Tesla cars…Louis Vuitton luggage…Philippe Patek watches…luxury brands are selling well. How about a $10,000 cell phone? On today’s show, we’ll learn about the new handcrafted cell phone with optional concierge service that’s become a new symbol of conspicuous consumption.
Also today, from fierce fighters in the Trojan wars to Wonder Woman, Amazons have been described as figures of myth. A classics scholar sifts through new DNA evidence and other proof that these female warriors on horseback were real.
Listen to the full show and click Read more for individual segments.
When Lightning Strikes
- In a recent article for Outside magazine, science writer Ferris Jabr explored just how little we know about how lightning strikes affect the human body – and the symptoms that survivors may experience long after the storm has passed.
Cell Phone For the 1%
- A cell phone for $10,000? Yes, but is it worth it? Gabriel Roth took the newest model in the high end company Vertu's line up, the Aster, for a test drive at one of their upscale boutiques and wrote about the experience and the phone for Fast Company, "The Cadillac Bentley of Cell Phones."
- You can see a slideshow of the Aster and read more about the features that make it so pricey at this link.
Smart Phones for Eye Health
- In you lived in sub-Saharan Africa your chances of getting a prescription for a pair of eyeglasses would be almost impossible. There’s only one optometrist for eight million people. But a smart phone can help. The World Vision Report’s Cynthia Graber went there to check out the story.
- You can listen to this story at PRX.org.
Dispelling the Myths About the Amazons
- The Amazons, a new book by classics scholar, researcher and author Adrienne Mayorfinds the factual underpinnings of the legends of the Amazon women and reveals in great detail the origins, lives, deaths and legacy of these battle-hardened warriors.
Race Swap
- Mikki Kendall is a writer who deals with an extraordinary amount of trolling and vitriol online. Mikki is a black woman in real life, and she created an experiment to see how her online life would change if she were a white man.
- This story is brought to us from On The Media’s TLDR podcast.