Buck Hardcastle
Bio
Viscount of Hyrkania and private cartographer to the house of Beifong.
Stories (110)
Filter by community
Hate books? Rethink your approach to reading.
Whenever I hear someone say that they don't read books it bums me out. What I hear is that no one ever gave them a book they actually enjoyed. People who read tend to be wiser, more open minded and more eloquent than people who don't. If you clicked on this article you're probably interested in reading more, but struggle to do it. It will help if you unlearn habits you were taught in school.
By Buck Hardcastle2 years ago in Lifehack
[Blank] is Worse Today! An Old Idea.
As Millennials reach middle age, we should be warry of becoming nostalgic for the past. There seems to be a very universal and timeless belief that society hit its peak when you were young and everything has gone downhill since then. Here are some sentiments to be suspicious of.
By Buck Hardcastle2 years ago in FYI
FAQ about the War in Ukraine
Ukraine seemed to be doing so well in regaining territory for awhile, but not anymore, what happened? In September 2022 the Ukrainian army wowed by taking back a large swarth of territory pretty much overnight. If they could keep doing that, they'd retake the rest of their homeland soon. Expectations for a spring offensive were high.
By Buck Hardcastle2 years ago in The Swamp
The First Dirt Salesmen
Americans regularly buy dirt, or as marketing would have us call it, potting soil. We're so used to it now, but it's an odd concept. Pay money for the most freely available think around? A question took a hold of me, and I needed to know the answer: Who first sold dirt?
By Buck Hardcastle3 years ago in FYI
An Ode to Skybars
On a recent trip to New York City, I was faced with a conundrum. My wife wanted to take photos of the city from a high vantage point, but also did not want to pay for an observation deck. Going to the top of a skyscraper didn't seem worth the expense to me either. Rockefeller Center's Top of the Rock Observation Deck costs at least $34. Tickets to One World Observatory start at $44. To get to the 102nd floor of the Empire State Building is an eye watering $79 -- in comparison, a ticket to Disneyland earlier this year only cost me $74. Also assuming you don't want VIP tickets, which can run in the triple digits. This is particularly galling to someone from St. Louis like myself, we're used to completely different price points. Our art museum, history museum, zoo, and science center are all free. Tickets to one-of-a-kind Gateway Arch are just $15.
By Buck Hardcastle3 years ago in Wander
Where are the Drag Kings?. Top Story - May 2023.
There's a lot of talk about drag queens, both celebration on shows like RuPaul's Drag Race and hysteria over drag queen story hours. It made me wonder, why you don't hear about drag kings? Women are out there dressing as men, but they don't seem to have anywhere close to the same cultural standing. (One thing I learned in doing research for this article is that who can be a drag king is a lot broader than just people assigned female at birth, but that is getting a bit beyond my scope here.) So here are some theories.
By Buck Hardcastle3 years ago in Pride
Staffing problems? Have you tried evil?
Ah the labor crisis, caused by lazy people not needing to work because of America's famously generous social benefits. At least that's the narrative pushed by owners of capital who were feeling squeezed by the working class having more options. I wrote an article in 2021 explaining how laziness wasn't a factor in regards to worker shortages. I concluded that business were going to have to offer more (i.e. higher wages) if they didn't want to lose workers to competition.
By Buck Hardcastle3 years ago in Criminal
