Two Mains and Two Soft Drinks | 4 Real Cheap

Two Mains and Two Soft Drinks

Glasgow ? While molecular gastronomy and Michelin-starred restaurants have their highlights, we?ve yet to encounter a single person who doesn?t prefer creamy, gooey macaroni cheese to dehydrated mackerel with artichoke foam and tomato ice cream. Enjoy some real comfort cooking with today?s deal: two main courses and two soft drinks at Cafe Ludovic for ?8 (a ?20 value). In this cosy, unpretentious spot on Lochleven Road, enjoy a selection of tasty options, including homemade steak pie with chips or mash, breaded haddock, and sirloin steak with hand-cut chips. Or sample the heavenly aforementioned mac cheese, or the popular-among-regulars spicy nachos with jalapenos and sour cream. When all?s said and done, your stomach will thank you ? but not as much as your wallet will.

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Tags: haddock, jalapenos, ludovic, macaroni cheese, mackerel, mash, michelin, michelin starred restaurants, molecular gastronomy, nachos, regulars, soft drinks, sour cream, steak pie, wallet

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Fathers are responsible for mother tongues

YOUR mother tongue may come from your father. The language of some cultures correlates with a prehistoric influx of foreign males. This is still reflected in the genetics of people today.

Written records are powerless to tell us about the evolution of language before writing was invented. Instead, Peter Forster and Colin Renfrew of the University of Cambridge wondered if changes could be traced via maternal or paternal genes, by studying mitochondrial DNA or Y-chromosome genes, respectively.

In a meta-analysis of studies that linked genetic markers to cultural heritage in North and Central America, Iceland, Australia, Africa and New Guinea, they found that only Y-chromosome DNA reflected the cultural origins of the local language. Iceland, for example, was colonised by Norse Vikings with women kidnapped from the British Isles. Most mitochondrial DNA found in Icelandic people today is similar to that in the British Isles, while Y chromosomes carry Scandinavian DNA. And the Icelandic language has Scandinavian roots, not English (Science, DOI: 10.1126/science.1205331).

The finding suggests an interesting trend, but it is hard to identify a global pattern from this small selection of studies, says evolutionary anthropologist Keith Hunley of the University of New Mexico. Linguist Claire Bowern of Yale University, meanwhile, points out that the societies covered by this study distribute power through the male line, and the opposite correlation may be found in societies run by females.

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A Mandarin Mamma Mia! brings Broadway to Shanghai.

Article from Financial Times

Mama Mia in Shanghai. Click image to expand.If there is such a thing as global culture, Mamma Mia! must be it. The songs are classics of the lingua franca of pop, familiar from Bujumbura to Beijing, and proof that even those who do not speak English can still spell Abba.

Now Mamma Mia! has arrived in China ? the first time that a Broadway-quality western musical has been performed in the language of the world's most populous nation. Classics such as "Money, Money, Money" are sung entirely in Chinese (apart from the word "money", which apparently needs no translation). A Chinese cast sings songs in Chinese in a show staged by a Chinese production company that is the commercial arm of the Ministry of Culture. It is a peculiar ? and in some ways uncomfortable ? fusion of east and west, but one that has been greeted rapturously by audiences in Beijing and Shanghai. Next month the production moves to Guangzhou, before returning to Shanghai on Christmas Eve.

Beijing hopes that the show ? which is being staged under licence from original producers Littlestar, and is under their artistic control ? will spark the creation of an indigenous musical theatre industry in China. Chinese producers United Asia Live Entertainment Co (UALE) say that box-office revenues so far stand at RMB26m (?2.58m, $4.06m), while it cost RMB70m to produce.

But the show has a bigger purpose than profit: it is part of a much larger drive towards a new Chinese creativity. Beijing wants China to move from faking things to making them ? from counterfeiting CDs to creating homegrown stage shows. The eventual goal is to produce Chinese musicals based on Chinese stories to export around the world ? and help China replace widgets in the trade balance.

Of course it is likely to be a long time before the west is humming tunes from Raise the Red Lantern: The Musical. Western musical theatre is an alien art form in China. Probably the closest thing is Beijing opera ? but it is hard to see much similarity between the stylised, quintessentially Asian musicality of traditional Chinese opera and the rambunctious melodiousness of the average western musical. Translating Mamma Mia! into Mandarin is meant to start the long process of bridging that gap.

This production takes just a baby step across the divide. Apart from the words, everything about it is western: the costumes, the body language, the gestures. The show's three middle-aged divas ? Donna, Tanya and Rosie ? wear neon Lycra and bellbottoms; the younger Chinese cast members bump bottoms in greeting (in a way that would never pass muster offstage). Plug your ears and this could be Broadway.

The story, too, could hardly be more western. The heroine, Donna (played by Meryl Streep in the movie), has had sex with three men and does not know which one fathered her daughter. When her daughter gets married and invites all three potential fathers to the wedding the result is a classically western comedy of errors. The backdrop of the story is the sexual revolution of the 1960s, in which Donna enthusiastically participated. Her Chinese contemporaries were going through a spot of upheaval then too ? but it did not involve quite as much free love, and certainly a lot less laughter.

It may seem odd to choose such a foreign story to promote the localisation of stage musicals in China, but Tian Yuan, president of UALE, thinks it is an obvious choice: "In a relatively short period, Mamma Mia! has become the world's number one hit musical with the largest audiences and the most language versions around the globe," she says. In that respect, it is like a Fendi handbag: a famous name, in the land where brand is king.

David Lightbody, British executive producer of the Mandarin version for Littlestar, says the brand needs to be translated into the vernacular to have maximum impact ? and crucially, to generate the commercial success on which a sustainable musical theatre industry in China must be based. "It's a commercial decision to use the local language," he says.

English productions of Cats, Les Mis?rables and other global hit musicals have done short mainland tours in recent years. But to succeed in China, musicals must make money ? and to make money, they must run for years, says Lightbody. "How do you get a show to run for years in the local market?" he asks. "You do it in the local language."

That may sound obvious, but many Shanghai theatregoers do not agree. On a sultry evening in August, Zhang Yuwei, who works in sales in Shanghai, donned a chiffon shirt and hotpants to attend one of the first performances of the show in Mandarin. But she wishes it had been in English. "Even though Chinese is my mother tongue, I would rather see it in English," she commented during the interval. "I know it's been performed all over the world and it is sort of 'globalised', but there is still a cultural gap," she said, adding, "I have the sense that there is something missing."

Zhang speaks for many Chinese when she questions the logic of performing it in the vernacular. Mandarin is a tonal language, where changes in pitch can deliver radically different meanings: "English can be sung fast and understood, but Chinese cannot," says Zhang.

Patti Waldmeir is the FT's Shanghai correspondent.

Photograph from Mamma Mia by Philippe Lopez/AFP/Getty Images.

Source: http://feeds.slate.com/click.phdo?i=83961181a055b0cf07aa342c6ee52e5b

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A Smart Choice to Recover Your Lost Data Due to Various Reasons

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Except the hard drive failure, data and files stored on the computer can be lost in several other ways such as accidentally emptied the recycle bin, various viruses and malware attack, some tracks on the hard disk are damaged, etc. sometimes you may also reformatted the hard drive without saving the crucial file before doing that, and more often, improper computer shut down due to power failure or simply pressed the shut down button by mistake can also cause the data loss. When encounter this situation, what should you do? You may become anxious, upset or worried, but this won?t help. Just calm down and think about a way to make it up, it is never too late before you overwrite the data. In most cases, the lost data can be gotten back as long as you take the correct measures and choose the right recovery tool. There are software tools and data recovery services that can retrieve your information and get most, if not all, of your critical data back into a format that you can access. A good data recovery tool will come to rescue and save the day.

Data recovery software has become a popular solution for accidentally deleted files and items lost due to crashes or system error and some other reasons. Nowadays there are many data recovery products available online that will do the job without much cost. The prices may vary from $27 up to $100. Of course there are some differences in the program besides price, so it?s good to check out the features and benefits on the software website to know that what you?re getting is the right one for you. Normally the software will provide you a trial version as wGXe data recovery do, which can take a full scan of your computer and show the data that have been deleted. You are able to select the one you want to recover and do the recover job after you paid for the full version. As professional data recovery software, wGXe data recovery program is a great way to get your lost data back, it is handy and easy to use tool that will enable you to recover lost data on your computer without much effort. For who have data of great value it is strongly recommended that you buy good data recovery tools for effective recovery.

Source: http://1143g.com/a-smart-choice-to-recover-your-lost-data-due-to-various-reasons.html

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EU probing if Google dominates Internet? | Advanced E-Commerce ...

BRUSSELS (Reuters) ? EU regulators are still undecided whether Google dominates in Internet search and if it has abused rivals in breach of competition rules, the EU?s antitrust chief said on Friday.

The European Commission opened an investigation into Google in November last year after rivals, including Microsoft, accused the company of abusing its dominant position in the market for web search services.

?As part of our current investigation, we are trying to determine whether the company holds a dominant position in Internet search,? EU Competition Commissioner Joaquin Almunia told a competition conference in Florence.

?Google is the browser of choice for very many of us; but dominance is not the same as abuse of dominance. Abuse is a conduct that protects or extends dominance by illegitimate means, and we still have to conclude whether this is the case for Google,? he said.

Google is the world?s most popular search engine with more than 90 percent of the global market, according to Internet statistics firm StatCounter.

Its Chrome web browser had 22 percent of the global market in July, Microsoft?s Internet Explorer had 42.5 percent while Mozilla?s Firefox had 28 percent.

Google faces nine antitrust complaints filed with EU regulators, sources told Reuters last month, as rivals turned up the heat on the firm.

The Commission can fine companies up to 10 percent of their global turnover for violating EU rules. In recent years, it has hit Microsoft and Intel with billion-euro fines for abusing their dominant positions.

(Editing by Rex Merrifield and Helen Massy-Beresford)

Source: http://www.cybersharq.com/eu-probing-if-google-dominates-internet.html

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French, Greek, German leaders discuss Greek crisis (AP)

ATHENS, Greece ? Greece is an "integral" part of the eurozone, the leaders of Greece, France and Germany said in an emergency teleconference Wednesday night that aimed to calm markets and temper talk of an imminent default by Greece.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy also stressed to Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou "that it is more indispensable than ever to fully implement the decisions adopted July 21" by the eurozone leaders "to ensure the stability of the eurozone," the French president's office said in a statement.

Fears that Greece was heading rapidly towards a chaotic default ? and the idea that it should potentially leave the euro and return to its own currency ? have roiled markets for days, both across the 17-nation eurozone and globally.

"In the face of the extensive rumbas of the last few days, it was stressed by all that Greece is an integral part of the eurozone," government spokesman Elias Mossialos said after the teleconference.

The main fear of a Greek bankruptcy is that it could destabilize other financially troubled European countries such as Portugal, Ireland, Spain or Italy. It would also affect banks, many of which are large holders of Greek government bonds. Moody's on Wednesday downgraded the credit ratings of two French banks, Societe Generale and Credit Agricole.

Merkel and Sarkozy pressed the Greek leader on the "importance they attach to the strict and effective implementation of the Greek economic redressment program," statements issued in Paris and Berlin said.

Sarkozy's office said Papandreou "confirmed his absolute determination to take all measures necessary to implement the ensemble of commitments made." The Greek reforms "are indispensable for the Greek economy to find the path of sustainable and balanced growth."

The euro ticked up by a less than penny to $1.37 on news of the completion of the talks.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, who is due to meet with eurozone finance ministers in Poland on Friday, said Europe's leaders know they have "been behind the curve." Speaking on American news channel CNBC, he also sought to soothe investors, claiming the eurozone governments understood the severity of the situation and have the financial firepower "to do what it takes to hold this thing together."

Greece currently relies on funds from last year's euro110 billion ($150 billion) international bailout to service its debt and pay salaries and pensions. But the lifeline could be cut if the country continues to miss fiscal and reform targets.

Sticking to its commitments "is the precondition for the payment of future tranches of the program," Merkel spokesman Steffen Seibert said in a statement.

The quarterly payout depends on reviews by Greece's international debt inspectors ? the European Commission, European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund, known as the troika.

The next batch worth euro8 billion ($11 billion) is due in late September, but there were fears the troika would not approve its disbursement after the debt inspectors suspended their review earlier this month. They are due to return to Athens in coming days. Without the next installment, the country has enough cash to keep it going only until mid-October.

Greece's international creditors have become increasingly frustrated by the slow pace of reforms, with the country falling behind on a number of targets, including a massive privatization drive promised since February but which has made little gains to date.

Mossialos said his country was "determined to meet all its commitments to its partners, so ensuring the full implementation of the support program."

Extra austerity measures announced in recent days, including a new property tax, will ensure that Greece achieves its fiscal targets this year and next year, and will lead to the country posting primary growth, Mossialos said. Greece currently is posting a primary deficit, which means it is spending more than it makes even before interest rates on outstanding debt is taken into account.

Many investors have been convinced Greece will not be able to fix its public finances under its current economic plans. Interest rates on the country's 10-year government bonds soared to new record highs in recent days, hitting the alarming level of 25.3 percent on Wednesday, more than 23 points higher than the German equivalent.

Merkel spoke out earlier this week to calm the market and distance herself from her vice chancellor, and others who suggested a Greek bankruptcy was possible.

"We are confronted with the most serious challenge of a generation...," European Union Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso told the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France. "This is a fight for the economic and political future of Europe. This is a fight for what Europe represents in the world. This is a fight for European integration itself."

Europe's big trading partners ? the U.S. and China ? have made clear they want the crisis contained.

China's Premier Wen Jiabao said European countries needed to tackle their debt problems and make changes to help restore global financial stability and steady economic growth. Beijing has shown interest in helping financially troubled European countries by investing or buying their bonds.

"Countries must first put their own house in order," Wen said.

___

Derek Gatopoulos in Athens, Geir Moulson in Berlin, Elaine Ganley in Paris and Pan Pylas in London contributed to this report.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/business/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110914/ap_on_bi_ge/eu_greece_financial_crisis

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Explaining Afghanistan: US Marines find it hard

In this Aug. 20, 2011 photo, a U.S. Marine rides inside an armored vehicle with taped-up pictures of his wife, in Helmand province, southern Afghanistan. Young men share an intensity of experience on a deployment which is often difficult to communicate to loved ones, who may find it impossible to comprehend. (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley)

In this Aug. 20, 2011 photo, a U.S. Marine rides inside an armored vehicle with taped-up pictures of his wife, in Helmand province, southern Afghanistan. Young men share an intensity of experience on a deployment which is often difficult to communicate to loved ones, who may find it impossible to comprehend. (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley)

In this Aug. 28, 2011 photo, U.S. Marines sit together on a cot reading, at a small patrol base, in Helmand province, southern Afghanistan. Young men share an intensity of experience on a deployment which is often difficult to communicate to loved ones, who may find it impossible to comprehend. (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley)

In this Sept. 5, 2011 photo, a U.S. Marine uses a few learned phrases and sign language to communicate with local children during a break in a foot patrol, in Helmand province, southern Afghanistan. Young men share an intensity of experience on a deployment which is often difficult to communicate to loved ones, who may find it impossible to comprehend. (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley)

In this Sept. 5, 2011 photo, U.S. Marines look out for hidden explosives as they patrol on foot in Helmand province, southern Afghanistan. Young men share an intensity of experience on a deployment which is often difficult to communicate to loved ones, who may find it impossible to comprehend. (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley)

In this Sept. 5, 2011 photo, U.S. Marine platoon leader 1st Lt. Mark Batey returns to his base after a patrol, in Sangin, in Helmand province, southern Afghanistan. Young men share an intensity of experience on a deployment which is often difficult to communicate to loved ones, who may find it impossible to comprehend. (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley)

(AP) ? "Baby, I walked on a path today. Everything was clear. Nothing happened."

That's what U.S. Marine Cpl. Ernest Tubbs, a combat engineer who looks for hidden bombs on patrol, often tells his wife when he has the chance to telephone her in the United States. Many a time, he has lied. Tubbs won't tell her about the close calls, the near misses, anything about his dangerous job that might rattle the woman he married last year after meeting her on a Florida beach.

"She would kill me" if she knew, he said. His father, Tubbs said, is proud of his military career but shuns the stress of full awareness, once telling his son: "'What happens, I don't want to know.'"

Unlike wars of decades past, most American troops in Afghanistan are able to stay in touch with their families with the help of Internet and telephone centers on larger bases, and even those in smaller outposts get a call out sometimes.

But technology, and old-fashioned letter-writing, do not always close the distance. For units in combat zones, where men die and lose legs in fights with the Taliban, it is easier to talk about just about anything else.

Young men share an intensity of experience on a deployment, and the bond that blossoms is theirs alone. There is the rush of a firefight, the zero-to-60 crisis of a bomb strike on a patrol, the grind of humping gear in dust and heat, the numbing wait for a flight or a ride or orders. None of this can be easily explained to relatives back home, and maybe they don't even want to know.

The result, documented over generations of war and evident in the reunion of veterans anywhere, is a clan whose members, in some ways, know each other better than any relative could. So it goes for the 1st Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, entrusted with driving insurgents out of the southern Afghan area of Sangin, scene of some of the toughest fighting since the U.S.-led invasion that ousted the Taliban in 2001.

Sixteen men in the battalion have died, and about 160 have been injured. The unit ends its seven-month deployment in October. Tubbs, of Parsonsburg, Maryland, says he's interested in the future, not telling war stories. He wants to get out of the military and become a game warden. And last month, his wife, Hannah, gave birth. He will see the baby, Gabriel, for the first time.

Marines are instructed to avoid giving sensitive military information to families back home, which discourages some discussion of experiences in Afghanistan. 1st Lt. Mark Batey, the platoon leader at Patrol Base Fulod in Sangin, said Marines are better off dodging more personal talk about deployment.

"It does something for yourself. Things that may cause some fear to the Marines, like the fear of losing your legs, or the fear of getting shot, or basically just not going home, or not going home the way that you left home: That's something that if you were to bring it up with people back there, they really wouldn't be able to comfort you," said Batey, of Denton, Texas.

"If you're not here to see it go down, I really can't explain it well enough," he said.

The potential for misunderstandings is high. With a smile, Batey recalled how he once told his girlfriend on the telephone that it was getting "really hot" in his location. She thought he was referring to fighting. He was talking about the temperature.

The troops share an unfettered humor, a form of communal release or therapy perhaps, that would jar in the more constrained, civilian world to which they will return. One Marine said they could occasionally joke about a "black dude" or a "skinny dude" in their ranks, and the target of the barb would come right back at the teller with his own retort, and it was all right.

The deadpan, casual way in which the Marines talk about severe injuries is another source of disconnect with home. Capt. Casey Brock, commander of Charlie Company, drove to a couple of patrol bases in the past week and dropped off photographs of a company soldier who had lost both his legs in a blast and was recovering.

At one stop, he told Marines that their wounded comrade was about to receive his prosthetic legs.

"They're just waiting for his feet to show up in the mail," he said.

"Is he going to be waiting for us when we get off the bus?" a Marine asked, anticipating the return from deployment.

"Regardless of whether he has his legs or not, he'll be waiting for us when we get back," Brock said.

An outline of the attitude toward casualties, one that would challenge civilians who lack the training to deal with trauma, lies in the written guidance that Lt. Col. Thomas Savage provided in January to his Marine battalion before it deployed. Grieving, he said, must wait until after the men have called for aircraft, cleared a landing zone and secured the area.

"The fact of the matter is that we WILL take casualties. It is an unavoidable fact. Be prepared for this, as difficult as it may be," Savage wrote. "You are taking care of your brother by removing the emotion from the event during the execution of the evacuation."

The battalion's Protestant chaplain, David Kim, said Marines sometimes talk to him about personal concerns, and that he guarantees them confidentiality. He doesn't discuss religion with them unless they want to, acknowledging with a laugh that the adage, "There are no atheists in a foxhole," is false.

But, Kim said, he likes to highlight the good things that have happened on deployment as a sign that God is watching. For example, there was the hidden bomb that didn't explode when a Marine stepped on it, or the "silhouette" of Taliban gunfire impacts on a compound wall around an exposed, yet unharmed Marine.

"People who were not really faithful back home, they find it out here," said Kim, noting that danger and hardship seem to make those who experience it more spiritual. "They see stuff here that can't really be explained."

However hard it is for Marines to explain life in a combat zone to their families, home is on their minds. A sign in a recreational area on an American base in Sangin reads: "Your mother does not work here. Clean up after yourself. Thank you."

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2011-09-14-AS-Afghanistan-World-Apart/id-7d47474bae4543aca4f2223ae00d5d03

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