Just a Thought

The world cup football is something that really matters….I don’t exactly know why should 25 guys (22 + referees) running on an immaculate grass pitch is so interesting but the truth is that every one in the world cares about this event (OK, with exception of the Americans that don’t quite understand what is our football, their soccer). It must be our primitive eagerness of beating the other tribe and show that we are better.
With so much else to worry about, like the global warming, nuclear power, etc, it seems like know one really cares and football is what it matters for the next month. It seems that it is our country performance in the world cup that will save the world.
Having been at London Business School watching Portugal beating Angola in our first match was absolutely great and the prospect of watching the Euro2008 with all my future fellow mates was fantastic. It doesn’t really matter if we should be thinking about the global warming for that month. What will matters is that we all vibrate with this and therefore for sure it will be fantastic. For the moment I will continue vibrating for Portugal to do well in the World Cup.
By the way, I know Portugal didn’t play great and the game was a bit boring but the other crap game, at least until now, was the England-Paraguay. Again I don’t know exactly why but this gives some satisfaction. It is probably the fact that I will not have to listen the people at work saying that we didn’t play a thing……

Mundial

I am back.
I am very sorry for not having been posting for the last month but unforeseen events occurred and it was not possible to post.
Anyhow.. that really important time of every 4 years has arrived…The World Cup.The world cup is that sort of crazy and inexplicable event where everyone shows its really patriotism and I am obviously no exception and therefore…

VIVA PORTUGAL!!!
ATE OS COMEMOS

Two Rabbits in the easter

Fairy Tale!!

Not every fairy tale ends well...

Berlin

I am back!!!!!!!!! After a few days in German land...

Saturday was a bit of a rainy day but sunday was absolutely fantastic.
Walking for the first time in a place with so much modern history was an extraordinary experience. Though the Berlin Wall was still up some 17 years ago, nowadays is not very easy to find pieces of the old wall.
If in Berllin, do not leave the city without visiting the Chalie Check Point museum. In this museum you will read and see about several fantastic excape methods used by the eastern Berlin population in order to get to the weastern side. I also recommend a visit to the Reichstag. This piece of Norman Foster's architecure though very nice, I think it is a waste of money as it doesn't have any utilisation purpose. By contrast the TV tower built in 1969 is amazing in its height as well as a good demonstration of the russian 60's engineering.

Berlin Trip

This weekend my office organised a trip to Berlin in order to get everyone together in a more relaxing environment and to thank everyone for their hard work during the year.
I hope I will have a great time with the Germans, hope to see interesting architecture and museums. I will not loose the chance to have a good glance at the Olympiastadion.
I will post some pictures when I come back.
See you on Monday and sorry for not posting anything until then.

A good guide book

The other day, while speaking with a friend, this book was recommended to me. As I have some interest in this management and business stuff I bought it. The book is now in its 3rd edition and teaches all the expertise you need -- including a full chapter devoted to Ethics -- to succeed in today's competitive business world. The idea is to read one easy-to-understand chapter a day and master the skills taught in the top business schools at a fraction of the time and cost. The reading of the book dispenses MBA skills and MBA applicants and students use it to prepare for entrance interviews and tests; businesspeople, lawyers, and doctors use it to gain the MBA advantage without the time or the expense.
This revised edition includes updated sales, salary, and company information throughout. It also discusses areas such as the Internet, game theory, activity-based accounting, and advances in information technology. For the 300,000 budding MBAs annually and for anyone else who wants to "walk the walk and talk the talk" of the MBA, this is the ultimate MBA book of knowledge.

Benfica-Barcelona

It seems that against all odds Benfica is still in the run for the Champions League. As a portuguese I am obviously hoping Benfica to win the second leg game, although I believe a miracle will be needed..

Menelaw Sete

click here to know more about Menelaw Sete's painting

Mozambique in the Commonwealth?!

During the weekend, while watching the closing ceremony of the Commonwealth games, I noticed one intriguing thing. Mozambique, a former Portuguese Colony, is a member of the Commonwealth.
It seems that although membership requires having been a former dependency of the United Kingdom or a dependency of a dependency, former Portuguese colony Mozambique became a member 1995 under special circumstances due to Mozambique's willingness to support the Commonwealth's fight against apartheid in South Africa.

The crazy guys are back

Rossi is one of the best characters that has ever came into a sport. He has now, what many say, his hardest battle. He will have to beat the wonder boy from Spain. Pedrosa, 20, has been having a meteoric progression in his career winning almost as many GPs as Rossi won when he got into MotoGP. Let's wait and see....

English mother's day

Tomorrow is the english mother's day and one question that came to my head was why did this celebrating day started and why it differes from country to country.
The earliest Mother's Day celebrations can be traced back to the spring celebrations of ancient Greece in honor of Rhea, the Mother of the Gods. During the 1600's, England celebrated a day called "Mothering Sunday". Celebrated on the 4th Sunday of Lent (the 40 day period leading up to Easter) "Mothering Sunday" honored the mothers of England. During this time many of the England's poor worked as servants for the wealthy. As most jobs were located far from their homes, the servants would live at the houses of their employers. On Mothering Sunday the servants would have the day off and were encouraged to return home and spend the day with their mothers. A special cake, called the mothering cake, was often brought along to provide a festive touch. As Christianity spread throughout Europe the celebration changed to honor the "Mother Church" - the spiritual power that gave them life and protected them from harm. Over time the church festival blended with the Mothering Sunday celebration . People began honoring their mothers as well as the church. While many countries of the world celebrate their own Mother's Day at different times throughout the year, there are some countries such as Denmark, Finland, Italy, Turkey, Australia, and Belgium which also celebrate Mother's Day on the second Sunday of May.

Why do clocks go forward

Clocks change by an hour on Saturday night in many parts of the world to mark the end of so-called "daylight saving time" in the northern hemisphere, and the start of summer in the south.
But despite its widespread adoption, this enforced time change still creates controversy around the globe.
The American inventor and politician, Benjamin Franklin, first came up with the idea of daylight saving time in 1784.
What would Mr Franklin have made of this daylight pursuit?He noted that people were wasting daylight hours on summer mornings by lying in bed and that if clocks were put forward then there would be more light in the evenings when people would be around to enjoy it.
Germany was the first country to formally introduce the idea in 1915 to cut lighting and energy costs by having longer summer evenings.
Since then the system has been adopted by about 70 countries around the world, mainly in Europe and North America.

By John Duce of BBC Science

Porto in the Cup Final!!!!

China's current building boom is doing more than sucking up the world's supply of steel -- it's creating a stage for some of today's boldest architecture and engineering. This is the TV Tower designed by no others than Rem Koolhaas and Arup.

Financial times report

Financial times has just released its 2006 Portugal financial report

http://news.ft.com/reports/portugal2006

SPRING!!!!!!

And finally the spring starts...
this weekend hour changes and the days are getting bigger and bigger. ..

L'oreal vs body shop

After portuguese bank BCP offer to take over Portuguese bank BPI and the Sonae Group offer over Portugal Telecom it is the time for L'oreal eyeing Body Shop for a take over.
I like this fashion thing...And this take over business seems to be on fire.

Nuclear energy

There has been a huge interest in the rebirth of nuclear energy. Lately, Russia and the US have spearheaded a call for increased nuclear power to provide a more secure energy supply for the world.
Having in mind the non US agreement to the Kyoto protocol, Green groups said that nuclear fuel would fail to provide a sustainable energy future or prevent climate change.
However, nuclear energy produces both operational and decommissioning wastes, which are contained and managed. Although experience with both storage and transport over half a century clearly shows that, presently, there is no technical problem in managing any civil nuclear wastes without environmental impact, the question has become political, focussing on final disposal. In fact, nuclear power is the only energy-producing industry which takes full responsibility for all its wastes, and costs this into the product - a key factor in sustainability.
Ethical, environmental and health issues related to nuclear wastes are topical, and their prominence has tended to obscure the fact that such wastes are a declining hazard, while other industrial wastes retain their toxicity indefinitely.
Regardless of whether particular wastes remain a problem for centuries or millennia or forever, there is a clear need to address the question of their safe disposal. If they cannot readily be destroyed or denatured, this generally means that they need to be removed and isolated from the biosphere. This may be permanent, or retrievable.
An alternative view asserts that indefinite surface storage of wastes under supervision is preferable because progress towards successful geological disposal would simply encourage continued use and expansion of nuclear energy. This however is simply another case where ideological opposition to nuclear energy is more important to its detractors than dealing effectively with wastes to achieve high levels of safety and security, and further, ensuring that each generation deals with its own wastes. The wider question of alternative low-CO2 means of producing base-load electricity tends not to be addressed, beyond wildly unrealistic projections for renewables.
A joint statement released by G8 ministers said: "For those countries that wish, wide-scale development of safe, nuclear energy is crucial for long-term, environmentally sustainable diversification of energy supply." I think that having this statement on mind is very clear that Portugal has to move quickly towards the development of nuclear energy. If in the end there is a problem with nuclear energy than Spain already has its own nuclear plant that would affect the Portuguese territory anyway…

St. Patrick's Day

Today Ireland will be drunk by mid day and dancing jigs and reels in the streets.
How I envy a good break holliday!!!!

If the World was smaller...

Ever wish the world was smaller so you could be closer to your dearest? If yes, I think its time for you, your friends and family move to Dubai. This group of more than 250 man-made islands was designed to resemble the entire world when seen from the air. London would be so much closer to Portugal!!! Brasil would be just next door and China just 30 minutes by boat. The islands, which range from 250,000 to 900,000 square feet, can be bought by individual developers or private owners -- starting at €6.85 million.

Dear Liverpudlians

This post is mainly to comfort the sad Liverpudlians that saw their team being beaten by Benfica (a poor Portuguese team tabled in 3rd position in the Portuguese league) in the last 16 of the Champions League. So that you know Benfica is out of the Portuguese Cup after loosing yesterday night 1-0 to Victória de Guimarães (an even poor team tabled 3rd from the bottom in the Portuguese league)

Caravaggio

This weekend we went to Rome. It was my first time in Rome and therefore I had many expectations. As for Isabel it was her 3rd time in the city and for that reason she was my official guide.
We had a couple of great days and were able to see the touristiest sites in Rome. There was, however, one great moment that will stay in our minds for a long time, which was the walk around we did with Gonçalo (a future Jesuit priest). Gonçalo was able to transmit all is Catholic passion in one simple description about the The Calling of Saint Matthew. This painting is placed in the Contarelli Chapel, Church of San Luigi dei Francesi. Gonçalo, thank you for your time and explanation.

http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/caravaggio/calling/

Give a think about it

"The bread that remains useless in your home is the bread of the hungry one.
The jacket you have in your closet is the jacket of the naked one.
The shoes that you don’t use anymore are from the one that is barefoot.
The money you have saved is of the poor.
You do as many injustices as the ones you could transform in good acts."

São Basílio

The start of a new era

Hello people of the world.
THE VASCONCELOS IN LONDON blog has officially opened its doors to the world.
First of all, we have to say sorry for the more Portuguese nationalists about the official language of this blog, but the world is becoming increasingly global and therefore our recent friendships are also international.
We also believe that most of you must be thinking why the hell are these 2 writing a blog?!?
Well, the answer is actually quite obvious. Although living outside our home country has been an extraordinary experience for both of us, the distance has been preventing our friends and family to know more about our day to day lives. In addition to this, we will have the opportunity to receive your feedback regarding our thoughts about our political, social and professional surroundings as well as your comments concerning our trips.
We hope you all enjoy this idea and that our friendships get closer by yourselves reading this blog regularly.