Men at Work stole Down Under
Australian band Men at Work copied a well-known children's campfire song for the flute melody in its 1980s hit Down Under and owes the owner years of royalties, a court ruled today (The Guardian). I'm going to have that song in my head for the rest of the day. My guess is their i-Tunes sales of the song get a spike.
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Good Humor/To Do List from our summer intern, Kevin Arbogast.
1.) At lunch time, sit in your parked car with sunglasses on and point a hair dryer at passing cars. See if they slow down.
2.) Page yourself over the intercom. Don't disguise your voice!
3.) Everytime someone asks you to do something, ask if they want fries with that.
4.) Put decaf in the coffee maker for three weeks. Once everyone has gotten over their caffeine addictions, switch to espresso.
5.) In the memo field of all your checks, write "For Marijuana."
6.) Skip down the hall rather than walk. See how many looks you get.
7.) Order a diet water whenever you go out to eat, with a serious face.
8.) Specify that your drive through order is "To go."
9.) Sing along at the Opera.
10.) Five days in advance, tell your friends you can't attend their party because you have a headache.
11.) When the money comes out of the ATM, scream "I won, I won!
12.) When leaving the Zoo, start running towards the parking lot, yelling "run for your lives, they're loose!"
13.) Tell your children over dinner, "Due to the economy, we are going to have to let one of you go."
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Cisco Systems reported stronger earnings relative to expectations than I've seen since they were a emerging growth story in the early 90's. Earnings came in five cents better than expected revenues driven by a broad based improvement across all product lines and market geographies. For most of that last ten years, Cisco has religiously come in a penny above expectations.
The breadth of what they are seeing in terms of results should at the very least provide some support on the downside and hopefully reduce worries that remain over the prospects of a double dip. Visa and Starwood Hotels had similarly strong comments and results.