Football soccer is the world’s sport and fans of the game can be very passionate.

FIFA, the International Federation of Football Association, is a powerful, wealthy body, and in some cases stronger than country governments. Just look at what FIFA has demanded of South Africa and more recently Brazil to “allow” these countries to host the Word Cup. As it happened in South Africa, Brazil is spending an incredible amount of money in stadiums and infrastructure and had to change local laws allowing alcoholic beverages in stadiums, in order to host the 2014 World Cup, because of FIFA marketing agreements with beer companies.

But I had no idea that football soccer exceeded wars until I lived in England...

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I was looking for a house and while inspecting it, I noticed some water damage. I went outside to look for the source of the infiltration when I noticed the next door neighbor. I walked to his driveway, introduced myself and asked him questions about the house I was interested. Community, schools, home owner association, etc. He was very nice.

I thought the guy was from India. He was thin and looked to be in good shape. I asked if he practiced yoga. He said no, but he told me that for all his life he was always thin and that he exercised regularly. And then, out of the blue, he confided to me that he had prostate cancer surgery recently and that also contributed to his current weight.

What do you do you do in a situation like this? You need to show some sympathy. Right?

So, I said:  “Hummm…. This can really mess up one’s sex life”. How about that for sympathy?

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Before accepting the invitation to go Hungary to participate in the Figyelö 2012 CIO Forum (read about it on The Practical CIO website), I did not know that Budapest was in reality two cities in one. Buda in one side of the Danube and Pest on the other. Actually Budapest consists of three cities, but nobody talks about the third one Óbuda (literally old Buda), which is located a little further north. Buda and Pest mean oven in two different languages, this is due to the fact that they sit on top of a thin crust of earth above thermal springs. As a result you can find in Budapest thermal baths that date from the Roman time. The Turks also built bath houses in Budapest during their long stay in Hungary. Buda is more than 2,000 years old while Pest was built in the last 200 years.

In my short visit, I became fascinated by this beautiful city, its history and the friendly people of Budapest.

Hungary, prior to world war I, was three times bigger than it is today and in the late 1800s early 1900s experienced major construction growth. Because of that and due to a law requiring 40% of a building cost to be spent in the façade, all buildings in Budapest, some renovated, some in need of repair, look magnificent. The city has several parks and plazas all filled with huge bronze statues. You can even find a seven foot bronze statue of Ronald Reagan in a charming plaza, named Freedom Square, which probably on purpose, also features one of the few remaining monuments left by the soviets.

Budapest was the second city in the world to build a subway. Subway Line one, that goes from the center of the city to the hero's park, was constructed in 1896 behind London and ahead of Paris for more than 4 years.

Hungary was created after the fall of the Roman Empire, by nomadic tribes arriving from Central Asia. History says that seven chieftains of these tribes got together and formed Hungary. Hungarians say that the nomadic tribes are Huns (remember Attila the Hun?) and that is why the country is called Hun-gary. I read however that the tribes were called Magyars and that nobody knows exactly who they were and were they came from. A mystery that makes Budapest and Hungary even more fascinating.

Parliament Building

Sunday Tango on the street

Terror Building

Seven Chieftains

If you have a chance, visit Budapest. Bring your camera. I am sure you will love it, as I did.

Read the article posted on The Practical CIO on how anonymous authors are using e-mail and the internet to publish their work borrowing from celebrity author identities...                                                                                        

Where did I see a painting or watercolor similar to this photo? If you seen it somewhere, let me know. Click on Contact above and send me an e-mail or add a comment below.

Download full size image for personal use. Commercial or any other type of use, not allowed: Unsuspecting Cruise Passengers Full Size.JPG (4.60 mb) [Downloads: 703]

Very interesting what is happening politically in Brazil right now. If you are Brazilian or have a Brazilian friend, you probably have received an incredible amount of e-mails related to the presidential election. First round of the election took place early in the month and the second round to selected one of the two final candidates will take place at the end of the month.

I do not recall another election where Brazilians are so involved and so extremely divided. What is remarkable is that the two parties disputing the second round are both socialists and not very different in their views, but nevertheless when you look at the e-mails it is like they are in opposite extremes. Situation is so heated that recently one of the presidential candidates while in campaign was hit when someone throw stones at him. Even more remarkable is that the debate tend to focus on president that is departing and the prior president and not so much on the candidates that are disputing the election.

I am an optimistic and view what is happening as an indication that Brazil is growing not only economically but also politically. However at the same time, given all the issues of the political process in Brazil I wonder is this is really the case.

Visit the CIO Talk Radio to listen to Building an Externally Focused IT Team, featured in this week's show.  Sanjou Aul was the show host and guest participants were Merv Tarde, VP, Information Technology and Chief Information Officer, Interstate Battery of America, Inc and José Carlos Eiras.

Staff of the CIO Magazine, in it's May 15 edition recommends The Practical CIO Book.

Webcasts titled "The Practical CIO Series" sponsored by Resources Global Professionals were broadcasted on the months of March, April and May 2010. Webcasts included the following Practical CIO topics:

• Successful IT Leadership
• IT Cost Reduction and IT Cost Effectiveness
• IT Teaming and Governance

A seminar on IT Teaming and IT Governance plus IT Cost Reduction and IT Cost Effectiveness will take place in Tampa, Florida on June 9, 2010 with the participation of CIOs and IT Executives from the Florida West Coast.