Is Elon Musk Nuts?
POSTED BY: SIGNYM
UPDATED: Thursday, September 10, 2026 03:28
VIEWED: 37937
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Sure, the guy made a crap-ton of money with Pay Pal, which (IMHO was more about being in the right place at the right time) but everything else he founded turned to shit:
SpaceX- A tail-fin-landing rocket. I believe I laughed my ass off over that already.
Tesla- the self-immolating cars. If it wasn't for government subsidies, he would be losing money. His next generation of cars, which people have already deposited cold hard $1000 cash to reserve, is well behind schedule and needs another infusion of cash.
Solar City- Another government-funded money-loser.
Hmmm... flights to Mars. The Hyperloop. The Musk Electric Jet.
It seems his excessive wealth has caused him to believe that he can do anything. But he doesn't grasp large-energy projects, when a simple back-of-the envelope calculation would tell him where it will go wrong.
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I'm actually a fan of the Tesla and I think the negative press out there is generated by Big Oil and Big Auto. If they can address certain safety concerns and put a governor on the cars that would keep them from being able to accelerate so fast, I believe that the Tesla will be the answer to oil independence from the Middle East and will be a large step towards curbing the average carbon footprint.
I'm not really knowledgeable about the rest of that stuff so I don't have much of an opinion other than to say that up-front costs for new tech are huge and somebody has to do it. I think Elon's doing greater work for mankind with his money than most obscenely rich people could ever do with their charitable donations.
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The problem is still the batteries. Its' very difficult (impossible so far) to get the same energy density into a battery as gasoline packs, and after about 5-7 years the batteries break down. Hybrids are kind of a problem- since they use both gasoline and electricity to turn the wheels they need a complex dual-transmission to power the wheels. The interim answer might be to pack a small generator into a vehicle, which can be tuned to run extremely efficiently. That way you don't need a huge battery to store a lot of energy. Then use the standard electric motor to turn the wheels.
I'm more positive about solar cells, which just recently broke the energy barrier (generating slightly more energy than it takes to make them) because they are stationary applications that don't need a lot of portable energy density.
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"Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor"- William Blake
THUGR IS A DEEP-STATE TROLL
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Maybe you should buy some of his stocks?
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"Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor"- William Blake
THUGR IS A DEEP-STATE TROLL
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I'm looking forward to owning my first used Tesla 20 years from now.
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Quote:All of this, what 6 said.
Originally posted by 6STRINGJOKER:
I'm actually a fan of the Tesla and I think the negative press out there is generated by Big Oil and Big Auto. If they can address certain safety concerns and put a governor on the cars that would keep them from being able to accelerate so fast, I believe that the Tesla will be the answer to oil independence from the Middle East and will be a large step towards curbing the average carbon footprint.
I'm not really knowledgeable about the rest of that stuff so I don't have much of an opinion other than to say that up-front costs for new tech are huge and somebody has to do it. I think Elon's doing greater work for mankind with his money than most obscenely rich people could ever do with their charitable donations.
I'll only add that I disagree with Musk on politics because a lot of South Africans seem to have this liberal utopianism that was common here maybe 20s to the 60s. But other than that, I'm with Elon. I know he's working with Trump onthe Mars plan, which is a great plan, and I don't think there's really been the falling out that the media claims on that front. If it came down to a choice between two of them, Obviously I'll side with Musk.
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Now he wants to create a direct brain-computer link.
I think they guy has a bunch of great ideas (This is not one of them) but has a hard time getting them to meet reality. Most of his projects suck off the government teat.
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"Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor"- William Blake
THUGR, JONESING FOR WWIII
All those guns 1kiki, are pointed towards your beloved Russia. All those cyber capabilities, pointed right at Russia. Thanks Putin, and get ready to duck.
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When it comes to linking brains directly to computers I'll hope that is one of his ideas that never.... take off.
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Speaking of the Mars trip - I hope people realize it'll be the last trip of their lives. The cosmic rays will get them.
Originally posted by G:
"I coined the slogan "We Suck!"© many years ago."
G is an avowed Putin-loving, pro-Russian, anti-American troll.
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Quote:Computers are funny things. And their role in our lives is a double-edged sword.
Originally posted by 6stringJoker:
When it comes to linking brains directly to computers I'll hope that is one of his ideas that never.... take off.
No matter how they try to build them, computers simply can't replicate the function and 'logical' structure of the human brain. Trying to mesh up a brain with a computer would be tenuous, and risky. There just aren't many places where they can compatibly link together (unless you're talking about very limited functions like moving a limb, in which case BOTH the brain AND the computer have to learn to translate the commands into a mutually understandable but non-native language).
In general, the human brain is not a logic processing structure. Its inputs include the vast subterranean biological functions below awareness, the automatic pathways that select for biological meaning in the environment, the effect of highly filtered memory and further imperfect information storage over time, evolutionary pointed behaviors, plus the shortcuts (heuristics) used to get to a good enough biologically-focused conclusion quickly.
Unless they're hit by cosmic rays, suffer thermal-driven diffusion over time, or get scrambled by a power glitch, computers are good at storing exact information, and repeating the exact same process an infinite number of times. They don't feel, or care, or focus, or put valuation on any one thing compared to a different thing. They don't deal with impressions or general milieu.
There are very few points of comparison between wetware and hardware, therefore, very few points of contact.
And speaking of computers and AI - while it might be a time and money saver to have computers reproduce what people already do - like calculations, traffic control, and the like (and assuming the whole hacking problem has been eliminated) - there's a reason to not expand AI into realms beyond human capability. And that's because we'll be incapable of comprehending what they'll be doing. Being unable to comprehend it means we are putting ourselves in the power of an alien system.
Care to try addressing the facts, again?
Or do you shoot nothing but blanks?
Originally posted by G:
"I coined the slogan "We Suck!"© many years ago."
G is an avowed Putin-loving, pro-Russian, anti-American troll.
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Quote:
Originally posted by 1kiki:
And speaking of computers and AI - while it might be a time and money saver to have computers reproduce what people already do - like calculations, traffic control, and the like (and assuming the whole hacking problem has been eliminated) - there's a reason to not expand AI into realms beyond human capability. And that's because we'll be incapable of comprehending what they'll be doing. Being unable to comprehend it means we are putting ourselves in the power of an alien system.
I never thought of that before, but it's very true.
Compatibility will be a thing of the future though. We shouldn't do it, but we will. It may seem like an impossible puzzle to figure out with our limited understanding today, but anything is possible, and we've already shown many times that any questions of "but should we do it" will not be asked or they will be ignored.
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So, just to get back to the energetics of electric vehicles ...
I read an article that claims electric vehicles are only 5-10% efficient in terms of energy to motion. (well to wheel) that seemed really low to me, so I decided to backtrack the calculations ...
Power plants have different efficiencies (min-max)
COAL FIRED PLANT 32 42
GAS FIRED 32 38
HYDRO 85 90
WIND 35 45
(Latest gas-fired turbines have attained 60% efficiency, but those aren't installed yet, just experimental.)
http://www.brighthubengineering.com/power-plants/72369-compare-the-eff
iciency-of-different-power-plants/
Electric energy transmission efficiency varies from state to state (min-max)
87 98
http://insideenergy.org/2015/11/06/lost-in-transmission-how-much-elect
ricity-disappears-between-a-power-plant-and-your-plug/
The charger itself is only 90-94 efficient
Battery charging also wastes heat, the battery is about 68-90 efficient
http://large.stanford.edu/courses/2010/ph240/sun1/
And the car inverter (DC to AC) efficiency and motor efficiency aren't 100% either: 70 average
All together, when you multiply the efficiencies of power generation with the other efficiencies, you get a range .... from a high of 52% (assuming max hydro power and max xmission/ automobile efficiency) to a low of 12% (assuming lowest coal/gas -fired power generation efficiency and lowest xmission and auto efficiency.)
Not counting hydro, which only accounts for 6% electric generation in the USA and is kind of an outlier, electric vehicles range from 12-24% .
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For automobiles, the efficiency of an internal combustion engine could be as high as 37%, but currently averages around 18-24%. About 10% is lost to idle (depending on traffic) and about 10% lost to the power train leading to an overall gasoline vehicle efficiency of 14-16%. Latest improvements in power trains (constant variable transmission which improves engine efficiency by maintaining a constant RPM) have improved gasoline engine efficiency but I don't have the latest figures. Diesel engines are significantly more efficient.
So overall, gasoline vehicles are about in the same realm of efficiency (14-16) as electric vehicles (12-24), diesel engines are even better than gasoline engines.
https://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/atv.shtml
I assumed the well/ mine to tank efficiencies are about the same for gasoline cars as for power generation.
IF the power is generated with nat gas, less CO2 is emitted than by burning a more carbon-dense fuel like gasoline, but given the higher diesel engine efficiency diesel emissions (CO2 per mile) is actually lower than gasoline.
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So overall it's a complex question whether electric vehicles are more energy-efficient or produce less CO2 per mile than gasoline or diesel because so much depends on the fuel used to generate electricity and relative vehicle efficiencies. In addition, electric vehicles require rare earth metals which are mined energy-intensively. (It's a little like solar cells ... they just recently broke the barrier where they generate more electricity than is required to make them.) The potential is there, but it's not a slam-dunk improvement in all cases.
The REAL improvements would occur if we managed to (1) reduce our population and (2) reduce other energy expenditures ... such as not making war in foreign lands which require a lot of non-productive fuel-burning and manufacturing and (3) improved our land-use planning so people wouldn't have to drive so much.
-----------
"Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor"- William Blake
THUGR, JONESING FOR WWIII
All those guns 1kiki, are pointed towards your beloved Russia. All those cyber capabilities, pointed right at Russia. Thanks Putin, and get ready to duck.
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The other drawbacks to electric vehicles are lack of infrastructure, and charging time.
My ideal vehicle is an ethanol-fueled Minnesota-reformer fuel-cell direct electric drive vehicle (where the motors are directly attached to the wheels - ie, no transmission or axles). Unfortunately, there aren't any stats for that.
For example, the stats I read for ethanol production from corn indicated a lot of inputs in terms of fuel for equipment, herbicides, fungicides, insecticides, fertilizers, and irrigation. But when I wrote to the researchers asking if those figures were derived from FOOD GRADE corn growing, I got no reply. Food grade corn has to be perfect and so requires all of those inputs. But fuel corn would probably not need so much input. Who cares if it's got a little weevil in it, or the ears are misshapen, or even if it's moldy?
And then there are even better fuel sources other than corn, such as switch-grass, which have an even greater energy supply and even lower inputs than (fuel-grade) corn.
The advantage to that fuel-sourced vehicle is that it adds no carbon to the atmosphere from fossil fuels underground.
And such a vehicle wouldn't need to be a private car. It could be used in trains, trucks, trolleys, buses etc.
Why such a vehicle hasn't been invented is beyond me. All the 'parts' are already there - the reformer, the fuel cell, the direct electric-drive motors.
Originally posted by G:
"I coined the slogan "We Suck!"© many years ago."
G is an avowed Putin-loving, pro-Russian, anti-American troll.
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Musk spins out "ideas" that sometimes don't pencil out (like his tail-fin-landing rocket) and his "business model" requires indefinite infusions of government money.
It's not that the idea of electric vehicles is fundamentally flawed, because in some cases it can improve our carbon footprint. But I was pointing out to some folks at work who ponied up $1000 for Tesla's not-even-fully-designed electric vehicle that making 500,000 vehicles requires setting up factories and supply-chains, none of which were remotely in place. Even his shareholders are rebelling.
Tesla Price Target Cut To $180 At Goldman; Warns Of "Demand Plateau" For Model S/X
More factory problems as Elon Musk's Tesla starts producing the Model 3
http://www.latimes.com/business/autos/la-fi-hy-tesla-model3-announceme
nt-20170703-story.html
Tesla’s Second-Quarter Sales Hit by Production Shortfall
https://www.wsj.com/articles/tesla-ceo-elon-musk-details-model-3-produ
ction-ramp-1499097398
Tesla delivered 47,000 vehicles so far this year, barely meeting its goal
https://www.recode.net/2017/7/3/15916730/tesla-delivery-goals-second-q
uarter-2017
-----------
"Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor"- William Blake
THUGR, JONESING FOR WWIII
All those guns 1kiki, are pointed towards your beloved Russia. All those cyber capabilities, pointed right at Russia. Thanks Putin, and get ready to duck.
I'll accept your apology any time, THUGR. But I know you're not man enough to give me one
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The average human being expells 839.5 lbs of carbon dioxide per year. That's just breathing to live.
Everybody's largest addition to their carbon footprint, no matter their social or economic level is their children.
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Quote:
Government "Flabbergasted" After Elon Musk's Most Bizarre Claim Yet
Elon Musk set the interwebs ablaze this morning when he tweeted out that he somehow got every major city on the eastern seaboard to "verbally approve" a "NY-Phil-Balt-DC Hyperloop" to be built by his Boring Company.
"Just received verbal govt approval for The Boring Company to build an underground NY-Phil-Balt-DC Hyperloop. NY-DC in 29 mins."
"City center to city center in each case, with up to a dozen or more entry/exit elevators in each city."
"Still a lot of work needed to receive formal approval, but am optimistic that will occur rapidly."
"If you want this to happen fast, please let your local & federal elected representatives know. Makes a big difference if they hear from you."
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 20, 2017
Of course, if you're like us, the first question that came to mind after reading those tweets is whether Musk is really just that naive, if he thinks we're all really just that dumb or if he's just gone completely batshit crazy...mix of all three?
Now, we don't have a Masters in Government from Harvard, but we're almost certain there is no such thing as a "verbal agreement" when it comes to massive public projects that span multiple states and cost billions, if not trillions, of taxpayer dollars. And while Musk may be permitted to unilaterally make decisions to burn through hundreds of millions of dollars worth of shareholder money at Tesla, municipalities are specifically designed to prevent granting such powers to individuals when it comes to blowing through taxpayer funds.
Not surprisingly, it didn't take long before various "government" officials took to twitter to point out that they hadn't the faintest clue what Musk was even talking about...
New York City's mayoral press secretary apparently wasn't in the loop...
This is news to City Hall. https://t.co/GmEm0b5C4i — Eric Phillips (@EricFPhillips) July 20, 2017
also, if you're stopping by City Hall, please bring a copy of the proposal. That would help. https://t.co/sk6iCM2ymI — Eric Phillips (@EricFPhillips) July 20, 2017
Meanwhile, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) in New York didn't even know who Elon Musk was...which is not a good sign for that "verbal agreement" getting converted to a 'contractual' agreement at any point in the near future.
I just talked to the New York MTA about this. Press aide is so flabbergasted that they're asking me to spell Elon Musk's name for them. https://t.co/mLWb4Abfb8 — Nathan Bomey (@NathanBomey) July 20, 2017
But, it wasn't just New York City that was flabbergasted by Musk's announcement as government officials from NYC to Washington D.C., and everywhere between, were forced to spend their entire day laughing off calls from anxious reporters about his imaginary project. Per The Guardian:
“Who gave him permission to do that?” asked a spokesman with the Maryland department of transportation.
“Elon Musk has had no contact with Philadelphia officials on this matter,” said Mike Dunn, the city spokesman. “We do not know what he means when he says he received ‘verbal government approval’. There are numerous hurdles for this unproven ‘hyperloop’ technology before it can become reality.”
A spokesperson for the state of Pennsylvania confirmed that neither the governor nor the state’s department of transportation had been contacted by Musk or his company.
Ben Sarle, a spokesman for the New York City mayor’s office, said in an email: “Nobody in City Hall, or any of our city agencies, has heard from Mr Musk or any representatives of his company.”
“The New York state department of transportation did not give verbal approval for a hyperloop,” said spokeswoman Jennifer Post.
Anthony McCarthy, the spokesman for the Baltimore mayor, Catherine Pugh, said: “Mr
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Quote:
Elon Musk Admits He Is Bipolar
In addition to persistent cash burn problem, Tesla CEO Elon Musk has admitted he is also bipolar.
In a series candid of tweets on Sunday, one day after delivering the first production Model 3, Musk replied to questions by other Twitter users about his mental state, shedding some light on the inner turmoil he struggles with. Asked "whether the the ups and down he had make for a more enjoyable life", Musk responded
"The reality is great highs, terrible lows and unrelenting stress. Don't think people want to hear about the last two." — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 30, 2017
Turns out people did, and when asked if Musk was bipolar, he answered "Yeah" adding in a follow-up tweet that "maybe not medically tho. Dunno. Bad feelings correlate to bad events, so maybe real problem is getting carried away in what I sign up for."
Well, I kinda thought so. The guy spins off grandiose ideas and starts so many grandiose projects that he can't complete. Most of his ideas really don't pencil out even in an back-of-the-envelope calculation, which is too bad because some of his ideas are really worthwhile.
Wildly successful people are often hypomanic or manic. They can be very high-energy, and because they believe so completely in themselves and their ideas, they can be very persuasive and carry a lot of people with them. But then, they mentally go over a cliff because they believe that they can fly, as happened with the NYC- DC "hyperloop" that Musk supposedly got "verbal approval" for, that nobody even heard of.
Bipolar people often love the high, and quite often go off their meds. But maybe a little bit of Depakote would keep at least one of his feet in reality.
-----------
"Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor"- William Blake
THUGR, JONESING FOR WWIII
All those guns 1kiki, are pointed towards your beloved Russia. All those cyber capabilities, pointed right at Russia. Thanks Putin, and get ready to duck.
I'll accept your apology any time, THUGR. But I know you're not man enough to give me one
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Yeah... ironically, the highs can be worse than the lows...
I forgot to mention bi-polar in the other thread. My mom finally was diagnosed for it in her late 50's and it's actually nice being around her now. I guess even on the meds my step-dad says she still sometimes is up several days at a time without barely any sleep. (Something I do a lot, especially now since I've supplemented my addictive personality with coffee instead of booze). I wonder if she occasionally skips her meds.
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Russia approves VPN ban likely to kick apps out of Apple's App Store
The new policy appears even harsher than one instituted by China, which last week forced Apple to pull VPN apps there. The Chinese government is still permitting VPN services in the country as long as they obtain authorization.
http://appleinsider.com/articles/17/07/31/russia-approves-vpn-ban-like
ly-to-kick-apps-out-of-apples-app-store![]()
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Russia bans VPNs to stop users from looking at censored sites
Russia is cracking down on software that allows users to view internet sites banned by the government.
http://money.cnn.com/2017/07/31/technology/russia-vpn-internet-putin/i
ndex.html![]()
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President Putin Bans VPNs in Russia
Presented as a package of antiterrorist legislative amendments, but ultimately this new law increases government access to user data by removing anonymity.
ultimately allows much greater access by the Russian government to individual user's data as well as undermining the security of encrypted communications. In other words, if the Kremlin doesn't like content, it can more easily take it down and take action against the individual who posted it once this law comes into effect on November 1.
https://www.pcmag.com/news/355286/![]()
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Is THUGRR nuts?
-----------
"Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor"- William Blake
THUGR, JONESING FOR WWIII
All those guns 1kiki, are pointed towards your beloved Russia. All those cyber capabilities, pointed right at Russia. Thanks Putin, and get ready to duck.
I'll accept your apology any time, THUGR. But I know you're not man enough to give me one
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Companies say Apple removed their privacy apps from China
WASHINGTON (AP) — China appears to have succeeded in eliminating software programs that enable its people to view an uncensored internet.
Companies that let people avoid the government filters said Saturday that their programs have been removed from Apple's app store in China.
ExpressVPN, one of the companies, posted on its corporate site a message from Apple saying that its program was illegal in China. The British Virgin Islands-based software company says that all major virtual-private network apps were removed from the Apple app store in China. ExpressVPN claimed Apple was "aiding China's censorship effort."
http://www.sfgate.com/business/technology/article/Companies-say-Apple-
removed-their-privacy-apps-11693907.php![]()
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Ermmmm... I don't see how any of that relates to Elon Musk or if he is nuts....
That being said, at least here in the States, I think VPN services are a trap.
Signing up for a VPN is like waving a big red flag and saying "I'm trying to hide illegal activity I'm doing online. Please put me on your watch list Big Brother!!!"
I do understand why it should be a concern among nations that actively censor websites though. You can bet your ass that anybody who had a VPN on their apple phones in Russia are on a watch list right now.
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Yanno GSTRING, at one time wealthy people threw their money at tulip bulbs too.
The energetics of using fuel to boost a reusable rocket into space, only to waste more fuel in bringing it back down ... you will spend more money on fuel than you will save on carcass. Money-wise and energy-wise, it doesn't work. If you're going to spend the fuel boosting something into space, leave it there. Make a space hotel out of it, or something.
And when I think of the stresses on the rocket body, all I can think of is "Metal fatigue: a boy's best friend." I wouldn't trust a rocket-body to tolerate multiple takeoffs and landings. Even the shuttle made more sense than that; it ditched its main booster on the way up and passively glided back down.
-----------
"Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor"- William Blake
THUGR, JONESING FOR WWIII
All those guns 1kiki, are pointed towards your beloved Russia. All those cyber capabilities, pointed right at Russia. Thanks Putin, and get ready to duck.
I'll accept your apology any time, THUGR. But I know you're not man enough to give me one
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Cancelling Your Model 3 Refund? Expect Delays Due To "System Failures," "IT Issues" Or "Database Errors"
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-07-31/cancelling-your-model-3-refun
d-expect-delays-due-system-failures-it-issues-or-databa
-----------
"Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor"- William Blake
THUGR, JONESING FOR WWIII
All those guns 1kiki, are pointed towards your beloved Russia. All those cyber capabilities, pointed right at Russia. Thanks Putin, and get ready to duck.
I'll accept your apology any time, THUGR. But I know you're not man enough to give me one
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Well, in addition to failing to meet the new rollout of electric vehicles ... again ...
Quote:
Highly Classified Satellite Plummeted Into Indian Ocean After SpaceX Launch, Official Confirms
After the launch of the secretive Zuma satellite into outer space aboard the SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from Cape Canaveral, reports circulated that the new eye in the sky, which is worth billions, "is presumed to be a total loss after it failed to reach orbit."
Don't even trust a business venture to an [unmedicated] bipolar executive.
A little bit of mania is a good thing, but then ....
-----------
Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake
America is an oligarchy
http://www.fireflyfans.net/mthread.aspx?tid=57876
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Well, between failing to meet production goals (which I predicted long before it became an issue) the new Tesla is tossing out all kinds of faults, and having one of its vehicles incinerate itself after a crash, and possible problems with the Autopilot mode ... Elon Musk is resorting to urging his workers to sweat blood into the project, even as Tesla is hurtling towards bankruptcy:
Tesla Bonds 'Riskier' Than Ukraine As Company Pleads Ignorance Over Fatal Crash
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-03-28/tesla-bonds-freefall-company
-pleads-ignorance-over-fatal-crash
"Prove The Haters Wrong": Tesla Urges Workers To Ramp Model 3 Production
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-03-29/prove-haters-wrong-tesla-urg
es-workers-ramp-model-3-production
Maybe it's just me, but when I see a Fearless Leader depending on his underlings to share his mania ... and it could be Chairman Mao or Elon Musk ... that tells me that there is something wrong with the path that they're on.
Yes, SOMEtimes adverse situations require superhuman dedication, but ... not over the long run. Life isn't a videogame or action movie, yanno? Only a few people can go 120% over long periods of time.
Also, there are predictions that China will meet, and beat, the Space X program. From celebratory articles about Space X
How Elon Musk Beat Russia's Space Program
https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2018-02-07/how-elon-musk-beat-
russia-s-space-program
... to worried articles about future deficiencies ...
China's secret plan to crush SpaceX and the US space program
https://www.cnbc.com/2017/03/28/chinas-secret-plan-to-crush-spacex-and
-the-us-space-program.html
... the future of Space X seems less and less robust.
There is no doubt that Elon Musk is a brilliant "ideas person", but a competent administrator he is not. I've come to appreciate the benefits of competent administration even since our daughter transferred from one of the worst-administered elementary schools in LA County (This principal was so bad, she was even fired the year after, and that's saying something!) to one of the best-administered elementary schools in LA County. Good administrators are consistent, they don't expect superhuman efforts, they find the best procedures and STICK WITH THEM, they make sure that their employees have the tools, training, and time to do what they need to do.
I used to work for an "ideas" person who was waaaay too reactive; everything was an EMERGENCY!! and he absolutely could not prioritize. The way HE managed the workload (that he created) was to toss everything up in the air and have everyone else juggle like crazy. He was a crazy-making kind of guy.
I myself am an "ideas" person; as a technical supervisor with a ridiculously large span of control (>>10 people) and knowing the importance of good administration, I did try to re-mold myself into an administrator, but I can say ... it wasn't easy, and I'm sure I failed many times over.
So all that to say ... Elon Musk should turn administration of his companies over to someone who's a really good COO. That way, he can spin out ideas until the cows come home, but someone else can bring the better ones to fruition.
-----------
Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake
America is an oligarchy
http://www.fireflyfans.net/mthread.aspx?tid=57876
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I can agree with that.
I'm an ideas person myself, and a tactician. But I'm not a good "manager".
I don't handle that role very well, and I never want to have it again.
I'm very good at working on my own at something to an obsessive degree, but I don't like even sharing the work load with others because I strive for perfection and rarely ever am satisfied with my own work, so I'm really hard on anybody who is trying to help out.
That being said, it would be lovely to have Musk money though. What a wonderful little workshop I'd have to tinker in everyday if I did.
I think he's too ambitious. That's his fatal flaw. Hope he figures that out before it's too late.
Do Right, Be Right. :)
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You'd fit right in with the group of perfectionists that I supervised. They're an awesome bunch!!
There were a few things that I did right, and a whole bunch of things I just never got the hang of.
The good stuff:
I hired really good people. I wasn't the only hiring authority, we did this by committee, but everyone who got hired over my objections turned out to be a dud, and there was only one person that I advocated for who turned out to be a jerk.
I paired every inexperienced person with an experienced one. I didn't rely on "training manuals" and SOPS but good old-fashioned apprenticeship. What we did was really complicated, and we were developing methods as we went along. (In fact, knowing our techniques is what got one of my former employees her job at VERIFIN - Finland's chemical weapons verification center- Well, that plus her PhD in aerosol chemistry, plus her incredible work ethic and stellar personality. But ASIDE from that! ...)
But everyone had SOMEthing that they were really good at - wet chemistry, or instrument troubleshooting, or QA, or computers and software - so no one was ever the total newbie, so they often taught as much as they learned, and I really did my best to have people cross-trained so that I had an expert, a competent analyst, and an emergency-fill-in for every instrument and method. Having this web of cross-training really built up morale and cooperation. People WANTED to work in my group: nobody was left twisting in the wind with a problem they couldn't solve.
I had their back. If an instrument crashed and all of their attempted fixes didn't work, and the work was piling up, I didn't rant at them or the situation, I basically said "Well, shit happens" and went into problem-solving mode with them.
I listened. People mostly know what they need to do to solve their personal or professional problems, nobody really needed "advice", what they needed was reassurance that it would all work out, which it did.
I learned never to assign people the same project with the same level of authority, because that created unnecessary competition, and people spent far too much time worrying about what the OTHER person was doing instead of paying attention to their own work.
I'm an excellent technical problem-solver.
I recognized the work that people did. I couldn't offer them a pay raise, but I could validate that they were doing good work, and that it moved our projects forward.
I'll get to what I did wrong the next time! It's a much longer list!!
-----------
Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake
America is an oligarchy
http://www.fireflyfans.net/mthread.aspx?tid=57876
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There seem to be two models of governance in large technology companies run by founder-visionaries: There is the founder-visionary-CEO as perpetual owner and controlling shareholder, who jealously guards his rights so that he can't be unseated by insurgent shareholders or directors, and there is the founder-visionary-CEO who actually does give shareholders a vote, and who relies on his charisma and vision to keep the shareholders and directors in line. Those models often come to more or less the same place, but they don't always; Musk has to wake up every day and persuade his shareholders and directors that his charismatic vision is the right one, in a way that Mark Zuckerberg just doesn't.
Musk owns 22 percent of Tesla shares, with 22 percent of the vote. Plenty of other tech-company founder-CEO-visionaries have found much stronger ways to formalize their perpetual control. Mark Zuckerberg owns about 16 percent of the shares of Facebook Inc., but he controls almost 60 percent of the vote, and almost got the company to give him voting control forever even if he sells more of his stock.
www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2018-03-29/elon-musk-might-control-tes
la
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly
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With all that's going on with Tesla, I thought this was funny
-----------
Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake
"The messy American environment, where most people don't agree, is perfect for people like me. I CAN DO AS I PLEASE." - SECOND
America is an oligarchy http://www.fireflyfans.net/mthread.aspx?tid=57876
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Well, Musk just pulled another ... Musk. He tweeted recently that he was thinking of taking Tesla private a $420 per share, and that "funding secured".
It turns out funding was NOT secured, and altho Tesla's share price has since dropped back from that little jump-up that that announcement engendered ... and Musk didn't gain anything at all from it ... he DID manage to squeeze/ wreak vengeance on those who were shorting Tesla stock!
'Very unusual': Elon Musk's tweet on Tesla going private at specific price
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-hy-tesla-going-private-20180807-
story.html
Elon Musk’s tweet about going private costs Tesla short sellers $1.3 billion
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/08/07/elon-musks-tweet-about-going-private-c
osts-tesla-short-sellers-more-t.html
Which just goes to show: Don't believe everything you read on Twitter!
BTW .... I still think Elon Musk is nuts. This is very much like his tweet that he was going to build a hyperloop between NYC-Philly-DC and already got the go-ahead from city planners. When contacted, they said (in essence) What? This is the first I ever hear of it!" https://www.theverge.com/2017/7/20/16003766/elon-musk-boring-company-h
yperloop-nyc-philadelphia-baltimore-dc
Well, not nuts, exactly; it's just that he should be on his meds more often to control those manic "highs".
-----------
Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake
"The messy American environment, where most people don't agree, is perfect for people like me. I CAN DO AS I PLEASE." - SECOND
America is an oligarchy http://www.fireflyfans.net/mthread.aspx?tid=57876
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The howard hughes von braun of our time
Looks like they gave him the Moon
Is There a Thin Line Between Genius and Insanity
Reports say. He just won a 2.9 Billion contract
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-9480213/Elon-Musks-Spa
ceX-bring-woman-Moon-signing-rocket-deal-NASA.html
https://people.com/human-interest/elon-musk-spacex-2-9-billion-contrac
t-nasa/
https://www.ibtimes.com/nasa-chooses-spacex-take-humans-back-moon-3182
490
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Anyone who signs a contract with Musk is as nutty as he is.
Yes, I know: The American space station program ... such as it is ... depends exclusively on Russian "heavy lift" rockets, and since Biden* has done such a fine job pissing off the Russians, and the Russians have threatened counter-sanctions, those in charge of the spce station program must be having a butt-puckering moment.
BUT.
You won't find a solution in a "Hail Mary" SpaceX shot, which AFAIK have NEVER landed successfully!
Tailfin landings??? Seriously?? At least the space shuttle took its inspiration from Star Trek. Musk's program takes its inspiration from Buck Rogers!
-----------
Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake
THUGR posts about Putin so much, he must be in love.
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Quote:Would it really be too much work/effort for you, Signym, to know what you are talking about before you let us know your opinions?
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Anyone who signs a contract with Musk is as nutty as he is.
Yes, I know: The American space station program ... such as it is ... depends exclusively on Russian "heavy lift" rockets, and since Biden* has done such a fine job pissing off the Russians, and the Russians have threatened counter-sanctions, those in charge of the spce station program must be having a butt-puckering moment.
BUT.
You won't find a solution in a "Hail Mary" SpaceX shot, which AFAIK have NEVER landed successfully!
Tailfin landings??? Seriously?? At least the space shuttle took its inspiration from Star Trek. Musk's program takes its inspiration from Buck Rogers!
Human Landing System Comparison, Which Artemis Lander is Best?
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly
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Quote:
Originally posted by second:
Would it really be too much work/effort for you, Signym, to know what you are talking about before you let us know your opinions?
That's fucking priceless coming from you.
--------------------------------------------------
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Quote:Space Shuttle takes inspiration from Star Trek?
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Anyone who signs a contract with Musk is as nutty as he is.
Yes, I know: The American space station program ... such as it is ... depends exclusively on Russian "heavy lift" rockets, and since Biden* has done such a fine job pissing off the Russians, and the Russians have threatened counter-sanctions, those in charge of the spce station program must be having a butt-puckering moment.
BUT.
You won't find a solution in a "Hail Mary" SpaceX shot, which AFAIK have NEVER landed successfully!
Tailfin landings??? Seriously?? At least the space shuttle took its inspiration from Star Trek. Musk's program takes its inspiration from Buck Rogers!
How so?
Space Shuttle research, development and testing predates Star Trek.
Even one of the later non-thrust bodies was testing before Star Trek ended. The M2-F2, IIRC crashed horribly. You can see the actual footage of that crash, which was used as the intro to the TV series The Six Million Dollar Man.
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Quote:6ix, you are a crazy person with an overabundance of opinions. You make Elon Musk, who is also overly opinionated, look good and sane and moderate in comparison. Also, maybe you should stop having opinions about things you know nothing about? Musk tends, but not always, to know something before he tweets an opinion. As for me, I lived 10 minutes from the Johnson Space Center in a house once owned by an astronaut and I still know engineers at NASA. That's why I'm interested in NASA's Artemis Project.
Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:Quote:
Originally posted by second:
Would it really be too much work/effort for you, Signym, to know what you are talking about before you let us know your opinions?
That's fucking priceless coming from you.
6ix, how is your crazy campaign going with Haken to get Reaverfan banned from fireflyfans.net? 6ix times you wrote: "Hey Haken. Any chance we can give Reaverfan the boot". Maybe a seventh time will work. Or maybe you should stop having too many strongly held opinions about subjects you're ignorant about and just be quiet? No, you can't because you are a Trumptard and Trump has strong yet ignorant opinions about everything. And he has many, many enemies that he insults constantly.
http://fireflyfans.net/mthread.aspx?bid=2&tid=64324&mid=113108
2#1131082
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly
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Don't care, didn't read.
--------------------------------------------------
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Quote:Firefly Aerospace Awarded $93.3M to Deliver Suite of Payloads to the Moon in 2023
Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:
Don't care, didn't read.
https://firefly.com/nasa-awards-firefly-aerospace-93-3m-to-deliver-sui
te-of-payloads-to-the-moon-in-2023/
Firefly Aerospace Inc. (“Firefly”), headquartered in Austin, TEXAS, is committed to providing economical and convenient access to space for small payloads
https://firefly.com/about/

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly
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Quote:Following the award, NASA shared its Source Selection Statement highlighting the rationale behind its decision. NASA's associate administrator human exploration and operations mission directorate (HEOMD), Ms. Kathryn Leuders evaluated the award proposals for Human Landing System (HLS). In the statement, she has highlighted the reasons behind the decision to move forward with SpaceX for the second stage of the contract, which requires the company to demonstrate crewed and uncrewed landings on the lunar South Pole.
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Anyone who signs a contract with Musk is as nutty as he is.
More at https://wccftech.com/spacexs-3-billion-nasa-win-did-blue-origin-self-d
isqualify-itself/
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly
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Direct some of your imaginary psychology degree on yourself, psycho. mkay?
--------------------------------------------------
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Quote:Do you realize that SpaceX is NOT another name for Elon Musk? Or are you too crazy to understand?
Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:
Direct some of your imaginary psychology degree on yourself, psycho. mkay?
SpaceX Leveraged Its Success With Crew and Cargo Missions To Ensure NASA Bid Win
NASA evaluated the second-phase proposals submitted for the Human Landing System (HLS), the agency's official name for the lunar lander, by SpaceX, Blue Origin and Dynetics according to three criteria. These considered their design, price and management merits, and the big reveal in the selection statement is SpaceX being able to secure an 'Outstanding' rating for its management capability.
In the previous evaluation for the first-phase proposals NASA had deemed this capability as being merely 'Acceptable.' However, in a surprising turn of events that catapulted SpaceX right at the top of the Management food chain, the company received the highest rating for this factor in the selection statement approved by Ms. Leuders yesterday.
The primary factors behind NASA's rating upgrade took into account SpaceX's success with its missions to the International Space Station (ISS), its decision to allow full NASA insight into Starship development and the choice to fund the bulk of Starship development costs.
https://wccftech.com/spacexs-3-billion-nasa-win-did-blue-origin-self-d
isqualify-itself/
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly
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Not a reply to what you quoted, so once again I have no idea why you quoted it in the first place.
And then I didn't read anything else, since your opinions hold no merit or value.
--------------------------------------------------
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Quote:Sorry to see that you can't stop yourself from replying. You could learn a lesson from Haken about how to not reply. No matter how many times you've asked Haken to ban Reaverfan, Haken doesn't even acknowledge you exist. It is as if Haken doesn't care whether or not you commit suicide because of your feud with Reaverfan. What difference does it make to Haken if 6ixStringJack lives or dies, understands or has "no idea why"? No difference: http://fireflyfans.net/mthread.aspx?bid=2&tid=64324&mid=113115
Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:
Not a reply to what you quoted, so once again I have no idea why you quoted it in the first place.
And then I didn't read anything else, since your opinions hold no merit or value.
5#1131155
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Stay classy.
--------------------------------------------------
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Quote:
Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:
Stay classy.
Jeezus, no kidding!
On the off chance that SECONDRATE may have posted something with actual info, I listened to some newbie droning on and on about HIS (unofficial) version of the lunar/Mars lander bids until I had to go make dinner. A large part of his drone consisted of a "review" of Space X's favorable cost structure .... like nobody has ever underbid a project before!!!
SECONDRATE: I've also reviewed bids on major expenditures before, and I've seen vendors underbid by excluding certain things from their bids. Like... er ... performance. The other thing he droned on and on about, continuing to polish a turd, is the "sustainability" of Space X's proposal, based on rocket booster's reuseability.
So I went and looked up it's historic success rate. From 2013 to 2016, SpaceX managed to successfully land 6 of 16 launches.
37 pct: Not a stellar record! Since then, they've landed 14 out of 17: Better, but still not something I would trust actual living people to fly and (especially) land.
The latest news was of another all-too-common explosion
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/spacex-starship-prototype-explosion-test-
flight/
SpaceX follows Musk's pattern of overpromising and under-delivering. Hyperloop, for example. Direct computer to brain neural link. Even electric cars for the masses that don't spontaneously burn up or crash themselves in self-driving mode.
Given infinite amounts of government money, Elon Musk has shown he can do ... something ... but SpaceX can't even stick a landing.
-----------
Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake
THUGR posts about Putin so much, he must be in love.
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Quote:The deal is that SpaceX finances the development and gets paid only after it succeeds. If SpaceX fails to deliver supplies to the moon, there are still the other two bidders: Blue Origin Federation, LLC (Blue Origin or Blue) and Dynetics, Inc. (Dynetics).
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Given infinite amounts of government money, Elon Musk has shown he can do ... something ... but SpaceX can't even stick a landing.
This is not a petrochemical plant being built where failure means the company goes out of business. Landing supplies on the moon (and eventually people) is more like NASA's hobby. Failure is definitely an option. What worries NASA is not about killing astronauts (it has already killed somewhere around two dozen of them if you count the deaths during training) but that it only has limited money to spend on this hobby. SpaceX is the lower bidder so it got the job. NASA can get a different hobby if SpaceX fails and then Blue Origin and Dynetics fail if and when it becomes their turn to try landing on the moon.
Human Landing System, Option A
Next Space Technologies for Exploration Partnerships-2 (NextSTEP-2) National Aeronautics and Space Administration
April 16, 2021
https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/atoms/files/option-a-source-s
election-statement-final.pdf
Quote:
Introduction In my role as the Source Selection Authority (SSA) for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA or Agency) Human Landing System (HLS) Option A procurement, for the reasons set forth below, I have selected Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) for an HLS Option A contract award. This selection statement documents my independent analysis and judgment as the SSA and constitutes my final determination on this matter.
SpaceX’s $3 Billion NASA Win – Did Blue Origin Self-Disqualify Itself?
https://wccftech.com/spacexs-3-billion-nasa-win-did-blue-origin-self-d
isqualify-itself/
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly
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Well, if SpaceX or any other firm doesn't get paid until ... what is the interim project goal, again? A successful UNmanned landing?? .... then NASA doesn't have to continuosly pour money down a rathole. Which is a good thing.
Not sure how that works for the company involved. There has to be some interim successfully-achieved goal, and then the partner company gets .... what?
Altho, based on SpaceX's achievements so far (a lot of rockets exploding) they have not yet achieved any sort of milestone. And if the contract is worded as you say, they will CONTINUE to pour their own development money down their own rathole until ...?
-----------
Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake
THUGR posts about Putin so much, he must be in love.
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Quote:
Originally posted by JEWELSTAITEFAN:Quote:Space Shuttle takes inspiration from Star Trek?
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Anyone who signs a contract with Musk is as nutty as he is.
Yes, I know: The American space station program ... such as it is ... depends exclusively on Russian "heavy lift" rockets, and since Biden* has done such a fine job pissing off the Russians, and the Russians have threatened counter-sanctions, those in charge of the spce station program must be having a butt-puckering moment.
BUT.
You won't find a solution in a "Hail Mary" SpaceX shot, which AFAIK have NEVER landed successfully!
Tailfin landings??? Seriously?? At least the space shuttle took its inspiration from Star Trek. Musk's program takes its inspiration from Buck Rogers!
How so?
Space Shuttle research, development and testing predates Star Trek.
Even one of the later non-thrust bodies was testing before Star Trek ended. The M2-F2, IIRC crashed horribly. You can see the actual footage of that crash, which was used as the intro to the TV series The Six Million Dollar Man.
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OK, so Star Trek took inspiration from the shuttle program.
Still, SpaceX has not had much luck with its tail-fin landing approach. The last effort blew up midflight, when it was attempting its turnaround for tail-first landing. And this was the fourth explosion in a row!
I thought they were supposed to be making progress on their program. Instead, they seem to be going backwards lately. I get the distinct impression that they're beating a dead horse/ relying on a model that's fundamentally flawed.
-----------
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If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake
THUGR posts about Putin so much, he must be in love.
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Quote:Elon Musk has another project that only looks like a rathole that Musk is trying to fill with money. The project is Starlink.
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Well, if SpaceX or any other firm doesn't get paid until ... what is the interim project goal, again? A successful UNmanned landing?? .... then NASA doesn't have to continuosly pour money down a rathole. Which is a good thing.
Not sure how that works for the company involved. There has to be some interim successfully-achieved goal, and then the partner company gets .... what?
Altho, based on SpaceX's achievements so far (a lot of rockets exploding) they have not yet achieved any sort of milestone. And if the contract is worded as you say, they will CONTINUE to pour their own development money down their own rathole until ...?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starlink
Starlink requires thousands of communication satellites be launched. Once the system is in place, after many years of work, Musk can finally start getting his money back from millions of customers, not one customer, NASA, in the case of the moon landings. The two projects are actually related. Starlink satellites are planned to launch on Starship, an under-development rocket of SpaceX that will launch 400 satellites at a time and also go to the moon for NASA.
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly
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People think making rockets work is easy.
But there's something about those massive exhaust flames shooting through nozzles that makes them for unknown reasons become unstable. So having working rockets depends mostly on tweaking older designs previously achieved through trial and error. Even today, every now and again, a rocket from a reliable design and manufacture goes rogue. Or, if you think you're really brilliant and don't have to learn from others, and start from scratch, it happens more often.
Oh testing man, oh testing man,
How did that last run go?
Thus queried the harried engineer:
Speak man! For I must know!
The testing man, he scratched his head,
And settled in his chair.
Oh, I don't know, oh engineer,
But I think 'twas pretty fair.
Taken from memory: Rocket Man
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Quote:There is Firefly Aerospace. Firefly keeps delaying the first launch of Alpha, with Reaver engines, named after the TV show Firefly's Reavers. http://fireflyfans.net/mthread.aspx?bid=20&tid=63463
Originally posted by 1KIKI:
People think making rockets work is easy.
But there's something about those massive exhaust flames shooting through nozzles that makes them for unknown reasons become unstable. So having working rockets depends mostly on tweaking older designs previously achieved through trial and error. Even today, every now and again, a rocket from a reliable design and manufacture goes rogue. Or, if you think you're really brilliant and don't have to learn from others, and start from scratch, it happens more often.
Oh testing man, oh testing man,
How did that last run go?
Thus queried the harried engineer:
Speak man! For I must know!
The testing man, he scratched his head,
And settled in his chair.
Oh, I don't know, oh engineer,
But I think 'twas pretty fair.
Taken from memory: Rocket Man
One day Firefly Alpha will either fly or explode. Maybe both! Maybe neither! Maybe this month. Maybe next year. But for months the rocket has been sitting on the launchpad waiting for some daring engineer to push the ignition button and see what happens.
https://firefly.com/launch-alpha/
If Elon Musk owned Firefly Aerospace, I am sure he would be asking his rocket engineers at least once a month if there is some reason for not launching next month. Musk would want to know exactly what the engineers need from him before they will be ready to launch. Whatever the engineers needed, Musk would go and get for them. That is not nuts for Elon Musk. That is how Musk runs his companies. Expensive? Yes. But worst plans have succeeded, and better plans have failed.
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly
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Bezos protests SpaceX's NASA moon contract. The Sour Puss loser rings up his Legal Teams? https://au.news.yahoo.com/bezos-protests-spacexs-nasa-moon-034922791.h
tml
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Bezos sucks all the balls.
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Bob Smith, chief executive of Blue Origin, said NASA had placed a bigger emphasis on bottom-line cost than it said it would. He added that in any case, the space agency should have stuck with a desire it had stated many times, of wanting to hand out awards to two companies.
Mr. Musk made a remark that played off the fact that Blue Origin has not yet achieved orbit with any of its rockets: "Can’t get it up (to orbit) lol" (Blue Origin bid: $6 billion. SpaceX: $2.9 billion. I think I know why Blue Origin lost.)
www.nytimes.com/2021/04/26/science/spacex-moon-blue-origin.html
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Elon Musk Confirms $100 Million Prize for Carbon Capture
To truly address rising temperatures, we need to reduce atmospheric carbon, not merely stabilize it. And planting more trees won't do it. Roughly speaking, the infrastructure for removing carbon would need to be similar in size to the infrastructure for adding carbon. In other words, about the size of the entire fossil fuel extraction industry. Big.
But maybe someone can figure out a better way. Good on Musk for identifying this as a place where a billionaire's money just might be able to make a difference.
https://jabberwocking.com/elon-musk-confirms-100-million-prize-for-car
bon-capture/
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly
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Astronomers are very frustrated with Elon Musk’s satellites
Elon Musk’s SpaceX had launched 1,300 small satellites into space as part of its Starlink internet service. SpaceX alone already has permission to launch 12,000 satellites, with dreams of launching a total of 30,000 one day. Particularly painful is the situation for astronomers. When the satellites cross into the view of their observatories, it can ruin the images. Beyond appearing as just streaks in images or distinct lights in the sky, the satellites can also introduce a diffuse glow into the background darkness of the night sky. This has already begun.
“The fact that one person can take control and completely transform humans’ experience of the night sky, and not just humans, but every organism on Earth … that seems profoundly wrong,” said Caitlin Casey, a University of Texas Austin astronomer.
More at https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/22396388/space-x-elon-musk-star
link-too-bright-astronomy-stars-pollution
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly
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You know what comes next, right?

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Imagine the hypocrisy of a government who will allow businesses to card people to get a job or buy groceries, but won't card people to vote in elections and gives millions of non-citizens free money from taxpayers.
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Elon Musk does it in the dark: May 2, 2021 Updated 7:49 a.m. ET
In darkness, four astronauts splashed down just before 3 a.m. Eastern time Sunday in the Gulf of Mexico near Panama City, Fla.
That marked a successful end of a mission for NASA led by a private company, Elon Musk’s SpaceX, to take its astronauts to and from the International Space Station.
One advantage of a nighttime landing could be that fewer private boats are likely to be around. That was a problem in August when the earlier SpaceX capsule splashed down. More than a dozen boats — one of them flying a Trump campaign flag — converged on the singed capsule, and a few went in for a closer look.
www.nytimes.com/2021/05/02/science/spacex-nasa-landing.html
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly
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Elon Musk Says We Need Advanced Rockets As NASA Admits Our Missiles Can't Stop Asteroids
https://www.republicworld.com/technology-news/science/elon-musk-says-w
e-need-advanced-rockets-as-nasa-admits-our-missiles-cant-stop-asteroids.html
NASA tells Elon Musk's SpaceX to halt lunar lander work pending the big expensive Legal Team protest by scumbag fraudster Bezos, the Amazon rocket that never even went to orbit?
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9531301/NASA-tells-SpaceX-hal
t-lunar-lander-work-pending-contract-challenges.html
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I want to see Armageddon 2 starring Elon Musk as Bruce Willis.
Bezos' ugly bald head can play the asteroid.
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Give me liberty or just come shoot me in my house. I'm so over this ridiculous reality.
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Elon Musk's 'SNL' monologue is, if nothing else, an accurate portrait of Elon Musk
https://mashable.com/video/elon-musk-saturday-night-live-monologue-snl/
Dogecoin crashes as Elon Musk calls it a 'hustle' on SNL
https://www.tomsguide.com/news/dogecoin-crashes-as-elon-musk-calls-it-
a-hustle-on-snl
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Time Machine Destiny
Elon Musk's first name shows up in 1953 book about colonizing Mars
https://www.cnet.com/news/elon-musks-first-name-shows-up-in-1953-book-
about-colonizing-mars/
https://futurism.com/the-byte/elon-musks-name-book-colonizing-mars
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Elon Musk says Mars city is 'next logical step' for humanity
https://www.independent.co.uk/space/elon-musk-mars-moon-base-spacex-b1
851517.html
... possible
Quote:
https://forums.theregister.com/forum/all/2017/06/19/elon_musk_making_h
umans_a_multi_planetary_species_paper/ , https://forums.space.com/threads/does-anyone-think-we-spacex-elon-musk
-can-land-the-first-people-on-mars-by-2024.37691/ , https://www.city-data.com/forum/science-technology/1733590-elon-musk-i
-will-go-mars.html , https://v1.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/7.883177-Lets-Nuke-Mars-Sa
ys-Elon-Musk ,
Jim Cramer asked Muilenburg whether he or Musk would “get a man on Mars first.” “Eventually we’re going to go to Mars and I firmly believe the first person that sets foot on Mars will get there on a Boeing rocket,” Muilenburg responded. Elon Musk offered a pithy response on Twitter: "Do it."
Boeing CEO: We’re Going to Beat Elon Musk to Mars?
https://hardforum.com/threads/boeing-ceo-were-going-to-beat-elon-musk-
to-mars.1949896/
space X seems to be winning in recent times
Musk however has missed a few of his own deadlines
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Elon Musk sending glowing baby squid and 5,000 ‘water bears’ to ISS for Nasa
https://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/tech/7176423/squid-sent-to-space-nasa/
Competitor fears Musk's SpaceX could 'monopolise' space
https://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Competitor_fears_Musks_SpaceX_could
_monopolise_space_999.html
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Musk is sane, the rest of the world is nuts
How China’s space station could help power astronauts to Mars
https://sg.news.yahoo.com/china-space-station-could-help-091612782.htm
l
Elon Musk says 'new space race has begun' as billionaire races to put Dogecoin on the Moon
https://www.express.co.uk/news/science/1446687/elon-musk-space-race-pu
t-dogecoin-on-moon-bitmex-spacex-latest-news-evg
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Elon Musk tweeted that he planned to sell his last remaining house, located in California's Bay Area. Musk said that he has already sold all his other houses to fund a Mars colony.
https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-house-sale-selling-californi
a-mars-colony-spacex-2021-6
https://futurism.com/the-byte/elon-musk-sell-last-remaining-house
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I dunno how true that is.
Musk, like Bezos, hardly pays any taxes at all on anything because he can get nearly zero interest loans backed up by his holdings.
Why sell your shit and pay 20% capitol gains taxes when you can get a 1.5% interest loan for half a billion dollars whenever you want to?
Like Trump, they're not doing anything illegal. But it's seriously fucked that the top richest 25 people in America pay less than 1% in taxes on their income and gains because our system allows them to. That's not even taking into account how their business do almost as well (and in some cases like Amazon get away without paying anything at all some years).
--------------------------------------------------
Give me liberty or just come shoot me in my house. I'm so over this ridiculous reality.
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BIG IDEAS ... BIG MONEY ... small critical details.
Like cosmic rays. They have to solve that or anything outside of the earth's protective magnetosphere is a short, one-way trip.
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Elon Musk Tweets Name Of New Dog Sending Cryptocurrency Skyrocketing
https://comicbook.com/irl/news/elon-musk-dog-name-floki-cryptocurrency
-skyrocketing/
Quote:
Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:
But it's seriously fucked that the top richest 25 people in America pay less than 1% in taxes on their income and gains because our system allows them to.
He is pocket change
The British Royal Family, Rothschild and the House of Saudi are far richer
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Elon Musk asks space-themed video game for ideas to get humans living on Mars
https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/elon-musk-ma
rs-spacex-kerbal-space-program-ksp-b1876310.html
Elon Musk is living in a prefab tiny house worth only $50K on SpaceX site
https://nypost.com/2021/07/05/elon-musk-is-living-in-a-prefab-tiny-hou
se-worth-only-50k/
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Elon Musk says SpaceX's Starship could 'chomp up' space junk on its way to Mars
https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-spacex-starship-chomp-up-spa
ce-junk-2021-7
Quote:
Does Elon Musk intend on traveling to Mars with a group of people and proclaim himself emporer of Mars?
https://www.girlsaskguys.com/technology-internet/q4567284-does-elon-mu
sk-intend-on-traveling-to-mars-with-a-group-of-people
Elon Musk's 'main home' is now a tiny 375 square foot prefabricated rented house worth just $50,000
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9759869/Elon-Musks-main-home-
tiny-375-square-foot-prefabricated-rented-house-worth-just-50-000.html
Musk living in a prefab tiny house on SpaceX site
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Branson Virgin beat Bezos?
Richard Branson Has Completed A Historic Trip To The Edge Of Space On Virgin Galactic
https://www.npr.org/2021/07/11/1015079564/richard-branson-has-complete
d-a-historic-trip-to-the-edge-of-space-on-virgin-gal
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Quote:Any sentence that begins with "Elon Musk says..." should be treated with scepticism.
Originally posted by JAYNEZTOWN:
Elon Musk says ...
-----------
Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake
THUGR posts about Putin so much, he must be in love.
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Elon Musk reveals huge first test of Starship rocket booster built for Mars
https://ca.news.yahoo.com/elon-musk-reveals-huge-first-202623941.html
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Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:Quote:Any sentence that begins with "Elon Musk says..." should be treated with scepticism.
Originally posted by JAYNEZTOWN:
Elon Musk says ...
What? You mean you don't believe that Elon's rocket ship has Pac-Man strapped to the hood?
--------------------------------------------------
And he who is not sufficiently courageous to defend his soul — don’t let him be proud of his ‘progressive’ views, and don’t let him boast that he is an academician or a people’s artist, a distinguished figure or a general. Let him say to himself: I am a part of the herd and a coward. It’s all the same to me as long as I’m fed and kept warm.
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Musk’s SpaceX Lands $178 Million Contract With NASA For Mission To Jupiter's Moon Europa
https://in.mashable.com/science/23772/elon-musks-spacex-lands-178-mill
ion-contract-with-nasa-for-mission-to-jupiters-moon-europa
.
https://www.euronews.com/next/2021/07/24/elon-musk-s-spacex-lands-nasa
-launch-contract-for-mission-to-jupiter-s-moon-europa
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Elon Musk Says the Sun Can Power All of Civilization. Of Course He's Right.
https://news.yahoo.com/elon-musk-says-sun-power-124500762.html
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Space Wars that never happened?
The Soveit Russian Salyut-7 fails then a plan for kidnapping? and examine the error and failure
https://www.thespacereview.com/article/2554/1
Musk, tourists and Tom Cruise
https://www.bangkokpost.com/world/2183891/spacex-tourists-talk-to-tom-
cruise-from-orbit-provide-update-on-flight
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How Elon Musk Walloped Jeff Bezos in the Billionaire Space Race
https://www.yahoo.com/news/elon-musk-walloped-jeff-bezos-082104139.htm
l
Russian director who filmed first movie in space says the Moon or Mars could be next
https://www.euronews.com/next/2021/10/19/russian-director-who-filmed-f
irst-movie-in-space-says-the-moon-or-mars-could-be-next
China’s New Moon Rocks Hint at a Violent, Wet History
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/china-moon-rocks-hint-violent-090023118
.html
...What the ...
https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1450212973314658305
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Elon Musk says SpaceX's 'Starship will be ready for its first orbital launch attempt next month'
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-10119957/SpaceX-fires-
SN20-Starship-prototype-time.html
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Tesla has pulled back on the latest version of its full #SelfDrivingCars beta software
https://www.theepochtimes.com/tesla-temporarily-pulls-its-new-full-sel
f-driving-beta-software-due-to-issues-elon-musk_4066945.html?utm_source=gab
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Elon Musk is building a network of Tesla tunnels underneath Las Vegas
https://metro.co.uk/2021/10/21/elon-musk-is-building-a-network-of-tesl
a-tunnels-underneath-las-vegas-15463671/
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SPACEMAN
I may be crazy, but I'm not stupid
Quote:
The notion that genius is only thinly separated from insanity goes back to the Birth of Western Civilisation at least to ancient Greece. Aristotle linked the two when he said, “There is no great genius without a touch of madness.”
There's a fine line between genius and insanity. I have erased this line. — Oscar Levant. Genius has its limitations. They are walking the line between genius and insanity. — Madeleine Roux. The step between genius and insanity is very short. — Albert Einstein. Genius is insanity right up until it
SpaceX shows off its 'Gateway to Mars' for Starship launches i
https://spacenity.com/spacex-shows-off-its-gateway-to-mars-for-starshi
p-launches-in-video
https://www.sciencetimes.com/articles/34169/20211026/spacex-shares-its
-stunning-gateway-to-mars-footage-for-starship-rocket-launches-watch.htm
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the media were posting against Musk told him to feed the world???
Elon Musk wants proof his US$6 billion can solve world hunger
https://nationalpost.com/auto-news/industry/elon-musk-wants-proof-his-
us6-billion-can-solve-world-hunger
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The Dangerous Power of Insecure Billionaires
Elon Musk doesn’t think visionaries like him should pay taxes the way little people do. After all, why hand over his money to dull bureaucrats? They’ll just squander it on pedestrian schemes like … bailing out Tesla at a crucial point in its development. Musk has his sights set on more important things, like getting humanity to Mars to “preserve the light of consciousness.”
Billionaires, you see, tend to be surrounded by people who tell them how wonderful they are and would never, ever suggest that they’re making fools of themselves.
But don’t you dare make fun of Musk. Billionaires’ money gives them a lot of political clout — enough to block Democratic plans to pay for much-needed social spending with a tax that would have affected only a few hundred people in a nation of more than 300 million. Who knows what they might do if they think people are snickering at them?
Still, the determined and so far successful opposition of incredibly wealthy Americans to any effort to tax them like normal people raises a couple of questions. First, is there anything to their insistence that taxing them would deprive society of their unique contributions? Second, why are people who have more money than anyone can truly enjoy so determined to keep every penny?
On the first question, there’s an enduring claim on the right that taxing billionaires will discourage them from doing all the wonderful things they do. For example, Mitt Romney has suggested that taxing capital gains will cause the ultrawealthy to stop creating jobs and buy ranches and paintings instead.
But is there any reason to believe that taxation will cause the rich to go Galt, and deprive us of their genius?
For the uninitiated, “going Galt” is a reference to Ayn Rand’s “Atlas Shrugged,” in which taxes and regulation induce wealth creators to withdraw to a hidden stronghold (Mars for Musk), causing economic and social collapse. Rand’s magnum opus was, as it happens, published in 1957, during the long aftermath of the New Deal, when both parties accepted the need for highly progressive taxation, strong antitrust policy and a powerful union movement. The book can therefore in part be seen as a commentary on the America of Harry Truman and Dwight Eisenhower, an era during which corporate taxes were more than twice as high as they are now and the top personal tax rate was 91 percent.
So, did the productive members of society go on strike and paralyze the economy? Hardly. In fact, the postwar years were a time of unprecedented prosperity; family incomes, adjusted for inflation, doubled over the course of a generation.
And in case you’re wondering, the wealthy didn’t manage to dodge all of the taxes being imposed. As a fascinating 1955 Fortune article documented, corporate executives really had come way down in the world compared with their prewar status. But somehow they continued to do their jobs.
OK, so the superrich won’t go on strike if forced to pay some taxes. But why are they so concerned about taxes anyway?
It’s not as if having to cough up, say, $40 billion would have any visible impact on the ability of an Elon Musk or Jeff Bezos to enjoy life’s pleasures. True, many very wealthy people seem to consider moneymaking a game, in which the goal is to outperform their rivals; but standings in that game wouldn’t be affected by a tax all the players have to pay.
What I suspect, although I can’t prove it, is that what really drives someone like Musk is an insecure ego. He wants the world to acknowledge his unequaled greatness; taxing him like a “$400,000-a-year working Wall Street stiff” (my favorite line from the movie “Wall Street”) would suggest that he isn’t a unique treasure, that maybe he indeed doesn’t deserve everything he has.
I don’t know how many people remember “Obama rage,” the furious Wall Street backlash against President Barack Obama. While it was partly a response to real changes in tax and regulatory policy — Obama did, in fact, significantly raise taxes a
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Elon Musk Calls Out U.N. PEDOPHILIA
https://rumble.com/voobtx-elon-musk-calls-out-u.n.-pedophilia.html
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Elon Musk’s Starlink Will Monitor Illegal Deforestation In The Amazon Forest
https://wonderfulengineering.com/elon-musks-starlink-will-monitor-ille
gal-deforestation-in-the-amazon-forest/
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Elon Musk Says First Orbital Launch of Starship Could Happen by January
https://gizmodo.com/elon-musk-says-first-orbital-launch-of-starship-co
uld-h-1848082594
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'Avenge The Dinosaurs': Elon Musk Responds As NASA's DART Heads Towards An Asteroid
https://www.republicworld.com/technology-news/science/avenge-the-dinos
aurs-elon-musk-responds-as-nasas-dart-heads-towards-an-asteroid.html
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Musk doubles down on plan to build 'permanent moon base' and 'city on Mars'
https://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/latest-news/elon-musk-doubles-down-pl
an-25550350
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Elon Musk’s mother mocks Biden, Harris and Buttigieg for ignoring Tesla in electric car push
https://news.yahoo.com/elon-musk-mother-mocks-biden-230509366.html
Quote:
Trolling the Biden administration has become a Musk family affair.
Maye Musk, son Elon Musk and his sister Tosca Musk have been trading barbs at Joe Biden, Kamala Harris and Pete Buttigieg for the past four days after the White House excluded Tesla from recent events to promote electric vehicles.
Ms Musk dropped a series of laugh and zany face emojis on Twitter after the president praised General Motors and its CEO for leading the United State’s electric vehicle industry, saying the company "electrified the entire auto industry".
"Biden’s speech was written 20 years ago, just before GM killed the electric car," Ms Musk tweeted, referencing the year GM cancelled its electric car programme due to weak sales.
"His speechwriter uploaded the wrong file."
Quote:
Mr Musk responded with a "sigh", while his sister, Tosca Musk, joined the family by adding, "What mon said. AF".
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This is what happens when a geriatric moron surrounds himself with diversity hire morons.
Idiocracy was a warning, not an instruction manual.
--------------------------------------------------
Vaccinated People: "You need to get muh vaccination shots that don't work because I got muh vaccination shots that don't work and I'm afraid of people that didn't get muh vaccination shots that don't work because muh vaccination shots that don't work don't work."
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StarLink: another overhyped failure
https://fintecology.com/2021/11/25/spacex-starlink-delays-customers-or
ders-blames-silicon-shortages/
-----------
Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake
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Quote:Good thing you don't have money in the stock market because you can't spot a stock that is over-hyped. The White House did NOT promote Tesla because it is a stock market bubble. Elon Musk is selling Tesla while fools rush in to buy his overpriced shares. This month Musk has sold $9.85 billion worth of stock in the electric vehicle company, which is valued at around $1.10 trillion.
Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:
This is what happens when a geriatric moron surrounds himself with diversity hire morons.
Idiocracy was a warning, not an instruction manual.
Tesla's stock market value surpassed the combined market values of the 11 largest global automakers. (In other words: Tesla is a vastly over priced stock.)
With only 500,000 cars sold last year, Tesla’s market value is roughly $2 million per vehicle sold. (Tesla is a vastly over priced stock.)
So far this year, the company has sold 627,000 cars and aims to reach a million in sales this year. https://www.statista.com/statistics/502208/tesla-quarterly-vehicle-del
iveries/
6ix, check out Tesla stock at https://www.fxempire.com/news/article/tesla-is-worth-3-times-more-than
-toyota-792531
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
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Yeah? What's Pfizer worth now that our government has been blowing them with cash infusions and trying to install a captivated for life customer base until the end of time?
If you're going to continue to quote people and reply with completely unrelated bullshit, I'm going to do the same thing.
--------------------------------------------------
Vaccinated People: "You need to get muh vaccination shots that don't work because I got muh vaccination shots that don't work and I'm afraid of people that didn't get muh vaccination shots that don't work because muh vaccination shots that don't work don't work."
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Quote:There are three companies, not just Pfizer, selling Covid-19 vaccines in the USA: Moderna and Johnson&Johnson. And there are a dozen more out there, including the Sputnik vaccine from Russia. But one thing I've noticed about all Trumptards is they misunderstand the stock market while believing they have complete knowledge, fools that they are. So it is completely unsurprising that when Tesla's total value on the stock market (and Elon Musk's networth) is more than the next 11 Auto companies combined, Trumptards don't realize Tesla (and Elon Musk) are far over-valued.
Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:
Yeah? What's Pfizer worth now that our government has been blowing them with cash infusions and trying to install a captivated for life customer base until the end of time?
If you're going to continue to quote people and reply with completely unrelated bullshit, I'm going to do the same thing.
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
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