Elon Musk, What's up with that dude?

pigfarmer

tall, thin, irritable
Tesla eh?

Anybody ever been around a car that can run a 9 second quarter mile? Generally very loud and dramatic. Even the new C8 Corvettes run about 11 seconds. My old big block Chevelle ran somewhere in that neighborhood and believe me, it was loud and dramatic (and frightening).

This electric p.o.s took off like a scalded dog and Jay says he did it with the air conditioner on! With all the panache of an electric can opener. Ho hum. Who cares if it's fast, it's the future.
 
Holy shit! A 9 second quarter mile was the realm of Double A Fuel Dragsters in the very early 60s, I think. About the time I first got to go to the drags with my dad. Nitro methane burning rockets that were the quickest wheel driven contraptions in the world.

When I was around 20 years old, I was impressed and a bit boggled when I saw an early Camaro run in the low nines. Yes it was loud! The really remarkable thing about it though? It was a "door slammer" or in other words still had a mostly stock body so the driver got in and out the normal way, through the door. It might have been barely street legal with mufflers and different tires, but would have been quite ornery for anything but going stupid fast.

My wife has a Volt. It's a lot of fun to drive, especially in "sport mode" which eats up the battery in a few minutes, but it also has traction control so you can't slip a wheel. It doesn't make any more noise when driven like that, either. I'm waiting for the inevitable software hacks to allow some of that stuff to be turned off. Also, it would be easy to provide a tachometer for the gasoline engine. As it is now, you can't even tell when it's running a lot of the time. It's a great little transportation appliance, making for very cheap commuting, but it's no sports car even though it drives and handles like one. When I first test drove it, I thought it handled like an old Firebird. Also thought it felt as heavy as one. Went home and looked it up, and whaddayaknow, 3800 pounds or something!
 

pigfarmer

tall, thin, irritable
great little transportation appliance,

Exactly. Transportation appliance. I have no urge to work on, polish or meet friends with my toaster. To paraphrase Chancellor Gorkon - if there is going to be a brave new world you and I are going to have the hardest time living in it.

Yesterday filling the old green bastard up with gas some young guy was chatting me up and I saw the fruit of his loins staring dully out the windows of his minivan at the whole affair. They didn't even know what the hell the thing was and may have puzzled it out by inference. Or, judging from the unglistening bovine look, maybe not.
 
Growing up in the 60s was awesome. Dad was into drag racing, and was part owner of a dragster for a while. Lots of his friends were into all sorts of other types of auto racing. We raced go karts for a few years. It was a blast. I bought a well used GTO when I was a senior in high school. It was big, fast, comfy, and highly tolerant of all sorts of abuse. Stopping the beast was scary though. I was blasting along a back road at something over 100 mph one time, with a friend riding. Of course neither of us was buckled up. He got to wondering how long it would take to stop from that speed. I decided to find out. "Hang on!" I said and hit the non-power assisted drum brakes and started downshifting the poor old 4 speed, squeaking the tires as I did so. It was pretty terrifying. As the speedometer needle passed 60 on its way down, the brakes faded to practically nothing. Seemed like it took a mile to stop. I didn't drive it fast for quite a while after that.

My next car, an el Camino, had front disc brakes and would stop from its top speed in something like 300 hundred feet. The top speed though was about 85. The mid 70s was a tough time for Murrican cars. I didn't even bother to try to make that one go faster. It was an appliance. I guess I did put some fat tires on Cragar SS wheels under those cavernous fenderwells, but it was all show. I kept it for about two years, mostly because it had air conditioning.
 

pigfarmer

tall, thin, irritable
Growing up in the 60s was awesome. Dad was into drag racing, and was part owner of a dragster for a while. Lots of his friends were into all sorts of other types of auto racing. We raced go karts for a few years. It was a blast. I bought a well used GTO when I was a senior in high school. It was big, fast, comfy, and highly tolerant of all sorts of abuse. Stopping the beast was scary though. I was blasting along a back road at something over 100 mph one time, with a friend riding. Of course neither of us was buckled up. He got to wondering how long it would take to stop from that speed. I decided to find out. "Hang on!" I said and hit the non-power assisted drum brakes and started downshifting the poor old 4 speed, squeaking the tires as I did so. It was pretty terrifying. As the speedometer needle passed 60 on its way down, the brakes faded to practically nothing. Seemed like it took a mile to stop. I didn't drive it fast for quite a while after that.

My next car, an el Camino, had front disc brakes and would stop from its top speed in something like 300 hundred feet. The top speed though was about 85. The mid 70s was a tough time for Murrican cars. I didn't even bother to try to make that one go faster. It was an appliance. I guess I did put some fat tires on Cragar SS wheels under those cavernous fenderwells, but it was all show. I kept it for about two years, mostly because it had air conditioning.

I think I was picking through your leftovers in the '80s :)

First car was a '68 Charger with manual drums on all four corners. Stepping on the brake pedal was just your way of expressing a need, a bit like touching the button that summons the nurse to your bedside. Maybe jingling a small bell that sits on a silver plate. It'll happen when it happens ........

You forgot something though that added flavor to all that fun: bias ply tires. They suck to drive on but make for the best burnouts. You can actually still get repros of them but they are hideously expensive - best left to the original dirt worshipers. Oh - and El Camino ! Yup. You want a Chevelle or a pickup truck? How about both! I'd love one - maybe that would be the right spot for a big block hobby car. Hmmmm.....
 
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Aw crap, I had managed to forget about bias ply tires. Yes they were bad for everything but smoking. :)

I knew of a couple big block el Caminos. Man, ya talk about wheel hop! A Chevelle wagon missing its roof and seats is pretty light back there.

The best thing about my el Camino was the AC. I'm pretty sure it was the same unit that went into all Chevelles, including the wagons. It would cool the cab down in no time. Those things were pretty neat, but not much of a truck. I'd like to have a '65. It would be right handy for hauling the lawn mower, or bikes. My dad pulled a bass boat with a Ranchero for quite a few years. It made for a really good combination.
 

nivek

As Above So Below
1953 von Braun book references 'Elon' on Mars

news-mars-city.jpg


A book written 70 years ago by German rocket scientist Wernher von Braun made a rather striking prediction. Having pioneered Nazi Germany's rocket technology before being recruited to work for the Americans at the end of World War II, Wernher von Braun remains a prominent figure in the history of the space race and the development of the technology that would one day take us to the Moon.

More recently, eagle-eyed space history buffs have noticed some interesting correlations between what he'd written in his 1953 book "Mars Project: A Technical Tale" and the current work by SpaceX and Elon Musk to put humans on Mars.

In response to a Tweet by Musk about destiny, one user - Toby li - noted:

"Speaking about destiny, did you know that Von Braun's 1953 book 'Mars Project,' referenced a person named Elon that would bring humans to Mars? Pretty nuts."

If we look a bit closer at this claim, while the name Elon is indeed mentioned in the book, it wasn't the name of the person who von Braun had believed would lead humans to Mars but instead the name of the leader of the government that he predicted would be formed to rule Mars.

"The Martian government was directed by ten men, the leader of which was elected by universal suffrage for five years and entitled 'Elon'," the passage reads when translated into English.

"Two houses of Parliament enacted the laws to be administered by the Elon and his cabinet."

Seeing the funny side, Musk responded by Tweeting:

"Technoking of Tesla, Imperator of Mars."

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nivek

As Above So Below
 

nivek

As Above So Below
 

HAL9000

Honorable
He hits the real question.

If you don't have work, what do you base your own value on ?

How do you define yourself ?
 

AD1184

Celestial
For someone who supposedly would urge a cautious approach to the pursuit of AI and automation, he sure does like to throw caution to the wind when it comes to his own pursuit of those technologies.

He may be worried about robots killing people on future battlefields, but what about today's roads? His deliberately misleading hype of Tesla vehicles' autonomous driving capabilities is costing people's lives:



In the spring of 2018, Tesla faced problems meeting production targets that were caused by Musk's insistence on full automation at his factory. Instead of employing humans to do at least some of the work, he ploughed ahead with an agenda to eliminate humans from the production line, to the point that it was actually harming his company.

https://www.iqsdirectory.com/resources/teslas-big-problem-excessive-automation/
Elon Musk drafts in humans after robots slow down Tesla Model 3 production
 

HAL9000

Honorable
..His deliberately misleading hype of Tesla vehicles' autonomous driving capabilities is costing people's lives:..

A bit unfair. Read below for an account of all the people killed by autonomous cars. Maybe half a dozen; tops.

I don't like the idea of these cars/trucks. But we won't get a proper picture for a long time.

Self driving car statistics for 2021| Policy Advice
 

AD1184

Celestial
..His deliberately misleading hype of Tesla vehicles' autonomous driving capabilities is costing people's lives:..

A bit unfair. Read below for an account of all the people killed by autonomous cars. Maybe half a dozen; tops.

I don't like the idea of these cars/trucks. But we won't get a proper picture for a long time.

Self driving car statistics for 2021| Policy Advice
This article, from June, says that US authorities are investigating 30 accidents, resulting in 10 deaths, since 2016 where Autopilot is suspected to be a cause. That is in the US alone. If even one of these deaths could have been prevented by a more honest public assessment of the technology from Musk, or by Tesla putting safeguards that they know are necessary given the limited capabilities of their self-driving system, that is a problem, is it not?

Thirty Tesla crashes linked to assisted driving system under investigation in US
 

nivek

As Above So Below
 

HAL9000

Honorable
One has to remember that, in the grand scheme of things, ten deaths on the roads is minuscule. Hardly worth mentioning.
There are many more than that killed every day by cars, trucks, but we hardly notice it. In fact very few even get a mention anywhere.
This self driving idea has become the mantra of the auto industry. Now they are finding out that it isn't going to be as easy as they wished. Even semi self drive doesn't seem so good now.
Humans are capable of making life or death decisions much quicker than computers. And incorporating an ever changing environment.
Control has to remain in the hands of the driver.
 

nivek

As Above So Below
Every single car accident that a Tesla vehicle has been involved in has resulted in at least one death or more including those auto driving vehicles...

Tesla Deaths Total as of 8/16/2021: 202

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nivek

As Above So Below
Tesla's autopilot system in 765,000 cars - almost every vehicle it has ever sold in US - is under investigation over 11 accidents where cars hit emergency vehicles at crash scenes

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) said the investigation covers 765,000 vehicles, nearly everything Tesla has sold domestically since 2014. Of the 11 crashes that have been identified over the past three years, 17 people were injured and one was killed. That deadly accident happened in Interstate 70 in Cloverdale, Indiana, in December 2019 and saw passenger Jenna Monet, 23, killed after the Tesla being driven by her husband Derrick slammed into the back of a parked firetruck.

The 11 crashes have occurred when Teslas on Autopilot or Traffic Aware Cruise Control hit vehicles at scenes where first responders have used flashing lights, flares, an illuminated arrow board or cones warning of hazards.

The NHTSA said the investigation covers the entire product lineup of the Elon Musk-led company, the Models Y, X, S and 3 from the 2014 through 2021 model years. The assisted driving system has frequently been misused by Tesla drivers, some of whom have been caught driving drunk or riding in the rear passenger seat while driving down a California highway.

Since June 2016, the NHTSA has investigated 31 crashes related to partially automated driver assist systems. These systems are designed to keep a vehicle centered in its lane and a safe distance from vehicles in front of it. Of the 31 crashes, 25 involved Tesla Autopilot, resulting in 10 deaths, according to data released by the NHTSA.


(More on the link)

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