Peter and Aubrey tier-rank roughly 40 of the most-used emoji — from the S-tier greats (poop, rolling eyes, facepalm, middle finger, crying-laughing) to the D-tier offenders (the ROFL emoji, which Peter openly despises) — and in the process reveal exactly how differently a father and daughter text. Along the way, they debate emoji versatility, ambiguity, and the risk of being misunderstood. Peter closes the "low-stakes activity" with a confession about his S-tier list, then Aubrey delivers an Astro Fact on the morning's Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope launch.

Show Notes

• Emoji tier list: Peter and Aubrey rank roughly 40 emoji pulled from Peter's most-used list in iMessage plus a few randoms.
• S-tier winners: chef's kiss, poop, rolling eyes, facepalm, puking, crying-laughing, thumbs up, middle finger, and swearing — mostly negative-emotion picks.
• Peter despises the ROFL (rolling-on-the-floor) emoji, calling it "unhinged" and a sign of a "crazy person," and prefers the classic laughing-with-tears face.
• The two disagree on the side-eye faces, with Peter preferring the facial side-eye over the plain sideways-looking eyes.
• Emoji-versatility debate: drooling, hot face, and the sweaty face all hinge on whether the emotion reads clearly to the receiver.
• Astro Fact: NASA's Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope launched this morning aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy.
• Roman's wide-field view is roughly 100x larger than Hubble's, and it will work in tandem with the James Webb Space Telescope.
• Roman is headed to Lagrange Point 2 (L2), the same neighborhood as Webb, about a three-month transit.
• First images from Roman are expected in early 2027, with a five-year primary mission plus a five-year extended mission.

Peter and Aubrey recap the surprise family trip to Las Vegas for Peter's 50th — the first time the whole family has been together since Alex and Lily got married. They cover the Backstreet Boys' "Into the Millennium" residency at the Sphere (including the Gen Z crowd singing along, often badly, and some truly unsettling visuals), the crab-leg assault at the Bacchanal Buffet, Spider-Man: Brand New Day, and the main event: 20 laps in a Ferrari 296 GTB at SpeedVegas with a relentlessly encouraging coach named Nico. Peter also plugs his new Imperfect Practice piece arguing that the harms of social isolation have been exaggerated, and Aubrey announces she's getting back into research with her old mentor.

Show Notes

• The surprise: Lis planned the whole trip for Peter's 50th — he only found out the destination when his youngest son let it slip about Vegas ("Mom, he's gonna be the one driving there").
• First full-family trip since the weddings: Alex and Lily got married, but Hayden couldn't make it, and Lily was only a week-old "plus-one" at Aubrey's reception — so this was the first time everyone was actually together.
• The flight drama: Aubrey and Hayden's 2:45 a.m. flight out of Madison was delayed over federally mandated crew rest, so they drove to Milwaukee and landed about five hours late.
• The Signature at MGM Grand is an all-suite, casino-free resort with kitchenettes, its own pools, and key-card access into the MGM Grand — and it's literally a block from the airport. The Signature at MGM Grand
• Backstreet Boys at the Sphere: The "Into the Millennium" residency is a Sphere exclusive — Millennium-themed visuals with a spaceship flying across the dome, plus one new single with Mount Rushmore-style faces carved into snowy mountains that was both the cringiest visual and the worst song of the night ("it didn't have the juice").
• The crowd was surprisingly Gen Z: Peter expected his own demographic but found 18-to-30-somethings singing along to every word — often very badly ("their ability and enthusiasm did not match").
• Boy bands are a dead industry in the West: The 90s/early-2000s producer-driven machine that manufactured Backstreet Boys doesn't exist anymore — the only place it survives is K-pop.
• Bacchanal Buffet at Caesars Palace: Crab legs everywhere, funky dishes you'd never order at a restaurant, and the payoff for Aubrey and Hayden's cut — a weekend with no counting, no restricting. Bacchanal Buffet
• Spider-Man: Brand New Day is the fourth Tom Holland Spider-Man — lots of heart, stands on its own, and made Hayden cry (he's a softie). Spider-Man: Brand New Day
• The main event — SpeedVegas: Lis bought Peter 20 laps in a Ferrari 296 GTB on their 1.3-mile track with a 2,000-foot straightaway, a couple of hairpins, and 10 turns — Peter hit above 130 mph and heard the tires squeal on every corner.
• The Ferrari 296 GTB is Ferrari's first production V6 since the Dino — an 819-hp hybrid, which is why the car was new to him.
• Coach Nico: The orientation promised a choice between casual and pushing it, but Nico never asked — 20 laps of "faster, faster, give me more gas" (23 total with cooldown laps), and Peter was wiped afterward: "I need a nap."
• The merch: Peter came home with the "Speed Daddy" t-shirt and the onboard video, and he's already planning to do it again in a different car.
• The Vegas heat: 113°F on arrival, still 111°F walking back from the Sphere at 10:30 p.m., and 98°F at both 7 a.m. and 6 a.m. on departure day.
• Peter's Imperfect Practice piece: He published on how the harms of social isolation and loneliness have been exaggerated — connection matters, but you don't need to "friendship max" or optimize your social life.
• Aubrey's astro-adjacent fact: She's getting back into research with her old mentor — unpaid, no funding, but "there is always projects for us to be working on," and she's thrilled.

Peter and Aubrey tackle one of the hardest social transitions there is: making friends as an adult, after college's forced proximity is gone. Aubrey shares how COVID convinced her she'd turned introverted — until a weekend with a fearless friend showed her the extrovert was still there, just walled off. Peter traces how med school and residency made friendship functionally impossible, and how a Dungeons & Dragons group finally gave him a reason to show up — and the stickiness to keep showing up. They separate social isolation from loneliness, debunk the viral claim that isolation is as dangerous as smoking 15 cigarettes a day, and land on the same conclusion: friendship takes intentionality, and it's worth it.

• Making friends as adults: Aubrey's question of the week — how do you build community when you're new to a state, working, and there's no forced socialization like college?
• Aubrey's COVID identity shift: She spent years convinced quarantine turned her from extrovert to introvert, until a weekend with her most socially fearless friend showed her the extrovert was still there — just walled off behind anxiety.
• The college regret: Aubrey wishes she'd pushed harder in undergrad, when opportunities were everywhere — instead she sat alone in lectures and skipped discussions, convinced the effort wasn't worth it.
• Peter's med school trade-off: Peter admits he consciously chose career over friendships from medical school through his 30s — and says he'd make the same choice again.
• Dungeons & Dragons built the friend group: A shared curiosity among work colleagues became a weekly game — and the obligation to the party, investment in characters, and between-session talk at work is what made it stick. Dungeons & Dragons
• Adults need a reason: Kids become friends instantly on a playground, but adults need an excuse to gather — which Peter argues is why grown men love golf.
• The 6-hour board game: Aubrey played Oath, a strategy game built on lying and betrayal, and was still buzzing three hours past bedtime.
• Social media isn't a substitute: People who cut back on social media don't socialize more — they just dink around on other apps, and the heaviest social media users are actually the most social in person.
• Third places aren't dying (per the data): Peter's research found no discrete decline in third spaces except the COVID years, despite the discourse about them vanishing — the concept comes from Ray Oldenburg's The Great Good Place.
• Isolation vs. loneliness: Social isolation is a quantity problem (how many people you interact with); loneliness is a quality problem (how connected you feel) — the Surgeon General's 2023 advisory is the canonical rundown.
• Debunked: the 15-cigarettes claim: The famous stat that isolation is as dangerous as smoking 15 cigarettes a day traces to an infographic that was never cited in the actual paper — even the authors have distanced themselves from it. Our World in Data on the claim
• Dementia caution: The isolation–dementia link is likely reverse causation — isolation is often a prodrome of dementia, since people with early symptoms withdraw first.
• The Obelisk Gate connection: A two-minute work conversation about The Obelisk Gate by N.K. Jemisin turned into a new connection — proof that tiny interactions count.
• Therapist's advice: Aubrey's therapist told her not to force hangouts with people she doesn't mesh with — and her fearless friend credits hard life decisions that forced her into new social circles for her social superpower.
• Astro Fact — the Roman Space Telescope: NASA finished fueling the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope with 290 gallons of hydrazine — launching late August, it's expected to capture more images in its first 5–10 years than Hubble did in its entire lifetime.