Elon Musk: To the People of New Jersey

Post by dsuth » Sat, Mar 15, 2014, 10:30 PM UTC

FD3SA wrote: post #212

mikestew wrote: post #189

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, I remember those times, too; perhaps less nostalgically than you do. Take your ignition system example. Sure, one could dig in there and replace and adjust the points. But you did it because you had to, you had to do it regularly, and it would be adjusted correctly exactly once: after you did the job. From there, the points immediately started wearing and it would not be exactly right until you did it again. So…

I heartily believe there's a market for both. Compare a Macbook Pro with a custom built Linux desktop. The MBP is very user friendly, plug n play, and has very little customization capacity. The custom Linux desktop is an absolute tinkerer's paradise, with everything from hardware to software being open for customization. The car equivalent of these used to exist for daily drivers, but are now relegated mainly to clo…

Post by ElComradio » Sat, Mar 15, 2014, 11:02 PM UTC

dsuth wrote: post #382

ElComradio wrote: post #358

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would prefer that if the government is using our money to support companies we should at least get an ownership stake. As it stands, E-Mizzle, who already had a large personal fortune, received a huge risk free loan from us.

Perhaps your government felt that there would be non-financial benefits to supporting efforts to make affordable electric cars. Can you not think of any?

Post by jack-r-abbit » Sun, Mar 16, 2014, 12:30 AM UTC

Xylakant wrote: post #342

Crito wrote: post #318

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not to mention that 911s look like smooshed Beetles anyway. I kid, I kid...

That's not much of a coincidence: The 911 is actually a fairly old design (early 1960s) and the follow up to the Porsche 356 [1] where the similarity is even more striking. They are also from a technical point of view fairly similar: Both have an air-cooled boxer engine in the back which certainly influences the design. There's also the "Berlin-Rom-Wagen" [2], a sports version of the beetle which was built for a plan…

Post by eruditely » Sun, Mar 16, 2014, 4:09 AM UTC

bane wrote: post #233

The truth is, car dealerships, which are mostly locally owned, are a way for a state to boost revenue capture and generate jobs. In New Jersey, not being able to pump your own gas is the same deal. Look at the economics of a Tesla dealership, for every car sold in New Jersey, how much of that money stays in New Jersey? And let's be honest, being a car salesman is not the most lucrative or respectable of trades. The j…

Post by spiralpolitik » Sun, Mar 16, 2014, 4:24 AM UTC

ghshephard wrote: post #297

stcredzero wrote: post #289

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There are all sorts of laws on the books that we've agreed are idiotic and are no longer enforced. It's up to the executive to determine which those ones are, and, as time progresses, some laws become so outdated that no rational minded person would ever think of enforcing them. Europeans (mostly Germans) I've talked to about how we do this in the US shake their heads. These shenanigans along with the "speed limit+9m…

Just to clarify for any europeans who might have read this, ""speed limit+9mph" informal rule " - is a rule (at least in California) for what your minimum speed on the freeway/highway should politely be. Anybody traveling slower than this needs to be in the slower right lanes to avoid getting tailgated or inspiring road rage. I've often wondered if anybody traveling at (or just over) the speed limit on the freeway ha…