(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . The Muskmelon Report [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.'] Date: 2024-12-01 A compilation of stories about Musk and his companies with links to the full articles. __________________________________ Scientists, as well as Barack Obama, think that Musk's idea of a space colony on Mars is he recipe for disaster. There are simply too many details to work out. Would it be possible for women to bear children on Mars? Would everybody die from radiation? Just the problem of Mars having 38% of the gravity of Earth is a major problem to bodily functions. The biggest problem Obama made note of was, "oxygen, as far as we can tell, Mars does not," have any. ________________________________ Elon Musk says he wants Starlink to make more money off of the United States. He says that the $42.5 billion dollars that was set to go for rural broadband internet is a mistake. Starlink was cut out of the program because it's too slow. As more users sign on, it slows the whole system. There's also the problem of latency between outer space and the Earth. __________________________________ Elon Musk's X is coming to the rescue of Alex Jones on the sale of Infowars. Infowars was sold at a bankruptcy auction to The Onion. Alex and allies have been contesting the results of the auction. Elon says that social media accounts cannot be sold. It gets more complicated so use the link above to get the details. ________________________________ Elon musk's Department of Government Efficiency is setting its sights on the IRS. The IRS is asking for an additional $20 billion in funding. This would replace the $20 billion that was already taken out in order to get a continuing resolution through Congress so the government stayed operational. Studies have shown that for every dollar invested in the IRS the return is $6-$12. Once again they will use the excuse that the IRS is going after the middle class when it's actually the wealthy and corporations that aren't paying their fair share. __________________________________ Musk is now talking about using what he called a stupid fuel, for cars. You don't burn the hydrogen in a fuel cell. It's sort of like the operation of a catalytic converter. Hydrogen reacts with oxygen, generating electricity. The waste product is water. Getting the hydrogen into pressurized tanks is a problem at all in itself. It takes energy to create the separation of hydrogen from water. So, I'm not sure if this is an as environmentally safe as just an electric car. There are already forklifts, automobiles, buses, boats, trains, motorcycles, even submarines that are already using hydrogen fuel cells. You need a continuous supply of hydrogen to keep the cell working. This means you have to have a pressurized tank of hydrogen. It's unclear to me what safety measures have been taken. What happens if you have an accident in a car? Tanks are supposedly made much more robust than old tank designs. There's also leak detectors, flame detectors and ventilation systems. As a result there has to be regular inspections and maintenance. This does not sound like what car buyers are looking for today. Then there's how can you refill them. You would have to have large tanks of at refill stations, and of course, it's flammable and explosive. What exactly is a robust design for hydrogen tank? Why am I reminded of the Hindenburg? Musk is already calling the car a Model H with an expected release date in 2026. There are many technical problems to solve before they become practical and safe. _________________________________ Attorneys for Elon Musk have filed for a preliminary injunction against OpenAI, several co-founders, and one of its main investors, Microsoft. He wants to stop them from engaging in anti-competitive behavior. The motion for an injunction was filed on Friday. There are four points of contention: Discouraging investors from funding other AI companies like Musk's own xAI. Sensitive information from Microsoft benefiting OpenAI. Converting OpenAI's structure to a for-profit operation. Preventing OpenAI from doing business with companies that have a material financial interest. There's a lot more in the article. __________________________________ Previous Musk report here. [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2024/12/1/2289481/-The-Muskmelon-Report?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=latest_community&pm_medium=web Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/