Unmasking Elon Musk

[pritch]

That looks to be an AI generated image.

That would be a disappointment but a lesson.

Last night I was listening to a Brit political commentator and he mentioned the video clip showing Biden "wandering off aimlessly " while in Italy and being bright back to the group by the Italian Prime Minister. He was unaware the image had been cropped. Biden walked over to talk to some paratroopers who had just landed by the VIPs. Whether or not the troops are in or out of the picture makes a huge difference.

It's getting difficult to tell what's real and what's not.

[onearmedbandit]

That would be a disappointment but a lesson.

Last night I was listening to a Brit political commentator and he mentioned the video clip showing Biden "wandering off aimlessly " while in Italy and being bright back to the group by the Italian Prime Minister. He was unaware the image had been cropped. Biden walked over to talk to some paratroopers who had just landed by the VIPs. Whether or not the troops are in or out of the picture makes a huge difference.

It's getting difficult to tell what's real and what's not.

100%. Video manipulation is so prevalent now, even with just basic editing but also now with computer generated imagery tools available to almost anyone who cares to learn how to use them. The standout points in that pic were things like the missing side mirrors (including the truck at the rear missing the entire plastic area for the mirror housing and adding extra window area in) along with the front wheel ripped out of the rear truck but no damage around the panel. And just the overall 'feel' of the pic, it has a very generated composition about it.

[nerrrd]

The relentless massaging of message and image by politicians and their 'communications' staff is, in my humble opinion, just as responsible for the loss of trust in politics and institutions as the media, no computer manipulation required.

PR departments should be banned.

[R650R]

Yep a quick scan of shadows and lighting quickly gives away so editing. AI is exposed to so many war images at the moment that often it doesn’t pick up human limbs facing in wrong directions when it creates a fake image.
It’s a pet peeve of mine too that media are now using composite images in news article headline images. There’s a lot of science behind selective colouring within an otherwise black and white image it sends very powerful subconscious messages and should not be used for journalism especially when of a political nature.
In fact it’s the biggest giveaway of bias with fluff news being biggest offender.

Back to topic Thunderfoot has a few new recent musk vids. The latest does a good compilation of musk lies and how much taxpayer dollars he’s taken and still failing to supersede 1960’s technology or success levels.

On another note one of the reasons Saturn 5 was so successful it seems was the scientists/engineers at the time realised designing something with least amount of moving parts was a critical criteria for success. There’s some real clever stuff went into that which obviously musk has never paid attention to.

[nerrrd]

Back to topic Thunderfoot has a few new recent musk vids. The latest does a good compilation of musk lies and how much taxpayer dollars heÂ’s taken and still failing to supersede 1960Â’s technology or success levels.

On another note one of the reasons Saturn 5 was so successful it seems was the scientists/engineers at the time realised designing something with least amount of moving parts was a critical criteria for success. ThereÂ’s some real clever stuff went into that which obviously musk has never paid attention to.

Watched the latest one, he's entertaining and I wouldn't disagree with any of his points about Elon's pathological hucksterism.

On the money side of things, NASA's contemporary equivalent of the Saturn V surely would be the SLS, which costs 4 billion every time it launches (and that's using leftover shuttle engines for the first four launches). So whether it's SpaceX or NASA, it's a ridiculous amount of money. Also I suspect there are lots of people working at both that aren't complete idiots (possibly even some rocket scientists among them), so I wouldn't want to speculate on their reasons (political or otherwise) for supporting SpaceX despite Elon's hype addiction.

The main reason I'm watching Starship and Super Heavy is because the concept seems straight out of Thunderbirds, which was (and still might be) my all-time favourite TV show. FAB!

[R650R]

Awhile ago Elon donated a cyber truck to Chechnyan Warlord working for Putin. It probably seemed like a good idea at the time.
But upon reflection or perhaps a big boot from the state dept he’s remotely disabled the cyber truck.
There’s now one seriously pissed off warlord in Easten Europe.
You have to wonder if the Tesla cam system was capturing any good intelligence data or if the Russians properly aware of it???

Not sure all those big flat reflective glass and steel panels would be something you’d want in a war zone either, bomber pilots dream target

[pritch]

Awhile ago Elon donated a cyber truck to Chechnyan Warlord working for Putin. It probably seemed like a good idea at the time.
But upon reflection or perhaps a big boot from the state dept he’s remotely disabled the cyber truck.
There’s now one seriously pissed off warlord in Easten Europe.
You have to wonder if the Tesla cam system was capturing any good intelligence data or if the Russians properly aware of it???

Not sure all those big flat reflective glass and steel panels would be something you’d want in a war zone either, bomber pilots dream target

Elon is not the most stable individual and his being into multiple drugs can't help. In the US his involvement with drugs and his Putin sympathies are calling his US security clearances into question. Meanwhile he's starting arguments with multiple governments over X content. It's almost as if he's sick of being the world's richest man.

[nerrrd]

Meanwhile at least some of Elon’s technology ambitions are not vaporware, Starship test flight five is set for around 12:30 tonight. If all goes well they’re going to try and land the booster (the really big bit with 33 engines) alongside the launch tower by grabbing it with two metal arms while it hovers, effectively ‘catching’ it out of the air. What could possibly go wrong?

https://www.youtube.com/live/RKINjXR...QKpVedfYk5TQp-

[onearmedbandit]

Great success from Elon and his team!

[Berries]

Stayed up to watch but they kept putting back the countdown until it was going to clash with the wife watching the boat race so flagged it and went to bed.

Saw the Mechazilla catch.

[R650R]

Yes it does appear to be a success.

Elons great sound bite about how long it takes to get approvals vs build time fails to mention some pertinent information.

Because space x is so physically large the literal impact it would have on populated area in an entry disaster is massive. Thunderfoot did a good breakdown of the kinetic energy involved.

[nerrrd]

Yes it does appear to be a success.

Elons great sound bite about how long it takes to get approvals vs build time fails to mention some pertinent information.

Because space x is so physically large the literal impact it would have on populated area in an entry disaster is massive. Thunderfoot did a good breakdown of the kinetic energy involved.

Yes, they have to take all that into account to get the launch licence, at this point I think it's not a problem as the testing is taking place out to sea and they publish no go areas (which are patrolled and monitored, I think some of the delay on Sunday was down to making sure these were empty).

On the way up they have explosives on board so it can be blown up if something goes wrong, on the way down it's almost empty of fuel – also the booster comes in at a big angle in case it needs to abort and land in the ocean instead. I'm not sure about the tank farm, which is full of fuel and very close to the launch site, but hopefully there's some mitigation built in in case of any unexpected impacts (actually the first flight threw a lot of debris around without blowing anything up).

We're still so far away from Starships being allowed anywhere near a populated area, I'd say it's a moot point.

[1/32 man]

Did I read elong has been linked to some sleezebag scandal and that is why he is pouring millions into trumps campaign?

[onearmedbandit]

I don't know, did you?

[Grumph]

He's certainly claimed to be a friend of Sean Combs - "We text all the time" - who is also an investor in X.

And he's known to have moved in the same circles as Ghislaine Maxwell.

Now of course he's promoting Trump.

Not a wise selection of friends I feel.