In 1947 a group of famous people from the art world headed by an Austrian conductor decided to hold an international festival of music, dance and theatre in Edinburgh. The idea was to reunite Europe after the Second World War.

    At the same time, the Fringe appeared as a challenge to the official festival. Eight theatre groups turned up uninvited in 1947, in the belief that everyone should have the right to perform, and they did so in a public house disused for years.

    Soon, groups of students firstly from Edinburgh University, and later from the universities of Oxford and Cambridge, Durham and Birmingham were making the journey to the Scottish capital each summer to perform theatre by little-known writers of plays in small church halls to the people of Edinburgh.

    Today the Fringe, once less recognized, has far out grown the festival with around 1,500 performances of theatre, music and dance on every one of the 21 days it lasts. And yet as early as 1959, with only 19theatre groups performing, some said it was getting too big.

    A paid administrator was first employed only in 1971, and today there are eight administrators working all year round and the number rises to 150 during August itself. In2004 there were 200 places housing 1,695 shows by over 600 different groups from 50 different countries. More than 1.25 million tickets were sold.

    There are many theme parks in Florida. These amusement parks are designed for kids big and small and have plenty to offer adults, too.

    Magic Kingdom

    Orlando is the center of theme parks in Florida. Of all the parks, no trip to Orlando would be complete without a visit to Magic Kingdom. The center of Disney world, with Main Street USA and Cinderella's Castle, is here at Magic Kingdom. There are rides for kids of all ages as well as shopping and dining.

    Epcot

    After Magic Kingdom, the best-known theme park in Disney World is Epcot. This is a good place for curious kids who want to learn about the planets, the stars, and the workings of the human body. The good and wine festival is another big draw to Epcot.

    Animal kingdom

    When it comes to the top 4 Florida theme parks, Animal kingdom must be on the list. You may have had the chance to go to a zoo before, but Animal kingdom brings the concept of a zoo to new heights. Sure you can go on the safari (狩猎旅行), but there are also rides on different animals, even dinosaurs.

    Universal's Island of Adventure

If your kids have the need for speed, you will surely want to check out Universal's Island of Adventure. Here roller coasters and thrill rides will combine the magic of the movies with plenty of twists (旋转) and turns. You'll also find Wizarding World of Harry Potter here—something the whole family is sure to enjoy.

    Standing desks have become common across Silicon Valley, offering health benefits to those willing to work on their feet. However, due to their high price, they have failed to catch on until now. Recently, Ikea has brought out Bekant convertible（可变换的） standing desk that can become a normal desk at the touch of a button. The $500 adjustable desk can transform from a standard desk to a standing one, and Ikea hopes it could make the standing desk mainstream.

    Experts say that changing from a seated to a standing desk can improve productivity. Similar desks have become a common sight at tech firms such as Google, where some employees have even installed treadmill (跑步机) and bicycle desks.

    The desk is not the first “convertible” on the market. As early as 2013, Stir Kinect brought out an adjustable desk. The $3,890 Stir Kinect desk has a motor to raise and lower itself, changing it into a standing desk or a traditional desk. The desk can even be programmed to move up and down slightly, making it appear to take a gentle breath to remind the user to change their positions. To move between sitting and standing positions, owners simply double tap on the screen. The desk can learn the user's preferences over time and suggest the best seating position.

The Stir Kinect desk was created by a team of ex-Apple and Disney engineers. It has a built-in touch screen to control and track movement, and can tell users exactly how many calories they burn by standing during their working day. It also has devices containing power points and USB ports for charging phones, to keep cables hidden.

    “Ikea's height-adjustable desk is great for opening up the lower end of the market, " said JP Labrosse, founder and CEO of Stir.

    September is an exciting month in every college freshman's life. For many, it's the first time that they've left home to live in a new environment. But after the hustle and bustle（喧嚣）of a few weeks, excitement gives way to a less enjoyable emotion— homesickness.

    Homesickness manifests（显露）itself in many ways. You may miss mum's cooking, your pets, or even your old bed. All this becomes a fond memory of the past. Homesickness can be a bitter feeling for many students, especially when faced with the challenges of settling into an unfamiliar environment.

    But remember, you're not alone. According to a recent BBC article, 70 percent of British college students experience homesickness. In this increasingly globalized world in which people migrate to faraway places for a relationship, education or work, homesickness is a feeling shared by many adults.

    Homesickness can have similar symptoms to depression and in extreme cases it can develop into a panic attack. As for the term, homesickness or nostalgia wasn't invented until the 17th century. It was considered a disorder by a Swiss physician, who attributed soldiers' mental and physical discomfort to their longing to return home, “nostos” from Greek, and the accompanying pain, “algos”.

    Studies in recent years, however, have shown that nostalgia may have some benefits to our mental health. After a decade of surveys and researches, Constantine Sedikides, a US social psychologist, found that nostalgia is what makes us human. He explains that nostalgia can resist loneliness, boredom and anxiety. Therefore, it's necessary for college students to learn some ways to overcome the uncomfortable feeling.

    Many people prefer eating out instead of cooking at home. A change appears to be taking place, though, and millennials are leading the way. According to one survey, more young people are starting to cook at home for three basic reasons: They can save money, eat healthy and waste less food.

    Popular TV chefs are also getting millennials excited about learning some basic cooking skills. Many millennials view cooking as a form of entertainment and self-expression. They proudly post pictures of their cooking creations on Facebook or Instagram, and invite friends over to share the cooking experience.

    Many millennials have also found ways to avoid wasting food. After roasting a chicken, they put the leftover bones in their freezer instead of the garbage can. Later, they use the bones to make chicken stock which is an important ingredient in many dishes.

    They also hate throwing out fruit that's too old. To avoid that situation, they bake ripe fruit like berries and bananas for 15 minutes at 175 degrees C. Then they freeze it overnight. After that, they place the fruit in plastic bags and store it their freezer for later use.

    Now any millennials only eat at restaurants that have excellent food-waste policies. These servants use every part of the vegetables they buy, including their stems and roots, in dishes. They also use beef, chicken and pork bones to make their own stock.

    Millennials also reduce food waste by only buying what they require. Before going to a market, they write down what they need and don't buy anything else. They say they won't purchase more food than they can consume.

    There's a good chance something you've bought online has been in the hands of a "picker" first. These are the workers in warehouses(仓库)who pick, pack and ship all those things we're ordering.

    At Amazon and other companies, they're working side by side with robots. Experts say while the robots are replacing some human workers, the machines aren't quite ready to take over completely.

    When a robot finds its storage unit, it slides underneath, lifts it up and then delivers it to a worker 一 they're called pickers. On a recent day, the computer told a picker to grab what looked like a fantasy board (棋盘)game. The picker found it, canned it and placed it on the conveyor belt.

    ^"In a traditional fulfillment center where the associate would walk to the different items, it can take hours to fulfill a customer order." Robinson says.

    Now, with the help of robots, that task takes minutes 一 and fewer humans.

So is this a sign we're entering a new industrial revolution?

    "It's definitely going to take over a lot of jobs." says Karen Myers, a scientist at SRI, one of Silicon Valley's oldest research centers.

    At the same time, she says, we're running against the limits of technology. Take "the picker" at the Amazon fulfillment center. Myers says those skills are proving to be uniquely human.

    "Our fingers are incredibly flexible and the current generation of robotic operators, they're getting much_, much better," she says. "But they're just not quite there yet."

    There's also the robot's brain.

    Remember that board game the Amazon worker was looking for? She could barely see the box filled into the storage bin — but she could tell it was a board game. Robots can't do that.

    Technologists say that, increasingly, humans will work side by side with robots — instead of robots working alone.

    Amazon says robots and humans enabled the Tracy warehouse to fulfill customer orders faster. That means more customers and more human workers.