DOGE Goons Physically Drag Social Security Worker From Desk

 DOGE "goons?" Seriously? A bunch of computer geeks? How tough can they be? This shit's getting ridiculous.

My new podcast episode is out

My new podcast episode is out.

Asia Times — China to follow Elon Musk, build a global Wi-Fi network

More than 300 satellites will be put into orbit as China, inspired by US billionaire Elon Musk’s plan to get the entire world online, aims to establish a global Wi-Fi network of its own. Musk’s Starlink initiative reportedly consists of more than 12,000 interlinked satellites.

The state-owned China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation has been tasked with developing and launching such satellites, the Beijing-based Science and Technology Daily reports....

Asia Times
China to follow Elon Musk, build a global Wi-Fi network

Staff

Also

China increases military budget and pegs GDP growth at 6.5%

Megan Geuss — Elon Musk on batteries for Australia: “Installed in 100 days or it is free”

“$250/kWh at the pack level for 100MWh+ systems. Tesla is moving to fixed and open pricing and terms for all products,” Musk tweeted. The rate would bring the price of a 100MWh system to $25 million, excluding costs like labor and shipping.

Ars Technica
Elon Musk on batteries for Australia: “Installed in 100 days or it is free”
Megan Geuss | Staff Editor

Sputnik — Russia Working on Trains Faster Than Planes

Move over, Elon Musk. The Russians are coming! I'm sure the Chinese and Japanese are, too.

Russian researchers are working on high-speed transportation technologies similar to the Hyperloop system, Russian Transport Minister Maxim Sokolov said Friday.

Sounds like it is government funded.

Sputnik

Russia Working on Trains Faster Than Planes

Charles Fleming — Tesla to unveil Model 3, its electric car for the masses

Tesla to unveil Model 3, its electric car for the masses

LOS ANGELES — On Thursday night, at an invitation-only, Hollywood-style premiere on his Space X campus outside Los Angeles, Elon Musk and his Tesla team will unveil their latest creation: the Model 3, Musk's long-awaited electric car for the masses. Few details have been revealed so far, but the car is essentially a scaled-down, half-priced version…

Michael McElfresh — Tesla batteries: just the beginning of how technology will transform the electric grid

The spread of cost-effective batteries will fundamentally change the way the electric grid operates. Combined with other innovations, batteries in homes and businesses will transform how people and businesses treat electricity.

Along the way, these batteries will improve the efficiency and reliability of the grid overall.

The Conversation
Tesla batteries: just the beginning of how technology will transform the electric grid
Michael McElfresh | Adjunct Professor of Electrical Engineering at Santa Clara University

Rob Wile — Elon Musk Announced Another Huge Bet Today, And The Fate Of The Solar Industry Is Riding On It

Musk continues to be the most ambitious executive acting to address climate change.

Business Insider
Elon Musk Announced Another Huge Bet Today, And The Fate Of The Solar Industry Is Riding On It
Rob Wile

AFP — Tesla Motors turns all its patents over to the open source movement

Electric carmaker Tesla announced Thursday it was giving up its patents to “the open source movement” to help spur electric vehicle technology.

The unusual move comes with Tesla enjoying huge success, but against a backdrop of multiplying legal squabbles among technology firms over patents.

“All our patents belong to you,” Tesla chief executive Elon Musk said in a blog post.

“Yesterday, there was a wall of Tesla patents in the lobby of our Palo Alto headquarters. That is no longer the case. They have been removed, in the spirit of the open source movement, for the advancement of electric vehicle technology.”

Musk, an entrepreneur who made a fortune with the PayPal online payment service and also heads the space travel firm Space X, said he does not want patents to halt growth of an important environmental technology.

The Raw Story
Tesla Motors turns all its patents over to the open source movement
Agence France-Presse

AFP — Elon Musk’s Hyperloop high-speed transport crowdfunding site launches

How about matching federal funding at some percentage to cover R&D expenses? Alternative transport is a high priority, with the huge carbon footprint of air transport. Even those who hold that climate change is either not occurring or is not caused by humans, the health consequences of pollution are a significant externality that is not being figured into true carbon-based energy cost.

The Raw Story
Elon Musk’s Hyperloop high-speed transport crowdfunding site launches

Agence Presse-France

Jonathan Larson — Status emulation as a change agent

Status emulation as a driving force in modern capitalism. Looks to be the harnessing of an evolutionary trait, although Veblen saw it as not only powerful but often also nutty.

Real Economics

Status emulation as a change agent

Jonathan Larson