Yes, the cheeky Tesla fan “mhpr262” on the Tesla Motors Club forum who shared this story under the title “Elon rampaging through Germany, severe damage!” fooled me as well. The “Elon” being referenced is not Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk, but rather a storm that Germany’s national weather institute named after the South African super-entrepreneur. Or perhaps they chose the name for some other reason, but I think that’s unlikely.
That said, I’m not sure if this means that the people at the national weather institute love Elon or hate him. Clearly, rough storms are not adored by most people. However, the “disruptive” nature (as economists call it) of several industries Elon is involved in or has been involved in (electric vehicles, solar power, and internet payment) seems it could be related to Elon’s anointment.
Particularly on the auto side of things, another forum member, AnxietyRanger, notes, “certainly Elon has been rampaging through the Germany in more ways than one.”
Mashable shared the image above and made this note about the storm in a tweet: “Planes flew from #NewYork to #London at near-supersonic speeds due to powerhouse jet stream #Elon.” (The original should be visible below, but takes awhile to load on slow connections.)
https://twitter.com/henninghenke/status/553693346045366272
But Mashable might have made it sound bigger than it was. Perhaps my favorite forum comment about this storm was by ItsNotAboutTheMoney: “that wind looks fairly strong, but nothing town-flattening. I think Elon would be disappointed.”
Town-flattening or not, I imagine Elon is a bit flattered.
Now, if only Germany could follow through with its stated goals and get more Teslas and other electric vehicles on the roads there!
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