Look what happens when you combine Japanese people, Nike, and Macintosh?

This is really cool!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uS1exujG3cY&feature=player_embedded

The boy with 31 fingers & toes

The 6-year-old boy, from the city of Shenyang in China's northeastern Liaoning province, has a total of 31 fingers and toes - 16 toes, and 15 fingers (although one of those fingers is incomplete, being a fork at the end of the right thumb.) Three fingers on each hand are fused together.

That beats the current world record of 25, held jointly by two Indian children, Pranamya Menaria and Devendra Harne, who both have 12 fingers and 13 toes.

But the boy will go under the surgeon's knife today to remove the additional digits, local media have reported.

The boy has a condition known as polydactyly, in which one of a variety of genetic disorders - which can be inherited, or new mutations - gives rise to the supernumerary digits.

Most commonly, the extra digits appear on the little finger side of the hand - but this boy appears to have the much rarer condition of central polydactyly, in which the middle fingers and toes are duplicated.

Thanks to Flemming

Well after one and a half years, I have have remembered my password - thanks Flemming!

I guess after reading about the boy in China with a record 31 fingers and toes in Metro today,

I kind of felt lucky :·)

Party

After weeks of negotiation, I finally agree a financial package with my eldest daughter where she can babysit her little brother for a fee! Saturday starts off with me walking up to Hellerup to collect my bike from outside my son's nursery, breakfast consists of egg & bacon plus warm rye bread. 

12 noon kick off, and a 4-2 home defeat in the last game of the season - I play my worst game, missing 3 "easy" chances for a player of my standard. "Sh*t happens!" "Saving the goals until next season!" are some of the comments from my team mates, as I drink my beer in the changing room in the knowledge that I am going to Jesper's 40th birthday party.

My youngest daughter has to be driven to a party in Rungsted starting at kl.17.00, so I put on my newly dry cleaned Aquascutum LTD suit, white shirt and tie - off we go! The navigation system tries its best to get me lost, but I follow my instincts and within 15 minutes, she is greeted enthusiastically by her class mates.

The party starts at kl.18.30 sharp - I get on my bike and off I go, within 300 metres I end up in the leaves. The car stops and the driver comes over to apologise, and in my "new life" I do not do anger, so I calmly explain to her that it was  not necessary to be in such a rush and surely she must of seen me :-) 5 minutes later, back on my bike and on the way to the party.

I'm late only 10 minutes, I great Jesper with a hug, take off my coat, put on my suit jacket and introduce myself to the fellow party goers. It is only then that I realise that I do not know anyone, apart from Jesper - this is going to be fun !

As per normal in any gathering of persons, they split up into cliques - there are 20 of us, all couples except Jesper, myself and the 2 women whose partners could not attend. I do the rounds, breaking into the cliques, listening and then with a greeting - get them to relax. Really, they know each other, so they should have learned by now that it should be their responsibility to welcome me, embrace and intergrate me into their network, but alas it always seems to be the other way around.

Dinner is supplied by outside catering company and all 3 courses were superb. Wine, both red and white are flowing and everyone is getting relaxed - Jesper makes his speech thanking us all for being his friend, and at the same time introducing each person and explaining how he knows each person. In my case, Jesper was working at my eldest daughter's nursery when I first came to Denmark. He had recently returned to Copenhagen from Rome where his (then) girlfriend was working for the Danish Embassy, and was re-posted to DK.

2 more speeches, dinner finished and the DJ arrives - now the party started. EVERYONE on the dance floor, smiling drinking and having fun - RESPECT! This is what a party is supposed to be like, everyone having fun - I cannot remember getting home, but I know that I did as my children woke me up at kl.8.30 to the sound of television.

Yesterday was spent, nursing a hangover!

And Chelsea lost at home 1-0 to Liverpool, the first time for almost 4 years - all good things come to an end, but as one door closes, another one opens.

Thanks Jesper for a super party - RESPECT is due to ALL your guests, without a doubt in my opinion, the party of the year!

Skinny models!

After a very long season, which began in mid June and only ended last weekend, even though to be honest, I still have 2 more clients to see - one in Milan and one in London, my dear colleague will do the appointments for me - thanks JB :-)

Show after show, both mens and women, the models are really, really skinny. When I spoke to a colleague in Milan about the shows, her comment was that there body was the same size as my 13 year old daughter! For me, the comment of the year - Suzy Menkes (fashion editor at the International Herald Tribune), commenting on the Prada show where several models struggled to walk the walk, maybe due to the heels or maybe their lack of nutrition! "................ the unfortunate model, whose figure, folding up like a pipe cleaner as she hit the concrete floor, made even the most seasoned fashionista squirm."

This brings a smile to my face every time - keep up the good work Ms Menkes - I love it!

Single By Choice!

A few weeks ago, I had lunch with a female friend who is in her 30's, single and attractive. At the start of the lunch she told me she was happy being single and she enjoyed her freedom. I then asked her whether she missed the intimacy of being in a loving relationship - and when I looked into her eyes I knew the answer!

If you believe what you read in the newspapers, then there has never been a better time to be a single man or woman. The term "spurmos" - straight, proud, unmarried men over 30 - is new to me, also "freemales" - women who are too busy having a good time to worry  or have time for relationships. I wonder how many spurmos and freemales are in my network of friends?

The stereotype of the single woman is of someone crying into her Chardonnay as she watches another episode of her Sex and the City box set, the stereotype of the single man is someone gallivanting through town from one wild and sexual affair to another.

In my opinion, both men and women want the same things: intimacy, the sense that there is someone to whom you are the most important person in the world, the person you call first thing in the morning and the last thing at night. Being single gives you freedom, but the truth is never like the fantasy :-) 

Are you single by choice?

Bitter Women

Time and time again I am hearing from my male friends about their ex. wife/girlfriends using their children as buffers against their true feelings of anger and "hate".

Today, I was contacted by my buddy in Berlin, who recently split up from his long time girlfriend, as he found a "younger model". All was going fine, he thought until yesterday, when she told him when he was about to collect his 18 month old son, that "she thinks it best that he only sees his son twice a week". Now tell me is this fair?

The father's role in a child's life has an important influence on the child's self-image, capacity to form positive relationships and moral development.

At the time of separation and divorce, mothers are often overwhelmed by the demands of a single parenthood and unable to provide for all the psychological or emotional needs of their children. In such cases, a continued relationship with an involved father can provide additional reassurance and nurturing during this difficult period. Boys who have lost close ties with their fathers often attain lower levels of academic achievement, have difficulty developing a healthy masculine self-image and demonstrate rebellious, aggressive and impulsive behaviour. Girls in this situation often have greater difficulty establishing and maintaining healthy and satisfying love relationship with males. They also tend to become sexually active at a younger age and have more sexual partners than girls whose fathers remain actively involved in their lives.

Daniel H. Swerdlow-freed, Ph.D