paint-brush
Is Elon Musk the Real-Life Scrooge McDuck?by@nebojsaneshatodorovic
499 reads
499 reads

Is Elon Musk the Real-Life Scrooge McDuck?

by Nebojsa "Nesha" TodorovicJanuary 30th, 2022
Read on Terminal Reader
Read this story w/o Javascript
tldt arrow

Too Long; Didn't Read

A teen created a Twitter profile with the sole purpose of tracking Elon Musk's private jet with a bot using public data from the Federal Aviation Administration. Elon eventually found out and offered $5K "to teen to stop tracking his private jet location on Twitter" because "it is a security risk." The teen asked for $50,000 for school and a Tesla car. Musk said it "Doesn't feel right to pay to shut this down" and encouraged the teen to accept offers of Bitcoin he's received from others to keep the account open instead.

People Mentioned

Mention Thumbnail

Companies Mentioned

Mention Thumbnail
Mention Thumbnail
featured image - Is Elon Musk the Real-Life Scrooge McDuck?
Nebojsa "Nesha" Todorovic HackerNoon profile picture

I grew up reading Disney comics. Feel free to laugh. I won't take it personally. You can envy me too. Being a Gen X in Eastern Europe during the 1980s can be described as 'the age of innocence.' You probably haven't seen the movie, have you? I didn't think so.

Kudos to Marvel and DC Universe, but back in a day, at the center of the Donald Duck Universe was Scrooge McDuck. He was an 'all the money in the world' character. You must've seen that one.

Now, what in the world has Scrooge McDuck to do with Elon Musk? Well, to be honest, Mr. McDuck reminds me more of Jeff Bezos than Elon Musk. Let's admit it. Elon is cooler, period.

However, a story published in USA Today spoiled my picture of Elon Musk being a personification of Tony Stark.

Gimme Five! Nah, I'll Pass.

Elon Musk has an army of die-hard fans. Some of them went to the extreme and crossed some lines. One of them created a Twitter profile with the sole purpose of "tracking Elon Musk's private jet with a bot using public data from the Federal Aviation Administration. @ElonJet will regularly provide updates on the location of the jet."

What are we supposed to make of one 19-year-old person's 'extracurricular' activity? I don't know. What about the 165K followers of his Twitter account?

Here's one of the latest tweets. Of all the things in the world, you're tracking Elon's flights. Whatever makes you happy, buddy.

Elon eventually found out. He offered $5K "to teen to stop tracking his private jet location on Twitter" because "it is a security risk."

The teen initially asked for a new Tesla Model 3, but he quickly changed his mind and doubled down his counteroffer by asking "$50,000 to help pay for school and a car."

However, Musk said in his messages to Sweeney that it "Doesn't feel right to pay to shut this down" and encouraged Sweeney to accept offers of Bitcoin he's received from others to keep the account open instead.

Where Has All Elon's Coolnessity Gone?

I'm not Elon Musk, but if I were. A free ride on Elon's private jet. Too much to ask?!

Yeah, it'd send the wrong kind of message. There'd be an endless line of people waiting to get something from Elon for free.

I don't know, but all I can think about right now is Drake's video "God's Plan."

These two YouTube comments - three years apart.

SpaceX could make Elon Musk world’s first trillionaire, says Morgan Stanley (The Guardian)

Scrooge McDuck used to be the richest fictional character, according to Forbes. As of 2021, Scrooge McDuck has an estimated net worth of around $70 Billion.

He holds the 6th position in the list of Forbes Fictional 15 rich characters. His main source of income is through mining and he is the owner of Duckburg entrepreneur.