BS: 25 skills every man (?) should know.

Subject: BS: 25 skills every man (?) should know.
From: Naemanson
Date: 01 Nov 07 - 11:04 AM

As proof that Popular Mechanics is out of touch with the 21st century and that they are ignoring half the population they have issued the list of "25 Skills Every Man Should Know: Your Ultimate DIY Guide".

Once you get past the idea that women don't need these skills (huh?) the list is kind of fun to go through. It sure has some different stuff from what I learned from my dear old Dad. He can barely use a film camera. He certainly wouldn't know how to retouch a digital photo. However, he can light a fire in almost any weather. I didn't know most of the computer items but I think I've got the others pretty well down pat. How about the rest of you? And Ladies? You shouldn't hold back just because Popular Mechanics left you out.

The List

Subject: RE: BS: 25 skills every man (?) should know.
From: beardedbruce
Date: 01 Nov 07 - 11:23 AM

Or, according to LL ( RAH)

A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects!

Subject: RE: BS: 25 skills every man (?) should know.
From: Amos
Date: 01 Nov 07 - 11:26 AM

I've done all of these except bleeding brakes, although not all of them really well.

I think this list is arbitrary, and the article is kind of a throwback in its chsuvinistic approach. All these skills are good to have, though.

A

Subject: RE: BS: 25 skills every man (?) should know.
From: Mrrzy
Date: 01 Nov 07 - 11:30 AM

Where is ride a horse and use/make a bow and arrow? Seems the aabove are only things to know if you're already in civilization and can find someone else to...

Subject: RE: BS: 25 skills every man (?) should know.
From: Bill D
Date: 01 Nov 07 - 11:41 AM

Kinda strange list. Seems to me that anyone who can afford a big HDTV can afford expert installation.

Some of those are obvious, some are VERY subjective. Changing the oil in a car used to be fairly easy, but things have changed...and just getting UNDER the car is more tricky than doing the oil.

Why didn't they list other stuff, like unstopping a sink?

Subject: RE: BS: 25 skills every man (?) should know.
From: Rapparee
Date: 01 Nov 07 - 11:58 AM

I can do those and have done many of them. But if I don't know how to do something I simply look it up -- that's one reason libraries exist.

Subject: RE: BS: 25 skills every man (?) should know.
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 01 Nov 07 - 12:05 PM

Totally uninterested in photograpy, and fairly uninterested in HDTV - 47 channels and nothing on still rules as a concept. Most of the rest does seem kind of obvious though.

Subject: RE: BS: 25 skills every man (?) should know.
From: Little Hawk
Date: 01 Nov 07 - 12:12 PM

When I try to open that site it won't work.

Have they got these on the list?

wrassle a grizzly bear (or a full-grown alligator)
walk a tightrope
climb a palm tree in your bare feet
sign a document with your non-dominant hand
peddle a bicycle backwards at high speed without losing control
walk on stilts
place the sole of one foot on the top of your head while balancing on the other

Subject: RE: BS: 25 skills every man (?) should know.
From: Jean(eanjay)
Date: 01 Nov 07 - 12:17 PM

Well, I'm still having trouble with internet explorer despite the fact that my husband used his skills to fix it!

As a result I couldn't read all 25 but I do have some of those skills and I'm hoping to not ever need others eg. rescuing someone from a capsized boat.

Subject: RE: BS: 25 skills every man (?) should know.
From: Jean(eanjay)
Date: 01 Nov 07 - 12:21 PM

......... although, I do go to the coast a lot so maybe I should make the effort.

Subject: RE: BS: 25 skills every man (?) should know.
From: Amos
Date: 01 Nov 07 - 01:10 PM

I notice they left out catching a baby, defending a site against foot soldiers, computing probabilities of genetic disorders, programming a macro, diagnosing vitamin deficiencies, giving an injection, bridging a stream, staunching a flesh wound, splinting a broken limb, and identifying spam and phish by viewing source code.

All good things to know, indeed.

A

Subject: RE: BS: 25 skills every man (?) should know.
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 01 Nov 07 - 02:54 PM

Tuning a guitar wasn't in it. Nor was there any first aid apart from artificial respiration - no Heimlich manoeuvre or tourniquet. Nothing to do with getting food. Didn't even include being able to drive for that matter.

I thought it was a pretty arbitrary and irrelevant list most of the time.

I think the lists Mudcatters have come up with are much better.

Subject: RE: BS: 25 skills every man (?) should know.
From: Gurney
Date: 01 Nov 07 - 03:39 PM

BeardedBruce, shouldn't we add LL's other skills?

Live virtually forever
travel in time
mess about with space/time/volume
kill people quickly, and with no remorse
bonk his own mother, and other relatives.

The only one of his list you posted that I've tried to do, and failed, is to write a sonnet, one that I'm satisfied with, anyway.

Subject: RE: BS: 25 skills every man (?) should know.
From: Sorcha
Date: 01 Nov 07 - 03:50 PM

We should all make our own list.

1. Know how to find food in the wild and to prepare and preserve it.
2. How to find/save water.
3. How to find clothing materiel and prepare it for all seasons.
4. How to find/build shelter.

Now, to civilization:
5. How to unstop a sink or toilet.
6. How to drive.
7. How to comfort the living.
8. How to comfort the dying.
9. How to say no.
10. When to say yes.
11. How to take care of The Inner Self.
12. How to be Kind.
13. When NOT to be Kind.
14. General first aid, including how to deliver a baby.
15. Know who to call for what and when to call.
16. Know how to teach.
17. Know how to learn.
18. Know how to relax.
19. Learn to recognize beauty.
20. Most of all, learn how to THINK and REASON.

My list is stopping at 20, I think the last one says it all.

Subject: RE: BS: 25 skills every man (?) should know.
From: Little Hawk
Date: 01 Nov 07 - 04:01 PM

And how to deal with a chimp on the rampage too...

Subject: RE: BS: 25 skills every man (?) should know.
From: Sorcha
Date: 01 Nov 07 - 04:06 PM

LOL!

Subject: RE: BS: 25 skills every man (?) should know.
From: Amos
Date: 01 Nov 07 - 05:54 PM

I would think, vis-a-vis such a chimp, I would be inclined to shoot him dead.


A

Subject: RE: BS: 25 skills every man (?) should know.
From: Little Hawk
Date: 01 Nov 07 - 06:16 PM

No, no....what you do is you offer him fresh fruit, and lots of it. Or some good Betty Page material. Or a ticket to the Cubs' next game.

Bribery is the best way of calming down a rampaging chimp.

Subject: RE: BS: 25 skills every man (?) should know.
From: Sorcha
Date: 01 Nov 07 - 07:58 PM

So, Hawk and Chongo...where are your important lists of stuff to know?

Subject: RE: BS: 25 skills every man (?) should know.
From: Little Hawk
Date: 01 Nov 07 - 08:22 PM

Hmmm...

I would like to know:

How to fly a real airplane (instead of just on the computer).
How to get a date with Winona Ryder.
Let's make that several dates with Winona Ryder...
How to play piano better, to make use of the full keyboard, and set up a good rythm section.
How to reverse the aging process and work my way back to about age 35, let's say.
How to gain weight (in the right places, that is).
How to make more money than at present, although I'm not complaining...I'm doing okay.
How to relax my body and mind more effectively.
How to fall asleep quickly when I want to.
How to get the dogs to be a bit more self-reliant and ask to go out when they need to!

As you can see, I'm being somewhat whimsical... ;-) I'm not saying that the above stuff is important exactly...it's just what comes to my mind at the moment.

I'll ask Chongo about his list.

Subject: RE: BS: 25 skills every man (?) should know.
From: Amos
Date: 01 Nov 07 - 08:44 PM

1. You take flying lessons. Then you find you can do it.
2. How many times have you asked her?
3. Ditto
4. Practice practice practice.
5. Reincarnation handles this nicely.
6. Eat more. Exercise the right places.
7. Organize for volume.
8. Step outside it, to start with. Practice making your own space instead of subscrtibing to the continuum, which has a very high noise ratio.
9. Take two melatonin when retiring.
10. Train them to realize you are willing to be effected by them, for example, by holding your hand out and then flinching dramatically when they reach toward it.

A

Subject: RE: BS: 25 skills every man (?) should know.
From: Little Hawk
Date: 01 Nov 07 - 09:03 PM

Heh! You are so eminently sensible, Amos. ;-)

Wait till Chongo presents his list...

Subject: RE: BS: 25 skills every man (?) should know.
From: Bobert
Date: 01 Nov 07 - 09:07 PM

25, you say???

Hmmmmm?

Howz 'bout a case of ice cold Iron City and big bag of chips... That's exactly 25...

B~

Subject: RE: BS: 25 skills every man (?) should know.
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 01 Nov 07 - 09:10 PM

Yesterday my husband helped rescue a neighbor's cat, who had been boarded into a burned house. Her piteous mews for help tore my heart. My husband hauled out and set up a 30-foot ladder, and the cat's owner climbed it [only partway] and brought her down.

[We think that cats are great jumpers, but the cat's throaty yowls while being carried down the ladder convinced me that she was very afraid.]

So the strength and skill to handle ladders must be put on the list.

Subject: RE: BS: 25 skills every man (?) should know.
From: Sorcha
Date: 01 Nov 07 - 09:19 PM

Agreed, leenia. Cats CAN jump....if they aren't terrified. They can't always land jelly side up though.

Fear of falling has kept me off ladders for years. I just can't do it. Might could to save an animal though. Climb and descend a ladder on the balls of your feet, NOT the arch or heels. Use the calf muscles to lift you UP and DOWN, not your knees.

Or, just JUMP! LOL

Just don't ask me to climb one of those 'pole cross' Anasazi ladders in the pueblos.

Subject: RE: BS: 25 skills every man (?) should know.
From: Amos
Date: 01 Nov 07 - 09:30 PM

Actually you could boil it down to being able to handle and use well:

1. Any variant of a wheel in various combinations.
2. Ditto an inclined plane.
3. Ditto a lever
4. Ditto ropes, lines and wires.

and any combination thereof.

ANyway it's silly. Seems to me a man grows up learning the tools his civilization has to offer. I consider myself blessed to have been exposed to as many as I have, from clubs to high-speed Macs and routers. Just stroll through any Home Depot.

And I have sat with folks whose tool chest consisted of one frying pan, one machete, and an ancient muzzle-loading rifle, who lived on jungle snakes and local greens.

They'd go crazy in Home Depot!!

A

Subject: RE: BS: 25 skills every man (?) should know.
From: catspaw49
Date: 01 Nov 07 - 10:28 PM

I think the foremost skill a male should have is the ability to lick his eyebrows. I know at least 5 different methods you can use to bleed brakes and I guarantee you that if a man can lick his eyebrows the whole brake thing ain't diddly-shit......no comparison. Frankly Hawkster, if you could do it it might be quite easy to get a date with that skinny actress.

Spaw

Subject: RE: BS: 25 skills every man (?) should know.
From: Peace
Date: 01 Nov 07 - 10:30 PM

But tell her you can hold your breath for 15 minutes!

Subject: RE: BS: 25 skills every man (?) should know.
From: Little Hawk
Date: 01 Nov 07 - 11:16 PM

Guys, if she only knew me as I really am...no problemo. Alas, we live in different worlds, as it were, and she probably never will.

I happen to know that the only reason Spaw can lick his eyebrows is this: the distance between his eyebrows and his upper lip is about half an inch! Yep, we are talkin' about a real lowbrow here. His brow ridges make a gorilla's look minor in comparison. Then there is his ass...but no...I won't go into any particulars about that. It's just too awful to even talk about.

Subject: RE: BS: 25 skills every man (?) should know.
From: GUEST,.gargoyle
Date: 01 Nov 07 - 11:37 PM

A soft - slow touch.....

is enough

Sincerely,
Gargoyle

An instrument of perfection only needs a master's hand to urge nuances of a soul that lie shallow beneath a thin veneer.

Subject: RE: BS: 25 skills every man (?) should know.
From: catspaw49
Date: 01 Nov 07 - 11:41 PM

Yeah right........Tell ya' Hawkedaloogey, my ass is shrinking rapidly as I haven't been able to hold any food down since you posted that description of your sorry self in a thong on another thread. It really has been.............ohgoodchrist, I gotta' go drive the porcelain bus again.................awgeeziz...................




















Okay........a little better now. I ain't got nothin' left to throw up but my nuts...................

Spaw

Subject: RE: BS: 25 skills every man (?) should know.
From: catspaw49
Date: 01 Nov 07 - 11:46 PM

What the hell are you saying there Garg? You wanna' give my ass a soft, slow touch or what? You know you're getting weird as hell Man....you really are...............

Spaw

Subject: RE: BS: 25 skills every man (?) should know.
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 02 Nov 07 - 03:13 AM

Yet more confirmation that my husband is turning into my mother and I'm turning into the man I wanted to marry!

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: 25 skills every man (?) should know.
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 02 Nov 07 - 03:15 AM

I'll have to admit to only looking at the first half-dozen¹ "skills," but my first thought was that the list consisted of things every thirteen year old kid should know how to do. That's one of the reasons I quit reading "Popular Anything" when I was about 12, although I guess kids these days aren't as "physical" as when I was younger.

¹ One of the things every magazine publisher should know is how to post a server page that doesn't require a 380+ KB download to get a 12-word useless quip. My connection is a bit slow, but I simply couldn't justify wasting the time to try to look at the rest of the article.

John

Subject: RE: BS: 25 skills every man (?) should know.
From: GUEST,Basic
Date: 02 Nov 07 - 10:01 AM

skills every person should achieve if possible, in no particular order.

1. Communicate and trade with people effectively
2. Make Fire and find potable water
3. Farm,hunt,fish,preserve and cook food
4. Build and maintain shelter for family
5. Defend home and family against predators
6. know Advanced first aid, basic medicines
7. Navigate
8. Swim
9. Make basic tools
10.Teach others

Subject: RE: BS: 25 skills every man (?) should know.
From: Donuel
Date: 02 Nov 07 - 10:08 AM

Winona Ryder? what a brat.

I prefer Marisa Tomei

Subject: RE: BS: 25 skills every man (?) should know.
From: Little Hawk
Date: 02 Nov 07 - 04:21 PM

Those are fighting words, Donuel.

Subject: RE: BS: 25 skills every man (?) should know.
From: GUEST,Chongo Chimp
Date: 02 Nov 07 - 04:36 PM

Here are the 25 skills that really count:

1. Knowin' how to climb a tree in 5 seconds or less.
2. Knowin' how to climb a multi-story brick wall in 8 seconds or less.
3. Knowin' how much plastic explosive to use to blow open a locked steel door or a safe without doin' too much collateral damage or gettin' yer own head blown off.
4. Knowin' how to lay down accurate bursts from a Tommy gun up to a distance of 50 yards.
5. Knowin' how to not waste yer ammunition.
6. Knowin' how to use a knife, a tire iron, or anything else that comes to hand if you got to.
7. Knowin' how to chat up a good-lookin' dame so she thinks it's her idea...
8. Knowin' how to split a scene so damn fast that all they see is yer dust.
9. Knowin' how to dispose of a shady loan shark or a bad lawyer.
10. Knowin' how to talk yer way out of a jam.
11. If 10 don't work, knowin' how to fight yer way out of a jam.
12. Knowin' how to delay the rent without gettin' evicted.
13. Knowin' how to deal with cops and confuse their minds.
14. Knowin' how to get out of any hold.
15. Knowin' how to clean, oil, and load a gun, and then knowin' how to use it...but that goes without sayin'.
16. Knowin' how to please a good-lookin' dame, but keep her guessin'.
17. Knowin' how to say just enough, but not too much.
18. Knowin' how to hold yer liquor.
19. Knowin' how much fruit is enough.
20. Knowin' how to identify counterfeit bills.
21. Knowin' a real clue from one that ain't.
22. Knowin' how to lie so smooth that almost everyone believes you (Bill Clinton was good at that...real good...I almost think he might have a little ape in him somewhere).
23. Knowin' when enough is ENOUGH!!!
24. Knowin' that fine line between manslaughter, justifiable homicide, and first degree murder.
25. Knowin' how to forge a passport if you got to.

Now just take them 25 rules...and apply 'em across the board to any situation that involves:

1. business activities
2. women
3. other leisure activites
4. yer relatives

You will be on safe ground.

- Chongo

Subject: RE: BS: 25 skills every man (?) should know.
From: EBarnacle
Date: 02 Nov 07 - 06:17 PM

Actually, that last one, extending a wireless network looks like it might come in handy. We are having a problem getting our laptop into the net.
I was surprised they did not include wiring a house or building a boat from scratch.

Subject: RE: BS: 25 skills every man (?) should know.
From: Rapparee
Date: 02 Nov 07 - 06:58 PM

Wiring houses usually (at least in the US) requires an electrical inspection. And building boats...well, you could drown and your survivors could sue the magazine.

Chongo, ol' pard, I think you should add one somewhere that says, "If you can see it, you can hit it with a rifle/shotgun/handgun, depending upon the circumstances." And you and I both know that a Tommy gun is only okay, at best, at 50 yards -- it's better at 25, since it was designed for close-in work as a trench gun in the first place.

Subject: RE: BS: 25 skills every man (?) should know.
From: skipy
Date: 02 Nov 07 - 07:07 PM

For 2 days I've been trying so hard not to mention the "G spot" but it's too late now!
Skipy

Subject: RE: BS: 25 skills every man (?) should know.
From: GUEST,Chongo Chimp
Date: 02 Nov 07 - 07:14 PM

Yup, yer right about that, Rapaire. On every count. A Tommy gun is designed for up close shooting, mostly. It's possible to be accurate with 'em at longer distances, but getting in close is optimum.

Handguns are good, of course, cos they are small and easy to conceal. I carry a handgun most times, but if there's a real war on in town...then it's the Tommy gun for me. I dusted off the front steps of the Northside Gorillas clubhouse once with a Tommy gun, shootin' from the front seat of my car, and it was like watchin' dry leaves scatter in the wind. They are still buggin' me about that little incident, but I didn't start it.

Rifles are what you want at longer distances. Like ya say, if you can see it, you can hit it.

You also wanna squeeze the trigger real gentle, not pump it like John Wayne. That fool never coulda hit nothin' shootin' a gun that way, unless maybe he got real lucky.

- Chongo

Subject: RE: BS: 25 skills every man (?) should know.
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 02 Nov 07 - 08:50 PM

Something that struck me, whilst watching an episode of Red Dwarf this week...

Lister and the Cat are being chased down a corridor by something that wants to blow them up. Lister comments 'why do we never meet anyone that's pleased to see us', to which the Cat replies 'and why do we never meet people who can shoot straight?'

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: 25 skills every man (?) should know.
From: Little Hawk
Date: 02 Nov 07 - 09:05 PM

If they did, the show would end.

Subject: RE: BS: 25 skills every man (?) should know.
From: JennieG
Date: 03 Nov 07 - 12:49 AM

LH, you won't stand a chance of a date if you forget her birthday......and I believe she had a birthday during the week just finishing. Did you send flowers?

Cheers
JennieG who occasionally reads the gossip page of the newspaper in the coffee shop and thereby finds out all sort of stuff

Subject: RE: BS: 25 skills every man (?) should know.
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 03 Nov 07 - 01:27 AM

"How to reverse the aging process and work my way back to about age 35, let's say."

This one's dead easy... it's called waiting for senility...

Subject: RE: BS: 25 skills every man (?) should know.
From: Little Hawk
Date: 03 Nov 07 - 09:34 AM

OY! Thanks for that tip, JennyG. I shall have to pay more attention to these things...

Subject: RE: BS: 25 skills every man (?) should know.
From: Slag
Date: 03 Nov 07 - 12:37 PM

As I can only get dial up out here in the boonies I lost patience with PM's list but I got the general drift. I like your list BB. Pretty right on. All was going well in this thread 'til LH, Spaw, Donuel, et al started in!! Oh, did I fail to mention Chongo? Cheesh. I thought I'd have to start a new thread just to get back on track but some neophyte guest stepped in (or I should say "over" the mess and brought it back to ground. However Chongo's list was very good. Chongo, you should teach LH how to write.

Among necessary skills and skills that tend to enhance one's life I would add:

1. Swim and float for long periods of time.
2. Identify and use herbs.
3. Play chess beyond knowing the moves.
4. Play poker well enough to win with a degree of regularity.
5. Make a cord or rope from found fibers.
6. Make a bow and arrow.
7. Knap rock
8. Make a fire.
9. Make your own brew and distill the same.
10. Learn sign language (ASL or other).
11. Be a gentle person.
12. Always plan at least two exit strategies from any place or any situation (especially while driving or in Middle Eastern conflicts).
13. Not panic.
14. Write well.
15. Admit when you are wrong and apologize.
16. Spot a conman.
17. Be well versed in firearms and know you limitations.
18. Navigate by any means available.
19. Manage money or at least, balance a checkbook.
20. Kill, skin, clean and butcher an animal. Use that fire you made in 8. and cook the same (survival 101).
21. Fake it.
22. Land an aircraft.
23. Dance.
24. Make love a choice and not just an emotion.
25. Be conversant with nuclear physics. < Just thought I'd throw that last one in there for fun!

Subject: RE: BS: 25 skills every man (?) should know.
From: Little Hawk
Date: 03 Nov 07 - 04:31 PM

That's a pretty good list, Slag.

Chongo's list is very appropriate for Chongo...maybe not for everybody...but it works for him. I think different people may need different lists.

I like that one you wrote: "Make love a choice and not just an emotion." That's very good.

As for landing an aircraft, it's not easy. Taking off is a cinch. Flying normal and moderate maneuvers is a cinch. But landing without killing yourself requires true mastery...and that's why it takes a lot of training to earn your wings.

Subject: RE: BS: 25 skills every man (?) should know.
From: Little Hawk
Date: 03 Nov 07 - 04:38 PM

I'm going to add some that may have been missed:

Know how to listen.
Know how to express your own feelings and be aware of others'.
Become appreciative of things like subtlety and balance.
Learn how to avoid extremes and practice moderation.
Know how to control your temper...and your tongue.
Know how to take advice when you need to.
Know when is the time to change your mind about something you thought you had your mind made up about.
Know how to be flexible....

How many presidents have managed all of the above? ;-)

Subject: RE: BS: 25 skills every man (?) should know.
From: Stringsinger
Date: 03 Nov 07 - 06:38 PM

How about 25 skills that every man and woman should know?   (Same skills?)

Frank

Subject: RE: BS: 25 skills every man (?) should know.
From: Little Hawk
Date: 03 Nov 07 - 06:45 PM

Pretty much the same, yes.

Subject: RE: BS: 25 skills every man (?) should know.
From: Mr Happy
Date: 03 Nov 07 - 06:57 PM

Apply a patch from the kit you always bring along when biking?

Eh?

Subject: RE: BS: 25 skills every man (?) should know.
From: Little Hawk
Date: 03 Nov 07 - 06:58 PM

Fer sure, eh?