nursery slope, burner phone. using burner phones and fake credit cards to avoid detection.

The crisis in non-fiction publishing


When it comes to high-calibre non-fiction, risk-averse trade publishing houses are producing too many copycat ‘smart thinking’ books that promise more than they deliver. But praise should be given to the university presses


THEGUARDIAN.COM|由 SAM LEITH 上傳

True, Uber faces competition in the form of Lyft, but Uber has been making some pretty anti-competitive (indeed, unethical) moves to push Lyft out of the way -- including placing fake orders with Lyft and then cancelling at the last moment in order to recruit Lyft’s drivers, and using burner phones and fake credit cards to avoid detection.









"Big conglomerates are very effective brand management systems – they can make comedians into novelists. And they can sell the big names – the Pinkers and the Schamas and so on. But the nursery slopes – the future stars – are now more and more on the lists of the university presses.”




nursery slope
a gentle slope on a mountain used by people learning to ski

AI Overview

A burner phone is a cheap, prepaid, disposable mobile phone used for temporary, private, or anonymous communication, often purchased with cash to avoid a paper trail, allowing users to "burn" (discard) it after limited use, separating personal identity from communications for privacy, security, or to avoid tracking, though modern apps also offer digital "burner numbers".

Key characteristics

• Prepaid: 

  Comes with a set amount of talk, text, or data, without a long-term contract.
Disposable: 
Intended for short-term use, then discarded, often in a way that obscures identity.
Anonymity: 
Purchased with cash to avoid linking to personal information, though modern tracking methods exist.
Privacy: 
Separates activities from a primary phone, reducing spam and data exposure.

This video explains the origin of the term 'burner' and how these phones work:

burner phone
Urban Dictionary: Burner phone
www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Burner+phone
A prepaid cellular phone, replaced frequently (weekly) (monthly) to avoid leaving a trail and getting caught up in illegal activities.