A Riddle

The riddle
These 3 pieces of info are all you need to know in order to find out which song I'm referring to:
1.) 30 years ago, 350 million people in 26 countries listened to this song for the first time in their lives

2.) It contains pieces of other very well known songs (Rock around the clock, some of Bach's concerts and even the French hymn)

3.) The song remains one of only (along with Pink Floyd's "Money" from 1973) written in 7/4 time to reach the top 20 charts in the US

The answer
1.) Video version
2.) Text version

My 2 cents
I really think this song's story is amazing. It's so much more than universally appropriate...

Star Trek vs. Larry Ellison

This weekend i was watching a live debate about the top X business men/women in Romania. Just before I managed to zap to SciFi for a Star Trek rerun (yes, the deabate was that interesting :) ) the tv host from Realitatea (Romanian only) began to read a Larry Ellison speech the goes like this:

"As I look out before me today, I don't see a thousand hopes for a bright tomorrow. I don't see a thousand future leaders in a thousand industries. I see a thousand losers.

What can you expect? Loser. Loserhood. Loser cum laude."

Needless to say that I wanted to send a text message or an email to let them know that the speech never existed... But it was so funny to see business leaders analyze a fake speech and base their debate on a false statement that I could not get my heart to interrupt them... at least not on the expense of my own money.

So, the Star Trek rerun lost me as viewer. I guess urban legends beat science fiction after all. :)

Who's leaving BT?

"BT head of branding quits for university lecturer role"

This little news article made me a little sad:
"The head of branding"? In Romania, we're still working on getting marketing departments up and running... But I'm sure we're on the good track :)

Setting foot on the Sun

Secondary research is often dismissed as unreliable and even too easy-to-do to be a job. I think it's time I get to say my opinion on these issues.

The short answer to both points (unreliable, too easy-to-do) is Depends x 2.

The long version is a short story :)

Adventure Inc.

Mr. Adventure has a vision and assembles his team to share this vision.
"My dear friends, I have some great news. Adventure Inc. will be the first company selling land on the sun and all of you will contribute to this great endeavor! We'll move faster than our competition and, I'm sure you already know, at the moment no one is planning on getting there."

"Sir, I'm in.", Mr. Yes says. "Sir, we can do it. I'm sure we're going to beat the competition!"

"Yes, you're a great team-player. Thank you.", Adventure says. "Are there any questions or comments? We have to start working on this project."

"Mr. Adventure, has anyone come back from the sun yet?", Mr. Curious asked.
"Come back?", Adventure's puzzled, "what do you mean? No, of course not. We'll be the first setting foot on the sun! Curious, are you having doubts?"
"No sir," Curious said, "just questions."
"Like what?"
"Well, how big is it?"
"Silly question, Curious. It's huge, our greatest opportunity ever. We'll see how big exactly when we get there."
"Ok, sir. But..."
"Curious, you're going to have to meet with Yes and discuss all your questions."
"Sir, I'll be glad to do it", said Yes.
"Great. Let's get to work everyone! Adventure Inc, and yours truly - Mr. Adventure, will recognize all of your hard work! Yes, schedule the meeting with Curious."
"Sir, I'll meet with him on Monday!"
"Great!"
"Ahm...Sir?", Yes mumbled.
"What is it Yes?"
"Sir, just how hot is the Sun?"

key learning
To measure a star's temperature one can go there with a thermometer or can... well... estimate it by looking at it with an expensive tool (i.e. telescope). These are both pretty much primary research tools. However, when time and budgets are scarce one can always use Wikipedia - other people's experience and data.
To see just how hot the sun is click here or... go there :)

source: wikipedia

Labour shortage and brands

After talking to a few friends today, I had this ’aha’-thought: "The Gallup guys really coined it right: people leave bad managers not companies/jobs". While higher pay may be a strong incentive, the best barrier in leaving a job is the manager and his/her attitude towards the team and each and every team member.

This thought should be of particular importance as labour shortage gradually grips the Romanian economy. On the short term people will join the salary - growth spiral by switching jobs more and more frequently but on the long run, brand engagement and value driven management will discriminate good from mediocre companies.

to read about the labour shortage issue click --> Romania and Bulgaria suffer labour shortage

PS: I’ll try to return to the juicy and happy posts you’re used to. Sorry for this intermezzo :)

Abort the sheet... sorry ship

The newspaper business in Romania is heading for trouble as most of the papers started to offer special issues with DVDs, books and CDs. On a medium range outlook, these moves mean big red figures for the entire industry as such moves spoil the market, generating a competitive spiral on a different level as the industry’s core business. PS: The funniest initiative so far, is Cotidianul’s (Realitatea Catavencu) move to offer the 1st season of "Prision Break" on DVD. Most probably, ProTV (CME) is not amused :)

New and Improved: Outlook 2007 Gets Slower

"You may experience performance problems when you are working with items in a large .pst file or in a large .ost file in Outlook 2007" (Microsoft)

I guess most Outlook 2007 users have experienced perfomance problems by now :)

I find it unbelievable that in the age of information overload a software company releases a SLOWER file system.

"Dear User,

Yeap, our new software runs slower.
If you want it to run faster just disable all your helpful add-ins or split the .psts or just work on your local hard drive.

Best regards,
msft"