RUSSIA IS CHANGING THE FACE OF FASHION

The word Lumpen refers to the dispossessed, the unskilled, the uneducated... But it is also the name of a Model Agency located in Moscow. It was founded by Avdotja Alexandrova, a filmmaker. 

Lumpen provides models that are exclusive Russian faces from all over the world, so they are all connected to Russia. Some were born there, some have Russian mothers... But they aren't necessarily ethnically Russian. Alexandrova says that for her films she prefers faces that can tell a story, and no matter what the face looks like. She doesn't matter about the typical standards of beauty and she prefers originality

It was the distinctive Russian faces that the agency provides and the contrast to its names, what made the biggest names in fashion start turning to this exactly modeling agency. And less than two years after launching, they have already cast models in major fashion shows like Vetements, Kanye West, Lanvin and Comme des Garçons. Also Kayne West used Serva, a Lumpen model, and Alexandrova's boyfriend, as a fit model for his clothing brand Yeezus. And eight of the twelve men that walked in Comme des Garçons' Autumn-Winter 2017 Homme Plus show, were provided by Lumpen. 

The diversity of models provided by Lumpen may make them avoid the criticism against some ot its clients, like Vetements and Balenciaga that have been criticized for their casting choices, because the latter's Fall-Winter '16 show featured no black models. But in Lumpen the  color doesn't matter, and they have half-African guys, European-type looks...

MY OPINION:

I really like the ideology of this modeling agency. I think that Alexandrova had a great idea choosing special faces and forgetting about the typical standards of beauty. It made Lumpen succeed because of its originality. 

I think that this is a start of the change of beauty standards in our society and it could open the eyes of people and show them other types of beauty. 

NANNY CHASES A PACKAGE THIEF

Kate Anderson is the nanny of a one year old child. The family that lives in Washington State had recently set up security cameras when a 29 year old women arrived with a car at their porch, where there was a package and she took it.

Then she runs back to the car, puts the package on the front seat and tried to get in but the cart left her behind at the house. After the nanny saw this, she run out of the house and followed the thief. When the nanny got her, she dragged her into the home and held her for eight minutes until the police arrived. 

The thief was arrested on outstanding warrants, but she has not yet been charged with anything. And also the Seattle Police Department issued a statement warning homeowners in the area that package thefts often occur, and advised them to track their packages, require signatures for anything of value, or send packages to a monitored area such as an office. 

MY OPINION: 

I think that Kate Anderson was very brave because she followed the thief with no fear and she got her until the police arrived. Also, I think that leaving packages is not very save because things like this could happen, so I agree with the Seattle Police Department decision about warning homeowners in this area to track their packages, sent packages to a monitored area such as an office or require signatures because if it's anything of value it could be dangerous to leave it in the street. 

Here you can watch the video of the nanny stopping the thief: 

READING A BOOK OR AN EBOOK?

Nowadays, we are so familiarized with tecnology. That's why many people are starting to read books through a screen using eBooks and not how it has traditionaly been made. 

Personally, I prefer reading books, because I'm always using moviles, computers... And when I'm reading I like to disconnect of all. Also, because I like having the book to turn the pages, smell the odor of the book... But let's see the advantages and disadvantages of reading a book and reading an eBook. 

The advantages of books are that they don't need energy to run so you don't have to read it at home plugged and you can take it everywhere you want. Also you can feel the book like I've said and if you have the oportunity, the writer can sign your book.

The disadvantages are that it is more expensive than an eBook and it takes up more space.

On the other hand, the advantages of eBooks are that you can have all the books you want in the eBook, because it doesn't taked much space and also because it's cheaper than a book in paper. 

Also because it is easy to carry the eBook,  it doesn't weights too much. Finally, you don't have to move or wait to but a book you can buy it instantatly and if you need it, you can also search the definition on the eBook because some bring an incorpored dictionary. 

But the disadvantages are that eBooks need Internet to buy books and you also have to charge the battery which can ends at any time. Though you can have many books in your eBook, some don't have a digital verions of it. And the most important is that it exhausts your eyes.

SOCIAL MEDIA ADDICTION

Social media addiction is becoming a bigger problem that we think. The reason why people have this problem is because they spend too much time on social media and also because companies know how to make them more attractive so that people enjoy using them. 

The consequences of this kind of addiction are, in the first place that people spend too much time on the internet and they take distance from the reality and from people around them. Also, when they don't have a connection, they feel anxiety because they need to be in contact with the others. 

I think that the only way of solving this problem is by stopping focusing on the social media and really focusing on the people around you. 

"I fear the day that technology will surpass our human interaction, the world will have a generation of idiots." - Albert Einsten. 

When Albert Einstein said this he was predicting what was gonna happen, because it was obvious to him that someday this would happen and we would be addicted to technology, because it makes our lifes easier

Here you can watch a short documentary about social media addiction:

CHRISTMAS COMMERCIALISM

Many people say that Christmas is a materialistic holiday, that it is driven by commercialism and that it's not worth keeping Christmas anymore. 

In my opinion, it is obvious that companies are taking advantage of this time of the year when they can sell much more products because people buy many presents. But I don't think that we should stop celebrating Christmas because of it. 

For me, the most important part of Christmas is that we are able to stay home with our family and spend time together doing things that we enjoy, like decorating the house, putting up and decorating the christmas tree, baking cookies... I really do enjoy those moments as many people does too. 

My opinion about the presents is that it is true that many people is driven by consumerism because at this time of the year they buy a lot of not necessary things. It is also true that we could celebrate Christmas without presents and then we will finish with this intense commercialism, but I think that in this time of the year we really love giving presents to the ones we love and seeing them happy for it. 

And it is also true that we could just do these things every day, meeting with family, giving presents, decorating the house or just baking, so maybe Christmas is not necessary, but I think that it is special because, first of all, we don't have many free days and it's hard to organize a day when all the family can meet, and second because it is beautiful to wait all year for Christmas, to be able to do things like I said, or just to see all the streets decorated with lights and go shopping with your family. So I think that what makes it special and beautiful is that it's just a day of the year and it is the perfect excuse spending time with family, and that's why I think that Christmas is worth keeping. 

Scientists used fake hallucinations to probe the minds of people with psychosis

A new study from England, published in the journal The Lancet Psychiatry suggested that the difference between people who hallucinates and have difficulties getting through their day without clinical help from the ones that hear voices but can do a regular life, is the way they interpret their own psychoses. 

In the research they put 260 people under simulations of psychotic experiences and then they studied how the participants reacted. Of those 260 participants, 84 of them were clinical psychosis patients, 92 were not patients, although they also had psychotic symptoms, but this group didn't need medical care to live. Also, researchers said that those 92 people used specialist sources such as mediums, online forums for psychic and spiritual activities...The rest of the participants were just a control group without psychosis symptoms. 

The researchers used magic tricks like memory games in which they seemed to be able to read the participants' mind, and others. Then, the researchers did an interview with the participants to interpret their experiences. 

After this, the results showed that the clinical group was as able as the nonclinical group to identify psychotic symptoms as psychoses. So this suggests that the reason that some people is more able to avoid getting too disturbed isn't because of recognizing that what is happening isn't real.

The difference between the two groups they say is because the clinic one seemed to see something dark and mean behind what was happening and in change, the nonclinical group found spiritual explanations. 

MY OPINION: 

I think that this study is very interesting because it shows that the difference between people with psychosis who need clinical help from the ones who don't is just the way they interpret their psychosis symptoms. 

So it may be a great advance to the knowledge of the clinical treatment. It could open doors to new methods to treat psychosis because, as we have seen, the ones with clinical treatment react the same way as the one who don't have a treatment, but the second ones use other methods to explain those symptoms and this way they don't get to see a dark side on what they hear or feel during their days, and this way they can live a regular life. 

Click here to read more information.

MAN FINED FOR PAINTING EXTRA ROAD SIGNS TO EASE DAILY COMMUTE

A 28 years old man named Cai, decided to paint some additional arrows on the road in order to avoid his morning extreme commute because he was tired to frequently got caught up in the same intersection of the city of Lianyungang.

He just brought white paint, a brush and a ruler and he painted an arrow directing cars to go straight in a line reserved for left-hand turns. He did this because the straight line was always full of cars while the line that turns left was empty, so he tried to change the signs to try to speed the commute. 

But after security saw what happened through cameras, Cai wa caught and he admitted to the painting. He was fined with $200 because his actions were very dangerouse and he could have caused a collision.

The Chinese broadcaster CGTN posted a video to YouTube of Cai painting the road. He is wearing a red jacket and he is painting the straight arrow as cars, buses and trucks speed past next to him, and occasionally he moves out of the road to let pass the vehicles who hare driving on the line he is painting. 

Also, the footage shows whe the police caught up with Cai. And later in the video, we can see as traffic workers arrive at the intersection to repaint it to the original arrow. 

MY OPINION: 

My opinion about this is that the man shouldn't have done this because it is very dangerous. The third lane can't go straight. That's why the arrows say to go only left or to turn back. If you look, there are only two lanes past the intersection, so making the third lane into another straight lane would result in the lanes converging inside the intersection rather than before the intersection. If someone went straight in the third line it would have been a disaster and it would have ended with an accident. 

The reason why Cai painted the road wasn't to make it more efficient or safer, but rather he was selfish and wanted to make his commute faster at the expense of other people's safety. 

Click here if you want to read more information. 

COUPLE CARE FOR AN ORPHANED KODIAK BEAR

Susan and Jim Kowalczik from the Orphaned Wildlife Center in Otisville, New York, America. They have been rescuing bears for more than twenty years and they still take care of injured wild animals ,including Kodiak brown bears, Syrian bears and black bears on their 100 acre estate. Then when the animals get ready they release them back into the wild. 

But there are some cases like Jimmy who has been too injured to be returned into the wild. It is a Kodiak bear who is nine feet tall and weighs 1400lb, since he arrived from a West Cost game farm with an injured leg, and now he is 21 years old. 

The couple describes Jimmy as a gentle animal, and that he is unaware of his incredible strength. But though the bears are dangerous animals, they look at them like their children and they like to think about them like a family. Although, they say that sometimes the bears dive them crazy. 

The animals require full-time care and feeding, feasting on up to 30lbs of foor a day, including a mix of meat, pet food, fruit and occasionally marshmallows. And also, they have to take extra care during the mating season when the bears are not quite themselves. 

Also, they adopt other animals like chipmunks, rabbits, squirrels and deer. And the couple has many expectations for the future like to expand and to take care for even more animals. 

MY OPINION: 

I think that Susan an Jim Kowalczik are wonderful people for taking care of the non-profit Orphaned Wildlife Center because it requires a lot of work, time and money, but they like it because they have the opportunity to help many animals and the love they put in them, they get it in return like with Jimmy. 

I would love to have the opportunity to work with animals like them but the first time I saw the videos and the photos of them with the huge bear I was a bit scared because they are so big and though they look a inofensive with them it is still dangerous. 

Click here if you want to read more information.