OT - Basic Skills in Today's World

skills.With these 2 skills a person can learn anything.You cannot instill in a person all the knowledge they will need,No 2 people have the need for all the same knowledge.I guess the best way to put it is like my old drill sergeant said...."adapt and overcome".We must teach our children to "adapt and overcome" problems and challenges.

Reply to
digitalmaster
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I have an excellent book I got in trade school called "Mathematics for the trades".It puts every problem in real world terms.For example how many pieces 27 inches long can be cut from a 20 foot length of bar? This book really makes a huge difference in how I understood mathematics.

Reply to
digitalmaster

Wish I still had the one I had in school. It was along the same line but was machine shop specific. Published in the thirties, I believe. The school had it reprinted for them. The best of it's kind I've seen. Technology has changed but math hasn't.

Reply to
CW

Now that was clever. Your son was lucky to have someone to teach him.

Lucky you. My son was always willing to share with me. TMI. Sue

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Reply to
Sue

A miracle! We agree on something. Great.

-- Robert Sturgeon Summum ius summa inuria.

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Reply to
Robert Sturgeon

?

-- Robert Sturgeon Summum ius summa inuria.

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Reply to
Robert Sturgeon

No, it is called "post-modern" life. What happens when post-modern life suddenly and unexpectedly becomes post-post-modern life? COULD you butcher a hog, if you really needed to?

-- Robert Sturgeon Summum ius summa inuria.

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Reply to
Robert Sturgeon

I beleive so. Part of a long winded rant about all the things a person should be able to do or at least be willing to try, given the opportunity.

Cheers Trevor Jones

Reply to
Trevor Jones

Yes, BUT, because I can, I've got sense enough to let somebody else do it.

Lew

Reply to
Lew Hodgett

I used to be a supervisor at a shop building custom bakery equipment.We had a little test to see if someone could read a tape measure.Out of 12 high school graduate applicants only 2 could find 1/4 on the tape measure.

Reply to
digitalmaster

I think it is poppycock, but I know it's not true in Boston, Philly, Houston, Tulsa, Mineapolis, Birmingham, and anywhere else I've ever lived or have relatives living. Please, you made the claim, tell us where you are restricted from working on your car. By who, the government?

Tonka toy? Please tell us what vehicle you have or know of that, without an extended pan, uses six quarts. I'm curious.

Average.

Where is here. Maybe I need to move there. At that rate, labor and overhead are free.

Yes, I have, but not recently.

No, a matter of wanting it done right and not paying a fortune to have it done wrong.

They are very smart, however, I hope they will eventually learn that a little elbow grease will save them a lot of money.

I do both.

Reply to
Frank Boettcher

IMHO, TOTALLY incorrect.

New cars are easier to fix than the old stuff ever was (and need a lot less of it) and the service garages are MUCH more expensive than they used to be. Most of the dealer shops (and the franchise specialty garages) are staffed with apprentice parts changers (not mechanics) who have no diagnostic skills or inclination. They just keep on changing expensive parts till the problem stops. The self serve scrap yards are a source of very cheap used parts and the jobber parts stores sell parts of as good or far better quality than the dealer for a fraction of the price, and often give parts warranties that you can actually collect on. When a garage fails to fix a problem usually YOU just keep paying them more and more until they (or another shop) get it right.

When you buy ANY service,

- You are paying an inflated price (often for parts that are never installed on your vehicle) + overhead + an excessive markup + lots of hidden taxes plus added sales taxes AND you are paying in after income tax paid dollars.

When you DIY,

- You are paying wholesale, for only the parts you need, are saving ALL the sales and other taxes on labor and overhead AND you do not pay any income or sales tax on YOUR labor OR on the cash you save.

- You also do not need to have the work done at the shops convenience or travel to (and from, TWICE) the shop for delivery and pickup, or to leave the vehicle for several days. You do not need to wash grease off the steering wheel and seats and fenders or clean out food scraps and garbage or cigarette burns and smoke and butts and ashes.

- AND the chances are better that the job will be done right.

- And when you DIY you can watch for and keep track of the preventative maintenance that will prevent the need for repairs (and towing) caused by breakdown.

BOAT = break out another thousand.

just my .02 YMMV

Reply to
Private

Of course, someone will mention that they might have a workshop in the basement, but it makes me think of the house forsale ads that I read on occasion. Almost all of them advertise completely finished basements with a nanny suite or an inlaw apartment. Never have I seen mention of a house with workshop space in the basement.

Should I buy a house one of these days, I'm going to have trouble finding what I want because I'll be looking for a house with an unfinished or partially finished basement, naturally for a workshop.

Reply to
Upscale

I think the reverse is true. Technological advancement gives a society options, redundancies, flexibility and the ability to assess and remediate problems.

Jeff

Reply to
Jeff McCann

I'm in Southern California.

City ordinance or owner(s) if it is a condo or owner if a rental property.

A lot of it depends on location.

A 4 cyl, Toyota Tacoma pick up truck, AKA: Tonka Toy.

Lew

Reply to
Lew Hodgett

Our culture, such as it is, informs our children that working with their hands is beneath them and that self reliance is no more than knowing which phone number to call when you need something.

It takes some strong involvement on a parent's part to expose children to the joys of doing for yourself; the joys of making, rather than managing, and the satisfaction to be gained from having a basic understanding of the things that inhabit and sometimes seem to overwhelm our day to day lives.

In a society that seems to be so focused on happiness as a result of the acquisition of objects, one would think that simple curiosity about the making and maintenance of those objects would drive people to gain some knowledge in those areas.

Apparently not.

It's having the bling, rather than making it that drives them.

We've managed to outsource our contact with the fundamental necessities of life in the current age - much to our eventual peril, I'm afraid.

I can see the next edition of the Foxfire series dealing with how the old dudes managed to set up their own Wireless Internet connections, changed their own light bulbs, cleaned their own gutters, and just maybe - wiped their own ass.

Not that I'm cynical.

Regards,

Tom Watson

tjwatson1ATcomcastDOTnet (real email)

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Reply to
Tom Watson

Often heard phrase: "you can't make one of those, you have to buy 'em". I really shouldn't complain. I make a living making things for those that can't.

Reply to
CW

That's not entirely true. The builder can build the house cheaper with a plain two car garage. How many people actually only store only their cars in their garages?

Reply to
Leon

Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

The working people and scientists put all of the marketing people, telephone sanitizers and their ilk on the "B Ark", because "a catastrophy was going to destroy the planet", and launched them all out into space... (and the remaining 2/3 of the population stayed on the planet, because no such disaster was imminent ;)

Retief

Reply to
Retief

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