Volume 20 Issue 11
The Bible Needs More Sex Scenes
By most estimates, the Bible is the most popular book of all time. A sprawling epic, it has been translated into every language spoken since Jesus was crucified and has changed countless lives.
Did Robotraders Know the Financial Crisis Was Coming?
Commodities markets the world over have been hijacked by robots or, more specifically, algorithms that can scan data and trade stocks so quickly that their meat-brained creators often can’t keep up with what they’re doing.
Soul on Fire
California’s Conservation Camp program is a huge but little known joint venture between the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation and Cal Fire, the state firefighting agency. The program disperses some 4,200 felons from California’s...
Employees of the Month
Brayden has been in our regular stable of photographers for quite some time now, and he’s the one we’d most like to saddle up and ride like a donkey (in our world, that’s a good thing). He’s from Seattle, and despite spending the first 21 years of his...
Sewing for the Heart
“Sewing for the Heart” is from Yoko Ogawa’s new collection, 'Revenge: Eleven Dark Tales,' and it’s as perversely tantalizing as anything she’s written. In the story, a cabaret singer with a heart that developed outside her body hires a reclusive bag...
Never Party with the Brick Squad
How a VICE reporter nearly died trying to hang with Gucci Mane and Waka Flocka Flame.
Bulgaria’s Immigrant Bummer
Bulgaria’s “special homes” are essentially prisons for immigrants. The official purpose of these centers is to detain illegal immigrants until they can be deported, but many long-term inmates are refugees seeking asylum who have gotten caught in the...
Superman vs. Spider-Man: A Porn Parody
The most successful major motion pictures in recent years have been superhero movies, and the most lucrative pornos over the past five years have been spoofs, so it's no surprise that there have been a shit-ton of superhero spoofs lately.
I Was Tortured as a Bahraini Political Prisoner
Bahraini journalist Ahmed Radhi was one of the 500 prisoners who were detained following the citizen uprising against Bahrain’s government that began in 2011. Ahmed told us about the supposed reasons for his detention and the poor conditions he faced...
Killing Up Close
William Wold seemed fine when he came home from Iraq. Wold had begged his mother to sign a parental-approval form when he wanted to join the Marines at 17, taking extra online classes to graduate a year early in order to do so. But after four years of...
Selfies
Anything that is commonly understood as the province of teenage girls or their proxies is understood to be something dumb. A “selfie” is understood to be dumb, and it really is, but it’s also the ordering feature of the internet.
What Means What Now?
Did you know I was married? Of course you don’t. I didn’t tell you. I don’t really talk about her very often. To me, a wife is pretty much a backup plan. If I don’t get no shtuppin’ for a while, if my career falls apart, if I got no one else to turn to...