E o burro é ele?

Consta que Filipão, ao ser demitido do Chelsea por maus resultados, leva na algibeira 17 milhões de euros! Vá, pronto, praticamente metade disso depois de impostos....

E o "Burro" é ele?

Don't you just love a nutter? ;-)

Just helping spreading the word! ;))
And you people say I'm not a romantic, tsk, tsk...;)

Song to the Siren

On the floating, shapeless oceans
I did all my best to smile
til your singing eyes and fingers
drew me loving into your eyes.

And you sang "Sail to me, sail to me;
Let me enfold you."

Here I am, here I am waiting to hold you.
Did I dream you dreamed about me?
Were you here when I was full sail?

Now my foolish boat is leaning, broken love lost on your rocks.
For you sang, "Touch me not, touch me not, come back tomorrow."
Oh my heart, oh my heart shies from the sorrow.
I'm as puzzled as a newborn child.
I'm as riddled as the tide.
Should I stand amid the breakers?
Or shall I lie with death my bride?

Hear me sing: "Swim to me, swim to me, let me enfold you."
"Here I am. Here I am, waiting to hold you."

-- The Cocteau Twins

Again - Roxanne

Unabridged ;-)

Romance

"Uma Rapariga perguntou a um Rapaz se ele a achava bonita , ele disse...não . Ela perguntou se ele queria ficar com ela para a eternidade....e ele disse não. Então ela perguntou-lhe, se ela se fosse embora, se ele iria chorar, e mais uma vez ele respondeu com um não.

Ela já tinha ouvido demais. Assim, quando estava a ir embora, lágrimas caíam da sua, face, o rapaz agarrou seu braço e disse...Tu não és bonita: És linda. Eu não quero ficar contigo para sempre. Eu PRECISO ficar contigo pra sempre. Eu não iria chorar se tu fosses embora...eu iria morrer..."

-- Anónimo

E depois acordamos, e voltamos à 'vidinha'.

When the spotlight is on

Fences

by Paramore

I'm sitting in a room,
Made up of only big white walls and in the hall
There are people looking through
The window in the door they know exactly what we're here for

Don't look up
Just let them think
There's no place else
You'd rather be.

You're always on display
For everyone to watch and learn from,
Don't you know by now,
You can't turn back
Because this road is all you'll ever have.

And it's obvious that you're dying, dying.
Just living proof that the camera's lying.
And oh oh open wide, 'cause this is your night.
So smile, 'cause you'll go out in style.
You'll go out in style.

If you let me I could,
I'd show you how to build your fences,
Set restrictions, separate from the world.
The constant battle that you hate to fight
Just blame the limelight.

Don't look up
Just let them think
There's no place else
You'd rather be.

And now you can't turn back
Because this road is all you'll ever have.

And it's obvious that you're dying, dying.
Just living proof that the camera's lying.
And oh oh open wide, 'cause this is your night.
So smile.

Yeah, yeah you're asking for it
With every breath that you breathe in
Just breathe it in.
Yeah, yeah well you're just a mess
You do all this, big talking
So now let's see you walk it
I said let's see you walk it

Yeah, yeah well you're just a mess
You do all this, big talking
So now let's see you walk it
I said let's see you walk it

And it's obvious that you're dying, dying.
Just living proof that the camera's lying.
And oh oh open wide, yeah oh oh open wide.
Yeah, oh oh open wide,
'Cause you'll go out in style.
You'll go out in style.

Steve's email

Today Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer send this poignant email to his workers. A true example of Management American Style. Despite being in the black Microsoft didn't achieve the "expected" profit and is firing 5000 People because - and this is obviously a intended "royal we" - quote, "we are not immune to the effects of the economy".

Here's the email from "Steve":

"From: Steve Ballmer
Sent: Thursday, January 22, 2009 6:07 AM
To: Microsoft - All Employees (QBDG)
Subject: Realigning Resources and Reducing Costs

In response to the realities of a deteriorating economy, we’re taking important steps to realign Microsoft’s business. I want to tell you about what we’re doing and why.

Today we announced second quarter revenue of $16.6 billion. This number is an increase of just 2 percent compared with the second quarter of last year and it is approximately $900 million below our earlier expectations.

The fact that we are growing at all during the worst recession in two generations reflects our strong business fundamentals and is a testament to your hard work. Our products provide great value to our customers. Our financial position is solid. We have made long-term investments that continue to pay off.

But it is also clear that we are not immune to the effects of the economy. Consumers and businesses have reined in spending, which is affecting PC shipments and IT expenditures.

Our response to this environment must combine a commitment to long-term investments in innovation with prompt action to reduce our costs.

During the second quarter we started down the right path. As the economy deteriorated, we acted quickly. As a result, we reduced operating expenses during the quarter by $600 million. I appreciate the agility you have shown in enabling us to achieve this result.

Now we need to do more. We must make adjustments to ensure that our investments are tightly aligned with current and future revenue opportunities. The current environment requires that we continue to increase our efficiency.

As part of the process of adjustments, we will eliminate up to 5,000 positions in R&D, marketing, sales, finance, LCA, HR, and IT over the next 18 months, of which 1,400 will occur today. We’ll also open new positions to support key investment areas during this same period of time. Our net headcount in these functions will decline by 2,000 to 3,000 over the next 18 months. In addition, our workforce in support, consulting, operations, billing, manufacturing, and data center operations will continue to change in direct response to customer needs.

Our leaders all have specific goals to manage costs prudently and thoughtfully. They have the flexibility to adjust the size of their teams so they are appropriately matched to revenue potential, to add headcount where they need to increase investments in order to ensure future success, and to drive efficiency.

To increase efficiency, we’re taking a series of aggressive steps. We’ll cut travel expenditures 20 percent and make significant reductions in spending on vendors and contingent staff. We’ve scaled back Puget Sound campus expansion and reduced marketing budgets. We’ll also reduce costs by eliminating merit increases for FY10 that would have taken effect in September of this calendar year.

Each of these steps will be difficult. Our priority remains doing right by our customers and our employees. For employees who are directly affected, I know this will be a difficult time for you and I want to assure you that we will provide help and support during this transition. We have established an outplacement center in the Puget Sound region and we’ll provide outplacement services in many other locations to help you find new jobs. Some of you may find jobs internally. For those who don’t, we will also offer severance pay and other benefits.

The decision to eliminate jobs is a very difficult one. Our people are the foundation of everything we have achieved and we place the highest value on the commitment and hard work that you have dedicated to building this company. But we believe these job eliminations are crucial to our ability to adjust the company’s cost structure so that we have the resources to drive future profitable growth. I encourage you to attend tomorrow’s Town Hall at 9am PST in Café 34 or watch the webcast.

While this is the most challenging economic climate we have ever faced, I want to reiterate my confidence in the strength of our competitive position and soundness of our approach.

With these changes in place, I feel confident that we will have the resources we need to continue to invest in long-term computing trends that offer the greatest opportunity to deliver value to our customers and shareholders, benefit to society, and growth for Microsoft.

With our approach to investing for the long term and managing our expenses, I know Microsoft will emerge an even stronger industry leader than it is today.

Thank you for your continued commitment and hard work.

Steve”

(Source: http://blogs.zdnet.com/microsoft/?p=1833&tag=nl.e589)