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The Great DECline

One of the few remaining vestiges of the once-mighty Digital Equipment Corporation is about to fall.

https://www.theregister.com/2022/06/30/intel_dec_massachusetts_demolished/

In 1986, Fortune magazine named DEC founder and CEO Ken Olsen as America’s most successful entrepreneur.

https://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/1986/10/27/68216/

It would have been laughable in 1986 to suggest that within five years Olsen would be forced out of the company he began in 1957, but that was exactly what happened. By 1996 the end of DEC, the former Massachusetts economic powerhouse, was in sight, after 40 years in business.

https://digital.com/digital-equipment-corporation/

In 1991 there was a recession that hit Massachusetts particularly hard. Every Massachusetts minicomputer company quickly declined, as the PC revolution took over. DEC, along with Data General, Prime, Wang, and Apollo all disappeared, but the Internet revolution came in just as quickly in 1995, and the economy turned around.

https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?arnumber=6777978

Operating a DEC PDP-11 minicomputer required women to wear a miniskirt. The user manual said so.

P.S. Allison Acoustics was another Massachusetts business that went under during the recession that began in ’91, when Roy Allison’s bank pulled his line of credit.

Better Get Mike

Clips from Better Call Saul that tell a small part of the very large story.

Pryce is a clueless nerd with access to controlled substances. He wants to make a fast buck as a supplier to a drug dealer.

Mike meets Nacho and the first deal is made. Mike offers words of wisdom to Pryce.

Pryce makes his fast bucks and spends them foolishly. Pryce ignores Mike’s advice and they part ways.

Nacho takes advantage of Pryce’s naivete to set him up for some serious trouble.

Spoiler: Later on, Mike becomes Nacho’s boss. It’s complicated.

Sounds Like

The New Yorker traveled to Disney-owned Skywalker Ranch to learn about the craft of Foley artists who create sound effects.

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2022/07/04/the-weird-analog-delights-of-foley-sound-effects

The New Yorker’s channel on YouTube doesn’t have an accompanying video, but this one can serve the purpose. These Foley specialists work for Disney competitor Warner Brothers.

Let’s not neglect the visual sound effects seen in comic books!

Fantastic Four Annual #4, 1966, page 12

What does a natural gas explosion sound like?

ibid, page 13, panel 1