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AeroHorn

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Everything posted by AeroHorn

  1. Fair points. Musk has many faults, some quite egregious ones, including the way he has sold the AutoPilot and the reasons behind SolarCity acquisition (imo). He is at heart an R&D person and has no business running operations. And just like an R&D person, he would rather doodle about the next thing (a blade runner truck! a tunnel for me to avoid traffic!) than work on what he has already promised (a $35k car, an integrated and affordable solar solution, etc.). Even though Musk may sincerely believe and express his heartfelt desire to democratize clean and affordable future for everyone, he , by nature, will not be able to do it. He may want to be the Toyota+VW+GM, but he'll be their very well funded and unencumbered skunk works division. He'll forever promise the next big thing and will use his many gifts (desirable and undesirable) to somehow make them real in at least a limited sense. Hence, the cult following, always dreaming and always led by something shinier that is oh so within reach. But to overlook this contribution is foolish, and even ungrateful. Because of him, automotive industry will be electric, power company ripoffs during peak loads will be no more, NASA again has an avenue to think about Mars, etc.
  2. Lot of saltiness against a company that pretty much single-handedly, against tough odds, has turned the automotive industry direction from fossil fuel power to electric; so much so that Mustang is going to be electric. Musk is a dork, attention-seeker, and a promise first and worry about delivery later fundraiser, but it was pretty much what was needed to win. He has been laughed at for everything from using "laptop" batteries in cars to getting into rocketry with PayPal background, but he usually has the last word. This truck is unusual, but I can clearly see the engineering reasoning. Anyone here that has designed anything reasonably complicated (an Apple Watch, a VR headset, etc.) knows that the final product is governed largely by the philosophical approach chosen. For current cars and trucks, the primary philosophy is to fit the design to current manufacturing/supply chain ecosystem. Here, Musk has started with a blank slate and said, "what if I start with the cubic volume of an F-150 and nothing else?" His team reached the conclusion that by building an exoskeleton (think insect with hard shell), they can better use the space than the traditional body-on-frame skeleton approach (think mammals). Obviously, this results in a completely different vehicle. Now, the outside shell can just be a cuboid, or a rounded cylinder, or a pretty good aerodynamic wedge shape. Of course, the wedge shape can be smoothed, but secondary issues are many, such as Musk's love for whimsy vs traditional ID team's concept of what is appealing, the exoskeleton's strength in bending and torsion as a function of modifying the wedge shape, manufacturing ease/cost, etc. This is when UX team also gets involved regarding ease of use, story boarding a day with the product, etc. I think, at the end, Musk must have said, "let me roll with a radical design, and we still have lot of time to massage everything about it." After all, Tesla still has Model Y to build and deliver before even seriously starting work on the truck. TL,DR: Design is based on the chosen philosophy, and this truck is just Musk playing around with the final product most likely to be different enough while maintaining the same concept, imo.
  3. As expected, the features are fine, and the price is reasonable too. I liked that built-in ramp. I am a geek, and won't mind driving it.
  4. Tesla's fundamental design language is function over form and minimal to no lines, which many companies are too happy to add, with Prius Prime being an extreme example. They could have stuck to their design aesthetics by rounding out the sharp lines.
  5. Elon said that the 1977 Lotus Espirit S1 was his inspiration. I guess he stuck too close to it.
  6. The livestream link is available, though it is showing only a time counter now. https://livestream.tesla.com
  7. I expect the front to look like the semi, maybe with a straight line accent in front that is part of the teaser image. Regarding customers, they could be looking for business customers, where they may get good ROI while being environmentally friendly. The overlap between existing truck customers and EV enthusiasts may be low; so I don't expect it to be hot with consumers in the near future.
  8. That is an arm against the DE's throat all the way to the QB. It is atrociously obvious.
  9. Because we call it with WR's behind the line and all DBs up close. It is a turtle play call.OU calls with WRs on the move in space.
  10. We have effectively given up our influence in Big12, primarily due to weak ADs the last few years. Time for CDC to rectify it.
  11. Hurts is burning the aggressive defense.
  12. Is the ball covered with grease?
  13. OU at 12-1 is still very realistic for CFP. Other teams are not done losing yet.
  14. All data points to Tom Herman being a coward, his offense starting slowly, defense playing way off the line, turtling as soon as he has a lead, etc. We got fooled by couple of big wins in his career because he was an underdog and didn't have anything to lose to be afraid of. Combine this with poor preparation, and we have wins only due to athletic superiority.
  15. I guess I need to dot the i's and cross the t's. Comment about not preferring to chase points until penultimate drive: speaking for the team that is behind. Comments about defense: The said team's opponent (the team that is leading, in case it is not clear)
  16. I am speaking for the team that is behind, hence being down. The defense will play differently because giving up a TD will be a loss in one case and OT in the other. This is very obvious in how they will call timeouts, the aggression they will show, even thinking of letting them score to get back the ball, etc.
  17. reminds me of DJ creating turnovers by punching the ball from behind.
  18. No math, but a very big assumption on your part is the opponent will not score, or change their strategy on how they play the final minutes (regular vs prevent offense/defense, etc.). I typically don't like chasing points until you are quite sure this is the second last offensive series for you. The opponent will play very differently when they are down of 6 or 7. If they are down by 7, they will play prevent, keep the plays in front and make you go 10+ plays to get to red zone. If they are down by 6, they will most likely play regular defense/offense.
  19. why Seattle TO? They can't make SFO punt.
  20. why are they celebrating before ref's announcement? Is there a green light/red light in the replay booth, a la cricket?
  21. No, he wasn't out of bounds. He may have still had his hand on the ball when he fell down though.
  22. that's very close.
  23. Those throws are within 1.5 seconds of hiking the ball. Can't defend that.
  24. So, is it good offense or bad defense?
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