Passport Control

Classic Peanuts

Oldest Mother Dies At 69 Orphaning Twin IVF Babies

Single mother María Carmen del Bousada de Lara, a retired shop worker from Cadiz in Spain, has died at the age of 69, orphaning her two and a half year old twin sons that she gave birth to at the age of 66 after receiving IVF treatment at an American fertility clinic.

Bousada's family told the Spanish newspaper Diario de Cadiz that she died on Saturday but gave no details.

Bousada's death, which according to the Spanish newspaper is thought to be from cancer, has reignited the debate about allowing older women to undergo fertility treatment. The newspaper said she was diagnosed with cancer shortly after giving birth to Christian and Pau at Sant Pau hospital in Barcelona on 29 December 2006.

After the births, Bousada told a Spanish television programme that the drugs she took during the IVF treatment probably helped the cancer to spread. She said however that she had no regrets.

Bousada went to America to have in vitro fertilization treatment in early 2006, after selling her house in Cadiz to help pay for it. She later admitted lying about her age: she told doctors who treated her at the Pacific Fertility Centre in Los Angeles that she was 55.

According to a report in Times Online, one of the doctors, Vicken Sahakian, told the press later that Bousada had presented fake documents showing she was 55 years old. Sahakian said:

"If I had known her real age I would not have treated her."

However, according to the Diario de Cadiz report, Bousada had said that nobody at the Los Angeles clinic had asked to see her passport, nor had they asked for proof of her age.

The first stage of her treatment involved hormone treatment to reverse the menopause: she had not had a period for nearly 20 years. Bousada said later that it felt strange to have a period after so much time.

The Spanish paper reported that during the final stages of her pregnancy doctors were worried and even feared for her life. However, the babies were born with no complications, apart from having to spend one month in incubators.

Bousada's brother, Ricardo said yesterday that his sister's fight against cancer will be covered in a story that has been sold to a Spanish television channel. He did not give details about the exact cause of his sister's disease and said that the money from the deal would help provide for his orphaned nephews.

Bousada's family will most likely care for the two boys; there is speculation that younger cousins thought to be in their thirties or forties will take on the role.

The news has provoked fresh calls for an upper age limit for fertility treatment in Spain, where family values are important, said a Times Online report.

Nuria Terribas of the Borja Bioethics Institute told the press that:

"We think a limit of 45 should be established in law."

"Cases like this not only create physical dangers for the mother but many family complications," added Terribas.

Josep Torrence of the progressive Catholic organization Iglesia Plural said that leaving children unprotected should not be allowed.

"What is needed are stricter controls to stop this happening again," he added.

After her twin boys were born, Bousada reportedly told UK's The News of the World that she expected to live a long life.

"My mother lived to 101 years old and I have every reason to believe longevity runs in my family," she said, even joking that she might live to see her grandchildren.

According to Diario de Cadiz, Bousada had cared for her mother until her death in 2005 and it was only then that she felt she could go ahead and realize her dream to have children. When she told a small circle of friends what she was going to do, nobody believed her, and said it would be impossible, reported the newspaper.

Bousada asked that people not judge her, when she commented about the surprised reactions she evoked when people saw she was pregnant.

According to a BBC report, when Bousada gave birth she was 66 years and 358 days old, which is 130 days older than Adriana Iliescu of Romania who gave birth to a baby girl in 2005.

Show Them To Me

Inside The Space Station

Lesbian couple win fight for IVF on the NHS

A Lesbian couple have won the right to IVF on the NHS after a legal tussle, ahead of laws that will put same-sex patients on an equal footing with heterosexuals.

The couple, who remain anonymous, had to go through a legal fight to push the NHS to fund IVF because, at the moment, individual trusts decide whether they wish to pay for treatment for lesbians.

The couple were initially refused IVF by their primary care trust because they were of the same sex. One of the women had polycystic ovarian syndrome, which disrupts ovulation, and is one of the most common causes of infertility.

From October, clinics will no longer be able to block lesbians by referring to a child’s “need for a father”. Instead, same-sex couples will need to demonstrate only that they can offer “supportive parenting”.

If NHS trusts continue to deny lesbians fertility treatment after this date they face possible legal action.

Ruth Hunt, head of policy at Stonewall, the lesbian, gay and bisexual charity, said: “The changes in the law should mean that no infertile lesbian is refused NHS fertility treatment on the grounds of her sexual orientation.

“We have just published a guide on how to get pregnant for lesbians in response to lots of queries. This is a hot topic for us at the moment.”

While same-sex couples have won new rights, many heterosexual couples continue to be denied IVF on the NHS. Only 27% of trusts offer heterosexual couples three cycles of treatment as recommended by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence, the NHS guidance body.

If lesbians are fertile they can usually conceive by intrauterine insemination (IUI), the medical name for donor insemination. This is less complicated than IVF, which involves fertilising eggs in a test tube. IUI is also cheaper,at about £700 per attempt compared with £3,000 per cycle of IVF.

The lesbian couple enlisted David Herbert, a partner at the law firm Lester Aldridge, when they were denied IVF on the grounds that they were of the same sex. The trust reversed its decision in June.

Herbert said: “Discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation is contrary to the Human Rights Act and the Equality Act. There is an element of conflict in the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990 which requires clinics to consider a child’s ‘need for a father’.

“This was used historically to justify denying treatment to same-sex couples. The ‘need for a father’ element is just about to be removed on the grounds that it is discriminatory. The assessment will be for ‘supportive parenting’, which will come into force in October.”

The government’s equality watchdog, the Equality and Human Rights Commission, took an interest and offered its support to the couple.

This is the second known case in which lesbians have been given fertility treatment after a legal fight. In February a Scottish couple forced Greater Glasgow and Clyde NHS health board to offer them treatment.

Criss Angel - The Card trick

Missed The Runway

Opening Closed Baggage-Tips and Tricks!

How a Woman Changes Car Tyres?

How A Man Changes Car Tyres?

Shall We Dance?

What is That?

The Reason Why MJ Got A Heart Attack!

MJ in Heaven

The Pianists

Greatest impromptu piano duet by a 90-year-old couple in the Mayo Clinic lobby you'll hear today. Cool tag because there is no AWESOME tag!

Taga

This is another invention from the Holy Land! Israelis cease to amaze me!!!! Shalom!

Mr Jason Wood, Labor Minister in the Aussie Parliament

Classic Peanuts

Toilet Talk

I was barely sitting down when I heard a voice from the other stall saying: *'Hi, how are you?'
I'm not the type to start a conversation in the restroom. I don't know what got into me, but I answered, somewhat embarrassed,* 'Doin' just fine!' * And the other person says:* 'So what are you up to?'
What kind of question is that? At that point, I'm thinking this is too bizarre so I say: 'Uhhh, I'm like you, just sitting here.'
At this point I am just trying to get out as fast as I can when I hear another question: 'Can I come over?'
Ok, this question is just too weird for me. I figured I could politely end the conversation. I say: No........I'm a little busy right now!!!'
Then I hear the person say, nervously: 'Listen, I'll have to call you back. There's an idiot in the other stall who keeps answering all my questions !!'

And You Thought You Were Having A Bad Day

Jesus is watching you

A burglar broke into a house and shone his flashlight around looking for valuables.

He picked up a CD player when a strange, disembodied voice echoed from the dark saying: 'Jesus is watching you.' He nearly jumped out of his skin, clicked off his flashlight and froze.

When he heard nothing more he continued. Just as he pulled the stereo out he heard: 'Jesus is watching you.'

Freaked out, he shined his light around frantically. Finally, in the corner of the room his light beam came to rest on a parrot.

Did you say that?' he hissed at the parrot. 'Yep,' the parrot confessed, then squawked, 'I'm just trying to warn you that he's watching you.'

The burglar relaxed. 'Warn me, huh? Who in the world are you?'

'Moses,' replied the bird.

Moses?' the burglar laughed. 'What kind of people would name a bird Moses?'

"The kind that would name a Doberman as Jesus."

The Booty Caller Texts You When to Make Babies

As my friends reach that point in life when they make babies (voluntarily), I can't help but be remiss that I didn't spot The Booty Caller earlier to lend a hand with conception.

The Booty Caller is a series of text messages (3 per menstrual cycle) that lets women know when they're most likely to be fertile and provide helpful fertility advice. This is the first time that ovulation alerts have been sent to cell phones — We tell you when, you decide where!

Booty Caller is a series of 18 text messages (three per menstrual cycle) that lets women know when they're most likely to be fertile and provides helpful fertility advice. When women sign up for Booty Caller, they will begin to receive text messages to their phone. Sample messages include:

• "Your fertile window starts in 1 week. Find out if your chances of getting pregnant are better in the morning."

• "Your fertile window opens today and lasts 5 more days. Stress can get in the way of conception so relax and get a massage, meditate, or take a yoga class."

• "Today is your last fertile day! If you get pregnant during this cycle, your due date will be on or around 6.25.2009.”

We're guessing that other messages include:

• You are fertile today. You will not be fertile tomorrow. Relax, this is your absolute last chance for a child.

• Tomorrow, you will be fertile. Today, you should deploy all necessary website blockers on your partner's computer.

• In this economy, are you really sure?

IAmAMan Period-Tracking iPhone App for Sleazy, Shameless "Players"

Lady-time tracking apps are nothing new, but they're typically packaged as fertility trackers, or something actually useful. Not iAmAMan, which shamelessly declares it "will help you with your private life planning" by tracking several girls.

Just in case one of your "girlfriends" asks you to open up the app—which requires a password—each girl can be set with their own separate password, so when you punch it in, it only looks like you're tracking her. Which, you know, even by itself, is still pretty sleazy and should clue her in that you're a total dirtball.

I'm actually trying to figure out how iAmAMan got into the app store when a book with some mildly bad language didn't—iAmAMan, from the title to the function, is way worse, or at least way more douchey. If you buy it, you're officially a sad little man.

The Making of an Art Gallery

Today is my birthday. I'm in Rajasthan with my camera. I decided to spend my 46th birthday surrounded by Indian heritage and Indian art. I also decided to gift myself my own retirement plan this year - something that was incubating in my head - refused to get out for possibly over 20 years now! I decided to gift myself an Art Gallery at Lavasa! This is what I always wanted to do besides Assisted Reproduction. This story is about the making of one of the finest art galleries-to-be on the Indian sub-continent. I used to have a romantic notion of what it would be like to own an art gallery. To be surrounded with great art everyday, to work with artists I love, and to sell art to people that love art as much as me....But it's not as easy as it sounds.
I haven't owned an art gallery or worked at one, but I have had a close friend whos an artist to take me through the nitty-gritties of running one. Which took all of the romanticism out of the idea. There's marketing, hanging, organizing the opening, air-smooching, air kissing, and when it's all up and running, it's just like looking after a shop. We shall cross the bridge when we come to it. The tentative date of launch being January 2010.




"The best art dealers are not salesmen in the classic sense of the word. Their passion and their connoisseurship and their knowledge have to combine to convince someone to acquire something that has no ostensible function in life, and that's not always an easy thing to do. It is distinct from the normal business world because of that."
-Anonymous

In the three years of being associated with Lavasa and the team-Lavasa, I found only one more person who had as much passion for making Lavasa an art hub. He has far bigger plans than I have because he is the man who gave shape to his vision - Mr Ajit Gulabchand. He has plans to make an art-village in Lavasa that will celebrate Maharashtrian culture, art as well as everything Indian!

I have smaller dreams - getting Lavasa on the world art map with a well run art-gallery with India's best "Artist-in-Residence' program. It has taken almost two years on planning on the drawing boards. Pure passion and foolhardy financial courage (according to my wife!) has shaped the destiny of the art-gallery-to-be! There is a gallery I've seen in a small town in Mexico which is a family run operation, a small gallery that does everything from emerging to recognized international artists and they seem to do it as a labor of love.. that is where I'm aimed.. I think it is good to think outside the box. after all that is what we do when we create an art concept or painting, sculpture .. so why not think of creating a gallery in the same way..

We are now short-listing the staff at Lavasa - I am looking for an ex-art-teacher or a passionate art-lover who would not mind re-locating to Lavasa. For like-minded individuals, here are my requirements for the Vice-President, Art:

* If your motivation is purely financial, forget it. There are far too
many uncertainties in art.
* Those without any prior art back-ground need not apply.
* You have to be passionate about it. The "merely interested' won't cut it.
* You have to have a precise focus.
* In Lavasa, you have to be equally certain of loving the place more than the job.
* You have to have the ability to make both artists and collectors comfortable
with you.
* Then, if there is a secret ingredient, here it is: You have to have "a good eye."
* In conclusion, you need a wide range of skills, you need to work hard, and
you can't imagine for a moment that this going to be easy.
* You have to get along with your boss - however crazy he might look on
first appearance!

A couple of years ago, the Indian newspapers, magazines, TV channels & tabloids were full of art-news - Art was being projected as the next-get-rich-quick-sure-shot recipe.This is no get-rich-quick business.As Heller put it, There are so many better ways to make money. You either have to have a lot of savings, be personally wealthy or have backers because its very expensive.Indeed, the start-up costs are significant, which, for many gallerists, means outside funding is essential to get going. I think you have to have a reasonable amount of money before starting a gallery, rather than starting a gallery to make a lot of money. That way you can afford to show art that might be more daring and less commercial. After 19 years of private practice as a fertility physician, I dared to invest a large part of my savings into art. It is almost like my second innings in life going through my post-graduation exams all over again! The reading is more than what I remember reading in my Medical college years! I hope we get a stream of high-rollers & art lovers with good taste coming up to Lavasa. Yes, it's tough to sell art to people that have no taste or no money. It takes a lot of money to do the real thing, and connections with wealthy buyers who also have taste. For the poor and the tasteless we have poster stores. But, if it's any consolation, many of our museums show atrocities that will only be remembered in their own archives. These big organizations seem to be bent on abusing the attention of the public in the name of educating them. They are just following the crowd of other groupies to show overrated but well packaged crap. For instance, Dale Chihuly, a likeable guy with a big rep. But come on - he's over-rated. He fills up space in public areas that need "something different". What does a guy with 10 assistants have to show for his endless and repetitive production of mildly ornamental forms in glass? Chihuly has some good things but they are buried beneath the storm of mediocrity that he gets paid to ship and install. There is a dilution of art due to too much crap out there for the masses to digest. I remember Helen May Glickenstein - an art dealer from Virginia, USA telling me that until you have too many artists and too many collectors as a private dealer, do not open a space. I have not taken that advice very seriously. The most important thing is the real passion for what it is you are planning to embark on, because it is an emotional roller-coaster ride. If there is a single, basic requirement, this is it! You have to love art in some way or another to do it. I went into it because I like talking to artists and being with artists, and I like helping artists further their careers.

There are hundreds of galleries in India, dealing in dozens of different genres.You need to be certain of your area of specialization and stick to it.One of the most important [requirements] is to define the vision for the business as distinctly and succinctly as possible.From there, the rest generally falls in to place.I know that I will not dabble in Indian art - my focus is getting global art to India!I spent years finding the artists across five continents who I was interested in and figuring out what my eye was about and what my point of view was and how that all came together.I did not want to start in a cubby hole in Mumbai.I wanted to establish a gallery with huge open spaces. Mumbai was impossible with the real-estate as pricey as Manhattan. God got Nathan Andrews to sit next to me at an RCI dinner - next I met the Late Himanshu Saxena who was so very passionate about Lavasa. Then I followed my heart -
Lavasa is, unquestionably, the most beautiful hill-station in this part of the world, and in such a crowded field in India, it can be difficult for a newcomer to get noticed. I know & believe that Lavasa will give me an opportunity to teach, live and discover Art.

You have to have the ability to make both artists and collectors comfortable with you.Everybody talks a lot about how important interpersonal skills are: Both artists and collectors tend to be pretty demanding characters, and you have to be able to bridge the gap between them. More than that, you have to want to. I have been mingling, eating, socializing and going on vacations with my artist friends across the world. They are all looking forward to spending quality time painting their symphonies at Lavasa. Artists don't want to show with someone they don't feel a connection to. You have to understand the work. You also have to understand collectors.Art is the ultimate luxury item, lets face it, so we want everybody to feel safe and secure when they are spending a lot of money on a work of art.

I want to make contemporary art accessible. The fact of the matter is most people dont know that much about art, and most people do not have a vast art history background. I decided that I was going to build an art gallery where artists were going to be there talking about their work, and I wanted it to be enriching. The gallery will was really a hybrid between education and a gallery. Certainly you have to be able to recognize quality in a work of art in its own terms - pictorial, sculptural, etc.but you also have to be able to comprehend it as a means of communication. You have to be able to appreciate how it sits within a cultural context, and how it relates to other art and other cultural objects and events. And then, as a dealer, you have to be able to comprehend art as a commodity: Will it sell? Its quite a balancing act. You really need a wide range of skills, you need to work hard, and you cant imagine for a moment that this going to be easy.

The most important thing when establishing an art gallery is to be patient.
It is a business that takes time to flourish. You need time to establish connections with various art collectors, to market the gallery and find really good art that actually sells. A lot of it apart from running the actual 'shop' and having to deal with the day to day organization / management side of it, is PR. You have to devote quite a chunk of your time to PR the gallery. We take PR very seriously and have a lot of social media initiatives in place to let the world know that the "Ginger Giraffe" has come into this world! We had 9 months of solid research to choose the appropriate name for my baby - Ginger Giraffe is getting ready for a baby shower!










We had a Mexican firm jointly design the Ginger Giraffe with Toezer Contractor. Leonardo Diaz Borioli & Gerardo Sanchez Sendra from Guadalajara's well known architectural design firm - Estudio Pi did the basic design. They were flown into India and spent time with the Lavasa Infrastructure team onsite in Portofino C. We hosted them in Mumbai and the Lavasa Corporation hosted them at their offices and congratulated them on their singular achievement of getting in Mexican art-forms and architecture for the first time into India since after Independence. The pictures here show Mr Rajgopal Nogja and Mr Nathan Andrews accepting the first blue-prints of the Ginger Giraffe design.

Leonardo Diaz-Borioli is from Mexico and a founding director of the global architecture firm ESTUDIO 3.14 with offices in Mexico and France. His studies took him to Florence, in Italy, Cambridge and Princeton in the United States, and Guadalajara in Mexico. Leonardo holds a Science Master of Architectural Studies from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a second post-professional degree from Princeton University and is currently a PhD. candidate in the history theory and criticism of art, architecture, and urban form at Princeton University.Both his academic and design practices have been published in Europe, the United States, and
México and he is the recipient of numerous awards that include architectural
biennials and prestigious fellowships and grants. Leonardo is a specialist
on Mexican architect Luis Barragán that is the topic of an upcoming book to
be published in Mexico by the ministry of culture.

Gerardo Sánchez-Sendra, his partner and CEO of the global architectural firm ESTUDIO 3.14 holds a Master in Business Administration from the Instituto Panamericano de Alta Dirección de Empresa (IPADE), a professional degree in Architecture from the Instituto Tecnologico de Estudios Superiores de Occidente (ITESO) and is an attendant to MIT professional Development courses on Real State. A teacher on the school of architecture in the “Instituto Tecnológico de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey” (ITESM) since 2007, his previous research includes “Suprematismo Re-Visiones”, a study on the Russian Suprematist movement.




























Why Mexican architects & why Mexican architecture? The Ginger Giraffe has some other unique distinctions - singular to India! We are launching India's first Sergio Bustamante boutique within the Ginger Giraffe. Sergio Bustamante is to Mexico what Mahendra Singh Dhoni is to India! American Express carries TV commercials with Mr Sergio Bustamante across Latin America. Though born in Culiacan, Sinaloa, Mexico, Sergio Bustamante has lived in the Guadalajara area since early childhood. In his youth, he studied architecture at the University of Guadalajara, but abandoned this pursuit when his talents and interests drew him to the fine arts and crafts. He began with paintings and paper mache figures, inaugurating the first exhibit of his works at the Galeria Misracha in Mexico City in 1966. In the early 1970's, he traveled to Amsterdam, where he further developed his talents. After his return to Guadalajara, he established in 1975, along with other artists, the "Family Workshop Studio" in Tlaquepaque, Jalisco, Mexico.

While Bustamante's works initially focused on painting and paper mache, his talents inevitably led, in the mid-1970's, to the creation of sculptures in wood and bronze, many reflecting animal themes. 1979 marked the inauguration of innovative furniture designs in wood and glass with bronze accents, currently available in distinctive patterns and motifs. The creation of ceramic sculptures in the mid-1980's provided avenues for the use of color and form in ways not previously explored. In 1992, the initiation of an extensive line of exquisite jewelry in bronze, gold and silver, many set with precious and semi-precious stones and, again, often reflecting animal themes, marked a new and expansive direction for his creations. In this same year, a new series of paper mache sculptures was introduced. In the new millennium, Bustamante continues to explore uncharted paths for the further expression of his uniquely imaginative and gifted talents.Each piece belongs to a limited edition and is created by hand, therefore unique. A certificate of authenticity duly signed by the artists itself is attributed to each sculpture. All works are of very good quality, and pieces of small and big size up to four (4) meters high are available in the collection. It is amazing how Sergio Bustamante can project all that magic and fascination to each one of his works.

The art collection of many private residences, public buildings, and museums in every part of the planet has been enriched by Sergio Bustamante’s works. The Mexican government even elected them for official gifts to state governors and to high personalities. His works are more and more wanted around the globe (Mexico, United States, Japan, Europe, and recently Russia); therefore they will probably increase in value over the next years. The Ginger Giraffe will be the first step for Sergio Bustamante into the country that he loves & admires & had always longed to display his art in! We welcome Sergio Bustamante to India! Lavasa loves you, Sergio!

Speed Bandits

Mailing List

Radiology Art

Stuelke—a medical student and artist—started this project back in the summer of 2007, using the four-slice General Electric scanner at Cornell. He uses the scanner when nobody is using it for more serious tasks than capturing the most intimate guts of these mundane objects. Stuelke then processes the resulting DICOM images—the standard file format in radiology and tomography—in an iMac, using a software called Osirix.

The results, as you can see in the gallery and the videos, are at times surprising, at times spooky, but always beautiful.