[Kabal]

A few weeks/months ago at work, I was reading about the economics of the hyperloop, when I stumbled upon Elon Musk's Wikipedia Page.

I couldn't help but notice:

Quote:

Musk met his first wife, the Canadian-born author Justine Musk (née Wilson), while they were both students at Queen's University. They were married in 2000.

That's cute... he married his college sweatheart.

This definitely won't last, though, since he eventually became who he is now...

Quote:

They announced their separation in September 2008.

Alas.

Quote:

Musk announced in January 2012 that he had recently ended a four-year relationship with his second wife, British actress Talulah Riley.

Hm, he ended up shacking up with Saito's facade from Inception. She breached uncanny valley for me in that movie, but that was probably an intentional part of the film-makers to induce a dream-like feel to the cinematography.

Quote:

Musk has five children, all boys: a set of twins and a set of triplets.

Interesting.

Sounds like there could be a little story, a little subtext there...

I opened one of the links at the bottom of the Wiki page, I was a Starter Wife, written by Justine Musk:

Quote:

A fellow student a year ahead of me, he was a clean-cut, upper-class boy with a South African accent who appeared in front of me one afternoon as I was leaping up the steps to my dorm. He said we'd met at a party I knew I hadn't been to. (Years later, he would confess that he had noticed me from across the common room and decided he wanted to meet me.)

...I was not the only woman he pursued...

When he'd return to Queen's to visit friends, I found myself agreeing to have dinner with him. Once, in the bookstore together, I pointed to a shelf and said, "One day I want my own books to go right there." I had said this before to a girlfriend, who laughed and spun on her heel. But Elon not only took me seriously, he seemed impressed. It was the first time that a boy found my sense of ambition — instead of my long hair or narrow waist — attractive. Previous boyfriends complained that I was "competitive," but Elon said I had "a fire in my soul."

Daygame cold-approach, using lies to trump the truth, feigning interest in a girl's banal "interests."

Game, recognized.

Quote:

Two years later — two months before our January 2000 wedding — Elon told me we had an appointment with a lawyer who was going to help us with a "financial agreement" that the board of his new company wanted us to sign. When I looked at him, he said quickly, "It's not a prenup."

Eh heh heh.

Quote:

And no matter how many highlights I got, Elon pushed me to be blonder. "Go platinum," he kept saying, and I kept refusing.

Molding your girl into your vision. Marriage/relationship game: recognized.

Quote:

Elon agreed to enter counseling, but he was running two companies and carrying a planet of stress. One month and three sessions later, he gave me an ultimatum: Either we fix this marriage today or I will divorce you tomorrow, by which I understood he meant, Our status quo works for me, so it should work for you. He filed for divorce the next morning. I felt numb, but strangely relieved.

Eight years after I signed the postnup, I began to understand just what I'd done. I had effectively signed away all my rights as a married person, including any claim to community property except our house, which was to be vested in my name once we had a child. But my lawyer is presenting a legal theory that could render the postnup invalid.

Vomit.

Then I started reading up on Talulah Riley. Turns out she is actually quite a smokeshow, despite her I, Robot appearance in Inception.

Quote:

One night in July 2008 Talulah was attending a ball for her favourite charity, the Prince's Trust. Elon was in London giving a lecture to the Royal Aeronautical Society. Somehow they both ended up at the nightclub Whisky Mist (Talulah recounts the concatenation of coincidences that brought them together, involving broken mobile phones and friends of friends, with fond amazement). 'Then there he was, smiling this very big smile and talking about colonising Mars. I was already interested in that kind of thing – the Goldilocks zone of habitable planets and so forth. He showed me all these pictures on his phone: "This is my rocket", "This is my electric car". I thought these were projects he'd worked on, I didn't know they were all his own doing. I did think he was a little bit insane, that first night. In a wonderful way.' She left having promised him dinner.

The next morning, her father called. 'I said, "Daddy, I've met this amazing man who makes rockets." ' Her father, formerly head of the National Crime Squad, now a writer of TV police procedurals, responded with a suspicious 'What's his name?' He Googled 'Elon + rocket + electric car' and exclaimed, angrily, that Elon was married with five children. 'You've been picked up by a playboy. Text that man you're not going for dinner with him and he's a bastard.'

Bahaha.

Quote:

After a total of ten days in each other's company, Elon proposed.

Talulah was still a virgin. 'I've never slept with anyone apart from Elon,' she says. 'Which is nice. I mean, which is great. After all that, to describe it as "nice" It's great.' She had had one boyfriend, who was Elon's age, 'who was very lovely to me'. But she always made it clear she did not believe in sex before marriage. Why not? 'For no reason that I can explain. I'm very shy. I don't drink. I had a gulp of alcohol once and it was disgusting – so bitter. I don't drink tea or coffee. I'm like a child, I like fruit juices and sodas and creamy hot chocolate.'

1/1 Talulah Riley's agree: women are children.

As for Riley's ex-boyfriend: sucks to suck.

So, to re-cap, Elon Musk:
- Was a Applied Physics PhD student at Stanford, drops out to pursue entrepreneurial ventures
- Becomes a millionaire a few years later
- Is eventually the inspiration behind Favreau's depiction of Downey Jr.'s Tony Stark
- Has five kids, then ditches aging wife as she becomes disenchanted and dissatisfied
- Swipes the V-Card of smoke-show actress who fit neatly under the 1/2 * Age + 7 guideline

Mistakes were made (getting married twice), but Musk certainly presents a better role model of a billionaire than Mark "Asian 5" Zuckerberg or bleeding heart Bill Gates.

[pheonix500000]

(11-04-2013 10:57 PM)Kabal Wrote:  

A few weeks/months ago at work, I was reading about the economics of the hyperloop, when I stumbled upon Elon Musk's Wikipedia Page.

I couldn't help but notice:

Quote:

Musk met his first wife, the Canadian-born author Justine Musk (née Wilson), while they were both students at Queen's University. They were married in 2000.

That's cute... he married his college sweatheart.

This definitely won't last, though, since he eventually became who he is now...

Quote:

They announced their separation in September 2008.

Alas.

Quote:

Musk announced in January 2012 that he had recently ended a four-year relationship with his second wife, British actress Talulah Riley.

Hm, he ended up shacking up with Saito's facade from Inception. She breached uncanny valley for me in that movie, but that was probably an intentional part of the film-makers to induce a dream-like feel to the cinematography.

Quote:

Musk has five children, all boys: a set of twins and a set of triplets.

Interesting.

Sounds like there could be a little story, a little subtext there...

I opened one of the links at the bottom of the Wiki page, I was a Starter Wife, written by Justine Musk:

Quote:

A fellow student a year ahead of me, he was a clean-cut, upper-class boy with a South African accent who appeared in front of me one afternoon as I was leaping up the steps to my dorm. He said we'd met at a party I knew I hadn't been to. (Years later, he would confess that he had noticed me from across the common room and decided he wanted to meet me.)

...I was not the only woman he pursued...

When he'd return to Queen's to visit friends, I found myself agreeing to have dinner with him. Once, in the bookstore together, I pointed to a shelf and said, "One day I want my own books to go right there." I had said this before to a girlfriend, who laughed and spun on her heel. But Elon not only took me seriously, he seemed impressed. It was the first time that a boy found my sense of ambition — instead of my long hair or narrow waist — attractive. Previous boyfriends complained that I was "competitive," but Elon said I had "a fire in my soul."

Daygame cold-approach, using lies to trump the truth, feigning interest in a girl's banal "interests."

Game, recognized.

Quote:

Two years later — two months before our January 2000 wedding — Elon told me we had an appointment with a lawyer who was going to help us with a "financial agreement" that the board of his new company wanted us to sign. When I looked at him, he said quickly, "It's not a prenup."

Eh heh heh.

Quote:

And no matter how many highlights I got, Elon pushed me to be blonder. "Go platinum," he kept saying, and I kept refusing.

Molding your girl into your vision. Marriage/relationship game: recognized.

Quote:

Elon agreed to enter counseling, but he was running two companies and carrying a planet of stress. One month and three sessions later, he gave me an ultimatum: Either we fix this marriage today or I will divorce you tomorrow, by which I understood he meant, Our status quo works for me, so it should work for you. He filed for divorce the next morning. I felt numb, but strangely relieved.

Eight years after I signed the postnup, I began to understand just what I'd done. I had effectively signed away all my rights as a married person, including any claim to community property except our house, which was to be vested in my name once we had a child. But my lawyer is presenting a legal theory that could render the postnup invalid.

Vomit.

Then I started reading up on Talulah Riley. Turns out she is actually quite a smokeshow, despite her I, Robot appearance in Inception.

Quote:

One night in July 2008 Talulah was attending a ball for her favourite charity, the Prince's Trust. Elon was in London giving a lecture to the Royal Aeronautical Society. Somehow they both ended up at the nightclub Whisky Mist (Talulah recounts the concatenation of coincidences that brought them together, involving broken mobile phones and friends of friends, with fond amazement). 'Then there he was, smiling this very big smile and talking about colonising Mars. I was already interested in that kind of thing – the Goldilocks zone of habitable planets and so forth. He showed me all these pictures on his phone: "This is my rocket", "This is my electric car". I thought these were projects he'd worked on, I didn't know they were all his own doing. I did think he was a little bit insane, that first night. In a wonderful way.' She left having promised him dinner.

The next morning, her father called. 'I said, "Daddy, I've met this amazing man who makes rockets." ' Her father, formerly head of the National Crime Squad, now a writer of TV police procedurals, responded with a suspicious 'What's his name?' He Googled 'Elon + rocket + electric car' and exclaimed, angrily, that Elon was married with five children. 'You've been picked up by a playboy. Text that man you're not going for dinner with him and he's a bastard.'

Bahaha.

Quote:

After a total of ten days in each other's company, Elon proposed.

Talulah was still a virgin. 'I've never slept with anyone apart from Elon,' she says. 'Which is nice. I mean, which is great. After all that, to describe it as "nice" It's great.' She had had one boyfriend, who was Elon's age, 'who was very lovely to me'. But she always made it clear she did not believe in sex before marriage. Why not? 'For no reason that I can explain. I'm very shy. I don't drink. I had a gulp of alcohol once and it was disgusting – so bitter. I don't drink tea or coffee. I'm like a child, I like fruit juices and sodas and creamy hot chocolate.'

1/1 Talulah Riley's agree: women are children.

As for Riley's ex-boyfriend: sucks to suck.

So, to re-cap, Elon Musk:
- Was a Applied Physics PhD student at Stanford, drops out to pursue entrepreneurial ventures
- Becomes a millionaire a few years later
- Is eventually the inspiration behind Favreau's depiction of Downey Jr.'s Tony Stark
- Has five kids, then ditches aging wife as she becomes disenchanted and dissatisfied
- Swipes the V-Card of smoke-show actress who fit neatly under the 1/2 * Age + 7 guideline

Mistakes were made (getting married twice), but Musk certainly presents a better role model of a billionaire than Mark "Asian 5" Zuckerberg or bleeding heart Bill Gates.

This is a dupe, i remember reading about him here and the same comparisons to zukerberg was made, i'll give him props though, he was used as the inspiration for iron man and next to Branson he's as alpha as billionaires get.

[rdvirus]

Elon Musk is a fuckin god in my books, definitely inspirational.

[solo]

The Elon Musk interview on Mars colonisation: http://aeon.co/magazine/technology/the-e...w-on-mars/

I only skimmed through it. Very interesting. Stuff I've always liked to think about.

[magellan]

His first wife actually blew him off while at Queens and got with him after college I believe. He ended up transferring to Penn to finish undergrad. So really she had it coming...

[TheFinalEpic]

The guy is the closest thing to a real life Tony Stark. Most interesting man alive, watching the documentary about him gets me right fired up.

[monster]

(11-23-2014 05:26 PM)TheFinalEpic Wrote:  

The guy is the closest thing to a real life Tony Stark. Most interesting man alive, watching the documentary about him gets me right fired up.

which doc?

[Soberane]

[TheFinalEpic]

^^^ That one. Shows the struggles he went through financially to be where he is today. The guy is a risk taker extraordinaire.

[Soberane]

^^^ He likes it, that is the point, after selling PayPal, He alone got 100 millions in the pockets, most people would retire and travel the world with that money.

[Old Fritz]

A good role model

[MrLemon]

(11-23-2014 08:40 PM)Soberane Wrote:  

^^^ He likes it, that is the point, after selling PayPal, He alone got 100 millions in the pockets, most people would retire and travel the world with that money.

I know a couple guys with 100s of millions in their pockets. Not as friends, mind you (they really don't have friends per se) but as an employee.

They usually do travel the world but they get really bored. Having a lot of money isn't actually all that exciting after the first few years.

So they come back to Silicon Valley and start another few companies. Or they start a robot company.

That's what makes Silicon Valley tick. All the huge wads of cash that are constantly being recycled back into young entrepreneurs. There isn't anything like it anywhere else in the world.

[wi30]

I just came up with a great new business idea yesterday. Watched that video and I'm going to pull the trigger tomorrow. In 30 years I hope my name gets included with some of the greats: Elon Musk, Richard Branson, Felix Dennis, etc.

The self-improvement aspect of this forum is why I keep coming back.

[Basement Dweller]

Dude has bitch tits and needs to lift. He married a couple gold digging whores too, so not so sure on this guys game.

[travolta]

(11-24-2014 02:01 AM)Basement Dweller Wrote:  

Dude has bitch tits and needs to lift. He married a couple gold digging whores too, so not so sure on this guys game.

100% sure Elon Musk is living/has lived a better life than you. Your jealousy is comical. Hating on a billionaire.... LOL

[Basement Dweller]

(11-24-2014 04:01 AM)travolta Wrote:  

(11-24-2014 02:01 AM)Basement Dweller Wrote:  

Dude has bitch tits and needs to lift. He married a couple gold digging whores too, so not so sure on this guys game.

100% sure Elon Musk is living/has lived a better life than you. Your jealousy is comical. Hating on a billionaire.... LOL

I've been following Elon Musk for quite some time, and he is an inspirational entrepreneur but I don't buy the whole 'Tony Stark' trope people ascribe.

He's basically a Beta nerd that made billions and in my opinion failed miserably in his personal life regarding the gold digging whore wives he had on his payroll.

[LeBeau]

(11-24-2014 02:01 AM)Basement Dweller Wrote:  

Dude has bitch tits and needs to lift. He married a couple gold digging whores too, so not so sure on this guys game.

[Engineer]

(11-24-2014 04:15 AM)LeBeau Wrote:  

(11-24-2014 02:01 AM)Basement Dweller Wrote:  

Dude has bitch tits and needs to lift. He married a couple gold digging whores too, so not so sure on this guys game.

"Does he even lift?"

[Soberane]

(11-24-2014 04:08 AM)Basement Dweller Wrote:  

(11-24-2014 04:01 AM)travolta Wrote:  

(11-24-2014 02:01 AM)Basement Dweller Wrote:  

Dude has bitch tits and needs to lift. He married a couple gold digging whores too, so not so sure on this guys game.

100% sure Elon Musk is living/has lived a better life than you. Your jealousy is comical. Hating on a billionaire.... LOL

I've been following Elon Musk for quite some time, and he is an inspirational entrepreneur but I don't buy the whole 'Tony Stark' trope people ascribe.

He's basically a Beta nerd that made billions and in my opinion failed miserably in his personal life regarding the gold digging whore wives he had on his payroll.

They are just friends

[Bad Hussar]

Don't know too much about his personal life so won't comment on the "'Alpha" vs 'Beta'" stuff. Will say that I think the two main business he is now pursuing, commercial space travel/ventures and electric cars, are probably two of the most difficult industries an entrepreneur could choose and expect he will not make money in either of them. Electric cars because it seems we are very far from having the technology that will make a typical personal electric car a genuine net positive for the environment, or alternatively cheaper to operate over the long term. Failing massive government subsidies or tax credits I don't think they can become mass market items unless/untill technology improves exponentially. And personal space travel is just astronomically (ha) difficult. Space is, well....a hostile place. It "wants" to kill you. The things a spaceship manufacturer would need to do to protect passengers are orders of magnitude more extreme than what commercial aircraft manufacturers need to do.

I'm all for trying difficult things, but I honestly don't think Musk will be the man to profit, financially, from either of these ventures. He made his money with paypal which is a ridiculously mainstream and "safe" concept. Good for him for using the money to do big things but I don't think he'll see a return in his lifetime.

PS: Needs to concentrate on satellite launches (which I think is where the real space related money will be) and battery operated mass transit, where you can make the environmental case, in order to generate cash.

[The Beast1]

I like Elon, but it pains me how myopic his newest ventures are.

He has BILLIONs upon billions of cash and yet he won't do anything to shake up the establishment.

What we get from him is a rich guy building toys. Tesla is nothing more than an oligarch battery playmobile car. Everytime I see a Tesla I think of this:



So you're into mechanically upsetting designs, alright cool! Why don't you make something for the poor debt ridden serf masses like an alternative fuel vehicle that's cheap. Say like a natural gas powered car for the masses (a la Model T au natural gas). Keep making those expensive super cars as a "dream" model for the poor people to aspire to. I betcha every Pontiac buyer looked at the Cadillac lot with envy!

Or if you want to keep it all electric, why not figure out a different type of fission energy that lowers the cost of electricity and also lowers dependence on coal fired plants. Tesla's are far from environmentally friendly when your electric power comes from mostly coal fired plants. That's also leaving out the question regarding the open pit mining for those lithium ion batteries powering that thing. Capacitors anyone?

SpaceX is great too, but again where are the provocative engineering endeavors? Why not build a space elevator or work something similar. Find a cheaper way of getting a payload into space that doesn't involve large amounts of fuel.

Basically, do more with less! Cut the legs of the entrenched status quo and eat their lunch. These dot com geniuses never make the jump from IT guru to industrialist very well.

Then again, what do i know?

[magellan]

I recommend checking out the only biography currently out on him titled The Engineer. Explains a lot of his thinking behind why Tesla is originally targeted to wealthier consumers (it's a difficult technology, and changing behavior of consumers is even harder so it makes sense to start with the socially influential) and how incremental / transformative SpaceX really is (completely disrupted the economics of the aerospace business and provides real competition to lower ridiculously out of whack costs of parts and make space exploration a viable option).

[Engineer]

(11-24-2014 09:29 AM)frenchie Wrote:  

I like Elon, but it pains me how myopic his newest ventures are.

SpaceX is great too, but again where are the provocative engineering endeavors? Why not build a space elevator or work something similar. Find a cheaper way of getting a payload into space that doesn't involve large amounts of fuel.

Basically, do more with less! Cut the legs of the entrenched status quo and eat their lunch. These dot com geniuses never make the jump from IT guru to industrialist very well.

SpaceX is reducing launch costs by more than an order of magnitude, going to reusable stages so you don't have to throw away the expensive parts (engines, tanks, avionics). The cost of fuel and oxidizer is nothing compared to that. He is doing exactly what you said "cut the legs of ..." - the launcher monopoly for US military satellites (United Launch Alliance) are absolutely shitting themselves and on the defensive.

I don't know the automotive industry as well, but it seems to me the majors are falling over themselves to build hybrids and full-electrics at an accelerating pace. That seems like a shakeup which wasn't exactly inspired by the Prius that was around for much longer. Once BMW saw there is a real market for a luxury EV they went forward with the i series pretty quick.

Bad Hussar, my take is once they have fuck you money, future profits don't appeal as much as they did, so the philanthropic billionaires do things like try to cure diseases globally or lower our dependance on fossil fuels.

Between Tesla, Solar City, and SpaceX he seems about as realistically visionary as possible. His next project will partner with World Vu to bring cheaper internet to the entire planet via hundreds of smallsats in low earth orbit. I really don't see where you get "myopic", frenchie.

[The Beast1]

(11-24-2014 12:46 PM)Engineer Wrote:  

(11-24-2014 09:29 AM)frenchie Wrote:  

I like Elon, but it pains me how myopic his newest ventures are.

SpaceX is great too, but again where are the provocative engineering endeavors? Why not build a space elevator or work something similar. Find a cheaper way of getting a payload into space that doesn't involve large amounts of fuel.

Basically, do more with less! Cut the legs of the entrenched status quo and eat their lunch. These dot com geniuses never make the jump from IT guru to industrialist very well.

SpaceX is reducing launch costs by more than an order of magnitude, going to reusable stages so you don't have to throw away the expensive parts (engines, tanks, avionics). The cost of fuel and oxidizer is nothing compared to that. He is doing exactly what you said "cut the legs of ..." - the launcher monopoly for US military satellites (United Launch Alliance) are absolutely shitting themselves and on the defensive.

I don't know the automotive industry as well, but it seems to me the majors are falling over themselves to build hybrids and full-electrics at an accelerating pace. That seems like a shakeup which wasn't exactly inspired by the Prius that was around for much longer. Once BMW saw there is a real market for a luxury EV they went forward with the i series pretty quick.

Bad Hussar, my take is once they have fuck you money, future profits don't appeal as much as they did, so the philanthropic billionaires do things like try to cure diseases globally or lower our dependance on fossil fuels.

Between Tesla, Solar City, and SpaceX he seems about as realistically visionary as possible. His next project will partner with World Vu to bring cheaper internet to the entire planet via hundreds of smallsats in low earth orbit. I really don't see where you get "myopic", frenchie.

Thanks for the notes. I don't know enough about SpaceX to make a fully well rounded claim. My interests lie mostly in the automotive industry.

These are problems that everyone has over looked. Current EVs:
1. Use coal created electricity
2. Can only be purchased by the super rich lefties can buy and feel good about. The 35k model that is supposed to be coming out soon will remove my opinion on this.
3. Lithium ion batteries come from the most non environmentally friendly processing imaginable.

There is nothing green about these automotives despite what people want to think.

Not to mention that the government subsidizes the hell out of Tesla and Wallstreet has made it its current darling.

I will give you this engineer, i'm just a husk who doesn't know enough to make a good critical judgement. However, i've seen enough interviews of Elon and the lofty promises are just that promises. I still remain skeptical about the long term success of Elon's projects. If anything, I expect them to all fail and someone else to buy up his assets.

Give me a business that has a truly out of this world invention like a new fuel source, long lasting capacitors, non propellant based space propulsion, breeder fusion reactors, etc.

[Soberane]

(11-24-2014 09:29 AM)frenchie Wrote:  

I like Elon, but it pains me how myopic his newest ventures are.

He has BILLIONs upon billions of cash and yet he won't do anything to shake up the establishment.

What we get from him is a rich guy building toys. Tesla is nothing more than an oligarch battery playmobile car. Everytime I see a Tesla I think of this:



So you're into mechanically upsetting designs, alright cool! Why don't you make something for the poor debt ridden serf masses like an alternative fuel vehicle that's cheap. Say like a natural gas powered car for the masses (a la Model T au natural gas). Keep making those expensive super cars as a "dream" model for the poor people to aspire to. I betcha every Pontiac buyer looked at the Cadillac lot with envy!

Or if you want to keep it all electric, why not figure out a different type of fission energy that lowers the cost of electricity and also lowers dependence on coal fired plants. Tesla's are far from environmentally friendly when your electric power comes from mostly coal fired plants. That's also leaving out the question regarding the open pit mining for those lithium ion batteries powering that thing. Capacitors anyone?


Basically, do more with less! Cut the legs of the entrenched status quo and eat their lunch. These dot com geniuses never make the jump from IT guru to industrialist very well.

Then again, what do i know?

Half the price of Tesla cars is the battery, that is why he is building a Gigafactory in Nevada, bringing the price of electric card to half

He also own Solarcity, solar panels company.

Quote:

SpaceX is great too, but again where are the provocative engineering endeavors? Why not build a space elevator or work something similar. Find a cheaper way of getting a payload into space that doesn't involve large amounts of fuel.