Indeed they are, but maybe I should hang back...

When Tesla gets around to offering Cybercab as a personal vehicle, states should be quick to pass laws mandating this is the ONLY vehicle allowed for all the accident-prone drivers who have been unwisely granted licenses to drive.

Turning off replies is what fragile authoritarians do.

Indeed! 🍾

It's Yom Kippur. I walk the 10,000 steps and try to take good care of this hardware that God has granted me the use of. Have I performed my tasks? Do I have further work in the world? Forgive my indulgent nonsense, but I am troubled by these questions.

We live in a world where Nick Shirley is immediately criminalized for, at serious personal risk, going into the field and reporting the facts on the ground; meanwhile CNN is screaming because they have to report an event by watching a video feed instead of being in the room.

This is weird. I saw THE ODYSSEY last night (been waiting for the crowds to thin out), and I've felt completely emotionally drained since. I can't explain it at this point, but it was a hugely powerful, deeply immersive experience. That's my testimony. I guess that's good.

These states are suing Trump so that citizen taxpayers can be forced to subsidize cheap illegal foreign labor for businesses. This is what passes for "progress".

It's 9/11. The PSA spoof warning of "Radical Christianity" in the movie AMERICAN CAROL comes to mind. piped.video/watch?v=AWBJg_TS…

It's estimated that Tesla Cybercab will ultimately cost about $0.13 to $0.20 per passenger mile, as opposed to about $2.32 (!) for buses. Buses have an advantage when full and when the roads or destinations can't handle extra vehicles, but on overall economy, Cybercab wins BIG!

Elon, is it true that you were rocketed to Earth as a baby when your home planet exploded?

I'm old enough to realize that much of what gets posted on social media is put out solely for the purpose of getting my goat. Understanding this makes it easier for me to shrug and maintain equanimity, because I know what those people do with goats when they get them.

With respect to the social contagion that drives the modern fad of transgenderism, an old observation comes to mind about how people reading medical texts tend to find in themselves the symptoms of every malady described. A page from the 1889 humor novel, "Three Men in a Boat":

Hey, @elonmusk , I'm still waiting for FSD to offer Road Rage Mode, Evade Police Mode, and (my favorite!) PIT Maneuver! Don't let the competition get ahead of you on this one! 😀

This line captures essence of the self-inflicted tragedy of the modern Western world, and it may be the death of us: "We turn greatness into privilege and demand apologies for it."

Historical footnote: In 1933, FDR signed an executive order making it illegal for Americans to own gold bullion, and the feds seized all private gold, other than some coins and jewelry. It wasn't until 1975 that we were allowed to have gold. That's the logic behind this comic.

A public service announcement! A "dead hang" (hanging by your arms) may provide relief from back pain, and I've found this EZ-Decompressor Dead-Hang-Harness makes it easy to do. Grok recommended I try this, and it's helpful. thestrongneck.com/products/e…

I've been anxious to buy a self-driving Tesla, but have held back out of a sense that the HW4 CPU is not quite adequate for fully robust FSD support. Maybe the announced HW4+ with its doubled memory will be adequately future-proof. Watching with great interest...

Movie commentary! Two sci-fi movies, PROJECT: HAIL MARY and GOOD LUCK, HAVE FUN, DON'T DIE. I went to see PHM because it was well-reviewed and was said to be pure storytelling, no political messaging. I didn't like it, mainly because I just didn't find the characters very interesting. Neither "Rocky" nor Ryan Gosling conveyed much passion or personality, and the science was goofy (while pretending to be smart) and the humor was lame ("Fist my bump", har har har.) Blah. (I wonder if I'd have enjoyed PHM if I'd been younger and didn't see it was derivative of what had gone before, and inferior.) However, I got a real kick out of GLHFDD. Sure, goofy, but it didn't pretend to be otherwise. Lively characters, especially Sam Rockwell, who throws himself into his role with complete commitment. Nothing political, other than the not-very-controversial social observation that cell phones are sucking the life out of too many people. In sum, GLHFDD had soul, PHM did not. Just my 2 cents; your mileage may vary.