PART 1 Expressions
1. Quite often, the Tesla engineers brought their Silicon Valley attitude to the automakers’ traditional stomping grounds.
Stomp = stamp, to walk with heavy steps or to put your foot down very hard
Alex stomped angrily out of the meeting.
Sb’s stomping ground = sb’s stamping ground, a favorite place where sb often goes
2. Not wanting to pay the exorbitant costs to use one of these chambers, the Tesla engineers opted to rent an ice cream delivery truck with a large refrigerated trailer.
An exorbitant price, amount of money etc is much higher than it should be SYN astronomical
Exorbitant rates of interest
Exorbitant rent/ prices
3. Tesla had wanted to deliver the Roadster in November 2007, but the transmission issues lingered, and by the time January 1, 2008, rolled around, the company had to once again start from scratch, on a third transmission push.
roll around (British roll round): If a time, event etc that happens regularly rolls around, it arrives or takes place again
By the time Wednesday rolled around, I still hadn't finish.
4. When some new hires came on, they were horrified to discover just how haphazard Tesla’s plan appeared.
[hæpˈhæzəd] happening or done in a way that is not planned or organized
Education provision in this country is haphazard.
a haphazard way/ manner/ fashion
I continued my studies in a rather haphazard way.
5. As Eberhard saw it, other people at Tesla had foisted a wonky finance software application on him that made it tricky to accurately track costs
foist sth on/ upon sb: to force sb to accept or have to deal with sth that they do not want to
I keep getting extra work foisted on me.
6. When an issue like the Roadster’s faulty carbon-fiber body panels cropped up, Musk dealt with it directly.
crop: if a plant crops, it produces fruit, grain etc
crop up:
1. if a problem crops up, it happens or appears suddenly and in an unexpected way SYN arise
2. if sth such as a name or subject crops up, it appears in sth you read or hear SYN come up
Your name kept cropping up in conversation.
7. I appreciated that he didn’t sugarcoat things
1:to coat with sugar
2:to make superficially attractive or palatable
Jeffree Star, never one to sugarcoat things, was quick to publicly share his opinion.
8. He didn’t see eye to eye with Droriand also shied away from the idea of frying his soul to get the sedan out.
shy away from sth: (v.) to avoid doing sth or dealing with sth because you are not confident enough or you are worried or nervous about it
They criticized the leadership, but shied away from a direct challenge.
PART 2 Thoughts
Morning rolls around. I wake up and dive straight into text messages, group chats, emails and Weibo. I flounder about for a few seconds and then send an emoji or made some frivolous comments. More often than not, I find myself stuck in a social quagmire, losing focus on my own priorities and succumbing to the needs of others. I do get baffled why I cannot just wind down with a coffee or a book instead of hastily following up a load of downright nonsense. Upon reflection, it may be chalked up to the sense of social uneasiness. I would feel depressed at the thought of being socially secluded or sidelined.
By contrast, Elon Musk is the antithesis of this sort. Among other claims to fame, Musk was accused of being a ruthless dictator and brisk to his subordinates. Rumor has it that he would give cold shoulders to salespersons from other companies. He even castigated an employee who missed an event to witness his child’s birth.
Unbeknownst to me, social discord or dysfunction does not necessarily brings about stress. Rather than tune yourself in to the trivial matters of others and muddle your priorities, you can relish your loneliness by zooming in on your own needs and wants.
PART 3 Summary
Musk turned 30 in 2001 and he began to revisit his entrenched childhood fantasies about rocket ships. His trip to Russia was fruitless as the Russians rebuffed Musk's offering for two missiles. Musk thereby established Space Exploration Technologies, namely, the SpaceX so that he could build rockets on his own and undercut existing launch companies by building a modest-sized substitute. The initial plan to launch the first rocket in 2003 came to naught as the SpaceX team encountered numerous technical bottlenecks. In 2004, the Merlin engine made by Mueller and his team reached fruition. 2 years later, the team finally limbered up to launch Falcon 1 but the attempt was not successful. Neither was the other shot made a year later. Worse still, a financial crunch is looming on the horizon.
In the fall of 2003, Musk fell for the project of electric vehicles lodged by J.B. Straubel. He offered to fund AC Propulsion to transform its tzeros into commercial electric vehicles but the run-off-the-mill entrepreneurs turned him down. In early 2004, Eberhard and Tarpenning, the cofounders of Tesla Motors, came to Musk and pitched their electric cars. With a whopping investment of $6.5 million, Musk became the largest shareholder and took up the mantle as the chairman of Tesla. In mid-2006, EP1 (engineering prototype 1) and EP2 came to life in close succession and grabbed the attention of the well-offs.
Telsa set up a battery factory in Thailand in order to meet its tight budget. It turned out, however, to be adding cost and delays to the Roadster production. Musk shook up the top management team as he found out the issue of high manufacturing cost. Eberhard was removed as CEO and later backed out of Tesla. Michael Marks, the internal chief tried to package Tesla as an asset to be sold, which infuriated Musk. From then on, Musk propelled the employees to work even harder and made on-spot scrutiny. Heading into 2008, the company was running out of money and Musk verged on a nervous breakdown.
