Tag: elon musk

Elon’s Dentist

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This really – really – isn’t an Elon Musk blog, but imagine my surprise, given his appearance on here yesterday, and then his… er… “appearance” at the Presidential Inauguration overnight, to find his dentist on Geoguessr today:

In Israel of all places, nogal. I did… Nazi that coming.

I’m so sorry.

Presumably, those canisters outside are from the weird, alien bloodfluid that keeps him alive when he’s getting a filling done.

Nothing to see here. All perfectly normal. Sugar water. Must find sugar water. Human suit becoming itchy.

The scariest thing about this is it’s not even the scariest thing he did last night.

It’s all rather surreal, and even somewhat amusing until you keep in mind that this is actually real life and it’s actually quite serious.

The next four years – which were already going to be really terrible – have begun even more terribly than we could have imagined.

On Elon

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I know. We really don’t want to hear anything about him, but we just have to. Constantly.
So instead of all the things that he wants you to hear, how about a different version: The Truth?

This video comes from here, and it’s quick, concise, and also equal parts tragic and funny.

It does all the work so that you don’t have to.

And so you don’t have to believe all the fanboys’ stories about their demigod.

Thank goodness he’s nowhere close to anyone in any position of power.

I’m sorry? He’s what, with whom?

Oh. Oh. I see.

Rocket Science

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Rocket Science. It’s not Brain Surgery. But that’s for another post.

I watched the recent (mostly) successful launch of Elon Musk’s Falcon Heavy rocket ship thing and I have this feeling that we have seen the future. I’m guessing that what we saw this week was pretty much the same as people seeing television or the internal combustion engine at work for the first time.

It’s ok to be amazed. In fact, I’d be disappointed if you weren’t.

Many people turned citizen journalist and consequently, there are many photographs and videos out there of the launch and landing(s), and they’re all incredible for the simple reason that what they were recording for posterity was incredible.

There are some winners though. I loved this video of the boosters coming in to land more than the others. The guy filming knows his stuff and he knows how to give us a decent soundbite as well.

(video deleted. sad panda.)

The guy filming knows his stuff and he knows how to give us a decent soundbite as well.

Comin’ in like meteors real, real fast… Two candles, comin’ down!

Wonderful. But then there was this:

Which blew me away completely.
It’s the work (as you can see) of John Kraus (website, IG):

I’m John Kraus, an 18-year-old photographer living on Florida’s Space Coast. From powerful rocket launches to scenic landscapes, from surfing to extreme weather, or even astronomy, I enjoy capturing everything that makes Florida unique.

What an absolutely astonishing photograph. Probably even more so given that it doesn’t feature the actual rocket. What a fresh angle. What an eye. What a talent.

One day, we’ll look back on this and be incredulous over our incredulity.

But for now… wow. Just wow.

Static Fire Anomaly

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A “Static Fire Anomaly”. That’s what they called it. Technically, I have no doubt that they are absolutely 100% correct. Technically correct is generally what rocket scientists do best. But as a way of describing what happens in the video below, “Static Fire Anomaly” would come some way down my list of options.

No, there are “tr”uckload of better candidates ahead of it.

 

But then understatement seemed to be the order of the day, as this tweet from SpaceX boss, Elon Musk, indicates:

Fullscreen capture 2016-09-02 092112 AM.bmp

If they’re really unsure what caused the loss of the Falcon vehicle, might I be the one to suggest that it was the multiple massive explosions and the big fire?

I’m quite interested to discover what caused the multiple massive explosions and the big fire, though.

In the meantime – knowing that no-one was injured in this incident, and that Elon Musk has enough money not to be troubled too much by the loss of a rocket – I can’t stop watching this amazing video.