The Parable Of Dot Com
An old, bearded shepherd, with a crooked staff, walks up to a stone
pulpit and says...
"And lo, it came to pass that the trader by the name of Abraham Com did
take unto himself a young wife by the name of Dot.
And Dot Com was a comely woman, broad of shoulder and long of leg.
Indeed, she had been called Amazon Dot Com. And she said unto Abraham,
her husband, "Why doth thou travel far, from town to town, with thy
goods when thou can trade without ever leaving thy tent?"
And Abraham did look at her as though she were several saddle bags short
of a camel load, but simply said, "How, Dear?"
And Dot replied, "I will place drums in all the towns and drums in
between to send messages saying what you have for sale and they will reply
telling you which hath the best price. And the sale can be made on the drums
and delivery by Uriah's Pony Stable (UPS)."
Abraham thought long and decided he would let Dot have her way with the
drums, as long as he could have his way with her.
And Dot said, "There will be a lot of banging in the land."
And Abraham replied, "It is my most fervent wish that this be so."
And the drums rang out and were an immediate success. Abraham sold all
the goods he had, at the top price, without ever moving from his tent.
But his success did arouse envy. A man named Maccabia did secrete
himself inside Abraham's drum and was accused of insider trading.
And the young
did take to Dot Com's trading as doth the greedy horsefly to camel dung.
They were called Nomadic Ecclesiastical Rich Dominican Siderites, or
NERDS for short.
And lo the land was so feverish with joy at the new riches and the
deafening sound of drums, that no one noticed that the real riches were
going to the drum maker, one Brother William of Gates, who bought up
every drum company in the land. And indeed did insist on making drums that
would only work if you bought Brother Gates' drumsticks.
And Dot did say, "Oh, Abraham, what we have started is being taken over
by others."
And as Abraham looked out over the Bay of Ezekiel, or as it came to be
known, "eBay," he said, "we need a name of a service that reflects what
we are."
And Dot replied, "Young Ambitious Hebrew Owner Operators."
"Whoopee!" said Abraham.
"No, YAHOO!" Dot Com said.
