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: 

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.

Portugal's Salvador Sobral wins Eurovision song contest

The 62nd edition of the Eurovision Song Contest took place in the International Exhibition Centre in Kiev, Ukraine, following Ukraine's victory at the 2016 contest.  

The contest consisted of two semi-finals on 9 and 11 May and a final on 13 May 2017. 

Forty-two countries participated in the contest, but the winner was Portugal with the song "Amar pelos dois" (Loving For The Both of Us) performed by Salvador Sobral and written by Sobral's sister, Luisa, who joined her brother in a duet of the song when the winner was announced. They finished with 758 points. 

This was Portugal's first win in 53 years of participation and it was also the first winning song entirely performed in a country's native language since 2007. 

The top three countries were Portugal, Bulgaria, represented by Kristian Kostov singing "Beautiful Mess" and Moldova represented by SunStroke Project singing "Hey Mamma!", and all of them achieved the highest position in their Eurovision History. 

You can read more here

MY OPINION: 

This year I didn't like many of the songs that participated on this edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. My favourite song of the night was the winner's. I liked a lot the way Salvador Sobral sang in that emotional way and though at first I didn't understand the lyrics of the song because it was in portugese I found out that it is a love song. So I completely agree with the judges and with the audience in their decision of awarding Salvador Sobral.

Also, my favorite moment of the night was when Luisa, Salvador Sobral's sister joined him in a duet of the song.

'Hell' of exploited models to be revealed in landmark court case

Eight of the biggest modeling agencies in the world are going to court next month to fight a case that is going to show the horrors of the modeling industry, and if it's successful, thousands of models will cost te agencies an excess of $100million and change the way they do business forever. 

There are claims of thousands of dollars taken away from they paycheck for; extortionate rent charged for model apartments; late or missed payments and interest charged on advances that keep the most successful girls indebted and dependent on their agency.

The case is to be strongly defended by the modeling industry, who says that it would devastate them and that the claims are baseless. They say models get a fair deal, and that claims of financial wrongdoing are entirely untrue.

Louisa Raske was a model since high school who discovered her face on a box of L'Oreal hair dye in CVS, without her being paid, prompting her to begin what is now a large-scale action against modelling agencies.






"The same had happened to numerou girls" Louisa explained. "I contacted the other girls and we were like 'Let's do it'"

New York lawyer, Christopher Kercher, took on the case last spring.

'We realized this was about much more than just some agencies withholding payment. This was about the whole business model,' he said.

Rachel Blais, now 30, was 14 when she was spotted in her native Montreal. She was taken on by Canadian agency Folio and worked in Milan, Tokyo, Paris, New York and London.

'When I was 19 my agency asked me to have liposuction. That's how they also get you into big debts. They pay for it but then you owe them." Rachel explained.

'When I said I didn't want liposuction they said they had put together a little list of photographers I should be 'hanging out with,' wink, wink, sleep with.'

MY OPINION: 

I think that the modeling industry is a total lie to the everyone because we just see the result and not the process which is the most important and difficult part. We just see a magazine photo and not what this person is going through for appearing here. I think the way that this girls are being treated is horrible and this should be controlled. Also, to be a model you have to be very strong minded to support all the pressure that they suffer, because they have to be "perfect".

I just hope that they win the case so that they can work in better conditions and nobody else has to suffer the injustices that these girls have been through.

Passenger dragged off overbooked United flight

On 9th April the United Airlines overbooked the Louisville, Kentucky-bound United flight so a disturbing scene happened when a man refused to give up his seat and the airline police forced him to leave. 

Several passengers recorded the incident on their phones and posted video on social media showing three Chicago Department of Aviation security officers dragging the man, who has not been identified, down the aisle by the arms and legs while other passengers shout in protest. The man continued to resist after he was removed and ran back onto the airplane, face bloodied from the encounter. 

The incident and the system that allows airlines to involuntarily boot passengers from flights has been very criticized. But United Airlines was acting within their rights and following policy until the situation turned physical. 

First, United asked passengers to give up their seats voluntarily for compensation because four crew members needed to get on the flight in order to work another one in Louisville, if not, the flight would be canceled. 

But when no one volunteered because it was a Sunday night and the next flight was not until the following afternoon, the airline was forced to de-board people involuntarily, but though they explained to the man the situation, he refused and they followed Department of Transportation protocol and called local law enforcement to remove him from the plane. 

Two officers tried to calmly talk to the man but a third acted in an aggressive manner. The officer told him he had to get off the plane, and when he resisted, the officer grabbed him out of his seat and carried him out with the other officers. 

The man hit his head on an armrest and the he started yelling the he was a doctor and that he was being treated this way for being Chinese. 

The scene left everyone in shock, including children who started crying. 

MY OPINION: 

I don't think that the officers of the airline acted ethically and also I think that overbooking should be illegal because then some people had made plans to go back home one day and maybe they have something important to do and then they don't have a sit and they are not able to return home. 

My solution to this problem would have been asking people that didn't have a family waiting for them and also offering them a room in a hotel to stay that night because it is the airlines problem that they have to wait until the next day to have another flight.

 Here you can read more

SPACE TOURISTS

Two unnamed people have already paid for places in a trip that will take them around the moon, but without landing. So late next year they will fly with SpaceX.

Many people are fascinated about the possibility of being able to travel to space in less than three years, it will be available for everyone who can afford it. But it is expected the cost of the space travel will eventually come down and become something which is affordable to more than only the very wealthy. 

Traveling to the space is not easy, they have warned that that it is a week of hard travel and it could feel like a long time in a small capsule which is for seven people and it will feel small even if just two or three are traveling there.

Also the ones that want to travel to the space have to support a long training programme of two years before they are allowed. Tourist will need to know how to operate key parts of the spacecraft in the case that there is an emergency or issue in communication with the mission control and they will be able to keep themselves and the spacecraft safe. 

YOU CAN READ MORE HERE

MY OPINION: 

I think it is a great idea that they allow citizens to take these amazing trips to the space, but I hope one day the prices are low enough for everyone to travel to the moon and not just the very wealthy.

I will really like to travel to the moon one day because I think that it will be amazing to see the Earth from another perspective, but I don't know if I would be able to support the extreme conditions of the training programme and then the takeoff. Also, I don't think it is enjoyable to be in a very small capsule for a week. 

A RUSSIAN ARCHITECT'S DREAM TO CLEAN AIR

A Russian architect named Alexei Umarov had this idea of a skyscraper that could clean the air pollution, because this situation affects all around the world with the excessive heat, polluted air, metals in the air, excessive levels of carbon dioxide... So he wanted to solve this problem. 

This project is named the HyperFilter skyscraper and it looks like a giant tree that can purify the city's polluted air. The difference between the Umarov's idea and others architects' one is that Umarov's doesn't have any flats or offices on the inside, it's just a giant air filter. 

Many architects liked this idea of using materials and techniques that could remove impurities and clean the air we breathe. Daan Roosegaarde has already created towers in cities like Beijing, which are supposed to filter impurities in the air. But there's no serious evidence that these constructions can reduce pollution levels. Though all architects try to find the way these towers really work. 

His project, the HyperFilter consists of a skeleton, a porous shell and long pipes with filters inside. The air will get sucked through the pipes, cleaned and cooled. The other substances will be separated and accumulated on the lower levels of the building where they will be recycled. 

MY OPINION:

In my opinion  Alexei Umarov's project is a very good idea because polluted air is a real problem nowadays that affects many parts of the world and that dirty the air we breathe every day. 

So if they finally get the perfect techniques that can actually remove all these substances from the air with the perfect material, I think that this would be revolutionary because many cities are trying to fight against this air pollution and many will use these towers. 

HERE YOU CAN READ MORE

NASA discovers new solar system TRAPPIST-1

Astronomers at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) have announced the discovery of a new solar system that is 39 light years away from Earth.

They have detected seven planets of the size of the Earth, or slightly smaller, orbiting the star of the TRAPPIST-1, and it is believed that they have the qualities needed to support life. 

Three of the planets could also have oceans so it gives a hope to astronomers that someday they will find a second Earth 

The planets of this system are all very close to the star, which is small and cold, and very close to each other so they are similar to see the Moon from the Earth. That's why those planets could have some water and maybe life, because they are template. Their orbits are smaller than the Mercury one.

The star of the TERAPPIST-1 has a temperature of 2550K, and our Sun 5778K.

The observations were made by the Terappist robotic telescope at La Silla, Chile, and now, the NASA's Hubble Space Telescope is searching for atmospheres around the planets. Future telescopes may be powerful enough to detect markers of life, like oxygen. 

This is the Liverpool Telescope they used. It is located on La Palma in Canary Islands where the skies are clear most of the time.

The first planet discovered outside of our Solar System was in 1992 and since then 3577 planets have been found. But just twelve of them are able to maybe support life and just three are as ideal as those they have recently found. Though all, they estimate that there coulf be 40 billion habitable worlds in our galaxy.

Here you can see the TRAPPIST-1 planets compared to 4 of our planets.

If you want to read more information about this new you can click here

MY OPINION: 

For me those new discoveries are very interesting because we all know that out of our solar system, somewhere else, life exists, so every day we get closer to find it with new technologies and new studies. And who knows, maybe one day humans can conquer another planet. 

To me, knowing that they estimate that there are 40 billion planets able to support life reminds me of the enormous things we don't already know about the place we live and the things we will never know. So we are just an insignificant planet in one of the many enormous galaxies. 

"The human race is just a chemical scum on a moderate-sized planet, orbiting around a very average star in the outer suburb of one among a hundred billion galaxies. We are so insignificant that I can't believe the whole universe exists for our benefit. That would be like saying that you would disappear if I closed my eyes." - Stephen Hawking. 

US ELECTION SPECIAL: WHY DONALD TRUMP?

232

Clinton

62.391.335

270 TO WIN

290

Trump

61.125.956

Donald Trump's victory against Hillary Clinton left everyone surprised because anyone expected him to win. The question is how did he win?

The answer is that Clinton didn't get his base voters in the same numbers as Barack Obama did and also did had an economic plan for working-class whites. Other facts that contributed to her lost was the letter from FBI Director talking about the investigation of the private email server.

MY OPINION: 

In my opinion, the main reason why Trump won is because people didn't trusted Hillary Clinton. After everything that happened with the email scandal, of Hillary using a private server outside the official system for using her email. Trump new how to use this in his favor and people started to follow him.


HERE YOU CAN READ MORE

DANGEROUS WAY FOR CHINESE CHIDREN

To go home from class, a group of children in China fron Auter village in Sichuan province have to carry they backpacks or other items while they have a dangerous journey because they have to climb over a mountain cliff using wooden ladders and walk almost four kilometers long

Other people of the village and even dogs travel this terrifying way and they say it makes their legs shake and they never look down because it is really scary. They want to have a safer way to get to school but they believe that a better future lies in getting education for their children.

MY OPINION: 

In my opinion this shouldn't be happening in the modern world we live and this poor should have a better way to go to school without having to risk their lifes because it looks really dangerous, specially for the old and young people. China goverment has to give a solution to secure their lifes as soon as possible.

HERE YOU CAN READ MORE ABOUT IT

BOB DYLAN WINS NOBEL PRIZE

On October 13, 2016, Bob Dylan won the Nobel Prize for Literature. He is the first musician to win the award and this is why it caused a controversy and people is debating about whether song lyrics, however brilliant,  have the same artistic value as poetry or novels. Also he is the first American poet to win this prize. Just nine Amrican novelists and short-story writers and one dramatist have been awarded.

The Nobel citation says that they gave it to Dylan "for having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition"

Some accuse the Swedish Academy of abandoning its high standards and succumbing to populism, even though all the prizes are very important. Some critics give another point of view at this award. It is obious that we are moving from the print culture to an audiovisual culture, but this doesn't mean that print is dying and that people don't still write novels and poems, it's just that print has lost dominance and audiovisual is becoming more and more popular. Also they say that lots of poets are writing poems to be performed and to be heard rather than to be read. So in giving the prize to Dylan, the Swedish Academy is moving with the times and changing as our society does.

Here you can listen to his song Every Grain of Sand (1981):


Every Grain of Sand - Bob Dylan from Temuco Blues on Vimeo.

Here you have the lyrics:

In the time of my confession, in the hour of my deepest need,
When the pool of tears beneath my feet flood every newborn seed,
There's a dyin' voice within me reaching out somewhere,
Toiling in the danger and in the morals of despair.
Don't have the inclination to look back on any mistake -
Like Cain I now behold this chain of events that I must break.
In the fury of the moment I can see the Master's hand
In every leaf that trembles, in every grain of sand.

Oh, the flowers of indulgence and the weeds of yesteryear,
Like criminals they have choked the breath of conscience and good cheer.
Ah, the sun beat down upon the steps of time to light the way,
To ease the pain of idleness and the memory of decay.
I gaze into the doorway of temptation's angry flame
And every time I pass that way I always hear my name.
Then onward in my journey I've come to understand
That every hair is numbered like every grain of sand.

I have gone from rags to riches in the sorrow of the night,
In the violence of a summer's dream, in the chill of a wintery light,
In the bitter dance of loneliness fading into space,
In the broken mirror of innocence on each forgotten face.
I hear the agéd footsteps like the motion of the sea,
Sometimes I turn - there's someone there - other times it's only me.
I am hanging in the balance of the reality of man,
Like every sparrow falling, like every grain of sand.


MY OPINION

In my opinion, Bob Dylan does deserve the Nobel prize because he is a great songwriter and also a great poet. I think that beacause he sets his lyrics with music is not a reason for not giving him this prize. In my opinion Bob Dylan's poems could stand on its own without the rhythm of the songs, but also singing them attract more audience than just a written poem in our society. 

HERE YOU CAN READ MORE ABOUT IT