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Alexander The Great
The armies of Alexander the Great were greatly feared in their day, but there was one problem that they had that almost defeated them. Alexander could not get his people to staff meetings on time. He always held the meetings at 6:00PM each day after the day's battle was done, but frequently his generals either forgot or let the time slip up on them and missed the staff meeting. This angered Alexander very much, to say the least!
So he called in his research people and set up a project to come up with a method of determining the time at 6:00PM each day. There were no clocks in those days, at least none that could be carried around. (The smallest was a giant water clock) "Find a way my staff can determine the hour of the day, or at least when it gets to be 6 o'clock!", he said, "Cost is no object."
A study was instituted and, with several brain-storming sessions, they came up with the following idea. In a land some distance away, there grew a bush whose berries contained a type of dye that changed colour at six each evening. They found that by dyeing strips of cloth and issuing them to the generals, they could see when it was six by the colour change, and could get to the meetings on time. Needless to say this pleased Alexander very much.
It was then turned over to the marketing group to come up with a name of this new invention as Alexander saw definite market potential in the strips. "It can be worn on the wrist and can be easily watched for the colour change", said one junior executive. "I therefore propose to call it the wrist watch."
This name was immediately hooted down as being too bland and obvious. Another man suggested it be worn in the navel and could be observed by looking down, therefore it should called the Navel Observatory. This idea was rejected out of hand as being too weird and too technical sounding for the general public.
Finally the senior vice president, who up to now had been silent, spoke and rendered his decision. "We shall call it a Time band, and in honour of the Great Alexander, it shall be known as 'Alexander's Rag Time band!'
So he called in his research people and set up a project to come up with a method of determining the time at 6:00PM each day. There were no clocks in those days, at least none that could be carried around. (The smallest was a giant water clock) "Find a way my staff can determine the hour of the day, or at least when it gets to be 6 o'clock!", he said, "Cost is no object."
A study was instituted and, with several brain-storming sessions, they came up with the following idea. In a land some distance away, there grew a bush whose berries contained a type of dye that changed colour at six each evening. They found that by dyeing strips of cloth and issuing them to the generals, they could see when it was six by the colour change, and could get to the meetings on time. Needless to say this pleased Alexander very much.
It was then turned over to the marketing group to come up with a name of this new invention as Alexander saw definite market potential in the strips. "It can be worn on the wrist and can be easily watched for the colour change", said one junior executive. "I therefore propose to call it the wrist watch."
This name was immediately hooted down as being too bland and obvious. Another man suggested it be worn in the navel and could be observed by looking down, therefore it should called the Navel Observatory. This idea was rejected out of hand as being too weird and too technical sounding for the general public.
Finally the senior vice president, who up to now had been silent, spoke and rendered his decision. "We shall call it a Time band, and in honour of the Great Alexander, it shall be known as 'Alexander's Rag Time band!'
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