The Oatmeal Begins a Fundraiser for a Nikola Tesla Museum 134
Quince alPillan writes "The Oatmeal's Matthew Inman is once again collecting money for a good cause. This time, he's collecting money for the Tesla Science Center at Wardenclyffe to purchase the original location of the Wardenclyffe Tower in Shoreham, New York so that it can be rebuilt into a Tesla Museum. The fundraiser, titled Let's Build a Goddamn Tesla Museum has already started."
So... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:So... (Score:5, Funny)
Just wait a few years and slap Edison's name over top of Tesla's.
Re:So... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:So... (Score:5, Insightful)
I wish there were some way to mod you "Funny, but Mostly Sad".
That's one of the uses for Insightful.
Westinghouse (Score:1)
George Westinghouse was the one who lied to Tesla to get him to fork over his share of the company for peanuts.
I want the museam to be made to look like a middle finger with a plaque that says "Up Yours George!"
Re:Westinghouse (Score:5, Informative)
Tesla was not only fucked by Westinghouse, but many others. The PR campaign by Edison is the worst, but JP Morgan pulling his project money since JP could not restrict access to make lots more money, and of course Westinghouse robbing him of personal wealth.
Greed has screwed us all, and continues to do so today.
Re:Westinghouse (Score:4, Insightful)
Except greed is why Westinghouse, Edison and JP Morgan had any money to invest in Tesla to begin with.
Without greed W, E and JP would have been subsistence farmers and Tesla would have been that crazy old man in the shack in the woods everyone stayed away from.
Re: (Score:1)
Like everything, it's a matter of balance: greed vs. ethics.
Problem is, one tends to dominate the other.
Re: (Score:2)
Not Necessarily true -- Tesla knowingly and intentionally mislead JP Morgan as to his real intentions and knew that even if successful, Morgan would never realize an ROI. Frankly Tesla was a major dick for pulling that stunt and is lucky to only have suffered the revocation of his funding.
Re: (Score:2)
History is written by those that win wars, Tesla died in poverty with nothing. Guess who won and who wrote those books?
Interestingly, the other half of the story remains. It's easy to say "Conspiracy theory" but think harder. Look at what Edison did in PR stunts, is it really and truly only a conspiracy?
Re: (Score:2)
Which does not mean that everything in those books is a lie. Or that everything in "new" Tesla books is true.
Just remember that there *is* another side of his story. Tesla *was* trying to run a business and he *was* filing a bunch of patents. He was not your Henry Cavendish [wikipedia.org], who just did the research and didn't care about money and fame and who, I would argue is much more under appreciated that Tesla.
Re: (Score:2)
Shouldn't the Edison museum just take the money from the Tesla museum fundraiser?
Re: (Score:3)
Only counts if you hire bully boys to kidnap dogs and cats, and electrocute them with AC current in front of Tesla's museum.
Re: (Score:2)
maybe a Twain monument too? (Score:4, Interesting)
Re: (Score:2)
The Thomas Edison corporate douche exhibit were paying for other people's inventions means that you can publicly pretend to have invented them, woo hoo. That can add all the other great patent douche's that came there after to the exhibit, with Apple as the A number 1, patent douche of all time ;D. Seriously if you invented put your name on the patent app, if you didn't don't be a dick and put it there to feed your ego, it's really lame.
Re:So... (Score:5, Informative)
Hijacking this comment because it's dumb and what I have to say is more important.
I won't give any money to the Oatmeal since last time they let an asshole lawyer block the fundraiser.
The lawyer tried to block the fundraiser, but it still proceeded as planned
http://theoatmeal.com/blog/charity_money
Re: (Score:3)
Are you blaming the Oatmeal for what some other idiot did? The Oatmeal's fundraiser worked out fine. It's the idiot you should be boycotting.
Re: (Score:1)
Er wut? Obviously you didn't follow that story but formed a passionate opinion on it?
Let me guess, you are American.
Re: (Score:1)
I'm going to start a Kickstarter to BUY this, then bulldozer it over, and build the Edison museum.
The Edison Museum: Because the oatmeal sucks. Seriously, fuck that guy.
Thomas? is that you?
Re: (Score:2)
Because the oatmeal sucks. Seriously, fuck that guy.
Fuck this guy? [overthinkingit.com]
Re: (Score:3)
Totally in (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Totally in (Score:5, Funny)
But they have to build his death ray
I'd prefer cloning him, and then having the clone build it. As long as we're building a B-movie death ray, we might as well have a B-movie story to go along with it.
After we're done with him, we can have the clone battle an Edison robot, and my life will be complete.
Re: (Score:3)
I saw a conspiracy theory book that claimed he succeeded in building his death ray and that's what the Tunguska explosion [wikipedia.org] really was. It further claimed that Tesla had done it as a publicity gimmick intending to aim it at the North Pole and blow it up right before Admiral Peary could reach the North Pole, but his aim was off!!!
It then went on to claim that Tesla did not die, but instead was living inside the "face pyramid" on Mars with Marconi!!!!
Wow.
Re: (Score:2)
I saw a conspiracy theory book that claimed he succeeded in building his death ray and that's what the Tunguska explosion [wikipedia.org] really was. It further claimed that Tesla had done it as a publicity gimmick intending to aim it at the North Pole and blow it up right before Admiral Peary could reach the North Pole, but his aim was off!!!
It then went on to claim that Tesla did not die, but instead was living inside the "face pyramid" on Mars with Marconi!!!!
Wow.
conspiracy theories are pretty fun, aren't they?
Buy cheap Viagra? (Score:2)
Re:Buy cheap Viagra? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Buy cheap Viagra? (Score:5, Funny)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
It [teslasciencecenter.org] looks perfectly fine [tinypic.com] to me, on my unprotected, syphilitic IE8 at work.
21++ Advantages of HOSTS files (Score:1)
Over AdBlock (and other browser addons) & DNS Servers.
I use hosts in the following ways (see my 'p.s.' below, in detail, for your reference) to COMPLIMENT & OVERCOME THE PROBLEMS IN DNS & OTHER MECHANISMS, like browser addons (like AdBlock), LARGELY!
Custom hosts files gain me the following benefits (A short summary of where custom hosts files can be extremely useful):
---
1.) Blocking out malware/malscripted sites
2.) Blocking out Known sites-servers/hosts-domains that are known to serve up malware
Re: (Score:3)
They use Wordpress and got hacked with the Pharma Hack [sucuri.net]. I wrote to their webmaster and explained the problem and sent them some links. They have since upgraded their version of Wordpress and secured the site. But, they still have junk in their database that needs to be cleaned out. He told me that they are working to correct the problem.
No Turing phase for tesla? (Score:5, Informative)
More Info here :p
http://plus.google.com/blergasdf1234thimbleturdorgasm99meatpoopypoopxv9donkeypie [google.com]
But seriously, in this era of re-discovering and correctly honouring scientists for their hard-work and genius (like Alan Turing is now rightly getting, for example) why is Tesla still languishing? I mean, either, way, it was god-damn American* guy who made the light bulb, who cares which one it was? I think the US govt should buck up and admit they dun goofed, just like the Uk govt did with Turing.
*Wikipedia [wikipedia.org] says he was an american citizen
Re: (Score:3)
But seriously, in this era of re-discovering and correctly honouring scientists for their hard-work and genius (like Alan Turing is now rightly getting, for example) why is Tesla still languishing?
At the risk of sounding somewhat sweeping in my exemplary generalization:
Tesla is lauded in good measure wheresoever geeks may chance upon others of their kind.
Is this not enough to warm the rotting cockles of Mr. T's decaying corporeal matter?
Re: (Score:2)
Is this not enough to warm the rotting cockles of Mr. T's decaying corporeal matter?
For anyone else who was confused, BA Baracus/Clubber Lane/ Mr. "I pity the fool" T is still alive. [deadoraliveinfo.com] Pegasustonans was talking about Tesla here.
Re:No Turing phase for tesla? (Score:5, Insightful)
Langushing? Come on. He was played by David Bowie in a movie, and the coolest car company around is named Telsa.
Tesla has a lot more name recognition in the general public (and certainly among technical people) than scientists such as Shannon, Nyquist, and von Neumann who arguably did at least as much to usher in the modern world than Tesla.
Re: (Score:2)
I think the US govt should buck up and admit they dun goofed, just like the Uk govt did with Turing.
That will happen when it's politically advantageous. If you can get 1 million people voting in Ohio for the guy who favors Tesla, then you will have both candidates falling over themselves to say something nice about Tesla.
(Then saying how evil the other party was for what happened, and that if there were more/less regulation it wouldn't have happened, and if there were more/less judicial oversight/activism it wouldn't have happened, and if only we'd taxed more/less it wouldn't have happened).
Re: (Score:2)
But seriously, in this era of re-discovering and correctly honouring scientists for their hard-work and genius why is Tesla still languishing?
Maybe this American home-school textbook can explain why Tesla isn't appreciated [snopes.com].
Re: (Score:2)
No, Alan Turing has been overhyped for nearly thirty years, and the same goes for Tesla.
AWESOME. (Score:1)
But, what the fuck is "the oatmeal"?
Re: (Score:1)
A terribly unfunny web comic.
Re: (Score:1)
A terribly unfunny web comic.
Really? You must not like cynicism. Either that or the topics he usually posts about.
Re: (Score:2)
I just don't think his stuff is funny. I don't mind cynicism, if it's funny. The Oatmeal seems to me like the latest in a series of unfunny webcomics that get popular simply because they make jokes about certain subjects (science, video games, etc) without actually being humorous. It's like the web equivalent of "The Big Bang Theory".
good marketing (Score:2, Informative)
This Oatmeal guy sure is milking his Tesla fetish and the Forbes "controversy" for all it's worth. Good for him.
Money goes straight to foundation... (Score:5, Informative)
The Oatmeal is not getting any money from this kickstarter (not really a kickstarter but you know what I mean).
I really get way more of a sense, that he's on a real mission here regardless of what it does for income.
Re: (Score:2)
No he may not be getting any money directly, but he's getting attention, which is worth its weight in gold (and page views). He's on the front page of Slashdot AGAIN, as well as Forbes, etc. Maybe he is on a "real mission", but if so, why would he say "Goddamned Museum"? That sounds like his shtick.
Re:Money goes straight to foundation... (Score:5, Insightful)
if so, why would he say "Goddamned Museum"? That sounds like his shtick.
That's how he thinks. And why would he NOT say that if he's really irked at how Telsa has been treated or forgotten over the years?
Re: (Score:1)
Forgotten by having the SI unit of magnetic flux density named after him.
Re:Money goes straight to foundation... (Score:5, Interesting)
People sometimes forget that this kind of piggyback marketing is his professional expertise, which he's done for longer than he's done the comic. Before he did The Oatmeal, he was an SEO consultant who would get people's domains ranked higher by making infographics to host there that he'd get to "go viral" on Reddit/etc. For example, you have some shady company selling penis-enlargement pills. You hire him, and draws you an infographic along the lines of FIVE CRAZY WACKY FACTS ABOUT PHALLUSES. That gets passed around a lot, and now your penis-enlargement domain has higher PageRank for a bunch of dong-related search terms.
Nowadays a bigger part of his deal is the actual content (since it's popular in its own right), but he's still really good at this kind of marketing.
Re:Money goes straight to foundation... (Score:4, Insightful)
The fact that he is good at marketing his work doesn't invalidate the quality of his work.
Re: (Score:3)
Re: (Score:2)
Trying separate the shtick from the man is a fools errand.
Cool (Score:5, Interesting)
Just as long as the museum isn't filled with as many inaccuracies as the Oatmeal piece was. Otherwise we're going to have a museum filled with "facts" that paint Tesla as a god who would have given the world free power, ended all wars, solved world hunger, and developed the ultimate recipe for apple pie, and Edison as a drooling idiot who couldn't have tied his shoes, let alone improve on the lightbulb, aid in the development of a system to deliver electrical current across long distances, and severely advance the technology of the basis of our modern medical imaging technology. (cue the rants about Clarence Dally, who had been victimized by Edison, despite the fact that Dally was a willing participant and we simply didn't know how dangerous X-rays were at the time. Look into every advance the science of radioactive materials in the first half of the 20th century, and you will find at least one Dally in each of them).
They both were geniuses. They both were flawed.
Without both of their contributions to science, I wouldn't be typing this (electricity is efficiently delivered to my house in the form of alternating current. A nifty little device translates that alternating current into direct current, which is what runs my computer).
Re: (Score:3)
It's precisely the system that Westinghouse and Tesla were advocating, and the adoption of which Edison tried to stop because he was so invested in DC power distribution. It's not like he invented the concept of direct current itself.
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
They both were geniuses. They both were flawed.
Well said. You don't have to turn it into hero-worship and hate the other guy like they were some 17th century mathematicians. You can actually like both of them.
Re: (Score:1)
Mod up X1000. The Oatmeal's response to Forbes was a pretty sad juvenile response. Tesla the man deserves better than to be deified. Science deserves better than to have Tesla deified.
Shoreham: Middle of Nowhere, Long Island (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
Maybe a world class scientific lab and museum is exactly what they need? When it gets built, I plan to visit.
I would but... (Score:2)
.... what happens if they get the money, get the matching contribution from NY, and the other party simply raises their bid and gets the property? At that point the funds are committed and there's no way to get them back to the contributors who contributed via indiegogo.
Too, indiegogo charges a fee, don't they? That further complicates it (and also means the 850k goal is not enough).
Re: (Score:2)
In other words: "I'm a cheap bastard and I don't want to contribute". You must be a load of fun at pizza parties. You're the type of guy who eats 10 slices and then complains that it was soggy and doesn't want to pay.
Re: (Score:2)
And some people want money for their manure. Does that make shit legal tender?
Re: (Score:2)
In other words: "I'm a cheap bastard and I don't want to contribute". You must be a load of fun at pizza parties. You're the type of guy who eats 10 slices and then complains that it was soggy and doesn't want to pay.
Interesting that you know so much about me. From your post I can tell that at the same party, you would pay three times the price of the pizza and suggest to the deliveryman that he should remember to bring it to the party if he had the time.
My assessment is roughly as accurate as yours, and based on as little information. Except I managed it in a way that made my point without being nearly so insulting to a random stranger on the Internet.
Re: (Score:2)
The actual current asking price is 1.6 million, so if they meet their goal with the matching funds from New York State, they would be clearly above this with 1.7 million dollars. (The Indiegogo fee is only 4% at that point.)
It should be noted that they will need additional money to actually turn the building into a museum, so that where any money beyond the amount needed to buy the property will go.
I would view it as unlikely the other developer will win by raising the bid because the company in question i
Re: (Score:2)
After re-reading I see that the money will be going to the Tesla Science Center at Wardenclyffe regardless - which seems a worthy cause in any case. Worst case, they get extra funds. Best case, the property gets bought. Looks like I'm in after all.
It's about time (Score:5, Insightful)
A lot of people make fun of the Tesla vs. Edison thing but, think about it: this man invented the modern world and nobody knows (or cares). I went through elementary, middle, and high school in America. Then, I went to college. I never once learned about Nikola Tesla. I didn't find out who he was until I was in my mid twenties. I read a biography about him and was blown away. This guy helped to create everything that I used on a daily basis and I had no idea who he was. It was sad really.
It's about time that the geeks and scientists of the world step up and pay this man some respect. He DESERVES a museum in his honor in the USA. He deserves a place in the science curriculum. Children of today deserve to learn the truth about Tesla and all the ideas that he gave us. I just chipped in and I'm going to help to spread the word. It's time to give Telsa the recognition he deserves.
Re: (Score:3)
Aren't you an angry little boy.
Just to clarify to other people: the Oatmeal guy isn't actually getting any money; it's going directly to the Tesla Science Center, a 503(c) non-profit organization: http://www.teslasciencecenter.org/about/ [teslasciencecenter.org]
Sweet Jesus, you aren't kidding. (Score:3)
I wrote a paper on him for this gorgeous blonde who was struggling for one of her requisite classes for nursing. I got to help the world have another pretty, dumb blonde nurse, you are welcome world. I also got to read up on this guy, he's the superhero of science. The reason we don't know about him is because of the Cold War, you couldn't say nice things about people from that neighborhood. If you are my age or older and went through it, you will know wtf I am on about.
Sadly we've never given credit where
I'm donating (Score:1)
There already is a Tesla Museum... (Score:2)
TheOatmeal is dead wrong...
There is no Tesla Museum in the United States
Really? Not even this one? [teslamuseum.us] Tesla moved to Colorado to continue his experiments and to stupid lightening. Maybe Matthew Inman should learn to use that Google thingie on the intertubes.
Re: (Score:3)
Re: (Score:3)
That's not a museum. That's a new age hippie bullshit pyramid scheme claiming to be a museum. Their entire "about us" page is about how they are in no way related to the Tesla society down the street that "mysteriously" went bankrupt.
We are the focal point of new and experimental scientific research in areas of electricity, free energy, magnetic resonance, and many other scientific endeavors. We prove this by the very nature of our shows and lectures.
To see THE TESLA EXPERIENCE at The Tesla Museum or to buy tickets for THE GREATEST KNOW ON EARTH -ABOVE TOP SECRET show you must first—
Call : 719-222-1911leave a brief message with your return Telephone Number. If the line is busy or your call is not promptly returned, try again. WE DO RETURN ALL CALLS !!!
LECTURES ON OTHER TOPICS
WEDNESDAY NIGHTS 7:00 pm. $5.00 per person (suggested donation)
Sign Up In Advance
1. HOW TO GO SOLAR WITHOUT GOING BROKE (based on my new book)
The cheapest alternative to alternative energy
2. THE ANSWER TO TOXIC FOOD AND THE IMPOSSIBLE DIET
The non-medicated cheap way to disease-free health
3. LIVE WELL ON MINIMUM WAGE (based on my new book)
Yes you can really live well and happy on practically nothing
4. THE TRUTH ABOUT UFO’S AND OTHER CONSPIRACIES
Come to this one if you are not afraid of the truth!!!
TESLA TECH CAN GIVE YOU THE KNOWLEDGE IN LESS THAN HALF THE TIME !
WE CAN GIVE YOUR CHILDREN A COMPLETE ELEMENTARY AND HIGH SCHOOL EDUCATION IN YOUR HOME !
WE CAN ALSO SUPPLEMENT YOUR HOME- SCHOOL EDUCATION AT A VERY LOW COST !
WE CAN GIVE ADULTS A
CAREER !
Yes you can graduate from TESLA TECH and get a job.
We will show you how.
Re: (Score:2)
can you find an actual address on that page and times it's open?
no? I couldn't. it doesn't seem like they have an actual museum.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Anti-Copyright'rs | Where are you now? (Score:2)
Very recently? (Score:2)
So what's this then from over three years ago (also with a listed price of $1.6 million)?
http://slashdot.org/story/09/05/05/2146246/teslas-new-york-laboratory-up-for-sale [slashdot.org]
Anyone who knows more, please let me/us know.
Re: (Score:2)
The key difference is there is now a developer willing to pay the price and who wants to flatten the site and turn it into a retail space, so the foundation has basically been given 6 weeks to come up with the money or the site and building is going to get sold and leveled.
The other huge difference is the State of New York has now pledged matching donations up to 850,000 dollars to buy the site and start work on the museum, which makes reaching the goal more viable.
A retail outlet? (Score:3)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3)
Maybe if you would listen to what he's saying and stop getting hung up on his name you'd understand why people like him.
Re: (Score:2)
Prove your Sky Fairie exists, NOW, irrefutably, or fuck off.
Superstition has plenty of facilities. They are temples, mosques, and churches. Spend your money there.