Rebirth of America, this is my era

Chapter 77 Ethan's Vacation

"Dog Day Afternoon" is a movie adapted from a real case. The main storyline is very simple. It tells how a robber became the most unlucky bank robber in American history.

The story is as follows: The protagonist Michael Corleone and his good brother Fredo Corleone robbed a bank on a hot afternoon. Since a large amount of cash in the bank had just been taken away, they were dumbfounded when they opened the safe, because there was only 1,100 US dollars in it. Perhaps it was a blessing in disguise, and misfortune never comes alone. Before they could leave with the money, their criminal behavior was discovered by the police. As a result, a robbery that should have been completed in ten minutes was dragged into a tug-of-war of more than ten hours. The final ending was that the Godfather was arrested and Fredo Corleone was shot dead on the spot by Furber.

Although the plot of the story is not complicated, there are still many jokes in it.

For example, the protagonist played by Al Pacino is called Sonny, who openly discredits the Sony of the book;

Not only that, he is also an LGBTQIA+ person, which directly took advantage of social hot spots;

His main purpose of robbing the bank was to raise money for his partner's sex reassignment surgery, which was a pretty cool idea;

What’s even more amazing is that during the confrontation with the police, Al Pacino in the movie became a hero of the people.

Because when Al Pacino released a black hostage as requested by the police, the police blocking the bank door mistook the black hostage for his accomplice, swarmed over him and handcuffed him. This situation made Al Pacino very angry, and he defended him by using his white identity while shouting the word Attica.

This scene made Ethan very happy, because the future Floyd case appeared in his mind. When this connection across time and space appeared, he suddenly felt that Hollywood in the 1970s had already played such a fancy game?

Are we already emphasizing that black lives matter at this time?
But when he asked Evelyn what Al Pacino meant by "Attica", he realized that it was a joke.

"Oh Ethan, you have no memory of this?"

In the dim movie theater, Evelin tilted her head to glance at Ethan and said strangely, “This happened a few years ago?”

"At the time, a riot broke out at Attica Prison, where prisoners took control of the prison and took 42 staff members hostage, demanding that New York local officials and prison authorities improve conditions and treatment within the prison."

"The two sides negotiated for several days without reaching an agreement, so the then New York governor sent armed police and troops into the prison to quell the riot. In the exchange of fire, dozens of people from the prison died, many of them hostages. Most importantly, these people were shot, and the only ones with guns at the time were the police and troops who were quelling the riot."

"Oh my god!"

"Is there such a thing?"

Ethan only knew that it was unreliable to let the Russians rescue the hostages, but he didn't expect that the American police would be so bad? They could kill a bunch of hostages in a prison?
What are these people doing? Are they rescuing hostages in the CosT-800 with Gatling guns?
Ethan couldn't figure it out.

"Shouldn't the New York governor who was in charge of the command at the time be in trouble?" Ethan asked curiously.

At this moment, he was like a badger in a melon field.

His face was distorted and he wanted to hear gossip.

But Evelin rolled her eyes at him, "Unlucky? Why unlucky?"

"Because dozens of hostages died!" Ethan said as a matter of course.

“But in that guy’s eyes, these dead hostages are not human beings at all,” Evelyn said.

"Don't you know? The governor of New York at that time is now the deputy governor~"

"That Rockefeller, Nelson Aldrich Rockefeller."

"Oh~ It's this gentleman!"

'This is the basic operation of capitalists!'

"I understand!"

Ethan was satisfied after eating the melon.

Although "Dog Day Afternoon" is not an action blockbuster, Ethan is still quite enjoyable to watch as there are many jokes buried everywhere.

I walked into the cinema happily and drove back home with a smile on my face.

However, this good mood did not last long. The next night, when Evelyn told him that Vinton Cerf said he did not know Professor Ralph Bell, Ethan became a little depressed.

"You don't know him? In that case we have to find him ourselves."

"Why are you in such a hurry?" Evelyn thought they could wait a little longer. "Although Vinton said he didn't know Ralph Bell, he also said he could ask for me. But it would take some time because he won't be going to DARPA recently. He will help us find out when he visits old friends in Virginia at the end of the year, around Christmas time."

'The end of the year?'

'Only three months then?'

Ethan could accept this time, "Then I'll wait a little longer and treat it as a holiday for myself."

He stretched.

But Evelin felt that something was wrong with this statement.

Because in her impression, Ethan seems to be on vacation every day!

He was only busy for a week when he was making "Snake Game", and a month when he was selling "Snake Game". Then he was anxious for a few days when he was sued. At other times... he seemed to have done nothing!
'hiss……'

'How can this man be so lazy?'

If Ethan knew Evelin's thoughts, he would definitely be secretly proud of it, because his comfort all came from the power of the times.

When you are in the midst of the wave, the impetus brought by the change will naturally allow you to easily glimpse the peak of the times.

Although Ethan kept saying that he needed to take a break, he didn't really take any time off.

On October 7, he gave Evelyn the company name he had been thinking about for several days.

And when Evelin saw the words on the paper, black lines appeared on her forehead.

"Kismet?"

"You want to use this word as the name of your company?"

"Yeah~" Ethan nodded and said, "It's destiny! It means that the establishment of our company is destined by heaven!"

“…” Evelin’s features frowned upon hearing this explanation.

Because she felt that using this word as the company name... was a bit strange!

"Why don't you use Destiny, Fate, or Chosen?"

"If you want to express a designated meaning, then I think these three words are more accurate, right?"

good question!
Ethan almost applauded Evelyn because she asked the key question.

In fact, when Ethan was thinking of a name, he almost scratched his hair off. He wanted to think of a name that was domineering but not cliché, but unfortunately, he couldn't come up with one after thinking for a long time.

So, he very immaturely linked the name of the company with his own time travel. He felt that if such a fantastic thing as time travel had already happened, then wasn't he the chosen one?
But when he wanted to use the word 'Chosen', which means chosen by God in religion, as the name of the company, he suddenly remembered that someone in the future would have this word tattooed on his back!

Although the chosen one has not been born yet, no one can guarantee that he won’t get another tattoo in the future, right?

In order to avoid being scammed, Ethan simply excluded 'Chosen'.

Then he set his sights on 'Destiny' and 'Fate'.

To be honest, Ethan didn't want to choose either of these two words.

Because in his memory, the former represents the game "Destiny" produced by Microsoft, and the latter represents the well-known Holy Grail War.

When these two words have specific meanings, Ethan, who is emotionally unable to get around them, has no choice but to make his move.

So he could only reluctantly discard all these words and choose 'Kismet'.

As for why he didn't choose 'luck' which means both good luck and destiny?
Very simple!
Add an 'in' after 'luck' and this problem no longer exists.

You can choose.

But he felt embarrassed.

Of course, Ethan couldn't tell Evelyn these little stories, so he ended the topic with "I like it."

After handing over the matter of registering the company to Evelyn, Ethan also began to inspect his own industry.

He first went to Mountain View and visited Chuck Pete to find out about the sales of MOS 6502.

Since the release time of MOS 6502 at the Western Electronics Exhibition coincided with the infringement lawsuit, Ethan had no energy to ask about the chip. When he finished everything and came back today, the manager here reported the results to him with a happy face.

"Mr. Jones, MOS 6502 caused a huge sensation at the trade show a few weeks ago!"

"When Mr. Chuck Petto introduced to the public that MOS 6502 could be sold at a price of $8080 while having performance comparable to Intel 6800 and Motorola 42, everyone at the scene was stunned!"

“They couldn’t believe their ears!”

"Of course, more people are also wondering if we are scammers."

"But when Motorola announced that they would lower the price of the 6800 to $68, everyone put aside their doubts!"

"On the day of the press conference, many companies consulted us about the MOS 6502 product. As of today, we have sold 6502 s. If nothing goes wrong, by the end of this year, our shipments will exceed , or even !"

Chuck Petto, the general manager of the company, is a middle-aged man in his forties. He worked as a sales manager at Texas Instruments for ten years and has extensive experience in the industry, but when he talks about chip orders, he still waves his arms excitedly with his eyes shining.

This is a joy that comes from the heart, and it is also the embodiment of finally realizing a dream.

As for the production volume appearing to be small?

Judging from the perspective of later generations, an order quantity of 10,000 is obviously not enough, but at the beginning of the birth of personal microcomputers...

An order quantity of 10,000 is already a manifestation of madness.

And the sales of 420,000...

It can even bring a guaranteed net profit of 300,000!
"I didn't do anything and I got 60,000 for nothing?"

"That's good!"

Ethan likes this feeling of getting something for free.

While laughing, he also asked: "Can you tell me which companies placed orders with us?"

"Of course!" the general manager answered readily.

Because he knew Ethan was the savior of the company.

"Ohio Scientific Instruments ordered a thousand from us, Commodore ordered five thousand, STM Systems ordered three thousand, and a few odd companies ordered a thousand."

'...'

Fine.

These three companies silenced Ethan.

Because he couldn't find the names of these companies from his memory.

'Alas! Perhaps this is because I traveled through time too early?'

'Except for the old companies that have been active for decades, I have rarely heard of others.'

But Ethan doesn't care about this kind of thing. After all, he is now at the top of the industry and is not afraid of anyone.

After a brief walk around, Ethan, who was satisfied with his current performance, was ready to leave. But just before he left, the slightly plump general manager suddenly handed him a business card.

"This is?"

“Business card of Robert Galvin, CEO of Motorola.”

'? ? ? '

This business card made Ethan wonder, "Where did you get it?"

The next second he felt something was wrong, "For me?"

"Yeah!"

The slightly plump general manager nodded and said, "In fact, Motorola got the news the day we released MOS 6502. They had a booth at the electronics exhibition and were very angry. They found us and asked us to stop infringing on their rights."

"But after a phone call between Mr. Chuck Petto and Mr. Robert Galvin, their attitude changed and they publicly announced at the show that they would lower the price of the 6800 within a few months."

"I don't know what happened, but afterward, Chuck Petrus asked me to pass this card on to you."

"He said Robert Galvin, the CEO of Motorola, wants to talk to you."

"As for whether you accept it?"

"You decide."

"Isn't this a threat?"

Ethan felt that he understood.

But when he was mentally prepared and called out of curiosity, a gentle voice came from the other end of the phone.

"Ethan Jones? The inventor of Snake Game? Good afternoon."

"Yeah~ Mr. Galvin, I'm Ethan. What do you want to talk to me about?" Since they didn't know each other and Ethan had stolen Motorola's business, he spoke directly, "If you want to condemn me, you can start now."

"Oh Ethan~ Do you think I came to you because I want to yell at you?"

"Mr. Galvin, I don't think I can find a second reason."

"Hahaha~ It seems that our Motorola doesn't have a good reputation. I just wanted to have a simple phone call with you, but I didn't expect you to think this way." Robert Galvin on the other end of the phone laughed and said, "Ethan, don't be nervous. I don't mean to target you. I just want to get to know you and see what kind of young man is helping Chuck."

As if he knew that his words were not credible, he added: "Don't worry, Motorola admits defeat on the 6502 issue. Since Stanford has come forward to solve the problem, this market should belong to you."

'? ' Ethan was a little confused by this statement, "Mr. Galvin, I don't understand what you mean."

"Don't you understand? Oh - then you may not know my identity. I am a trustee of the Illinois Institute of Technology, and the school's library is named after my father. Our school has in-depth cooperation with Stanford, and we know what kind of people Professor Barbara Babcock and Professor Vinton Cerf are. So, don't worry, I'm not as stupid as Atari."

Robert Galvin's words made Ethan laugh.

He understood what the other party meant.

To put it simply, it actually means that I know your background and we are all the same kind of people, so there is no need to fight over trivial matters.

The role of trustees mentioned by Robert Galvin is actually an honorary leadership position. They will provide financial, strategic and moral support to the school to promote better development of the school. At the same time, they will also have priority access to some of the latest inventions.

To put it simply, this identity is actually the corporate identity in Fred Terman's school-enterprise co-construction plan. When companies draw a steady stream of patents from American universities, they know better than ordinary people that high-tech is the foundation of development.

For Motorola, the current chip market, which has no prospects, is not important at all.

Ethan Jones can take whatever he wants.

What is really important is the future scientific research results of major universities.

The reason why Robert Galvin and Ethan Jones communicated was simple.

When Ethan clung to Vinton Cerf, he had already obtained a ticket to a top company. The rest depended on whether he could obtain scientific research results from Stanford that were commercializable. Anyone who could do everything he could to seize the market from Motorola must have ambitions to move up. Therefore, even though Robert Galvin did not know whether Ethan could succeed, he was still...

"If you need a partner in the future, you can give priority to Motorola."

"Whether it's electronics manufacturing or attracting investment, we at Motorola are good at it."

"Oh Mr. Galvin, thank you." Ethan replied with a smile.

Although Ethan behaved very gentlemanly, he did not believe what Robert Galvin said at all.

In his opinion, this guy must have some ulterior motive.

After what happened with Atari, he has become wary.

The only ones who can treat others with sincerity are the scientific researchers who are passionate about technology. As for the businessmen?
Get them out!
After inspecting Chuck Petrus' company, Ethan drove to the garage of his loyal Jobs family.

Cough cough cough...

This sounds a bit strange, but there is no way. Who asked Jobs to set up Apple's production workshop here?

According to Ethan's original intention, he came to check the sales of Apple One.

But when he knocked on the door of Jobs' house, he was stunned by the words he heard.

"Oh Ethan! We meet again!"

Jobs first gave Ethan a big hug.

Then the next second, this guy stood on tiptoe and kept jumping there.

His gaze also drifted behind Ethan.

Then, doubtful words came out, "Ethan? Aren't you here to deliver the machine today?"

"Ah? What machine?" Ethan looked confused.

"It's the Snake Game arcade machine!" Jobs, who was holding Ethan, loosened his arms, leaned back, and carefully observed Ethan's expression, "You didn't forget about this, did you?"

"Didn't you ask me to help you find out why MCA bought Atari at such a high price last time?"

"Didn't I tell you that my friend likes your game and wants a signed Snake Game arcade machine?"

'...'

'Oh Fuck! I forgot!'

When Ethan heard Jobs mention this, he was suddenly confused.

But the next second, he pretended nothing happened and said, "Snake Game's signature arcade machine?"

"Of course I remember this!"

"But I can't buy the Snake Game arcade machine now, because I have terminated the contract with Atari, and no company is producing it anymore..."

Ethan thinks he's a genius!

Such perfect reasons can be easily found!

But just when he thought his words were perfect, Jobs blinked and said, "Then how did the world's first Snake Game come into being? Did it jump out of a stone like the monkey in Eastern mythology?"

‘! ’

Ethan was shocked. He didn't expect Jobs to ask this.

After staring at the other person for a long while, he finally gave in and said, "Okay, okay, I did forget."

"I'll buy the ingredients when I get home later. Oh no! I'll call Frank now and ask him to send me the ingredients so I can make it for your friend tonight!"

Ethan felt that he was indeed wrong in this matter.

Jobs' friend did him such a big favor, but he forgot what the other person wanted?

This is totally wrong.

But his surrendering look made Jobs burst out laughing. He made a fist with his right hand and hit his arm.

"Oh brother, look how scared you are! Just forget it, he has changed his request anyway."

"What do you mean?" Ethan didn't understand.

"It's very simple. My friend's original purpose was to meet you and get to know you. He wanted to know what kind of person the developer of Snake Game was like. But because MCA wanted to acquire Atari and you had a conflict with Atari, he couldn't meet you."

"But now, MCA has given up on Atari, and Atari has been acquired by Warner Bros., so..."

"He wants to meet with you."

Jobs spread his hands and said, "It's that simple."

"Warner Bros. acquired Atari on September 28th, right?"

"He called me on September 28th."

"He said that when you are free, he will let me take you to Los Angeles to visit him."

"How's it going? Are you going?"

"Oh, so that's how it is?" Ethan understood and laughed at the same time, "Go, why not."

"Oaky, let's go now." Jobs immediately pushed Ethan out, "Just drive your car."

"So urgent?" Ethan was surprised. "And does he have time today? Can we see him if we just go there?"

"Of course!" Jobs said, "He's a director, and work comes in waves. When he's busy, you can't find him. When he's not busy, he's just like you, wandering around every day."

"So he's a director?" Ethan understood.

The next second he was dissatisfied again, "Steve, who are you talking about wandering around?"

"Brother! I'm not an idler! I need a job!"

Jobs laughed at such shameless words.

"Yeah~Yeah~Yeah~"

“You need a job~”

"But your biggest job is to watch others work~"

Before he finished speaking, he held onto the door of the Ferrari and climbed into the sports car.

He touched the steering wheel and said, "Where are the keys? Lend me the keys~"

“I haven’t even driven a Ferrari yet!”

Note: ① In reality, the reason why MOS 6502 was accepted by people was the price reduction of Intel 8080 and Motorola 6800. Before they reduced the price, no one really believed that CPU could be so cheap. ② Motorola did not take the CPU market seriously at first. Chuck Petto and others said that they left Motorola, but before they left, Motorola had plans to lay off employees, and laid off employees in disguise in the name of relocating the factory, because Robert Galvin felt that CPU was just a market that could be tried, not a market with broad prospects. At that time, they had invented the mobile phone (1973) and obtained the mobile phone patent. From this perspective, Motorola’s judgment was actually correct. The mobile phone market is indeed larger than the CPU. Of course, their chip business stagnated for only two years before they regretted it. In that year, in order to make mobile phones, they also sold their TV business to Panasonic. ③ The relationship between Illinois Institute of Technology and Stanford has been mentioned in the previous article. The Stanford Research Institute was almost established by them.

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(End of this chapter)