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Fuel Hustle

Weaving through Cambodia by motorbike, hugging the Vietnam border, I came to some startling realizations. Firstly, I was running worryingly low on gas, even though I fueled up just 20 minutes ago. Secondly, there didn’t appear to be any gas stations for miles...

The Road to Relevance

A pile of children’s shoes marks the entrance to the Busia Community Library. The library walls don’t exactly shine white, and the ubiquitous Kenyan dust tints the floor a dull reddish-brown that no amount of scrubbing can erase. But the pile of shoes is...

Shadow Goods

Not long ago, I bought a bottle of whiskey at a liquor store in midtown Manhattan. It was only when I got home that I noticed some fine print on the bottom of the label that differentiates the Scotch from any other I had ever bought. The added words said that the...

What do gangsters and Google have in common?

Two young drug dealers marvel at the ingenuity of their Chicken McNuggets and imagine the innovator who must have become incredibly rich off his invention. An older, more experienced dealer, D’Angelo Barksdale, mocks their naiveté, explaining that the man who invented...

Horny Demand

Every evening, Le Van Tuan would drink a tall glass of rice wine. To combat the ensuing hangover, he ground rhino horn into a glass of water. This, he said, would also prevent disease. Want to know more? Read about it on MKSHFT.org Many Vietnamese believe rhino horns...