NAH Everybody here has a sense of humor I would post a picture that somebody sent me but… Sent from: My extremely complicated, hand held electronic device.
On Apr 20, 2026, at 10:43 AM, Bill Degnan via vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic@lists.vcfed.org> wrote:
Too early?
text presser was released, i suppose its not .. ha-ha WALL TOWNSHIP, NJ — On Sunday, April 19, 2026, at approximately 2:13 PM, the Wall Township Police Department’s 911 Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP) received a call from an unknown individual reporting a critical incident at the Info Age Science and History Museum located on Marconi Road. At the time of the call, the museum was hosting a three-day Information Technology Conference with approximately 500 attendees present. Upon arrival, officers established a perimeter and safely evacuated all attendees. Following a systematic search of all structures by members of the Wall Township Police Department and explosive detection K9 teams from Wall, Manasquan, Brick, Marlboro, and Monmouth County Sheriff’s Office, it was determined that the initial report was a swatting incident. A swatting incident is the malicious tactic of making hoax calls or reports to emergency services, typically feigning an immediate threat to life. Swatting is intended to draw a large response from SWAT teams or other law enforcement resources to an unsuspecting victim’s location, causing chaos and the potential for injury or violence. The Wall Township Police Department Detective Bureau is actively investigating this incident and anyone with information is asked to contact Detective John Spinapont #198 at 732-449-4500 x1198 or by email at jspinapont@wallpolice.org. On 4/20/2026 10:42 AM, Bill Degnan via vcf-midatlantic wrote:
Too early?
I really don't get it. Who would swat us? Also, who would swat us 15 minutes after the event ENDED? It's just weird. On Mon, Apr 20, 2026 at 10:50 AM Brian L via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic@lists.vcfed.org> wrote:
text presser was released, i suppose its not .. ha-ha
WALL TOWNSHIP, NJ — On Sunday, April 19, 2026, at approximately 2:13 PM, the Wall Township Police Department’s 911 Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP) received a call from an unknown individual reporting a critical incident at the Info Age Science and History Museum located on Marconi Road. At the time of the call, the museum was hosting a three-day Information Technology Conference with approximately 500 attendees present.
Upon arrival, officers established a perimeter and safely evacuated all attendees. Following a systematic search of all structures by members of the Wall Township Police Department and explosive detection K9 teams from Wall, Manasquan, Brick, Marlboro, and Monmouth County Sheriff’s Office, it was determined that the initial report was a swatting incident.
A swatting incident is the malicious tactic of making hoax calls or reports to emergency services, typically feigning an immediate threat to life. Swatting is intended to draw a large response from SWAT teams or other law enforcement resources to an unsuspecting victim’s location, causing chaos and the potential for injury or violence.
The Wall Township Police Department Detective Bureau is actively investigating this incident and anyone with information is asked to contact Detective John Spinapont #198 at 732-449-4500 x1198 or by email at jspinapont@wallpolice.org.
On 4/20/2026 10:42 AM, Bill Degnan via vcf-midatlantic wrote:
Too early?
It has been my experience that: 1. Time zones are hard to keep track of. 2. There's no fixing stupid when it comes to real crimes and malice. I'd guess it was someone not in this timezone who's stupid cup overflowed that day. Glad it was a hoax and everyone is safe. Frustrated that the event was targeted, and critical resources were needlessly deployed. On 4/20/26 10:54, Dave Shevett via vcf-midatlantic wrote:
I really don't get it. Who would swat us? Also, who would swat us 15 minutes after the event ENDED? It's just weird.
On Mon, Apr 20, 2026 at 10:50 AM Brian L via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic@lists.vcfed.org> wrote:
text presser was released, i suppose its not .. ha-ha
WALL TOWNSHIP, NJ — On Sunday, April 19, 2026, at approximately 2:13 PM, the Wall Township Police Department’s 911 Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP) received a call from an unknown individual reporting a critical incident at the Info Age Science and History Museum located on Marconi Road. At the time of the call, the museum was hosting a three-day Information Technology Conference with approximately 500 attendees present.
Upon arrival, officers established a perimeter and safely evacuated all attendees. Following a systematic search of all structures by members of the Wall Township Police Department and explosive detection K9 teams from Wall, Manasquan, Brick, Marlboro, and Monmouth County Sheriff’s Office, it was determined that the initial report was a swatting incident.
A swatting incident is the malicious tactic of making hoax calls or reports to emergency services, typically feigning an immediate threat to life. Swatting is intended to draw a large response from SWAT teams or other law enforcement resources to an unsuspecting victim’s location, causing chaos and the potential for injury or violence.
The Wall Township Police Department Detective Bureau is actively investigating this incident and anyone with information is asked to contact Detective John Spinapont #198 at 732-449-4500 x1198 or by email at jspinapont@wallpolice.org.
On 4/20/2026 10:42 AM, Bill Degnan via vcf-midatlantic wrote:
Too early?
That whole thing was a real wrench in the gears trying to packed up and head home. I imagine that the facility's plumbing got a real workout once they let us all back in again. However, I did find a few silver linings:1: By the time we finally got to resume pack-out, we were no longer at risk of getting our stuff rained on. The weather system had passed on, warmed up, if only a smidge. 2: Most years, after the exhibits formally close, there are usually stragglers from the regular attendees, bewildered, wandering around aimlessly as we start breaking down, getting under foot and standing right where you need to move that heavy cart. Since they all got ushered away by the cops, load-out went a bit faster, in my experience. 3: It gave alot of us 2 hours to sit down in our cars and rest while we waited it out. If you had been on your feet all day, I'm sure it helped alleviate some aches and pains before hauling stuff out to cars. All told, that has to be one of the most bizarre things I've ever experienced at a VCF. On Monday, April 20, 2026 at 11:11:48 AM EDT, Russell Handorf via vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic@lists.vcfed.org> wrote: It has been my experience that: 1. Time zones are hard to keep track of. 2. There's no fixing stupid when it comes to real crimes and malice. I'd guess it was someone not in this timezone who's stupid cup overflowed that day. Glad it was a hoax and everyone is safe. Frustrated that the event was targeted, and critical resources were needlessly deployed. On 4/20/26 10:54, Dave Shevett via vcf-midatlantic wrote:
I really don't get it. Who would swat us? Also, who would swat us 15 minutes after the event ENDED? It's just weird.
On Mon, Apr 20, 2026 at 10:50 AM Brian L via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic@lists.vcfed.org> wrote:
text presser was released, i suppose its not .. ha-ha
WALL TOWNSHIP, NJ — On Sunday, April 19, 2026, at approximately 2:13 PM, the Wall Township Police Department’s 911 Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP) received a call from an unknown individual reporting a critical incident at the Info Age Science and History Museum located on Marconi Road. At the time of the call, the museum was hosting a three-day Information Technology Conference with approximately 500 attendees present.
Upon arrival, officers established a perimeter and safely evacuated all attendees. Following a systematic search of all structures by members of the Wall Township Police Department and explosive detection K9 teams from Wall, Manasquan, Brick, Marlboro, and Monmouth County Sheriff’s Office, it was determined that the initial report was a swatting incident.
A swatting incident is the malicious tactic of making hoax calls or reports to emergency services, typically feigning an immediate threat to life. Swatting is intended to draw a large response from SWAT teams or other law enforcement resources to an unsuspecting victim’s location, causing chaos and the potential for injury or violence.
The Wall Township Police Department Detective Bureau is actively investigating this incident and anyone with information is asked to contact Detective John Spinapont #198 at 732-449-4500 x1198 or by email at jspinapont@wallpolice.org.
On 4/20/2026 10:42 AM, Bill Degnan via vcf-midatlantic wrote:
Too early?
Good words, Z. I think the one I like most is "smidge"! On Mon, Apr 20, 2026 at 12:40 PM Alexander Pierson via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic@lists.vcfed.org> wrote:
That whole thing was a real wrench in the gears trying to packed up and head home. I imagine that the facility's plumbing got a real workout once they let us all back in again. However, I did find a few silver linings:1: By the time we finally got to resume pack-out, we were no longer at risk of getting our stuff rained on. The weather system had passed on, warmed up, if only a smidge. 2: Most years, after the exhibits formally close, there are usually stragglers from the regular attendees, bewildered, wandering around aimlessly as we start breaking down, getting under foot and standing right where you need to move that heavy cart. Since they all got ushered away by the cops, load-out went a bit faster, in my experience. 3: It gave alot of us 2 hours to sit down in our cars and rest while we waited it out. If you had been on your feet all day, I'm sure it helped alleviate some aches and pains before hauling stuff out to cars. All told, that has to be one of the most bizarre things I've ever experienced at a VCF.
On Monday, April 20, 2026 at 11:11:48 AM EDT, Russell Handorf via vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic@lists.vcfed.org> wrote:
It has been my experience that: 1. Time zones are hard to keep track of. 2. There's no fixing stupid when it comes to real crimes and malice.
I'd guess it was someone not in this timezone who's stupid cup overflowed that day.
Glad it was a hoax and everyone is safe. Frustrated that the event was targeted, and critical resources were needlessly deployed.
On 4/20/26 10:54, Dave Shevett via vcf-midatlantic wrote:
I really don't get it. Who would swat us? Also, who would swat us 15 minutes after the event ENDED? It's just weird.
On Mon, Apr 20, 2026 at 10:50 AM Brian L via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic@lists.vcfed.org> wrote:
text presser was released, i suppose its not .. ha-ha
WALL TOWNSHIP, NJ — On Sunday, April 19, 2026, at approximately 2:13 PM, the Wall Township Police Department’s 911 Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP) received a call from an unknown individual reporting a critical incident at the Info Age Science and History Museum located on Marconi Road. At the time of the call, the museum was hosting a three-day Information Technology Conference with approximately 500 attendees present.
Upon arrival, officers established a perimeter and safely evacuated all attendees. Following a systematic search of all structures by members of the Wall Township Police Department and explosive detection K9 teams from Wall, Manasquan, Brick, Marlboro, and Monmouth County Sheriff’s Office, it was determined that the initial report was a swatting incident.
A swatting incident is the malicious tactic of making hoax calls or reports to emergency services, typically feigning an immediate threat to life. Swatting is intended to draw a large response from SWAT teams or other law enforcement resources to an unsuspecting victim’s location, causing chaos and the potential for injury or violence.
The Wall Township Police Department Detective Bureau is actively investigating this incident and anyone with information is asked to contact Detective John Spinapont #198 at 732-449-4500 x1198 or by email at jspinapont@wallpolice.org.
On 4/20/2026 10:42 AM, Bill Degnan via vcf-midatlantic wrote:
Too early?
Thank you for that perspective. Compared to what could have been had there been an active threat, I think we're all grateful that it turned out not to be. I really feel bad for Lee. He came to the event, sat in the lobby for three days and didn't get to give his talk. I do hope he had enough good conversations and sold enough books to make the trip worthwhile, nevertheless. My sympathies go out to anyone who's travel plans were messed up by it: those who still had long drives after getting away later than expected and especially anyone who missed a flight or had trouble getting to work on time today. For me personally, it was little more than an inconvenience. I had expected to be napping in my recliner by the time I got away, but I did get a story out of it, so all in all, not the worst tradeoff of my life. And I learned an extremely important life lesson that you'd think after wandering this Earth for nearly 1000000 years (in binary), I wouldn't have to be told: "Grab your jacket on the way out when being evacuated!" BLS On Mon, Apr 20, 2026 at 04:37:29PM +0000, Alexander Pierson via vcf-midatlantic wrote:
That whole thing was a real wrench in the gears trying to packed up and head home.? I imagine that the facility's plumbing got a real workout once they let us all back in again.? However, I did find a few silver linings:1: By the time we finally got to resume pack-out, we were no longer at risk of getting our stuff rained on.? The weather system had passed on, warmed up, if only a smidge. 2: Most years, after the exhibits formally close, there are usually stragglers from the regular attendees, bewildered, wandering around aimlessly as we start breaking down, getting under foot and standing right where you need to move that heavy cart.? Since they all got ushered away by the cops, load-out went a bit faster, in my experience. 3: It gave alot of us 2 hours to sit down in our cars and rest while we waited it out.? If you had been on your feet all day, I'm sure it helped alleviate some aches and pains before hauling stuff out to cars. All told, that has to be one of the most bizarre things I've ever experienced at a VCF.?
On Monday, April 20, 2026 at 11:11:48 AM EDT, Russell Handorf via vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic@lists.vcfed.org> wrote:
It has been my experience that: 1. Time zones are hard to keep track of. 2. There's no fixing stupid when it comes to real crimes and malice.
I'd guess it was someone not in this timezone who's stupid cup overflowed that day.
Glad it was a hoax and everyone is safe. Frustrated that the event was targeted, and critical resources were needlessly deployed.
On 4/20/26 10:54, Dave Shevett via vcf-midatlantic wrote:
I really don't get it.? Who would swat us?? Also, who would swat us 15 minutes after the event ENDED?? It's just weird.
On Mon, Apr 20, 2026 at 10:50?AM Brian L via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic@lists.vcfed.org> wrote:
text presser was released, i suppose its not .. ha-ha
WALL TOWNSHIP, NJ ? On Sunday, April 19, 2026, at approximately 2:13 PM, the Wall Township Police Department?s 911 Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP) received a call from an unknown individual reporting a critical incident at the Info Age Science and History Museum located on Marconi Road. At the time of the call, the museum was hosting a three-day Information Technology Conference with approximately 500 attendees present.
Upon arrival, officers established a perimeter and safely evacuated all attendees. Following a systematic search of all structures by members of the Wall Township Police Department and explosive detection K9 teams from Wall, Manasquan, Brick, Marlboro, and Monmouth County Sheriff?s Office, it was determined that the initial report was a swatting incident.
A swatting incident is the malicious tactic of making hoax calls or reports to emergency services, typically feigning an immediate threat to life. Swatting is intended to draw a large response from SWAT teams or other law enforcement resources to an unsuspecting victim?s location, causing chaos and the potential for injury or violence.
The Wall Township Police Department Detective Bureau is actively investigating this incident and anyone with information is asked to contact Detective John Spinapont #198 at 732-449-4500 x1198 or by email at jspinapont@wallpolice.org.
On 4/20/2026 10:42 AM, Bill Degnan via vcf-midatlantic wrote:
Too early?
Evidently, I just missed the drama. I drove out of the gate about 2:05pm local time. I would have indeed been upset waiting for two hours to get on the road. I’m still enroute back to Iowa after driving 11 hours yesterday. I feel for those affected. -- RETRO Innovations, Contemporary Gear for Classic Systems www.go4retro.com store.go4retro.com
----- Original message ----- From: Dave Shevett via vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic@lists.vcfed.org> To: vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic@lists.vcfed.org> Subject: [vcf-midatlantic] Re: VCF East was "the bomb" Date: Monday, April 20, 2026 10:54 I really don't get it. Who would swat us? Also, who would swat us 15 minutes after the event ENDED? It's just weird. ---------------------- Well, there was still Lee's talk to go. I was looking forward to it. Shame it got cancelled, but glad everyone's safe.
Not "after", one talk was interrupted and one was cancelled. On Mon, Apr 20, 2026 at 11:11 AM Dave Shevett via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic@lists.vcfed.org> wrote:
I really don't get it. Who would swat us? Also, who would swat us 15 minutes after the event ENDED? It's just weird.
On Mon, Apr 20, 2026 at 10:50 AM Brian L via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic@lists.vcfed.org> wrote:
text presser was released, i suppose its not .. ha-ha
WALL TOWNSHIP, NJ — On Sunday, April 19, 2026, at approximately 2:13 PM, the Wall Township Police Department’s 911 Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP) received a call from an unknown individual reporting a critical incident at the Info Age Science and History Museum located on Marconi Road. At the time of the call, the museum was hosting a three-day Information Technology Conference with approximately 500 attendees present.
Upon arrival, officers established a perimeter and safely evacuated all attendees. Following a systematic search of all structures by members of the Wall Township Police Department and explosive detection K9 teams from Wall, Manasquan, Brick, Marlboro, and Monmouth County Sheriff’s Office, it was determined that the initial report was a swatting incident.
A swatting incident is the malicious tactic of making hoax calls or reports to emergency services, typically feigning an immediate threat to life. Swatting is intended to draw a large response from SWAT teams or other law enforcement resources to an unsuspecting victim’s location, causing chaos and the potential for injury or violence.
The Wall Township Police Department Detective Bureau is actively investigating this incident and anyone with information is asked to contact Detective John Spinapont #198 at 732-449-4500 x1198 or by email at jspinapont@wallpolice.org.
On 4/20/2026 10:42 AM, Bill Degnan via vcf-midatlantic wrote:
Too early?
Thanks Chris, very cool Thanks, Andrew Mattera
On Apr 20, 2026, at 13:23, Chris Fala via vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic@lists.vcfed.org> wrote:
Not "after", one talk was interrupted and one was cancelled.
On Mon, Apr 20, 2026 at 11:11 AM Dave Shevett via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic@lists.vcfed.org> wrote:
I really don't get it. Who would swat us? Also, who would swat us 15 minutes after the event ENDED? It's just weird.
On Mon, Apr 20, 2026 at 10:50 AM Brian L via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic@lists.vcfed.org> wrote:
text presser was released, i suppose its not .. ha-ha
WALL TOWNSHIP, NJ — On Sunday, April 19, 2026, at approximately 2:13 PM, the Wall Township Police Department’s 911 Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP) received a call from an unknown individual reporting a critical incident at the Info Age Science and History Museum located on Marconi Road. At the time of the call, the museum was hosting a three-day Information Technology Conference with approximately 500 attendees present.
Upon arrival, officers established a perimeter and safely evacuated all attendees. Following a systematic search of all structures by members of the Wall Township Police Department and explosive detection K9 teams from Wall, Manasquan, Brick, Marlboro, and Monmouth County Sheriff’s Office, it was determined that the initial report was a swatting incident.
A swatting incident is the malicious tactic of making hoax calls or reports to emergency services, typically feigning an immediate threat to life. Swatting is intended to draw a large response from SWAT teams or other law enforcement resources to an unsuspecting victim’s location, causing chaos and the potential for injury or violence.
The Wall Township Police Department Detective Bureau is actively investigating this incident and anyone with information is asked to contact Detective John Spinapont #198 at 732-449-4500 x1198 or by email at jspinapont@wallpolice.org.
On 4/20/2026 10:42 AM, Bill Degnan via vcf-midatlantic wrote:
Too early?
On 4/20/26 10:42 AM, Bill Degnan via vcf-midatlantic wrote:
Too early?
Probably for Jeff, he had rough day. It is funny, I was therestanding in the rain with a white jacket and propeller beanie. Did think at one point I'd make a good target. ;-) -- Linux Home Automation Neil Cherry ncherry@linuxha.com http://www.linuxha.com/ Main site http://linuxha.blogspot.com/ My HA Blog Author of: Linux Smart Homes For Dummies KD2ZRQ
Yes I see E would send you back to the planet Uranus. 😄 Sent from: My extremely complicated, hand held electronic device.
On Apr 20, 2026, at 1:06 PM, Neil Cherry via vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic@lists.vcfed.org> wrote:
On 4/20/26 10:42 AM, Bill Degnan via vcf-midatlantic wrote:
Too early?
Probably for Jeff, he had rough day.
It is funny, I was therestanding in the rain with a white jacket and propeller beanie. Did think at one point I'd make a good target. ;-)
-- Linux Home Automation Neil Cherry ncherry@linuxha.com http://www.linuxha.com/ Main site http://linuxha.blogspot.com/ My HA Blog Author of: Linux Smart Homes For Dummies KD2ZRQ
This is what happens when we can no longer spank our children. -Dave On 4/20/26 13:22, Chris Fala via vcf-midatlantic wrote:
I am mostly pissed, people are F#&^%$ up.
On Mon, Apr 20, 2026 at 10:58 AM Bill Degnan via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic@lists.vcfed.org> wrote:
Too early?
-- Dave McGuire, AK4HZ New Kensington, PA
Sorry for not responding earlier. This is the first chance I had to send a response after a long day of breaking down Sunday (was there until midnight), a followup cleanup on Monday (9 hours) and getting back to work today. I only want to share some of the details to avoid speculation, rumors and to avoid impeding the police investigation. The facts: There was a phone call placed to Wall Township Police Department that had spoofed InfoAge's main phone number. The caller said that there was a bomb in a particular building and that he was going to shoot up the building. He had a particular accent. He seemed to be a former volunteer at a museum (not VCF), but that could be inaccurate. It could be a random person. Swatting seems to happen a lot lately. The police had mentioned recent frequent swatting incidents in the township. I had given them two possible suspects of disgruntled former volunteers, but it is highly unlikely that it is them. I gave them an additional suspect after listening to the conversation. The police used K-9s to search all the buildings to make sure everything was safe. It took a long time because there are many buildings and many areas to cover. The police continue to investigate. I'm grateful that everyone was safe. I'm disappointed that the last talk was interrupted and Lee couldn't talk. I'm proposing a follow-up to the YouTuber roundtable by streaming to VCF's YouTube Channel to allow questions. In addition I will have a follow up livestream of Lee Felsenstein where he can give his talk. There is no proposed time or date yet as everything needs to be settled and I need to finish cleanup and organization of the different areas. Lee *did* sell all of his books and really enjoyed the show. It was a good opportunity for him to meet others in vintage computer history that he had never met like Joysce Weisbecker, Bill Mensch, etc. A few of us volunteers supported him in getting picked up/dropped off the train, and safe during the bomb scare. I'm grateful that I could communicate real-time with most people through Whova and through the VCF Discord channel. I'm grateful that Rick Lewis could help me as I was answering a lot of questions from the police throughout the event. That's all for now. Feel free to ask questions. Jeff Brace On Mon, Apr 20, 2026 at 10:43 AM Bill Degnan via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic@lists.vcfed.org> wrote:
Too early?
When the bomb threat happened, Jeff and Corey sprung into action and managed things with skilled leadership, I am glad they were there to make the decisions, manage the police and all of the initial panic that happened while we were being asked to evacuate without a lot of explanation. My first thought was, how are they going to find a bomb in a sea of "looks like a bomb" vintage computing artifacts, boards, wires, half-finished things, etc? I also wondered if this was Lee's way of getting out of giving his talk, ha ha.... The exhibits were very well done, and I want to thank the OSI team for having me join with them for the 50th anniversary of the Ohio Scientific computer. It seems like the consignment program was a success. It may have been a little cumbersome for some, but I had no problems listing my two items. The show was a success because of how it was run, plus a great bunch of people...despite what happened at the end. Bill On Tue, Apr 21, 2026 at 11:54 AM Jeffrey Brace <jeffrey@vcfed.org> wrote:
Sorry for not responding earlier.
This is the first chance I had to send a response after a long day of breaking down Sunday (was there until midnight), a followup cleanup on Monday (9 hours) and getting back to work today.
I only want to share some of the details to avoid speculation, rumors and to avoid impeding the police investigation. The facts: There was a phone call placed to Wall Township Police Department that had spoofed InfoAge's main phone number. The caller said that there was a bomb in a particular building and that he was going to shoot up the building. He had a particular accent. He seemed to be a former volunteer at a museum (not VCF), but that could be inaccurate. It could be a random person. Swatting seems to happen a lot lately. The police had mentioned recent frequent swatting incidents in the township. I had given them two possible suspects of disgruntled former volunteers, but it is highly unlikely that it is them. I gave them an additional suspect after listening to the conversation. The police used K-9s to search all the buildings to make sure everything was safe. It took a long time because there are many buildings and many areas to cover.
The police continue to investigate.
I'm grateful that everyone was safe.
I'm disappointed that the last talk was interrupted and Lee couldn't talk.
I'm proposing a follow-up to the YouTuber roundtable by streaming to VCF's YouTube Channel to allow questions.
In addition I will have a follow up livestream of Lee Felsenstein where he can give his talk.
There is no proposed time or date yet as everything needs to be settled and I need to finish cleanup and organization of the different areas.
Lee *did* sell all of his books and really enjoyed the show. It was a good opportunity for him to meet others in vintage computer history that he had never met like Joysce Weisbecker, Bill Mensch, etc. A few of us volunteers supported him in getting picked up/dropped off the train, and safe during the bomb scare.
I'm grateful that I could communicate real-time with most people through Whova and through the VCF Discord channel. I'm grateful that Rick Lewis could help me as I was answering a lot of questions from the police throughout the event.
That's all for now. Feel free to ask questions.
Jeff Brace
On Mon, Apr 20, 2026 at 10:43 AM Bill Degnan via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic@lists.vcfed.org> wrote:
Too early?
I was going to remark, half the exhibits look like bombs to an untrained eye, not to mention the military vehicles museum who has two nukes on exhibit and the entirety of electronic warefare, a lot of bomb shaped objects mixed in with ACTUAL BOMBS. some small things to chuckle at in uncertain times Thanks, Andrew Mattera
On Apr 21, 2026, at 12:05, Bill Degnan via vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic@lists.vcfed.org> wrote:
When the bomb threat happened, Jeff and Corey sprung into action and managed things with skilled leadership, I am glad they were there to make the decisions, manage the police and all of the initial panic that happened while we were being asked to evacuate without a lot of explanation.
My first thought was, how are they going to find a bomb in a sea of "looks like a bomb" vintage computing artifacts, boards, wires, half-finished things, etc? I also wondered if this was Lee's way of getting out of giving his talk, ha ha....
The exhibits were very well done, and I want to thank the OSI team for having me join with them for the 50th anniversary of the Ohio Scientific computer.
It seems like the consignment program was a success. It may have been a little cumbersome for some, but I had no problems listing my two items.
The show was a success because of how it was run, plus a great bunch of people...despite what happened at the end.
Bill
On Tue, Apr 21, 2026 at 11:54 AM Jeffrey Brace <jeffrey@vcfed.org> wrote:
Sorry for not responding earlier.
This is the first chance I had to send a response after a long day of breaking down Sunday (was there until midnight), a followup cleanup on Monday (9 hours) and getting back to work today.
I only want to share some of the details to avoid speculation, rumors and to avoid impeding the police investigation. The facts: There was a phone call placed to Wall Township Police Department that had spoofed InfoAge's main phone number. The caller said that there was a bomb in a particular building and that he was going to shoot up the building. He had a particular accent. He seemed to be a former volunteer at a museum (not VCF), but that could be inaccurate. It could be a random person. Swatting seems to happen a lot lately. The police had mentioned recent frequent swatting incidents in the township. I had given them two possible suspects of disgruntled former volunteers, but it is highly unlikely that it is them. I gave them an additional suspect after listening to the conversation. The police used K-9s to search all the buildings to make sure everything was safe. It took a long time because there are many buildings and many areas to cover.
The police continue to investigate.
I'm grateful that everyone was safe.
I'm disappointed that the last talk was interrupted and Lee couldn't talk.
I'm proposing a follow-up to the YouTuber roundtable by streaming to VCF's YouTube Channel to allow questions.
In addition I will have a follow up livestream of Lee Felsenstein where he can give his talk.
There is no proposed time or date yet as everything needs to be settled and I need to finish cleanup and organization of the different areas.
Lee *did* sell all of his books and really enjoyed the show. It was a good opportunity for him to meet others in vintage computer history that he had never met like Joysce Weisbecker, Bill Mensch, etc. A few of us volunteers supported him in getting picked up/dropped off the train, and safe during the bomb scare.
I'm grateful that I could communicate real-time with most people through Whova and through the VCF Discord channel. I'm grateful that Rick Lewis could help me as I was answering a lot of questions from the police throughout the event.
That's all for now. Feel free to ask questions.
Jeff Brace
On Mon, Apr 20, 2026 at 10:43 AM Bill Degnan via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic@lists.vcfed.org> wrote:
Too early?
I was going to remark, half the exhibits look like bombs to an untrained eye, not to mention the military vehicles museum who has two nukes on exhibit and the entirety of electronic warefare, a lot of bomb shaped objects mixed in with ACTUAL BOMBS.
Kinda felt bad for the dogs that had to sniff our computers. I am sure they are used to macbook airs and lenovos. Or maybe to the dog it is a retro event too, smelling other dogs from the past. - Ethan
On Tue, Apr 21, 2026 at 12:04 PM Bill Degnan <billdegnan@gmail.com> wrote:
When the bomb threat happened, Jeff and Corey sprung into action and managed things with skilled leadership, I am glad they were there to make the decisions, manage the police and all of the initial panic that happened while we were being asked to evacuate without a lot of explanation.
Thanks. We managed with the sudden emergency situation.
My first thought was, how are they going to find a bomb in a sea of "looks like a bomb" vintage computing artifacts, boards, wires, half-finished things, etc? I also wondered if this was Lee's way of getting out of giving his talk, ha ha....
Yes. We wondered the same thing.
The exhibits were very well done, and I want to thank the OSI team for having me join with them for the 50th anniversary of the Ohio Scientific computer.
That was a great self organized group of OSI enthusiasts. I was glad that the group could enhance the celebration with an independent group effort.
It seems like the consignment program was a success. It may have been a little cumbersome for some, but I had no problems listing my two items.
Consignment had record sales. One volunteer took a video where people streamed in at 9AM on Saturday for 6 minutes straight. We had every available rack and table on campus.
The show was a success because of how it was run, plus a great bunch of people...despite what happened at the end.
Yes. It was a great success despite the trials and tribulations.
On 4/21/26 12:04 PM, Bill Degnan via vcf-midatlantic wrote:
My first thought was, how are they going to find a bomb in a sea of "looks like a bomb" vintage computing artifacts, boards, wires, half-finished
I was thinking the same thing, pack packs and devices with a lot of wires! Yikes
things, etc? I also wondered if this was Lee's way of getting out of giving his talk, ha ha....
Lol
The exhibits were very well done, and I want to thank the OSI team for having me join with them for the 50th anniversary of the Ohio Scientific computer.
!@#$%! Missed that one, hope folks got pictures and will share. I did get to roam between the Lab (w/Glitchworks) and the VCF Museum. Shared Apple I parts (reproduction) with a few other folks. I was soldering up one of Glitch's OSI 502 boards (I have a few of Jonathan's OSI boards). Oh and I got a chance to Bill Mensch over in the lab (Wow!). :-) -- Linux Home Automation Neil Cherry ncherry@linuxha.com http://www.linuxha.com/ Main site http://linuxha.blogspot.com/ My HA Blog Author of: Linux Smart Homes For Dummies KD2ZRQ
On Tue, Apr 21, 2026 at 1:15 PM Neil Cherry via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic@lists.vcfed.org> wrote:
!@#$%! Missed that one, hope folks got pictures and will share. I did get to roam between the Lab (w/Glitchworks) and the VCF Museum. Shared Apple I parts (reproduction) with a few other folks. I was soldering up one of Glitch's OSI 502 boards (I have a few of Jonathan's OSI boards).
I had a VCF volunteer take pictures and interview exhibitors. I don't have them yet, but will share when I get them. I usually take pictures of all of them, but had no time. It was a busy 3 days!
On 4/21/2026 11:04 AM, Bill Degnan via vcf-midatlantic wrote:
It seems like the consignment program was a success. It may have been a little cumbersome for some, but I had no problems listing my two items.
I was a fan of the consignment system as well. Hopefully, if there were issues, they are addressable, as I thought the format and location was really nice. Much better than the Room A setup from long ago, and the shed out back more recently. And, there were some nice items for offer. I might suggest a "PCs there, Apple stuff here, CBM stuff over yonder" to potentially help with traffic (I saw some folks bouncing from one area to another to compare the 2 Panasonic Senior Partners, for example,. and I did the same for the TIs available), but that may be too much to coordinate or detrimental to the spirit of the consignment. -- RETRO Innovations, Contemporary Gear for Classic Systems www.go4retro.com store.go4retro.com
Thank you! All of us working Consignment are happy to hear that. We go through months of weekends of volunteer committee meetings before the show to plan operations and discover the best way of presenting the space assigned to us for Consignment each year. Each year, we really do want to segment the space by category, and each year, we find it difficult to do so due to, as you said, being too much to coordinate. It would help if we knew how much of what category we will be expecting. Consignment vendors, as we refer to those who sell stuff via consignment, enter their own goods at their own time into the NexoPOS consignment system we provide. We know that people can easily decide last-minute before leaving for the show to grab more of their own stuff to sell, so we don't even think of setting an entry deadline for goods until the day of the event. Therefore, we will never have a true idea of what percentage of what categories to separate until the very last minute. What we do try to anticipate is how much stuff will actually arrive. This year, we concentrated on table layout, shelving availability (for vertical spacing), checkout routing, checkout availability (four fully working registers), and general movement and foot traffic, in order to provide the most table surface and shelving space. We believe we did better than last year on all of these aspects, even having to account for the use of the Consignment room as a thoroughfare between exhibit sections... and we STILL risked not having enough room for what was arriving. We do let the Consignment vendors place their own stuff when they arrive, so they at least have a general idea where that stuff may be when they pick up any unsold goods on Sunday. But we made everything fit somewhere, and most everything was easily accessible due to some creative rearranging of the goods by our staff to make room for more. From what we were able to determine, not much stuff had to be picked up after the event. A large part of the entire inventory was sold. The tables and shelves were mostly picked to the bone by COB Sunday at 2PM compared to the way things looked Saturday morning. We beat sales totals by about 50% over last year's sales. That made vendors happy, customers happy, and provided decent fundraising for VCF. On behalf of the VCF Consignment crew, we want to thank everyone who made use of the Consignment room this year. It was a madhouse, but for all the good reasons. We look forward to next year already, but if it gets even bigger than it was this year, we might rename the annual event to "VCF East Consignment (and vintage computer show)." :) Jeff Salzman On Tue, Apr 21, 2026 at 2:55 PM RETRO Innovations via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic@lists.vcfed.org> wrote:
On 4/21/2026 11:04 AM, Bill Degnan via vcf-midatlantic wrote:
It seems like the consignment program was a success. It may have been a little cumbersome for some, but I had no problems listing my two items.
I was a fan of the consignment system as well. Hopefully, if there were issues, they are addressable, as I thought the format and location was really nice. Much better than the Room A setup from long ago, and the shed out back more recently.
And, there were some nice items for offer.
I might suggest a "PCs there, Apple stuff here, CBM stuff over yonder" to potentially help with traffic (I saw some folks bouncing from one area to another to compare the 2 Panasonic Senior Partners, for example,. and I did the same for the TIs available), but that may be too much to coordinate or detrimental to the spirit of the consignment.
participants (17)
-
Alexander Pierson -
Andrew Mattera -
Bill Degnan -
Brian L -
Brian L. Stuart -
Chris Fala -
Dave McGuire -
Dave Shevett -
Ethan O'Toole -
go4retro＠go4retro.com -
Jeff Salzman -
Jeffrey Brace -
murph -
Neil Cherry -
RETRO Innovations
-
Russell Handorf -
Sentrytv