
Elon Musk Is Selling Flamethrowers - bcaulfield
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-01-29/elon-musk-is-selling-flamethrowers
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jernfrost
Refreshing with a CEO that doesn't take himself too serious. I can imagine
most CEOs would be terrified of doing something this silly, and promoting it
in such a nerdy and silly way.

I like how his marketing is basically about appealing to the inner geek or
man, who is really just a big boy who want bigger and more expensive toys.

Too many ads are essentially focused on fashionistas, people who want to be
trendy or whatever. Flamethrowers in contrasts isn't trendy in any meaningful
way. It is just a fun thing.

In a way everything that Musk does is really about making the stuff geeks
dreamed of when they were kids. I spent considerable time marveling at space-
stations and spacecraft in illustrated science magazines as a child. Beyond
2000 I fancied myself as a space tourist.

Of course none of that ever came to past, but now Musk is bringing back the
childhood dreams.

In many ways it makes me realize how important literature and dreaming is.
Science fiction literature might seem like time waste, but it is the kind of
stuff that has helped inspire people like Elon Musk as a child and make him
dream of a brighter future. Without dreaming we can't start to push the
envelope.

For a long time I sort of imagined that dreamers and doers could not be the
same person. But Elon Musk demonstrates you can both dream and be a talented
guy who gets stuff done.

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hprotagonist
From everything I've seen so far, it's more accurate to say that Elon Musk is
selling Apeture Science-styled _weed burners_.

 _Flamethrowers_ look like _this_ :
[https://youtu.be/aPQYK5ZMbWY?t=18m39s](https://youtu.be/aPQYK5ZMbWY?t=18m39s)

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antiviral
This seems appropriate- George Carlin on flamethrowers:

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4nknAzQPHE](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4nknAzQPHE)

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thisacctforreal
Previous discussion:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16249058](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16249058)

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api
Future tunnel borers will need these to repel the Deros.

