A Burning Man 304
take a long time to build thousands of them. The first public
gas stations were called filling stations and they began to
appear in 1907. Car owners had earlier purchased gasoline
in shops that handled the gas as a sideline to other business
activities. By 1920, the filling station was often a small
building with gas pumps in front. They offered supplies like
tires, batteries, and oil, and simple services like lube jobs
and tire patching. As the number of gasoline cars grew, so
did the number of gas stations. In 1920, US had 15 000 gas
stations, and by 1930, the number of gas stations had grown
to 100 000.^424
Elon established the Musk Foundation in 2001. The
homepage doesn’t reveal much, the only text available
is: “Grants are made in support of: Renewable energy
research and advocacy, Human space exploration research
and advocacy, Pediatric research, Science and engineering
education.” It’s unclear why he established the foundation,
but another event happened the same year that may have
influenced the decision.
Elon’s mother Maye Musk worked as a dietician and
became fluent in six languages. She also worked as a
model.^4 At age 63, she appeared naked and pregnant on
the cover of theNew York Magazine. “Is she just too old for
this?” the headline next to the picture asked. But the picture
was fake – she wasn’t naked nor pregnant at the time of the
photograph. The actress Demi Moore appeared in a similar
picture on the cover ofVanity Fair, and the magazine with