11 Replies to “Where Does He Get Those Wonderful Toys?”

  1. There’s a lot one can do when their companies receive tens of billions of taxpayer dollars in subsidies, tax breaks, and loans.

    And CGI is inexpensive.

    1. Other than his forced purchase of Twitter which sort of protected free speech (and former Twitter is now just Bluesky anyway, he should have just started X to compete in the first place and let Twitter collapse on itself), it always puzzled me how someone who’s been a serial grifter his whole life could be some sort of hero of the conservative/libertarian movements. To be fair though, the space stuff is pretty cool regardless and he does get it done for less and faster than NASA. And Starlink is an absolute boon to anyone in rural areas.

      1. NASA charged more for their stuff, though CGI was not a thing back in their day. It took a lot more acreage, studios, and swimming pools than it would today.

        StarLink is great, though it has come at the cost of a huge volume of helium to keep their “satellites” floating.

        1. The reason the moon landing videos cost so much was because Stanley Kubrick insisted on filming on location.

    2. “And CGI is inexpensive.”

      You think it’s fake?

      That’s a Go-Pro or similar camera stuck on the back of the booster. Yes, those guys really did that. Where do you think Starlink comes from? Fairies do it?

      1. There comes a point where you don’t have to “think” it’s fake. It’s akin to asking someone if they think David Copperfield’s magic tricks are fake. Once you know how they make the donuts, you know.

        StarLink comes from high-altitude drones and balloons.

        Yes, balloons.

        But if some of those balloons have issues, then they are rebranded as Chinese spy vehicles. A la The Truman Show.

  2. I was never much into the space program, having been born in 1967 (when all the major excitement was happening I was too young to appreciate), but I cannot get enough of SpaceX, especially all the Starship launches. This guy has a great channel, covering all things SpaceX (and some other space stuff):

    https://www.youtube.com/@Whataboutit

    1. I’m old enough to remember when we all sat on the floor in our Jammies in front of a tiny black and white screen at 5:30am Pac. time to see NASA launch ONE satellite … TelStar … AFTER the Communists already put their satellite(s) in space.

      I guess there was no business case for firing dozens of satellites into space … until Elon came along

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