today in brief

1. Meet Cleuza, from Sao Paolo (Brasil) and if you grasp even a little bit of Portuguese, check out the Vida e imagens [BR] blog and meet the people of Sao Paolo in photos and interviews. A great initiative I've yet to find in another language, via MadTeaParty [BR].

2. Daily Business calls Raluca Stroescu the first Romanian kamikaze manager [RO]. Raluca was found dead last Saturday by her Ernst & Young manager—who dropped by her home because she neither showed up at work, nor answered her phone. While her company does a very poor job at crisis management, and her doctors assess her condition as a lot more complex, Stroescu's colleagues and family tell the world that she died because of exhaustion. I wish I could give you a source in English, but the news didn't spark the interest of the international media yet. Karoshi. Learn to say no. Later update: news agency Mediafax finally published an article in English. Update, April 26th 2007: Hotnews and Ziua also published articles in English. I wonder when will the media get the basic facts right, to begin with? In some articles she was 29, in others 31; her manager found her on Saturday or perhaps on Sunday... Why the differences?

3. How does a senior PR from Edelman apologize to a senior journalist from PC Magazine? With honesty, facts, and grace.

4. Get a McTerrorist T-shirt. Via Tim Worstall.

5. An amazing vision on meetings from Seth Godin, including tips such as: I think most of the time, most meetings should be held without chairs. People standing up think more quickly and get distracted less often. And the meetings don't last as long.

6. Scoble explains why he hates partial feeds.

7. Scientists from Ben-Dor Fruits company in Israel have unveiled a genetically-engineered plum that packs a punch of 4 times the cancer-inhibiting anti-oxidants found in pomegranate seeds. [...] Besides the plum, other new fruits and vegetables "designed" for better health were also exhibited. Via TreeHugger.

8. According to Metropotam, the arena is being erected around People's Palace in Bucharest for the 19-20 May inauguration of the Romanian F3 ring [RO]. The competition called Grand Prix Masters will welcome F1 pilots older than 45 years, including Nigel Mensel. Tickets will start at EUR 20 and go as high as EUR 800.

9. Did you know the Lush story is well connected to that of The Body Shop? In the early 1990's, the small company was the largest supplier to the Body Shop until they bought him out. Then in 2001, Lush tried to buy Body Shop, his offer was dismissed by the Roddicks as "an early April Fool's joke" and they have not spoken since. Via TreeHugger.

10. Premieres: while Vodafone brings Rolling Stones to Romania this summer, Orange and Nokia are bringing Bob Sinclair, the DJ at Arenele Romane (Bucharest) on June 23rd.