Elon Musk Buys Twitter

[Edge-]

https://twitter.com/oneunderscore__/...91973549281280

Elon Musk on test flight: "Well we eventually want to make our rockets reusable, but the rocket exploding was totally intended this time."

I really wish @Skroe could weigh in.

No, this man is deeply stupid and this has nothing to do with this thread. The rocket was never expected to perform flawlessly and it already exceeded expectations. SpaceX blew up a lot of rockets getting to where they are now, capable of weekly launches with re-used boosters they consistently land. Every modern rocket company has blown up a lot of rockets getting their designs right. And many more entering the space and trying different things are blowing up plenty of their own rockets.

Literally the entire history of space flight is blowing up a fucking ton of shit trying to get it right. It's baked into the process.

[Breccia]

"the rocket exploding was totally intended this time."

I mean...I find that actually fairly credible. The issue was getting off the launch pad, from what I heard after the fact. As much as this thread has pointed out Musk is as poor of a planner as he is a human being, the last thing you'd want is a set of working, operational thrusters firing at full blast straight downwards.

So I find it believable, but considering he said this only after it exploded, I'm not accepting it as the most likely option. I mean, "getting it off the launch pad" is important, "getting it off the launch pad and into space" is more important.

[Cthulhu 2020]

No, this man is deeply stupid and this has nothing to do with this thread. The rocket was never expected to perform flawlessly and it already exceeded expectations. SpaceX blew up a lot of rockets getting to where they are now, capable of weekly launches with re-used boosters they consistently land. Every modern rocket company has blown up a lot of rockets getting their designs right. And many more entering the space and trying different things are blowing up plenty of their own rockets.

Literally the entire history of space flight is blowing up a fucking ton of shit trying to get it right. It's baked into the process.

I maintain deep reservations that Mr genius billionaire will be able to pull off these feats of technology considering how long SpaceX and Tesla have floundered on their projected goals of various technologies.

[Edge-]

I maintain deep reservations that Mr genius billionaire will be able to pull off these feats of technology considering how long SpaceX and Tesla have floundered on their projected goals of various technologies.

Don't want to get too off-topic here, and want to be clear that the successes at those companies are really only due to his money and hiring smart people who actually do the work but like -

SpaceX is incredibly successful already. It's done what nobody thought was possible (landing and reusing boosters) and made it extremely "affordable" to launch shit into space compared to existing alternatives. Yes, it also has bigger ambitions, but it's already a massively successful company in many regards.

Same for Tesla in many regards, at least when it comes to battery tech.

These companies thrive more because he hires smart people to run them rather than running them himself. Which we've seen how that plays out with his decision to personally run Twitter so far. He just accepts all the credit for his other companies because ultimately he does own them and did hire the smart people who are successfully running them.

[Endus]

No, this man is deeply stupid and this has nothing to do with this thread. The rocket was never expected to perform flawlessly and it already exceeded expectations. SpaceX blew up a lot of rockets getting to where they are now, capable of weekly launches with re-used boosters they consistently land. Every modern rocket company has blown up a lot of rockets getting their designs right. And many more entering the space and trying different things are blowing up plenty of their own rockets.

Literally the entire history of space flight is blowing up a fucking ton of shit trying to get it right. It's baked into the process.

Technically, all rockets explode.

Successful rockets manage to control that explosion.

Explosions are expected. Contaimnent/control failures are where the faults lie.

[Edge-]

Technically, all rockets explode.

Successful rockets manage to control that explosion.

Explosions are expected. Contaimnent/control failures are where the faults lie.

I mean...sorta kinda not really? Yeah, there's gonna be a crazy amount of cleanup and shit. But it was a successful test all the same. This is a better discussion for the space thread in genot though. I get it, Elom's a loser and all but some of his companies still do rad shit.

In other news to see how his purge of verified accounts is improving revenue - https://twitter.com/travisbrown/stat...33999914270722

Update for the day after: just before the purge yesterday, 19,469 of the 407k legacy verified accounts I had identified in early April had Twitter Blue. Today that number for those same accounts is 19,497, for a net increase of 28 accounts.

If that includes Lebron and Stephen King then it's actually 26.

[Breccia]

Technically, all rockets explode.

Mind....blown.

Oh shit I'm a rocket

[Cthulhu 2020]

Don't want to get too off-topic here, and want to be clear that the successes at those companies are really only due to his money and hiring smart people who actually do the work but like -

SpaceX is incredibly successful already. It's done what nobody thought was possible (landing and reusing boosters) and made it extremely "affordable" to launch shit into space compared to existing alternatives. Yes, it also has bigger ambitions, but it's already a massively successful company in many regards.

Same for Tesla in many regards, at least when it comes to battery tech.

These companies thrive more because he hires smart people to run them rather than running them himself. Which we've seen how that plays out with his decision to personally run Twitter so far. He just accepts all the credit for his other companies because ultimately he does own them and did hire the smart people who are successfully running them.

Both had some initial success, but have been meeting with failures to meet tech goals set forth by Mr Twitter CEO in more recent times. You and I of course know that "capitalism fuels innovation" is largely a load of malarky, I'm just not gonna hold my breath when the latest breakthroughs in tech from both companies were over a decade ago or more, and Elon keeps projecting "next year" as the next big jump in both companies for the last... I'm not sure how many years.

I've not tried to claim that both companies haven't made breakthroughs, they have, but Elon's promises keep ringing hollow, and everything he touches appears to be turning to shit for the last decade.






I suppose in related news, Twitter is finally removing legacy check marks, while Elon himself is paying for verification for various people who said they wouldn't be paying for twitter blue, including Lebron James and William Shatner, because they drive twitter ad revenue and views he likes them.

Also, Nazis openly celebrating Hitler's birthday on the platform and praising him for "loving his people".

[Breccia]

Also, Nazis openly celebrating Hitler's birthday

This is what happens when almost the plurality of the people vote for a Nazi sympathizer.

Twice.

[Cthulhu 2020]

Also, Twitter revenue has plunged 89% since Elon's takeover.

https://www.thewrap.com/twitter-ad-r...usk-bloomberg/

Now note, that's revenue. He has also reduced costs, but I don't believe that he's reduced costs an equal amount. Well, at least not legitimately. Perhaps he has by not paying rent and lowering his employee salaries and firing everyone.

[Draco-Onis]

Also, Twitter revenue has plunged 89% since Elon's takeover.

https://www.thewrap.com/twitter-ad-r...usk-bloomberg/

Now note, that's revenue. He has also reduced costs, but I don't believe that he's reduced costs an equal amount. Well, at least not legitimately. Perhaps he has by not paying rent and lowering his employee salaries and firing everyone.

There's also all the millions of dollars in lawsuits he has for not paying compensation packages to a ton of people he offered that option to or fired without warning.

[Breccia]

Ah, what a lovely Friday. I think I'll take a sip of this lovely iced tea while reading some news.

Also, Twitter revenue has plunged 89% since Elon's takeover.

PFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFT the fuck is this, sweetened? Oh shit, I got the wrong bottle. Oh, is Twitter revenue down? Not profits, revenue? Not surprised in the least.

But I have a quote for that somewhere....ah, found it.

We could be cash-flow positive this quarter if things go well

-- Musk, in that BBC interview, April 12

Now, those two statements are not necessarily at odds. But I somehow suspect Twitter has not shed 89% of its operational costs, yes, even with the layoffs. He did not literally decimate his company. But I'm calling it now, no, they did not break even.

[CastletonSnob]

Twitter now makes you sign in/make an account to use search.

[Edge-]

Twitter now makes you sign in/make an account to use search.

Welp, IIRC Instagram and shit does that too? I'm not on the Gram and I don't know how it works, but the few times I've gone there it's been annoying as someone without an account.

[Paranoid Android]

SpaceX is where I will give Elon credit. Now I can rip into many parts about SpaceX, namely how he gets government funding yet always bitches about taxes. Namely he thinks taxes are a waste in some area while if you must I could ask "Do we need to go to Mars or feed people?".

So since this is sorta an Elon mega thread the rocket was fine the other day.

[Cthulhu 2020]

A story in 4 images.

[Corvus]

Musk has removed the state affiliated media tag from state affiliated media from russia and China. The head of RT has thanked 'brother Elon' for freeing RT.


https://twitter.com/NGrossman81/stat...096165890?s=20

[Breccia]

Musk has removed the state affiliated media tag from state affiliated media from russia and China. The head of RT has thanked 'brother Elon' for freeing RT.

Yep, I don't see any indicator.

[Fugus]

If Musk is to the point he is this overtly helping Russia and China, that should call into question anything he gives from his SpaceX or Telsa brands as he could very well turn any secret we give him to assist in his jobs over to them as well.

[Forogil]

Now, those two statements are not necessarily at odds. But I somehow suspect Twitter has not shed 89% of its operational costs, yes, even with the layoffs. He did not literally decimate his company. But I'm calling it now, no, they did not break even.

He did in fact more than decimate the company.

Decimate means to eliminate every tenth person, not reduce to a tenth. The old romans were strange, but not that stupid.