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Friday, October 18, 2013

Business Dinner Dream


This is just the strangest/coolest video. It repeats three times. I don't know why. Programming our brains?

There's a discussion going on on the other side of a  large table. They are talking about Champagne and another similar beverage with a similar name (Champile? I can picture it in my mind, it comes in clear bottle shaped somewhat like a brandy bottle. The label is white with black printing, no wait, it is becoming embellished with scroll work and subtle colors. It is a yellow liquid, much darker than Champagne).
    In my dream I have heard of this beverage, and I know that is held in high regard, but I didn't think it was capable of knocking off Champagne. Then I realize the guy who is praising this drink is not comparing it to authentic French Champagne, but to the mass marketed, American version. Well, it could very well be better than Andre or Cook's. I don't drink enough, and my nose doesn't work well enough to for this comparison to make any difference to me.
    Now he's comparing it to something called "Birdie" and I wonder if this is his execrable pronunciation of Bordeaux (Bor-dough), but I don't want to embarrass myself in case I am wrong, so I keep quiet. I mean, there might be some rarefied wine called "Birdie". Just because I haven't heard of it doesn't mean it doesn't exist.
     I start talking to the guy sitting next to me and he wants to know what I do for a living, so I tell him "computers" and how I used to work at Intel. I expect some kind of reaction from "Intel", but there is none. I ask if he has heard of them. No, he hasn't. I expound on how big and huge and dominant they are in the computer business, but none of this makes any kind of impression. He's never heard of them. I am surprised, but then I wake up.
    Now I wonder just how big Intel is. They totally dominate this area, they're why it's called the Silicon Forest, but now I wonder how big they really are. I think they are on the Fortune 500 list, but now I wonder how that list is ordered. I mean there are any number of ways to measure a company. You can rank them by:
  • gross sales
  • market value of their stock
  • number of employees
  • size of their payroll
  • gross amount paid in dividends
  • amount paid in taxes
Heretofore I've taken the Fortune 500 at face value, figuring that if a company is at one position on the list, it is probably at a similar position on other lists, but now I have my doubts.

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