SpaceX has supplied more than 5,000 Starlink dishes to Ukraine.

[speak easy]

The units are supplied with Tesla Powerwall battery backups, modified to allow for mobility. "The Starlink technology is being used by civilians in areas under attack that have lost Internet service, and by government officials ... The Times of London reports that a Ukrainian unit is using Starlink to connect its drones attacking Russian forces."

Elon Musk’s Starlink is keeping Ukrainians online when traditional Internet fails

When war broke out in Ukraine, the country faced threats of Russian cyberattacks and shelling that had the potential to take down the Internet, making it necessary to develop a backup plan. So the country’s minister of digital transformation, Mykhailo Fedorov, tweeted a direct plea to Musk urging him to send help. Musk replied just hours later: “Starlink service is now active in Ukraine. More terminals en route.”

Ukraine has already received thousands of antennas from Musk’s companies and European allies, which has proved “very effective,” Fedorov said in an interview with The Washington Post on Friday.

“The quality of the link is excellent,” Fedorov said through a translator, using a Starlink connection from an undisclosed location. “We are using thousands, in the area of thousands, of terminals with new shipments arriving every other day.”

... Internet disruptions can be caused by power outages or by fiber optic cables being cut as a result of shelling, experts said. The Starlink technology is being used by civilians in areas under attack that have lost Internet service, and by government officials. Starlink terminals have also been provided to help the country’s tech companies stay online when the war has forced them to relocate. The Times of London reports that a Ukrainian unit is using Starlink to connect its drones attacking Russian forces.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/03/19/elon-musk-ukraine-starlink/

[nycbos]

1. Musk seems like has a split personality.

50% good guy 50% bond villian.

[speak easy]

2. ...

[nycbos]

4. I love that quote.

Another version of it is

"If Hitler invaded hell I would make at least a favourable reference to the devil in the House of Commons."

[Baitball Blogger]

8. Ah. There's that quote again.

I hope it wouldn't be an open-ended alliance.

[PatSeg]

9. He seems to be trying to salvage his image lately

He is thought to be bipolar, so it rather makes sense that he would go from one extreme to another. Meanwhile, this part of his personality is positive and welcome. Better than space travel.

[lagomorph777]

10. Hadn't heard the bipolar idea; I believe he says he has Aspergers.

I think he really does have positive plans for moving civilization forward.
Sometimes he seems to ignore the human costs of those plans.

Definitely a mixed bag.

[PatSeg]

15. Yes, a little wrapped up in his own mind I think

As such he also self-diagnoses himself. He not only said he thinks he has Asperger's, but apparently HE said he is bipolar as well.

I've been around people like that and it is absolutely exhausting.

[lagomorph777]

17. I knew a person with bipolar.

Delightful and a good person.

But utterly exhausting when in the throes of it.

[PatSeg]

19. Yes, I often need a break from them

They can be very interesting and fun, but it is often easy to get too much of them.

[uponit7771]

16. He literally WROTE black people getting called the N-Word should grow thicker skin. He's trying

... to rehab his image no doubt

[USALiberal]

24. Thanks for that, can you send me a link?

[uponit7771]

26. Quote is in the article (link), just found out this guy is from South Africa. Some habits are hard

... to change

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/economy/california-sues-tesla-for-alleged-discrimination-racial-slurs-at-plant

The 39-page lawsuit, filed late Wednesday in Alameda County Superior Court by California’s Department of Fair Employment and Housing, frames Tesla’s move to Texas as an attempt to evade accountability for turning “a blind eye to years of complaints from Black workers who protest commonplace use of racial slurs on the assembly line.”

In response to the complaints, the lawsuit alleges Musk has told workers to be “thick-skinned” about racial harassment, contributing to the culture that’s slow to clean up racist graffiti and other hateful symbols scrawled around the factory.

[USALiberal]

27. Thank you!!! Nt

[48656c6c6f20]

3. This is a movie plot

Some bat shit crazy psychopath giving away free shit that we find out is going to be used for nefarious means later. Yeah I woolf pass if I were Ukrainian. Got more troubles than needing a Twitter fix anyway.

[unc70]

5. This is not about needing a Twitter "fix"

Not something to be joking about.

[lagomorph777]

11. Controlling the drones and coordinating defense is not a Twitter fix.

Sheesh.

[Dial H For Hero]

18. Do you also roll your eyes at stories of people in WW2 occupied France

using clandestine radios? After all, they had more troubles than needing to listen to Jack Benny.

[lagomorph777]

20. That poster is making some pretty...odd...posts for an American DUer...

[brer cat]

6. K&R

[Alexander Of Assyria]

7. The man DU loves to hate also supplying all rocket engines for America now Russia will no

longer supply them.

Fun fact…domestic private rocket makers joined with NASA for exactly, in part, that reason…domestic supply of rocket parts.

Facts are fun aren’t they? Hate fades.

[lagomorph777]

12. Russia is deeply embedded in the space industry worldwide.

They've been supplying launch services, rockets, and engines to just about everybody. Many of our major rockets now have to be retired because they are built on Russian engines.

SpaceX is indeed a lifeline for the space needs of America and many others.

[BannonsLiver]

21. I'm sure that's impressive to MuskBros.

I bet they talk about it at the charging stations while they charge their compensators.

[USALiberal]

31. I have no idea what you're talking about. Nt

[Alexander Of Assyria]

32. Yes...we gonna need a translator!

[xmas74]

14. Most people are not all good or bad

He's proof.

[BannonsLiver]

22. Article leaves out how these can be targeted by Russians.

But yeah all hail the benevolent, Christ like Elon who also happens to be a misogynist and a libertarian who takes public money.

[USALiberal]

25. So you think NASA is stupid for hiring him?

[speak easy]

28. There are Ukrainian misogynists and libertarians in Ukraine, fighting for Ukraine.

Ukraine is also taking public money from the U.S. When you are at war, you are judged by your contribution to the war effort.

Does that make Musk a nice guy - hardly, but still, an all together better human being than Stalin in WWII.

[BannonsLiver]

23. Didn't he recently call President Biden senile?

[speak easy]

30. No.

Musk is having a tizzy fit that he has not been invited to the White House.

[FreepFryer]

29. Thank God for Musk.

Or he’ll activate the kill switches in those machines.