Elon Musk joins Xai & SpaceX into a trillion dollar giant privately owned company

Discussion in 'Fred's House of Pancakes' started by hill, Feb 4, 2026 at 7:28 PM.

  1. hill

    hill High Fiber Member

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  2. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    Deranged, that’s for sure
     
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  3. hill

    hill High Fiber Member

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    a picture says 1,000 words

    NuttyMusk.jpg
     
  4. bwilson4web

    bwilson4web BMW i3 and Model 3

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    Complex:
    • Brilliant engineer - has more good ideas before breakfast than many in a lifetime
    • Distracted too easily - gets into a new project and earlier ones are ignored.
    • Poor people skills - multiple baby mothers, former employees, and no empathy
    Bob Wilson
     
    #4 bwilson4web, Feb 8, 2026 at 6:46 AM
    Last edited: Feb 8, 2026 at 7:05 AM
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  5. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    Perfect description
     
  6. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    I’ll add; master of attracting federal dollars, and some bad ideas: boring company, flamethrower, gull wing doors, electric door locks, submersible rescue missions, the list goes on
     
  7. fuzzy1

    fuzzy1 Senior Member

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    Is he? Or is he more of an entrepreneur and skilled salesman, with lots of great engineers working under his employ?

    A BA in physics goes only so far.
     
  8. hill

    hill High Fiber Member

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    A degree in physics as well as economics
    The flamethrower sold out in a matter of hours. Just sayin'

    .
     
  9. fuzzy1

    fuzzy1 Senior Member

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    The economics degree contributes much more to the entrepreneurship than to the engineering.
     
  10. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    and how many a day are they making?
     
  11. Trollbait

    Trollbait It's a D&D thing

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    None. It was a one off for publicity.
    Is the Boring Company even still developing hyperloop tech?
     
  12. Prodigyplace

    Prodigyplace 2025 Camry XLE FWD

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    Gull wing doors were on cars before Tesla was even thought of. I remember the Canadian Bricklin when I was growing up. It was marketed as the safest car. LOL
     
  13. hill

    hill High Fiber Member

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    The Boring Company is still working on Hyperloop tech, but it's mostly in the background right now. They've got a test track in Bastrop, Texas—built in 2022 for vacuum systems—and it's still complete and in use. They ran student competitions there - hitting speeds over 280mph (with pods). But the focus these days is on building out the Loop systems—like Vegas, Dubai, Nashville—using regular Teslas in non-vacuum tunnels. Elon and the company keep saying those long, fast tunnels and boring tech are stepping stones to making full Hyperloop real eventually. No big new Hyperloop announcements in 2026 though—just steady progress on the precursor stuff.
    just sayin'

    On the other hand, if we want to have a good chuckle, consider Gavin newsom's high speed rail to nowhere. How many billions is it in debt so far - yet still minimal progress considering cost overruns?

    https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/newsom-mocked-for-posing-in-front-of-freight-train-to-celebrate-nonexistent-high-speed-rail/ar-AA1VLri8

    just sayin'
     
  14. Trollbait

    Trollbait It's a D&D thing

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    The Model X didn't have gull wing doors; those are just hinged at the top. It had falcon wing ones that had another hinge between the window and bottom of the door. Far as I know, that was a first. Which lead to developmental issues, and may have delayed the release of the car.
     
  15. fuzzy1

    fuzzy1 Senior Member

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    Speaking of the Boring Company's Vegas Loop, it was in the news last week:

    Musk’s underground tunnels in Las Vegas face scrutiny over safety, environmental concerns

    "LAS VEGAS (AP) — Elon Musk’s “Vegas Loop,” a network of underground tunnels to ferry passengers in Teslas, was under fresh scrutiny this week from Nevada lawmakers who raised concern about alleged workplace safety and environmental violations. . . .

    Fines levied against the company
    The Boring Company has been accused of breaking multiple safety and environmental rules. Between 2020 and 2026, 17 complaints were filed with the Nevada State Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Last year ProPublica reported the company was accused of nearly 800 environmental violations for its Las Vegas project.

    Of those 17 complaints, one resulted in an inspection with eight proposed citations, including claims that 15 to 20 employees were injured after getting burned with accelerants and that there were no showers available for employees who got sprayed with the accelerants. Several other complaints are still open. The Boring Company has paid nearly $600,000 in fines, most of which went to the local water reclamation district for discharging untreated wastewater. The company is fighting around $355,000 in fines with Nevada’s OSHA and the Nevada Division of Environmental Protection.
    . . ."

     
  16. hill

    hill High Fiber Member

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    Maybe with all the the regulations - that's why Gavin Newsom can't get anything done with the high-speed rail from LA County to SF bay
     
  17. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    he should have cashed in with a chainsaw company. would have sold a ton in Texas
     
  18. fuzzy1

    fuzzy1 Senior Member

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    For the Boring Company in Vegas, those regulations include:
    -- protecting working against getting burns from accelerants;
    -- shower availability for workers sprayed by accelerants;
    -- preventing a worker from suffering a crushing injury between two heavy pipes;
    -- preventing discharge of untreated wastewater.

    These regulations exist because so many businesses don't sufficiently care about their worker safety and pollution emissions.
     
  19. Leadfoot J. McCoalroller

    Leadfoot J. McCoalroller Senior Member

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    They never really were. They were (and may still be) a good, focused company highly specialized in operating a machine that could dig tunnels of a certain diameter between two points under the earth. A very fancy shovel.

    That's it. That's what they're good at, and anything else ever ascribed to them was just for show. Step 1: buy shovel. Step 2: ???? Step 3: roll around in hyperloop profit, and they are still between steps 1 and 2.

    The tunnels they dig aren't even particularly useful for transportation- barely wide enough for a car to pass through, let alone standardized interstate motor freight or trains of standard gauge & height.

    Fantastic for short pedestrian paths, technical plumbing networks and infrastructure access, but they would have to build a whole new machine (and support system) to dig tunnels large enough for all the other services needed to support the hyperloop idea.
     
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