How Many People Have Zero Practical Skills In Today’s Society?

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Supervisor42 said:
You may not even need to pull the dipstick if it has an oil-level sensor. Check the manual under 'messages'. Just depends on the year model.
It will tell you when it is getting low of oil or coolant.
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Yea it will tell me but I'm old and things like checking the oil are something that I have always done. With my truck, I checked it 1 time just so I could say I did it.
I got a warning to check the charging system. I found out that meant the idler pully was broken and the serpentine belt was off and the truck will overheat quickly.
It takes some getting used to with all the built-in warnings. Mine even tells me the driver needs to take a rest break. Not sure what triggered that but I suspect it has to do with the lane control function.
 
If it wasn't so hot here aquaponics would be a good thing to have too of course if you live where you can fish you can just use the fish scraps after cleaning for garden fertilizer.
 
I am a mechanical idiot...

When it comes to fixing stuff, I could screw up a one house paper route. But I kind of have a talent for being able to jimmy-rig whatever I broke so it will last until the guy who can fix it right shows up.

Unless it involves electricity. Just call the electrician, cuz if you let me near it you'll need to make another call - probably 911.
 
Haertig said:
My skills are more intellectual than physical. Ask me to design a computer system to do blah, blah, blah ... no problem. Ask me to fix a leaking toilet ... prepare to call an emergency plumber after hours to finish the job.
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You would probably make a good Comms Chief for a prepper group then.
 
Build a barn,greenhouse,a table & chairs, cabinet, install sink,commode & septic tank. Plant, propagation & maintain orchard, perennial garden. Rootcellar/ wine cellar & springhouse, run off water swale. Minor engine repair,fire wood lot & fire wood, smokehouse, animal husbandry, minor apiary, rabbit box & hunting, fishing. Have some manual tool, but no solar panels.
Most of the rest was in a food plant, welding & metal work is all I could use out side of industrial setting.
 
Sentry18 said:
From 13-15 I would spend my summers working for a farmer who was a retired drill sergeant. He hired 3-4 teens every summer and we would do everything from picking rock, to fencing, to painting, to picking square bales. We made $10-15 a day for 10 hours of work, but the farmer's wife would feed us 3x a day. Big hearty protein-heavy meals. Each summer I would put on about 10lbs+ of muscle. Plus the farmer would let us shoot his M1 Garands and M1 Carbines and teach us how to shoot them better. Those summers provided me a whole lot more than the amount of money I would make.
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And kept the 3-4 of you out of trouble! This is part of the problem for some teens these days. Nothing to do!
 
SheepDog said:
I grew up curious.

So, if you need something, and you can't find it build it! It is just one of life's little adventures.
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This is me, curious. I have taken many classes to learn how to do things, and would take more if I could. I have taken several wood working classes, and that helped me to make some furniture, classroom shelving and kitchen cabinets. I have taken classes in stained glass, automotive maintenance, genealogy, food storage, basket making, quilting, crocheting, pottery, much more. Most of my life I was taking one class or another in the evenings, weekends or summer.

What have I not learned that I wish I had: welding, metalsmithing, gunsmithing, leather work, 3 - D printing, and more.

I think that many people choose to not have skills, or pretend not to, because then they can get someone else to do the work for them. Like LazyL's SIL. "He can do it." And her son never had a father to show him how. And that makes it your problem? Nope!

We really do people a disservice when we do for them, rather than teaching them how, and this is true for women who never change a tire!

One of the first things I learned in a class in my freshman year in college: "Give a man a fish, and he eats today. Teach him to fish and he eats for a lifetime." If we never teach our family members how to take care of things, we are disabling them mentally and for their own independence.
 
Supervisor42 said:
You may not even need to pull the dipstick if it has an oil-level sensor. Check the manual under 'messages'. Just depends on the year model.
It will tell you when it is getting low of oil or coolant.
{there I go againView attachment 45259)
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LOL....My dad had a name for the oil light.
He called it the ' Idiot light' he said if it comes on your an idiot :antiqueauto:
 
Yep!. By the time the light comes on it is already too late. At an idle an engine only needs about 10 psi of oil pressure, the light comes on at 5 psi.
 
SheepDog said:
Yep!. By the time the light comes on it is already too late. At an idle an engine only needs about 10 psi of oil pressure, the light comes on at 5 psi.
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I was not talking about an oil pressure indicator light.
Most modern (after 2002) vehicles have low fluid level sensors and indicator messages.
The one in my wife's car (a 2005) alerts when the oil level is about 1/2 quart low.
Same for the coolant level.
It's not 1985 anymore.
 
Amish Heart said:
No, but it feels liked 1984
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You win the internet today!

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I agree @Sentry18 in the general populous there is a lack of both common sense and or skills and any sort of forward thinking :rolleyes: . As I get older I am realising just how stupid people are and that I can't help most of them.

We have a good range of skills here most self learned and lots from our time on the land for both DH and I. Also we prefer to hang around with friends who are savvy in some way too so we combine our skills to help each other as well.
 
Nice to have parents with them. I was usually following around my father and seeing what he did and he would explain it as best he could when I was young. As I got older I would help and learn.

How many people today honestly don't know how to change a flat tire or change there oil. Not that are lazy but actually clueless!?! I thought parents always showed there kids these basics.
 
RabbitsAreDelicious said:
Nice to have parents with them. I was usually following around my father and seeing what he did and he would explain it as best he could when I was young. As I got older I would help and learn.

How many people today honestly don't know how to change a flat tire or change there oil. Not that are lazy but actually clueless!?! I thought parents always showed there kids these basics.
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I had to learn to change a tire to pass Driver's Ed. It really should be something that everyone should know how to do if they are driving. Being helpless is a luxury I was never afforded.
 
Frodo said:
LOL....My dad had a name for the oil light.
He called it the ' Idiot light' he said if it comes on your an idiot :antiqueauto:
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SheepDog said:
Yep!. By the time the light comes on it is already too late. At an idle an engine only needs about 10 psi of oil pressure, the light comes on at 5 psi.
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I know two people whose idiot lights came on AND they paid no heed to that! They both admitted they saw the light, but paid no attention to it. They both burned up the engines in their cars. Isn't that truly idiocy?
 
RabbitsAreDelicious said:
Wow I think when I went through they showed a slide on it but that was it. It should be required today also.
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Driver's Ed. teacher had a sister-in-law who learned to drive, got her license, got a car, and no one ever showed her to check her oil or to have it changed. She learned about it when her engine failed. This happened before he married her sister. He sure told us that story as a reminder why it was important.

I used to take my car to a garage which is now closed. They told me that they once had a car come in that was purchased new, and driven until the engine seized. The oil was never checked nor changed. It may have been someone who grew up in a family that had never had a car, or it may have been someone who never saw any car maintenance going on in the family. What an expensive lesson to have to learn.
 
Sewingcreations
When it comes to pratical skills, I do not know how to sew with a sewing machine, DW does, but I can only patch with needle & thread. I could have learned, but mother never made me do it, only needle & thread. My DW is more into med stuff than I am also.
 
Haertig said:
Ask me to fix a leaking toilet ... prepare to call an emergency plumber after hours to finish the job
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I would consider myself much the same. I would add it will cost twice as much because the plumber will have to fix what I messed up, and then do it correctly. Same for electrical and carpentry. We have been blessed with finding a wonderful handyman who can do everything at a very reasonable cost. I think he sees my wife more than I do. I will happily work the second job to have him do all the repairs and "Honey-Do's" around the house.
 
Having dependable plumbers, electricians, etc. when you are a widow with no "free" help around is golden. I had a local plumber replace a toilet. I called him back three times because it was rocking and his idea of a fix was wooden shims. Even I knew that wasn't a proper solution!! Called another plumber who fixed it -- the flange was broken. The first plumber has a big red X across his name now. I keep a notebook for household repairs, services, etc. with the name and number of the service person, service provided, date and cost. It is so helpful because I can quickly see the last service date for the generator, furnace, a/c etc.

My late dh could do most things around the house but I learned early on that electrical and plumbing (beyond changing a faucet or a light fixture) were best left to professionals or my father. My dh loved working with my dad and learned so much from him. My dad and his brother flipped houses for several years with dad providing the remodeling and uncle the cash. The men who grew up on farms in the 1930's learned to turn their hands to almost everything because they were too frugal to pay someone else to do it for them. They were the ultimate survivors after being raised during the Depression and then surviving WWII nothing much phased them. It was from him I learned to think outside the box to solve problems.
 
Ann said:
Having dependable plumbers, electricians, etc. when you are a widow with no "free" help around is golden. I had a local plumber replace a toilet. I called him back three times because it was rocking and his idea of a fix was wooden shims. Even I knew that wasn't a proper solution!! Called another plumber who fixed it -- the flange was broken. The first plumber has a big red X across his name now. I keep a notebook for household repairs, services, etc. with the name and number of the service person, service provided, date and cost. It is so helpful because I can quickly see the last service date for the generator, furnace, a/c etc.

My late dh could do most things around the house but I learned early on that electrical and plumbing (beyond changing a faucet or a light fixture) were best left to professionals or my father. My dh loved working with my dad and learned so much from him. My dad and his brother flipped houses for several years with dad providing the remodeling and uncle the cash. The men who grew up on farms in the 1930's learned to turn their hands to almost everything because they were too frugal to pay someone else to do it for them. They were the ultimate survivors after being raised during the Depression and then surviving WWII nothing much phased them. It was from him I learned to think outside the box to solve problems.
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Really, replacing a toilet is not that hard. I have done it. It was a little scary, but I always proceed with lots of research and caution. I took it out when I (I, not a hired person) put ceramic tile in my bathroom. My house is an old house, so somethings like this are kind of scary (don't want to mess it up), but it is just not hard. YouTube has helped many people like me out. I read and research for a while before I start anything, to get comfortable with the idea of how to do it.
 
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