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@shagbark_hick
I write for a living at Hickman's Hinterlands at http://shagbark.substack.com
Sometimes I wake up and I still can't believe my profoundly good fortune. Wasn't that long ago that I was a bachelor with no prospects, broke, miserable, quite certain I'd die a recluse. Twitter changed that. You people changed that. So please accept my heartfelt gratitude:โฆ
I'll admit, criminally insane as Charles Manson was, he captured something defining and real about the American spirit when he said: "I got a motorcycle and a sleeping bag... What the hell I wanna go off and go to work for? Work for what? Money?" That's America right there.
Perhaps a part of the traveler's journey is to go home. To return to his homeland, if only to despair over its abysmal condition. His heart oscillates between extremes: he pines to stay in his homeland -- but he knows that to do so is only a form of pointless martyrdom. Then:โฆ
I always laugh when people say that Nebraska sucks. They drive through on I-80, zip past everything, and say "wow, it's so boring." Like most places, it's only "boring" if you stay on the Interstate.
It's possible to travel between Cape Town ๐ฟ๐ฆ and Dar es Salaam ๐น๐ฟ entirely by rail over 15 nights.
The best "middle of nowhere" places are the ones where you can't figure out what the hell anyone does for work. That's where the really nutty, wild-ass types of people are living. Largely broke, mostly lawless, and eccentric to a fault -- these are my people. Of course, suchโฆ
The irony about the GI bill is by the time you've got free college, the idea of going to college sounds awful. I'm 31, I cannot imagine going to English 101 at the local SUNY with all the 18-year-olds. Sounds abysmal. At this point, it's a foreign student visa excuse if I needโฆ
And Priests. Nothing better than a stern confessor to set you straight.
chatgpt agrees with you, your therapist agrees with you no one is left to tell you the truth besides toddlers and drunk people
Why would anyone buy property with an HOA? I'd literally never do it. Whatever the benefits might be, they're outweighed by the countless horror stories. Seems downright un-American to me.
The absolute best parts of the United States are the places that are so harrowingly desolate, abandoned, and isolated that no one cares what you do. Want to camp under the water tower in the middle of town? Go ahead, no one minds. Building a cabin? "If you're crazy enough toโฆ
I'll admit: My life as a traveler has been deeply handicapped by my abject hatred and fear of flying. Used to fly constantly, didn't think anything of it. Then I took a very small plane over the Rockies one night and felt genuinely extreme turbulence. Screaming, things flyingโฆ
What a joy it's been to have brothers. Though I spent my first 14yrs as an only child, watching these guys grow up has been amazing. I've got the older one here now, up in the woods. He's a little man now. Our mom's gonna die soon. He'll be OK. I'm sending him on a 100mi bikeโฆ
I have to admit that I'm curious about the Unorganized Borough of Alaska lately. Been hearing horror story after horror story lately about codes, zoning, and property tax nightmares. I understand the "AK bush" is harsh, intense. But man, imagine no tax or code. Might visit.
This woman OWNS 37 acres of land. The government STILL told her she canโt put a tiny home on it. โI said, I own the land. It's massive. What's the problem?โ Even when you own the land, the government still tries to tell you what you're allowed to do with it.
I'd need six of these ships if I wanted to give every one of my Twitter followers a cruise at the same time. Kind of puts it into perspective what an absurdly large audience a random vagrant can attain online these days. No real precedent for this...
Five times bigger than the Titanic ๐ฎ๐ข A floating city of dreams sailing across the globe for 121 days. Not just a cruise , this is the ultimate luxury voyage. Would you board? ๐โจ
Imagine if we did this today. There are ~21,000,000 boys between 13 and 18 in the USA today. En masse emancipation would inject tremendous life into our society... and would be good for those boys, too. The suffocating "endless childhood" thing was a bad idea that should end.
The British empire gave lads opportunities unimaginable today. Posters in British railway stations advertised jobs in the Palestine police, or plantations in Malaya, or ranches in Rhodesia. My grandad left England for Australia at 16. So claustrophobic now in comparison.
Do any parents voluntarily emancipate their sons at 16 and let them wander the country with their "papers"? If you raised your boys right, it seems like a fine idea to me. There is NO reason a well-formed 16 y/o man shouldn't be bicycling around the country, WWOOFing, etc. Iโฆ
Despite the online "thrown out at 18" narrative, the real change over time in Anglo society is that we have LOST all traditional avenues for young men to escape the home before 18. Used to be many options like the Sea, cattle drives, the circus, apprenticeships, boardingโฆ
Knew a farmer whose son was on heroin. He was shooting up in the hay mow, leaving needles up there. After a while one of the cows bit down on a needle in its feed and got an infection. The farmer was enraged, said: "Go find those needles in the haystack!"
G.K. Chesterton said: โMen did not love Rome because she was great. She was great because they had loved her.โ Notice that he says "men" and "they" -- in the plural. One man cannot do it; the kind of greatness he describes cannot be willed into existence by one man. If youโฆ
The elderly chain-smoking lady at the gas station in the Adirondacks has spoken: "fall's coming early this year, I can tell." It was 46 degrees last night. We are entering summer's final weeks. Soon: endless dark rain, sweaters, cider.
$400k home with $2k taxes? lmao, try NY -- that tax bill could be $8,000/yr or more depending on the county. And yes, seniors, widows, and the very poor have been evicted from homes they "own" outright because of these bills. In my home town, taxes TRIPLED for many residentsโฆ
Losing a $400k home youโve had for 30 years just because you couldnโt cover $2,000 in taxes? Thatโs not just wrong, it should be illegal.
Actual "f*ck you money" is a lot simpler than this. A person has it any time they are earning more than ~8x their monthly expenses AND has complete control of 95%+ of their waking hours. This is true at any income level. Most people who have this in the USA this are homeless orโฆ
Fuck you money