[00:00.350 --> 00:02.430]  My name is Jeffrey Velez.
[00:02.710 --> 00:04.950]  I'm from the Tesla Science Center.
[00:05.310 --> 00:13.190]  Got my budguddy, good buddy, Head Wilson here, who is going to try and help me from this train wreck of a presentation.
[00:13.850 --> 00:19.330]  The original gentleman who is going to be presenting had to back out at the last second.
[00:19.570 --> 00:23.230]  Yesterday we had our birthday expo for Nikola Tesla.
[00:23.550 --> 00:29.030]  July 10th is Nikola Tesla's birthday, so we always try and do a nice big celebration on the property.
[00:29.030 --> 00:36.530]  Open up the lab, or at least the property currently, for folks to come and just enjoy everything Tesla.
[00:36.690 --> 00:41.890]  So that went really late last night, and unfortunately, logistics and timing, so I apologize.
[00:42.230 --> 00:45.190]  So the presentation is going to be a little different.
[00:45.190 --> 00:53.450]  I might even be using some slide decks from when me and Ed talked last, hope, just for a little visual filler here.
[00:53.450 --> 01:09.630]  But I'm just going to do the best that we can here, and if everybody's really super nice, I am going to auction off or give out to the nicest person here a VHS copy of Swordfish, one of the greatest hacker movies ever.
[01:09.630 --> 01:13.570]  And, even better, I was not kind.
[01:13.570 --> 01:14.970]  I did not rewind.
[01:14.970 --> 01:19.490]  So you must rewind it yourself, so don't everybody fight afterwards.
[01:19.850 --> 01:21.370]  I'll pick whomever is worthy.
[01:21.370 --> 01:23.370]  And for everybody else, runners up.
[01:23.730 --> 01:26.570]  Got a little bit of Tesla money just to use you guys up.
[01:26.710 --> 01:28.490]  I appreciate everybody's attendance here.
[01:29.130 --> 01:33.370]  Me and Ed have been huge fans of 2600 for decades.
[01:34.490 --> 01:41.150]  I mean, we used to go to the meets, or I only met Ed past few years, but we used to go to the meets in the late 90s and everything like that.
[01:41.150 --> 01:53.850]  So I did like that the presentation was supposed to be about Tesla as a futurist, you know, talking about Tesla and just his vantage point, his viewpoint.
[01:54.050 --> 01:56.770]  He wasn't so concerned about the current day.
[01:56.770 --> 02:07.950]  He was really always looking above and beyond into the future for what he wanted to do, or what he thought technology could expand on, how to properly use it.
[02:08.510 --> 02:16.830]  He was always just looking out for betterment of society through technology to make things, you know, easier for us.
[02:17.370 --> 02:20.590]  I'll kick it to Ed super quick, just so he can tell just a little bit about himself.
[02:22.170 --> 02:25.390]  He is also heavily involved with Ham Radio.
[02:28.010 --> 02:35.870]  Hey, everyone, I'm Ed Wilson, and like Jeff said, I'm also a volunteer at the Tesla Science Center, and I am a Ham Radio nerd.
[02:36.130 --> 02:47.830]  So I come in, we're putting together a Ham Radio Club for the Tesla Science Center, and it's going to be something of more inclusivity from the normal Ham Radio Club.
[02:47.850 --> 02:54.570]  And we're going to gear ourselves towards the hacker maker community and do some outreach into the local STEM programs.
[02:59.210 --> 03:03.370]  So let me see what I've got brought up here for you.
[03:03.670 --> 03:07.030]  Was this one... Sorry, I'm going to jump over here super quick.
[03:07.130 --> 03:13.250]  So this was our 2022 presentation that we had for the 2024.
[03:15.790 --> 03:24.570]  So this one is interesting, and I'm involved in IT, and certain phrases are kind of interesting.
[03:24.570 --> 03:31.130]  It makes me wonder, you know, how I'm conflicted with the term white hat hacker.
[03:32.130 --> 03:34.550]  It's been popping up a lot, especially in IT.
[03:34.850 --> 03:38.510]  White listing, black listing, why is white good, black, fat?
[03:39.550 --> 03:42.650]  So we do have him listed here.
[03:43.330 --> 03:45.150]  Start the slideshow for you.
[03:45.770 --> 04:02.250]  As the ultimate white hat hacker, which I love, but also a tinge of, you know, a little strangeness to that term for it, just in the current day lens of how we're seeing everything and how the world is holding for us.
[04:05.130 --> 04:12.070]  That is Michael Caprio, he's got a fantastic beard, but he's not the one that was going to be doing the presentation.
[04:13.850 --> 04:19.110]  You know, just to go over Tesla, I think maybe what we can do might help it out a little bit.
[04:19.230 --> 04:27.610]  If you guys want to try and turn this into a little more interactive Q&A, if anybody kind of has questions for us, that could just help, you know, add to it.
[04:27.610 --> 04:33.410]  I'm a huge, you know, fan of Tesla, cheerleader for him, you know.
[04:33.650 --> 04:47.170]  To me, he's the embodiment of who we should be today, always looking for the future, not staying stagnant in just one location, always trying to see what we can do and how we can do it better, you know.
[04:48.550 --> 04:51.150]  Always probing the mind, probing the sciences.
[04:51.450 --> 04:54.390]  And, you know, Tesla was just very prolific with that.
[04:54.390 --> 04:59.670]  I'm sure most of you already know about all of his inventions and everything that he was dabbling with at the time.
[05:00.090 --> 05:06.210]  All the cutting-edge technologies from X-ray to all the innovations in electricity and electrical discoveries.
[05:06.350 --> 05:10.990]  He was at the forefront of nearly all of it at the time.
[05:16.430 --> 05:17.430]  So, yeah.
[05:19.730 --> 05:24.170]  Total apologies for a ramshackle, you know, set up like this.
[05:24.170 --> 05:29.830]  So, does anybody have any questions they might want to ask about Tesla or the Tesla Science Center?
[05:30.390 --> 05:47.170]  You know, from the last two years, from when we were here, you guys might have heard, last November, we had a really wicked fire that really wrecked the lab building and hasn't derailed us completely in terms of what we're looking to do in building up the Science Center,
[05:47.170 --> 05:54.270]  but it's taken a lot of the wind out of our sails, so it's really kind of messed up our overall flow for it.
[05:55.150 --> 05:58.410]  Anybody have any questions on the fire, the rebuilding?
[05:59.270 --> 06:00.490]  Locally, we've got one.
[06:07.560 --> 06:08.760]  Anything, Ed, can we...
[06:08.760 --> 06:08.840]  Oh.
[06:11.220 --> 06:13.020]  Do we have a mic up in front?
[06:13.260 --> 06:13.820]  Oh, one second.
[06:13.900 --> 06:14.180]  Can I help out?
[06:15.340 --> 06:15.740]  You're good.
[06:15.760 --> 06:16.420]  You should be.
[06:20.750 --> 06:22.390]  I can hear you good.
[06:22.670 --> 06:23.890]  Okay, well, you can...
[06:23.890 --> 06:24.770]  Oh, there we go.
[06:25.130 --> 06:25.550]  All right.
[06:26.570 --> 06:29.050]  Yeah, so I'm from out of state.
[06:29.210 --> 06:30.270]  I'm actually from Georgia.
[06:30.270 --> 06:34.890]  So maybe just give a basic overview of what it is and where it is.
[06:35.130 --> 06:38.750]  And, you know, is it a membership-based organization?
[06:38.750 --> 06:40.010]  Just all the basics.
[06:40.530 --> 06:44.390]  So I think that's a great place to start because I'm not from here.
[06:45.670 --> 06:46.490]  Definitely, definitely.
[06:46.490 --> 06:53.330]  So anyone who maybe is not completely aware of who we are or what we are, you know, we're the Tesla Science Center at Wardenclyffe.
[06:53.450 --> 07:00.510]  So the last remaining laboratory of Nikola Tesla is pretty much anywhere in the world is right here in New York on Long Island in Shoreham.
[07:00.670 --> 07:05.050]  In 1901, Tesla started construction of his laboratory there.
[07:05.230 --> 07:16.290]  I actually have that up on the slide deck there where he was building his Wardenclyffe tower, 187-foot-tall tower where he was experimenting with the transmission of electricity wirelessly.
[07:17.430 --> 07:22.610]  So back in 2013, we had a really successful crowdfunding campaign operation.
[07:22.610 --> 07:35.770]  Let's build a goddamn Tesla museum where we were able to raise $1.3 million, I believe, to outright buy the entire property and to lock it in and keep it into, you know, nonprofit hands.
[07:38.290 --> 07:40.390]  The number 503-C...
[07:41.350 --> 07:42.110]  501-C-3.
[07:42.150 --> 07:46.550]  501-C-3 organization, so based out in Shoreham, New York.
[07:47.010 --> 07:51.270]  So if you're on the expressway, it's about exit 68, you know, so about...
[07:51.270 --> 07:52.410]  About an hour east of here.
[07:53.210 --> 08:09.410]  Organization has been around for decades before we've gotten the property, you know, grassroots efforts of trying to save the property and convert it into not only a museum for Tesla, blood, because it's kind of sad that there's no singular museum for Nikola Tesla anywhere in the United States when
[08:09.410 --> 08:14.810]  we have benefited so much from all that he has done for us and for technology.
[08:15.690 --> 08:21.390]  But also we want it to be more of a living, breathing science center, hands-on activities.
[08:21.670 --> 08:32.930]  Like I walked through the expos today, the lockpicking village and that script kitty, whatever, and it's just so exciting to see everyone on sharing knowledge, sharing experience.
[08:32.930 --> 08:34.710]  And that's really what we're trying to do.
[08:35.270 --> 08:45.950]  And just unfortunately, like Tesla, we kind of getting kicked in the butt and keep tripping and, you know, falling into, you know, stumbling block after stumbling block.
[08:46.130 --> 08:48.670]  But it parallels Tesla's life.
[08:48.670 --> 08:57.690]  If you read anything about the poor guy, he didn't catch a break, you know, but he was always still looking to the future, knowing that somebody was going to get it right.
[08:57.690 --> 09:00.710]  Somebody was going to try and propel us into the future.
[09:00.870 --> 09:02.910]  And I hope the Tesla Science Center is that.
[09:03.170 --> 09:03.670]  I would...
[09:03.670 --> 09:11.010]  My crazy dream and hope is to one day, if our property's set up large enough, have hope there.
[09:11.190 --> 09:12.530]  I'd love to have you folks.
[09:13.450 --> 09:13.590]  Yeah.
[09:14.550 --> 09:20.530]  The property there where Tesla was doing his thing, it's just, you know, pretty exciting.
[09:20.790 --> 09:22.750]  So completely non-for-profit group.
[09:22.750 --> 09:30.710]  The grounds are not open on a normal basis, you know, but we do open the property up for, you know, regularly for events like Tesla's Birthday Expo.
[09:30.990 --> 09:35.550]  I think one of the next ones coming up may be either our gala events coming up.
[09:35.850 --> 09:41.530]  They do like paranormal spooky walks on the grounds in October, which is pretty cool.
[09:41.630 --> 09:43.250]  So we're just, we're all over the place.
[09:43.370 --> 09:51.290]  And the board's vision for the Science Center, it transcends that of just a normal museum that you can pick up.
[09:51.290 --> 09:56.950]  We had, I don't know if anybody's seen, there's some cool Tesla shirts that we have.
[09:57.130 --> 10:01.790]  It's like a stencil of Tesla's face and it looks like it's graffiti type stencil.
[10:02.070 --> 10:10.830]  We had found painted all throughout the lab building, graffiti artists were making pictures of Tesla inside the lab building and in the surrounding buildings.
[10:11.270 --> 10:15.370]  Beautiful, really well done murals and just simple stencils.
[10:16.190 --> 10:22.550]  Now, when it was first brought up to the board, I thought they would be pretty upset, you know, people trespassing, lots of whatnot.
[10:22.770 --> 10:24.470]  They were really excited.
[10:24.670 --> 10:28.150]  They liked the gorilla art aspect of it.
[10:28.250 --> 10:30.110]  And also the tie-in to Tesla.
[10:30.270 --> 10:32.490]  It wasn't just putting up a silly scribble of a tent.
[10:32.790 --> 10:38.570]  It was thought out, quickly put up just images of Tesla in this derelict old lab building.
[10:38.570 --> 10:44.950]  So it's neat going through the building and seeing Tesla graffiti and that, you know, the board and the organization actually embraces that.
[10:46.590 --> 10:47.770]  Expand upon that.
[10:48.010 --> 10:53.490]  Give avenues for, you know, be more inclusive to folks who maybe don't have an outlet.
[10:53.810 --> 10:55.450]  An awesome story for that.
[10:55.450 --> 11:03.350]  I wish I had it up on the slide deck, but the mural that we had, we had found out who the original graffiti artist was.
[11:03.350 --> 11:10.230]  So when I first reached out to him, he was scared as heck because he thought maybe we were going to try and get authorities involved or something like that.
[11:11.010 --> 11:26.390]  Trying to explain to him how much we loved his artwork, wanted to just capture it and try and keep it and share it with the world because it was just such a beautiful piece of, you know, not instantaneous, but just spur-of-the-moment type.
[11:26.510 --> 11:30.950]  They decided to go to the lab building, break in at, you know, one in the morning.
[11:30.950 --> 11:35.730]  And in these beautiful murals with lights of their flashlights on their phone.
[11:35.970 --> 11:42.470]  It's just, um, and then to get to walk through the building with him and have him tell us stories about that yard inside there.
[11:42.890 --> 11:48.750]  This is with Jane Alcorn, who was the original president of the Tesla Science Center, totally embracing it.
[11:48.890 --> 11:52.090]  It just felt like this crazy, chaotic world.
[11:52.310 --> 11:54.910]  There's people who are trying to just do the right thing.
[11:54.910 --> 12:02.770]  And, you know, for communities who may negatively looked upon, especially beauty artists, you know, they catch flack left and right.
[12:02.790 --> 12:09.410]  It's a very fine line between art, you know, vandalism, script stuff, wall, man.
[12:11.330 --> 12:18.970]  So Ed was very fundamental in also helping start up the Tesla Science Center Amateur Radio Club.
[12:18.970 --> 12:28.410]  So, I think to get a foothold into amateur radio through the Science Center as a base and...
[12:29.310 --> 12:40.630]  Yeah, we're looking to do more community-oriented, uh, radio club activities, not only within our community, but eventually we'd like to see it, uh, as a concept to a worldwide club.
[12:40.850 --> 12:43.010]  And, uh, I'm very passionate about ham radio.
[12:43.130 --> 12:47.630]  I'm very passionate about the education and the inclusivity of different hams.
[12:47.630 --> 12:50.370]  I, I'd like to see a lot more people here.
[12:50.870 --> 12:59.310]  Just this past weekend, we were able to license another 25 ham radio operators here at HOPE, including a nine-year-old girl.
[13:00.010 --> 13:01.050]  And, uh, the...
[13:01.050 --> 13:02.490]  Yeah, I think that's pretty awesome.
[13:02.750 --> 13:05.530]  Yeah, it was, it was an amazing effort from, uh, my colleagues.
[13:05.590 --> 13:14.250]  And just seeing the, the number of ham radio operators involved in this community, it just makes me smile and happy because this is the future of keeping the radio arts alive.
[13:14.430 --> 13:17.110]  And it's kind of come from the hacker and the maker communities.
[13:17.630 --> 13:24.930]  And I hope to, uh, use the Tesla Science Center as my vessel to keep going forward with that, with a great group of, uh, people.
[13:25.130 --> 13:27.170]  And I got a bunch of them in the room here with me.
[13:27.470 --> 13:40.490]  So, I'd like to, uh, like Jeff said, our, our vision one day is to have hope, or at least maybe a sub-day tour of, uh, from hope out at the Tesla Science Center and see all the cool things that we're going to have going on over there.
[13:41.090 --> 13:46.010]  And the radio aspect for it, I mean, it ties in perfectly to Tesla, of course.
[13:46.210 --> 13:55.870]  But one thing that's been really great is seeing that ham radio operates transmit from the original tower foundation, where Tesla was sending out all his energy.
[13:56.230 --> 14:12.030]  And also finding out how excited they get when they see how amazing the grounding is at that tower base that Tesla spent an immense amount of time figuring out in a massive grounding system for the tower because it was going to need it.
[14:12.170 --> 14:14.070]  You know, it's 187 foot tall tower.
[14:14.450 --> 14:21.930]  He went down into the ground, I think 130 feet with his grounding plane to what he said to really grip the earth.
[14:22.950 --> 14:27.670]  See operators, you know, hooking up over there and just seeing all these great contacts there.
[14:27.670 --> 14:34.190]  Now, man, that's Tesla back in 1901, still helping you out, you know, keeping radio going.
[14:34.730 --> 14:47.810]  But the vision that he had for radio, even from there, he saw exactly how it was going to pan out for what we've got today, you know, so why we like to see him as the futurist, always looking forward.
[14:48.050 --> 14:50.050]  I can't tell what's going to happen five years from now.
[14:50.050 --> 14:50.770]  I'm going to interrupt you.
[14:50.870 --> 14:58.990]  I have a totally different vision and I want to reconstruct that 187 foot tower with 100 foot ground and throw some ham radio antennas up there.
[14:59.130 --> 15:01.430]  But they definitely will not let me.
[15:02.270 --> 15:06.390]  But Jeff, I'm going to ask you to touch back on something else with Tesla and radio.
[15:06.730 --> 15:08.490]  Back with his remote control.
[15:09.930 --> 15:12.590]  His remote control boat way back in 18...
[15:13.250 --> 15:15.530]  I remember the exact thing.
[15:15.750 --> 15:26.950]  Again, I'm more of a cheerleader for Tesla, but yes, one of the first ever demoed remote control exhibit was done by Nikola Tesla in Madison Square Garden.
[15:27.110 --> 15:33.990]  He had built an autonomous little boat that he was able to control completely remotely with using just wireless signals.
[15:34.150 --> 15:42.190]  It was the first ever, um, physical out use of remote radio control to, to control a device.
[15:42.190 --> 15:42.970]  And that was...
[15:42.970 --> 15:45.950]  That was the late 1880s, I want to say.
[15:46.130 --> 15:47.530]  Pretty darn sure the late 1880s.
[15:47.610 --> 15:49.590]  Because it was before he was on the island, you know.
[15:49.810 --> 15:50.210]  18...
[15:50.210 --> 15:51.350]  Okay, 1898.
[15:51.650 --> 15:53.230]  And people were very skeptical of him.
[15:53.390 --> 16:01.750]  He had to go at one point and he had to remove the top of the boat and prove that he did not have a trained monkey inside of the boat.
[16:02.010 --> 16:02.230]  So...
[16:02.230 --> 16:03.050]  Operating the boat.
[16:03.170 --> 16:05.150]  But could you imagine that back in 1890s?
[16:06.490 --> 16:10.250]  Seeing something, you know, people barely understand electricity.
[16:10.250 --> 16:16.110]  Now here is this wizard trolling a boat seemingly autonomously.
[16:17.030 --> 16:18.210]  Just far out.
[16:18.330 --> 16:23.330]  And then at the birthday expo, we had a really nice drone light show, you know, above the lab building.
[16:23.790 --> 16:24.590]  Think about it.
[16:25.230 --> 16:27.310]  Tesla laid the foundation for that also.
[16:27.530 --> 16:37.190]  We look at so many technologies that we have and how many other people and innovators can you really say are part of that foundational block for that technology?
[16:37.190 --> 16:39.830]  You pull him out of that equation or that mix.
[16:41.670 --> 16:49.790]  Kind of like all those unsung app developers who are keeping up old libraries and stuff and trying to keep them safe for us.
[16:49.790 --> 16:52.650]  You pull one of those old ones out, everything's going to collapse.
[16:54.930 --> 16:55.670]  All right.
[16:57.290 --> 17:00.730]  He had some really amazing foresight about the wireless technology.
[17:00.850 --> 17:17.010]  Somewhere in the early 1910s, he was said to a bunch of people at a gathering that he said, in the very near future, you're going to have a device in your pocket, in your vest pocket, that you could pull out and you can speak to people on the other side of the world.
[17:17.570 --> 17:21.490]  And then just a short few years later, he said, he revised his statement.
[17:21.570 --> 17:26.970]  He said, not only are you going to be able to talk to these people, you'll be able to see them in real time.
[17:27.190 --> 17:32.290]  So he was definitely had some really great insight into the future and wireless technology.
[17:32.590 --> 17:46.910]  So I thought it was only really fitting to honor him and his desire to see wireless take off by creating the radio club and helping with the outreach into the community as well.
[17:48.410 --> 17:49.410]  We've been...
[17:50.010 --> 18:00.650]  One of the first things that I found interesting, one of the first HOPEs that I came to, was how little information of ours actually gets out as to what we're doing, unless you're signed up on our mailing lists or whatnot.
[18:00.650 --> 18:04.850]  There's a huge just information gap on where we're at, what we're doing.
[18:06.050 --> 18:10.110]  Even with the fire, we're still full steam ahead as best as possible.
[18:10.110 --> 18:16.270]  You know, obviously, it was a big kick in the pants, you know, with that fire coming in and just wrecking us.
[18:16.390 --> 18:26.410]  You know, that building's our baby, you know, all the precautions that we took, all the silly things that we did just to prevent damage anything in there.
[18:26.610 --> 18:32.550]  And then just one day, you know, from a simple accident, from some work being done on the property.
[18:32.930 --> 18:36.310]  And here we are, another fire under Tesla's belt.
[18:36.510 --> 18:39.350]  Unfortunately, another one of his laboratories burning down.
[18:39.350 --> 18:41.770]  I'm like, come on, can I catch a break?
[18:41.970 --> 18:43.670]  You know, it's been how many years?
[18:43.870 --> 18:47.750]  And it just seems like something holding us back.
[18:48.090 --> 18:50.870]  But, um, immunity outreach has just been amazing.
[18:51.170 --> 18:55.910]  Even yesterday with the horrible weather, like I said, we had a fantastic turnout of people coming to help.
[18:57.250 --> 18:59.650]  I just love the community focus, you know.
[18:59.650 --> 19:09.950]  Um, things are getting so polarized and we need to be coming together instead of driving other people further apart from each other.
[19:10.090 --> 19:13.350]  You know, the world's just getting a little too weird and a little too kooky for me.
[19:13.530 --> 19:22.850]  So, but I love the Science Center is really trying to be that, that glue or that bonding force that can bring a bunch of different people like us together, you know.
[19:24.030 --> 19:24.510]  There.
[19:25.550 --> 19:26.530]  I just love it.
[19:26.790 --> 19:27.270]  It's...
[19:27.270 --> 19:29.630]  Anybody else, any other question that they want to kick out?
[19:30.350 --> 19:31.810]  Give you a Tesla dollar.
[19:32.450 --> 19:32.670]  Mm-hmm.
[19:36.580 --> 19:36.860]  No.
[19:39.060 --> 19:40.080]  Oh, take it.
[19:46.120 --> 19:46.880]  Appreciate that.
[19:47.000 --> 19:49.000]  And I really appreciate everybody sticking out here.
[19:49.640 --> 19:53.440]  Um, it was, we're up figuring this out, so I appreciate your patience.
[19:53.720 --> 19:55.180]  No, no, you guys are awesome.
[19:55.500 --> 19:58.200]  Um, yeah, we were raised as a Tesla.
[19:58.380 --> 20:01.260]  My dad was a Tesla, actually, out in Rocky Point.
[20:01.680 --> 20:06.300]  And, you know, if you mentioned Edison, you didn't eat dinner that night, okay?
[20:06.500 --> 20:07.220]  You just said that.
[20:07.980 --> 20:09.860]  But, but also, it's very interesting.
[20:10.020 --> 20:17.420]  If you follow Tesla for years, I wrote this piece about his Hotel New Yorker room, 3-3-2-7, which I tried to get last night.
[20:17.660 --> 20:19.120]  Oh, you got there?
[20:19.360 --> 20:20.260]  I didn't get it.
[20:20.360 --> 20:20.460]  Oh!
[20:20.540 --> 20:22.400]  She said someone already took it.
[20:22.820 --> 20:25.080]  I did a piece for a magazine a while back.
[20:25.200 --> 20:33.620]  It's a very small room, you know, and they talk about, we spoke to a lot of people that were very open to us, and they said, you know, the day he died, this is not a conspiracy.
[20:33.620 --> 20:37.080]  He said the FBI was there, and they emptied out the room.
[20:37.640 --> 20:40.740]  So, somewhere in the archives, there's Tesla archives.
[20:40.740 --> 20:50.460]  The other thing is, I find fascinating, is Vivekananda is like the Hindu saint that introduced Hinduism to the U.S.
[20:51.020 --> 20:54.180]  Tesla went to every single one of his lectures in New York City.
[20:54.620 --> 20:57.780]  This is photos of Vivekananda in the back.
[21:00.700 --> 21:03.460]  I was always interested in that connection there.
[21:03.700 --> 21:05.740]  So, this is a Tesla reminisce.
[21:06.100 --> 21:07.400]  Oh, dig it, dig it.
[21:07.440 --> 21:08.260]  I appreciate that.
[21:08.700 --> 21:10.820]  I'll touch on the first one, the New Yorker Hotel.
[21:11.340 --> 21:14.640]  Yeah, man, you could actually request the Nikola Tesla suite.
[21:15.320 --> 21:20.220]  33-27 and 33-28 were the two rooms that he had.
[21:20.220 --> 21:22.340]  33-27 was his living quarters.
[21:22.600 --> 21:30.180]  33-28 was his study, where he had his safe, and all of his papers, and all his documents, and Tesla passed away.
[21:30.720 --> 21:35.640]  And a few days later, when they discovered him, who was the first ones there?
[21:35.760 --> 21:36.500]  It was the government.
[21:37.620 --> 21:40.080]  They took all of his paperwork.
[21:40.080 --> 21:53.040]  And it's funny, if you read the redacted FBI report, or whatever agency it was at the time, do you recall who or what family member had done the investigation?
[21:55.140 --> 21:56.280]  Do you want to say it?
[21:56.840 --> 21:58.840]  I think it was Donald Trump's uncle, right?
[21:58.920 --> 22:09.700]  Donald Trump's uncle is the one that did the technical analysis for all of the paperwork that they took from the building, or from his safe, which is just wild.
[22:09.960 --> 22:12.240]  You can definitely go off weird conspiracy theories there.
[22:12.440 --> 22:19.600]  But Trump's uncle was a very prolific scientist at the time, but just a weird connection for it.
[22:19.940 --> 22:20.900]  And it's neat.
[22:20.980 --> 22:22.580]  You read the redacted reports.
[22:23.760 --> 22:28.920]  One of the agents explicitly says, listen, we have no claim to any of this paperwork.
[22:28.920 --> 22:32.240]  If any of his relatives come, we must submit this.
[22:32.700 --> 22:37.420]  They took his paper under the Alien Immigration Act, some jazz like that.
[22:37.420 --> 22:39.260]  Tesla was a naturalized U.S.
[22:39.640 --> 22:39.640]  citizen.
[22:40.020 --> 22:42.160]  They never had any rights to take any of that paperwork.
[22:42.920 --> 22:47.260]  Lord knows what was, you know, taken and gleaned and not given back from it.
[22:48.860 --> 22:50.680]  Definitely strange that they came in.
[22:50.840 --> 22:53.560]  They had their eyes on Tesla for some time.
[22:53.700 --> 22:59.100]  It was for a lot of the larger statements that he said, you know, death rays and stuff like that.
[22:59.200 --> 23:01.180]  So the government was definitely keeping an eye on him.
[23:03.400 --> 23:09.640]  How does the organization feel about the co-opting of the name of Tesla over the past number of years?
[23:10.560 --> 23:12.160]  It's been pretty interesting.
[23:12.360 --> 23:14.400]  We've been trying to keep open a good...
[23:14.400 --> 23:18.320]  I love that question, actually, because it parlays into, so...
[23:19.020 --> 23:23.500]  First fundraising campaign we had, the Operation Let's Build a Goddamn Tesla Museum.
[23:24.160 --> 23:26.460]  I donated more money than Elon Musk.
[23:27.400 --> 23:28.780]  I'm not a rich man.
[23:29.020 --> 23:30.940]  My company is not named Tesla.
[23:31.300 --> 23:33.720]  It's not attached to Nikola Tesla in any way.
[23:33.900 --> 23:35.380]  So it's like, dude, come on.
[23:35.580 --> 23:37.120]  It's like, you named your company after him.
[23:37.280 --> 23:37.820]  Help us out.
[23:37.920 --> 23:38.920]  Pony up some more money.
[23:39.540 --> 23:47.160]  He did actually come through years later with a million dollar donation and a pledge to install some supercharging stations at the site once we were up.
[23:47.160 --> 23:50.000]  So his foundation has been pretty cool with us.
[23:50.160 --> 23:55.380]  And we've had such an amazing outpouring from the Tesla car owners.
[23:56.220 --> 23:58.120]  Oh, fantastic.
[23:58.640 --> 24:00.780]  Tesla car owners of New York.
[24:01.040 --> 24:02.020]  I don't know if... I forget.
[24:02.160 --> 24:12.000]  I'm sorry if I forget the organization's name, but any events they have come out in force with their Teslas just to set up and some awesome photo ops in front of the lab building.
[24:13.180 --> 24:19.180]  One of the shirts that we had for some time was a picture of the lab building with the Tesla logo underneath it.
[24:19.360 --> 24:23.380]  So we're trying to keep a good open relation with it.
[24:23.500 --> 24:32.460]  And, you know, the Tesla car has done so much for Tesla's name, you know, as much as it has co-opted it, because there are still some people who are like, oh, that's the car guy.
[24:32.460 --> 24:33.520]  He made the car.
[24:33.800 --> 24:34.160]  No.
[24:35.020 --> 24:38.140]  They stole his name based on an electric engine.
[24:38.560 --> 24:39.580]  He was the car.
[24:41.640 --> 24:43.260]  So we're pretty decent about it.
[24:43.480 --> 24:44.140]  It's not too bad.
[24:44.240 --> 24:55.880]  And I hope, you know, Musk continues to help us as we go on, because obviously we're going to need a number of donations to try and actualize our full dream and goal of...
[24:55.880 --> 25:00.620]  It's a 16-acre campus, you know, that's been left derelict for 20 plus years.
[25:00.940 --> 25:02.280]  It's a super fun site.
[25:02.520 --> 25:06.060]  There are parts of the property we can't even build on and do anything.
[25:06.480 --> 25:09.700]  So it's an uphill battle isn't even the word for it.
[25:09.860 --> 25:13.240]  It's been a challenge at every... but a very worthwhile one, you know.
[25:15.620 --> 25:20.440]  Does the Tesla organization sell any of like the theremins or coils that you have on the table?
[25:20.560 --> 25:23.560]  Because I was going to buy one on like Walmart, but I could just buy it from you guys.
[25:24.080 --> 25:32.540]  So we do have a shop where we have some stuff and they were trying to get in some of the like the electrical devices that we demo and whatnot.
[25:32.760 --> 25:33.820]  So we might have some there.
[25:33.940 --> 25:40.000]  But if you check our website out, teslasciencecenter.org, we have a web shop and stuff like that.
[25:40.060 --> 25:44.560]  So that's been a great way of us, you know, getting some fun on as well.
[25:48.640 --> 25:53.780]  Hey, you guys had mentioned the big fire that had occurred, you know, on the site.
[25:54.160 --> 25:57.920]  And some of the audience members may have heard about it.
[25:57.920 --> 26:04.160]  This, uh, they mentioned it on the Off The Hook and Off The Wall podcast that are, you know, from 2600.
[26:04.600 --> 26:12.560]  Um, do you guys have any update or any information on, because there's also the, um, big fundraising that was done for that.
[26:12.820 --> 26:16.400]  Any update on the, um, rebuilding effort?
[26:17.560 --> 26:27.980]  We are mired in litigation and just jurance nonsense and, oh, were there any dragons in the area at the time that might've been breathing fire, right?
[26:28.100 --> 26:32.140]  Like all these stupid scenarios where it's just like, come on.
[26:32.780 --> 26:39.860]  Um, I don't know how much I'm at liberty to kind of say, but there was work being done on the property at the time.
[26:40.440 --> 26:44.820]  Sparked to the fire and then just spread out of control.
[26:44.820 --> 26:54.940]  The response from the fire department was they, they had such a command center set up on the property that, um, um, it was a sight to behold.
[26:54.940 --> 27:02.260]  You know, they were attacking this building with water, trying to save it, you know, and their efforts at least kept the structure up.
[27:02.440 --> 27:05.520]  We were very close to the, to losing the building entirely.
[27:05.780 --> 27:07.300]  It's still pretty, pretty precarious.
[27:07.300 --> 27:14.280]  Um, we had a fundraising campaign right after and, um, failed miserably.
[27:15.180 --> 27:22.560]  I think it was just too much of a quick knee-jerk reaction from us, you know, to put something out there without it being really structured right.
[27:22.760 --> 27:24.080]  So it, it failed pretty bad.
[27:24.080 --> 27:38.560]  So we're, we're holding off just to get everything lined up properly, you know, get more information out there, let everybody know, hey, we're still here, we're still on the ground, we're still fighting this, the same goals that we have of, you know, these were all our desires for in-person and still trying to do virtual events.
[27:40.920 --> 27:47.860]  But in the coming, you know, months, I would assume definitely more fundraising campaigns and opportunities to try and help out.
[27:48.020 --> 27:57.880]  And I've been saying this for the past, several HOPEs, since HOPEs every two years, uh, next year, the visitor center is going to be open.
[27:58.840 --> 28:00.680]  Now, you don't have to clap because I've been saying it.
[28:00.740 --> 28:07.520]  I try to tell myself I won't say it this year, but they promise me that one of the buildings are going to be open, at least within the year.
[28:08.220 --> 28:12.320]  Once we have that open, I think that's going to open up the floodgates.
[28:12.680 --> 28:15.060]  You know, it's the, the whole, if you build it, they will come.
[28:15.160 --> 28:33.680]  If we can be open on a regular schedule and have regular opportunities for groups or tours or collaborations with other organizations, whether radio, whether sky's the limits, whatever it is, anything community, we're really open to what makes the most sense with our space and helping out in the...
[28:33.680 --> 28:36.840]  I just wanted to add something about the, the fire.
[28:37.200 --> 28:40.880]  Uh, on Long Island, most of the fire departments are volunteers.
[28:41.560 --> 28:51.040]  And, uh, since it's a community-based organization, the firefighters took that extra step to make sure that there was the least amount of damage done possible.
[28:51.420 --> 28:54.560]  The fire occurred, was it Thanksgiving Eve, I believe?
[28:54.560 --> 28:56.360]  It was November, I'm trying to bring it up.
[28:56.360 --> 28:57.680]  I think it was the Wednesday before Thanksgiving.
[28:57.680 --> 28:59.860]  So it was just like a really special time.
[29:00.060 --> 29:11.120]  And the firefighters, instead of like taking a step back, they, they worked well over 15, 16 hours, uh, making sure that it was as wet as possible and it caused the least amount of damage.
[29:11.760 --> 29:13.200]  So that, that was great.
[29:13.320 --> 29:19.720]  It was, and it showed the, how much the community loves, uh, the history that's behind the, the center itself.
[29:20.900 --> 29:21.940]  Big time, big time.
[29:22.140 --> 29:34.520]  It, you know, that's always, always one of our giant fears, of course, being such an old, dilapidated building, you know, was any kind of fires from our thought, would it, it would always be from vandalism or something like that.
[29:34.800 --> 29:37.140]  Kids and people have been having a pretty good time in there.
[29:37.340 --> 29:38.620]  You know, you kind of can't blame them.
[29:38.720 --> 29:44.500]  It is a pretty awesome spot, nestled away from the road and so quiet and everything like that.
[29:44.620 --> 29:52.220]  So that was always our fear to think it came from potentially works that we were doing to, you know, save the property.
[29:56.680 --> 29:57.900]  But, but we're trying.
[29:58.120 --> 29:58.960]  We're going to do our best.
[30:00.340 --> 30:01.240]  Any other questions?
[30:09.530 --> 30:14.970]  No, I just, you know, and we also like to thank, uh, Emmanuel and, and the staff from 2600.
[30:15.350 --> 30:19.730]  Uh, the magazine's pretty much based down the block for almost neighbors of, of Emmanuel.
[30:20.010 --> 30:22.770]  So, uh, he helps support us as much as he can.
[30:23.010 --> 30:29.210]  And, uh, like Denise had mentioned, there was, uh, reports of the fire on, uh, Off The Hook and, and Off The Wall as well.
[30:29.390 --> 30:34.270]  So it's, uh, you know, we, we feel like we're part of this community and we appreciate all the support.
[30:34.390 --> 30:38.170]  And every time we spoke here at, at the conference, we always had a great turnout.
[30:38.410 --> 30:41.410]  And unfortunately today, our main speaker had to back out.
[30:41.630 --> 30:48.490]  So we kind of, uh, we left holding the bag and we appreciate everyone sticking around and, and hanging out with us and getting an update.
[30:48.810 --> 30:52.610]  So now without a doubt, like I said, the community is great.
[30:52.830 --> 30:57.790]  Um, rough weekend expo, everything, it's just, just life in general for everybody.
[30:57.910 --> 30:58.970]  It's, it's rough.
[30:59.110 --> 31:03.510]  It feels like we're riding crazy waves in life, you know?
[31:03.610 --> 31:08.670]  And what do you do either hold onto the board and try and ride it or which, you know what I mean?
[31:08.870 --> 31:12.510]  And negative, but life is just really kind of weird and hairy.
[31:12.890 --> 31:20.470]  But to be able to come here as I'm walking around, trying to find my way, because I parked in the original entrance when we were at the other building last year.
[31:20.570 --> 31:21.450]  I'm like, where the heck is it?
[31:21.530 --> 31:22.650]  I know Merrimack's around the corner.
[31:23.210 --> 31:26.590]  And again, when I saw hope, there's a sign of hope.
[31:27.750 --> 31:28.790]  There's a sign of hope.
[31:28.890 --> 31:29.530]  Holy cow.
[31:29.690 --> 31:30.670]  I'm like, yeah, that's kind of cool.
[31:30.850 --> 31:32.190]  I'm like, that's a sign of hope.
[31:32.190 --> 31:40.130]  And it was, is because every time I come here, you know, emboldened by the community, all the cool stuff going on.
[31:40.290 --> 31:43.470]  It excites me, motivates me to try and do more.
[31:43.610 --> 31:46.830]  And I appreciate everybody's patience here.
[31:46.990 --> 31:50.370]  You know, I, I do not like not being prepared.
[31:50.670 --> 31:51.930]  You guys had me at the table.
[31:52.070 --> 31:53.630]  I could talk to you for hours and hours and hours.
[31:53.890 --> 31:55.310]  Oh, shut up.
[31:55.790 --> 31:57.170]  Just get a little stage right.
[31:57.430 --> 31:58.750]  So I appreciate everybody's patience.
[31:59.030 --> 32:03.070]  And if there's no other questions, we're going to wrap up just a little bit early.
[32:03.070 --> 32:05.790]  You know, let's get out here and enjoy the rest of the conference.
[32:07.450 --> 32:15.330]  I'm thinking of a number between one and four thousand.
[32:17.130 --> 32:21.630]  What number is the first one that it would be relevant?
[32:24.030 --> 32:24.850]  Oh, say it.
[32:26.570 --> 32:29.570]  No, try the other number you said before.
[32:32.070 --> 32:33.690]  Oh, what number did you say before?
[32:37.510 --> 32:39.810]  Well, it was the room number, the three, three, two, seven.
[32:41.330 --> 32:44.230]  Yes, you win swordfish because I don't want to bring it home.
[32:45.250 --> 33:00.810]  And honestly, if you can try and play it, I'd love you to try and play it because I'm curious with all of my equipment, if it survived the trip here and the trip on my table, blasting it with a Van de Graaff, a Tesla coil, as much as I could blast this public with, this old magnetic media.
[33:02.410 --> 33:03.850]  I'm just scared to hold it.
[33:03.950 --> 33:07.270]  I had it next to my phone, so this might be blank, but congratulations.
[33:07.270 --> 33:09.030]  You just won swordfish.
[33:13.510 --> 33:21.870]  But again, definitely really thank everybody for their time, their patience, and hack the planet, man, and just try and make this world a better place.
[33:22.090 --> 33:29.070]  And HOPE next year we have something a little more informative for you, a little more information on what we've got going on.
[33:29.230 --> 33:31.010]  It's really been baby step.
[33:31.530 --> 33:34.930]  I've been involved with the organization as long as I possibly could.
[33:34.930 --> 33:41.030]  When they first opened up the call for volunteers in 2012, I was the first one at the... I'm late to everything.
[33:41.570 --> 33:42.650]  I'll be late to my own.
[33:43.470 --> 33:46.550]  But for Tesla, my guy.
[33:47.630 --> 33:49.430]  So do right by him.
[33:49.590 --> 33:59.670]  And it's disheartening how long it's been taking, you know, being involved over a decade and seeing minimal progress, but seeing more and more enthusiasm.
[34:00.130 --> 34:01.730]  Whenever I see you folks at...
[34:02.490 --> 34:04.550]  People are just still so excited about it.
[34:04.550 --> 34:05.450]  I'm always so nervous.
[34:06.430 --> 34:07.430]  I mean, it's Tesla.
[34:08.070 --> 34:09.230]  Nothing's changed about him.
[34:09.350 --> 34:10.870]  It's the same thing, you know what I mean?
[34:10.950 --> 34:14.050]  But everybody's still been so... what he's done.
[34:14.250 --> 34:17.330]  And our organization, of course, just orders.
[34:18.070 --> 34:19.470]  Thank you from the bottom of my heart.
[34:22.130 --> 34:22.770]  Thank you.
[34:22.770 --> 34:22.790]  Thank you.