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List of oldest companies: Before 1300

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181–190 of 204 posts

Re: List of oldest companies: Before 1300

#181
post #12

The oldest restaurant in Europe is in Wroclaw: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piwnica_Świdnicka I once went there without knowing the fact, and it amazed me. It feels so different to sit between those old walls, trying to imagine how the place used to be before or during WWII, or in the 13th century...

I grew up in Waterloo, Belgium. There's a museum there where one half is dedicated to the Battle of Waterloo, and the other side is a museum of the town history. There's a photo of the road right outside the building taken during German occupation with swastika banners lining either side ... and then you look out the window and see the current scene, it's eerie.

Re: List of oldest companies: Before 1300

#182

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, I give you an upvote for that. Good answer but I don't agree.

Taking offense at "beer Nazi" could lead someone to infer that you believe the term Nazi must only be used in a dignified context. Who is normalizing what is in the eye of the beholder, as people have been belittling Nazis since the 1930s.

Ok. Let me argue a bit further:

Whatever we've done lately obviously hasn't worked. Seinfeld has been sent again and again and yet we see nazis marching proudly in Charlotteville and elsewhere.

The world should not forget what nazism caused, what communism caused, what nationalism caused, what racism caused etc.

I'd be tempted to say: learn kids to hate those things but I'm not a fan of big words.

But I certainly think more focus on history lessons would be a good thing.

Or maybe we need something similar to this, only for thoughts: https://www.damninteresting.com/this-place-is-not-a-place-of...

Re: List of oldest companies: Before 1300

#183
post #179

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When I write this minikites is downvoted for no good reason. As much as I support freedom of speech I also think it's unwise to normalize nazism. Reminding people not to normalize nazism isn't something one should be downvoted for in my book.

I have the impression that there's also a cultural aspect. People from different parts of the world have noticeably different responses to such jokes. Lots of them are on HN and, not realizing who's who or what the gap is between them, each tends to think the other obviously wrong and/or an asshole.

Agree. Also I want to point out I'm not offended by this in any way.

I'm just arguing that downvoting someone for pointing this out is counterproductive.

Re: List of oldest companies: Before 1300

#185

Equally interesting would a list of companies that lasted for 500, 750, or a 1000 years but then failed. Imagine being the last person to run a 1000 year old company.

Well the oldest company on that list was bought and now only exists as a subsidiary. Imagine being the person behind that decision. To end a 1500 year old dynasty with the stroke of a pen.

Re: List of oldest companies: Before 1300

#186
post #58

The oldest name on this list that stood out to me is Weihenstephan brewery, founded in 1040 in Bavaria, Germany. They have some of the finest lagers I have ever tried. If you enjoy crisp, refreshing lager beers, I highly recommend their beers. My favorite one is probably the Weihenstephaner Hefeweissbier, followed by the Hefeweissbier Dunkel. Note: I am not affiliated in any way with the company, I just highly enjoy…

I’m unimpressed with the Weihenstephaner Hefeweizen beer. That said, there is a company in Austin, TX - Live Oak - who makes an incredible Hefeweizen. Every time I go back to Austin, I hunt down this beer and enjoy it with a “Detroiter” pizza from the Via 313 food truck at a bar called Craft Pride. Now that I live in San Diego, I have an incredible selection of local brew to choose from, but I have yet to find anythi…

Hofbräu Hefe is the best commonly available hefe in the states imho.

Bonus ancient beer knowledge: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bappir

Re: List of oldest companies: Before 1300

#187

Don't recognize most of them but the other day I learned Nokia was incorporated in 1871 and it is still around.

Nintendo is also pretty darn old. Founded in 1889 and has been making games since the start. Talk about reinventing yourself with the market, or in recent history, inventing the market.

Re: List of oldest companies: Before 1300

#188

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Taking offense at "beer Nazi" could lead someone to infer that you believe the term Nazi must only be used in a dignified context. Who is normalizing what is in the eye of the beholder, as people have been belittling Nazis since the 1930s.

Ok. Let me argue a bit further: Whatever we've done lately obviously hasn't worked. Seinfeld has been sent again and again and yet we see nazis marching proudly in Charlotteville and elsewhere. The world should not forget what nazism caused, what communism caused, what nationalism caused, what racism caused etc. I'd be tempted to say: learn kids to hate those things but I'm not a fan of big words. But I certainly thi…

A bit of an orthogonal argument: the problem isn't Nazis per se, it's what Nazis believed. Treating the idea of Nazis as too serious to make fun of and treating the idea of making fun of Nazis as a noble goal both have the fallacy that the thing we're saying "Never again" to is people with swastikas and straight-arm salutes. Now, yes, there were a few of those people at Charlottesville. But there are a lot more people who have the same ideology as Nazis - that ethnic minorities are the cause of the ethnic majority's economic anxiety, that a special police force to put ethnic minorities in concentration camps is totally fine as long as there are valid laws supporting that, that local opposition to this police force is illegitimate and treasonous, that the sexually "deviant" are ruining the integrity of our culture, that we have more of a duty to the well-being of our own race than to the survival of other races, etc. - without having any of the visible trappings of Nazis. The more that we say that the thing we object to (either by avoidance or reappropriation) is "Nazis," the more we make room for people with the same beliefs to prosper under different names.

(Side argument: putting the focus on "Nazis" also seems to invent distance between the man on the street in 1930s Germany, who just wanted a good life for his family, a prosperous economy for his country, and success for his nation's troops, and us in our own countries today, because that man lived in Nazi Germany and voted for the Nazi Party. It explains away the fact that an entire country like any other Western country suddenly went along with the Nazi agenda because that country was, somehow, full of Nazis, who are, somehow, different from us.)

I have seen lots of people make the argument that "Nazi" is a bad descriptor for anti-Muslim beliefs/policies that closely resemble historic Nazi anti-Jewish policies, because they're anti-Muslim and not anti-Jewish. (Usually this comes with some sort of argument about "Judeo-Christian values," or about how Islam is different, or something - and when I point out that the same sorts of attitudes were prevalent at the time against Jews and Judaism, they seem to think it's an answer that those people were wrong and they're right.) I think that's a sign that we've failed badly to teach "Never again" in a meaningful way, in a way that realizes that the problem is not to make sure it's never 1930s Germany again - of course it never will be. It will be somewhere else, someplace else, and some other people.

Re: List of oldest companies: Before 1300

#189
post #146
post #19

I think it's hard to argue it's the same company in some cases. The breweries in particular used to be a brewery in said city (the city had right to have a brewery). Different owners, different locations, later different legal companies, periods of inactivity, etc.. The continuity is lost beyond "there was a brewery in this town 600 year ago".

The list is interesting entertainment but I am skeptical about how they determine oldest other than what a wikipedia page says in some cases. It's not like we are talking about dates which have been certified by experts at auction houses for personal property.

I'll just throw in here that faking contracts and certificates has been a huge business in the last ~1200 years or so in Europe. Many cities who claimed to have been founded a thousand years ago (or whatever) had to cede those claims since the historical papers were faked (usually hundreds of years ago).

Re: List of oldest companies: Before 1300

#190

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This list looks like it includes for-profit only. Also, with the church, it's "company" status is relegated on a per-country basis, usually to gain non-profit taxation benefits. So it's a little murky there.

Churches are some of the wealthiest organizations out there: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_wealthiest_organizatio... And let's get serious, some "church" related activities are hardly not-for-profits: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7y1xJAVZxXg

That list doesn't include states, which are pretty wealthy. And I'd say you should include states as much as churches in the comparison, because the Catholic Church, at least, is historically much more akin to a state or empire than to a business. (I think your argument could apply to the more recently formed churches.)

As for your video link, that's about televangelism, which is extremely recent. Even Tetzel wasn't really in it for his own personal profit.

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