The Wireless

Weekly Reading: The best longreads all in one place

11:39 am on 6 January 2017

Our weekly recap highlighting the best feature stories from around the internet.

 

This week: Jezebel on Milo Yiannopoulos's book deal. Photo: Jezebel

How the Book Publishing Industry Is Trolling Itself - Stassa Edwards, Jezabel

"Threshold’s decision to publish Yiannopoulus might have come as surprise, disconcerting perhaps because Yiannopoulus’s shift from the fringe to the mainstream reflects a larger corrosion to the public sphere of ideas in which the loudest jerk is the most important. But, if anything, Yiannopoulus’s hackneyed brand of provocation is the natural outcome of the conservative book publishing market where, increasingly, simply being outrageous is somehow synonymous with being interesting or intellectual.

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Inside the Million Dollar Get-Rich Doula Clique - By Katie J.M. Baker, Buzzfeed

"The profession isn’t regulated: Unlike nurses and midwives, anyone, even someone who has never been to a birth before, can technically call themselves a doula, which comes from the Greek word for “women’s servant.”

The Rise of Creep Catchers, Canada’s Vigilante Pedophile Hunters - By Manisha Krishnan, Vice

"The man arrives. He's overweight and balding; what little hair he still has is white. He's wearing an ill-fitting grey polo shirt, with black track pants and a black windbreaker. He sits at a booth alone and looks around a little. Laforge slides into the seat across from him and holds his phone up to his face. Others in the crew follow suit, whipping out their cameras." 

Finding Kirsa: The Napier Schoolgirl Who Never Came Home - Joanna Wane, The Listener

"Robyn remembers the tears rolling silently down her face the day Holyoake comes to their door, not with the heartbreaking news that Kirsa is dead but something unimaginably worse. “I’ve failed you,” he tells them. “I can’t find your daughter.”

The NBA Guide to Shooting Your Shot - By Shea Serrano, The Ringer

"Smart, who is like the NBA version of that Will Smith movie where his character had trained himself not to let his body experience fear, slid over to meet LeBron, putting his chest into him, causing a collision. LeBron flailed his arms maybe 10 percent more than he needed to, and that plus the general momentum of the action caused Smart to go stumbling backward out of bounds. The refs blew the whistle to call a foul on Smart, and Smart, frustrated by LeBron’s steamroller approach to the layup (and possibly frustrated by LeBron’s general existence, as some players tend to be), charged in to let LeBron know that no chicanery would be tolerated on his watch."

The Media's Favourite 'Millenial' is 55 Years Old - By Ben Collins, The Daily Beast

"Millennial millionaire Dan Nainan is 55 years old. He doesn’t really even look 35. If you Google Dan Nainan, it will say his age: 55 years old. There’s even a website called ComedianDanNainanIsOver50YearsOldAndHisFollowersAreFake.com."