We Have Other Things to Worry About, Elon

 

Musk: And eventually, all life on Earth will be destroyed by the sun. It's gradually expanding, we do at some point have to be multi-planetary civilization because Earth will be incinerated… pic.twitter.com/gMrW39tiBf

— Acyn (@Acyn) May 6, 2025

I know, Getting gobbled up by the sun is pretty, pretty, pretty BAD, but like, it's a few billion years off. You might as well get choked up about colliding with Andromeda (I guess we'll have to be multi-galactic people sometime or another). The climate change is really very likely to get us first--

And he supports Trump, who unfathomably thinks "clean coal" is a thing. So, let's just take that with a grain, hm? 

Blowups Happen

 

Starship 8 debris light show pic.twitter.com/U7lbP7rd0f

— Tesla Owners Silicon Valley (@teslaownersSV) March 7, 2025

The father of Grok, the possible DD Harriman wannabe, Elon Musk, has demonstrated his exceptional qualities as a businessman and leading light of tech industry by once again littering the sky with a "rapid unscheduled disassembly.". This comes a minute (more or less) after Trump explained to his cabinet and the world that maybe DOGE/Musk don't have the ultimate say in who gets fired--the cabinet heads do, as they should. 

DOGE has been prone to mistakes--like gutting nuclear safety.  Like using random keywords to delete programs and contracts because they don't understand sometimes words have two meanings. (Little bitches too young to know from "Stairway to Heaven", even. What even is "Enola Gay"?.) 

Admittedly, this is the same day that Trump played the Hokey-Pokey with the Mexico/Canada tariffs again--is his right foot in, or is it out? Has he tried shaking it all about? 

So what's up and what's odd with that? Oh, nothing. but the FAA having to shut down flights at airports in the Southern Florida area because Musk "made it rain." 

I can't be the only person whose brain does musical vignettes: 

I was going to sell electric cars, then I got high.

I was going to go to Mars, then I got high.

Now my spaceships and stocks are tanking,

and I know why! Hey hey,

Because I got high,

because I got high,

because I got high. 

TWGB: Terminal Main Character Syndrome

 

A young DOGE staffer has left because the Wall Street Journal had some questions, as in, "Is this racist account you? " I'm sure Elon Musk is shocked--shocked! That there are little racist pishers in his Kekistanian domain.  Wow. So exotic and not-vetted. 

What's really funny about this is, when our actual confirmed Secretary of State, former US Senator and former presidential candidate Marco Rubio, made a big statement about not going to the G20 in Johannesburg:

I wanted to ask the Real President (tm) Elon Musk if this was the result of his bitch titties being in a wringer over the concept of the US confronting the Woke Mind Virus on what used to be his terf. I mean, "turf".

Of course, I do. I was just confused because the US is obviously in a transitional period and our pronouns stopped being US and seem to be he/huh! regarding Astroboy. 

He's not the president that MAGA voted for, but he's what they got. Up in our databases, taking our numbers, deciding the size of the government HE thinks we deserve. Regardless of what any vetting into him might show, or what his conflicts of interest might be. 

Elon Musk Goes Full Ford

 

It's not too soon to talk about Henry Ford being a whole racist who bought a newspaper just be extra-racist and who that reminds me of, right? Wow. But anyway, Elon Musk on the social media site he purchased to pretend to be a nonpartisan free speech warrior endorsed AfD which is pretty outstanding neo-Nazi stuff. They are pro-Putin and anti-NATO compared to the rest of Germany for the most part. The big thing is the neo-Nazi thing, though. They are even against climate change science, which I thought the head of Tesla would understand is crucial!

I don't think we should be so quick to define Musk. His own father tells us he isn't exactly what we think he is:

Drone-Mania!!

 

You know, while the quality of mercy is not strained with respects to highly performative Republican arsehats, the benefit of the doubt has been badly overdrawn, and when former PA gubernatorial candidate Doug Mastriano posts something like the above, well, I presume "cultural illiteracy" as well as several other kinds. The kneejerk, Pavlovian tendency to seize any passing whaaambulance in their jaws is something MAGA's will simply have to see to on their own. 

While many no doubt assume their audience is stupid, I'm pretty sure.... well, you KNOW.

But with respects to the headline-writer at The New Republic--is it the "worst"?

There is--another. Nancy Mace speculates they could be from something "outside our universe." 

The Vitruvian Dipshit

 

Someone pointed out on that bird website that when Elon Musk does his weird belly-baring jumping jack thing whilst hyping whatever he's about--he's trying to make an "X" with his body, and I couldn't unsee it. Symbols can be powerful things. He's trying to be his own brand--the logo/sigil that is a powerful thing which he calls the $44 billion thing he regularly is losing value on. 

X. Which hardly anyone calls it, because it remains "Twitter." Because it really is stupid to name anything "X." 

When Musk hypes Trump, he's trying to be part of a political movement. And he's a multibillionaire with services few could offer, so why hype anyone? 

Well, maybe it's because he's gone down an apartheid rabbit hole and thinks the Great Replacement theory is a thing. 

A Whiff of Musk

 

For some reason, Elon Musk has decided to ally himself with a white nationalist supposed billionaire US candidate for president, which just seems so out of place for a billionaire silver spoon immigrant from South Africa who thinks he wants to be DD Hariman and probably just wants a Space Force uniform. Is it the fascism? Is it the gimmicky anti-trans scapegoating that tries to amplify a """"problem"""" where no real problem exists? 

Is it the desire to keep really lucrative government contracts that might be in doubt because of various levels of fuckery? 

Shit I dunno. But instead of thinking about that really hard and popping a blood vessel about what he's done to Twitter, which is where I live, and which I will never call "X: because that is stupid, and undoes a really great cohesive social media theme, with the birdhouses and "Tweets" and other things that all kind of were bird-related, he just made everything dumb and generic and let Nazis post everywhere--I'm thinking about how Musk might be inviting himself to go to prison.

Because he's trying to buy votes and also has manufactured a fake Harris website and has also, too, has some kind of dumb lottery going and his GOTV thing is also not even effective and is really stupid.

No. Really. 

Musk is a Dangerous Prat

 

There was a moment when I almost liked Musk. The CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, realizing climate change was a problem, wanting to spread our species across at least the solar system. It felt idealistic to me in a way--maybe I saw in him a touch of D. D. Harriman, I don't know. 

But then I realized he was a prat. 

It's the anti-woke stuff, you know. The idea that the "woke-mind virus" or diversity is going to prevent us from being a multiplanetary species is sheer twattery. We aren't actually going to be able to do it any other way.*

But anyway, Apartheid Clyde recently achieved a new low in a recent accelerating downward trajectory--no, not the thing where he's blaming ADL for his losing the multiple billions of dollars of value in Twitter that are actually his own stupid fault for letting the fascists and fucking child porn people back on his platform, but also destroying functionality (like analytics) and making people senselessly pay for things that were free and actually increased productive engagement. 

No, I mean the sabotage of a Ukrainian naval mission because he's a prat. 

Imagine being a contractor who decides to go so entirely outside of one's lane as to contact Russian authorities having been apprised of Ukrainian intent to do anything, and then believe the war criminals and just shut down the service they were contracted for. 

Do you think the heads of Lockheed Martin for a moment ever stop and go "You are using HIMARS for war stuff?! WTF!?" 

Per Aspera Ad Astra

 

A life well lived is one that will be long-remembered, and Nichelle Nichols truly lived that meaningful life, where the example of talent and heart, interest and intellect, will long outlast the mortal journey. Her portrayal of Starfleet officer Lt. Nyota Uhura, an African woman who was a key crew member of the Enterprise 's bridge on the influential original Star Trek series, did not only entertain but inspired by representing to young people what could and should be. 

That her work on that sf tv program, so influential some of us want to see it as our aspirational future world, was seen as vital by Dr. Martin Luther King, and lead to her own considerable influence in the careers of actors and NASA figures--scientists and astronauts alike, is a story about her commitment to the idea of the future and human advancement. 

We humans are a messy folk, but there are people among us who remind us to look to the stars. Nichelle Nichols did that so uniquely. Set course for home--among the stars. 

SPACE FARCE!!!

TRUMP: "I call it the super duper missile." pic.twitter.com/sdECPYvcO9

— PoliticsVideoChannel (@politvidchannel) May 15, 2020

You know it's getting bad when I can't completely recall whether Space Force!!! was supposed to be distracting us from the Mueller Report or some other blessed thing, but when I hear "super duper missile" a bell rings and I understand that Trump has upgraded himself to "super duper genius". (I hear ringing in my ears often, now. It's from banging my head a lot.)

And the Space Force flag is the goddamn Star Trek insignia.

Mary Winston Jackson Elementary School has a Great Ring to It

The community of Salt Lake City made a pretty good choice to rename one of their elementary schools, formerly named for President Andrew Jackson, who was a white supremacist whose story meant pain for indigenous people and the descendants of bond slavery alike, to represent a hero of the space age, Mary Winston Jackson, whose contribution to science speaks of the value of education and the value of the development of all minds. 

Choosing which history we respect is a reflection of our values. This is a great choice. 

This is One Possible Future Liberals Want

WATCH: SpaceX's #FalconHeavy — a rocket the size of a 20-story building, containing 27 engines and a cherry-red Tesla Roadster as its payload — went up, up and away today. pic.twitter.com/liKKn3pVfW

— PBS NewsHour (@NewsHour) February 7, 2018

Elon Musk is like this universe's version of D.D. Harriman. I find his projects fascinating and see him as a visionary and also a little bit as a future-fluffer. I don't know if Tesla is the future of post-fossil automotives, but I can't argue with the strategy of tying design, pricing, fueling advantages together and working at making vehicles that try to answer all consumer caveats. What Musk is trying to do to push the envelope forward on post fossil-fuel strategies is important. And I appreciate the ambition and the material-sparing nature of his rocketry program. The return of the rocket instead of being wasted is a beautiful thing--seeing the return landing is like being incredulous that one is not seeing a launch in reverse.

It's sweet, innovative, genius technology. But I also have to admit, I love this stunt with the Tesla being put in orbit for no good reason.

It's a perfectly good auto that Musk himself has driven, being launched into orbit with a "Starman" dummy, David Bowie on the stereo, and "Don't panic!" flashing on the dashboard. Isaac Asimov's Foundation is also digitally on board. It seems like one part prank left for the "space brothers" if we imagine our place in the universe shared with benign occasional observers who might appreciate our humor, and pause to think "Whoa--that human is waaayy off-road!" and also part defiant statement against the apparent entropy of our space dreams saying "We were always here in spirit even if most of us never left the ground". I can't argue with either statement, although I have so many questions about the idea that we might need a bolthole to regroup if we were ever hounded off-planet by AI. I mean, really--if I can find "humans will try to escape earth in case of actual Skynet scenario by thisclose to 20th century rocketry", I am pretty sure that no matter how not-networked you tried to keep it, some parallel computing local network would anticipate and have used a bot to search this outcome and already have hijacked a dozen or more potential passengers' phones to figure out the when and where of lift-off to confound the whole thing through traffic apps. I'm pro-AI, myself. I think my job as a human is in part to let other humans know how to be better heuristic models for AI engagement studies of successful social interaction. Which boils down to Wheaton's Law: Don't be a jerk. (In chat-bot exercises, AI's can easily adapt to jerkdom.)

As with nuclear power and maybe eventually abandoning fossil fuels altogether, I'd like to think we understood that AI's would be tech whose danger mirrors our use of them, and that we just need to be totally responsible global citizens and...

Yep. I totally understand why a lone red luxury car carrying a dummy and some artifacts of my generation are circling the globe right now. Elon Musk is a guy doing shit I just about understand for reasons I totally get. It's an artistic statement and an advertisement and we need to get serious together and make some better future happen, and, as Ray Bradbury suggested, not predict the future but prevent it--for a value of future that includes all the grotesque and human and AI-abusive dystopias. We need to value independence and get away from waste and think bigger. We can dream and do big things together or alone. But we will dream.

The Katherine Johnson Computational Research Facility Has Opened

NASA names its new Langley Research Center after legendary mathematician Katherine Johnson, the woman featured in the movie "Hidden Figures" pic.twitter.com/AbsL5lo6L0

— NBC News (@NBCNews) September 23, 2017

I think it's great that NASA has recognized someone who helped make the space program really work with this lasting tribute. (There are more fun tributes to the contribution of women to NASA--but this is pretty awesome.)

If this seems like more of my shameless joy about women getting their due in STEM fields, well, yeah.

We Have Always Been At War with Barsoom

Pence: "We will put American boots on the face of Mars" https://t.co/bADqoanYL6 pic.twitter.com/NJ1kt4oJuz

— The Hill (@thehill) July 7, 2017

Leave it to Mike Pence to phrase a Mars-shot in a way that my brain insists on taking in the worst possible way (space totalitarianism is an American boot, stamping on the face of Mars, forever). I just don't see the Trump Administration as being the greatest fans of science or education in the first place, and I don't really trust their long-range planning skills to marshal such a scheme into fruition. Also, there might be plans to create a military branch--for space.

I've joked before about this Trump timeline not being the one I belong to. In the timeline I'd prefer, humans as a species would approach space as a non-political opportunity for exploration and cooperation in branching out off the homeworld into something less tribal, trivial and political, and face the real challenges of being not just global citizens, but solar system citizens. While it sounds like such a military branch would have a defensive mission guarding our orbiting assets, I'd worry about "mission creep". Trumpists have enough issues with earth "aliens" entering the US--I don't know if this is the leadership I'd want for a first encounter situation.

But I'm just being speculative. There are lots of reasons why I treat the Trump Administration as if it was populated by hordes of six-limbed belligerent green giants, and I was Princess Dejah Sore-Ass.

John Glenn Has Boldly Gone

The legacy of John Glenn as a space pioneer is a story about 20th century American optimism and courage. Being the first US astronaut to orbit the Earth was no small undertaking. Proceeding from that great event to a career of public service and an eventual re-entry to space in 1998, he showed a constant drive to do important things.

This year, 2016, has been discussed as having been marked with passages of many greats. In some ways, to me, it feels like a cutting of ties to the current of the 20th century, to make this 21st century whatever it needs to become. But I hope the future continues to show such examples of "the right stuff", the sureness and boldness to look to new frontiers, and the commitment to providing service to others as a form of not just patriotism, but humanity.

John Glenn had an astonishing life--most worthy of celebration at its completion.

Iran Mad-Libs, Space Monkey Edition

Two Iran science-y stories came out so recently, I can't help but try to play Conspiracy Theory Mad-Libs about them.  They are as follows:

Iran Claims Monkey shot into Space:

Western experts said the brief experiment appeared to have few if any immediate military implications, as it might have if Iran had launched a much larger vehicle that could fly high and fast enough to put a major payload into orbit. 

“It doesn’t demonstrate any militarily significant technology,” said Jonathan McDowell, a Harvard astronomer who tracks rocket launchings and space activity. “This is a tiny old rocket, and what’s on top is useful only for doing astronaut stuff.” 

Rather, he and other experts said, the exercise seemed to represent a small but significant step in Iran’s stated goal of developing rockets big and advanced enough to send human astronauts into space — a goal Tehran has repeated publicly for more than a year.

And then there's this thing: