California just announced that it would phase out the sale of new gas-powered street cars by 2035. The Volkswagen Group has set a similar schedule for itself. Ford has moved development of internal combustion engines to a “Legacy” department. Will ICE soon be a thing of the past? Most people think yes. But I think… Read More THE REVS WILL HANG

From March of 2018 through Christmas of 2019, I lived out of a backpack. Thruhiking is weird and wonderful – big fan. Came 2020 and thruhiking wasn’t really on the table. For three months I lived out of my car. I had nothing to do but hike mountain trails and drive mountain roads… and avoid… Read More VANNISH BOY

Next year it will be 30 years since Myst was released. It has been 25 years since Riven – and 25 years without Riven getting the sequel it deserves. It’s not surprising. The first Myst was a little game. You were in a little world made up of littler worlds. You solved little discrete puzzles.… Read More D’NI

BACKGROUND I was between jobs when COVID came. For months I could not find work of any sort. I went up to the Maine mountains to do some hiking. The world was ending, I lived out of my car, and it was wonderful. When I’d hiked all the mountains in Maine – most a few… Read More NO SPACESHIP

When he was a sprightly young lad of 58, Goethe wrote his Faust. The titular fellow is a man of a certain age and station. He has tried to find meaning in life through all the regular routes, studying religion and science and the humanities. He has come up short in the Meaning department. So… Read More FAUST/MUNGER

(As posted to Reddit.) I once went off on a hike in the mountains. It ended up lasting 22 months and over 7,500 miles/12,000km. (As far as ways to destroy your wallet/resume/body… highly recommended). I’ve also worked as an Appalachian Trail Ridgerunner and a wilderness first responder. Because of all this, my friends often ask… Read More A Thruhiker’s Perspective on Prepping

People like to play with Google Maps to find “the world’s longest walk.” But how can you find the world’s longest hike? It’s simple. Look up “list of mountain ranges by length” – and then see which ones you can string together. …oh, you’d like me to do the work for you? Well it just… Read More THRU-MAX

It’s been March for ten months and that means it’s the holidays. All the big newspapers are publishing their gift guides. More and more these have entire sections devoted to hiking and camping and the outdoors. Which is great! But most of the gear they recommend is… not great. Not inspired. Not cutting-edge. Not going… Read More Silver’s Hikertrash Giftguide 2020

Joe Biden ran Hillary Clinton’s campaign. He appears to have done so with a little more success – not very much, but enough. This strategy was summarized in 2016 by international sex symbol Chuck Schumer: “For every blue-collar Democrat we lose in western Pennsylvania, we will pick up two moderate Republicans in the suburbs in… Read More Growth & Importunity Project

I’ve now driven over ten thousand miles during COVID, all while trying not to die. Or, worse, be a murderer. I picked up a few tricks and I’m here to share them. I should probably start with a gloss. Hot take: COVID bad. It’s spread primarily by exhalations, so the best thing you can be… Read More Crossing a COVID Country