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I thought this forum would be the most appropriate place to put this.
I've noticed a couple things lately people have seemingly completely forgotten. I'm no expert in self-sufficiency, but some of the things I see out there are just mind-boggling.
Biggest thing I've noticed day to day is horrible tie-downs in pickups, or no tie downs at all. I saw a portable basketball goal recently upright in a small pickup, going to topple over at any time. I've seen so many items hanging loose out of beds, not tied off, or tied up poorly that this seems to have been forgotten.
I'm not an expert vegetable gardener, but have done about ten years worth of it until the last several years and I'm amazed at the number of people who don't know how to tie support for tomatoes or bean varieties that need it, have never canned or frozen anything, and let a garden basically go to waste.
Tying various knots with common garden twine, ropes, etc., seems to be a lost art. Again, no expert but I can keep things secure.
Any sort of plant/tree identification seems to be long gone. I met a woman in a park in Indiana earlier this year who didn't know a wild blackberry.
What skills are you noticing that seem to be dying off?
I see a lot of the same things. Regarding the vegetable gardening, the whole ability to go from garden-to-table and the scraps into the compost heap seems to be lost, although interest in it appears to be returning based on some books I've seen released in the past few years. I can't imagine a greater pleasure than homesteading in general; raising chickens, composting manure/scraps/leaves, canning, calculating your needs for a year and growing enough to supply your home but not wasting any.
A few people mentioned map and compass navigation. That's largely been taken over by the gps, unfortunately. The gps is a great tool, but I much prefer the topo map and compass. Maybe I'm showing my age, but it has served me well over the years.
Basic 'cub/boy scouting' activities for kids seem to have been taken over by organized sports-type activities in many areas. Learning how to tie knots, use, sharpen, and care for a knife, campcraft, and other basic skills and experiences that they have seem to be decreasing.
Basic bushcraft skills-ability to use and maintain a hatchet, saw, knife, find and treat water, emergency shelter building, firecraft, etc.
The ability to read spoor-I see very few people able to do it besides specialists. That includes some hunters who I know.
Seems like people are more inclined to throw something away now than to try to maintain and care for it over the years. Knife gets dull? Throw it out. 100-year old cast iron pan gets rusty? Throw it out. People are nuts for doing this kind of thing.
Basic first aid.
Resourcefulness in a nutshell. I have a lot of respect for the WWII generation who lived through the great depression. They were damn resourceful. I think that we started to get away from that, but as times continue to change and not for the better, I believe that this will start to change as well. Time will tell.
A few people mentioned map and compass navigation. That's largely been taken over by the gps, unfortunately.
Yes, that IS unfortunate!
Seems many people do not realize that Global Positioning System ("GPS") depends on a constellation of man-made satellites that were launched, and are maintained, by the US Department of Defense. GPS was intended as a navigation aid for US armed forces, not the public.
Many also do not know that it can be made inaccurate by X degrees in one dimension, and Y degrees in another, at the whim of the military, to confuse the enermy. Of course, their equipment can be programmed to operate with it in "degraded mode", but ours cannot, as we wouldn't know the degree of inaccuracy.
They can also turn it off altogether.
If there ever is a World War III, a lot of people had better learn to use paper maps!
People once respected those who were educated. That probably didn't apply to the lowest classes, but they don't really matter.
Until recently, a real education meant someone had really accomplished some real learning and so was worthy of respect. With the grade inflation of the last few decades, I'm not so sure anymore. I have to know what you majored in and where you matriculated to know if the degree is actually worthy of respect.
PhD in Nuclear Engineering, Georgia Tech = Respect.
Degree in "Grievance Studies" with a minor in Ferret Husbandry from Podunk U = Not so Much.
At least the STEM programs at the better known universities are still respectable.
Until recently, a real education meant someone had really accomplished some real learning and so was worthy of respect. With the grade inflation of the last few decades, I'm not so sure anymore. I have to know what you majored in and where you matriculated to know if the degree is actually worthy of respect.
PhD in Nuclear Engineering, Georgia Tech = Respect.
Degree in "Grievance Studies" with a minor in Ferret Husbandry from Podunk U = Not so Much.
At least the STEM programs at the better known universities are still respectable.
I agree with you. Education varies from school to school. General education requirements, however, are poor at government schools in general.
My objection to the posts here belittling general education requirements is that the people who oppose them under all circumstances do nothing but reveal their own lack of education both formal and informal. The most recent person to do it in this thread is a man who is a mixture of braggadocio and bitterness. He continually emphasizes his skills while attacking those who are more prosperous than he. His hatred of them is palpable.
Some days ago he announced that he had disposed of his guns, presumably planning to rely on a bow. I found tis odd. In his last post above he seems to be contradicting the earlier post and saying that he can't reveal whether he owns guns because of OPSEC. This is obvious nonsense. I'm sick of it.
My objection to the posts here belittling general education requirements is that the people who oppose them under all circumstances do nothing but reveal their own lack of education both formal and informal.
I am shocked to learn that we agree on something.
I'm certain there are some easy college programs, but by and large, formal education still requires real learning. It is a myth that one can get some liberal arts degree from some random school and only have to regurgitate liberal ideas on a test. Most schools still require a broad general education that makes up about half of hours taken, and this includes subjects like math, science and history.
I am also curious about the actual familiarity these posters have with formal education. I suspect many of them haven't actually earned degrees, and if they have done so, possibly haven't gone to reputable schools.
Cashiers, wait staff, and retail employees don't know how or even try to correctly count change back.
You're going through the wrong checkout line. Listen for an East Asian accent (any of them), and proceed.
If they were born and schooled in Japan, Korea, China, or Taiwan, they will get you through the line quickly and accurately and they can count the change back to you.
Your U.S.-schooled option is to look for someone over 55, like me.
I agree with you. Education varies from school to school. General education requirements, however, are poor at government schools in general.
My objection to the posts here belittling general education requirements is that the people who oppose them under all circumstances do nothing but reveal their own lack of education both formal and informal. The most recent person to do it in this thread is a man who is a mixture of braggadocio and bitterness. He continually emphasizes his skills while attacking those who are more prosperous than he. His hatred of them is palpable.
Some days ago he announced that he had disposed of his guns, presumably planning to rely on a bow. I found tis odd. In his last post above he seems to be contradicting the earlier post and saying that he can't reveal whether he owns guns because of OPSEC. This is obvious nonsense. I'm sick of it.
I went and paid for my degree, real college with a football team and everything important to a good education.
Grew up in a college town, can't say the performance of the students working around town ever impressed me, except for the number of them that made the paper each Monday after being arrested for underage drinking, drugs, driving under the influence etc.
After going through the system myself, I was amazed at how many useless classes I was forced to pay for and sit through just to give some idiot professor a job. "women's studies", "art history", "effects of the civil rights movement", "creative writing", balderdash. None of it had anything to do with Electronics or Engineering which is what I was there for.
Why would Bowling as a physical education course be a college level requirement??????
I can look at a painting or statue and tell if I like it or not, but trying to draw meaning from a jar with a crucifix in it, filled with urine, I don't find any "artistic" meaning to that at all.
All you had to do to pass those classes was show up for the tests, regurgitate the pabulum from the textbook the professor had written, and you passed.
Big deal. You didn't have to learn anything except how to work around the system by kow-towing to the premise of the classes which was indoctrination into a specific political mindset.
I did like the required History classes, and foreign language classes, but those I could see value in. 99% of the required courses had none.
Bitter?? Pot meet kettle.
I don't hate rich people, actually, I kind of pity them that they have such a shallow existence that the only thing that really matters to them is their pot of gold.
Kind of remind me of the dragon, Smog, in the JRR Tolkien story, the Hobbit. Sitting on a pile of wealth, guarding, alone, and attacking anyone or anything that came near, no joy in anything but that wealth, chained to it because he had to sit on his gold to protect it.
I love firearms, I've owned them most of my life, sold them for several years, but similar to the conceal/carry permit, I don't find it necessary to advertise if I do or don't have them.
In my state, you can open carry pretty much anywhere, and even conceal carry without a permit except in towns or logging camps.
I see a conceal carry permit as just putting another pin in the map that someone like Bam-bam or Hillary if she gets in, could use to identify who has the firearms they want to confiscate. That information is nice and handy at the sheriff's office for any government lackey that wants it for any reason and has your fingerprints and all your information in one nice neat package.
So if I think that way, why would I advertise on an open internet forum that I had guns? Kind of like the idiots on Facebook telling folks they're going on an extended vacation which just lets burglars know the house is ripe for robbery?
I don't have to brag about if I have firearms, it's nobody's business but mine if I have them or not.
Yes, I use archery tackle, and black powder firearms for hunting, in part because it's fun, but also because archery tackle and crossbows keep you under the radar. Nobody knows when you take your shot at an elk or deer. Smokeless weapons announce it to the world.
And while reloading cartridges is a lot of fun, I can make bows, strings, arrows and bolts from materials I can get from nature, I don't have to depend on a manufacturing base for ammunition. That's a survival technique.
If a person were to look at the premise of this thread, it becomes evident that one of the skills that has been lost is the ability to accept that people have different ideas and values, and can allow them to live their own lives without attacking those that think differently.
That is what is propagated by the "diversity" training from the colleges that purport to be so inclusive. They are, as long as you completely agree with them.
Survival strategies differ depending on what each individual attaches value to. That doesn't make them wrong, just different.
We used to be able to accept that someone thought differently and be civil about it.
Civility, another lost skill.
Last edited by MTSilvertip; 10-13-2016 at 07:56 AM..
I don't have to brag about if I have firearms, it's nobody's business but mine if I have them or not....If a person were to look at the premise of this thread, it becomes evident that one of the skills that has been lost is the ability to accept that people have different ideas and values, and can allow them to live their own lives without attacking those that think differently.
Yes, and the ability to know what OPSEC means!!
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