Prehistoric Accounting

I found a fascinating introductory tutorial on Accounting, which describes prehistoric accounting, prior to the invention of writing and numbers.

http://www.middlecity.com/ch01.shtml

And the above page refers to a fabulous history of accounting at

http://acct.tamu.edu/giroux/FIRST.html

I had a long chat today with my best internet friend in Singapore, and I mention it at the end.

I would post the link to it here, but, Myspace is getting so funny about embedded links. I will repost all this, together with the link at literarytalk.blogspot.com if anyone is curious to read the tutorial on accounting.

Here are excerpts from my side of today's chat:

I can remember so many times, in my childhood, being very sick around easter time

I take ZYCAM lozenges, at the first sign (ticle sniffle), and that seems to shorten the illness

Somehow, it has to do with a zinc compound they contain

Usually, most of my life, I will be dreadfully sick for a week or two
but, zycam seems to shorten it to 2 or 3 days...

From time time I was 1 year old, I got sick all the time, very poor resistance

My resistance got better around puberty time
I mean, all those chemical changes in the body

But I used to miss 1/3 of each school year, until 8th grade
It made me self-conscious, to be like a freak, absent so much

Once or twice, the school sent authorities to my mother's house, to argue with her, that I should not miss so much
It was always like bronchitis, ear infections, fever...
But, it was not something people could LOOK at and see, and say, oh, he is really handicapped...
I mean, if I were in a wheelchair, or something obvious

I think my childhood of sickness and absenteeism negatively affected my personality, my ability to relate to others


(regarding bar codes)



in the beginning, 2 years ago, I told him he would need barcode, and he laughed
but, then, certain customers demanded it, so he was desperate for me to do barcode so, I set up the whole thing, which means signing up with the one agency that controls all barcode and paying $1500 and you get software that connects with their site, and issues you a unique UPC-A and ITF-14 code for each product

I had to scramble to get hold of a scanner
so, a computer repair person came one night, and we paid him for a WASP scanner which came with barcode software which we needed, to print barcode on AVERY labels and, I spent $100 with ELFGIN to get their UPC-A fonts.... which I wound up not using, because I had the WASP label software

But, last week, I realized that ELFGIN gave me an EXCEL spreadsheet model, with the vba to produce the barcode IN A SPREADSHEET CELL
except, it only shows up if your machine has their special fonts installed
AND, they have a licensing requirement....
So, if you give their stuff away, you could get in trouble. They have a way to mark several bytes of each font to indicate piracy

If you buy one of their products for $99, then, if you want a 5 user license, you pay and additional $99 and they have a whole chart, which shows what you pay for up to 10,000 users

But, if you write them, they will quote you on a developer's license to distribute their stuff with your software product
But, they have to quote you,... and they will ask the nature of the product, the cost, the potential user market, and I suppose whether you register
AND, they sell special fonts to let you legally include their barcode in a PDF

Now, the WASP labeler, lets me produce a jpg image of the barcode
no one mentioned the legality of my distributing those, or making downloadable pdfs

I tried to build an Excel spreadsheet with those jpg images right next to the barcode but, such spreadsheets are unstable, no matter what I do
you cant really control a huge number of jpg images

BUT, I notice that if I use the ELFGIN vba with their fonts,,.... then, the barcode is a piece of cake and stable and if you print it, it is scanable but, I cant send anyone such a spreadsheet, unless I find a way to legally let them install the fonts and, most companies are too cheap to run out and buy their own package for $99

it is $99 for UPC-A,E .... and another $99 for ITF-14 (which I just recently learned stands for interleaved two of five)
UPC-A (or E for super tiny, like a stick of gum), goes on the product that passes over the counter scanner
while ITF-14 is for things like the shipping carton, or pallet/skid
so the carton with 10 boxes candy, would have its own ITF-14, while each box of candy inside would have the UPC-A
and, your mfg would put them on the packaging at the factory

Oh, and, if you are doing private label for someone, and you use YOUR upc-a, then, it is traceable to your company.... in a public WHOIS type of site
part of the upc is a code for the company

So, you have to be smart enough not to do a private label with a barcode, unless you tell your customer to go register for their own barcode

Now, anyone can make up their own code 3 of 9, or other type of code, for their products,.... but UPC, must be controlled by GS1US, which you join for $1500, plua $500 each year because, that is the only way that every product in north America will be unique

Well, in Europe it is EAN: European article number
and, they have their own European not for profit code organization
but, obviously, if something is in the stores in a market place.... with many cash register scanners...then, it must be unique

and, if you private labeled, then, your customer could provide barcoding
historically, the very first product to ever be scanned at a cash register, with barcode, was Wrigley Spearmint Gum. The Wrigley Gum company pioneered the technology

And now, for example, Walmart is so large, with so much clout, that it can demand that its suppliers use those frequency emitting beads
so, you dont have to scan each carton...You just walk through the warehouse, and a computer analyzes all the radio transmissions and you know product and quantity

I dont really understand it too well
but, that is the general idea

The US government did not have enough clout to force Microsoft to change something about Windows,.... BUT the European Common Market DID have enough economic clout, so, Microsoft conformed to some demand
it was a show about the history and future of the European Common Market
which in some ways resembles, but in other ways differs from "The United States of Europe"

French Guiana, in South America, is the largest area under the European common market, but not in Europe. They use the Euro for their currency.... and they are under France's Prime Minister Sarkozy but, they have their own governor

I think Fr. Guiana has a very small population, and vast tropical forests

We sent one small shipment there, and I got curious

The government WANTS to keep competition in the market place

I think Microsoft once did something to help out apple, just so they could steer clear of anti-trust

A vertical monopoly would mean, lets say, that ALL sandpaper, or chewing gum, or whatever is controlled by one company where as horizontal would mean that you are into agriculture, food processing, wholesale, and distribution..
I am guessing

So, a Google on horizontal vertical monopoly antitrust would yield some interesting stuff

Search engines and internet has really change life dramatically

When I was a kid, starting 6th grade, my mom forced my father to buy an expensive encyclopedia (World Book), just so I could do my homework
and it had to be new enough to have stuff about modern things like missiles... because thats what we were doing

It was either home encyclopedia, or go to the library... and libraries were a long car drive, with limited hours,.... and in small towns, were poorly stocked
but, now, all a kid needs is internet

I would never used an encyclopedia even if I had one

But in the 1950s, encyclopedia salesmen would go door to door
My uncle was one of them selling encyclopedias door to door

It is all ancient history now

I found a paper on accounting, its history and like around 5000 bc.... when they shipped oil or wine or grain

They would take little toy symbols, which represent each barrel of oil, or bottle of wine...
and they would bake them into a large clay ball
so, the ship master, or caravan master, would take that, and deliver it to the customer the customer would break the clay ball, and look at the symbols, to see that the shipment was complete

It was a bill of lading. That was before writing, numbers, etc


They figure that one day, a wet clay ball must have rolled over a small figure, and left a mark which gave people the idea for cuneiform

I have the link to the paper, and I will blog it on Myspace


I blog about interesting things, whenever I find them


Blogging distracts me from my sorrows...
I mean, that is kind of what I use Internet and blogging and chat for