If FORVM499 has a purpose, it is to entertain, inform and hopefully inspire (sometimes in a good way) a wonderful community of colleagues dedicated to value creation, supply chains and procurement.  That is a modest way of describing just about everybody in the world of business; those who are not only curious about, but often bemused and occasionally mystified by, the behaviours of all around them.

If that's you, then let's travel together down this road.  Wouldn't it be nice if FORVM499 could model itself on Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, a set of anecdotes illustrating the variety and strangeness of ordinary folks.

Why FORVM499, did you ask? 

FORVM is the Latinised spelling of 'forum' a place to meet and exchange - and easier to grab as a domain name 

499 is the number of seconds it takes light from the Sun to illuminate the Earth; long enough, don't you think, to respectively hold someone's attention ?