Micah's Read of the Week, Vol. 54
Elon Musk, Pat and Brooke Forde's Olympic triumph, the story behind Ranch Water, Recipe Corner, and more.
Hello, and welcome to Micah’s Read of the Week.
This is a newsletter filled with things Micah Wiener finds interesting.
Check out the introduction post here and the entire archive of previous newsletters here.
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Elon Musk Book Excerpt of the Week
“I F--KING HOPE HE SUES ME”: INSIDE THE TWITTER EXPLOSION THAT NEARLY SUNK ELON MUSK
In his new book, Power Play: Tesla, Elon Musk, and the Bet of the Century, reporter Tim Higgins chronicles the behind-the-scenes meltdowns at Tesla sparked by Musk’s unhinged online presence.
This excerpt is a real doozy.
Musk’s Twitter habit seemed harmless enough. He obsessively checked the social media platform throughout his day, but then, who didn’t? Some of his earliest public blunders had occurred on the site. He’d unnerved onlookers months earlier with an April Fool prank suggesting the company was broke.
This time, an unfolding drama on the other side of the world caught his attention: a boys’ soccer team was trapped in a flooded cave in Thailand. As the world watched rescuers try to save them, someone on Twitter urged Musk to intervene. At first he demurred, but within days he was proclaiming that his engineers would design a mini-submarine to rescue the kids—even if it wasn’t clear that the rescuers in Thailand wanted such help. He documented his efforts on Twitter.
Tesla’s team was preparing for Musk to meet with Chinese government leaders, to celebrate the automaker’s deal to open a factory in China—a hugely consequential move that could propel Tesla beyond a niche car company. Instead of drawing attention to that triumph, Musk had other plans. En route to China, Musk had his jet stop in Thailand, where he rushed to the cave site. He posted pictures on Twitter. “Just returned from Cave 3. Mini-sub is ready if needed. It is made of rocket parts & named Wild Boar after kids' soccer team. Leaving here in case it may be used in the future. Thailand is so beautiful,” he wrote on July 9, even as a daring (and ultimately successful) rescue attempt was underway.
Musk’s sub was never used, and Narongsak Osottanakorn, head of the operation coordinating the rescue, told reporters the submarine wouldn’t have been practical for the mission.
Musk couldn’t let the perceived slight go. He wrote back: “We need to go all out and make this guy retract his comment.”
The sentiment only grew worse. A couple days later, a British man named Vernon Unsworth, a spelunker who helped rescuers with his knowledge of the caves, was interviewed by CNN. In a passing question, he was asked about Musk’s submarine. He called it a PR stunt and said that “it had absolutely no chance of working” and that Musk had “no conception of what the cave passage was like.” He said Musk could “stick his submarine where it hurts.”
The video clip quickly began making the rounds on Twitter. By July 15, Musk was furious, attacking Unsworth in a series of messages on Twitter that included this one: “Sorry pedo guy. You really did ask for it.”
This didn’t create a Twitter storm. It caused a category 5 hurricane. Shares plunged 3.5 percent, wiping out almost $2 billion of valuation.
You would think this would be a sign that it might be time for Elon to delete twitter. But you’d be wrong.
Musk awoke at one of his Los Angeles mansions on August 7 and was greeted with a story in the Financial Times that revealed something that had been quietly brewing at Tesla. Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund had reportedly taken a $2 billion stake in the company, instantly making it one of the carmaker’s largest shareholders. Minutes later, as Musk headed to the airport to fly to the Gigafactory in Nevada, he typed out a fateful message on Twitter: “Am considering taking Tesla private at $420. Funding secured.”
It was the kind of half-cocked, uncensored messaging that Musk was known for—precisely what made his Twitter account a must-read for tens of millions of people, fans and detractors alike. Musk wasn’t remotely prepared for the onslaught that these nine words would bring.
The next day, the Securities and Exchange Commission opened an investigation.
Ok. It’s gotta be time to delete the app, right? Wrong.
A less brash executive might have been chastened. But amid all of this, Musk returned to Twitter. “Elon, your dedication to facts and truth would have been wonderful if applied to that time you called someone a pedo,” a Twitter user wrote. Musk responded: “You don’t think it’s strange he hasn’t sue me? He was offered free legal services.”
By then, Unsworth had a lawyer, who chimed in: Check your mail. The tweets set off another round of media, piquing the interest of BuzzFeed reporter Ryan Mac. Mac emailed Musk on August 29. Emails went back and forth until Musk, a day later, began an email “Off the record,” then suggested Mac call people in Thailand “and stop defending child rapists, you fucking asshole.” Musk dug himself a deeper hole. “[Unsworth is] an old, single white guy from England who’s been traveling to or living in Thailand for 30 to 40 years, mostly Pattaya Beach, until moving to Chiang Rai for a child bride who was about 12 years old at the time. (Unsworth, in fact, didn’t take a child bride. His longtime Thai girlfriend was then 40.) There’s only one reason people go to Pattaya Beach. It isn’t where you’d go for caves, but it is where you’d go for something else. Chiang Rai is renowned for child sex trafficking. He may claim to know how to cave dive, but he wasn’t on the cave dive rescue team and most of the actual dive team refused to hang out with him. I wonder why...”
He then added: “I fucking hope he sues me.”
Mac had never agreed to go off the record, abiding by a long-standing tradition in journalism that said a reporter and interviewee could make such an agreement only before an exchange. BuzzFeed published Mac’s story on September 4.
Musk knew immediately that he was in trouble. Glover, the PR consultant, moved in D.C. political circles; she forwarded Musk an email from Jeff Nesbit, a politically savvy environmentalist, who offered assistance and voiced concerns about what Musk’s Twitter rants might mean for the company: “One or two more of these and I can guarantee that there will be a no confidence vote on the BOD [board of directors].”
Musk wrote back that he knew it was “extremely bad.” He had intended only for BuzzFeed to investigate the guy. “I’m a fucking idiot,” he concluded.
Elon needed to fix his mistake. Instead of a sit down with Oprah or Anderson Cooper, or Gail King, Elon’s team reached out to Joe Freaking Rogan.
Glover suggested he do an interview, on the record, “to kill this nonsense, speculation around your mental state.” She wanted to get him out in public again, presented in a way that made him look decisive, droll, and self-aware. Musk suggested comedian Joe Rogan’s podcast, The Joe Rogan Experience.
The live interview, streamed on YouTube, began late on the West Coast. Musk, dressed in a black T-shirt that read “Occupy Mars,” seemed in good spirits. In many ways, Rogan was the perfect interviewer for Musk, allowing him to talk at length about his interests, from space travel to tunnel digging. As the night wore on, Rogan and Musk began drinking whiskey. Near the end of the nearly three-hour interview, Rogan lit what he said was a marijuana-tobacco blunt and asked if Musk had ever smoked marijuana before. “I think I tried one once,” Musk said laughing. “You probably can’t because of stockholders, right?” Rogan asked.
“I mean, it’s legal right?” Musk said from the California studio.
“Totally legal,” Rogan replied. He handed the spliff to Musk, who took a puff. The conversation turned heady. Rogan wondered about the role of inventors in furthering society. What if there were a million Nikola Teslas? he asked. Musk said things would have advanced very quickly. Right, Rogan added, but there’s not a million Elon Musks. “There’s one motherfucker,” Rogan said. “Do you think about that?”
Musk checked his phone.
“You getting text messages from chicks?” Rogan asked.
No, Musk said. “I’m getting text messages from friends saying, ‘What the hell are you doing smoking weed?’ ”
When the Saturday edition of The Wall Street Journal landed the next day, its front cover featured a picture of Elon Musk in a cloud of smoke, holding the blunt.
And yet, despite being a self-proclaimed “fucking idiot,” Musk remains The Richest Man in the World. Shouts to him, I guess.
Photo of the Week
After the grueling two-day, 10-event decathlon, exhausted competitors collapsed on the track Aug. 5 following the 1500-meter run on day 13 of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.
Bravo.
I’ve Covered Nine Olympics. Nothing Prepared Me for Seeing My Daughter Win a Medal
Six weeks ago we featured the story of Pat and Brooke Forde. After a taxing run-up to the Games, the U.S. swimmer got the ultimate reward—a silver in Tokyo, with her dad there in attendance to share in the experience. Now that the Olympics are over, it’s again time to feature these two and their remarkable and emotional story.
First, a reminder that all Olympians (and their families) have unique stories of sacrifice and triumph dating back well before the Games.
The neighborhood pool races where winning a heat ribbon was a triumph. The jump up with her older brothers Mitchell and Clayton to the year-round team, and the excitement of overnight trips from home in Louisville to exotic locations like Indianapolis and Nashville. The advancement to two-a-day practices and 4:20 a.m. wake-ups, where breakfast with teammates was the reward before heading off to school. Earning a black national team swim cap as a member of the Lakeside Seahawks club team—a true stamp of arrival. Then the bigger meets all over the country, and eventually the chance to represent the United States internationally in Singapore, Europe, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Japan and South Korea. A scholarship to Stanford, and the unmatched fun and camaraderie of a college team environment. All of the doubt and stress that went into the 16-month final leg to making the Olympic team, which melted away in an unforgettable experience in Omaha in June.
I love the way Pat writes about the “pinch yourself” moments.
Now this. All of this. A place on Team USA, an anchor spot for the 800-meter freestyle relay preliminaries, a silver medal. All of a sudden, the little brown-eyed girl who used to sit on my lap in the stands at age-group meets is taking pictures with Kevin Durant and playing poker with Caeleb Dressel.
As Brooke reached the top of the pyramid, the reflections on all the building that got her to this point kept coming for me. The overwhelming realization that this was actually happening—we are in Tokyo for the Olympics, and I’m just about the only noncoach-parent on the planet with this opportunity—had to be processed in increments. One of the sayings I’ve often used with Brooke when she felt she was facing an impossible task—academically or athletically—was this: “How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.”
After the 2 minute swim, the realization that it’s all been worth it.
What happened next was my moment of the Olympics. After touching the wall, being congratulated by her relay mates and checking the scoreboard, Brooke looked up and found me in the stands. The look on her face wasn’t clearly visible from where I stood in the arena, but the slow-motion TV replay made my heart grow three sizes that day. Her countenance radiated joy, satisfaction and relief.
And with that, I was running. I had to get down seven flights of stairs to get to the media mixed zone, where I could meet up with Brooke for my favorite postrace interview of my career. I’m not sure I actually even asked her anything, but it was a moment to cherish.
Micah’s Beef of the Week
The Mind of Micah summer grilling spotlight continued this week with an interview with the General Manager of Blazing Bull Grills. This is a product that uses infrared technology to output 1500 degrees of heating power. It connects to a standard propane tank and it’s portable. Very cool.
Subscribe to Mind of Micah to check out our conversation about how to create a product to bring to market, and how the Blazing Bull stands apart from its competition.
Recipe Corner
Ranch Water
Let’s start with a cocktail while you’re firing up the grill wishing you had a Blazing Bull. The piece linked above includes the recipe below, and also a discussion of the history of the suddenly hot tequila drink.
The closest I found to a plausible originator and namer is Kevin Williamson, chef and owner of Ranch 616 in Austin, who says that he has had the drink on the menu since it opened in 1998, and that he and his team trained the folks at the Gage Hotel more than a decade ago. He’s firm enough in his claim that he has applied for a trademark on the Ranch Water name.
Several brands now marketing canned versions tried to partner with him when they were launching, but he turned them down. “If I were smarter, I’d be rich,” he says. Still, the drink has served Ranch 616 pretty well: Per their receipts, they’ve sold $18 million worth of the drink over the years.
“The way we served it, which I think is one of the reasons it was a hit, was as a strong margarita, three-quarters of the way up in a Collins glass, and we gave the customer the full bottle of Topo Chico, so they were in charge of diluting their own drink,” Williamson says. “Some people would just sip the Topo Chico back. Sorority girls from UT put as much water as they could so they could drink more. Everybody has their own sense of ownership for it.”
Of course, the most distinctive part of the Ranch Water is, in fact, the water. And it must be Topo Chico.
As loose and varied a tipple as the Ranch Water may be, there’s broad agreement that Topo Chico, a mineral water from Monterrey, Mexico, is key. Topo Chico has a high level of carbonation and a faint salinity that make the drink more flavorful.
Williamson made it with Topo from the start, even though at the time he opened Ranch 616, he couldn’t find a distributor, so his source was the grocery chain Fiesta Mart, which was founded to cater to Latin Americans. “I would drive to Fiesta Mart three or four days a week to buy all the Topo Chico I could,” he says. If the restaurant ran out of the water, the Ranch Water was off the menu. Today, he says, they get it at the back door because Coca-Cola owns it.
Spoiler alert, it’s simply a 3-2-1 Margarita served with a Topo Chico. I would 100% omit the agave, btw.
1 1/2 ounces tequila, preferably silver
1 ounce fresh lime juice
1/2 ounce Cointreau or other orange liqueur (optional)
1/2 ounce agave syrup (optional)
2 to 3 ounces chilled Topo Chico mineral water
Fresh lime slices, for serving (optional)
Fill a highball glass with ice. Add the tequila, lime juice, Cointreau, and agave syrup, if using, and stir to chill and combine. Top with the mineral water, gently stir again, and serve garnished with lime slices, if using.
Cucumber, Tomato, and Green Bean Salad
You know the vibes. This summer, we’re grilling meat and eating cooling salads.
1 lb. Persian or English cucumbers, halved lengthwise, sliced on a steep diagonal ¼" thick
6 oz. cherry or grape tomatoes, halved or quartered
4 oz. green beans, trimmed, sliced ona steep diagonal into ⅛"-thick strips
3 large garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 Fresno chile, seeds removed, finely chopped
¾ cup unsalted roasted peanuts, divided
3 Tbsp. (or more) fresh lime juice
1 Tbsp. (or more) light brown sugar
1 Tbsp. (or more) fish sauce
Combine cucumbers, tomatoes, green beans, garlic, and chile in a large bowl. Finely chop ½ cup peanuts to the size of lentils and add to bowl.
Whisk lime juice, brown sugar, and fish sauce in a small bowl until sugar is dissolved.
Pour dressing over vegetables and toss with your hands, gently squeezing as you go, until well coated and vegetables have wilted slightly, about 30 seconds. Taste salad and season with more lime juice, brown sugar, or fish sauce if needed. Salad should be equal parts sour and salty, with sweet close behind.
Transfer salad to a platter. Coarsely chop remaining ¼ cup peanuts and scatter over the salad.
Charred Eggplant With Spicy Tomato Sauce and Peanuts
Also this summer, we’re going to use that hot fire to grill vegetables too. Plus, this is another good way to use that bottle of fish sauce you need for the previous recipe.
SAUCE
1 shallot, unpeeled, halved
4 garlic cloves, skin on
4 small tomatoes (about 1 lb.)
½ bunch cilantro, tough stems trimmed
Juice of 1 lime
3 green Thai chiles
3 Tbsp. fish sauce
1 tsp. dark brown sugar
EGGPLANT AND ASSEMBLY
6 Italian eggplants, halved
Extra-virgin olive oil (for drizzling)
Kosher salt
½ cup unsalted dry-roasted peanuts
Thinly sliced serrano chiles and coarsely chopped cilantro (for serving)
Prepare a grill for medium indirect heat (for a charcoal grill, bank coals on one side of grill; for a gas grill, leave one or two burners off). Thread shallot and garlic onto a metal skewer. Arrange skewer and tomatoes on grate over direct heat and grill, turning halfway through, until skins are blistered and charred and flesh is slightly tender, 10–12 minutes per side. Transfer skewers and tomatoes to a large plate; remove skins from shallot and garlic.
Combine tomatoes, shallot, garlic, cilantro, lime juice, chiles, fish sauce, and brown sugar in a blender and blend to a coarse sauce. Transfer to a bowl.
Place eggplant, skin side down, on a rimmed baking sheet. Drizzle with oil and season with salt. Turn over and drizzle with oil and season with salt again.
Place eggplant, cut side down, on grate over indirect heat. Cover and grill until slightly golden brown and flesh is tender, 18–20 minutes. Move eggplant over direct heat (still cut side down) and grill until cut sides are charred, 8–10 minutes. Transfer to baking sheet and arrange skin side down. Slightly mash flesh with a fork or butter knife.
Arrange eggplant on a platter. Drizzle tomato sauce over, and top with peanuts, chiles, and cilantro leaves.
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