<div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif">On Sun, Nov 9, 2025 at 9:39 AM Ben Zaiboc <<a href="mailto:ben@zaiboc.net">ben@zaiboc.net</a>> wrote:</span></div></div><div class="gmail_quote gmail_quote_container"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr"><br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex"><font size="4" face="georgia, serif"><i><span class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif">> </span>You forgot about Neuralink.<span class="gmail_default" style=""> </span>How many pluses does that get?<span class="gmail_default" style=""> </span>I know it hasn't produced much in the way of results yet, but if it does, it could be pretty revolutionary. Certainly would beat cars, in my opinion, and probably rockets, too.</i></font></blockquote><div><br></div><div><font size="4" face="tahoma, sans-serif"><b>Currently<span class="gmail_default" style=""> t</span>here's not enough information on that one to give it a meaningful score, we'll just have to wait and see.<span class="gmail_default" style=""> I wish them well. </span></b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="tahoma, sans-serif"><b><br></b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="tahoma, sans-serif"><b><span class="gmail_default" style="">John K Clark</span> </b></font></div><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr"><br></div><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr"><br></div><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr"><br></div><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr"><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><br></div><br></div><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr"><br></div><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr"><br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex"><u></u>
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<div>On 09/11/2025 13:32, John Clark wrote:<br>
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<div style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif">On Sat, Nov
8, 2025 at 11:32 AM <<a href="mailto:spike@rainier66.com" target="_blank">spike@rainier66.com</a>>
wrote:</span></div>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:13.5pt;font-family:Tahoma,sans-serif">>…<span>there are those (even in the USA)</span></span></p>
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<div><font size="4" face="tahoma, sans-serif"><b><span class="gmail_default">Even? </span><u>Especially</u>
in the USA<span class="gmail_default">!</span></b></font></div>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:13.5pt"><span><i><font face="tahoma, sans-serif"><span class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif">> </span>who do not
like Musk, but it isn’t clear to me
why. </font></i></span></span></p>
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<font size="4" face="tahoma, sans-serif"><b>What isn't clear
to me is why you are not just as outraged over the antics
of He Who Must Not Be Named as I am, I've been trying to
figure that out since 2016. As for Musk, I think it's just
a fact of reality that the richest man in the world is
never going to be universally loved. But it's more than
just that. Elon Musk's popularity took a dramatic hit when
he gave $277 million to get a <span class="gmail_default">34 time </span>convicted felon, a man who had
staged a coup d'état which if successful would've made him
a dictator, get back into power through an election<span class="gmail_default"> in 2024</span>. </b></font></div>
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<div class="gmail_quote"><font size="4" face="tahoma, sans-serif"><b>By the way, there was a fellow
in Germany, whose name escapes me at the moment, who had a
similar history, he too had staged an unsuccessful coup
d'état and he too got back into power by winning an
election; the only difference <span class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif">was</span>
the election happened in 1933 not 2024. </b></font>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:13.5pt"><span><i><font face="georgia, serif"><span class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif">> </span>Because of
him we have Tesla, Space X</font></i></span></span></p>
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<div><font size="4" face="tahoma, sans-serif"><b>Yes, and<span class="gmail_default"></span> the world is a
better place because of those two companies,<span class="gmail_default"> so I have to give the
devil his due and give Musk a <u>+2</u></span> </b></font></div>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:13.5pt"><span><i><font face="georgia, serif"><span class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif">> </span>and TwitterX</font></i></span></span></p>
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<div><font face="tahoma, sans-serif" size="4"><b>And the world
would be a better place if that <span class="gmail_default">c</span>ompany<span class="gmail_default"> </span>did<span class="gmail_default"> NOT</span> exist<span class="gmail_default">, without Twitter He
Who Must Not Be Named would have never won the 2016
election, and without TwitterX (and the richest man in
the world's money of course) he would've never won the
2024 election. S</span><span class="gmail_default">o for that company Musk gets a </span><u> </u><span class="gmail_default"><u>-1</u> </span></b></font></div>
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<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex"><i><font face="georgia, serif"><span style="font-size:13.5pt"><span class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif">> </span>And
StarLink!<span class="gmail_default"> </span></span><span style="font-size:13.5pt">How could I forget that one?</span></font></i></blockquote>
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<font size="4" face="tahoma, sans-serif"><b>That one is more
complicated to judge. It has improved our ability to
communicate and has even helped the people of Ukraine
defend themselves from Vladimir Putin, but it has also
degraded our ability to understand the universe. Starink
currently has 8,800 satellites in low earth orbit (more
are planned) and are creating havoc for optical
astronomers because the satellites reflect sunlight,
creating bright streaks in images taken by telescopes; by
using expensive and time consuming additional data
processing the streaks can be identified and subtracted,
but they still cause the loss of valuable pixels in an
image. And those <span class="gmail_default">8,800 </span>satellites
are also causing havoc for radio astronomers because of
unintentionally leaking radio frequencies<span class="gmail_default">. Taking all that into
consideration I'd give Starlink a <u>zero</u>.</span></b></font></div>
<div class="gmail_quote"><font size="4"><span class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><br>
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<div class="gmail_quote"><span style="font-weight:bolder;color:rgb(10,10,10)"><span class="gmail_default"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:16px"></span><font size="4" face="tahoma, sans-serif">You d</font></span><font size="4" face="tahoma, sans-serif">idn't mention
another of <span class="gmail_default">Musk's
companies but I will, </span><span class="gmail_default"></span>xAI<span class="gmail_default">,
it's his AI Company in the creators of Grok. I think the
world is better off because of its existence, thus I
give it a <u>+1</u>.</span></font></span></div>
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<div class="gmail_quote"><font size="4" face="tahoma, sans-serif"><span class="gmail_default"><b>So now I'm in a position to give Musk
a final grade, let's see, 2-1+0+1 =<u> 2</u>. So unlike
You Know Who, Musk is still in the plus column. But I
don't like the trend he's on. </b></span></font></div>
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<div class="gmail_quote"><font size="4" face="tahoma, sans-serif"><span class="gmail_default"><b>John K Clark</b></span></font></div>
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You forgot about Neuralink.<br>
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How many pluses does that get?<br>
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I know it hasn't produced much in the way of results yet, but if it
does, it could be pretty revolutionary. Certainly would beat cars,
in my opinion, and probably rockets, too.<br>
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Ben</pre>
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