Elon Musk

[Cosmacelf]

As somebody here on the ground, I’m sorry to tell you that you’re misinformed.

Businesses are closed and access to the core is very limited due to the siege (or if you don’t like that word, let’s call it a ‘truckers’ tantrum’).

How about just “protest”? BTW, you restarted this topic with misinformation about the motivations of the protesters to “overthrow government”.

On businesses closing, that was their choice, the ones that remained open were doing booming business: 90% of Ottawa restaurants CLOSED this weekend — and they missed a jackpot!

Part of the problem is that all Canadian mainstream media is pro government. So if that’s all you listen to, you’ll get quite the distorted view of the situation. The mainstream press hasn’t even covered the press conferences of the protesters.

I grew up in Ottawa, and still visit frequently, so I’ve been following reporters who post 2 hour long videos of walk abouts around downtown instead of reporters talking to the camera. I am not misinformed.

 

[spacerfc]

I don’t do politics, and everyone is entitled to their own opinion on vaccine mandates or on what GoFundMe allows or forbids, but in the end maybe Mr. Musk should be reminded that he openly supports a fringe group who seeks to overthrown a legitimate and recently elected government with a siege in Ottawa…

How is this different from all the Occupy Wall Street or BLM protests that were widely supported by the left? At least the truckers didn't burn down any buildings...

I live in the US, and even I think this guy is an embarrassment. Don't get me wrong. I like my car. But I think this dude is really sleazy. He thinks rules don't apply to him. He needs to go.

What are you talking about? Elon Musk is the opposite of an embarrassment, he's the most important national asset of the US, I'd argue more important than any US president. Without SpaceX the US would be losing to China on multiple fronts, and would still need to rely on Russia to launch astronauts to ISS, and NASA's return the Moon program Artemis would be dead due to lack of funding; and that's just a fraction of what he was able to accomplish.

 

[RSpanner]

Embarrassing.

Elon Musk Declares Anti-Vax Canadian Truckers ‘Rule’

Thousands of drivers have formed a massive convoy to protest vaccine mandates.

www.thedailybeast.com

love the car, Musk....not so much.

 

[whiskeylover]

Embarrassing.

Elon Musk Declares Anti-Vax Canadian Truckers ‘Rule’

Thousands of drivers have formed a massive convoy to protest vaccine mandates.

www.thedailybeast.com

love the car, Musk....not so much.

Exactly. For some people here, the Musk can do no wrong. It's embarrassing, honestly.

 

[Cosmacelf]

Embarrassing.

Elon Musk Declares Anti-Vax Canadian Truckers ‘Rule’

Thousands of drivers have formed a massive convoy to protest vaccine mandates.

www.thedailybeast.com

love the car, Musk....not so much.

Lol. That headline is completely wrong. Neither the truckers nor Musk are anti vax. 90% of the truckers have been vaccinated and Musk is pro vax. They are anti mandates. Big difference.

 

[JFHG]

How about just “protest”? BTW, you restarted this topic with misinformation about the motivations of the protesters to “overthrow government”.

On businesses closing, that was their choice, the ones that remained open were doing booming business: 90% of Ottawa restaurants CLOSED this weekend — and they missed a jackpot!

Part of the problem is that all Canadian mainstream media is pro government. So if that’s all you listen to, you’ll get quite the distorted view of the situation. The mainstream press hasn’t even covered the press conferences of the protesters.

I grew up in Ottawa, and still visit frequently, so I’ve been following reporters who post 2 hour long videos of walk abouts around downtown instead of reporters talking to the camera. I am not misinformed.

I think that you missed the point I was making. Regardless of his politcal views, Mr Musk as the CEO should be careful not to align himself with extremists. Canadians in general - including those in Ottawa - do not support these truckers, and instead of being told how nice Tesla cars are (which I do enjoy driving), it seems to me that I always end up these days explaining why am I supporting Mr.Musk’s position by driving one of his car.
As for ‘Rebel Media’, we know which ‘side’ it leans toward. Tx for sharing your point of view anyway.

 

[wdolson]

All humans do something wrong at some point. It's not mutually exclusive that somebody can be a brilliant innovator with many innovative ideas and also have clay feet in many areas. This is more true than false with most innovator through history.

Henry Ford completely changed the automotive industry and made it affordable to a large swath of the population, but he was also a hard core anti-Semite. He was so outspoken the Nazis gave him a medal in 1938.

Elon Musk is probably one of the top industrial geniuses in the world right now, if not the top. But he has a tendency to weigh into issues a wise person would stay out of. I'm not surprised the trucker's protest is not as bad as the media makes it out to be. I live just outside Portland, OR and I had to set people straight on how localized the protests were and how minimal the actual damage was. There was some damage, but 90% of it was graffiti.

The issue with Musk weighing in is not what it really is, but that it's a controversy with strong opinions on each side and regardless of what he says, he's going to draw fire from somebody. There is nothing for him to gain from weighing in. The protests have no material impact on his businesses as far as I know and controversy just turns some section of the public against him and his companies.

If the protests were disrupting deliveries of parts, I could see a CEO weighing in to try and quell the protests as soon as possible to try and get commerce running again, but otherwise, all wise corporate leaders are keeping their mouth shut.

 

[Cosmacelf]

Well, like the reporting of the protests themselves (apparently of Portland as well), the reporting on Elons position and statements has also been exaggerated.

And also very much in character if you know that he fled South Africa partly to avoid the apartheid forced military draft. He has a thing against forcing people to do things.

 

[wdolson]

Well, like the reporting of the protests themselves (apparently of Portland as well), the reporting on Elons position and statements has also been exaggerated.

And also very much in character if you know that he fled South Africa partly to avoid the apartheid forced military draft. He has a thing against forcing people to do things.

I'm also very much against forcing people to do things. Especially when there is no benefit. I agree with him about being opposed to a peace time draft.

There are also times to speak up and times to just shut up and let people work things out for themselves. Especially when you're a public figure and opining publicly is going to draw media attention. You or I opining on the trucker's protests has little impact on anything. It's not going to do a thing for my business one way or the other and only a handful of people here are ever going to know our opinions.

Elon's opining could lose Tesla sales and it could hurt SpaceX contracts. When Elon smoked pot on Rogen's show the US government considered dropping SpaceX as a contractor. They didn't in the end, but it almost lost them a lot of business. It may not be fair, but public figures are held to a different standard than the rest of us.

 

[Cosmacelf]

I'm also very much against forcing people to do things. Especially when there is no benefit. I agree with him about being opposed to a peace time draft.

There are also times to speak up and times to just shut up and let people work things out for themselves. Especially when you're a public figure and opining publicly is going to draw media attention. You or I opining on the trucker's protests has little impact on anything. It's not going to do a thing for my business one way or the other and only a handful of people here are ever going to know our opinions.

Elon's opining could lose Tesla sales and it could hurt SpaceX contracts. When Elon smoked pot on Rogen's show the US government considered dropping SpaceX as a contractor. They didn't in the end, but it almost lost them a lot of business. It may not be fair, but public figures are held to a different standard than the rest of us.

Ok I actually agree with you that CEOs should stay out of politics. Having said that, want me to list the dozens to hundreds of Fortune 500 ceos that have come out for left wing causes? And actually donated money and material support to them?

So spare me the hand wringing about Musk when many, many other ceos have done far worse.

 

[Cosmacelf]

Ottawa protester press conference from tonight, Wednesday night. Rumors are swirling that police and military will swarm the truckers tonight in the middle of the night and start mass arrests. Things are about to get pretty volatile.

 

[wdolson]

Ok I actually agree with you that CEOs should stay out of politics. Having said that, want me to list the dozens to hundreds of Fortune 500 ceos that have come out for left wing causes? And actually donated money and material support to them?

So spare me the hand wringing about Musk when many, many other ceos have done far worse.

Though few cause media firestorms when they do it. Whether he likes it or not Elon is a lightning rod for controversy. If he kept his head down for a while the media would probably get bored and go away.

One thing that bugs me about the coverage of Musk is many in the media tar him with the same brush as Jeff Bezos and Richard Branson. Both Bezos and Branson are creating a space tourism industry for the ultra rich. Their companies are playthings for the out of touch rich.

While SpaceX has dabbled in tourist flights, it's a very, very tiny part of the business and the vast bulk of SpaceX's business is for the benefit of the world's economy and advancement of science (along with some military stuff I believe). The long term goal of SpaceX is criticized by many, but it is a more noble goal than giving some billionaire a way to blow a few mil.

I do think the media is quite unfair to lump Elon in with the other two in their space endeavors.

 

[Cosmacelf]

Though few cause media firestorms when they do it. Whether he likes it or not Elon is a lightning rod for controversy. If he kept his head down for a while the media would probably get bored and go away.

One thing that bugs me about the coverage of Musk is many in the media tar him with the same brush as Jeff Bezos and Richard Branson. Both Bezos and Branson are creating a space tourism industry for the ultra rich. Their companies are playthings for the out of touch rich.

While SpaceX has dabbled in tourist flights, it's a very, very tiny part of the business and the vast bulk of SpaceX's business is for the benefit of the world's economy and advancement of science (along with some military stuff I believe). The long term goal of SpaceX is criticized by many, but it is a more noble goal than giving some billionaire a way to blow a few mil.

I do think the media is quite unfair to lump Elon in with the other two in their space endeavors.

I wouldn’t worry about unfairly lumping Musk with Bezos and Branson. People who matter know the difference. Headline readers might not know, but so what? Ignorance abounds on every conceivable topic. And “the news” is mostly responsible for it. If you know a subject well, you will find that popular articles about that subject are usually wrong.

Recently, a few articles about another energy-produced fusion breakthrough were published. People will think fusion energy is right around the corner. In reality, fusion has huge engineering hurdles the researchers haven’t even started tackling.

Same with the current Russia/Ukraine war scare. What is really happening and what the news sorties say are quite different.

So, Musk is being unfairly portrayed in the popular press on topic X? Must be a weekday ending in Y.

 

[Cosmacelf]

Though few cause media firestorms when they do it.

Only because you only read left wing media. Firestorms did happen when Tim Cook, Mark Zuckerberg, Jack Dorsey, Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates, et al did their various promotions and money donations of left wing causes. And they have a lot more influence over the world through their companies (most of them own media companies for Pete’s sake) than does Musk.

 

[indysurfer]

Ok I actually agree with you that CEOs should stay out of politics. Having said that, want me to list the dozens to hundreds of Fortune 500 ceos that have come out for left wing causes? And actually donated money and material support to them?

So spare me the hand wringing about Musk when many, many other ceos have done far worse.

Exactly.

How many foolish CEO's have waded into voting rights issues embarrassing themselves with their total ignorance of the law and are actively trying to punish certain states by pulling business etc.? The actions of those CEO's actually hurt people and family businesses with their knee-jerk politics (i.e. pulling the All Star Game from Georgia).

Meanwhile Elon sends out a few intemperate Tweets.

God forbid we have one Silicon Valley CEO who is not a doctrinaire liberal walking on this earth.

 

[ohmman]

Sigh.

 

[Cosmacelf]

Sigh.

Sorry. It is still about Elon though. Mostly.

 

[wdolson]

Only because you only read left wing media. Firestorms did happen when Tim Cook, Mark Zuckerberg, Jack Dorsey, Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates, et al did their various promotions and money donations of left wing causes. And they have a lot more influence over the world through their companies (most of them own media companies for Pete’s sake) than does Musk.

This is getting way off topic, but I read a wide variety of news sources. Basically if a source strives to be factual I'll read it. I also don't follow gossip much, so if these sorts of things are reported in places like People Magazine, I'm not reading.

 

[⚡️ELECTROMAN⚡️]

I like Elon. Not sure what all of the hate is about. He's not perfect, but who is. I have a friend that's a hater, but I'm not sure how to respond to this viewpoint. I don't really know much about Starlink. Are the satellites really ruining the night sky? I'm hoping one of the more well informed, and more intelligent than me, can help me with a rebuttal. Here's a quote from a recent text:

"Elon... he's an ass who launched a bunch of satellites that could've been camouflaged but couldn't be bothered.

The vast majority of people who never get their fat asses outside of the city or don't care because they don't know what stars look like; as long as it doesn't interfere with their screen time. But if you like to star gaze under dark skies (eastern Oregon has some of the darkest skies in the world…) he really screwed it up. Then when he got called out on it he fixed it for the next time (and made sure to let everybody know he would do it but he didn't have to) but it's too late for the big ugly ones that are up in the sky. He's a jack ass. I know he probably had partially good intentions to bring broadband to everybody but he's just gross."

 

[Cosmacelf]

I like Elon. Not sure what all of the hate is about. He's not perfect, but who is. I have a friend that's a hater, but I'm not sure how to respond to this viewpoint. I don't really know much about Starlink. Are the satellites really ruining the night sky? I'm hoping one of the more well informed, and more intelligent than me, can help me with a rebuttal. Here's a quote from a recent text:

"Elon... he's an ass who launched a bunch of satellites that could've been camouflaged but couldn't be bothered.

The vast majority of people who never get their fat asses outside of the city or don't care because they don't know what stars look like; as long as it doesn't interfere with their screen time. But if you like to star gaze under dark skies (eastern Oregon has some of the darkest skies in the world…) he really screwed it up. Then when he got called out on it he fixed it for the next time (and made sure to let everybody know he would do it but he didn't have to) but it's too late for the big ugly ones that are up in the sky. He's a jack ass. I know he probably had partially good intentions to bring broadband to everybody but he's just gross."

The astro community is making a bigger deal about this than they should be. They are protecting their turf - if they could, they'd have all city lights turned off at 11pm. The reality is that you've got to balance competing interests. Similar to what goes on when allocating wireless frequencies.

A single Starlink sat will traverse across a typical telescope field of view in about 20 ms. It literally zips by so fast that is has no effect on anything with a reasonably long exposure. Are there edge cases, and will some occasional observations get fouled up? Yep. But that isn't the end of the world. Astronomers have been adapting to brighter and brighter cities and EM radiation for centuries.

Meanwhile Starlink is life changing for hundreds of thousands of people.