This Is Uber’s Playbook for Sabotaging Lyft

How startups play dirty to gain any advantage in the exploding taxi app market.

Source: The Verge
Published: Aug 26, 2014
Length: 6 minutes (1,600 words)

Amid the Heated Debates, Iraqi Immigrants Struggle to Make a Living in Arizona

Thousands of Iraqi immigrants have started new lives in Phoenix, Arizona, and it has been far from easy.

Source: Smithsonian
Published: Aug 25, 2014
Length: 11 minutes (2,892 words)

Welcome to Paradise

When Germany legalised prostitution in 2002 it triggered an apparently unstoppable growth in the country’s sex industry. It’s now worth 15 billion euros a year and embraces everything from 12-storey mega-brothels to outdoor sex boxes. But has any of this brought about better conditions for sex workers?

Source: The Telegraph
Published: Feb 26, 2014
Length: 23 minutes (5,779 words)

The Aftershocks

Seven Italian scientists were convicted of manslaughter after a magnitude-6.2 earthquake hit the city of L’Aquila, killing 297 people and injuring thousands. Scientists across the globe are worried about the effect this case will have on experts who are asked to provide an opinion.

Source: Medium
Published: Aug 25, 2014
Length: 22 minutes (5,586 words)

Everything Is Hearsay: An Elegy

A young poet on her father’s unexpected death and the subsequent malpractice trial.

Published: Feb 1, 2013
Length: 12 minutes (3,098 words)

The Ex Next Door

She thought she’d found the perfect condo, and then—nearly a decade after their breakup, and in a city of 3.8 million—her ex moved in next door.

Source: Narratively
Published: Aug 21, 2014
Length: 18 minutes (4,591 words)

The Matter of Time

Time Inc., which includes iconic publications like People, Sports Illustrated, and its flagship magazine, TIME, is struggling to become profitable after being spun off from Time Warner.

Published: Aug 24, 2014
Length: 18 minutes (4,568 words)

The Problem of Entitlement: A Question of Respect

Almond argues that a culture of negativity is growing in the world of writers, partly due to a fear that they are competing for fewer steady jobs and a shrinking audience. “Entitlement is the enemy of artistic progress, which requires patience and gratitude and, above all, humility. You don’t grow as a writer by writing off other people’s efforts. You grow as a writer by respecting the process.”

Source: Poets & Writers
Published: Aug 24, 2014
Length: 8 minutes (2,100 words)

Our Music, Our Lives: A Reading List

This week’s reading list from Emily includes stories about Jeff Tweedy and his son Spencer, Jenny Lewis, Mykki Blanco, and more.

Source: Longreads
Published: Aug 24, 2014

Contracts, Clashing Egos, Cocaine: What Doomed Chevy Chase’s Early ‘SNL’ Career

Why did Chevy Chase leave Saturday Night Live after just one season? An excerpt from Hill and Weingrad’s 1986 book, Saturday Night: A Backstage History of Saturday Night Live.

Source: Grantland
Published: Aug 24, 2014
Length: 22 minutes (5,722 words)