Elon Musk Sells $10 Million in Flamethrowers in Four Days (reuters.com) 147
An anonymous reader quotes Reuters:
A handful of tweets and four days later, Silicon Valley billionaire Elon Musk has closed orders for his latest novelty product, after selling 20,000 flamethrowers at $500 a piece. "Guaranteed to liven up any party!" was Musk's tagline for a sale which raised $10 million for his high-speed tunnel venture The Boring Company... "When the zombie apocalypse happens, you'll be glad you bought a flamethrower," he tweeted last Saturday. "Works against hordes of the undead or your money back!"
The fundraising comes as Tesla "struggles" meet its production commitments, notes the article, adding that analysts are wondering if the car manufacturer will eventually need billions more in funding.
By Wednesday Musk had sold out his entire suppy of flamethrowers, though "Apparently, some customs agencies are saying they won't allow shipment of anything called a 'Flamethrower'," Musk tweeted Friday night, adding "To solve this, we are renaming it 'Not a Flamethrower'."
"Or maybe 'Temperature Enhancement Device.'"
The fundraising comes as Tesla "struggles" meet its production commitments, notes the article, adding that analysts are wondering if the car manufacturer will eventually need billions more in funding.
By Wednesday Musk had sold out his entire suppy of flamethrowers, though "Apparently, some customs agencies are saying they won't allow shipment of anything called a 'Flamethrower'," Musk tweeted Friday night, adding "To solve this, we are renaming it 'Not a Flamethrower'."
"Or maybe 'Temperature Enhancement Device.'"
Re:safety (Score:4, Funny)
Flamethrowers don't kill. People do.
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Let me guess... instead of being worried about people who use these to clear brush in order to avoid devastating wildfires, or who use them regularly to do controlled burns on everything from sugar cane fields to zoysia turf to tent work infestations
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Oh goody. I like validation.
The most serious crime in my neighborhood is someone throwing a cigarette butt on the ground or parking in a handicapped zone. I'm serious. There's zero crime in my neighborhood.
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Well, that's fine for you. The other day, I was minding my own business, when some guy came up from behind with a flame thrower, robbed me, and before he left, he set my car on fire. I blame this on Elon. Obviously, he has inspired a flamethrower robbing epidemic! /jk
Re:safety (Score:5, Informative)
He's not going to sell them anywhere he's not allowed. This is a publicity stunt to get government procurement attention around the world and make a quick buck. The actual flame throwers he's selling are actually more of a blow torch... they only go 5' at most (more like 2-3') and don't have a concentrated stream/lasting liquid that continues to burn. You can already buy $900 ones that go 25' or $1600 ones that go 50' from other companies that are far more harmful. What he's done is sell something a farmer might use to clear brush, a fire department might use for controlled buns... but mostly for people to buy to make dumb youtube videos and then put it on a shelf.
You could probably do more damage with a culinary butane torch that you can pick up at your local walmart.
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Except he's caused all sorts of "officials" to take "notice" and "offense" to something that no one really cared about before. I wonder if this stunt will have the side-effect of suddenly making business much more difficult for everyone who already makes and/or owns similar devices that were previously fine.
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In some ways that might not be a bad thing: http://my.lpg-apps.org/uploads... [lpg-apps.org]
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Of course it will....
This will be the new "bump stock"....and I'm guessing immediately we'll have a ton of liberal's shouting for "common sense flamethrower laws".
I guess while were at it, let's ba
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Perhaps you were answering someone else?
This comment has nothing to do with this thread of conversation, especially my post....
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This thing is advertised as a toy, but it can still be used as an extremely expensive propane torch for the things one would typically use a 500,000 BTU torch for. You've already been informed of several such uses for it. I'm willing to suspect these things are exactly that, a weed burner dressed up and sold for roughly 25x as much as
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You left out the thing that belongs to a liberal.
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This will be the new "bump stock"....and I'm guessing immediately we'll have a ton of liberal's shouting for "common sense flamethrower laws".
If and when someone uses a Boring Company Flamethrower (tm) to murder dozens or hundreds of people at a time, it's very likely your prediction will come true.
Until then, probably not.
I bet the Flamethrower would work very well for burning up straw men, though.
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He's not going to sell them anywhere he's not allowed. This is a publicity stunt to get government procurement attention around the world and make a quick buck. The actual flame throwers he's selling are actually more of a blow torch... they only go 5' at most (more like 2-3') and don't have a concentrated stream/lasting liquid that continues to burn. You can already buy $900 ones that go 25' or $1600 ones that go 50' from other companies that are far more harmful. What he's done is sell something a farmer might use to clear brush, a fire department might use for controlled buns... but mostly for people to buy to make dumb youtube videos and then put it on a shelf.
You could probably do more damage with a culinary butane torch that you can pick up at your local walmart.
ATF rules state that a flamethrower with a throw of less than 10 feet (3 metres) is A-OK.
I'm going to guess you just need some kind of permit after that.
However this was just generating publicity for Musk. In that regard, it's done quite well.
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Exactly right - but now he's got $9 million in profits to put towards solving the Model 3 production problems or funding the research on whatever else is actually important.
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> You can also buy a $10 can of compressed air and light the stream on fire with a 50 cent lighter.
An ad video of the device is at https://www.instagram.com/p/Be... [instagram.com] . It's rifle sized, so it carrries considerably more fuel than a typical "compressed air" can, and has a much longer range and overall burning flame volume. I admit to being tempted to get one, but children sometimes visit my home. I'd want to keep it in a good gun safe with space for the device and the fuel.
I agree that it's an expensive toy
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Those were hooked up to large propane tanks. If you look the canister that sits on top of the rifle is absent in the video and they're hiding the fact that the hoses are detached. Likely just to make it easier to shoot the advertising.
The actual canister appears to be your standard 1lbs BernzOmatic propane cylinder painted black.
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Anyone who has ever built a spud gun knows that AquaNet works much better.
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I'd say just keep the fuel where you'd keep your spare propane tanks for your grill. Kids using it to start fires is about as likely as them using a propane tank
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You''re making very good sense. I don't personally have propane tanks or space for them near my home.
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I've wasted all that money on fuel when it turns out that air burns?
I should have paid more attention in science classes.
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There are valid reasons for Intelectual Property Laws in capitalist societies, but the current terms are neither fair, nor up to the information age.
Re:20,000 people got Musked out of $ (Score:5, Informative)
Business failures?
- He sold his first investment to Compaq for $22mil
- his second company merged with what is now known as PayPal which he made $165mil from
- SpaceX sits just above profitability on over $1 billion in revenues
- SolarCity used a capital heavy model to lease panels so they will provide ongoing tax/cash benefits to Tesla long into the future (and are now switching to a non-lease model to increase short term profitability/decrease capital outlay)
Telsa is about the only struggle going on and entirely related to the Gigafactory's inability to mass produce batteries. There's part of the process that they're having to do manually while they fix the automation problems and that's dragging things down/costing the company a lot of money.
The Boring Company/OpenAI/Neurolinks/Hyperloop are pet projects that may lead to something in the future but they're research on a small scale compared to the rest the companies he's involved with.
Seems pretty successful to me.
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SpaceX was started that way, it's profitability now comes from the average $72 million dollar fee for launching a rocket (17 last year).
SolarCity started that way, it's technically losing money right now due to leasing but that is ending and going to a direct sales model so it will become profitable quickly. It also generates large amounts of cash from the leasing while providing depreciation on the panels they've leased - after about 10-12 years those leases become pure profit for them. The long term out
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While I can definitely appreciate Elon's twisted sense of humor, I am concerned about liability in this latest "venture" of his. I'd assume he's had a team of lawyers cover his ass nine ways from Sunday, but all it would take is one high-visibility mishap -- say, a fatal kindergarten fire -- to spoil the fun for everybody. I'd hate to see something like that get in the way of all the other good things he's doing.
BTW, I'm bummed that I didn't order a Boring Co. hat in time. :-(
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I am concerned about liability in this latest "venture" of his. I'd assume he's had a team of lawyers cover his ass nine ways from Sunday, but all it would take is one high-visibility mishap -- say, a fatal kindergarten fire -- to spoil the fun for everybody.
Do you worry about this every time someone buys a gallon of gas to use in their lawnmower? Because that, and a rag and a match and a glass bottle is every bit as dangerous to a kindergarten class as a controlled-burn tool like the ones in question. More so, really.
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The real hazard that concerns me is Elon himself, or rather his wealth and fame, both of which make him an attractive target for enterprising trial lawyers. As I said, I'm sure he made certain it's all legal, but this is essentially a toy weapon that actually works. That is skating closer to the edge than most products you can buy. And a lot of "safe" products generate lawsuits too.
In any case, bad accidents are bad PR, and Elon doesn't need more of that. So I hope nothing like that happens. That is all.
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I can't think of one valid use for a toy flamethrower
Unwanted hair removal?
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For $500 and a bit of googling, you can put together something closer to an actual, deadly style flamethrower. I'll even save you the bandwidth of using google: For the price of this book [flamethrowerplans.com] and the materials needed (quoted as costing around $450) you could
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Re:safety (Score:5, Insightful)
I seriously doubt he would throw razor blades in a suicide ward.
He would charge for those blades.
It's not Elon's responsibility what you do with a flame thrower after you buy it.
It's not Gillette's responsibility what you cut with a razor blade after you buy it.
It's not Ford's responsibility what you hit with a car after you buy it.
It's not John Deer's responsibility what you run over with a riding lawn mower after you buy it.
It's not Sturm, Ruger & Company's responsibility what you shoot with a gun after you buy it.
It's not Clorox's responsibility what you do with bleach after you buy it.
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And yet Tide is getting the bejesus sued out of it for tide pods. You know a nice package to toss in your laundry with no liquids or powders spilled.
There are multiple lawsuits on riding lawn mowers, some have succeeded. Clorox somehow did something to the bleach to make it splash less. I think the gun makers have been sued. I think you underestimate the craziness of the US legal system.
I also wonder why no one has flagged this thing as nothing but a toy CO2 generator, from the guy who wants to save us from
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It's not Elon's responsibility what you do with a flame thrower after you buy it.
Right, setting aside the promotional video [space.com] that shows him holding one assault-rifle style and running toward the frickin cameraman with it flaming, tagged with "Don’t do this. Also, I want to be clear that a flamethrower is a super terrible idea. Definitely don’t buy one. Unless you like fun." This kind of mixed message doesn't even give him clear grounds to mount the (terrible under the best of circumstances) "just kidding" legal defense down the road.
I am very comfortable that any lawyer he m
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Why on earth would anyone expect people to be so stupid they try to eat Tide pods? If you had told me people were that stupid, I wouldn't have believed you. It took seeing a video of it for me to grasp the immensity of human stupidity.
I don't see how Tide could have foreseen this.
Re:safety (Score:5, Informative)
This guy obviously feels no responsibility for injuries caused by his products. He would throw a package of razor blades in a suicide ward.
Give me a fucking break. Big Tobacco makes Musks antics look like childs play by comparison, and I can buy shit at Wal-Mart that would make a bigger flame than his toy.
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And the US company vaping products are garbage compared to the European companies like Innokin, Vaporesso, etc.
The US products seem more concerned about "looking like a cigarette", than actually working decently.
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Try starting a cigarette company in the US today, see how far you get.
Plenty of cigar companies have had no issues starting up in the US in recent years, and the fact that cigarettes are still a legal product you would probably have NO issues at all starting up, particularly if you were also selling nicotine-infused vaping products. Competing is another matter entirely, and has fuck-all to do with my original point. Musks antics can't hold a fucking flamthrowing candle to the shit Big Tobacco is responsible for when it comes to selling "safe" products.
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You might want to take a look at the "flamethrower" he is selling. This is more like a Bunsen burner with a handle.
Re: safety (Score:2)
He's selling a blowtorch with some plastic molding. I can go get a bigger one at Home Depot and nobody would bat an eyelash.
Re:safety (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:safety (Score:4, Informative)
They've got all sorts of warnings/etc. on appropriate use. In the end though, what he's really sold is a very expensive weed torch.
Seriously.
It's just this sort of thing (bought at any walmart/hardware store): https://images-na.ssl-images-a... [ssl-images-amazon.com]
Put into this Airsoft battle rifle: https://www.evike.com/images/l... [evike.com]
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It's a Darwin toy. We need more of this to remove fools from the gene pool.
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Better use something like this :
http://s79.photobucket.com/use... [photobucket.com]
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My answer is..."So what?"
Does everything sold these days require some form of utility use in order to be legally sold and legally used?
It's a free country, and if you WANT something, and legally use it, there should not be any limitation of you being able to possess it and legally use it.
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I would agree....it started out that way, and has been getting progressively less free over the years.
I'd say said loss of freedoms have escalated VERY fast since about 1968....and gotten worse and worse since then.
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Man...I'd had to live in that much fear daily, I really would.
I know people around me that own 30-100+ guns, and sure...something "could" go wrong, accidentally shoot through their walls while cleaning them and bullet could travel through a couple of houses.
However, I'm not realistically worried about that. And wh
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The human race does not stop evolving because we protect society from dangerous toys.
The human race will evolve a lot faster if we make it easier for stupid people to kill themselves.
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It's just a... (Score:3)
Hair Dryer - https://globalnews.ca/news/400... [globalnews.ca]
I prefer the Harbor Freight version. (Score:4, Informative)
Has a bigger tank, and only costs $30.
https://www.harborfreight.com/... [harborfreight.com]
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And it doesn't look like a sweet zombie-fighting flamthrowing shotgun. Musk knows his audience and sold $10 million worth of product in four days. How's your idea working out?
Mr. Musk indeed knows his audience (Score:5, Insightful)
He knows how to charge people $400 for a weed-removal product used in landscape maintenance that you can get for $30 at Harbor Freight. Brilliant!
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He knows how to charge people $400 for a weed-removal product used in landscape maintenance that you can get for $30 at Harbor Freight. Brilliant!
No. He's already wealthy and famous enough that he is able to easily promote his extremely overpriced weed incinerator.
It's not difficult to come up with some overpriced and/or pseudoscience-based product for suckers/moronic investors. However, unless you're already rich or well-known enough to get people to listen to your snake oil sales pitch, forget it.
People have been making toy guns into flamethrowers ever since someone tried filling a "super soaker" with kerosene. Some of them got burned, none of t
Re:Mr. Musk indeed knows his audience (Score:4, Interesting)
I have to hand it to him... Elon has the guts to exploit his new "Internet God" status in ways never thought of before.
It was joked that back during Steve Jobs height of power (2006-2010), he could have shit in a box and his fans would have lined up in droves to spend big bucks on said box because they would have thought that it had magical restorative powers.
Steve never actually tried DOING it, though, although some Apple haters would say that The Apple Cube G4 was the closest thing to "overpriced shit in a box" that Apple ever produced.
Elon's just taking it to the next level!
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Sometimes of course it could be about having fun. When you are rich enough you can play all sorts of silly games with the mug punters. Same goes for when you are smart enough, all sorts of silly fun. To fill conspiracy sites, youtube videos and a flame thrower that launched a million comments. You apparently don't get to play and find it all so very annoying.
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Do you have any idea how much these Musk branded torches will be worth in 20 years? People buying these things are making an investment.
There's a limited number, they are branded with a Musk company Brand. Musk follows through on his claim to die on the surface of mars and these things will be worth a fortune.
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I am not a flamethrower expert, but I don't think you can make a flamethrower with propane as fuel. The range would not exceed a meter or meter and a half.
In fact, all the flamethrowers ever made used some sort of liquid fuel, usually gasoline. They need a second container for the propellant gas. Flamethrowers have ranges of several tens of meters.
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And now I get to reply to myself, with humble pie on my face: it turns out, Elon's flamethrower is indeed just a propane torch.
I didn't know that. Please forgive my ignorance.
Weed-burning torch (Score:2)
This "flamethrower" is just a weed-burning torch with a modified case to hold the tank. That's what he should call it.
https://images-na.ssl-images-a... [ssl-images-amazon.com]
Comment removed (Score:5, Funny)
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billionaires: we've just cornered the market on rare minerals used to design technology like cellphones and tablets in order to further our wealth and power
Elon: I made ten million dollars on novelty flame throwers branded with the name of my tunnel digging company i came up with on twitter
billionaires:...Is everything OK at home, Elon?
I'm certainly not Musk's biggest fan... but I can honestly say that I don't think he has any problems at home. He's probably having as much fun as Richard Branson.
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And what Elon Musk was selling isn't a flamethrower.
Let that sink in for a minute.
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The Nazis stopped using flame throwers, because they were too crazy and dangerous, and killed more of their own people than enemies.
So what you're saying is that you have absolutely no idea what you're talking about. Does that physically hurt?
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The Nazis stopped using flame throwers, because they were too crazy and dangerous, and killed more of their own people than enemies.
The Nazis thought it was too crazy. ... and killed too many of their own people. ...
Let that sink in for a minute.
P.S.: CAPTCHA = madness. (I’m not kidding. That's literally the CAPTCHA right now!)
The only crazy part here is assuming what Musk is selling should be compared to a Nazi killing machine. You'll be lucky to "kill" weeds in your front yard with this toy.
Spaceballs The Flamethrower! (Score:4, Funny)
May the Schwartz Be With You!
Won't work: renaming it 'Not a Flamethrower' (Score:2)
"To solve this, we are renaming it 'Not a Flamethrower'."
Won't work. The presence of the word "flamethrower" will cause problems regardless of context. A friend had the word "laser" in his company name and boxes would occasionally get held up in customs waiting for the "export paperwork". He was not selling lasers. A customs official pulled the packages due to the company name.
"Or maybe 'Temperature Enhancement Device.'"
Better.
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It is not a flamethrower. Real flamethrowers spray burning oil on everything. Not nearly as much fun.
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Sounds like something made by Aperture Science.
Elon is okay (Score:2)
This is not an asset so we don't have read rights (Score:2)
This is not an asset so we don't have to read you your rights but can ask you questions.
customs agencies are saying they won't allow shipment of anything called a 'Flamethrower'," Musk tweeted Friday night, adding "To solve this, we are renaming it 'Not a Flamethrower'."
try that with drugs hell in some places you can sit in jail for 1-2 years before trail
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So, if I sell aspirin and put a big label on the box, saying "this is not heroin", I could be in jail for one to two years? If that's true then the justice system is really messed up.
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out side of the usa yes.
What's the fellow's line? (Score:2)
Never worries 'bout his line.
Or a doggone thing, He's just a bang beat, bell ringing
Big haul, great go, neck-or-nothing, rip roarin'
Every time a bull's eye salesman
That's Professor Elon Musk, Elon Musk
I don't know how he does it but he lives like a king
And he dallies and he gathers and he plucks and he shines
And when the man dances certainly, boys, what else?
The piper pays him!
Apologies to Meredith Wilson [youtube.com].
George Carlin (Score:2)
George Carlin: Think for a moment about the concept of a flamethrower [youtube.com]
That's hot! (Score:1)
Aliens (Score:1)
I, for one, am glad he is helping out with our Alien Problem.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]
http://avp.wikia.com/wiki/Flam... [wikia.com]
TED Talks (Score:2)
Oh, so that's what TED talks are about. Toasty warm lectures. But you''ll still be shamed for falling asleep because it's too warm.