My bedside table pic.twitter.com/sIdRYJcLTK
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 28, 2022
My thoughts, in order:
1. What's that thing in the lower left corner?
2. What's that book in a box in the back?
3. If we were still in old Twitter, and some disfavored person posted that, he'd have been permanently banned for inciting violence.
4. What's the source of that photo, really?
5. Elon Musk is trying to excite right-wingers positively and left-wingers negatively. It's all about churning the environment, cranking everybody up, and not about the creating a space where people who disagree can talk to each other, despite what he tweeted yesterday afternoon: "Just a note to encourage people of different political or other views to engage in civil debate on Twitter. Worst case, the other side has a slightly better understanding of your views." That was then. This is now. He tested civility. Now he's testing guns and caffeine.
6. Some kind of pun about "trigger warning"? He did do a conspicuous visual pun the other day: "Let that sink in." But he didn't use words to drive home the pun this time.
7. It seems more as though he's genuinely warning people that he will defend himself — figuratively and literally.
8. Some statement about new and old — innovation and tradition. There's a modern gun and some sort of expensive historical artifact that may or may not have crossed the Delaware in George Washington's boat.
9. Testing to see who has a problem with American history in its upbeat, glorified form.
10. Elon sees himself as a top-level historical figure. He's like Washington. He wants you to do a photoshop with his face pasted in for Washington's.
11. Do I have to go look and see what other people have said? He wants them to say it — to tweet it — over at Twitter. But, no, I'm here, securely in the old tradition. Blogging, not microblogging.
Posts
109 comments:
The thing in the lower left corner is a dorje. A Tibetan Buddhist iconographic representation of a thunderbolt. Used in meditation practice. It might be the only item of the lot that he really does keep at his bedside.
JSM
Or maybe he included a Tibetan artifact to stick it to the Chi-Com’s?
JSM
Caffeine-Free Diet Coke is the Bud Zero of Cokes. Bud Zero has 50 calories, 0.0% alcohol and 0 sugar, according to the Budweiser website. I would never drink such an abomination. At that point, you might as well just drink water.
What in the Wide, wide world of sports is that "modern" gun. Held together by Phillip's head screws and protrusions galore. Plus, though I don't have my glasses on, no visible trigger.
I await enlightenment.
Don't bother looking at the Twitter thread; the only tweet I could make sense of was someone named Calma is very upset and taking zhis talents to Instagram.
The loss will be felt worldwide.
I considered tweeting my response, but I find it hard to tweet at somebody, even when I know he is seeking action on his site. But that's a different reason to stay away, as noted in point #11.
@JAORE, the handgun raises questions for me as well. It’s not just that there’s no trigger; the circular trigger guard — if it is a trigger guard — leaves no room for a trigger to move. The handle doesn’t look particularly comfortable to hold, either. Could it be a movie prop? Certainly it looks awfully wierd, and I say that as a person who has held a Chiappa Rhino in his hand.
@Althouse, as Clyde already noted, he’s not testing caffeine. Those are empty (or at least opened) cans of caffeine-free Diet Coke. Why he’d give free advertising to Coke and wouldn’t switch to Pepsi after Coke made a fuss about pulling their advertising from Twitter I do not know. (BTW, I don’t get what you mean by “testing” civility, and I certainly don’t get that he’s “testing” guns and caffeine if he’s showing something that isn’t a real gun and caffeine-free soda. Did you mean “texting”?)
@Clyde, after 4:00 in the afternoon I do not drink caffeinated beverages or I have trouble falling asleep. He might like the taste of soda but feel the same about minimizing the caffeine.
Observation: if he’s going to drink that much soda his kidneys must be in really great shape.
WARNING: The photo IS the trigger. The gun does not need one.
"It's a joke, son." - Foghorn Leghorn
Musk correctly fears assassination. You’re overdoing the thinking here, prof.
Twitter was the epicenter of the two year long psy-ops campaign to sabotage the 2020 election. Censorship was only one side of that operation. Twitter is flooded with CIA/FBI/DNC bots passing on the approved narrative to obedient MSM “journalists.”
The loss of Twitter as a staging forum has to really piss off the spooks.
Musk is revealing, one bit at a time, the full story of that psy-ops campaign on Twitter. He is in serious danger.
Musk subtweet: “there’s no excuse for my lack of coasters.”
Now the Pepsi drinkers can hate him.
Just calmly take it as something you don't understand and move on. Maybe the joke will come out someday.
Yhat everything is a sign of something alarming is the cancel culture hysteria, typically female. Women are charge of social hysteria now.
A pun on trigger as he triggers hysteria would be good but it's a little indirect as a use-and-mention joke.
With only men in the audience nothing would happen. You're allowed to have a gun.
It looks like the movie prop gun from Bladerunner.
Paul is dead.
2. What's that book in a box in the back?
I was wondering the same thing! I zoomed into the photo as far as I could, and I think it's this "Books of American Wisdom" box set.
Maybe certain kind of advertisers were turned away before. Musk is signaling that’s not the case anymore.
Neither of the firearms is even real. The cylinder in the “modern” firearm is clearly inoperable (look at the cylinder) and appears to be a prop or replica from a movie or game.
@Big Mike
He's testing to see what kind of reaction his tweet gets. He tried civility yesterday, and he's trying hotly emotional stuff this morning. He's watching behavior and trying to make Twitter work effectively. What gets the most action?
I don't really understand why you had difficulty understanding that. Did you think I thought he was doing a taste test on the soda? Are you trying to misread me. Come on.
I don't see a trigger on that gun--it looks like it's been bricked.
Now here's something to worry about ...
The nuclear football (also known as the atomic football, the president's emergency satchel, the Presidential Emergency Satchel, the button, the black box, or just the football) is a briefcase, the contents of which are to be used by the president of the United States to authorize a nuclear attack while away from fixed command centers, such as the White House Situation Room or the Presidential Emergency Operations Center. It functions as a mobile hub in the strategic defense system of the United States. It is held by an aide-de-camp.
Wikipedia
I like Musk. I like Trump. I think both need to throttle down their public engagements and comments for awhile. Too much if a good thing is not a good thing.
The Left will consider this tweet as more “evidence” that Twitter is unsafe.
What, no cheeseburger?
I guess I don't see the 'book in a box'. What I see is a box holding a replica flintlock pistol with the lid having a picture of Washington Crossing the Delaware. Some sort of commemorative.
I think Mickey Kaus has the right take on Musk and Twitter. Think of Musk as the owner of a salon. He wants interesting conversation, and wants people to be free to speak their minds, but he wants to be free to speak his mind too. And it is his salon, so sometimes he might be erratic and kick people out for no obvious reason while letting others stay for no obvious reason.
That's an improvement over the old Twitter.
Worst case, the other side has a slightly better understanding of your views.
I'm sure Elon Musk isn't so naive as to think that's the worst-case scenario. More like the best case.
I'd call this composite a metaphor for what passes as thinking on social media. Combine an iconic traditional nationalistic image (Washington Crossing the Delaware), with (1) too much caffeine but no nutrition, (2) a trendy religious symbol -- meditation thingy, and (3) a very obviously fictional/fake revolver for 'taking ineffective action' in life.
I think the revolver may come from a video game or was inspired by either steampunk or post-apocalyptic video games. It's screwed together with weak Phillips head screws -- that works with air guns but not true firearms. The cylinder isn't bored out so you couldn't load anything, and the open back would cause the ammunition to fall out. There is no visible trigger, but it could have a 'touch zone' or some electronic firing system. Finally, each cartridge lobe is square when 99.999999999999999999% of ammunition is cylindrical. So, this may be an electric gun concept or a prototype for a follow up to Musk's Boring Company flamethrower. But it's certainly not what is first appears to be. Nor are many Twitter users what they appear to be.
Deep thoughts for the day.
The caffeine free diet Coke is probably the weirdest thing in the whole picture.
In some ways, this picture is high art.
"7. It seems more as though he's genuinely warning people that he will defend himself — figuratively and literally."
I'm sure at the moment his life is in more danger than before he took over Twitter. That is real.
Yah, I'm stumped by the Blade Runner gun thingie- movie prop is a good bet. You know, in other developed countries- you know, the ones the left cherry picks ideas from (Why can't we be more like Swee-den!?!)- objects cancel culture would consider taboo are collected freely, without guilt or intent to incite. I'm in to the horology/vintage watch trend and spend some time in the English country auction houses looking for watches. These auctions are also where antique guns and Nazi memorabilia can be had without much consequence or fuss. It's no big deal...
Anyone who didn't get the symbolism of "Let that sink in" immediately should probably not try to interpret this photo. It's like all of the people who aren't in tune with Far Side humor posting comments on Facebook about why the cartoons aren't funny.
Any "my bedside table" photo on social media is assumed to be staged. Elon is hoping for a response.
My thoughts:
Who drinks that much Diet Coke?
What the hell kind of gun is that? Something is wrong with the cylinder, and the whole thing looks homemade.
I really think he's overdoing it. He should be playing this down, trying to reassure liberals. Picking sides is badly timed and stupid.
It seems more as though he's genuinely warning people that he will defend himself — figuratively and literally.
That kind of stuff has gone on here before...
For same people who cannot tell the difference between a real weapon and one that is just a plastic prop.
Responses to Musk's Twitter feed look like the innards of the spam folder of my Yahoo! Mail account...
A real billionaire playing with your head! Boy he's having fun.
I'd have done a sewing machine and an umbrella on the bedside table.
Diet Coke is poison.
I really doubt he drinks that particular beverage.
If he does that would be shocking.
Is that the movie gun Deckard used to shoot Replicants in Blade Runner?
Musk is like a really, really intelligent version of Trump. Twitter could not be in better hands. Or brain.
To answer my own question, No, it isn't the Blade runner gun.
It's a toy replica of a gun from a video game called Deus Ex, according to the internets.
Surely he does not need to get tweet rates up during World Cup.
Coke Zero is better...
If Elon Musk were accused tomorrow of killing Alexander Hamilton I would not be a bit surprised.
As it is, I'm surprised to see Musk, a South African/Canadian GenXer, connecting with the celebratory view of American culture that Boomers were raised with, but that now seems a thing of the distant past.
To my naïve eye that thing in the corner looks like part of a phone charger, and at first sight, I thought those were beer cans in front, but Elon don't play that way.
@Bob Boyd, you can buy files to 3D print a replica of the Diamondback .357 from Deus Ex: Human Revolution on Etsy.
https://www.etsy.com/listing/555328899/deus-ex-human-revolution-diamondback-357
If you follow Musk on Twitter, you’ll see that he’s big into video games. This photo is a lot more interesting as a glimpse into the mind of an extremely significant individual than the predictable knee-jerk reactions it prompts.
Musk should drink Pepsi and boycott Coke.
The Coca Cola company opposes laws to ensure election integrity.
Elon sees himself as a top-level historical figure.
And rightly so. If there's a top-level historical figure alive today, it's Elon Musk.
Elon sees himself as a top-level historical figure.
And rightly so. If there's a top-level historical figure alive today, it's Elon Musk.
"Musk should drink Pepsi and boycott Coke."
Perhaps he does already. Perhaps he's just saving those cans for target practice.
I don't get the appeal of a caffeine free artificially sweetened cola. I think he should switch to soda water.
That’s one ugly lamp.
I don't really understand why you had difficulty understanding that. Did you think I thought he was doing a taste test on the soda? Are you trying to misread me. Come on.
Perhaps because my master’s thesis was an application of symbolic logic? Why would Elon Musk devote only one day to his test of civility? That makes no sense. Doubly so given that he sent that tweet over the four day Thanksgiving weekend, when lots of people are driving, hanging with family and friends, shopping Black Friday sales, etc. Why would he do a one day test of anything during the Thanksgiving weekend?
People getting triggered by Toy Guns
Readering: "Surely he does not need to get tweet rates up during World Cup."
Tweet rates are already up because readering types no longer hold the reins.
FoxNews: “Chicago woman with concealed-carry license foils attempted carjacking by shooting man in head“
Omg. Elon Musk watches FoxNews. That man is absolutely insane 😱
"Elon Musk is trying to excite right-wingers positively and left-wingers negatively."
No. He is showing the world that he is armed.
You can be sure he is receiving death threats.
So he is saying, if you come at him or his family, you will be met with guns, including his personal weapon.
Elon Musk is an african american.. To Question him, is to ADMIT you are a RACIST!!!
He is aggravating people who loved aggravating people.
It's the circle of life.
appears to be a 3-D printed version of a popular handgun from a video game.
Rorschach test.
1) A dueling pistol and real life pistol. Message: I will defend myself.
2) Washington crossing the Delaware: Message: I believe in American values, like Free Speech
4) Book in the back, could be a bible.
Only a libtard would get upset at a patriotic image of Washington crossing the Delaware. Or a Gun. If that "cranks them up" - so be it.
Given Musk's money, the flintlock is probably an antique, not a modern replica.
@john mosby is correct: The object in the lower left is a dorje or vajra. See https://www.learnreligions.com/vajra-or-dorje-449881.
Perhaps he's just saving those cans for target practice.
@Quaestor, not with that gun.
“Caffeine-Free Diet Coke is the Bud Zero of Cokes. Bud Zero has 50 calories, 0.0% alcohol and 0 sugar, according to the Budweiser website. I would never drink such an abomination. At that point, you might as well just drink water.”
I was wondering awhile back on why/when did I switch from drinking sugar free iced tea to diet colas. This post triggered my memory of what happened. Maybe 22 years ago, I took a job at a patent firm in SLC. The pay was really, really good - about a 65% raise. Iced tea is very, very, hard to find in SLC. I used to say that I knew I was in Mormon Utah (or at least in the Wasatch Valley) when the McDonalds doesn’t have iced tea, but instead some fruity concoctions they pretend is tea. We had a pop/soda fountain at work. So, no iced tea, just Coke products: Coke, Diet Coke, Caffeine Free Diet Coke, Sprite… I used to ask myself who would drink Caffeine Free Diet Coke? If you live long enough in the area, you know the answer. In any case, absent easy availability of iced tea at work, I switched to Diet Coke there. I would get buzzed on it, esp from the NutraSweet, which I have always been sensitive to. My mind was in high gear, I could concentrate like a laser, and It was free, and only a couple doors down from my office. I don’t get the high, the kick, anymore from the NutriSweet that I used to, but it probably still puts me to sleep after it wears off, but that’s ok, since I have been retired for a decade now.
Whether he sleeps to the right or left, he has a gun pointed at his head, but at least to the right it is a muzzle loaded pistol.
A follow up tweet by him is "Musket, Elon Musket"
Advertising collapsed for same reason?
He can keep a fake gun on the bedside table because he has one of his flamethrowers under the bed.
“I really think he's overdoing it. He should be playing this down, trying to reassure liberals. Picking sides is badly timed and stupid.”
Whatever he is doing is working. Twitter rates, along with new user accounts, are setting records right now. One of the words I have seen used several times is that is so “fresh” right now. Part of it, no doubt, is that the trickster is now in charge. Boomers, esp in their youth, loved them their mind games. And Musk is a master at them.
So, why is he spending so much time on Twitter these days? First, he loves it. But underlying it, he just bought a company, paid too much for it, and his critics are saying that it’s going to kill his reputation. With his 60% or so payroll cut, combined with relatively low fixed expenses, and a fresh product, I think it likely that Twitter turns a profit in 2023, while his competition does not.
I should add that there is now an almost industry of looking at Musk’s Twitter posts and trying to understand them. Very much like the Q Anon industry while Trump was in office (many of the same people seem to be involved).
According to the NY Post, the gun in front is a model replica of a Diamond Back .357 revolver from the “Deus Ex: Human Revolution” video game. The story of that game "explores themes of transhumanism and the growing power of megacorporations and their impact on social class" (Wikipedia). Maybe Musk is trying to say something that no one has yet picked up on.
Subversive readings by the bedside.
The finger is not on the trigger. Although, given a religious philosophy with a propensity to conflation of logical domains, that could trigger a protest, a nationwide insurrection, mobbing cars, invading neighborhoods, protection rackets, even signal an abortive choice.
From The Rules of Civility, Rule No. 88:
"Be not tedious in Discourse, make not many Digressigns, nor rep[eat] often the Same manner of Discourse."
Washington and Althouse on the same page.
Rule 34 was a big letdown.
The ides of liberalism... It's because he's African-American, a Person of Color, a peach American, who grew up in a State where black on black violence, Xhosa assassinating Zulu competitors and natives, too, was ruled by a transnational democratic/dictatorial regime to be social justice under am established progressive constitution.
Readering: "Advertising collapsed for same reason?"
Are you playing stupid or just being yourself?
Twitter is on a long term trajectory to move away from ad revenue being the biggest cash stream and here in the short term the little lefty cabal ran out and got their corporate pals to cut and run. Lefties being lefties. Does this shock you?
Something tells me Twitter under Elon will weather this short-term lefty tantrum-opolis well enough as they move to their interim vision position.
Decaf Diet Pepsi and Decaf Diet Coke drinker here ... both not bad for a guy who can't shake his soda habit. I used to be a fully leaded Coca-Cola guy back in the day. We called it "workahol", LOL. Then there was the Jolt Cola that we'd get sometimes -- "all the sugar but with twice the caffeine" was their tagline. This was back when it was OK to be a hardcore student or employee, my long ago Silicon Valley days!
I go for the decaf because of all the coffee I drink in the morning. I still enjoy the carbonation and the cola flavor. Decaf Diet Coke is very hard to find. Elon must be connected, LOL. Also, I'm trying to find Decaf Coke Zero ... there has to be a 12-pack of that with my name on it somewhere!
Thankfully my kids have skipped the soda habit. Every generation gets a little smarter, right?!
Something tells me the advertisers made hard headed business decisions with their dollars because they did not like what they were seeing and could find better uses for their money. And that Musk has been on a very steep learning curve since his lawyers explained the Delaware court was not letting the largest shareholder out of his ill-advised contract to buy the rest of the company. At least, unlike Trump in Atlantic City, he has enough other assets for bankruptcy not to be the first option in the face of interest and principal obligations on $25+B in borrowing for the deal.
"Now he's testing guns and caffeine."
Those are caffeine free cokes in the photo.
The cocaine is on the nightstand on the other side of the bed, which of course he cuts and snorts with his illuminati card.
Musk should drink Pepsi and boycott Coke.
Pepsi went far left long before Coke did. Think launching their new logo during the 2008 presidential campaign was just a coincidence?
Both products aren't worthy of being compared to cat piss.
readering: "Something tells me the advertisers made hard headed business decisions with their dollars because they did not like what they were seeing and could find better uses for their money."
LOL
"they did not like what they were seeing"
"they" were seeing the same things they had already been seeing since at the time this was happening Twitter had changed nothing in their algorithms. It was a purely political decision, not a business decision.
But not to worry, we'll soon see how some of that censorship "sausage" was being made...not that we don't already know the democraticals had dedicated hotlines into Twitter to shut down content the New Soviet Democraticals didn't like.
Advertising collapsed for same reason?
When has advertising ever supported Twitter? Your false concern has been noted. Tittwer was always a boutique plaything for the bluechecks, not a for-profit model. IF ever there waa time to advertise on Twitter and reach a n audience, it is now. New users and engagement have never been higher and bad words favored by your side are down thanks to changes. Twitter has never been better.
readering: "Something tells me the advertisers made hard headed business decisions with their dollars because they did not like what they were seeing and could find better uses for their money."
LOL
The list of companies making moronic woke decisions for political posturing is now massive.
See: Disney's billion dollar failures
See: ESG "investing"
Yep, all of those companies just making "hard headed", green eye shade, profit/loss focused bottom line business decisions....
.....(wink wink).
Too funny...though I dont think the shareholders are laughing anymore.
readering: "And that Musk has been on a very steep learning curve..."
Riiiiight.
The only steep learning curve Musk is moving along is coming to grips with just how corrupted the leftist censorship protocols went between Twitter and the New Soviet Democraticals.
But we'll get a chance to see that very soon.
Something tells me the advertisers made hard headed business decisions with their dollars because they did not like what they were seeing and could find better uses for their money.
Sure...it has nothing to do with the woke Left throwing a temper tantrum and demanding they leave...who are you going to believe me or your lying eyes?
"... But, no, I'm here, securely in the old tradition. Blogging, not microblogging..."
Up hill, both ways, in 7 feet of snow!
I thought they were beer cans, to start with. I don't know if that's better or worse.
@Bruce "Whatever he is doing is working." Until Google and Apple shut him out. Plus, the entire US Federal Government. I find it depressing to think about, but his enemies are just too powerful.
It's fun watching him mess with Twitter, but I really really would rather that he gets us to Mars.
readering said...
Something tells me the advertisers made hard headed business decisions with their dollars because they did not like what they were seeing and could find better uses for their money.
National Socialists just being National Socialists.
The Big Corporations and their Government Regime allies are going to try to destroy any platform that lets the little people speak.
And Readering is not even a good little German that just went along.
Readering would gladly have worn the SS badge on her shoulder.
A lot of gibberish about the causes of Twitter's financial and operational problems. Waiting for Musk to back up his tweets with evidence of the absurd claims that it is anyone but himself running Twitter into the ground.
Musk tweeted:
Elon Musk
@elonmusk
·
4h
The Twitter Files on free speech suppression soon to be published on Twitter itself. The public deserves to know what really happened …
The guy snaps a pic and types a three word sentence, and probably ten thousand words get written speculating what it all means, just on this blog alone.
Sometimes a nightstand is just a nightstand.
"6. Some kind of pun about "trigger warning"?"
I think Althouse got it here. The picture "triggers" but it seems intended as a joke about triggers made by the Chief Twit and intended to drive Tweets
The video game gun, at first sight so menacing, doesn't have trigger (see above) and is just for a game.
The flintlock in its box is similar to an item on e-bay which is a stage prop. https://www.stage-props-blank-guns.com/stage_movie_props/files/d_2253.png. Compare with a real flintlock https://wallpapers-all.com/uploads/posts/2017-02/1_flintlock_pistol.jpg The barrel seems to be missing on Musk's bedside table stage prop.
I have never seen a bedside table with a mirror directly behind it.
Diet Cokes are pretty common among coders and programmers.
Why are the books on the right so small?
Why does the glass bottle say?
What is the meaning of the picture. During one of the darker times for the American Revolution, Washington counter-attacked across the ice-strewn Delaware on Christmas Eve and caught the drunken Hessian mercenaries imported to fight for England off guard and won a victory. This victory revived American hopes. Perhaps there's some allusion to Washington DC and to Delaware where Biden hides out meeting unknown people with unknown agendas. But how does this relate to mercenaries? Or is it just about an unlikely victory at Christmas?
readering: "Waiting for Musk to back up his tweets with evidence of the absurd claims that it is anyone but himself running Twitter into the ground."
Is this one of those "clever" (read: pathetic) lawyer statements where you:
1) Attempt to establish your wholly unsupported claim as the basis for the discussion (twitter being "run into the ground") and
2) Attempt to drive the opposition ito defending a premise that was never made (Waiting for Musk to back up his tweets with evidence of the absurd claims that it is anyone but himself running Twitter into the ground.")
Aren't you supposed to a legal beagle sharpie?
Do those pedestrian rhetorical sleights of hand really work on non-leftists/non-NPC types?
I'm guessing no.
So here we go: provide the evidence that Musk claimed Twitter was being run into ground.
Since no such evidence exists, doesn't that maybe, sort of, make you either a liar or an ignoramus?
Except without the "maybe" and the "sort of".
All this agita over two fake guns?
Blogger MikeR said...
“@Bruce "Whatever he is doing is working." Until Google and Apple shut him out. Plus, the entire US Federal Government. I find it depressing to think about, but his enemies are just too powerful.”
Until he brings suit for both §§ 1 & 2 of the Sherman Antitrust Act, plus possibly the Clayton Antitrust Act. Sherman § 1 covers agreements in restraint of trade. Sherman § 2 covers monopolization (use of monopoly power). There is some jurisprudence that would treat the two companies as limited monopolists (as, I believe, IBM was in the computer market). But even if that doesn’t work, they are a clear duopoly working in concert. And the penalty under the Sherman Act is treble damages. There are many potential antitrust suits that never are filed because the damages aren’t going to cover litigation costs. But Musk has extraordinarily deep pockets.
“It's fun watching him mess with Twitter, but I really really would rather that he gets us to Mars.”
Why Mars first? My expectation is that the order is going to be: Earth orbit, the Moon, then Mars. Too much money to be made that way, and going to Mars, right now, is more a vanity project, than shrewd business. Think of the difference between Branson and Virgin focusing on space tourism, while Musk is rapidly building out his StarLink network (launching military satellites hidden in his thousands of StarLink satellites), and now sending payloads to the International Space Station.
Note his threat to start his own phone system. A lot of people have downplayed it. Apple and Google should be worried sick about that, because he seems to have more design sense than either does anymore, plus, his phones are likely to be able to access his StarLink network, as well as his Twitter platform. Making and taking pHone calls almost anywhere on Earth. As well as Tweating there too. I would put AT&T, Disk, etc in a similar situation. And, of course engaging in monopolistic practices to prevent this is just going to increase the Sherman treble damages.
Epic Games has filed separate antitrust suits against Google and Apple over their app store practices. Followed by government suits here and in UK. Epic lost trial against Apple and it's on appeal.
@Readering
Thx - can you get me a link to the decision?
Probably the key to a lot of these cases is the definition of the market. Also, what was the basis of the suit? § 1, § 2, Clayton? Was it both defendants denying the plaintiff from their stores? Or charging similar tax/royalty rate? The latter is fine, just so long as no actual connection/communication can be found between the defendants. We see pricing coordination a lot - it’s legal as long as one company leads and others follow. It’s illegal if the companies somehow communicate (except through external pricing - but that can on rare occasion be problematic too). That’s mostly all § 1, and maybe Clayton.
Sherman § 2 is the big place where market definition comes in. That is the big place where market definition comes in. How compelling is the argument that they are both monopolies in their local markets due to network effect? This was very much the big argument in the last big IBM case, where they were looking at their position in the computer market, while the government was just looking at just IBM compatible mainframes.
I was wrong.
@Readering (Continued)
Dug a bit deeper into the Epic Games cases. They all kinda involve the Apple App Store and Google Play, and both involve both Sherman § 1 and § 2 issues - somewhat similar to the ones I mentioned earlier. The trial court did appear to favor the one market theory, instead of the multiple local market theory, but the DOJ (and CA?) seems to have intervened at the 9th Circuit, and, among other things, seems to be contesting that. Locking that definition in would arguably hinder the DOJ’s antitrust suit against Apple. But the difference to Twitter is that the Epic cases all seem to revolve around how to pay for the apps (they want the games, badly), and not whether they are allowed or not. The Apple rule is that you pay for the App with ApplePay, where Apple sets terms. Epic appears to want to go around that, presumably allowing them to keep more of the money from sales. This probably isn’t quite as critical with Google, since you can “side load” (I.e. not through their App Store) Epic Games. Could Twitter do the same? Closing that side door, and esp for just Twitter, would presumably put Google in a similar position as Microsoft was in, when they were found to have violated Antitrust laws by checking for what OS Win 95/98 were running on top of, and if not their product, then putting out a warning message. (I know the guy who found the code fairly well - he was the plaintiff’s, then the USG’s, expert witness in those cases, and I have served with him for decades on an IP committee for an engineering society).
Interestingly, part of the Epic decision involved the question of how firm the Apple App Store policies are. The policies in question (using the App Store and ApplePay) was built into the IOS architecture from the beginning (Google, initially much more open, is apparently having problems duplicating them). Restrictions that are universal are apparently much easier to justify. Banning Twitter just because Musk pissed off the left would be problematic, as the misuse of monopoly power (§ 2). But they might be able to get away with a policy of not allowing dangerous applications, followed by a determination by a reviewer that Twitter now allows dangerous misinformation to be spread. And discriminates against Pedos and those espousing and coordinating violence (bunch of AntiFA users and fora were apparently suspended or banned yesterday, after they were caught using Twitter to plan attacks on Tesla distributors - they were banned for their violence, and not for being pedos). But if they do that, I would expect significant discovery in a Twitter v Apple case to dig deeply into the justification for banning, and a directive from above to ban Twitter, or maybe just use SJW definitions of violence, etc, to be smoking guns, to Apple’s detriment.
It should be interesting. Apple has already retained top notch antitrust counsel, as evidenced by their significant partial success in the Epic case. They were successful in making the entire market argument, that IBM was having such a hard time making. Musk may end up having the same problem that Trump has in retaining top notch legal talent, through poisoning the well by the left. But then, he does have more money than anyone else does…
Bruce Hayden: "Why Mars first? My expectation is that the order is going to be: Earth orbit, the Moon, then Mars. Too much money to be made that way, and going to Mars, right now, is more a vanity project, than shrewd business.
Why Mars first for Musk? Because that is where you can build a self-sustaining human colony which increases future human survivability.
Musk is focused on Human survival based on a planetary colonization model, thus Mars. Unlike Bezos is more interested in O'Neil cylinders/asteroid mining and moon development. Branson just wants to have fun in Earth's orbit, which makes sense.
Musk's entire team worked on what it would take to really colonize Mars and came up with revolutionary and new ideas about the cost structure and required performance levels for rockets/engines/related systems and their reusability. This is why the pace of development and operations at SpaceX is so incredibly rapid and the manufacturing processes are completely different than in the past or elsewhere. The SpaceX team calculates they will need 1,000 or more starships and 3 to 4 launches per day for a sustained Mars operation, so the cost per launch and the cost per kg to orbit better be right!
The earth orbit operations Musk is most interested in developing is on-orbit refueling and some maintenance operations. In terms of moon ops, Musk appears happy to accommodate some NASA moon mission requirements (and rocket/engine variations) because it helps pay some of the bills.
Think of it this way: Musk wants to be able to go from LA to Miami and back repeatedly by car and someone else wants to pay Musk to drop off some stuff every now and then in Wichita. So Musk agrees, but the goal remains Miami. Of course, the trip to Wichita every now and again requires some modifications to the basic design of Musk's vehicles, but its not that big of a hurdle coming off a more robust base design.
RigelDog: "All this agita over two fake guns?"
You should see the tantrum the lefties are now throwing over diet cokes!! Did you know the evil OrangeManBad drinks diet coke too?
And so did Harvy Weinstein!
I mean, what more proof do you need to throw Trump and Musk into prison with their diet coke soulmate Weinstein? I'm here to tell you, the lefties don't need any more "proof" than that.
https://cand.uscourts.gov/cases-e-filing/cases-of-interest/epic-games-inc-v-apple-inc/
Bruce Hayden: Looks like you did some research. If have not seen this already, a link to the Northern District of California Cases of Interest page, which makes filings in the Apple case available to the public for free without a pacer account. (Althougn generally federal courts make orders free on pacer.) Merits decision the Rule 52 pdf.
Bruce Hayden: The closer precedent is probably Apple suspending Parler in the wake of January 6. Over lack of content moderation, specifically violence advocacy. Seemed to be litigated largely as a contract dispute. Presumably, Twitter also has a contract with Apple. I think Parler was eventually allowed back to the App store.
Bruce Hayden, regarding top notch legal talent, Musk is effectively using a Quinn Emanuel partner as his GC/consigliere. He is using Cravath to defend his Tesla compensation package ($55 BILLION) against shareholders in Delaware Chancery Court. Cravath is representing Epic against Gibson Dunn for Apple. (Although Epic brought in a US Supreme Court specialist to lead briefing an argue in Ninth Circuit). Of course, Cravath made its antitrust reputation defending IBM against all takers (including Gibson Dunn) back in the seventies and eighties. Quinn founder John Quinn got his start as a Cravath associate on that litigation.
One argument IBM made back then was that the relevant product market included minicomputers (now called personal computers). Not very persuasive. If you asked IBMers, what they really, genuinely feared was entry by Hitachi and Fujitsu. Look how things turned out!
I feel like people look way too much into the subtex, he might be just messing with your head :D First he posts 2 handguns that can't even fire(look at revolver lacking trigger), tomorrow he going to post rifles with no bolts or something :D
@Readering - the guy who taught Antitrust to me, turned into a decent friend over the years. He had kids that just bracket mine, and we would get together a couple times a year for most of two decades (until our kids were into college). Our kids still keep in touch. He was a fairly early JD/PhD in Economics, and his first job out of grad school (after the military, that paid for his graduate degrees) was the DOJ, where he worked on the IBM case. Moved to academia right after the IBM case ended. Loved his classes, and took every one he taught, partially because he didn’t give normal LS tests (also because he bounced around a lot, which kept us awake). Instead, you usually got to write a paper for him (they were all seminar classes, so he didn't have to curve his grades). He had a pretty good scam going - he would get some of his students to write chapters for his books. It was an automatic A if you did a decent job. If I remember right, I wrote the Antitrust and Copyright chapters in his Computer Law book rewrite. And then never really used the Antitrust after that. So parts are really rusty now (esp after a decade of retirement).
He had a lot of good stories about the case. Several involved Cravath. One of his stories was how to find the best Chinese restaurants in a new city (they were stuck in NY for quite some time). His theory was to wander around, until you find one where the clientele was mostly Chinese. I remember four (+1/2) of us wandering around Vancouver, BC, one night looking for Chinese food. For two or three of us (not sure about his wife), it was a unique experience. We were the only Round Eyes in the place. Big rotating lazy Susan on the table, for sharing all of the entrees. And a number of the entrees just aren’t seen in Americanized Chinese restaurants. For example, he ordered fish, and it came complete, including its head.
I probably told this story before here, but the closest I got to using Antitrust after LS was when I interviewed with Microsoft for a patent attorney job. The woman interviewing me asked about their new EULA that gave them paid up licenses to all of the patents and copyrights a company had, if they were using their products (most big companies still are). I pointed out the Antitrust tying issues. I suspect that she had, at least in part, helped write it, because she didn’t want to hear about those issues. Within the month, they had heard from the DOJ, and dropped the free licensing part. I was just amazed at their Antitrust naïvety - I had worked quite a bit with IBM lawyers by then, and one of the first thing every IP attorney did there when newly employed was to take a mandatory Antitrust class.
@Readering - actually, minicomputers are/were different from personal computers. They were smaller and cheaper multiuser systems than the mainframes of the time. PCs were considered single user systems. The big players were Digital Equipment, Data General, IBM, and UNIX running on various machines. UNIX was essentially a simplified Multics (which I finally decommissioned at one of my employments), and the Digital Research (CP/M) command language (stolen by MSFT as MS DOS) was based on UNIX. Both the DEC (AOS) and DG minicomputers similarly used UNIX like command languages. IBM’s AS line of minicomputers were more business oriented, but interestingly are still kinda in use by the IRS (through emulation). Wonder why the IRS can’t keep track of all their data? They are still using 1980s code and emulated technology. You can tell if something comes from this old technology because it has no graphics and or font changes. And if you get to see their screens, they are still using monitors with tiny dots forming the characters.
In any case, I worked at a USDA data center throughout the 1980s as a contractor doing software design. Finally, for my last couple years there, I got the office of my dreams - inside the locked mainframe computer room, with raised floors and forced AC. Huge room to myself. At one point, I had terminals set up, in a line, on a long table for: IBM and Sperry mainframes, DG, DEC, and UNIX minicomputers, and a PC. We were trying to get them all to communicate. These, along with IBM’s AS/400s, were the computers in use in the USDA - each agency had gone their own way. We tried with TCP/IP, but it hadn’t been ported to run over Ethernet yet, so we failed there. So, we created our own protocol stacks and applications (FTP and email). My version ran on everything, except the DG minicomputers. The team writing that implementation didn’t realize that you can’t wait for responses when you have a multiuser system. My implementation was a message driven state machine that easily scaled up. (It was running on Sperry Univac and IBM mainframe hosts, so it had to handle multiple threads at the same time).
What happened to minicomputers? They were kinda squeezed out. We ended up with massive backend computer systems, and PCs (etc) on the front end, running “thin” clients. Except that a lot of the backends in the massive server farms, run some variant of a multithreaded UNIX (back in the 1980s, my UNIX box wasn’t multithreaded), which was one of the first minicomputer operating systems.
The funny thing is that you can see the three generations of computers solving the same problems in multi threading, multi users, etc. afresh. UNIX was initially mostly single threaded, as was MS/PC DOS (and Windows sitting on top of DOS up through Win 98). It was both humorous, and frustrating, watching each new generation reinvent the wheel all over again, when all it would have taken was hiring some good mainframe (then minicomputer) OS engineers. MSFT took better than a decade to figure it out (with Windows NT) and the Mac OS now runs on top of a UNIX variant.
Bruce Hayden: you didn't say anything about Hitachi and Fujitsu! (Good reason.) I took a class on Fortran in high school, hated it, and stopped learning programing after that. Only to find myself deep in the computer industry as a litigator after law school. First antitrust, then IP after Reaganites came in. Not surprised upstart Microsoft rusty on antitrust a decade later. But as a humanities major I was glad to move away from IP litigation (mostly trade secrets) as more lawyers were minted with technical backgrounds. Surprised you chose to focus on the technical over the law. Would think there was more competition in that side of the divide.
Your DoJ chum must have been shocked how US v IBM ended. Reagan's AG, a Gibson partner, plus his deputy were conflicted, so a Stanford prof who was made head of antitrust had sole authority. He convened a series of conferences with the 2 sides to educate him on all aspects of the case. Cravath's Tom Barr and David Boies (before he was famous, including as Bill Gates' nemesis!) persuaded him there was no case. Dropped (and buried) the day ATT break-up agreed. (ATT shareholders came out ahead, in part because of things like IBM passing on equity stake in MSFT.)
I hope your search for authentic Chinese includes LA. Once a bastion of Cantonese, including dim sum, now one can find everything. And family style best for sure.
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