How One Group of Curvy Models Is Changing the Industry From Within

by Lilit Marcus

Inga Eiriksdottir began modeling in her native Iceland when she was just 14 years old. But as her body changed, the modeling industry didn't change along with her. Although she had appeared in campaigns for brands like Dolce & Gabbana and Max Mara and had worked with esteemed fashion photographers including Patrick Demarchelier and Steven Meisel, her agency, Ford Models, switched her over to its plus-size division when she was 21 years old. The 5'10" Eiriksdottir was a size 6 at the time, having started her career as a size 2. Though she saw other models taking extreme measures to stay thin, Eiriksdottir, who is also a trained yoga teacher, refused to put her body through unhealthy regimens in order to be superskinny. When the plus-size division of her modeling agency was shut down last year, Eiriksdottir seized an opportunity to make her own way and to help change the modeling industry.
"I got together with some of the top girls from the division, and we formed our own coalition of models," Eiriksdottir tells Yahoo Shine. "We did a lot of meetings, trying to figure out where we wanted to go with this. We all knew we wanted to make an impact and change the industry so there would be more curvy girls in everything." The group placed an emphasis on beauty campaigns, which are the most lucrative gigs in the industry. Although some plus-size models have begun to have recent success in high-fashion magazines like Vogue and on runways, in the better-paying makeup and hair campaigns, they have been slower to catch on.

Eventually, the five models settled on the word ALDA, which means "wave" in Icelandic, as the name for their new coalition. In addition to trying to get more mainstream jobs for "plus-size" models, they also wanted to educate young women and help boost self-esteem. Today, Eiriksdottir and the group's four other founders — Ashley Graham, Danielle Redman, Julie Henderson, and Marquita Pring — are all signed to IMG Models, which doesn't have a plus-size division and groups all of its models together. ALDA also recently added a charity component its work and held its first fundraising event in New York City in May. The event raised $50,000 for Komera, a Rwandan organization that helps to provide resources and support for girls who want to attend school in the African country.
The transition to model-philanthropist feels natural for Eiriksdottir, now 30, who grew up admiring Christy Turlington, the current Vogue cover star who got a degree in public health and now runs her own maternal health charity. "She's amazingly beautiful, but I love what she's done. I am a yoga teacher as well, so she's someone I am inspired by," explains Eiriksdottir.
Although Eiriksdottir wants to change the modeling industry, she believes that the best way to change the system is from within. "I think the job of modeling is to sell clothes, and there will always be a need for that. There will always be models. We need more size and race diversity in magazines to give women of all shapes and sizes something they can relate to more."

The Unarius Society

America's Wackiest UFO Cult

(Video Link)

You may not know the name Unarius, but most people who grew up in San Diego are familiar with our friendly neighborhood cult because of their zany UFO themed public access shows, their strange visitor’s center and the fact that they’ve been spreading their word of their "interdimensional science of life" since the 1950s.
They were founded in 1954 by Ernest and Ruth Norman, and they refer to themselves as The Unarius Academy of Science, Unarius being an acronym for Universal Articulate Interdimensional Understanding of Science, and if you think the Heaven's Gate crew were nutty wait 'til you get a load of these guys!
Thankfully theirs is a peaceful tribe, and not suicidal, but their story is rather far out, and writer Richard Metzger and Jello Biafra (of Dead Kennedys fame) traveled down to El Cajon, California to find out more about these kooky UFO lovin' folks back in 1992.
This is their story...(cue the Law & Order theme song)

Read more about The Unarius Society over at Dangerous Minds

Man Gives His Dad a '57 Chevy on His 57th Birthday

Mike King of Louisville, Kentucky is unstinting in his praise and respect for his father:

My dad has been everything to me, he is not my biological father but he IS my father. But this man in this video, my DAD my FATHER, was the best thing that ever happened to me and my mom and I hope I can be a fraction of the man that he is.

When Mike was eight years old, he promised his father, Roger King, that he could buy him a 1957 Chevrolet Bel Air for his fifty-seventh birthday. He kept that promise and purchased a perfectly restored turquoise blue Bel Air.
It wasn't easy. Mike had to work 60 hour weeks for a few months to earn the money for the car. As you can see from the video below, it was worth it. Roger is overwhelmed with gratitude at this demonstration of love. Watch it, but have a handkerchief handy.

(Video Link)

Random Photos

The Sixteen-Sided House

In the 1790s, Jane and Mary Parminter, two wealthy women from Britain, built a home for themselves near Exmouth, Devon, UK. They named it La Ronde. Departing from the architectural norms of the time, they selected a hexadecagonal design.
It may seem silly, but this actually permitted the sisters to experience more natural sunlight than they might get from a convention design. The sisters could easily move to whatever spot in the house had the best light. To facilitate this movement, they made each room accessible to those adjoining by sliding wooden panels. So it’s possible to walk a complete circuit around the house without going into the central hallway.

It's now open to the public. You can find visitor information here.

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The Dirtiest Rivers In The World

A lot of rivers in the world are filled with industrial and human waste. Sewage, garbage, waste from factories, fertilizers are the common reasons of water pollution everywhere on Earth. And if the city is a big one, the rates can be decreased tremendously, especially in the third word countries.

Here's a list of the dirtiest rivers in the world.

The 'Rock Star' of the Submarine World Just Turned 50

Alvin is a little three-man submarine commissioned for ocean exploration and launched   in June of 1964. It is the only submarine shared by NOAA and the Navy -and it’s still going strong fifty years later!

The little sub has, as of the end of last year, taken 4,678 dives. It has spent 32,611 hours—more than 1,300 days—under the ocean's surface, with an average dive length of nearly seven hours. It has carried 14,025 humans, usually one pilot and two scientists per dive, to comb the ocean floor. It recovered a hydrogen bomb that was lost in the Mediterranean after a mid-air plane collision. It helped to discover previously unknown life forms congregating around hydrothermal vents off the Galapagos Islands. Most recently it helped to document the sub-surface effects of the Deep Water Horizon oil spill. Most famously it explored the wreckage of the Titanic.

Read more about the adventures of the little submarine that just keeps going at the Atlantic.

Ocean Acidification

Modern ocean acidification is outpacing ancient upheaval

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Report of man chasing squirrels with a stick led to heroin arrest

Police in Boise, Idaho, responding to a report of a man chasing squirrels led to him facing drug charges.

Boise Police Department officers were called on Wednesday over a report of a man chasing squirrels with a stick. Officers say they arrested 25-year-old Aaron Lehotsky for cruelty to animals, but BPD says officers found two grams of heroin in his possession. Lehotsky was booked into the Ada County Jail on felony trafficking and misdemeanor cruelty to animals and resisting arrest. 

What Led To The Silence Of The Crickets On Kauai?

The silence of the lambs was caused by hungry Hannibal Lecter hosting a dinner party, but what's causing the silence of the crickets on the island of Kauai?
A researcher named Marlene Zuk first noticed the silence of the crickets in 2003, a very noticeable silence compared to when she first started studying the crickets on the island back in 1991, and she knew something was wrong because she continued to see the crickets everywhere despite their vow of silence.
After dissecting a few of the insects she discovered the source of their silence- the male crickets had developed flat wings that didn’t make a sound to avoid being eaten by a parasitic fly.
Here’s more on this interesting evolution to silence:

Zuk’s team discovered that the crickets were targeted by a parasitic fly, whose larvae burrow inside them and devour them alive. The flies finds the crickets by listening out for their songs and they’re so effective that, in the early 90s, they had parasitised a third of the males. In 2002, the cricket population had fallen dramatically, and Zuk thought that they were done for.
But the silent males escaped the attention of the fly. As they bred and spread, they carried the flatwing mutation with them. By 2003, the cricket population had rebounded. And in fewer than 20 generations, they had gone from almost all-singing to almost all-silent. The crickets have become a classic textbook example of rapid evolution.

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Unusual Dog Defies Odds of Survival

When I first saw this image being passed around, I thought it was Photoshopped, or at least a digital glitch. No, this is Pig, a dog who was born with profound deformities. Pig and her litter mates were found in the woods near Atlanta. Kim Dillenbeck of Helena, Georgia, adopted the puppy named Pig. She is experienced in animal rescue and fostering, and figured she could handle it if the puppy died. Veterinarians did not expect Pig to survive.

At 8 months old, Pig weighs about 15 pounds; her sisters are closer to 35-40 pounds.

"She's not fully grown," Dillenbeck said. "She's still gaining weight. At this point, she has the potential to gain another 20 pounds, and that would probably kill her."

But Pig's veterinarians, Drs. David Fuller and Rachael Hudson at Hope Animal Clinic, say Dillenbeck is doing everything right for Pig.

"Pig doesn't know there's anything wrong with her," Dillenbeck said. And true, that's the way Pig acts. But she has plenty of issues. Dillenbeck said Pig is missing part of her spine; she's missing several ribs. And she has vertebrae that are fused and twisted. Near her neck, her spinal cord splits into two separate cords. Her hips and joints are rotated in the wrong positions.

Yet, Pig runs and is good at standing up on her hind legs, and she is in no obvious pain.

Dillenbeck must carefully supervise Pig’s eating and takes precautions with her health. What does the future hold for this dog? No one knows, as she was not expected to live as long as she already has. See more pictures of Pig, including X-rays, at AL.com.

Mexican police capture hippo found wandering the streets

Mexican police were called to help with an unusual situation early on Thursday morning in Tlajomulco de Zunigaa in the state of Jalisco, when a hippopotamus was seen wandering aimlessly through the streets.

A man who said he kept the animal at his home was not too far away.
The man told police the animal wandered off into the streets when he let it out of its cage for a walk in the park.

YouTube link.

After some coaxing, police surrounded the hippo and guided it into a cage. Officers then arrested the man, who didn't have the documentation to prove he was the owner.

Animal Pictures

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