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The Oatmeal Convinces Elon Musk To Donate $1 Million To Tesla Museum

Posted by timothy on from the carreon-should-donate-too dept.

Ars Technica notes (as does Oatmeal creator Matthew Inman) that Elon Musk has agreed to donate $1 million towards the restoration of Nikola Tesla's old lab as a museum, a project that Inman has been pushing for some time now. And if you happen to get there in a Tesla, you're in luck: Musk is also planning to install one of his company's superchargers in the parking lot. (At the other end of the east coast, you can visit a very different kind of Tesla museum.)

15 of 78 comments (clear)

  1. Fair enough by rossdee · · Score: 4, Funny

    After all he is using the name for his cars.

    Next up, the Ford motor company donates to the Gerald Ford presidential library

  2. On his Birthday, even... by bughunter · · Score: 5, Informative

    Happy birthday, Nikola, you crazy bastard!

    --
    I can see the fnords!
  3. Naming rights ploy by tepples · · Score: 4, Interesting

    We'll know it's a naming rights ploy if Elon Musk tries to buy the naming rights to something near Thomas Edison National Historical Park in New Jersey.

    1. Re:Naming rights ploy by tepples · · Score: 2

      It was supposed to be an allusion to the old feud between Nik and Tom.

  4. How to get the rest of the $8 million by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Inman estimates it will take $8 million to clean up the site (lots of buildings from Kodak) and to build out the museum. His web comic plea to Musk was for the full amount, and Musk has pledged $1 million in response.

    Here's the next pitch: offer a long-term lease of the non-Tesla-related buildings to Tesla in order to establish a facility of some sort on the east coast and add that revenue to the museum's operating budget. This would increase Tesla's brand image considerably; it would increase the draw to the museum site itself (Tesla can offer tours of whatever type of facility it builds there).

  5. The hero Gotham needs by RyoShin · · Score: 5, Interesting

    PayPal, rockets, electric cars, solar panels, paying $1 million for oatmeal or something in the name of a Tesla museum. While he doesn't have absolute control of any one of those industries, he's sounding more and more like a modern Andrew Carnegie, maybe with some Benjamin Franklin mixed in.

    1. Re:The hero Gotham needs by hubie · · Score: 2

      Musk strikes me more of a Howard Hughes. Let's hope he doesn't start bottling his urine ...

  6. conflict by geekoid · · Score: 3, Interesting

    On one hand a FACT based science museum for Tesla is cool. OTOH Inman a rude asshat when you point out some of what he says about Tesla is false.

    --
    The Kruger Dunning explains most post on /. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
    1. Re:conflict by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

      http://theoatmeal.com/blog/tesla_response

      Jesus does he come off like a stupid asshole in his counter-response.

    2. Re:conflict by phantomfive · · Score: 2

      IMO the worst is trying to drag up a fight that was silly 100 years ago. It's ok to think that both Edison and Tesla were great men.....because they were. You don't have to choose sides.

      --
      "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
  7. Speaking of Tesla by PopeRatzo · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I have a Yugoslavian one hundred billion dinar note from when there was hyperinflation in that country a few decades ago. It's got a nice picture of Tesla on the front.

    His birthday is also the same as my wife's.

    I'm posting this comment apropos of nothing. But Tesla was one bad ass. And was so cool that David Bowie played him in a movie. And I have no evidence of this, but I'm pretty sure that the huge explosion in Tunguska back in 1908 was caused by Tesla trying to build a time machine. Or something. Here, go read it yourself. I have the day off tomorrow, so I'm already half in the bag. Catch me in an hour or so, and I'll tell you my theory about Tesla actually being the immortal Count of St. Germain, who still lives today developing Android apps and smoking DMT.

    http://www.teslasociety.com/tu...

    --
    You are welcome on my lawn.
  8. Does it make business sense, though? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Son, business is about four things:

    1. Blood.

    2. Sweat.

    3. Tears.

    4. Losing all of your peers.

    As you can see, "Leasing unneeded office space thousands of miles away that isn't needed for current or future business purposes, for the sole aim of getting basically no goodwill or brand recognition from the 99.9999999% of people who have no fucking clue who Nikola Tesla was." doesn't appear in that list.

    Musk pledged $1,000,000 already. That's more than enough. He's got a goddamn business to run, and he shouldn't be wasting money that could be better spent on that business.

    If anyone should be doing the hard work here, it's those who want to build the museum. They need to find a way to make that $1,000,000 go a long way. And hopefully it's because they find ways to create the museum more efficiently, rather than hounding and guilt-tripping hard-working, productive businessmen and businesswomen into giving up large sums of money that could be better used elsewhere.

  9. There's already a Tesla museum, in Belgrade. by Animats · · Score: 4, Informative

    The Tesla Museum already exists.

    Tesla did great work with AC generators and motors. Most common AC motors today still use approaches he invented. That's his legacy.

    Wardenclyffe, though, is a monument to failure. From his patents, you can read how he thought it would work. He thought the ionosphere was a conductive layer. The Wardenclyffe tower was supposed to punch power through the atmosphere to that conductive layer, so that signals and maybe power could be received elsewhere.

    The ionosphere does not work that way. Tesla's tower would have done nothing useful, although with 200KW at 20KHz going in, it probably could have lit up fluorescent lamps and gas tubes for some distance around. Since the location is now surrounded by a housing subdivision, rebuilding the tower and powering it up would annoy the neighbors.

    1. Re:There's already a Tesla museum, in Belgrade. by Mal-2 · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Tesla's tower would have done nothing useful, although with 200KW at 20KHz going in, it probably could have lit up fluorescent lamps and gas tubes for some distance around. Since the location is now surrounded by a housing subdivision, rebuilding the tower and powering it up would annoy the neighbors.

      It wouldn't have done what he envisioned, but it could well have proven to be the worlds' first VLF radio station. I'm sure it would have crossed his mind to modulate the transmitted power at some point, and any receiving equipment on the other end could easily have demodulated this into an audible tone. Other people were already playing with radio, including modulating it with audio frequencies, but even if the idea wasn't original, it could have provided a viable product for Tesla to market and sell. It would have been accidentally useful, but that's exactly the sort of break Tesla could have used.

      --
      How is the Riemann zeta function like Trump rallies? Both have an endless number of trivial zeros.
  10. Tesla is soooo yesterday! by XxtraLarGe · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I'm going to visit the museum in an Elio!

    Yes Slashdot, I even left your gclid in the URL so you get another ad credit for each click. :-P

    --
    Taking guns away from the 99% gives the 1% 100% of the power.