Category Archives: Elon Musk

Bitcoin giveaway scams have been around for more than two years, but a new twist in tactics has helped scammers make more than $2 million over the past two months from Elon Musk's name.

The new trick involves the use of Bitcoin vanity addresses in order to give the scam more credibility in the eyes of a suspicious user.

Vanity addresses are Bitcoin addresses that incorporate a custom word in the address itself -- such as "1MuskPsV7BnuvMuHGWmmXUyXKjxp3vLZX6" or "1ELonMUsKZzpVr5Xok8abiXhhqGbdrnK5C."

Over the past month, Justin Lister, CEO of cyber-security firm Adaptiv, has been tracking the use of Bitcoin vanity addresses abusing Elon Musk's name in giveaway scams.

Lister has been collecting the addresses with the help of BitcoinAbuse, a website where users can report Bitcoin addresses abused in ransomware, extortions, cybercrime, and online scams.

In a spreadsheet shared with ZDNet earlier this week, the Adaptiv CEO said he tracked down 66 addresses that have been reported by scammed users on BitcoinAbuse.

Lister said the 66 addresses received more than 201 in Bitcoin since being created in late April 2020.

Since receiving the spreadsheet from Lister earlier this week, a 67th Elon Musk vanity address was also submitted to the BitcoinAbuse website. This vanity address held an additional 13.9 Bitcoin, which brought the total to 214 Bitcoin, a sum that now stands over $2 million at today's exchange rate.

The $2 million sum is enormous if we take into consideration the low effort required to run one of these scams.

Because BitcoinAbuse also requires users to add a short description of where they encountered the Bitcoin address, this made investigating the source of some of these scams much easier.

Based on ZDNet's review, most of the Bitcoin vanity URLs had been shared with the help of YouTube live streams.

Hackers hijacked high follower-count YouTube accounts, changed the account name and its graphics to mimic the account of a celebrity or a trusted brand, and then launched a live stream to broadcast their scam.

The scam relied on tricking users into sending Bitcoin to the scammers' address, on the promise of doubling their profits, part of the giveaway -- usually organized on the occasion of an important event in the celebrity/brand's history.

In our investigation, we found that hackers had either renamed the channels to Elon Musk's name, the SpaceX brand, or news outlets such as Euronews, seeking credibility.

The Bitcoin address was usually embedded either in the live stream itself, and users had to scan it with a QR code reader, or users were asked to visit a dedicated "giveaway" website.

But we're not reporting on something new here, with multiple of these fake Elon Musk giveaway live streams making the news this month alone [1, 2].

Bitcoin giveaway scams abusing the Elon Musk and SpaceX names have been going on all month, ever since SpaceX and Musk made the news last month for the company's first successful rocket launch carrying a live NASA astronaut crew.

Bitcoin and Ethereum giveaway scams have been around since at least February 2018, when the first such case was reported. Since then, the trick has gotten old and users have gotten better at spotting the scammers.

The role of the Bitcoin vanity address was to give more credibility to the scam and make it look authentic, similar to how "verified profiles" give more authenticity to accounts on social media sites like Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.

The Bitcoin network doesn't have a way to "verify" addresses, so vanity addresses, which are hard to come by, are the closest thing to a "verified" Bitcoin address.

The trick of using Elon Musk vanity addresses was, obviously, successful, helping crooks net more than $2 million, but it wasn't the only one.

ZDNet also found other vanity addresses submitted to the BitcoinAbuse database and reported as being abused in similar YouTube-based giveaway scams.

We similarly found vanity addresses for SpaceX and Bill Gates. Both have been used in similar YouTube-hosted giveaway scams, with the Gates-themed addresses holding more than $100,000 in stolen funds.

In addition, we also found another Bitcoin vanity address that was not available on the BitcoinAbuse website. This one had been used for a giveaway scam that tried to take advantage of the recent launch of the Play Station 5 gaming console. Luckily, no user fell victim to such a scam.

Similar scams abusing Linus Torvald and Mark Zuckerberg's names have also been reported, along with brands like Facebook, Twitter, and even the UN.

As long as these scams have a giant return-on-investment and crooks make more than they spend setting up the scam, the "giveaway" scourge will continue to haunt cryptocurrency owners.

Users should be wary as these scams aren't limited to YouTube live streams only, and have been also spotted on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and more recently on TikTok -- similarly by hacking into high-follower profiles and broadcasting the scam for a short period.

In most cases, these scams are powered by hacked accounts sold on hacking forums for prices going from $5 to thousands, depending on the follower count. Taking into account that some scammers are making as much as $180,000 a day, the scams are most likely to go on for years, or until users stop falling for the scams.

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Elon Musk Bitcoin vanity addresses used to scam users out of $2 million - ZDNet

GREEN BAY, Wis. (WBAY) - Brown County Executive Troy Streckenbach appears to be pursuing a partnership with Tesla leader Elon Musk.

Streckenbach posted on Twitter Thursday, "I want to send a shout out to Elon Musk because Brown County has a proposal for you. Unfortunately, we snail mailed it, but if you DM me your info, we'd love to get this to you digitally and see if we can collaborate. #Titletown is ready to transform into #Testlatown!"

When we reached out for comment, Brown County Deputy Executive Jeff Flynt said Streckenbach was trying to grab Musk's attention to "explore potential collaboration efforts as the county continues to try and save taxpayers money through energy savings while doing what's right for the environment."

In addition to Tesla's electric cars, Musk's companies have been developing leading-edge battery, power storage and solar panel technology.

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Titletown to Teslatown? Brown County reaches out to Tesla's Elon Musk - WBAY

Love them or hate them, Elon Musk and Steve Jobsare known astwo of the most brilliant minds the business world has ever seen.

Yet, despite their ability to process information, think critically, and identify key insights--many of which helped Tesla and Apple reach valuations into the billions of dollars--both men became known foran unexpectedhabit:

They've embraced the rule of awkward silence.

The rule of awkward silence is simple: When faced with a challenging question, instead of answering, you pause and think deeply about how you want to answer.

But make no mistake, this is no short pause. You might go five, 10, or even 15 seconds before offering a response. Which, if you're not used to doing it, will feel very awkward--at first.

Garrett Reisman, an engineer and former astronaut who left NASA to join SpaceX, described how Musk uses this technique ina recent interview.

"If you pose to [Elon] a serious question," says Reisman, "he'll consider it. And he'll kind of go into this, almost like a trance--he'll stare off into space and you can see the wheels turning. And he's focusing all of his intellect, which is considerable, on this one question."

You can actually see this happen almost anytime Musk himself gives an interview. In fact, it's not uncommon for Musk to take from between five to even 15seconds to think before giving an answer. (Just check out the 20:00 mark of this interview.)

Apple co-founder Jobs was known to do the same. In fact, there's a perfect example captured on video over 20 years ago.

It was 1997, and Jobs had just returned to Apple after being ousted from the company over a decade earlier. He was conducting a Q&A at the company's Worldwide Developers Conference when an audience member took a shot at him, telling Jobs, "You don't know what you're talking about" and sarcastically asking what the famous founder had been working on for the past seven years.

He takes a sip of water ... and sits.

After making a short joke, he pauses again.

This time for eight seconds.

What follows, after Jobs reflects on the question and contemplates the criticism, inwhat amounts to20 seconds of awkward silence, isa masterful demonstration of how to respond to an insult. (Ibroke down Jobs's entire response here,if you're interested.)

As these examples illustrate, the rule of awkward silence is a great tool of critical thinking. It can help you to give deeper, more analytical, more thoughtful answers. It can help you get to root problems more effectively, which leads to greater understanding.

But the rule of awkward silence offers another major advantage, and it has muchto do with the way our brains process emotions.

Emotional intelligence is the ability to identify, understand, and manage emotions--and the rule of awkward silence is a great way to show it.

When it comes to calm and rational thought, we typically engage a part of our brain known as the prefrontal cortex. But when we feel attacked or under pressure, we engage another part of our brain known as the amygdala, which tends to take over in a type of "emotional hijack."

That's not always bad, as our emotions can help us get out of difficult situations.

The problem comes when those emotions go unchecked, and we say or do things that we later regret.

Think back to the example of Steve Jobsresponding to the insult. This was one of Jobs's first major appearances after rejoining Apple. By the time he left many years previous, he had built a reputation as being arrogantand unable to work well with others. With the wrong response,he could have lost the confidence of his company, investors, and the public before his turnaround plans got underway.

Instead, by embracing the rule of awkward silence, he was able to keep his emotions under control and deliver a perfect response.

Think also about Musk's interview style, and the lessons we learn from it.

When it comes to answering challenging questions, you might be tempted to just spit out anything, even if doesn't make much sense. Or, you might say what you think the other person wants to hear instead of what you truly believe.

But is that what you really want? Or would you prefer to take some seconds to pause, to think things through, and then to respond in a way you're proud of later?

So, the next time someone asks you a challenging question, try to take your time before giving an answer. In doing so, you will:

The more you practice, the awkward pause won't feel so awkward anymore--andthe more you will be able tomake emotions work for you, instead of against you.

The opinions expressed here by Inc.com columnists are their own, not those of Inc.com.

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Why Intelligent Minds Like Elon Musk and Steve Jobs Embrace the Rule of Awkward Silence - Inc.

LONDON (Reuters) - The unpredictable Elon Musk strikes again.

FILE PHOTO: Tesla Inc CEO Elon Musk speaks onstage during a delivery event for Tesla China-made Model 3 cars at its factory in Shanghai, China January 7, 2020. REUTERS/Aly Song/File Photo

Just when his electric vehicle (EV) company Tesla seemed to be pivoting away from using cobalt in its batteries, it signs a long-term supply deal for the controversial metal with Glencore.

This from the man who has vowed to eliminate cobalt from the Tesla product mix because of its financial cost and the reputational cost of a metal associated with child labour and poor safety conditions at artisanal mining operations in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the worlds dominant producer.

Teslas not the first auto company to lock in future cobalt supplies with a miner. BMW did the same last year, also with Glencore as well as with the Bou-Azzer mine in Morocco.

But Tesla is the standard-bearer for the EV revolution and its deal with Glencore has strategic significance for the global battery raw materials supply chain.

Its a boost for cobalts prospects, both in terms of physical demand and, more importantly, in the apparent admission that cobalt isnt going away as a battery material any time soon.

Its also a warning to other auto companies that if they want cobalt, theyre going to have to take control over their own supply chain.

Tesla and its battery partner Panasonic have until now largely used a nickel-cobalt-aluminium (NCA) formula in their lithium-ion batteries.

Other automotive companies targeting the passenger vehicle market have adopted nickel-manganese-cobalt (NMC) technology.

Everyone has been trying to reduce the amount of cobalt in the metallic mix. Cobalt is expensive, currently trading around $33,000 per tonne on the London Metal Exchange. It has a history of volatility both in terms of price and supply, which is dominated by production, both official-sector and artisanal, in the Congo.

The human cost of artisanal mining also weighs heavy on an industry that is driving towards a green and socially responsible future.

Teslas desire to shift away from cobalt usage seemed to be borne out by the revelation its new Chinese plant would use cobalt-free batteries.

Lithium-iron-phosphate (LFP) batteries have been around a long time, are cheaper than cobalt-containing batteries, but lack energy density. The biggest market is China, where they are used in vehicles that dont need extensive range or high performance, such as municipal garbage trucks.

However, it seems that Chinese LFP battery makers such as Contemporary Amperex Technology Co Ltd (CATL) have been quietly improving the technology to the point that Tesla is now interested in using it in its Model 3 cars in China.

But its also clear from the Glencore deal that Tesla, however reluctantly, is going to continue using cobalt in other markets.

Teslas willingness to consider a range of battery types is testament that the EV revolution is going to be characterised by multiple chemistries depending on vehicle type and geographic market.

And some of them at least are going to use cobalt.

GRAPHIC: Tesla's reluctant commitment to cobalt a warning to others - here

Teslas deal to buy 6,000 tonnes per year of cobalt from Glencores Congo operations is a double boost for the market, representing a long-term affirmation of demand and a short-term way of clearing excess stocks.

The cobalt market has yet to recover from the crash that followed the price boom of 2017-2018 as too much supply, particularly from the Congos artisanal sector, swamped demand.

Glencore last year placed its Mutanda mine in the Congo on two-year care and maintenance, while its Katanga mine was carrying stocks of almost 13,000 tonnes at the end of 2019.

Those stocks have weighed heavily on the price. Fastmarkets assessment of standard-grade cobalt currently sits at an 11-month low of $14.75 per kilogram ($30,250 per tonne)

However, Glencore has recently concluded a flurry of supply deals with battery-makers and now with Tesla, signalling the company has placed a strategic focus on forward selling its built-up hydroxide stocks, according to analysts at Roskill.

The research house estimates that Glencore has now locked in sales representing around 82% of production at Katanga. That, combined with Mutanda on care and maintenance, significantly reduces the volumes of cobalt available in the open market.

That may translate into an accelerated price recovery when the next EV-led demand surge happens.

It also means theres potentially less around for everyone else. There are several new cobalt mines in the planning or development stage but the Congo and its artisanal miners are going to remain the dominant supplier for the foreseeable future.

That simple fact explains why Tesla has moved directly to ensure its own supply with the largest non-Chinese producer in the country.

Other automotive makers may well take heed.

Teslas move directly to take responsibility for its cobalt supply isnt without risk.

Glencore may be a London-listed multinational, but its not immune to the negative headlines that go with doing business in the Congo.

It is under intense regulatory scrutiny; the Swiss Attorney Generals Office (OAG) last week joining the list of ongoing investigations into its conduct in the country.

Last year saw the death of 43 illegal miners on Glencores Kamoto concession, a human tragedy that was compounded by the governments decision to send in the army to forcibly clear the area.

Tesla, though, has evidently decided the risk of not getting enough future cobalt outweighs the potential reputational risks of taking supply directly from the Congo.

Such direct mine sourcing is not the norm for auto companies. They dont, for example, directly buy the iron ore that goes into the steel they use. Or the bauxite that makes the aluminium.

But cobalt is different. Theres not much around and too much of what is around comes from the Congo.

The EV revolution may have been stalled by COVID-19, but the build-out of battery manufacturing capacity has continued uninterrupted.

And with the European Union in particular focusing its industrial stimulus package on green technology, the next EV wave may already be building.

Teslas reluctant commitment to cobalt is a warning sign for other automakers they may have to do the same if they want to be sure theyve got enough of the stuff to meet that coming demand surge.

(The opinions expressed here are those of the author, a columnist for Reuters.)

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Column: Tesla's reluctant commitment to cobalt a warning to others - Andy Home - Reuters

Musk's career is rich in accomplishments that have earned him a place in history. He made electric cars popular at Tesla and pioneered reusable rockets at SpaceX, which recently became the first private company to send astronauts to space. But he's also gained a reputation for making bold statements, and not always living up to them.He intended to send space tourists around the moon in 2018, and to demonstrate a cross-country drive in an autonomous Tesla by the end of 2017. And over the years, Musk has set his sights on the transformation of both intra- and intercity transportation infrastructure, to little apparent success thus far.

He created the Boring Company to pursue his transit vision. One of his projects, which features two one-mile-long tunnels in Las Vegas, was completed last month. When it opens for business in January 2021, little of the original vision will have materialized. Passengers will enter a Teslapiloted by another human, rather than ferried by autonomous sledsand be driven at a top speed of 35 miles per hour, according to Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority CEO Steve Hill.

The system will rely on Tesla Model 3s and Xs. A tram built on a Model 3 chassis that carries 12-16 passengers may be introduced later, according to Hill. He expects the vehicles will eventually drive autonomously, once they're proven to be safe. Hill said he was not sure how long that would take.

The Boring Company and a representative for Musk did not respond to CNN Business requests for comment.

The recently-finished tunnels may eventually be expanded throughout greater Las Vegas, providing trips between casinos, resorts, residential neighborhoods, a sport stadium and the airport. Two resorts, Wynn Las Vegas and Resorts World Las Vegas, submitted expansion plans this month to local government for approval. Both are located about a mile from the Convention Center.

Construction could begin later this year, pending approval. Fares will be affordable, according to a spokeswoman for Resorts World Las Vegas, which is scheduled to open in summer 2021. No further details about the proposed expansion have been released.

Hill said that tickets would cost from $3 to $5, making them more expensive than a bus ticket. Single bus trips can be $3 or less in Las Vegas, and a monthly bus pass can be had for $65.

The Boring Company has released a map of how the Loop could be extended further, with 27 more stops in Las Vegas, and an extension to Los Angeles. That proposal has yet to leave the drawing board, however. So far it just appears to be a proposal with no sign-on from Las Vegas.

A McCarran International Airport spokesman said nothing formal is in the works for any new airport connections to the Strip or convention centers. Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman declined to comment for this story.

While the reality at this point doesn't live up to Musk's initial vision, Las Vegas leaders are excited about a potential expansion, which they see as a cost-effective way to improve local transportation.

"We've looked at subway systems, we've looked at monorails, we've looked at light rail," Hill said. "It's not because we haven't thought of anything. It's either we don't have room for that or we can't afford that."

A monorail, for example, can cost $100 million a mile, he said. The Boring Company hasn't requested public funding, and thinks it can dramatically reduce the costs of tunneling.

Meanwhile, besides Las Vegas, some of the Boring Company's other Loop projects have slowly moved forward. If completed, they would operate at lower speeds, with a cap of 155 mph.

One example, its project between DC and Baltimore is under environmental review, according to a Federal Highway Administration spokesman. A federal government website that tracks the permitting of infrastructure projects has described the review as being completed by the end of 2019. The spokesman declined to say why the review appears to be delayed.

If the Boring Company is cleared to move ahead with the DC to New York Hyperloop project, the project's curvy route south of Baltimore will make it technically unrealistic to maintain the high speeds Musk projected, according to Christian Claudel, a transportation engineering professor at the University of Texas-Austin who has advised students on a Hyperloop project. Given how sharp the curves are in a map of the project, the G forces would be too intense for even fighter pilots, he said.

But in Vegas, interest remains high to see what the Boring Company can pull off, if it expands.

"From my sense, it's just a matter of time," said Jeremy Aguero, a spokesman for the Las Vegas Stadium Authority Board. "The world of possibilities is significant for Southern Nevada and probably beyond."

Read more here:

Elon Musk's tunnel project hit a milestone. But the future is unclear. - CNN

A stack of 60 SpaceX Starlink satellites float in orbit above the Earth.

SpaceX

SpaceX updated the website for its Starlink satellite internet project on Friday, as the company continues to move closer to its goal of offering direct-to-consumer broadband from space later this year.

"Get updates on Starlink news and service availability in your area," the website reads, with a submission form for an email address and zip code. The form allows prospective customers to apply for updates and access to a public beta test of the Starlink service.

The main page for SpaceX's Starlink website on June 12, 2020.

SpaceX

Starlink is the company's ambitious plan to build an interconnected network of about 12,000 small satellites, to beam high-speed internet to anywhere in the world. In addition to getting the satellites in orbit, SpaceX will need to build a vast system of ground stations and affordable terminals if it is going to connect consumers directly to its network.

SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell in 2018 said that "it will cost the company about $10 billion or more" to build the Starlink network. Since the beginning of 2019, SpaceX has raised nearly $1.7 billion in capital.

Those who enter their email address and zip code on the Starlink website receive a confirmation email, saying the service "is designed to deliver high speed broadband internet to locations where access has been unreliable, expensive, or completely unavailable." The email said that a private beta test is planned for "later this summer, followed by public beta testing."

SpaceX told the FCC in April that Starlink "will begin offering commercial service in the northern United States and southern Canada" before the end of this year, "and then will rapidly expand to near global coverage of the populated world in 2021." Additionally, SpaceX founder Elon Musk has declared that Starlink's internet speed will rival existing Earth-bound services, saying in March that the network will have a "latency below 20 milliseconds, so somebody could play a fast-response video game at a competitive level."

The Starlink update comes the day before SpaceX is set to launch its ninth Starlink mission, launching 58 more satellites to orbit. To date SpaceX has put 482 Starlink satellites in orbit.

Subscribe to CNBC PRO for exclusive insights and analysis, and live business day programming from around the world.

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Here's how to find out when Elon Musk's SpaceX may provide you with satellite internet - CNBC

In very un-Elon Musk fashion, the brain behind gorgeous electric cars, spacey possibilities (and realities) and plenty of off-the-wall comments came across as uncharacteristically vanilla on social media this weekend.

His more than 35 million Twitter followers were left mostly agreeing after the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX teased something juicy, but the revelation was rather obvious.

Selling weed literally went from a major felony to essential business (open during a pandemic) in much of America & yet many are still in prison. Doesnt make sense, isnt right, he posted after tweeting earlier that he was about to say something that will probably get me into trouble, but I feel I have to say it.

The reactions were not of surprise, but more acknowledgement of something that has been generally accepted for quite some time. As chatter picked up steam, the basic support for his tweet transformed into opinions around cannabis legalization in the U.S. and social and racial inequality, as well as plenty of cheeky tweets and images of stock prices plunging.

Musks connection to cannabis is nothing new. Weed was on Musks mind when he tweeted the stock is so high lol around Christmas time when Tesla shares hit $420, a none-too-subtle nudge, nudge, wink, wink to the unofficial cannabis holiday. Then, of course, there was the infamous appearance on Joe Rogans podcast in September, 2018, when Musk smoked some weed and investors were forced to watch as Tesla stock closed down six per cent.

Musks midnight tweet is only baffling insofar as its painfully obvious. Still, he doesnt quite seem to understand the full context of what hes only now coming to understand. For instance, earlier last week, U.S. Senator Corey Booker linked racial inequality in cannabis enforcement to protests that have continued in America and around the world.

As a result of the work of activists, many U.S. states have decriminalized certain charges or backed away from incarceration for weed possession for personal use. That said, its undeniable that the War on Drug disproportionately affected people of colour, and the convictions remain a barrier to advancement.

Want to keep up to date on whats happening in the world of cannabis? Subscribeto the Cannabis Post newsletter for weekly insights into the industry, what insiders will be talking about and content from across the Postmedia Network.

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A midnight tweet from Elon Musk was presented as groundbreaking, but it was merely stating the obvious about cannabis - The GrowthOp

For those who have been living under a rock which honestly isnt a bad idea these days electric bikes have really taken off. The trend extends to the mountain bike space, and you just know somethings up when Croatias Elon Musk gets involved. Thats right, Mate Rimac, the wunderkind behind two of the fastest-accelerating cars ever (both electric) has gotten into e-mountain bikes, and hes bringing quite possibly the most technologically advanced take on them to America.

The company is called Greyp, the four-bike line is called G6, and wow is it loaded. Greyp describes it as a full-carbon trail bike with a high-tech heart and e-supercar soul. On the e-bike side, the G6 boasts up to a 460-watt motor (depending on the model) powered by 36-volt, 700Wh batteries that provide up to 60 miles of power-assist with normal use. It also boasts a SRAM EX1 groupset right out of the box and Rockshox front and rear suspension with nearly six inches of travel.

Those features alone make the bike compelling, but weve buried the lead, as its on the tech side where this thing really stands out. The G6 comes complete with loads of cutting-edge gadgetry, most notably a built-in T-Mobile-powered 4G eSIM card for continuous internet connectivity, a GPS chip and front- and rear-facing 1080p cameras. Theres also a mobile mount with a USB charging port, enabling you to pair your phone with the Greyp app to monitor and control all the on-board tech right from the handlebars.

The upshot is that you always know where you are, youre always documenting your epic feats, your phone always has juice and you can post that sick jump to Instagram before the mud is even dry on your Schwalbe Nobby Nic Performance Line tires.

As you might imagine, bikes this loaded dont come cheap. The base G6.1 Bold F6 goes for 6,499 euros ($7,381 US) and the top-of-the-line G6.X Limited hits $13,999 euros ($15,886 US). But if all that tech delivers on its promise, these bikes might completely change the game. Well be getting a test ride soon, so stay tuned.

Steve Mazzucchi is Gear Patrols outdoors and fitness editor. Outside the office, you can find him mountain biking, snowboarding, motorcycling or sipping a dram of Laphroaig and daydreaming about such things.

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Croatia's Elon Musk Launched an Electric Mountain Bike, and It's Insane - Gear Patrol

After working as a journalist for over 20 years, much of it in the celebrity world, I have found that whatever age a person becomes famous is the age when his or her maturity (usually) stops.

But something a little different happens in the tech industry: Tech bros, it seems, develop a Jesus complex right after their first big deal believing they (and only they) can save the world because, as their acolytes and mothers have told them, they are just that brilliant.

See: Ubers Travis Kalanick, Facebooks Mark Zuckerberg, Amazons Jeff Bezos and, most especially, Elon Musk.

The guy behind Tesla, The Boring Company and Space X the one who is convinced he can make Mars inhabitable has been showing off his arrogance to dangerous effect during the worldwide coronavirus pandemic.

Heres a rundown of recent examples of him wildly throwing his opinions out there.

March 6: the coronavirus panic is dumb, Musk tweeted to his 32 million followers.

March 16: maybe worth considering chloroquine for C19, he tweeted. (In some cases, this treatment has produced frightening side effects, and a small study testing it as a cure was halted due to risk of fatal heart complications.)

March 16: Musks Tesla defied a California shelter-in-place order and kept its Silicon Valley factory open, with workers saying it was business as usual. Several Tesla workers have since tested positive for COVID-19. Alameda County, Calif., officials said on March 18 that the factory had reduced its workforce but that 2,500 would still report to the factory.

March 17: According to the BBC, Musk proclaimed that Kids are essentially immune to the virus. This is demonstrably false: In an early April report, the CDC confirmed coronavirus contagion in children in all 50 states.

March 28: Many doctors are not treating patients due to fear of giving or receiving C19, he claimed.

March 31: Musk tweeted that he was rushing to the rescue! We have extra FDA approved ventilators. Will ship to hospitals worldwide within Tesla delivery regions. Device & shipping costs are free. Only requirement is that the vents are needed immediately for patients, not stored in [a] warehouse. Turns out, what he actually sent was five-year-old BiPAP sleep apnea machines that cant be used to treat coronavirus victims in the ICU.

April 5: He retweets engineering update on the Tesla ventilator from Tesla is Musk now making his own medical equipment?

April 16: Musk tweets out a partial list of hospitals to which Tesla sent ventilators. A day later,CNN contacts hospitals on the list that confirm they were not sent ventilators, but BiPAP apnea machines.

This is not the first time hes promised to step in and be a hero, only to flail. Remember his bid to save the Thai soccer team trapped in a cave in 2018? Musk offered up a kid-size submarine via his Boring Company, which experts said would not work and which showed up after the actual rescue was in process.

When British diver Vern Unsworth, who actually was heroic in helping save the team, criticized Musk claiming that the tech bro was using the opportunity for public relations Musk accused Unsworth of being a pedo guy. Only after Unsworth threatened to sue did Musk issue a rare apology. A nasty libel lawsuit followed that Musk eventually won.

A year later, Vanity Fair published a piece titled Hes Full of St: How Elon Musk Fooled Investors, Bilked Taxpayers, and Gambled Tesla to Save Solar City.

It outlined how New York taxpayers funded almost a billion dollars for Musks dream of SolarCity a solar factory that was part of Gov. Andrew Cuomos controversial Buffalo Billion program that was supposed to revive the upstate economy. In the end, just 750 jobs were created at the plant and the project was embroiled in a massive federal bid-rigging scandal that led to the downfall of top Cuomo advisers and donor contractors.

In November 2019, the Buffalo News reported that Tesla was getting an $854 million write-down on the plant: New York State spent $958.6 million to build Tesla Inc.s solar panel factory in South Buffalo and buy a big chunk of the equipment inside. Now, auditors are saying the building and all that equipment is worth just under $75 million or just 8 percent of what the state put into the RiverBend factory. As of mid-February, the plant, now called Gigafactory2, still needed to hire 360 people to meet its employment quota of 1,460 by April 30, or face paying a $41.2 million penalty to the state for each year it falls short, according to the Albany Business Review.

Elon, its time to take a breath and think and possibly research work that may not have been done by you before you speak. Take a page from the founder of Twitter, Jack Dorsey, and put your money where your big mouth is (without constantly crowing about it). Dorsey, who has teamed up with Rihanna and Jay-Z to donate $6.2 million to CoVID-19 relief funds, recently announced the creation of Start Small LLC, using $1 billion of his own equity to disarm this pandemic. After that, the fund will shift to health and education for girls.

Now that is a hero.

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Elon Musk is tech Covidiot No. 1 during coronavirus pandemic

SpaceX Demo-2 Crew Walkout at Kennedy Space Center

Twenty years from now, Elon Musks spectacular launch of his Crew Dragon capsule yesterday will barely merit a single page in a history of the modern space era. Notwithstanding his sophomoric antics and questionable judgement that sometimes casts doubt on his ability to be a responsible CEO, we eagerly anticipate more from him and his company SpaceX in the coming years. Even Neil Armstrong, the enduring icon of the first space race and the most famous naysayer of NASAs Commercial Crew Program, would probably reluctantly admit that Elon's unrelenting passion, talent, and drive will get him to his ultimate destinationMars.

Yesterdays remarkable achievement, including the picture-perfect landing of the Falcon 9 rocket for reuse, should also be remembered as the mic drop moment proving the superiority of a free market space industry. When the last of the doubting policymakers in Washington finally wake up to the deeper meaning of SpaceXs most recent victory, the full weight of the American free market economy will be unleashed to enable new paths for NASA, the U.S. Space Force and open new business areas for the growing commercial space industry. To do so, these leaders will have to reinterpret two enduring truths in addition to embracing two new ones.

Only in America can something like this happen. There are plenty of space companies scattered around the world, but their government created most of them in some fashion. Yet when someone has a bold new idea to change the world, whether its an Afrikaner like Elon Musk or an expat Brit like Sir Richard Branson, they come to America to make their dreams reality. Ensuring leaders with hunger and drive they have the liberty to pursue their entrepreneurial dreams is the uniquely American answer to almost everything. It was our answer to the space doldrums we were in a decade agoshuttle aging out, Russia leading the world in manned spaceflightand it worked.

One person with a vision (and help) can change history. In fact, for better and for worse, it is often the only thing that ever does. Elon certainly didnt accomplish this latest feat alone, but it would not exist without his vision, initiative and perseverance. No government committee instructed its creationhe was the spearhead. Talking about great things is what philosophers and government officials do; doing great things is what engineers do every dayand were all glad that its finally being recognized again. Heck, Elon never even had any formal business training and wasnt considered a real CEO before SpaceX.

As the hundreds of private space companies around the world are reinvigorated by and learn from yesterdays events, they will further revolutionize the rest of the space economy in the coming decades. Two new lessons that culminated in yesterdays success have been debated for the last decade and have now been demonstrated to be true.

The complex and often incomprehensible government-led space industry is no longer impervious to the benefits of private commercial companies. Elons bold spirit and resourceful instincts in Washington have paved a path for the next 50 years of likeminded engineersif our government will encourage them to compete. Real competition does reveal the better athlete, even for the most ambitious endeavors man has ever undertaken, like human space travel. Only time will tell when Boeing will finish this race and we are all still cheering for them. But to all of the Pentagon naysayers who said ten years ago he wouldnt last another six months, Elon has proven them wrong time and time again. SpaceX, the undisputed king of commercial contracts, has won this latest race with competitive fixed price contracts combined with private capital to develop a breathtaking American capability.

The space sector of the U.S. economy no longer needs a maternal government bureaucracy to coddle, raise, praise and protect it. Perhaps the most important takeaway of yesterdays victory is positive proof that the American space economy can finally stand on its own two feet. When a company is independently founded and exists for the express purpose of achieving its own goals, it began with enough expertise to conceive, develop, produce or operate its product or service. What it doesnt initially have, it acquires over time through growth and experience.

Into the future, the government must more aggressively seek to procure goods or services that are also offered by commercial companies. As it does this, it should consider competing in much the same way businesses buy other capital equipment: with concise, performance-oriented work statements, clear delivery timelines and fixed price bids. If these companies raison dtre is to thrive, their ambition will propel them to even greater heights, perhaps greater than they imagined. We are long overdue to smile kindly at last centurys necessary model of enticing the ambivalent with cost-plus contracts but look to a future of even greater promise. Much like what was done with the computer and communication industries before it, we must now shift from a government policy of coddling to one that forges independence and resilience through commercial competition and collaboration.

Wisdom comes from experience and the most valuable experience comes from failure. To learn and become wise, our government must continue to dare the bold to reach a little beyond their current grasp much like Elon Musk has. By nourishing these entrepreneurial mavericks and scoring better value for the taxpayer, we will continue expanding the boundary of human advancement. Todays history making endeavor, SpaceXs privately owned and operated rocket and spaceship successfully launching astronauts into Earths orbit, should remind all of us whats possible by the private sector. And what is that? Virtually everything.

There is still ample reason to worry about Americas competitiveness in the second Space Race, but clearly it's not for the reasons that Neil Armstrong worried about. NASAs SpaceX experiment definitively proves that even with imperfect corporate leadership and significant development risk, the cost-plus contracting method with associated government nannying, is not always necessary and in fact may be counterproductive to rapid progress. For all of the armchair rocket scientists in the Pentagon who said SpaceX wouldnt last another six months, this certainly proves each and every one of them wrong. A competitive, highly competent private space industry led by hundreds of companies like SpaceX ten years ago is achieving the unthinkable and will continue to raise the bar on each other.

Excerpt from:

Elon Musk: Enduring Truths And New Lessons From An American Pioneer - Forbes