The Abortion Pills That Were Delivered to Them by the Drones
Los Angeles friends: we're excited to announce that Peabody Award winner and former Director of The Moth Lea Thau will join our Real Future of Romance event on July 8. She'll be talking about her fascinating experiment to interview people she'd met online who didn't want to date her. There are just a few tickets left, so register soon.
1. The intersection of drones, borders, and laws is going to be weird.
"The Abortion Drone departed from Germany and landed at the opposite side of the river in Slubice, Poland. While the drones were crossing the German/Polish border , the German Police tried to intervene but the drone pilots were able to safely land the drones at the Polish side. Two Polish women swallowed the abortion pills that were delivered to them by the drones. The German police confiscated the drone controllers and personal iPads. They threatened that there will be charges but it is totally unclear on what grounds. The German Polish already admitted that flying the drone over the border was not illegal but now want to test a violation of the Arzneimittelgesetz (medicines law). However as required by that law the medicines were provided on prescription by a doctor and both Poland and Germany are part of Schengen."
"We wished the Bartesian was the 'ultimate cocktail machine.' Keeping a home bar stocked can be a hassle. There are all the mixers and garnishes — not to mention tools like muddlers, strainers, jiggers, and the like. Plus, you have to take the time to measure all of the liquids and get the ratios right. When you get home from work or school and want a drink, the last thing you want is more dishes to wash, more things to prepare."
3. What to make of the curious persistence of cassette tapes in a digital world.
"Cassette lovers, old and new, assert that tapes have something that online music lacks—a tactile physical presence. The benefits of cassettes haven’t changed: They’re cheap to make, pocket-sized and lightweight, and easy to mail. Cassette tapes still offer do-it-yourself musicians, who otherwise couldn’t afford to press a vinyl record, an affordable way to make an analog album they can hold their hands."
4. The surprisingly deep history of dog shit in Paris.
"One of the points I tried to make is that dog mess, like other forms of urban pollution, is profoundly historical. In the nineteenth century, merde had formed a minor part of the Parisian economy. Some poorer Parisians would collect it throughout the city to sell to tawers (mégissiers) in the tanneries near the Bièvre River who used it to taw sheep skins: 10kg of dog faeces could treat 12,000 skins. Dog mess went from being an economic resource to a public health problem in the 1920s. Doctors and public hygienists “discovered” the problematic materiality of dog mess because of shifts in Paris’ environmental history. The public hygiene movement and changing cultural ideas about filth and smells led to attempts to cleanse the city’s streets through regulations and technologies (such as street-cleaning vehicles). The replacement of horses with motor cars, buses, trams and trains also transformed the streets."
5. These GIFs of the sci-fi creatures created by Harry Hausen are delightful.
"Ray Harryhausen's creations aren't the most realistic in the realm of special effects, but Ray's touch is instantly recognizable. His creations are absolutely alive; in each frame his creatures move, twitch, breathe, act with personality and pathos. Few other low-budget monster movies of the time match the technical competence and respect for the subject as Mr. Harryhausen's films."
On Fusion: On Officer Involved, a new art project to visualize locations where police officers killed someone.
1. womenonwaves.org 2. buzzfeed.com 3. collectorsweekly.com 4. sniffingthepast.wordpress.com 5. harryhausen.com
The Abortion Pills That Were Delivered to Them by the Drones