Check in; check out
Rhys’ recent post on Manila reminded me of part of a story about the demise of the Atari Research Lab. The story takes up on the day of the close of the lab. At 8am word came down that a new boss of Atari was going to close the lab. People were scurrying about trying to rescue some of their personal belongings. Because they were quite annoyed, some large-scale pilfering took place, “chairs, bookcases, sofas, stereo systems and television sets”. This is my favourite part:
Amid the confusion, scurring, shouting and occaisional screams, Larry Bowles sauntered in the front entrance, walked up to the security guard with a comb wrapped in a wad of tissue paper, and said, “I need an equipment pass for this personal item I’m taking inside.”
“What is it?” the guard asked, pulling out the form.
“It’s a Dynair switcher,” said Bowles, naming an extremely expensive, high-end piece of video-editing gear.
“Okay,” the guard said, writing out the pass.
An hour or so later, Bowles came back downstairs lugging a huge, expensive, top-of-the-line Dynair video switcher, went to the door, and handed the guard the pass. “One Dynair switcher,” the guard said. “Personal property. Thank you.” Bowles put it in his car and drove away.
(from “The end of innocence, part I: Cyberdammerung at the Atari lab” in The war of desire and technology at the close of the mecanical age by Rosanne Allucquere Stone, 1996)
