💰 Twitter made Musk pay billions in taxes
Tesla works on software ... SpaceX gets hit with another delay… Elon Musk will pay taxes.
Tesla works on software ... SpaceX gets hit with another delay… Elon Musk will pay taxes. It’s the free edition of Musk Reads #272 — subscribe now to receive two more emails later this week.
Last week, Musk Reads+ members heard from David Anderman, former SpaceX general counsel, about plans for a Mars constitution. This week, members will hear from Anderman about how it's about to get a whole lot easier to go to space.
Musk quote of the week:
“Why does ur pp look like u just came?” — Elon Musk sadly tweeted in response to Senator Ron Wyden on November 7. Wyden shared his reaction to Musk’s Twitter poll, which requested that his Twitter followers decide whether he should sell 10% of his Tesla stock and pay taxes (57.9% of respondents clicked “yes”), saying that “Whether or not the world’s wealthiest man pays any taxes at all shouldn’t depend on the results of a Twitter poll.” That’s a fair assessment, but Musk had to hit him with the “pp came,” asking why the Senator’s profile photo seems to be taken right after he climaxed. Personally, I find the profile photo to look very normal, but hey, who am I to judge Musk’s categorization. I hope to God I never have to see these words together again.
Tesla: FSD keeps getting better
Elon Musk, who has recently rebranded as “Lorde Edge” from “Trollheim,” shared some exciting, non-edgelord Tesla updates on Twitter. (This writer believes the name change is a reference to Musk’s self-anointed edgelord-ness, but the creator of Dogecoin notes that it’s also an anagram for “elder doge.” Either way, my heart has room for only one Lorde.)
Full Self-Driving Beta 10.4 continues to roll out, and Musk notes that, “if [subtle hardware differences in the owner fleet] continues to look good over the next few days, [Tesla] may start rolling out to 98 safety scores.”
Tesla is also hoping to assist “non-tech savvy owners” by reducing jitter and improving memory in Autopilot, as well as drivers overall by assigning personal preferences to individual driver profiles. It’s a good day to be a Tesla driver.
SpaceX: Another sad delay
But not so much a SpaceX fan. Crew-3’s trip to the International Space Station was hit with another delay, this time to Wednesday, November 10. This second delay is most likely to do with a minor health issue an unnamed member of the crew dealt with last week.
On a more positive note, SpaceX and NASA’s Crew-2 mission to the ISS, which departed our little blue rock on April 23, 2021, is coming back home today, Monday, November 8.
You can watch the rest of the descent live on NASA’s website — coverage will be available through 10:33 p.m. Eastern time, the spaceflight’s targeted splashdown time.
Unfortunately, Crew-2’s Endeavor capsule is beleaguered with a non-functioning toilet, so the four astronauts will be returning to our world wearing one of the most human inventions, the noble diaper. But don’t let them know you know that.
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10. Because a Twitter poll told him to, Elon Musk is bravely deciding to pay taxes this year. I am crying because of how brave this is.
9. If Musk’s decision causes your Tesla stock to plummet tomorrow and this causes you concern … I’m sorry, but according to some Tesla fans, this makes you a giant noob. Remember when Musk tweeted that Tesla went bankrupt as an April Fool’s joke despite the real world consequences it would have? Hysterical. Noob alert!
8. But if you’d like to invest in other environmentally friendly companies that meme slightly less hard than Tesla, check out Canadian newspaper The Globe and Mail’s new newsletter “Green Investing 101.” Get a taste with this first installment.
7. Giga Berlin is once again up for discussion. Still, Tesla could still receive its building permit this year.
6. No matter what happens, at least it’s all just a simulation. Maybe? Reality bytes, etc.
5. These Boston Dynamics robots are dancing to “Start Me Up” on YouTube. I repeat, these Boston Dynamics robots are dancing to “Start Me Up” on YouTube.
4. Also on YouTube — David Blaine eating Jeff Bezos’ wine glass. Mm, glass.
3. Are there aliens on Mars’ moon Phobos? Maybe.
2. According to French Astronaut Thomas Pesquet, Crew-2’s mission commander, Earth’s climate change looks dire even from 250 miles above it. “We saw all of California covered by a cloud of smoke and flames with the naked eye,” Pesquet said on a video call last Thursday.
1. And a piece of Musk history: Revisit April 22, 2021, the day Elon Musk’s $100 million XPRIZE Foundation prize for carbon removal was revealed. It’s the “largest incentive prize in history,” says the XPRIZE Foundation website, and registration is still open. One small step...
The ultra-fine print
This has been Musk Reads #272, the weekly rundown of essential reading about futurist and entrepreneur Elon Musk. I’m Ashley Bardhan, assistant to Musk Reads.
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Musk needs to tone it down. Even a genius can behave better.