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ABOVE: Clare and Andrew eat at Leon de Bruxelles ABOVE: Clare doubts she'll adopt again while Andrew has adopted an abandoned puppy

MOST of us take our natural parentage for granted, but for more than 4,000 children in the UK, the sheer notion of having someone they can call Mum and Dad is an alien one.

Two famous names whose lives were changed by adoption are singer Clare Grogan and celebrity hair stylist Andrew Barton.

After six miscarriages and four failed IVF attempts, former Altered Images lead singer Clare decided to adopt and, as soon as she and husband Steven set eyes on their beloved daughter Ellie Lucia, they knew it was the best decision of their lives.

Ellie is now seven and absolutely gorgeous, beams 49-year-old Clare.

Im quite a private person, but when it comes to the subject of adoption Im willing to share because I think that for a lot of couples who cant have their own children, its a fantastic solution and a great way forward particularly if youve had a rough ride.

Top London hairdresser Andrew has experienced the privilege and pleasure of adoption from the other side he was adopted as a three-month-old baby and has never seen it as anything other than the natural course of his life.

For me, Mum and Dad were always my real parents and Ive never been interested in meeting my biological mother because shes not my mum, says 45-year-old Andrew, currently in training for his first marathon, which hell be running in April to raise money for the charity of which both he and Clare are patrons the British Association for Adopting & Fostering (BAAF).

With so many heartfelt personal stories to hear, we decided to treat Clare and Andrew to a fabulous lunch at the newly opened Lon de Bruxelles, the first international branch of one of Belgiums most renowned restaurants, in the heart of Londons West End where over some hearty Flemish fare we learnt about Andrews A-list clients and why Clares more than willing to keep singing her trademark song Happy Birthday

Clare, tell us about your adopted daughter Ellie is she a fan of your music and might she ever follow in your footsteps?

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Interview: Clare Grogan and Andrew Barton

26-03-2012 16:40 Today on Off Duty: Paul Vigna reports on the March Madness Final Four. Also, a report on Bach being performed by street musician in the New York City subway. Plus Money Talks with Robert Frank.

Link:
Off Duty: March Madness Final Four, Bach in the NYC Subway, Money Talks w/ Robert Frank - Video

27-03-2012 03:16 download file here: savedfly.com Steam is a digital distribution, digital rights management, multiplayer and communications platform developed by Valve Corporation. It is used to distribute games and related media online, from small independent developers to larger software houses. Steam also has community features, automated game updates, in-game voice and chat functionality.As of January 2012, there are 1492 games available through Steam,[4] and 40 million active user accounts.[5] The concurrent users peak was 5 million on January 2nd, 2012.[6] Although Valve never releases sales figures, Stardock, the previous owner of competing platform Impulse, estimated that, as of 2009, Steam had a 70% share of the digital distribution market for video games.[7]Many major publishers have large catalogues available on Steam, including Bethesda Softworks, Activision, Rockstar Games, Square Enix, 2K Games, and Telltale Games.

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Steam Money Adder 2012 3.0v NEW Steam Wallet Hack Download - Video

When youre surfing the web and spot targeted ads based on your prior searches, its a jarring reminder that someone companies, websites and search engines is following your digital footsteps.

They are also following the money. The volume of personal digital data available is transforming everyday commerce, particularly marketing and advertising.

Companies want to engage and interact with you through multiple platforms that can include emails, mobile devices, social media and online video and even use that new data trove to spawn new forms such as junk mail. They want you to linger, get to know your likes and dislikes and offer more targeted promotions.

In fact in four years, advertisers will spend $77 billion on digital interactive marketing as much as they do on TV today, according to research firm Forrester.

With so much money at stake, its no wonder companies are retooling how they use metrics and analytics to achieve business goals. Other industries including financial services and health care are also working to capitalize on the data boom.

In the span of just a couple of years, how we think about customer data has really changed, says Fatemeh Khatibloo, senior analyst at Forrester, who specializes in customer intelligence, privacy and personal data issues.

The fast-changing industry is breeding startups, which are remaking existing models and platforms to lure more and more venture capital.

Naturally, the volume of personal information has privacy activists concerned about opaque companies and governments potentially abusing their power. Just a year ago in Egypt, then-President Hosni Mubarak shut down Internet access before his government began a crackdown on political protesters.

Lest you think the issue is confined to nondemocratic governments run by despots, protests erupted in January over anti-piracy legislation in the U.S. Congress.

Buying, Selling Your Personal Data

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What You May Not Know About the Boom in Digital User Data

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As our friends at NPR's Two-Way blog mentioned yesterday afternoon, the Weinstein Company has decided to release Bully without a rating following the controversy that flared when the MPAA assigned it an R, rather than a PG-13, based on language. As I've mentioned, giving the film an R rating seems very odd to me, and even more so after seeing the PG-13 The Hunger Games.

A press release outlining the promotional partners for the upcoming release of Battleship (that's the movie, "based on" the game) might seem like a ho-hum thing, but parts of it are actually kind of amusing and perplexing. Sure, you've got your Coke Zero and your Chevron and your Subway. But don't forget your ... Hilton Hotels? Take note, too, that the U.S. Navy and the USO are both on board, so to speak. [Deadline]

In its first week of availability, how many people listened online to the This American Life episode retracting their Mike Daisey Apple episode? Well, a lot. More than any other episode has grabbed in that first week, including the original Daisey episode. [Nieman Journalism Lab]

In a different twist on Mad Men fever, one writer for The Guardian doesn't have any way of seeing the show for quite a while, and doesn't plan to shell out extra money just to get the right service to see it. What to do until then? "I suggest occupying oneself with a new hobby, or more aptly, going on a prolonged bender." [The Guardian]

The host for the next Emmy Awards will be Jimmy Kimmel, and while I have found him not my cup of tea at times, Kimmel's ability to get people to do silly things is right up there with Jimmy Fallon's, so I wouldn't be surprised to see him turn out to be quite a fine host. [HitFix]

At last: Harry Potter e-books are available at the Pottermore web site. That one took a while. [NYT]

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Morning Shots: Harry Potter Goes Digital, And 'Bully' Goes Without A Rating