The Fringe Festival Embodies the Essence of Performing Arts ...

The annual festival sees hundreds of seasoned performers and aspiring artists take to the streets and set up their stalls at numerous venue to show the people of Edinburgh what they can do?be it comedy, singing, body-popping, break-dancing or fire-eating?

You may be asking yourself what distinguishes the Fringe Festival (sometimes referred to as the Festival Fringe or simply ?The Fringe?) from the Edinburgh International Festival?

Well it really all comes down to invitations and gate-crashing, to put it simply. When the Edinburgh Festival was set up in 1947, only those artists who had received official invitations to perform at the Festival were ?allowed? to attend. This is still the case today.

As a kind of peaceful protest, seven theatre companies simply turned up in Edinburgh to perform for the crowds, determined to share their artistic abilities and message with the people of Edinburgh.

It is this approach which makes the Fringe Festival so unique and popular. The passion displayed by both the performing artists and the huge crowds embodies the essence of performing arts as a means of expression.

As one might expect, there was a subtle rivalry between the Edinburgh Festival and the Fringe Festival in the first few decades as there was a feeling among the Edinburgh Festival organisers that this Fringe Festival ?side show? undermined the official festival despite attracting huge numbers of people to the city and positive publicity.

In 1959, the Festival Fringe Society was founded with the aim of providing an element of organisation to the expanding festival. Official guides to the Fringe were produced for the first time to help visitors make the most of their time at the festival.

By the early 80s, the Fringe Festival had grown in popularity to such an extent that around 500 theatre companies were attending every year, making it officially the largest arts festival in the world; a quite incredible achievement!

The popularity of the Fringe Festival has seen the number of shows go over the 2000 mark in recent years with the most popular genres being comedy, theatre, music and dance.

The Fringe?s defining concept of art without restrictions is never more present than in the delightful street performances around town. If you are not keen to purchase tickets for a show at one of the Fringe Festivals 260+ venues, you can simply take in an often extravagant street performance on the Royal Mile and around the Old Town.

Many of the street performers use their time with the crowds to show off their skills in the hope that many of the onlookers will come to their official shows at the venues around town. Many other performers are simply there because performance art runs in their blood and they love to entertain people!

The fact that most shows and the artists who perform in them barely break even is testament to the participants? commitment to performing arts and entertainment. From their perspective, the Fringe Festival is often seen as a testing ground, a way to make contacts or a way of gaining experience for the future.

The Fringe Festival is a wonderful opportunity to experience how vibrant, exciting and downright quirky Edinburgh can be!

Source: http://betancourt-37.info/archives/891/the-fringe-festival-embodies-the-essence-of-performing-arts-5/

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Diabetes Mellitus Is an Independent Risk Factor for Colorectal Cancer

Diabetes Mellitus Is an Independent Risk Factor for Colorectal Cancer.

Dig Dis Sci. 2012 Feb 1;

Authors: Sun L, Yu S

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Epidemiological studies have suggested positive associations between diabetes and colorectal cancer. However, the findings were inconsistent, especially regarding specific sex or cancer subsite. AIMS: To conduct a systematic review with meta-analysis to examine the association of diabetes mellitus with risk of colorectal cancer and to investigate whether the association is dependent on sex, cancer subsite, race/ethnicity, or duration of diabetes. METHODS: Relevant studies were identified by searching Pubmed to May 12, 2011. The reference lists of identified articles were also reviewed. Two authors independently selected the studies and extracted relevant data. The study quality was assessed. RESULTS: Thirty-nine studies (28 cohort studies and 11 case-control studies) were included in the final analysis. Compared with non-diabetic subjects, the pooled risk estimate of colorectal cancer for diabetic subjects was 1.29 (95% CI?=?1.23-1.35). The subgroup analyses revealed that the risk was significantly increased for both genders, for every cancer subsite, and for both short duration and long duration of diabetes. Exposure to diabetes increased the risk of colorectal cancer for White and Asian, whereas there was no evidence of such an association either among Black or native Hawaiians. CONCLUSIONS: Our results confirmed that subjects with diabetes are at modestly increased risk of developing colorectal cancer.

PMID: 22302244 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

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Source: http://medicine.journalfeeds.com/gastroenterology-hepatology/dig-dis-sci/diabetes-mellitus-is-an-independent-risk-factor-for-colorectal-cancer/20120207/

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Critics worry Senate ad will revive Asian-bashing

FILE - In this July 13, 2010 file photo, Republican gubernatorial candidate Pete Hoekstra debates in Rochester, Mich. A coalition of black ministers in Detroit called Monday, Feb. 6, 2012, for U.S. Senate candidate Hoekstra to apologize for his Super Bowl ad featuring a young Asian woman speaking broken English to describe the impact of the Democratic incumbent's economic policies. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio, File)

FILE - In this July 13, 2010 file photo, Republican gubernatorial candidate Pete Hoekstra debates in Rochester, Mich. A coalition of black ministers in Detroit called Monday, Feb. 6, 2012, for U.S. Senate candidate Hoekstra to apologize for his Super Bowl ad featuring a young Asian woman speaking broken English to describe the impact of the Democratic incumbent's economic policies. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio, File)

FILE - In this July 6, 2011 file photo, Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., speaks to reporters on Capitol Hill in Washington. Republican Senate hopeful Pete Hoekstra began taking heat after his ad targeting Democratic incumbent Stabenow ran statewide before the Super Bowl. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta, File)

LANSING, Mich. (AP) ? Criticism of a Senate campaign ad featuring a young Asian woman talking in broken English about China taking away American jobs grew Monday as some warned it could revive discrimination against Asian-Americans.

Michigan has seen its share of Asia bashing, especially in the 1980s, when images of sledgehammers smashing imported cars were common. Chinese-American Vincent Chin died after being beaten to death in 1982 by two unemployed autoworkers angry about competition from Japan.

Republican Senate hopeful Pete Hoekstra began taking heat after his ad targeting Democratic incumbent Debbie Stabenow ran statewide Sunday before the Super Bowl.

"Mr. Hoekstra may believe that his ad is just a way to express his political goals. But it does so in a manner that points the finger at Asian-Americans and Pacific Islanders for our nation's problems," said Thomas Costello, president and CEO of the Michigan Roundtable for Diversity and Inclusion, a 70-year-old civil rights organization in Detroit. "All of us need to be vigilant in the words we use and images we portray to avoid giving tacit permission for racist behavior."

The ad was created by media strategist Fred Davis of California-based Strategic Perception Inc., known for both Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder's successful "one tough nerd" ads and for the 2010 "demon sheep" web ad attacking Tom Campbell in California's Republican Senate primary.

Hoekstra told reporters Monday that his ad's "insensitive" only to the spending philosophy of Stabenow and Democratic President Barack Obama.

"We knew we were taking an aggressive approach on this. But this is a time where the people in Michigan and across the country are fed up with the spending, and we wanted to capture that frustration that they had with Washington, D.C.," he said. "This ad ... hits Debbie smack dab between the eyes on the issue where she is vulnerable with the voters of Michigan, and that is spending."

Glenn Clark, the former Republican chairman in Michigan's 9th District and a Hoekstra supporter, called it a "great ad." But most comments weren't so positive.

National GOP consultant Mike Murphy tweeted that it was "really, really dumb," and Foreign Policy magazine managing editor Blake Hounshell called it "despicable."

Stabenow criticized the ad's "divisiveness" and said Hoekstra should be "embarrassed."

Two of Hoekstra's rivals in the Republican primary, Clark Durant and Gary Glenn, issued statements questioning whether the current front-runner is the candidate their party should support.

California Sen. Leland Yee, the Democratic chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Asian Pacific Islander Affairs, said Hoekstra should apologize.

"I would hope that in this day in age, especially from a California company, we were beyond the use of caricatures in political advertisements," Yee said in a statement. "Regardless of the role of China in our economic situation, making fun of one's language and culture is completely baseless and unnecessary."

Several Detroit pastors called for Hoekstra to pull the ad, as did the Michigan Roundtable and the Michigan Asian Pacific American Affairs Commission.

"The Asian woman speaking in this video would be no different than him having a black person speaking in slave dialect," said the Rev. Charles Williams II of Detroit's King Solomon Baptist Church, where civil rights leader Malcolm X spoke in the 1960s. He added that Hoekstra's "using the whole politics of fear, and the whole politics of division, and he knows it."

The 30-second ad opens with the sound of a gong and shows the Asian woman riding a bike on a narrow path lined by rice paddies.

Stopping her bike, the woman smiles into the camera and says, "Thank you, Michigan Senator Debbie Spenditnow. Debbie spends so much American money. You borrow more and more from us. Your economy get very weak. Ours get very good. We take your jobs. Thank you, Debbie Spenditnow."

The scene shifts to Hoekstra, who says, "I think this race is between Debbie Spenditnow and Pete Spenditnot."

Hoekstra told reporters in a conference call that the ad has "jumpstarted the debate" over deficit spending in Washington and a federal debt of more than $1 trillion. Asked about the woman in the ad, Hoekstra said that "her parents are 100 percent Chinese."

His campaign plans to continue running the ad statewide for the next two weeks on cable shows aimed at Republican voters.

Stabenow raised her own concerns about China on Monday with a conference call that included the general manager of R&B Electronics in Sault Ste. Marie. Wayne Olsen told reporters Chinese distributors had repeatedly tried to get him to hand over sensitive information about how products at his and other U.S. aeronautical companies were made. Stabenow said too many U.S. companies are being told they must turn over intellectual property and give away their technology if they want to do business in China.

"We can't continue to sit back and let China's policies cost us jobs," she said.

___

Follow Kathy Barks Hoffman on Twitter at http://twitter.com/kathybhoffman

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2012-02-06-Senate-Hoekstra%20Ad/id-330b1a2c9ac245389342a6e6224e977e

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Source: http://www.financialsettlement.net/sell-your-structured-settlement-stuctured-settlements-selling-your-structured-settlements/

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Laptop or computer vehicle repairs really are a flourishing business ...

Personal computer vehicle repairs certainly are a thriving sector today. It is usually certain to accomplish great company so long as the information technology has existed used. The globe economy nowadays operates on computer systems. Every businesses? details are held in pcs along with utilized. Actually schooling these days depends upon personal computers. Most homes includes a laptop or computer. People also going around carry a notebook with them.

Your computer systems these days grow to be a good essential item in your lifestyles. Precisely what perform right now is conducted while using computers. Therefore if lock-ups the world thinks as though we have been completely lift off in the world. And we don?t gain access to anything. Though the help of your onside personal computer fixes services anyone can be confident to obtain well-timed assistance.

The guidance might be offered onside or you may also obtain technical aid over the phone. The designers involving personal computers typically supply you with help with laptop or computer repairs. They have got using these licensed technical specialists and they also just offer help because of their person brand name. Though the problem develops everything you accomplish the use of a higher conclusion assembled pc. The put together personal computers are certainly not associated with a specific brand name. Consequently acquiring technical help in this instance can be an obstacle.

The arrival of private businesses features settled your situation of having technological aid of people put together techniques. There are several businesses that get fallen that provide specialized support. They have within their crease effectively competent along with accredited professionals. You?ll be able to get to them on the telephone or perhaps on the internet and talk about the issue you have. They are going to sometimes help make tips while using solution in depth on the telephone or even access your personal computer directly. By using the actual IP address with the laptop or computer they?re going to remote control entry as well as deal with just about any equipment problem that you can end up being going through.

Inside areas like Quarterly report, Sydney, there?s a large requirement for laptop or computer repairs tech. One particular ways of contacting the actual specialists there is certainly simply by in search of his or her details online. You can do a standard make an online search by keying in laptop computer repairs Quarterly report as well as laptop or computer maintenance Questionnaire.

Your specialists in addition to fixing your computers furthermore take care of the machines. The required the particular technicians contains not simply managing details but in addition making and creating fresh components, adding software?s as well as changing these people. Fortunately they are in charge of the sleek running through the pc systems. These types of specialists operate in the people combined with the personal areas.

The requirement for the professionals have raised a lot today in which organizations get placed their fingers upward offering diploma as well as document packages in order to brand new technicians. After you have the particular qualification along with the level they undertake an unique instruction just before they begin aiding the shoppers are able to use. As a result it is possible to look for experts locally in case you face any kind of complex dilemma. You can attempt to find the information online and get to these to acquire fast assistance.

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Source: http://www.articleplusx.com/2012/02/laptop-or-computer-vehicle-repairs-really-are-a-flourishing-business-today/

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Romney using Nev. as springboard for Feb. contests (AP)

LAS VEGAS ? Mitt Romney expects Nevada's caucuses to kick off a month of primary and caucus contests to keep momentum on his side in the race for the GOP presidential nomination.

Polls show Romney far ahead in advance of Saturday's voting, which follows months of organizing by the campaign of the former Massachusetts governor. Next up are Colorado and Minnesota, two other states he won in 2008, and later in February is his home state of Michigan.

Just one debate is planned this month, which diminishes the chances that his chief rival, Newt Gingrich, can renew his candidacy with a highly publicized head-on challenge.

"It's going to be a great showing, I think, tomorrow," Romney told volunteers gathered Friday at Brady Industry offices. "We are showing that organization and hard work and commitment make a real difference."

Romney spent Friday crisscrossing the state, visiting Reno and the gold mining town of Elko before ending the day with a rally in Las Vegas. He plans a quick trip Saturday to Colorado and then an evening event at a Las Vegas casino.

The former Massachusetts governor kept his focus squarely on Democratic President Barack Obama, all but ignoring Gingrich. The former House speaker acknowledged he expects to lose to Romney but hopes to beat Ron Paul for second place.

Romney criticized Obama's handling of the economy, even as new jobs numbers showed a dip in the unemployment rate.

"The policies of this administration have not been helpful. They, in fact, have been harmful. They have slowed down the recovery, made it more difficult," Romney said at a home and yard supply company in Reno, where he talked about the economy with local business leaders. "The president deserves the blame that he'll receive in this campaign."

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/gop/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120204/ap_on_el_pr/us_romney

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Did alleged homeless slayer kill woman, son?

SANTA ANA, California?? Prosecutors plan to file two more murder charges against an ex-Marine accused of killing four homeless men in Southern California, this time in the stabbings deaths of a mother and son who lived near him.

Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas announced the pending charges against Itzcoatl Ocampo in the stabbing deaths of Raquel Estrada and her son Juan Herrera.

Charges were dropped earlier Friday against Estrada's son Eder Herrera, 24, who was arrested shortly after the October killings in Yorba Linda.

"The case has now expanded from murdering random, vulnerable strangers to murdering people he (Ocampo) knew," Rackauckas told a news conference Friday. "It is chilling to know that these murders took place two months before the murders of four homeless men began."

"We no longer have sufficient evidence to hold Mr. Herrera in custody," Rackauckas added, according to City News Service.

"Since the filing of the charges against Herrera and Ocampo, there has been a significant amount of new evidence discovered in the case," he said.

Similarities
The Orange County Register reported earlier this week that detectives found similarities in the cases of the Yorba Linda deaths and the stabbings of four homeless men in December and January.

Estrada and Juan Herrera were killed in their Yorba Linda home, less than two miles from Ocampo's residence.

STORY: Homeless killing suspect warned his transient dad of danger

Estrada's son Eder Herrera was arrested the day after the killings as he drove from a friend's house.

Rackauckas said Ocampo and Herrera were friends from high school. He said DNA collected at Ocampo's home linked him to the Yorba Linda crime scene.

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"At this point we have not conclusively eliminated Mr. Herrera as a suspect in the case. We will continue to investigate the case," Rackauckas said.

STORY: Suspect in homeless slaying reportedly distraught after Iraq

Ocampo is charged with stabbing to death four homeless men in a killing spree that terrorized Orange County in December and January.

Stabbed more than 40 times
The victims, James Patrick McGillivray, 53, was stabbed Dec. 20 near a shopping center in Placentia; Lloyd Middaugh, 42, was found Dec. 28 near a riverbed trail in Anaheim; Paulus Smit, 57, was stabbed to death outside a Yorba Linda library on Dec. 30; and John Berry, 64, was stabbed to death on Jan. 13, the day Ocampo was arrested.

Video: Police announce arrest in Calif. homeless murder (on this page)

Each of the four men was stabbed more than 40 times with a weapon believed to be a 7-inch, fixed-blade, military-type knife, authorities said.

Before Ocampo's arrest, police fanned out across the county better known as the home to Disneyland and multimillion-dollar beachfront homes to urge the homeless to be careful and seek shelter indoors.

Ocampo has been charged with four counts of first-degree murder, plus the special circumstances of multiple victims and murder by lying-in-wait.

Ocampo served in the U.S. Marines from July 2006 to July 2010 and was deployed to Iraq in 2008, according to the Marines.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46261837/ns/us_news/

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