SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
from the accessorize-your-aliens-cosplay dept.
Elon Musk wants to sell you a flamethrower for $500 — and it seems to be legal in California
Elon Musk, the mastermind behind PayPal, Tesla and SpaceX, has another innovative product up in his sleeve: a $500 flamethrower. Musk announced the flamethrower on Saturday, after weeks of teasing a possible flamethrowing product for his newest venture, The Boring Company. The Boring Company's mission is to excavate a low-cost but fast-digging tunnel through Los Angeles to help alleviate its notorious car traffic.
Musk's announcements on Instagram and Twitter about the flamethrower has all been in tongue-in-cheek tone, but his legions of followers have lapped up the chance to buy a flamethrower from The Boring Company. Over 2,000 people have pre-ordered the device so far, according to Musk on Twitter.
Pre-orders are expected to ship in the spring, according to The Boring Company's website. "When the zombie apocalypse happens, you'll be glad you bought a flamethrower," tweeted Musk. "Works against hordes of the undead or your money back!"
The California Health and Safety Codes 12750 to 12761 outline that owning or selling flamethrowers is illegal without a permit granted from the state fire marshal, joining Maryland as the only two states in the country to have flamethrower regulations. The state has defined flamethrowers as "any nonstationary and transportable device designed or intended to emit or propel a burning stream of combustible or flammable liquid a distance of at least 10 feet." But since The Boring Company's flamethrower emits fire less than the defined 10 feet, they did not have to get a permit to sell, according to the company's spokesman.
At time of this story being posted, the pre-order count had climbed to 10k.
Update: One California lawmaker wants to ban the flamethrower. But it's puny compared to other flamethrowers.
Also at CNN, MarketWatch, and CNET.
Related: Elon Musk Claims to Have "Verbal Approval" to Build New York to Washington, D.C. Hyperloop
NY-Philly-Baltimore-DC Hyperloop: Not Vaporware?
Elon Musk's Boring Tunnel Near Los Angeles
Elon Musk to Compete for High-Speed Rail Loop in Chicago
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 30 2018, @10:46AM (6 children)
Apparently I missed something... what's the link with drilling holes to improve car traffic?
(Score: 4, Funny) by c0lo on Tuesday January 30 2018, @11:06AM
My guess, drilling holes for car traffic is... how to put it?... a bit boring.
Fooling around with a flamethrower spices up the things a bit.
I mean... look, just imagine the fun having two of those while your project is compiling [xkcd.com].
(grin)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 5, Funny) by Runaway1956 on Tuesday January 30 2018, @11:13AM (1 child)
Los Angeles. Zombie apocalypse. I think they've found something under the streets of LA. They don't want to just come out and tell us - that is, they don't want people to panic. But, they can quietly go about preparing the general population to defend against the apocalypse.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 30 2018, @04:53PM
Must be the Mole People.
(Score: 2) by theluggage on Tuesday January 30 2018, @11:45AM (2 children)
You see that post that you just replied to... You know, the one name-checking Elon Musk and his enterprises... and the original story it linked to, and the doubtless other references on Arsebook, Twatter etc.?
You got that they mentioned Elon Musk, SpaceX, Tesla, the Boring Company etc?
That's the point. Elon's being whacky and seeking publicity. (and I'm sure he was the baddie in some Piers Brosnan-era Bond movie using some fake solar-power company as cover for a plot to kidnap Madonna and force her to steal the Koh-i-noor diamond or something).
However, this is 2018 and unless the flamethrower has some sort of cryptocurrency/blockchain connection, I'm not investing.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 30 2018, @01:27PM
Well, I guess if you are chained to a block, one of those might come quite handy.
(Score: 1) by Sulla on Tuesday January 30 2018, @05:13PM
His original tweet about the flamethrower said that "Cryptocurrency" is its safe word
Ceterum censeo Sinae esse delendam