Topic Tuesday #4 2012/08/14

SKILLS.

Do you know how to change a flat tire? Have you ever been camping? Hiking? Ever had to build your own fire?

For boys, there is the Boy Scouts to teach many of these skills, and they serve us well throughout life. You never know when a knot you learned for that merit badge will help out, strapping a mattress to a minivan.
For girl, there's been the girl scouts. From what I gather, the girl scouts has really slacked off over the decades in what they tea

ch our young women. My mother told me about having to jump into a lake and take her pants off, tie the legs together and inflate them to make a flotation device. That is certainly no where in sight today. PLEASE correct me if I am mistaken.
This brings me to the heart of the topic. What skills should we just know by the time we are 18 and "adults"? Are there any skills that should be taught that aren't or vice versa? Have at it!

Responses from Facebook (my wall is PUBLIC, so always remember that the world will see it.):

Jon Jimenez You should be taught about credit

Tuesday at 12:36pm via mobile · · 3

Selah Kat Cox not so much skills in my eyes as values... integrity and honesty would be the top two... in regards to skills i would say communication. just my humble opinion take or leave it as you will.

Tuesday at 12:46pm · · 1

Eva Gibson Girl Scouts was horrible. At least my troop was--the leaders ordered pizza on the camping trips, and nothing was said about knots or fire or anything else. All I learned was that I hated door to door cookie sales.

Tuesday at 12:51pm via mobile · · 1

Don Hopkinson The Boy Scouts are also great for teaching the bigotry skills so necessary in life.

Tuesday at 12:58pm · · 2

Andy Cowen I know Don... Churches are almost the sole sponsors of the scouts (Girl and Boy) and many of the tenants of the faith supporting them literally HAVE to be there for their continued support. For the most part, I have found them to be more beneficial for the roll they take in teaching teamwork and other important core values. Everything must be tempered, however, and temperance is something that is not taught very often.

Tuesday at 1:02pm ·

Jon Jimenez Temperance is my answer!

Tuesday at 1:03pm via mobile ·

Dawn Fox I never did scouts, but my dad made sure I knew basic car maintance before I could drive. I can change my own oil, do a tune up, Check and replace most of the fluids and change my own flat tire. Thanks dad. :)

Tuesday at 3:54pm via mobile · · 1

Ryan Wilhelm I think the two very basics are food/water and navigation, shelter and all that are a little easier to improvise. First suggestion from me is the book: "Hunt, Gather, Cook" by Hank Shaw. It's America-centric, but it would certainly get the thought process going so a person travelling would know to do their homework before ending up somewhere that it doesn't apply.

The second is a discourse in astronomy: knowing where the sun rises and sets, how to tell time by it, knowing how the phases of the moon relate to time, and of course knowing your basic constellations so you can find which way is north easily. "Turn Left at Orion" by Dan Davis is a good primer of the stars, the rest I'm not sure the best way to learn other than having someone walk you through it a few times.

I could give a pretty good list of what a person should and should not take with them if they are heading out in to the woods, some things might surprise (knife not really important, paracord on the other hand...)

for boy-scout type things anyway. I wasn't a scout for the record. We just liked that sort of thing. In real life I think knowing how to learn things is #1, and not being afraid to break something (and the lessons about fixing that go with) is pretty high up there too.

Tuesday at 7:03pm · Edited · · 1

Andy Cowen I was not a scout either. I just lived my days looking at how to live if I found myself stranded on a deserted isle. I was an asst scout master for a time. And I have slid down a few crags on my butt. Great advice, Ryan! I will be checking those books out soon.

Tuesday at 8:06pm via mobile ·

Responses from Google+ (my wall is PUBLIC, so always remember that the world will see it.):

I forgot to post to Google Plus... Whoops!

Everyone needs someplace to tinker. Some people use their desks, some use their garages, some use the kitchen counter and table when their garages were impossible to navigate (that would be my dad, Fred Sanford). Here's where it gets problematic, my family moved from a large home (a geek haven with computers and tools around every corner and more stacked in the recesses) to a small home. I lost my 2 car man cave... Now to give an idea of scale, 2,200 sqft with 2 car garage to a 864 sqft stilt home with a carport underneath and 2 storage rooms.

The carpenter in me was screaming, "Where are we going to put the table saw? How can this work?". I was in agreement all around. It is a small house, but so far it is just me, my wife and our beautiful 1 year old daughter. It's small and easy to take care of and gives us a sense of closeness, because we are... However, where will my tablesaw go? I have an enormous 4x8 work table and lots of tools. So begins the renovations to make this smaller space functional.

To give you a sense of the space, the house is a rectangle with the skinny end facing the street. The driveway leads from the street, underneath half of the rectangle all the way from the covered porch to the back. The other half of the rectangle is enclosed and is divided into two rooms. Each room has only 1 outlet, 1 door, 1 window, and a closet. One room has a ceiling light, and the other has none. The following posts in the Workshop Series, will involve the evolution of these spaces into; a workshop, a bathroom, and space for family and friends.

I will be adding in some sketches to illustrate the issues I have been facing. See you soon!

-Handy Andy