Elon Musk: Officially a fraud and piece of shit. Official or unofficial war criminal?

[Captain Ron 13133]

2 hours ago, Nice Guy Eddie said:

I actually don't believe that anyone really wants to see Twitter/X fail except perhaps their direct competitors. Twitter was and still is to some extent the best place to go for immediate news, commentary and most importantly, quotes from known people. 

Nothing else will fully replace X as it's had an almost 2 decade head start of operational (not financial) success. From a user standpoint, Twitter was a public good that had a large amount of value. sure there was crap on there but I found that I could easily avoid by staying away from the comments. 

I don’t care what happens to Xwitter anymore. I just want a viable alternative. 

[Horn Under a Bad Sign 20953]

14 hours ago, Chopper said:

Besides following them and responding positively to them?

We have a difference of opinion re: what constitutes a boost. I wouldn't call that a boost. If retweets something and people respond, that's Twitter functioning normally, just as it does when Obama or Taylor Swift retweet.

When you said "boost"  I thought you meant artificially gaming the algorithm in order to inflate a tweet's engagement. 

 

[wood 11776]

11 minutes ago, Captain Ron said:

I don’t care what happens to Xwitter anymore. I just want a viable alternative. 

Yep. This is where I am. Twitter is fucked. I hope Bluesky or one of the others will be a suitable alternative.

[Chopper 17453]

43 minutes ago, Horn Under a Bad Sign said:

We have a difference of opinion re: what constitutes a boost. I wouldn't call that a boost. If retweets something and people respond, that's Twitter functioning normally, just as it does when Obama or Taylor Swift retweet.

When you said "boost"  I thought you meant artificially gaming the algorithm in order to inflate a tweet's engagement. 

 

A huge account retweeting a much smaller is a boost by any understanding of the word. Giving optimum visibility to the fringiest of accounts willing to pay $8 a month is also boosting. That's not subject to a difference of opinion. Rather it seems like something you just don't want to acknowledge. Changing an algorithm would be something that only people writing code for twitter or in upper management would know or have access to. However we do know that Muskkk at one time did have the algorithm changed to have his tweets put into all or nearly all accounts. The blowback was fierce so they had to dial it back however I am under the impression they still artificially boost his reach however outsiders don't have insight into how the sausage is made.

edit - also you'll have to direct me to where Taylor Swift or PBO retweet the most vile people in humanity on the regular and give a boost to their POVs. Clearly you can see a difference between responding to a fan or sharing a cute photo, and retweeting someone who's sharing vile and racist conspiracy theories 365 days a year. Further there's a totally opposite difference in intent between whatever Tay or PBO are doing on Twitter and Muskkk.

Edited November 30, 2023 by Chopper

[Hank Kingsley 21817]

30 minutes ago, Horn Under a Bad Sign said:

When you said "boost"  I thought you meant artificially gaming the algorithm in order to inflate a tweet's engagement. 

 

But there is artificial boosting based on if you pay for Twitter or not. 

All the top replies are from Twitter blue checks, making reasonable discourse completely impossible. 

 

[PenelopeWitherspoon 19350]

5 hours ago, Goliad said:

What's the point of having the ultimate fuck you money if you don't sometimes say, fuck you?

Of course this board that has spent the last however many pages concern trolling about how advertisers would sink Elon is stung that he is apparently unbothered. He basically said fuck you to all of those posters too. Looks like they'll have to find another weapon to try to take X/Elon down. Perhaps more frivolous federal lawsuits or maybe direct legal action against him is up next?

The reason that Elon/Twitter/X has caused such a frenzy since day 1 is that, as he said in the same interview, "The degree to which old Twitter was basically a sock puppet of the government was ridiculous."

That's it. 

Oh joy. You are back.  How much are you paid per post?  That is the only explanation for you coming back, time and time again, after getting crowdsourced each and every time.

[Goliad 104]

1 hour ago, Rimbo said:

I think you mean, "Governments and mainstream media keep reporting truths that are inconvenient for me to accept, so I'm glad there's a place where I can live in my fantasy world."

There's a laundry list of things the government and media have lied about or suppressed, especially recently. To deny that is to live in a fantasy world.

I think it is better when the government and mainstream media do not have a monopoly on dissemination of information. You may disagree.

[PenelopeWitherspoon 19350]

15 hours ago, safe sex said:

This bitch pays for Twitter hahahahaha

He gets fucking football jerseys tailored.  Are you surprised?

[Rimbo 27092]

13 minutes ago, Goliad said:

I think it is better when the government and mainstream media do not have a monopoly on dissemination of information. You may disagree.

So instead of sources that lie sometimes, you're choosing sources that lie all the time, but with different lies that make you feel better about yourself.

I don't think you know what the word "monopoly" means. That means there's one source. In this case, you have dozens of sources independently saying the same things; that's not a monopoly, that's "consensus."

Edited November 30, 2023 by Rimbo

[Francisco 2.0 32621]

Meanwhile, another of Elon's ventures has drilled [checks notes] 2.4 miles of tunnels in......7 years:

 

 

https://fortune.com/2023/11/20/elon-musk-boring-company-las-vegas-tunnels-former-employee-interviews/

 

Quote

On Dec. 16, 2020, Steve Davis, an early, trusted SpaceX engineer whom Elon Musk appointed as president of the Boring Company, stepped up to the podium at City Hall in Las Vegas. He briefed the city council about Boring’s first small stretch of tunnel, which had recently been completed 40 feet below the Las Vegas Convention Center.

Davis was also asking for the initial approvals to build something much more exhaustive, and much more expensive: a citywide public transportation system that would move people from Allegiant Stadium to the Las Vegas Strip, Fremont Street, or the airport—anywhere in less than seven minutes. “This would be a privately funded venture by our company and various property owners—pretty nice,” Davis told the group.

 

Quote

Davis’s attire—a black sport coat and jeans—was unusually formal for him. His employees rarely saw him in anything but his SpaceX running jacket and ball cap. But one of the lobbyists Boring Company was working with at the time had prepped Davis prior to the meeting and encouraged him to look more professional, according to emails from the lobbyist to one of the city’s executive directors that were reviewed by Fortune. (“Unlikely I can get him to wear a tie,” the lobbyist had said.) It was important he appear polished for, in particular, Mayor Carolyn Goodman, who has been one of the Boring Company’s most outspoken critics in Vegas. 

 

Quote

Goodman’s criticism stems from Boring’s inability to finish a public tunnel project anywhere else. The Boring Company has raised more than $795 million from venture capitalists on Musk’s big idea: underground, multi-station roadways where autonomous vehicles could shoot off individuals to their destination at speeds of 150 miles per hour. But on the ground, after seven years, Boring is only operating a mere 2.4 miles of operational tunnel, according to Las Vegas agencies and contracts reviewed by Fortune. Meanwhile Boring projects from California to Illinois, Texas, Florida, and Maryland have all fizzled or been disbanded. (Davis, Musk, and several of Boring’s investors did not respond to requests for an interview.) 

 

 

Spoiler

Whether it was the sport coat or the star power of his boss, in 2020, Davis received the unanimous support he needed from the council to start expanding Boring’s tunnel into the broader City of Las Vegas, and earlier this year he got the initial approvals for a 68-mile station system plan that would effectively turn Boring into Las Vegas’s public transit provider. The question, though, is can Boring finish that kind of a project? And how much will it really cost people to use when it’s all said and done?

On the financial front, Boring has since put its self-driving vehicle plans on the back burner—meaning it’s racking up costs to pay a driver for every one to three people it moves underground at relatively mild speeds of under 40 miles per hour in Vegas. Not to mention, employees say that the company has suffered from a nearly constant churn of staffers and executives. Perhaps most important, the company seems to have lost the close attention of the man who started it all: Musk.

Fortune spoke with four former Boring Company executives and staffers, as well as politicians and lobbyists who worked with Musk’s tunnel company on various projects, local Las Vegas residents, and engineers to report this story. We also reviewed thousands of pages of emails between Boring Company employees and local government officials, lobbying records, maps, and Boring contracts. 

One former employee summed up the company’s predicament in a nutshell: “Elon’s idea for the Boring Company was a good one. It just hasn’t been executed on.”

Betting it all on Vegas

The Boring Company has approvals to build an intricate matrix of tunnels but thus far has completed only a 2.4-mile stretch. Meanwhile potential projects from California to Florida have fizzled.

 

‘Soul-crushing’ traffic

Musk’s tunneling venture was allotted all of three pages in Walter Isaacson’s recently published 615-page biography—an apparent testament to how Musk’s attention has been diverted elsewhere over the past few years. While he occasionally defends or promotes the Boring Company on X, the last time Musk tweeted any kind of new detail about it was in April 2022. Steve Hill, CEO of the public agency that runs the Las Vegas Convention Center (LVCVA), told Fortune that Musk has been to Las Vegas a “couple of times” to look at the Loop. Three former employees say it has been rare for Musk to show up on-site.

It hasn’t always been that way. In 2016, Musk became obsessed with fixing what he called “soul-crushing” traffic. Though the name (and the 20,000 Boring Company–branded flamethrowers he sold) may have sounded like a joke, Musk was serious about the idea. He poured $100 million of his own money into the project, according to Isaacson’s Elon Musk, and requested Davis place an order for two boring machines, at $5 million a pop, that he had transported immediately to SpaceX headquarters in Hawthorne, Calif., to start digging. Musk would say in 2018 that he paid around $10 million to build that first 1.14-mile demo project outside Los Angeles. 

As Musk would go on to say over and over again, these tunnels would be the early beginnings of Hyperloop, the tube he envisions will eventually shoot people into cities at speeds of hundreds of miles per hour. The Boring Company was Musk’s first stepping stone to get there—an underground maze of tunnels with small stations all across a city. People would be able to enter the tunnels in their own autonomous vehicles and travel at 150 miles per hour to get where they wanted to go. Boring Company would be able to build one mile of tunnel in a week, Musk said. 

“Finally, finally, finally there is something that I think can solve the goddamn traffic problem,” Musk said to a cheering crowd while presenting Boring’s demo tunnel in 2018. Boring would manage every layer of the design, construction, and operation itself—just like Tesla or SpaceX—and build tunnels faster, cheaper, and better than ever before. 

Tunnel No. 1

When Boring Company landed its official first project with the LVCVA, Davis moved from Washington, D.C., where he had been focused on a Baltimore Loop, to Las Vegas. Davis is somewhat awkward as a presenter, but employees say he is matter-of-fact and extraordinarily intelligent. He is known to pace around the office or around Boring’s R&D property in Bastrop, Texas, while he talks on the phone. One former employee recalls Davis’s partner bringing in eggs and bacon for breakfast after a particularly long night in the office. When he is in town, he’s always working, former employees say, and he has a little house on the Bastrop property where he will sleep as well as a condo in a sky-rise in downtown Austin.

But former employees say that Davis generally doesn’t delegate decision-making authority, and that he is the sole person overseeing every detail at the company, even the minutiae. “Even parts orders of a few thousand dollars required personal direct approval from Steve,” one former employee said.

Like at other Musk companies, Boring employees, of which PitchBook estimates there are 270, were expected to put in long hours and work on weekends. Another former employee said that he would hear people brag about working 18-hour days. “When I worked my first 16-hour day, it was presented to me like a badge of honor,” the person said, noting that their manager had told them when they joined that lasting six months at the job would be longer than most people. Another person said they saw people quit after just a week—or sometimes even a day. “It was a very unpleasant place to work,” the person said.

But there are a few key reasons why Boring Company has struggled to retain the people it’s hired. At SpaceX, Musk hired on Gwynne Shotwell as president to run day-to-day operations and Mark Juncosa to oversee all the engineering. At Boring Company it is just Davis wearing all the hats. While he is a strong engineer, some employees say he lacked people skills. “He did not understand empathy,” one of the people said.

“Working at Boring Company is like a big fire drill every single day—or something to that extent—because of how Steve manages,” one of the former executives says. They say it stems from a deep-rooted anxiety, an anxiety that comes from the urge to please an ever-demanding Musk. 

The other former executive added that it’s harder to hire people at Boring Company than some of Musk’s other ventures. “Tunnel engineers are different than those hired at Elon’s other companies in that they have a much lower risk profile and are much more conservative in their thinking—so it’s hard to attract people with a moonshot … If you want to work for Elon, Boring Company is your last choice,” they said.

Although some of Boring Company’s early executives have left, others have stuck around, like legal guru Ashley Steinberg. And several staffers have been promoted into senior roles, including project development manager Tyler Fairbanks, HR manager Cayle Turpen, and mechanical engineers Stuart Donnelly and Julius Callender.

Many of Boring’s investors—who include Shaun Maguire of Sequoia Capital, Antonio Gracias of Valor Equity Partners, and investors at Vy Capital—either declined or didn’t return Fortune’s requests for an interview, so it’s unclear what investors think about Boring Company’s performance or Davis’s leadership. If they are unhappy, it wouldn’t really matter: It doesn’t seem like there is much they can do about it. Venture capitalists have deployed more than $790 million for a minority stake in the company, but it’s unclear whether even major investors have a seat on the board. Boring Company was last valued at $5.6 billion in 2022, though a tender offer recently reported in The Information now implies a valuation of more than $7 billion. 

The Vegas Loop project opened in June 2021 at Boring’s central station. A slew of media were invited to descend an escalator into a neon-lit 10-stall station (which Hill estimates cost the Boring Company $20 million to $30 million) and take their first ride. In the station, a Boring Company employee ushers riders into an available Tesla vehicle, and a Boring driver chauffeurs them through the narrow, single-lane tunnels at a speed of up to 40 miles per hour. The tunnels are white-walled, 12 feet wide, and feature funky pink, blue, and green lights. 

Hill, who in an earlier government role had worked with Tesla to open its gigafactory in northern Nevada, was the first city official to take a leap with the Boring Company and is evidently still enthusiastic about the project. He describes it as “an underground highway system that runs like an Uber or Lyft.” The LVCVA reports that approximately 1.2 million conference attendees have ridden through the Las Vegas Loop below its convention center since it was opened to the public in 2021, and give it an average of 4.9 out of 5 stars on surveys.

Boring is in the process of opening two new tunnel stops—one at the Wynn and Encore Resort on Las Vegas Boulevard, and one to the Westgate, a hotel one block off the Las Vegas Strip. The first tunnel to the Westgate is finished, but the second one can’t be completed until the leases are up on the parking lot right across from Hill’s office. Hill said it’s “a little bit of a dance” to coordinate all the moving parts. “That takes some time to figure out.”

Autonomy no more

It’s no small feat to build a tunnel under a city. You have to figure out where to put it, navigating around electrical lines, gas lines, or enormous restaurant grease traps. You have to find places for safety hatches and stairwells, then get building approvals and land use permits. Then you have to do the actual digging, managing for risk of collapse and worker safety.

But first you need buy-in from politicians, the relevant government agencies—and the general public. And just because you have buy-in one year doesn’t mean you keep it: A Chicago airport project Boring was negotiating faced certain death after Mayor Lori Lightfoot was elected in 2019.

No other project lays out the juggling act so clearly as the highly anticipated Baltimore-Maryland Loop. That was the high-speed 35.3-mile twin tunnel system that Boring wanted to dig at least 30 feet underground to connect Baltimore to Washington, D.C., with stops along the way. Boring predicted autonomous vehicles would be able to travel at speeds of up to 150 miles an hour, making a one-way trip take approximately 15 minutes to complete. Musk had announced tentative plans via Twitter, and had the buy-in from then–Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan. In April 2019, Boring submitted a 505-page environmental assessment to government officials, detailing its plans for the project. 

The backlash was swift. Maryland’s Department of Transportation State Highway Administration received at least 468 complaints, questions, or comments about Boring Company’s proposal from local government agencies, according to emails obtained by Fortune via a Freedom of Information Act request. Then there were the community public comments from fans and critics. “Don’t let these rich transportation gurus use our community as an experiment—that in the end won’t benefit us,” one Maryland resident commented. 

Engineers weighed in, too. Peter Muller, an autonomous transportation system consultant, reviewed Boring’s assessment when it came out. In an interview with Fortune, Muller explained that the curves of the tunnel Boring had designed were too great to warrant the high speeds it was suggesting. “They hadn’t taken account of the simple geometry,” Muller says. “That is Engineering 101, and they ignored it.”

The Boring Company responded to all the relevant questions and comments, according to the documents, though the project fell apart almost immediately after. The federal highway regulator did not approve Boring’s draft environmental assessment. The Baltimore Loop Project website has since been taken down. 

Boring turned all of its attention to a drastically scaled-down version of the Loop in Las Vegas and to developing the next iteration of its tunnel boring machine, the Prufrock. Since 2017, Boring Company has worked with at least 12 lobbyists and lobbying firms in Maryland, Texas, Nevada, and Florida, according to public records—none of whom appear to be working with the company anymore after initial political interest in those states. 

Slower than a snail

Since the Maryland plan fell apart, the Boring Company has walked back plans for self-driving vehicles and larger robo-taxis that could carry around 12 people at a time—meaning that Boring has to hire a part-time driver to chauffeur every one to three people who use the tunnel. Right now, the convention center is paying $4.5 million a year to Boring for operating the system (the equivalent of $7.50 per ride, based on the LVCVA’s fiscal 2023 ridership data and its financial statements). At Resorts World, the Boring Company is charging riders $5 for a day pass to use its Boring tunnels from Resorts World to the convention center (riders can pay using Dogecoin). It’s likely the Boring Company may be subsidizing the costs in order to maintain the low price it is charging per ride.

Last year, Boring raised $675 million—so it probably doesn’t have to worry about subsidizing costs yet. But for how long? “This is part of the problem of public transportation, is that it’s very expensive to operate,” Muller said. “[Pretty much] no public transportation system in the U.S. makes money.”

If Boring Company disbands its project, the LVCVA has hedged risk in its contract, and the system will be handed over to the city, county, or LVCVA depending on the jurisdiction. The problem is that the tunnels are so small they can’t accommodate large vehicles. They’re also made particularly for EVs—not gas-powered cars. Finding a replacement operator may be tricky. 

But the bigger risk is reputational. Should a Boring Company tunnel ever collapse, former employees recognize the impact would be devastating—even if there are no fatalities. This echoes the concerns of Mayor Goodman, who told Fortune in an interview at her office that she was concerned about the lack of exit routes in the Loop tunnel, or what happens if the lights go out and everything goes dark. 

“They’re in Florida trying to get [a tunnel], and Texas, [and] to the airport in Chicago. And nobody bit. Nobody took up the offer except us,” she said, adding later: “It’s not proven. And I don’t want to be a guinea pig.” LVCVA’s Hill says the concerns he has seen raised about the Boring Company are more about track record than real operational or engineering concerns. “Safety obviously has to be the number one priority, because all eyes are on this,” he said.

Even in Las Vegas, the whole Loop project still seems elusive to many of the city’s own residents. As I sat in traffic on East Tropicana Avenue in Las Vegas, right above where Boring hopes to eventually dig a tunnel to the airport, I asked my Uber driver whether he had gotten to ride in Musk’s tunnel yet.

“That’s real, huh?” he responded. 

 

 

[HenryJames 67477]

Boring Company is just the dumbest shit.

[Neonmoon 38130]

BUILD A SUBWAY YOU DUMB FUCKS

[Mrs Whiggins 13051]

4 hours ago, Hank Kingsley said:

Elon is used to a bunch of ass kissers roaring with laughter at every "joke" he makes in a conference room. Watching him seek approval from the audience is painful. 

 

 

3 hours ago, Nice Guy Eddie said:

Elon reminds me somewhat of what I saw from Deion Sanders this year. Deion would say the following about his haters in a press conference, "What about me would make you think. that I care about your opinion of me?"  then he would spend 20-30 minutes talking about the receipts he has with specific people who disrespected him.

Elon and Deion try to act like their above the fray when in actuality, they're below it. Their egos are at least partially dependent on what others say.

THIS, THIS, AND FINALLY, THIS. It wounds him, it bothers him and while it's understandable for humans to get defensive regarding criticisms, etc, Musk has unacceptable, destructive, and sadly--outsized power and reactions with which he handles each and every situation where he feels 'slighted' in some way. While he may act or attempt to act as if he is above the fray, your point about Elon is true in another respect: he believes he is 'above' and 'superior' in ALL ways. Call it unfounded elitism since it seems to be a good description of the malady lately. But w/o getting too CR in the DT, he is not unlike the politicians who say "I'm a working man's man," while not only behaving quite differently, but secretly holding a blue collar worker in contempt.

3 hours ago, SydneyCarton said:

 

... It's fucking GRUHorn. Stop wasting everyone's time...

Wait, the Veggie Phallus Plate guy? Geez, I been away so long. Between him and Nicotine Mammal, I used to spend so much time rolling my eyes I had to go to the optometrist.

[SydneyCarton 49537]

1 minute ago, Mrs Whiggins said:

 

THIS, THIS, AND FINALLY, THIS. It wounds him, it bothers him and while it's understandable for humans to get defensive regarding criticisms, etc, Musk has unacceptable, destructive, and sadly--outsized power and reactions with which he handles each and every situation where he feels 'slighted' in some way. While he may act or attempt to act as if he is above the fray, your point about Elon is true in another respect: he believes he is 'above' and 'superior' in ALL ways. Call it unfounded elitism since it seems to be a good description of the malady lately. But w/o getting too CR in the DT, he is not unlike the politicians who say "I'm a working man's man," while not only behaving quite differently, but secretly holding a blue collar worker in contempt.

Wait, the Veggie Phallus Plate guy? Geez, I been away so long. Between him and Nicotine Mammal, I used to spend so much time rolling my eyes I had to go to the optometrist.

Not sure how long you've been gone, but just assume they've both gone through about a dozen socks apiece since then with their bullshit. 

[NoName 17202]

12 minutes ago, SydneyCarton said:

Not sure how long you've been gone, but just assume they've both gone through about a dozen socks apiece since then with their bullshit. 

didn't know it ws him but should have assumed. no more interactions from my end there...

[Rimbo 27092]

i mean, the guy literally named himself after a Russian spy org...

[gsoda3 3363]

if you're going to demonstrate your glass can take the force of a thrown baseball without damage and you're not going to do it yourself wouldn't you choose someone who could actually throw a baseball to demonstrate?

[Beau Vine 55897]

Scrolling through twitter for about 5 minutes, I literally saw six tweets from accounts I don't follow about Elmo "refusing to be blackmailed."

[atomheartbevo 90691]

8 minutes ago, Beau Vine said:

Scrolling through twitter for about 5 minutes, I literally saw six tweets from accounts I don't follow about Elmo "refusing to be blackmailed."

Bots.  They were out in force with nearly identical messages about X Premium this morning, and I've seen them with nearly identical messages about refusing to be blackmailed.

[Chopper 17453]

50 minutes ago, NoName said:

didn't know it ws him but should have assumed. no more interactions from my end there...

If he usually hangs out in the crypto thread I presume the complete failure of all the crypto exchanges that's clear as day on the radar must be super depressing for him and driving a need to branch out into other threads. But I digress...all for a laugh at his expense.

[SydneyCarton 49537]

11 minutes ago, Chopper said:

If he usually hangs out in the crypto thread I presume the complete failure of all the crypto exchanges that's clear as day on the radar must be super depressing for him and driving a need to branch out into other threads. But I digress...all for a laugh at his expense.

Nah dude. Crypto is still growing exponentionally. How else is he going to pump new suckers to keep his investment afloat?

[Biff Tannen 46208]

WTF is happening in this thread?

[Goredho 17663]

3 minutes ago, Biff Tannen said:

WTF is happening in this thread?

Posters are having their free speech squelched by the government, mainstream media and woke corporations.

Posters with vile ideals are being socially rejected by mainstream society.

[cactusflinthead 27628]

@Goliad

You've been here since 11/8. 20 posts. Elon, inflation, and crypto.

WHO COULD YOU BE INTERNET STRANGER!?

what brings you to those three threads? No football. No tacos. No nothing. Just the same old threads you return to every time.

It's like you don't even try any more.

 

 

[atomheartbevo 90691]

22 minutes ago, longhornmatt said:

I can’t even imagine how horrible the neural implant business really is.  

Musk said the test monkeys are in monkey paradise.  I just can’t wait for his followers to line up for it, so they too can be in monkey paradise.  
 

[Captainant 28608]

1 hour ago, Rimbo said:

i mean, the guy literally named himself after a Russian spy org...

In fairness, his original handle was "GRhorn" but after caught posting russian disinfo one too many times GRUhorn was coined

[NoName 17202]

good news guys, the cybertruck got launched

oh whats that? the price is now 60k up from the 39k it was announced at? and that version won't be available until when? 2025?! (AKA never)

and it gets worse range, no 4wd, is slower, and is 10k more expensive than a base ford lightning?

thats ok though, we can get the one thats listed at 80k next year! or the 99k one later on next year maybe?

Edited November 30, 2023 by NoName

[cactusflinthead 27628]

Bet I can shoot an arrow in the Lightning. Advantage Elmo.

[Bozo_Casanova 26911]

52 minutes ago, atomheartbevo said:

Musk said the test monkeys are in monkey paradise.  I just can’t wait for his followers to line up for it, so they too can be in monkey paradise.  
 

Honestly monkey paradise sounds pretty good

[Macklemore 2946]

34 minutes ago, NoName said:

good news guys, the cybertruck got launched

oh whats that? the price is now 60k up from the 39k it was announced at? and that version won't be available until when? 2025?! (AKA never)

and it gets worse range, no 4wd, is slower, and is 10k more expensive than a base ford lightning?

thats ok though, we can get the one thats listed at 80k next year! or the 99k one later on next year maybe?

Cybertruck beats a 911 while towing a 911.

 

[Captain Ron 13133]

1 hour ago, atomheartbevo said:

Musk said the test monkeys are in monkey paradise.  I just can’t wait for his followers to line up for it, so they too can be in monkey paradise.  
 

How ever did Musk discover what Monkey Paradise was?

[Bozo_Casanova 26911]

1 minute ago, Macklemore said:

Cybertruck beats a 911 while towing a 911.

 

This is what Bladerunner* would use to tow illegally parked cars.




* The tow truck driver called Bladerunner from the film, Bladerunner

[Captain Ron 13133]

13 minutes ago, Macklemore said:

Cybertruck beats a 911 while towing a 911.

 

Now Imagine it was towing Elon's Ego

 

[956 Worldwide 35602]

23 minutes ago, Macklemore said:

Cybertruck beats a 911 while towing a 911.

 

It’s a fun stunt but I can’t think of anything less useful for determining how good a truck is as a truck or a Porsche is at being a Porsche.  We all know that high end EVs can deliver instant, monster torque to all four wheels with great traction control. 

[Rimbo 27092]

29 minutes ago, Macklemore said:

Cybertruck beats a 911 while towing a 911.

 

Well duh. The 911 is an obsolete design, continuing to gain buyers due only to nostalgia. Kinda like Harleys.

Now compare it to the Lightning. Or literally any other electric truck.

[Captain Ron 13133]

12 minutes ago, 956 Worldwide said:

It’s a fun stunt but I can’t think of anything less useful for determining how good a truck is as a truck or a Porsche is at being a Porsche.  We all know that high end EVs can deliver instant, monster torque to all four wheels with great traction control. 

Most car people have noted:

* duh it won. An EV vs internal combustion engine isn’t a fair fight. 

* Porsche enthusiasts note that’s likely one of the slowest badging levels of the 911.

* The Cybertruck truck with the stated specs is the $100K model. That isn’t what you can get today. 

[Post Oak 20594]

3 hours ago, Neonmoon said:

BUILD A SUBWAY YOU DUMB FUCKS

Boring could have huge benefits to cities and improving urbanism everywhere if they weren't Musk'n everything up.

[atomheartbevo 90691]

15 hours ago, Rimbo said:

Just watch that video. And then realize there's people, supposedly functional adults, who stan this clown.

It's fucking weird as shit - the world's richest man, and a shitload of people living in their mom's basements feel the need, the calling, to get out and defend him when he does something really fucking stupid.  

Because apparently he can't defend himself.  Or when he tries to, it goes horribly wrong and he ends up digging a deeper hole (no wonder he has a tunnel boring company).

[Chopper 17453]

Has anybody mentioned there was a Digital God moment last night. As in,

"You can ask Digital God." Elon Musk, 11/29/2023

https://www.techdirt.com/2023/11/30/elon-says-copyright-ai-lawsuits-dont-matter-because-digital-god-will-arrive-before-theyre-decided/

Obviously, at a minimum, if someone I knew started saying stuff like this I would have them checked out. If I were on their BOD it would be a condition of continued employment.

 

Are you there, Digital God? It's me, Elon.

 

[safe sex 12044]

1 hour ago, Macklemore said:

Cybertruck beats a 911 while towing a 911.

 

[Rimbo 27092]

You know, genetically, I'm predisposed to brain cancer. Maybe, just maybe, if I get it, it spreads, and I have enough lobotomies, enough brain matter will be removed for me to finally be able to think Elon Musk is a pretty smart guy.

[956 Worldwide 35602]

53 minutes ago, Rimbo said:

Well duh. The 911 is an obsolete design, continuing to gain buyers due only to nostalgia. Kinda like Harleys.

Now compare it to the Lightning. Or literally any other electric truck.

The 911 in various guises wins all kinds of races to this day. Not drag races, though, it’s not what you’re for. And they’re glorious. 

[Rimbo 27092]

Just now, 956 Worldwide said:

The 911 in various guises wins all kinds of races to this day. Not drag races, though, it’s not what you’re for. And they’re glorious. 

Oh sure, it's fast, and handles amazingly. But boxer engines are obsolete even within the realm of internal combustion engines; and electric motors nowadays beat the pants off all of those.

[Brisketexan 107046]

1 hour ago, Bozo_Casanova said:

Honestly monkey paradise sounds pretty good

All the masturbation and poo-flinging you can imagine!

Wait.....that also describes X.  I'm on to you, Elon.....

[956 Worldwide 35602]

8 minutes ago, Rimbo said:

Oh sure, it's fast, and handles amazingly. But boxer engines are obsolete even within the realm of internal combustion engines; and electric motors nowadays beat the pants off all of those.

Nothing wrong with a horizontally opposed engine, it’s all about packaging. In aviation use they are the standard and it’s what works for a rear engine layout.  They have great balance and weight distribution. 
 

An electric motor is always going to deliver the power instantly but batteries still aren’t where good old guzzoline is for storing energy. The Porsche will run the same 9 second quarter all day and only needs to stop for refueling and it’s back at it. 
 

Hybrid is the best of both which is why that’s the top level of motorsport’s power plant of choice. 

[Macanudo 13347]

The Cybertruck looks like Box from Logan's Run fucked an El Camino

[Rimbo 27092]

6 minutes ago, 956 Worldwide said:

Nothing wrong with a horizontally opposed engine, it’s all about packaging. In aviation use they are the standard and it’s what works for a rear engine layout.  They have great balance and weight distribution. 

Look, I'm in my 21st year of turbocharged boxer engine ownership. I already know all the advantages. But inline and V's are more efficient; all else being equal, they get more power.

And you can't compare what works in aviation to what works on the ground; they are different applications that value different things. You'll never see batteries work in planes; they're too heavy, and weight is a critical consideration. By the same metric, hydrogen fuel cells become much more practical in aviation than they are in cars.

Edited December 1, 2023 by Rimbo

[Francisco 2.0 32621]

So, Elon said some things in today's presser about the first truck deliveries:

 

https://arstechnica.com/cars/2023/11/the-tesla-cybertruck-finally-goes-on-sale-starting-at-60990/

 

Quote

Musk claimed the Cybertruck is better than any other truck but also more of a sports car than any other sports car, made of a "special Tesla designed steel alloy" that he claimed will never rust and which cannot be stamped but which can also be produced in volume.

Mindful of the window-breaking debacle during the truck's debut in 2019, Tesla designer Franz von Holzhausen came on stage to throw baseballs at its windows. Unlike last time (when presenters used metal balls), the allegedly bulletproof glass did not shatter. Musk implied that in a crash with another vehicle, the Cybertruck—which weighs 6,603–6,843 lbs (2,995–3,104 kg)—will destroy the other vehicle.

 

Quote

The Tesla CEO also reiterated that the truck's body panels are bulletproof, citing "late civilization vibes," although the wheels and tires are very much not bulletproof but quite necessary if the truck is required to move from place to place.

 

 

Quote

"If you can fit any cargo in the trunk or the bed, you can basically move it around," Musk said, citing a payload capacity of a ton, the ability to tow 11,000 lbs, and the fact that 8 x 4 sheets of plywood will fit in the bed, although the bed actually measures 6 feet by 4 feet.

Musk's presentation made it sound like Tesla has developed a lot of new technology for the Cybertruck, which will come as a surprise to the OEMs that have already delivered vehicles with four-corner air suspension, 48 V ancillary systems, and torque-vectoring drive units. But other currently hot automotive features like active antiroll bars and rear wheel steering were not mentioned.

 

 

[Covri 6375]

25 minutes ago, Macanudo said:

The Cybertruck looks like Box from Logan's Run fucked an El Camino

The cybertruck looks like it was designed using an erector set wrapped in aluminum foil.

[Beau Vine 55897]

29 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:

All the masturbation and poo-flinging you can imagine!

Obvious Surly motto...