# Now that Elon Musk has bought Twitter - now the Pit edition (Part 1) **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [April 25, 2022, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442 "2022-04-25T22:50:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 330
**Author:** ![Dissonance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/85f322/32.png) [@Dissonance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dissonance)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2023, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/6586 "2023-09-09T01:35:07Z")
Netflix and chill doesn’t actually mean watching Netflix and chilling. [Netflix and chill - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netflix_and_chill) > " **Netflix and chill**" is an Internet [slang term](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slang_term) used as a [euphemism](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euphemism) for [sexual activity](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_sexual_activity), either as part of a [romantic partnership](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romantic_relationship), as [casual sex](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casual_sex), or as a [groupie](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Groupie) invitation. Since its first recorded, nonsexual use in a [tweet](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tweet_(Twitter)) posted in 2009,[[1]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netflix_and_chill#cite_note-fusion-1)[[2]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netflix_and_chill#cite_note-:2-2) the phrase has gained popularity within the [Twitter](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twitter) community and other social media sites like [Facebook](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Facebook) and [Vine](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vine_(service)). By 2015, “Netflix and chill” had become an [Internet meme](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_meme) and its use on teenage social media was commonly described as “sexual” by _[Fusion](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fusion.net)_ . ---
**Author:** ![Dissonance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/85f322/32.png) [@Dissonance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dissonance)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2023, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/6587 "2023-09-09T01:38:34Z")
> [@Dr\_Paprika](#): > > I’m not saying this is complete, unburnished or completely accurate. Which parts aren’t, though? The part where he refused to take money from the Pentagon and continued providing free service. I’ve already linked this, but to repeat it: > **[SpaceX's Starlink wins Pentagon contract for satellite services to Ukraine](https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/pentagon-buys-starlink-ukraine-statement-2023-06-01/)** > > SpaceX's Starlink, the satellite communications service started by billionaire Elon Musk, now has a Department of Defense contract to buy those satellite services for Ukraine, the Pentagon said on Thursday. ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2023, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/6588 "2023-09-09T01:49:40Z")
The Post article (see below) doesn’t deny Musk got a contract, but that this was not for the original humanitarian services provided but for requested military uses. If Musk was not in the defence game, than military uses would certainly have to involve the federal government, and Musk was not necessarily wrong to question things. Although nuclear threats may amount to sabre-rattling, the risk is non-zero. _After his exchange with Fedorov, Musk felt frustrated. “How am I in this war?” he asked me during a late-night phone conversation. “Starlink was not meant to be involved in wars. It was so people can watch Netflix and chill and get online for school and do good peaceful things, not drone strikes.”_ _In the end, with Shotwell’s help, SpaceX made arrangements with various government agencies to pay for increased Starlink service in Ukraine, with the military and CIA working out the terms of service. More than 100,000 new satellite dishes were sent to Ukraine at the beginning of 2023. In addition, Starlink launched a companion service called Starshield, which was specifically designed for military use. SpaceX licensed Starshield satellites and services to the U.S. military and other agencies, allowing the government to determine how they could and should be used in Ukraine and elsewhere._ ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2023, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/6589 "2023-09-09T02:21:34Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > “The” Ukraine? This was the standard way of referring to the country in English until very recently. I still catch myself doing it. I am not sure I understand the objections to it, since neither Russian nor Ukrainian has a definite article and other nouns such as нарід “people, nation” could be validly translated as “nation” or “a nation” or “the nation,” depending on context. In any case, the preferred anglicization is now just “Ukraine,” but I don’t think you can read too much into people who use the older usage. Re: Musk—wouldn’t what he is attempting with Starlink be described as war profiteering? ---
**Author:** ![Walken\_After\_Midnight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b487fb/32.png) [@Walken\_After\_Midnight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walken_After_Midnight)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2023, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/6590 "2023-09-09T02:40:26Z")
> [@Dr.Drake](#): > > This was the standard way of referring to the country in English until very recently. I guess 31 years is very recent in geological terms. > **[Why Ukraine Isn't 'The Ukraine,' And Why That Matters Now](https://www.businessinsider.com/why-ukraine-isnt-the-ukraine-and-why-that-matters-now-2013-12?r=US&IR=T)** ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2023, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/6591 "2023-09-09T03:07:49Z")
I accept your cite, but I’ll just say that, as a native speaker of English with no particular inclination to pay attention to Ukraine\* when it’s not on the world stage, I did not make the change in my own speech until the most recent flare-up of the Ukraine-Russia conflict (“the” to modify “conflict” here) in the past couple of years. I had little reason to refer to the place, and therefore little reason to adjust my speech. \*I initially typed “the Ukraine” here, as is natural to my speech, but then edited it. My point is that I accept the change, but it’s a change within living memory, not “geological terms,” and I think you should cut people some slack unless you have evidence that they’re deliberately inserting the “the” to be a jerk. ---
**Author:** ![Walken\_After\_Midnight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b487fb/32.png) [@Walken\_After\_Midnight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walken_After_Midnight)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2023, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/6592 "2023-09-09T03:23:05Z")
A couple of clarifications… Musk biographer: > X CEO (Yaccarino) in clean-up mode: > ---
**Author:** ![Measure\_for\_Measure](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/measure_for_measure/32/557_2.png) [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2023, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/6593 "2023-09-09T03:24:00Z")
Test link to threads thread over at [threads.net](http://threads.net) > **[Matthew Yglesias (@mattyglesias) on Threads](https://www.threads.net/@mattyglesias/post/Cw779EtrSKO)** > > I don’t think a car tycoon who has deep business ties to the People’s Republic of China should be running freelance foreign policy Ok, I see the pic didn’t render for me: it’s a familiar Norman Rockwell print. Over at X-Bird, my man Kamil Galeev opines: > > > 🍦Harel Barok @HarelBarok Also: > > > TheForgottenMen @XIONGXIONG1016 The recommended New Yorker article indicates that while Musk is not an idiot, he is high on drugs, possibly Ambien, likely ketamine, which can cause impulsiveness and disinhibition. > “At higher doses, it has another effect, which is dissociation: you feel detached from your body and surroundings… You can feel grandiose and like you have special powers or special talents. People do impulsive things, they could do inadvisable things at work. The impact depends on the kind of work. For a librarian, there’s less risk. If you’re a pilot, it can cause big problems.” “You can feel grandiose and like you have special powers or special talents.”: not entirely clear whether Elmo needed drugs for that. It’s tragic really. Musk took a once sucky app and made it suck harder. ---
**Author:** ![Walken\_After\_Midnight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b487fb/32.png) [@Walken\_After\_Midnight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walken_After_Midnight)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2023, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/6594 "2023-09-09T03:43:29Z")
> [@Measure\_for\_Measure](#): > > my man Kamil Galeev Is he your husband? ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2023, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/6595 "2023-09-09T03:49:55Z")
> [@Dr.Drake](#): > > \*I initially typed “the Ukraine” here, as is natural to my speech, but then edited it. Don’t sweat it, I still do it as well and have to go back and edit myself. It’s to be avoided, but old is as old does and I personally didn’t start learning it was an issue until the last decade. One issue with being an old ex-history major is I think of it in a historical context very much as a region rather than a nation and that’s proven a hard linguistic tic for me to shake. ---
**Author:** ![Measure\_for\_Measure](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/measure_for_measure/32/557_2.png) [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2023, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/6596 "2023-09-09T04:30:43Z")
> [@Walken\_After\_Midnight](#): > > Is he your husband? Just in case that was a serious question, “No, and I don’t know the guy personally.” I have posted his work here a couple of times though. Apologies for the ridiculous choice of words ---
**Author:** ![Walken\_After\_Midnight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b487fb/32.png) [@Walken\_After\_Midnight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walken_After_Midnight)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2023, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/6597 "2023-09-09T04:44:37Z")
I’ve read some of his Ukraine war history/context threads. Very interesting. ---
**Author:** ![Sylvanz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/fbc32d/32.png) [@Sylvanz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sylvanz)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2023, 8:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/6598 "2023-09-09T08:23:32Z")
Ah, so clueless. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2023, 8:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/6599 "2023-09-09T08:42:25Z")
> [@Walken\_After\_Midnight](#): > > > [@Dr.Drake](#): > > > > This was the standard way of referring to the country in English until very recently. > > I guess 31 years is very recent in geological terms. > [Why Ukraine Isn't 'the Ukraine,' and Why That Matters Now](https://www.businessinsider.com/why-ukraine-isnt-the-ukraine-and-why-that-matters-now-2013-12?r=US&IR=T) Thanks for the informative article about how this usage may have come about. The “the Ukraine” usage has always annoyed me. I thought that the similarity to the correct usage of “the UK” might have helped the misuse along. “The UK” is fine, because the United Kingdom is a collection of nations, like “the United States” is a collection of states. But if you don’t say “the England”, don’t say “the Ukraine”. ---
**Author:** ![Dissonance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/85f322/32.png) [@Dissonance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dissonance)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2023, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/6600 "2023-09-09T16:22:59Z")
> [@Dr.Drake](#): > > Re: Musk—wouldn’t what he is attempting with Starlink be described as war profiteering? Why gosh no. He’s a man of philanthropy who saw the largest war in Europe in the past 77 years happening and his natural response wasn’t “I should donate to humanitarian charities with my bottomless pit of money”, it was “I should use this human tragedy to showcase my product line”. Just be glad he didn’t donate 20,000 Teslas to the Ukrainian government and offer to have the boring company dig a 1.5-mile-long loop under Kiev. And woe, how could boy wonder, Ultraman-child tech genius possibly foresee the country involved in a fucking war for national survival would misuse his precious Starlink gift not to facilitate fucking and doing homework but to enable military communications. It’s only natural that he’d ask the Pentagon to start forking over truckloads of cash to him not because he had them over a barrel now that the Ukrainian military was dependent on his communication network not as profiteering from his ‘donation’ but as a fine for misusing his service that he thought Ukrainians would be utilizing for fucking each other in the middle of a war for national survival. I’m certain all the funds he collects from the Pentagon are going to be donated by him to some charitable cause aiding the millions of Ukrainian war refugees. The check is almost certainly in the mail. In other words, yes, he’s war profiteering, which I wouldn’t have a problem with if he had been up front about it and offered to sell Starlink services via a Pentagon aid package to Ukraine to begin with rather than offering up his _ex post facto_ load of horseshit about how his generous donation of Starlink to Ukraine was intended for peaceful purposes like fucking and doing homework. It was blatantly obvious from the moment he donated Starlink that it was being used by the Ukrainian military to facilitate military communications. He only had a problem with it when he fantasized himself saving humanity from nuclear annihilation. ---
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2023, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/6601 "2023-09-09T16:59:42Z")
When The Ukraine wins the war and the Kerch bridge is smoldering ruins Musk’s heroic sabotage to avoid WWIII is going to look even more egregious. It will be at that point Elon will want something from the American people. Be it tax breaks, regulations eased, or maneavuering space from any one of a multitude of business and political enemies. The people who supported The Ukraine in their darkest hour will remember everything. I hope someone has the tissues handy for when he doesn’t get his way and takes the crying to Twitter. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2023, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/6602 "2023-09-09T19:39:55Z")
Add the Federal Trade Commission to the list of bears Elmo has decided to poke; > **[X is no longer labeling ads for some users](https://mashable.com/article/twitter-x-removes-ad-labels-for-some-users?taid=64fc2d0c79887800010f1d77&utm_campaign=trueAnthem%3A%2BTrending%2BContent&utm_medium=trueAnthem&utm_source=twitter)** > > Not disclosing advertisements runs afoul of the FTC's rules. ---
**Author:** ![Dissonance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/85f322/32.png) [@Dissonance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dissonance)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2023, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/6603 "2023-09-09T20:08:11Z")
> [@Walken\_After\_Midnight](#): > > A couple of clarifications… > > Musk biographer: > [https://twitter.com/WalterIsaacson/status/1700342242290901361](https://twitter.com/WalterIsaacson/status/1700342242290901361) Elmo’s biographer has certainly clarified one thing: he’s as delusional as Elmo. > To clarify on the Starlink issue: the Ukrainians THOUGHT coverage was enabled all the way to Crimea, but it was not. They asked Musk to enable it for their drone sub attack on the Russian fleet. Musk did not enable it, because he thought, probably correctly, that would cause a major war. For one, it’s a tad bit insulting that he doesn’t consider the war going on in Ukraine to be ‘a major war’. I’m sure both Ukraine and Russia would be happy to hear that clarification. The other clarification that he’s as delusional as Elmo is demonstrated when he can state, on 9 September 2023, that Ukrainian attacks on Crimea would have caused a wider war - I’m assuming he meant wider rather than major. He makes that statement with the full advantage of hindsight that Ukraine has not only attacked Sevastopol harbor and a wide range of targets in Crimea, but Kursk Oblast, Moscow (including the Kremlin for fucks sake), Pskov, Novorossiysk, and allowed Russian ex-pats to invade and temporarily occupy towns in Bryansk Oblast. Oddly absolutely none of these resulted in the nuclear holocaust that Elmo saved us all from by not allowing attacks on Sevastopol harbor using Starlink. Clearly, it’s the using Starlink part that endangers the world with a nuclear holocaust since the Ukrainians have attacked it since without using Starlink. Elmo should shut down Starlink altogether, by its very existence it threatens all of humanity with nuclear annihilation. It’s practically Skynet, and we all know how Elmo feels about AIs. Second biggest threat to humanity after underpopulation of rich, white people. ---
**Author:** ![Walken\_After\_Midnight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b487fb/32.png) [@Walken\_After\_Midnight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walken_After_Midnight)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2023, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/6604 "2023-09-09T20:14:19Z")
Has he gotten too close to his subject? > > > > Walter Isaacson @WalterIsaacson ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2023, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/6605 "2023-09-09T20:37:44Z")
Musk looks _wrecked_ in that pic. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442.md?page=329) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442.md?page=331)