wisconsin_cur wrote:Moving into a future of crisis and scarcity we need more than the specialized knowledge of engineers and scientists.
Inversely, a small awareness of personal responsibility, fostered through regularly practicing an accessible skill where the consequences of failure remain high, ingrains a virtue of responsibility for doing a job right. Self-critique become less a threat and more a means of avoiding screwing up so badly in the future. In the United States, and the West more generally, we have fostered a culture where it is more important to just do something rather than to insure that we do a thing correctly. Antagonizing this instinct to "just do" is a reluctance to sacrifice or discomfort. When we say someone ought to do something, we do not include ourselves in the "someone." In changing oil we learn that grime does not kill and that contorting one's arm to start the oil filter on a 1984 Buick Skylark is the only way to accomplish the necessary end and "just part of a job." The more time we spend undoing the subconsciously internalized assumption that grime and contortion is work for other people, the more capable we become of undertaking the work that will be required each of us as the challenges of the future become the challenges of the present. When enough people are more capable we will find we have a culture capable of facing the problems before us.
Do it yourself? Not likely if you're under 35. More than half are DIY dunces who can't even rewire a plug and have to rely on parents
By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 11:16 PM on 23rd August 2010
More than half of young people lack the skills they need to maintain their homes, with many relying on their parents to carry out basic tasks, a survey suggested today.
Around 50 per cent of people aged under 35 admitted they did not know how to rewire a plug, while 54 per cent did not know how to bleed a radiator and 63 per cent said they would not attempt to put up wallpaper, according to Halifax Home Insurance.
Other basic jobs, such as putting up shelves, were beyond 45 per cent of those questioned, while 36 per cent said they would not even attempt to do gardening themselves.
DON'T do it yourself: Young people under 35 are more likely to call in a professional when it comes to doing jobs around the house
Instead 42 per cent would pay a professional to do the work.
Nearly two-thirds of young people admitted that their father was far better at DIY than they were.
The study also found that when the under-35s do attempt to do a job themselves and it goes wrong, it costs nearly three times as much to fix as problems caused by other age groups.
The average cost of putting right a botched DIY job carried out by someone under 35 is £2,498, compared with around £838 for those aged over 45.
Don't try this at home: Under-35s spend on average £2,498 to fix botched DIY jobs
Martyn Foulds, senior claims manager for Halifax Home Insurance, said: 'This survey strongly suggests that younger people feel they don't have the experience or knowledge necessary to tackle even the most basic of home maintenance and DIY tasks.
'This indicates a significant number of younger householders could be storing up problems for the future, as the lack of home maintenance starts to take its toll on their homes.'
Xenophobe wrote:I like the bumper sticker. But lets not forget that without those engineers and scientists, there wouldn't even be a bumper to attach it to, let alone make sure that one farmer can feed what, a couple hundred people? Lets here it for farmers, whoo-rah!
The_Virginian wrote:w/o an ANSI cert. mechanic/repair shop you void warranties on most newer vehicles.
for those off warranty, enjoy.
Pretorian wrote:You forget that a farmer does not need to feed a couple hundred people. He needs to feed himself and his family. Period. He is forced to feed 200 people by banks, uncle Sam, and his own hubris.
I have for many years advocated (somewhat tongue in cheek) that to eat meat you had to have a license, renewable annually. To get the license you had to kill and butcher, and cook an animal. Chicken, pig, goat, cow, whatever. No buying your way out of it. Wanna eat a steak at the restaurant? Put up your photo ID license or go veggie.
wisconsin_cur wrote:I have for many years advocated (somewhat tongue in cheek) that to eat meat you had to have a license, renewable annually. To get the license you had to kill and butcher, and cook an animal. Chicken, pig, goat, cow, whatever. No buying your way out of it. Wanna eat a steak at the restaurant? Put up your photo ID license or go veggie.
Where's the "like" button?
Alfred Tennyson wrote:We are not now that strength which in old days
Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are;
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.
MarkJ wrote:Too many garages either don't change the oil, use the wrong type of oil, don't change the filter, don't let oil drain completely, leave drainplugs loose, over-torque drainplugs, strip-out drainplugs, use the wrong oil filter, fail to remove the old filter gasket, foget to add the oil, leave the filler cap off, over-fill oil, under-fill oil, slop oil all over the undercarriage of the vehicle, get grease all over the exterior/interior of the vehicle, steal items inside vehicles, scratch paintjobs etc.
Newfie wrote:I have for many years advocated (somewhat tongue in cheek) that to eat meat you had to have a license, renewable annually. To get the license you had to kill and butcher, and cook an animal. Chicken, pig, goat, cow, whatever. No buying your way out of it. Wanna eat a steak at the restaurant? Put up your photo ID license or go veggie.
MarkJ wrote:Too many garages either don't change the oil, use the wrong type of oil, don't change the filter, don't let oil drain completely, leave drainplugs loose, over-torque drainplugs, strip-out drainplugs, use the wrong oil filter, fail to remove the old filter gasket, foget to add the oil, leave the filler cap off, over-fill oil, under-fill oil, slop oil all over the undercarriage of the vehicle ...
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