Subject: Amazon - a saga

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!", said Dot.com.