e.w. niedermeyer

@niedermeyer.online

63097 Followers 1907 Following

cyberbullying elon musk since 2015, author of "ludicrous: the unvarnished story of tesla motors" (2019) and "elon take the wheel" (dec 2026, preorders now open), cohost of the autonocast, program director for the ride ai summit, occasional shark/frog

Sudden torrential rain with a bit of thunder in an east side Portland neighborhood, which is unusual given the heat and season
A Photo Niedermeyer shop, with the name in big yellow letters
Air taxi firms are racing ​to secure approvals and commercialize air taxi aircraft to meet the growing demand for faster and ​more sustainable urban transportation. They tout eVTOLs that can take off and land vertically to ferry travelers to airports or ‌for ⁠short city trips, allowing them to beat traffic.
Lenny from The Simpsons, wrapt
A dusty black Subar BRAT with a brush guard and rally lights
A tabby cat in bed watching qualifying for the Belgian Grand Prix on a projector
It’s not an operational launch. Pushing back a test flight is not a failure.
Dan Ives looking exactly like the self-satisfied clown he is in an absurdly colorful and tasteless outfit
That paradox extends to Uber’s lobbying efforts and its recent white paper titled “Unlocking the promise of autonomy.” This mostly involves locking robotaxi development into Uber’s preferred hybrid humans-plus-robots model on the grounds that its network isn’t merely a commercial enterprise but also something like a public good. On this reading, policies should favor Uber’s approach because of societal benefits, which it says include providing work for drivers and transportation for underserved communities, as well as managing congestion.
This week’s public hearing in Washington DC to debate proposed local legislation allowing autonomous vehicles provided a new forum for disagreement. Uber’s representative talked up how drivers on its platform spend their earnings, and pay taxes, within the city while robotaxi profits flow to unnamed companies based elsewhere. Waymo’s conceded that robotaxis would mean job losses “like with any other technological shift,” but also observed that companies “seated at this table” controlled drivers’ earnings today and were taking a significant chunk for themselves.
starship exploding
meme image of America in a MAGA hat, stabbing itself
a bloodstained towel amidst neon green thread, multicolor duct tape, and other insane crafting detritus
When early EVs hit the market, buyers’ concerns were well-founded. Roughly one in 12 EVs built from 2011 to 2016 have had to have battery replacements. But new data shows that more modern EVs are doing better so far. Among EVs built from 2022 on, 0.3% have had battery replacements, according to a 2025 study from Recurrent.
a fuzzy mass of tabby cat, covering his face with his paws
A copy of Top Gun on VHS
Wojack reclining on his massive brain, playing chess with a creature also made of his brain
Wojack riding a cyborg elephant made entirely of his massive brain
Kia EV9, a large electric crossover
survivorship bias airplane image
a "Really? Right in front of my SpaceX investor?" meme, with the titular investor depicted as a reddit-brained wojack
I was thinking of doing a book on PayPal … and [the chapter on Elon Musk] was going to be titled, “The man who knew nothing about risk.” … We had decided to give a credit card to anybody who wanted them. You got up to $10,000 credit limit. Elon had told the woman who was rolling the service out that he wanted 1 million people to be using the new credit card by the end of the year. Fortunately, it was about two levels down from the front page, and so not that many people were able to discover this. Some people did. They wrote us back and said, “You know this is fantastic! I haven’t had credit in years. I can’t believe you’re offering me credit. I haven’t even had a checking account in 10 years!” … We ended up with something like a 50% charge back rate—the worst subprime companies are like 4%-6%. And then, happily, we sort of rolled that product back very quickly.
The neighborhood foccacia, if you're lucky enough to live in Fressen German Bakery's neighborhood
Screenshot showing the original post in this thread, with the message "We're sorry! The post you are replying to has been deleted."
Lucille Bluth saying "I don't care for George Russell"
A bike-drawn DJ booth creates a mini side party along the riverfront bike path, woth the Hawthorne bridge in the background
viral quiz results reveal perfect 50-50 balance on both the techbro vs neo-luddite and the hopepilled vs boomer continua
Henry Caville on the red carpet, labeled "MY UNSUSPECTING FOLLOWERS," oblivious to Jason Momoa, labeleD "SPORTS SKEETS," sneaking up behind him
the radio from a 1948 Pontiac, with two knobs that look like eyes and a speaker that looks like a wide open mouth
Clavicular wearing an "I heart Paris" tank top
Tim Robinson singing during the "The Night The Skeletons Came To Life" sketch in I Think You Should Leave
A pale powder blue Waymo Ojai, a sensor-toting little van that will serve as the next generation of robotaxis for the Alphabet company
Stilgar from Dune about to say "as written"
a lamprey sucking on glass, revealing it's bizarre jawless maw, looking like something from the Alien franchise, or maybe Shai-Hulud from Dune
Marketing graphic for the Barnes & Noble pre-order sale, promoting 25% off pre-orders of Elon Take The Wheel with code PREORDER25, now through June 26
NTSB chairwoman Jennifer Homendy in a hearing, looking formidable
a small but lanky black dog watches as my dad drives an old Farmall Cub tractor onto a trailer
photo of a symphony orchestra in concert, only the double bass player is in an inflatable shark costume
Google search for "tesla convertible" returns 2011 Tesla Roadster as the AI answer, but shows a picture of the tacky Model 3 conversion I literally just saw on the road
The first copy of the Oregon Commentator featuring Sudsy O'Sullivan, an anthropomorphic mug of beer, whose facial features were stolen from the Kool Aid Guy, and whose beer- and cigar-toting arms were stolen from the baby from Who Killed Roger Rabbit
A pile of chopped roasted jalapeño and sweet red peppers, some roasted leek that is half-chopped, and a bunch of herbs (chives, oregano, cilantro blossom) on a cutting board
Elon Musk tweet from 5 hours ago: "The reason they call me a Nazi is to encourage people to murder me"
Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai is found in death. Meditation on inevitable death should be performed daily. Every day when one's body and mind are at peace, one should meditate upon being ripped apart by arrows, rifles, spears, and swords. Being carried away by surging waves. Being thrown into the midst of a great fire. Being struck by lightning, being shaken to death by a great earthquake. Falling from thousand-foot cliffs, dying of disease, or committing seppuku at the death of one's master. And every day, without fail, one should consider himself as dead. This is the substance of the Way of the Samurai.
Norman Rockwell's famous painting entitled "Free Speech"
Lowly Worm in his apple car
A Kia Soul with the license plate "NONBNRY" and bumper stickers that read" "don't honk at me, I'm having a crisis" and "honk if you forgive me"
a piece of cedar-planked Copper River red salmon on rice with grilled leeks and peppers, with a glass of Kirkland Chablis just visible (and leftovers on a cutting board in the background)
James Talarico speaking into a microphone
James Talarico speaking with a microphone
James Talarico holding a microphone
abstract yellow generative image
the opening sentence of a much-longer Bill Ackman tweet that simply reads "One of the things that makes @SpaceX so valuable is how valuable it is"
A 1960s Montgomery Ward "Signature" sewing machine in a car's hatch area
An older man beams as a red Farmall Cub tractor from the 1940s rattles away in his garage
Photo of a piece of 8x11 printer paper that I found taped to a wall near the east side river bike path with an image of elon musk in a crosshairs with the message "Flawed moralism and tolerance of the intolerant will destroy us KILL THIS MAN KILL ALL OF THEM"
“It’s probably the most hopeful IPO,” said Kim Forrest, chief investment officer at Bokeh Capital Partners, adding that she doesn’t buy IPOs. Buyers of SpaceX “want to be part of the future,” she said. “And I think that’s oddly hopeful in this time when we’re moving between the poles of greed and fear.”
a picture of yours truly in a shark costume reading "Ludicrous: The Unvarnished Story of Tesla Motors" to two children, with myself labeled "me livestreaming" and the children labeled "my beloved chat"
The box for an XTEINK X4 eReader
A very low-slung, raked-windshield prototype of Ford's upcoming "Universal Platform" pickup, a vehicle that is clearly designed for on-road efficiency and not off-roading