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Leatherman (vagabond)
- triyambakam 1y agoI thought this might be about a multi tool from the Leatherman brand
- fhd2 1y agoMe too, got excited for nothing. But then I wondered - maybe that's where their name comes from?
- szszrk 1y agoThe brand's name came simply from Tim Leatherman, their founder. I don't know what is the real origin of his family name, though :)
- Podrod 1y agoOne would assume it's an occupational surname like Tanner.
- wyclif 1y agoI have to admit, when I discovered this I was a bit disappointed. For a long time I thought it was just a great brand name somebody came up with instead of the founder's last name.
- lazide 1y agoA good last name is the best kind of brand name though? It’s 100% commitment.
- GuB-42 1y agoYes, Li-ion batteries would have been so much better had they been called "Goodenough batteries". And we already have Galvanic cells and Voltaic piles, so it wouldn't have been the first battery named after its creator.
- gorfian_robot 1y agoTim is still kicking and doing promo events. I ran into him under a tent selling tools in downtown Melbourne!
- sparky_z 1y agoNope. It's named after its inventor, Tim Leatherman.
- 10729287 1y agoMe too. And then wondered what kind of tool we would add to a Leatherman labelled The Vagabond.
- maxbond 1y agoA swivel knife for tooling leather. The saddle doubles as a bottle opener.
- elcapitan 1y agoAs I would associate Vagabond primarily with the samurai manga, I would expect a full katana blade.
- IncreasePosts 1y agoFire starter
- thomassmith65 1y agoI thought it might be about Marv Gomez.
- wyclif 1y agoFor a sec I thought the same thing. Anyway, "Leatherman" is a totally great brand name. So good, I wish I'd thought of it first.
- keyle 1y agoSometimes you find the most random things on HN, you have to wonder how that came about. Interesting character for sure, this leatherman.
- redbell 1y agoOP here.. Yes, I agree that HN is the place to discover the most interesting, coolest and weirdest stuff on the internet but unfortunately, sometimes, these posts don't get enough traction in their first minutes and once they got pushed to the second page of newest submissions, they are technically dead! Fortunately, HN had introduced what's called pool, or second chance, where the mods of the site periodically watch for past submissions and pick what they believe is interesting then throw it to the front page and see if it sticks by having users upvoting it. Leatherman story was one of those cases. I submitted it three days ago without getting a single upvote and was surprised to see it made it to the front page this morning.
- praptak 1y agoI remember getting a second chance with my submission for non-explosive demolition agents. The mods didn't put it on the front page themselves but instead emailed me with an invitation to repost.
- redbell 1y agoIn your case, this is being called "invited": Overlooked links, invited to repost: https://news.ycombinator.com/invited https://news.ycombinator.com/invited
- e40 1y agoI don't know where, but probably here on HN, I read a very long version of the same story. The wikipedia version was surprisingly short. I remember reading it and feeling a lot of emotions. I think this is the version: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/09/magazine/old-leatherman-walk-new-york-connecticut.html https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/09/magazine/old-leatherman-w... but it seems too new... I'm sure it was more than a year ago I read about it... EDIT: that's definitely not the one. The one I read was by an author who had had a life-long obsession with the Leatherman and wanted to retrace his steps, on his own, and he had a family. It was a haunting piece. EDIT 2: actually, looks like it is the article. I didn't scan far enough. I guess March 2025 feels a really long time ago.
- protocolture 1y agoCrazy to me that they exempted him from the vagrancy laws. Like "Oh we can have one mysterious and entertaining vagrant".
- titanomachy 1y agoTen separate towns did so. And people left food for him, like Santa Claus. He must have meant something to them.
- oldpersonintx2 1y agoBecause he didn't scream at people, leave used needles in the street, or pass out in gutters.
- Y-bar 1y ago”Homed” people do those things, quite often, yet I have to se any anti-vacancy laws. It is telling that society regularly outlaws afflictions like homelessness or situations like vagrancy instead of targeting the specific instances of bad behaviour that ought to be the problem.
- that_guy_iain 1y agoWe outlaw homelessness because we don't want homeless people on the streets littering the place. The bad behaviours you want to be outlawed are in fact already outlawed. It's just super hard to catch and convict on those. While it's a lot easier to prove someone is sleeping rough.
- Y-bar 1y agoThat’s two major problems baked into one. First: We hide the symptoms behind a veneer of illegality which allows us to ignore the underlying causes. Second: We intentionally write laws which has a proportionally negative effect based on social and medical class of citizens. A class which is already facing hardships. ”The law, in its majestic equality, forbids the rich and poor alike to sleep under bridges, to beg in the streets, and to steal bread.”
- nclps 1y agoThere is a recent episode of The Daily about him - worth checking out! https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/23/podcasts/the-daily/old-leatherman-walk-new-york-connecticut.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/23/podcasts/the-daily/old-le...
- seemaze 1y agoCan recommend this as well!
- ljf 1y agoA very different man, but the book 'The Autobiography of a Super Tramp' is a fascinating read from the hayday of the tramp - about one manes tramping across the UK and USA https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Autobiography_of_a_Super-Tramp https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Autobiography_of_a_Super...
- fxtentacle 1y agoChange one a to u and this might be about a president ^_^ I never noticed before how close those words were. And he'd probably like the prefix "Super".
- WillAdams 1y agoThe thing which that article leaves unsaid is that this lifestyle existed in the context of seasonal migrant workers (hobos) who were still necessary to the not-yet fully mechanized agriculture of the time. One work which touches on this is Louis L'Amour's autobiography: _Education of a Wandering Man_ which is a great read.
- rtkwe 1y agoThere's still a lot of non mechanized agriculture in the US. Fruits especially are often hand picked. Strawberries in particular can be pretty grueling [0] because they're low to the ground. Even the semi mechanized version has the workers lying on their bellies rapidly picking as the tractor tows their platform along. [1] [0] https://www.reddit.com/r/SipsTea/comments/1kqv2yd/pov_manual_labor_working_at_a_strawberry_field/ https://www.reddit.com/r/SipsTea/comments/1kqv2yd/pov_manual... pardon the subreddit it was the best video I could find shortly. [1] https://youtu.be/jmib5b7AhXg?t=24 https://youtu.be/jmib5b7AhXg?t=24
- WillAdams 1y agoYes, but there aren't masses of people moving in a seasonal migration following the work as there were before the development of the hay rake, combine, &c.
- cryptos 1y agoWas the tool company named after this man?
- sparky_z 1y agoNo, named after the founder, Tim Leatherman.
- MoSattler 1y agothis kind of freedom, once possible, is now gone.
- redleader55 1y agoDo you mean in the US? There are many countries around Europe with large populations of traveling folks - they even have cars and setup camps only to move further when they feel like it. As far as I know there are many countries where no one asks anything if you set a tent and spend the night, especially in the mountains, but more generally on land that is not privately owned.
- borski 1y agoThere are still plenty of homeless travelers who live in caves. We have plenty here in CA.
- oersted 1y agoIs it? You just have to give up a lot for it. Perhaps you had less to loose back then, people were closer to this state of being, but that's not good, and it was probably much tougher to live like this at the time. Thankfully the standard of living has been high enough for long enough for most people, that certain sacrifices are culturally unimaginable, but they are still there. Freedom is not free. If you refuse to make long-term commitments to other people and to society, you will loose the benefits of their commitments to you. Even ignoring other people, if you refuse to make long-term commitments to yourself or a certain goal, commitments that will require you to do lots of things you don't feel like doing, suspending your freedom, you will never build anything meaningful, anything that makes life worth living. That's what being civilized is all about, collectively maximising our long-term freedom, instead of pursuing individual freedom at the expense of others freedom, instead of pursuing freedom in the present at the expense of greater freedom in the future. It's made us so much better. Everyone still has the option to unplug from the matrix and go do whatever they feel like, good for you. But do not expect help if you don't help others, and do not expect much goodwill if you refuse to engage in our collective pursuit of making things better for all of us.
- __turbobrew__ 1y ago
- reader9274 1y ago"The more I read about this character, the more I don't care for him" - Norm Macdonald
- afandian 1y agoThat has to be the oddest Godwin’s Law ever. Any why?
- implements 1y agoDon’t want to edit Norm, but a (perhaps British sensibility) alternative is: “The more I hear about this Hitler fellow, the less I like him”
- SoftTalker 1y agoThis was actually the line Norm MacDonald usually used, though he might have had a similar punch line in several different bits.
- Mistletoe 1y agoSince that picture terrified me I searched for more images of him: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/09/magazine/old-leatherman-walk-new-york-connecticut.html https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/09/magazine/old-leatherman-w...
- dominicq 1y agothis guy was for sure a supernatural being
- cfj 1y agoI think there's at least a 40% chance this was Radagast. His fate after the War of the Ring is unknown after all.
- halper 1y agoI wonder what it says about me or my life that my first thought was that it sounded absolutely wonderful. I had a good stretch of time between jobs (fortunately voluntarily) a while back and ever since I have had a completely different outlook on life that is, sadly, not quite compatible with modern life. During my time unemployed my pace of life was more like it is when you are on a camping/hiking trip with a group of scouts: a lot of the time spent on routine things like fetching water, lighting fires and prepping food. I would spend hours each day on prepping the dinner from scratch (beginning with walking to fetch the relevant supplies). Now when I am back to work, I have to choose if I want to spend time with my family or going with the gym, because there is not time to do both. I do not want to be homeless or get rid of my family, but it sure would be amazing to "be able to" (of course I have a choice: I can just resign) just spend time spending time.
- dominicq 1y agoYeah. The options for lots of leisure are either: a) be homeless, or b) be rich. Those of us inbetween always have to choose and make compromises. In my life, this has forced me to quit on a bunch of things I would have continued otherwise, and to lean down things like my workouts and so on. This isn't necessarily bad, I like that I can now do 80% with 20% of time/effort, but still, would be nice to have more slack.
- borski 1y agoThere is a third option, which is to move to a place with a much lower cost of living. This isn’t always possible, due to family or job, but it’s not exactly uncommon either. Remote work, in particular, has helped with this. Work fewer hours, for less money, but with fewer needs. Doable, but it’s about what you prioritize and care about.
- apt-apt-apt-apt 1y ago> Remote work, in particular, has helped with this. Work fewer hours, for less money Honestly, this sounds like an armchair fantasy. It sounds great on paper– tech jobs pay $150K, so just find a remote job and work half-time. Boom, less taxes and you still have $5K/mo plus tons of time! IME though, 99% of jobs want to own you full-time. There are almost no roles where you can be part-time. The other alternative, independent contractor or Upwork, is also very difficult to start, even if you have good experience and skills.
- comrade1234 1y ago"No visible human remains were recovered during the exhumation." Seeing his picture and then reading this I fully expect that he's still walking the route as a zombie and always has been a zombie.
- lelandfe 1y ago“Residents along the route, pleased with this plucky zombie, would take to leaving out plates of offal and brain for him near the graveyard”
- yahoozoo 1y agoIs there a Wikipedia page that contains a list of interesting, real people like this?
- farrelle25 1y agoThis mightn't be exactly what you're looking for - but Leatherman seems an example of a class of people called 'Holy Fools'. (maybe because Leatherman carried a little prayer book) The Holy Fools were semi-religious figures who acted strangely or pretended to be mad to challenge social norms and express spiritual truths. They were common in Russia at one time and called: "yuródivyy" In the West, some examples would be Francis of Assisi and Benedict Joseph Labre. edit: In the USA I'd nearly call Johnny Appleseed one of the 'Holy Fools' and even Chris McCandless (Into the Wild)
- MereInterest 1y agoNot an official list, but there’s a few I’m aware of, each interesting in a different way. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emperor_Norton https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emperor_Norton https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timothy_Dexter https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timothy_Dexter https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eddie_Chapman https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eddie_Chapman
- rob 1y agoHe's pretty popular here in Connecticut. You can hike to one of his "caves" with a trail near Black Rock State Park.
- fideloper 1y agoi grew up really close to that
- kaiken1987 1y agoYeah I remember hearing about him when I was a kid. Amusing to see a local legend posted to HN. Didn't even have to click the Wikipedia link.
- chinaev 1y agoGives me an idea of an ultra endurance event... Think "Ironman" of walking. Let's say participants would have two weeks to complete the 587 km course or some part of it and whoever finished first is the Leatherman.
- Sesse__ 1y agoHow would it differ from other long ultras?
- chinaev 1y agoCool origin story
- rtkwe 1y agoIt would be on the longer side of ultras and unique if it was actually run over the route (vaguely defined) that Leatherman took. But that's mostly because they tend to not be done that way because of the difficulties of supporting runners when the course is that long. The really long ultras are often lap based instead of being a course that's actually 100+km long or take place in remote areas with support cars following the runners.
- codezero 1y agoIt exists. Well almost. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barkley_Marathons https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barkley_Marathons
- 64d032fe 1y agoDo you have to walk? I get that power walking exists as a sport. But no way to easily disqualify people from running instead of walking. Plenty of ultras exist though this would be a cool theme.
- zikduruqe 1y agoNow days, people call them backyard ultras. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Backyard_ultra https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Backyard_ultra
- akirayojimbo 1y agoA lot of Gen X may be familiar with Leatherman due to the Pearl Jam song of the same name. https://genius.com/Pearl-jam-leatherman-lyrics https://genius.com/Pearl-jam-leatherman-lyrics
- throw7 1y agoNot all who wander are lost. They may be just walking in circles.
- regnull 1y agoFun fact: you can visit his cave in Ward Pound Ridge Reservation, Westchester county. Interesting place. Not many people around. You can sit in the cave and try to imagine the life he lived.
- defraudbah 1y agooriginal digital nomad or freelancers as they called it earlier
- marze 1y agoMy brother has a friend who is the modern day equivalent. He travels North America by bike, eats pizza from cheap pizza restaurant dumpsters.
- nartho 1y agoIf he's eating from the dumpsters why not eat from the fancy restaurant's dumpster instead ?
- hyperbolablabla 1y agoI can think of a few reasons. People tend to overorder pizza more than other stuff. Pizza is also more robust than other foods, so it survives being thrown away more than other things. It's also very satiating, comprising bread, dairy and meat.
- nartho 1y agoRight, but I'd expect it to be the same with fancy pizzas. I just don't get the point to target cheap pizza place in particular if you're going to dumpster dive
- marze 1y agoIt might just be that there are a lot more cheap pizza locations than fancy ones. This fellow also stays with friends.
- umpalumpaaa 1y agoReminds me of https://de-m-wikipedia-org.translate.goog/wiki/Blumepeter?_x_tr_sl=auto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en&_x_tr_pto=wapp https://de-m-wikipedia-org.translate.goog/wiki/Blumepeter?_x...
- steinuil 1y agoHey buddy I think you got the wrong door, the rock shelter's two blocks down.
- deleted 1y ago[deleted]