Musk helping restore Tongan internet; virus outbreak growing

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP

By NICK PERRY and DAVID RISING

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Entrepreneur Elon Musk is helping reconnect Tonga to the internet after a volcanic eruption and tsunami cut off the South Pacific nation more than three weeks ago, according to officials, while repairs on an undersea cable are proving more difficult than first thought.

The tsunami severed the sole fiber-optic cable that connects Tonga to the rest of the world and most people remain without reliable connections.

Three people were confirmed killed in the Jan. 15 eruption of the massive undersea volcano and the resulting tsunami, and several small settlements in outlying islands were wiped out and a thick layer of volcanic ash that blanketed the main island tainted much of the drinking water.

Tonga had avoided the COVID-19 pandemic for more than two years, but it is now in the midst of an outbreak with new infections growing rapidly after the virus was apparently brought in by foreign military crews aboard ships and planes delivering critical aid after the volcanic eruption.



In this photo provided by the Australian Defence Force, Australian Defence Force and Department of Foreign Affairs & Trade crisis response team personnel make a damage assessment operation in Nuku'alofa, on Atata island in Tonga, following the eruption of underwater volcano, on Feb. 4, 2022. (CPL Robert Whitmore/Australian Defence Force via AP)


Read more: https://apnews.com/article/spacex-technology-business-volcanic-eruptions-tonga-22f9378648323c0b5bfe6eeef774da7b

[BadGimp]

1. The Musk haters must just be outraged.

eom

[Warpy]

2. Musk is an odd duck and definitely a mixed bag

On one hand, he thinks he's entitled to sit on all those billions and dodge US taxes, he's that special; on the other hand, his companies continue to be innovative and he loosens his personal purse strings when he sees a large number of people (usually offshore) in trouble. NASA never even thought of most of this:

[SergeStorms]

7. I read on MSN that 48 of the 50 satellites he recently launched....

have been destroyed by the current geomagnetic storm. Sun spot activity has been very high this week. So the Tongans might have to wait a while longer for their internet.

[DBoon]

5. Musk should be the weird genius working in a lab

He should not be the world's richest person

He is very good at certain things and completely inept at what he thinks he should do.

[iemanja]

6. Musk is a POS

an anti-vaxxer and a misogynist. Doing one or two good things doesn't change that. You're free to worship the world's richest man all you want.

[bucolic_frolic]

3. Is that a driverless internet that crashed?

[Javaman]

4. and what does he want in return?

sociopaths rarely if ever do anything noble without strings attached.