14 Elon Musk is the proud owner of “Wet Nellie,” the customized Lotus Esprit-shaped car made for James Bond in the movie The Spy Who Loved Me in 1977.
Lotus Esprit from James Bond Movie “The Spy Who Loved Me”,1977 at a 1998 exhibition. (Image to the left); “The Spy Who Loved Me” movie scene. Image Credit: Jörg Behrens/wikimedia.org, Movieclips/Youtube.com
As a kid, Elon Musk was quite impressed by James Bond driving his Lotus Esprit in The Spy Who Loved Me. He was disappointed to learn that the car could not actually transform into a submarine. He then decided to upgrade it with a Tesla electric powertrain and try to transform it for real.
Musk purchased “Wet Nellie,” an underwater car that features a “bank of four propellers” at the back of the vehicle that allows it to move underwater while being powered by electric motors within a water-tight compartment. It cost him $100,000.
This custom-built submarine does not maintain a dry interior, so the drivers need to don scuba-diving gear. It was built by Perry Oceanographic in 1977, especially for the film. (Source)
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15 The entire world was affected by the plight of the Thai soccer team that got stuck in an underwater cave in 2018 for 18 days. Elon Musk, too, was affected and tried his best to help rescue them all. As rescuers began a daring extraction of the boys and their coach from the cave over the weekend, Musk had sent a “kid-size submarine” to the country to assist in the massive rescue effort.
Kid-size submarine (Image to the left); Inside in Tham Luang Nang Noncave network in northern, Mae Sai, during involved the rescue event of 13 members of a junior football team “wild boar academy”. Image Credit: Elon Musk/Twitter.com via nbcnews.com, Jig Evil/Shutterstock.com
Recently, a Thai soccer team got trapped in a flooded cave. The entire world was perturbed by their plight. Elon Musk decided to help with the daring extraction of the boys and their coach from the cave. He sent a “kid-size submarine” to the country to assist in the rescue effort.
The submarine could not help in the rescue effort, unfortunately, but the kids were eventually successfully rescued. Musk tweeted earlier that hopefully, his device would help now or in a future situation. (Source)
16 Elon Musk donated $5 million to the free education platform Khan Academy in January 2021
Elon Musk has always been interested in education. He recently donated $5 million to the free education platform Khan Academy. This academy seeks to help students and teachers across the world by providing access to free education.
Bollywood superhero, Salman Khan, also donates regularly to this non-profit educational organization. He thanked Musk in a YouTube video for his kind gesture. Salman Khan acknowledged that the $5million would go a long way to accelerate the academy’s projects. Around 20 to 30 million students use this platform every month. (Source)
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17 Elon Musk has donated $1 million worth of trees ($1 per tree) in October 2019 to YouTuber Jimmy “MrBeast” Donaldson, who’s currently campaigning to raise $20 million from fellow YouTube celebrities for a climate change fundraising effort.
Elon Musk has donated $1 million worth of trees ($1 per tree) to YouTuber Jimmy “MrBeast” Donaldson, who’s currently campaigning to raise $20 million from fellow YouTube celebrities for a climate change fundraising effort.
Musk told the YouTuber he would make the donation on Twitter after some nudging by Marques “MKBHD” Brownlee, who has interviewed Musk in the past and is an avid Tesla fan.
He tweeted about his donation on October 30, 2019. (Source)
18 When Ford launched their all-electric Mustang Mach-E SUV, they were congratulated by Musk, in spite of it being a threat to Tesla. Musk said that their venture would also inspire other carmakers to make electric cars.
Elon Musk (Image to the left); Ford members at the reveal of the all-electric Ford Mustang Mach-E SUV at Jet Center Los Angeles in Hawthorne, California. Image Credit: Kathy Hutchins/Shutterstock.com, media.ford.com
Ford unveiled their first all-electric SUV, Mustang Mach-E and they were congratulated by none other than the electric-car-lover Musk. The car was unveiled just next to the Tesla design center.
Musk welcomed the new competition and said that sustainable cars are the future. He said that he was excited to see this announcement from Ford and added that their launch will also encourage other carmakers to go electric. (Source)
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19 Elon Musk, Stephen Hawking, and Steve Wozniak have all signed an open letter for a ban on artificially intelligent weapons.
Elon Musk, Stephen Hawking, and Steve Wozniak have signed a letter stating that the development of autonomous weapons, or artificially intelligent weapons, should be banned. These weapons can target, fire, and cause destruction without a human at the controls, and hence, are dangerous.
The letter also warned that such weapons could become “the Kalashnikovs of tomorrow,” bringing about the third revolution in warfare. The weapons could be hijacked by terrorists and used in assassinations. Therefore, the reasoned, they should be banned. (Source)
20 Musk was Robert Downey Jr.’s inspiration for Tony Stark
The 2008 film Iron Man had Robert Downey portraying the character of Tony Stark. But have you wondered who was the real inspiration behind this character?
Robert Downey Jr. sought help from Musk to learn the mannerisms of a tech-savvy billionaire. Later, Musk also appeared in the sequel Iron Man 2 in a cameo role. (Source)
