors expecting a money-printing rocket factory got a bit of atmospheric turbulence instead. SpaceX lost $4.9 billion in 2025 on $18.7 billion in revenue. In Q1 2026 alone, losses hit $4.3 billion on just $4.7 billion in sales. That's not exactly "to the moon" accounting.

The prospectus confirms what many suspected: SpaceX is really two businesses stitched together with titanium bolts and ambition. One is a mature launch-and-satellite operation. The other is a cash-hungry Al chatbot operation after the merger with xAl, which has been burning through billions building data centers.

Starlink Pays

SpaceX's legacy space operations brought in $4.1 billion in revenue last year, though they still weren't profitable. Meanwhile, Starlink - the satellite internet division generated a chunky $11.4 billion in revenue and continues to be the company's financial workhorse.

Then there's xAI, Elon Musk's artificial-intelligence venture folded into the broader empire earlier this year. xAl generated $3.2 billion in revenue in 2025, but investors are laser-focused on its aggressive spending as it races against rivals in the Al arms race.

In market jargon, this is a “growth-at-all-costs” story. Investors are being asked to ignore today's losses in exchange for tomorrow's potentially massive dominance in Al, space infrastructure, internet connectivity, and maybe Mars Wi-Fi subscriptions somewhere down the line.

Musk, the Unfireable

If investors hoped public ownership might dilute Elon Musk's influence, the filing said: absolutely not. Musk controls roughly 85% of the voting power thanks to supervoting Class B shares carrying 10 votes each. In practice, SpaceX will remain firmly in Elon's grip.

The filing also revealed Musk owns 849 million Class A shares and 5.6 billion Class B shares. Combined with insider holdings, executives and board members control about 86% of the company's voting power. Activist investors need not apply.

There's also a lockup twist. Musk and major insiders agreed not to sell stock for 366 days after trading begins, while other early investors face a 180-day lockup. In short, that's plenty of hype, limited float, gigantic valuation, and volatility potential dialed all the way up.

Patriotism definition

Patriotism is not passive allegiance, but an active, dynamic "praiseworthy competition with one's ancestors" [Tacitus] to achieve greatness. 

The empathy gym - Hidden Brain

3 Independent stages of empathy

Emotional empathy

Cognitive empathy

Compassion

10 times as many people live alone today as compared to 1950.

"In 1950, 22 percent of American adults were single. Four million lived alone, and they accounted for 9 percent of all households […] Today, more than 50 percent of American adults are single, and 31 million — roughly one out of every seven adults — live alone…People who live alone make up 28 percent of all U.S. households,  https://www.themarginalian.org/2012/05/09/going-solo-klinenberg/

And, when we do interact with others, it's much more transactional. 

People in helping professions can develop defensive dehumanization to prevent emotional overload of having empathy. 

47:50

Often when we encounter someone who is different from ourselves or has an opinion that we abhor, It's easy to view them as being either obtuse or dishonest or both. But that's a mistake. It's a view of the world that psychologists call a naive realism. Empathy is the understanding, at a deeper level, that someone else's view of the world is just as true as yours.

NYTimes: I.R.S. to Drop Audits of Trump and Family

So telling — "It revealed the determination of Mr. Trump and his appointees to ram through maximalist measures with minimum outside scrutiny at a moment when they still have uncontested control of government." 

I.R.S. to Drop Audits of Trump and Family https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/19/us/politics/trump-irs-doj-lawsuit-audit.html?smid=nytcore-android-share

The futility of Training Modules in Health Care—and of management consultants. JAMA

The futility of mandatory yearly video training modules. 

Mandatory Training Modules in Health Care—Time to Reassess. 2026

"physicians receive...annual notices listing required training modules to be completed [on topics] such as privacy, cybersecurity, workplace conduct, infection control, and safety...passive information transfer may have limited effect on real-world practice...Completion of a compliance activity does not necessarily demonstrate knowledge acquisition, competence, or behavior change...It is difficult to imagine subjecting resident physicians to the same unmodified slide deck for a decade without revision...When the primary institutional objective is documentation of completion rather than meaningful learning, clinicians may reasonably prioritize efficiency over engagement." JAMA

And this article, pointing out that absolutely no difference in outcome results from the billions of dollars ($16 million per hospital) spent on management consultants. 

Changes in Nonprofit Hospitals’ Finances, Operations, and Quality of Care After Using Management Consultants. 2026

"Nonprofit hospitals that hired management consultants paid an average of $15.7 million for their services...Despite this substantial investment, analyses of hospitals’ financial performance, operational decisions, and claims-based patient outcomes revealed little evidence of substantial, statistically significant, or systematic improvements attributable to consulting engagements...Nonprofit hospitals expend substantial resources on management consultants, but there was no evidence of meaningful changes in hospital finances, operations, or quality of care."JAMA

Changes in Nonprofit Hospitals’ Finances, Operations, and Quality of Care After Using Management Consultants | Health Care Quality | JAMA | JAMA Network

Changes in Nonprofit Hospitals’ Finances, Operations, and Quality of Care After Using Management Consultants

"Nonprofit hospitals expend substantial resources on management consultants, but there was no evidence of meaningful changes in hospital finances, operations, or quality of care." https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/article-abstract/2848641

The money that hospitals spend on administrators reminds me of this reference, and how futile that expenditure really is. 

Ford partners with inventors to get their ideas to market sooner.

https://youtu.be/dsz5UAZB1Hk?si=ARwKD8wuYaeh3oEV

Margin interest rates Robinhood vs Schwab

Based on early 2026 rates, a $100,000 margin loan costs approximately $13.89 to $14.03 per day at Robinhood (Gold) and roughly $28.68 per day at Schwab. Robinhood typically offers lower rates (approx 5%-5.05%) for Gold members, while Schwab’s rate for this amount is higher (approx 10.325%-10.575).

Color vision

https://youtu.be/-DyrBDsKA5s?si=AGsfFbectubHin11

He refers 2:15 to a paper on tetrachromacy (people who have a 4^th set of retinal cones, and are neurologically wired to use them.)

Proving someone has tetrachromacy requires asking a subject to mix red and green light until it looks identical to a reference yellow. Trichromats (normal people) all agree on one specific ratio. A tetrachromat, having a fourth cone type in between, perceives a subtle difference in those "identical" mixtures that trichromats can't, requiring a different mixing ratio entirely.

Although about 12% of women have this 4^th cone type, only a very small proportion of them are able to use the extra come to distinguish more color types. ref

Screenshot - a feature on iPhone released directly because of David Pogue

https://youtube.com/shorts/pFihjYph2oE?si=FZrBxdNf03UltKN7

Jet fuel from algae

https://youtu.be/gq2h2l2vxKM?si=sJhBXKRgEh8ndiIr

1:13 Algae is much more efficient at growing oil per hectare than other candidate plants like palm oil and rapeseed oil. 

1:31 growing algae is prohibitively expensive, unless —

2:37 you feed algae the leftovers from bacterial digestion of agricultural byproducts as the anaerobic bacteria produce biogas. It's a win-win. 

4:01 although burning the algae-derived fuel releases CO2, it balances the CO2 captured by the algae when growing, for a net-zero carbon footprint. 

Radical Acceptance - Hidden Brain Media

28:53 "Accepting the reality you're in instead of standing outside banging on the door of reality [asking it to change] doesn't change a thing." You need a new perspective. 

Stop fighting what we cannot change, it opens up avenues for real change. 

That's what wonder does it really leans us fully in to our humanness. 

Coherent life: Who I am, what I'm doing, and what I believe in are all connected. Compass exercise: write down 3 paragraphs: 

1) my life view - what are the most important questions that define reality. 

2) what do you believe is the purpose of your work - to make the world a better place/ to keep you busy/ to make a living / a place where community can be experienced as we collaborate ? 

3) what's going on with you - what's the long caption of your story right now. 

These give a picture of your life right now and you can discern your core values from these. 

47:00 "Flow State" defined as the experience of full and deep engagement where time stands still, where both the task you are currently involved in, and your skills to perform that task, are in approximate balance. 

But you can turn any situation into a simple flow state by being fully present in the moment. If chopping onions, enjoy the sharpeness of the knife, feel the crispness of the onion, to fully engage in the experience. 

In our "transactional" world, we are always thinking of the future benefit of what we're doing, instead of truly being present in the moment. 

https://www.hiddenbrain.org/podcast/radical-acceptance/

Ocean cleanup benefits in Jakarta

https://youtu.be/XFXQtSnBnTs?si=R4HKp9wQwY_hVMMP

4:49 profiling several people whose lives and jobs have been directly impacted and improved  because of the ocean cleanup project. 5:06 A silkworm farmer has increased his yield 30%. 

An experiment where genetic change happens in a single generation

https://youtu.be/J9-Ov-_KcWk?si=daw6ps41f_mCsOy8

Mice that are exposed to almond scent when also shocked will grow more almond-sensing neurons - in their offspring!   

World's largest organism

A few contenders: 

By area: The largest living organism by area is a Posidonia australis seagrass meadow in Western Australia's Shark Bay, covering 180 square kilometers (about 69 square miles). 

https://youtube.com/shorts/wgzMsTD0emM?si=q3hjpdKx2LJDq9PD

By weight/mass, it's a tie — 1) the "Humongous Fungus" (Armillaria ostoyae) in Oregon, which spans 3.4 square miles.

https://youtu.be/vTb1yjK_ZbE?si=TYQ6w_VMvypPdWkf

(The best defence against it is to 5:50 plant tree species that can survive the infection.)

or Pando, a 106-acre aspen grove in Utah. 

It weighs 13 million pounds. It's in Fishlake National Forest. The immature sprouts being 3:27 eaten, or browsed, by animals unopposed by traditional predators, and the older trees are near the end of their life span. So 5:12 they're fencing off the young plants. 

https://youtu.be/SwBgSbPvg7Q?si=pFef4yZ6s2GNdFRn

Fixers vs hopeless catastrophizers

https://youtu.be/ZtOxCJqEHjY?si=xYz-MuzoSTkgOew_

2:14 it's a learned relationship with uncertainty 3:34 uncertainty doesn't sound like a verdict to them is a starting point.*

0:41 self-efficacy...you are capable of handling what's in front of you

1:01 this belief changes how long someone pressure at a problem before giving up

2:17 internal locus of control...do better at fixing things...don't get depression...cope better with stress... They sense that their effort matters (which is a protective psychological trait)

5:51 spending time around people like that is one of the most recalibrating things you can do. 

*This reminds me of the podcast "Sitting with uncertainty" on Hidden Brain. 

Flushing sediment out of a dam

https://youtu.be/_pad4MAV1H0?si=KN5YFOhlSKRkaQdY

[Preparing to flush segment buildup] 3:21 requires detailed planning and coordination. 

Before flushing begins: 

Reservoir levels are carefully monitored. 

Weather and inflow forecasts are analyzed. 

Downstream safety alerts are issued.

Power generation units may be reduced or temporarily shut down.

Instrumentation systems are checked for structural monitoring. 

Engineers ensure that the dam structure, galleries and monitoring instruments remain within safe operational limits.

Sargassum for good

https://youtu.be/dYbPuR1hmao?si=ZT6TlYizTdRpV65X

Harvesting ever-increasing massive beach-dumps of sargassum seaweed - mixed with rum byproducts (sugar) and sheep manure (anaerobic bacteria) to yield methane gas fuel. 

Picture at 6:10 - removing arsenic yielding fertilizer and methane. Arsenic is preferentially taken up by the seaweed. 

https://youtu.be/X4rxSz8Oze0?si=D6LjXRZZvtAiEVXi

Pelagic Sargassum blooms have massively increased, littering Caribbean beaches - perhaps fueled by nitrogen runoff from Amazon deforestation. 

At the right proportions, sargassum with its lignin, cellulose, and polysaccharides

3:16 acts like rebar reinforcing the concrete blocks, making them twice as strong as conventional ones. 

The bricks also have 4:07 half the thermal conductivity of regular bricks, reducing air conditioning costs. 

Self driving fails

https://youtube.com/shorts/nOfU04nB9-Q?si=YStgmIV7--_g-2sc

I think they deployed this self-driving tech before it was fully tested! These are some pretty embarrassing fails. 

Robots working in close proximity to humans safely.

The End of the Cage: How Robots and Humans are Finally Working Side-by-Side

For decades, the "safety protocol" for industrial robots was simple: a giant steel cage. If a human stepped inside, the power was cut. It was safe, but it was also slow, rigid, and physically demanding.

As we move through 2026, we’ve entered the era of Human-Robot Collaboration, where multi-ton machines and human workers share the same floor, often working on the exact same part at the exact same time.

Here is how we’ve moved from "reactive stopping" to "intelligent collaboration."

1. Meet the Cobot

The foundation of this shift is the Cobot (collaborative robot). Unlike traditional industrial robots, cobots are designed with rounded edges, hidden pinch points, and specialized internal sensors.

However, being "collaborative" isn't just about the hardware—it’s about the mode of operation. A robot is only truly collaborative if it is governed by one of the following safety pillars.

2. The Four Pillars of Collaborative Safety

To keep humans safe without cages, engineers rely on four distinct, verifiable methods:

Safety-Rated Monitored Stop: The most basic level. The robot operates at full speed but halts the instant a human enters its "yellow zone."

Hand-Guiding: Think of this as the "power steering" of robotics. A human can grab the robot arm and physically lead it to teach it a new path.

Speed and Separation Monitoring (SSM): The robot uses 3D vision, LiDAR, or radar to calculate the distance to a human. The closer you get, the slower it moves.

Power and Force Limiting (PFL): This is the "gold standard." The robot’s joints contain torque sensors that detect even a light touch. If it bumps into you, it instantly dissipates its energy so the impact is no more painful than a gentle tap.

Watch: Combining SSM and PFL for Safe Collaboration – A biting lecture and deep dive into how robots use math to decide when to slow down vs. when to limit force.

3. The Future: E-Skin and Predictive Engines

The newest developments in 2026 have moved beyond just "sensing" a human to "understanding" them.

Electronic Skin (E-Skin)

Modern robots are now being outfitted with tactile "skins” — thin, flexible sensor arrays that give the robot a sense of touch over its entire body, not just its "fingers." This allows a more nuanced response to accidental contact.

Predictive Safety Engines

The most exciting breakthrough is the shift from reactive to predictive safety. Using Edge AI and 3D depth cameras, robots no longer wait for you to move before they react — they analyze your body language and walking path to predict where you are about to move, adjusting their own path to stay productive while keeping you safe.

Watch: How E-Skin Makes Robots Intuitive – See how touch sensors allow robots to feel pressure and adjust their strength in real-time.

4. Safety is Software, Not Steel

In today's factories, safety is no longer a physical barrier; it’s a living, breathing software protocol. As robots become more mobile and more humanoid, these standards—like ISO 10218—ensure that technology adapts to us, rather than forcing us to stay behind a fence.

Watch: You Think Robots Are Safe? Think Again – A field guide on how modern factories manage "uncaged" robots and the risks of mobile machinery.

Wow - lifeboat freefall

Skip ahead to 3:29 and watch it catch air for about 3 seconds! 

https://youtu.be/96S-JYnV1eo?si=Jb7mbPH3BoXKeikP

Jails charge inmates money

https://youtu.be/gwwuV0X7rdE?si=0CEKU0kA2yNwdIBp

We didn't know where eels come from

https://youtu.be/y0UIJekwyPY?si=o9wzVxBPzkMb4XfY

This guy is incredibly good at long-take monologues filled with facts. 

Solugen harnesses bioenzymes to achieve 96% yield

The Eureka Moment (02:23-03:30): The founders discovered a specialized enzyme found in pancreatic cancer cells—which produces hydrogen peroxide—and realized they could harness it for industrial chemical synthesis.

Scaling Up (10:32-11:57): The company evolved from small-scale experiments to their state-of-the-art Bioforge plant. This facility uses industrial-scale bubble columns to transform corn syrup into massive quantities of chemical products with high efficiency (96% yield).

https://youtu.be/PCypBUVhff8?si=t3lWjxJjYA4CaP-S

Mongolia flooded with dead Prius batteries

https://youtu.be/KyEVDmoh5lo?si=JyYWKWelLsblLX_8

Autological words

I love words like sesquipedalian and obfuscatory because they are perfect examples of themselves. Apparently they're called "autological" words.

Erudite

Polysyllabic

proparoxytone (pro-par-OX-y-tone) - a word stressed on the antepenultimate, or third-to-last syllable

https://theweek.com/articles/459441/17-words-that-describe-themselves 

1.5 MW EV charging

Fully charge EV in 9 min @ 1.5 megawatts charging from 10% -> 90%, from BYD 

https://insideevs.com/news/789118/byd-new-megawatt-flash-charging-stations/

https://youtu.be/FhaKPDF4BHQ?si=iY7Vp4IvtY8-TsVP

Cascadia megaquake is inevitable

We're overdue for the next "big one" earthquake in WA, OR, CA and it will likely last longer than 3 minutes at over 9 on the Richter scale. 

9:15 things to have on hand - shelf-stable food, water 1 gallon per person per day for 3 days, fire extinguishers, 2-bucket toilet, toilet paper, sawdust for #2, and a 4-in-one gas shutoff tool. 

https://youtu.be/bZwB7kRhLIc?si=YiThUXjsolQtBlOS

Avoid chronic Omeprazole PPI

https://youtu.be/m4dDMYNLMUU?si=LI2GD2Maum6ylryp

(Nexium), Pantoprazole (Protonix) (1:33-1:47).

Risks: Chronic use can lead to kidney damage, and deficiencies in magnesium and Vitamin B12, which are crucial for heart and nerve health (3:05-4:34).

NYTimes: Memes Have Already Nuked Our Culture.

"Disappear into your phone for long enough, and your phone will disappear into you..."  NYT article

The Artemis Earth photo is incredible – but the one thing that nobody is telling you about it will blow your mind

Great observation, great article. 

https://amateurphotographer.com/latest/photo-news/the-artemis-earth-photo-is-incredible-but-the-one-thing-that-nobody-is-telling-you-about-it-will-blow-your-mind/

Self-driving will save us from rising traffic death rate

https://youtu.be/Kcq0tjmvGOs?si=bS0_SsTJhHJwD70j

Graph at 25:29 shows succeeding statistic that distracted and drunk driving is making death rates in the US surpass those of other advanced nations. 

Robots handling difficult terrain over the years

 

https://youtu.be/9kae-UAME1U?si=sNDpM5t6ZkP8baN5

https://youtu.be/NAcanWv_2Z8?si=kmz5yEhg4XBY6q_R

https://youtu.be/PqLZP8TANlg

https://youtu.be/iNL5-0_T1D0?si=towV6vSSvg6pJc3s

https://media.wired.com/photos/5c34feb32020097d13ab868b/master/w_1600,c_limit/robottraining.gif

https://www.wired.com/story/the-clever-clumsiness-of-a-robot-teaching-itself-to-walk/

10 Year Old's Research Shocks Scientists Around the World - memories retained during butterfly chrysalis metamorphosis

https://youtube.com/watch?v=nhESxrqPjfU&si=oed4FVBuKb-Wi6lC

The remarkable story of 10 y.o. Jo Nagai from Japan who conducted groundbreaking research on swallowtail butterflies (0:23).  Jo documented unique behaviors and eventually challenged the scientific belief that metamorphosis completely resets an insect's brain (1:42-2:52).

The Experiment and Results:

Memory Persistence: Jo replicated a study by entomologist Martha Weiss, demonstrating that swallowtail butterflies retain memories formed as caterpillars. By associating a lavender scent with a mild shock, Jo showed that 70% of the trained butterflies avoided that scent as adults (5:25-7:56).

Transgenerational Memory: Jo later discovered that the offspring and grandchildren of these trained butterflies also avoided the lavender scent, despite never being trained themselves. This suggests that learned behaviors might alter biology and be passed down to future generations (9:00-11:00).

How an escalator failed - 3 safety systems overwhelmed due to faulty maintenance

https://youtu.be/tZ8ehplVFp4?si=0Y7GYKVNwb955iOU

Beautiful depiction of massive global ocean currents like the Kuroshio and Gulf Stream

https://youtu.be/R5-s6O8qyvE?si=NgX_eS3T7KH0nXao

War is not about precise targeting

"This is the recurring illusion of overequipped leaders: Because they can map the battle space, they think they understand the war. But war is never merely a technical contest. It is shaped by grievance, sacred narrative, the memory of past humiliations and the desire for revenge."

"The military theorist Carl von Clausewitz long ago recognized the delusion of reducing war to a kind of algebra. War, as he understood it, is never merely calculation. It is saturated with passion, uncertainty and political purpose." 

-Yonatan Touval

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/29/opinion/israel-us-war-iran-literature.html?unlocked_article_code=1.W1A.xxzV.WToueqwKHQdg&smid=nytcore-android-share

Incredible robot balance

https://youtu.be/9kae-UAME1U?si=sNDpM5t6ZkP8baN5

Pothole repairs

Quite a few technologies have been developed for mobile pothole repair. 

Robotic arm on from of truck

https://youtu.be/1RG23iWqqsE?si=KwH1EwX58d04Drxg

https://youtu.be/7k0NTpVkSL8?si=7b1pwO1b4NnJT8vd 

https://youtu.be/qWqA0ye4S2Q?si=f0rpBiRSrcOxpxxQ 

https://youtu.be/6XRaONuQO7Q?si=iyUly2XWRekmI3VS 

Expand hole to fit pre-formed patches

https://youtu.be/U23Mr830L8s?si=GgiDFcT3LHpLdFJ5 

Multiple heads on backhoe-type machine

https://youtu.be/edfU4tNRlaA?si=O4LtVOJa8_-qOn3q  

Injection patching handheld hose 

https://youtu.be/VV_QU8-IRl0?si=D5JUpis57pDLa2a2 

Patch sheets laid down by hand

https://youtu.be/Vr_Dxg1LdxU?si=ilacAf9J4UewtiV1 

Shake from bag, paved by traffic

https://youtu.be/q5kHFB_LgrE?si=d-LoXJ68aFbA9hkP

Lumps paved by traffic

https://youtu.be/gtVQ_GE7HKo?si=p97wDnAifaTyjige

Buildings with highways going through them.

Is an image AI or real? SynthID

Any user with free access to Google Gemini can upload an image or video file and simply type "SynthID," then press "Submit," to run a quick scan.

-Snopes

The Secret of Charisma - Hidden Brain Media

https://www.hiddenbrain.org/podcast/the-secret-of-charisma/

Charisma and the Paradox of Control

"Most of us want some feeling of agency...but we don't quite want the responsibility of being wholly in charge of it all ourselves." – Molly Worthen[27:25]

[32:50–36:10]

Charismatic leaders position themselves as keepers of "secret truths"—offering followers a vision or information withheld by mainstream authorities.

"You think you have a full picture of reality, but you don't. You've been denied some crucial facts…" [33:14]

"The power of charisma resides much more in the story and the message than in the individual." – Molly Worthen [31:44]

The Risks and Ethics of Following Charisma

[50:18–54:27]

Self-Assessment Needed: Who is being cast as the "enemy" in the story, and what do I really know about them?

Quote: Worthen: "What are my sources of information? ...that personal knowledge of these victims as individuals... was crucial..." [53:05]

Stay grounded in well-rounded traditions, not filtered narratives.

Listener Q&A: Breakups, Healing, and Emotional Growth

[60:13–62:33]: Breakups differ from bereavement in that one involves rejection and the refusal of a shared vision for the future; it's not just loss, but a relational rupture.

Rumination's Pitfalls [72:54–77:38]:

Rumination keeps people stuck in emotional pain, whether through "what if" scenarios about the future (anxious), regrets about the past (depressive), or rehearsals of conflict (angry).

Quote: Leone: "Rumination is busy work, right... And yet that verbal cognitive loop insulates you from... what's really going on, which is the present." [73:08]

Helping Friends Who Are Stuck [94:10–96:59]

Be a companion, help them take a third-person perspective, encourage forward-looking stories.

Making neon signs

https://youtu.be/BjoLsl-C2EQ?si=n14JeDz9geDUKHeW

My favorite moment is at 11:36 when he "blacks out" the connecting portions behind the letters.