Is anybody mourning the loss of Manly /Womanly arts?

sk8erboii · 02-01-2019 12:48PM

Cienciano wrote: »

We also could make bronze arrowheads 5000 years ago, I assume you could knock a few up in an hour?

I mean, I'm in my 40's and I'm shocked at the level of "kids these days" and "back in my day" in this thread. You can buy a jar of jam for 40 cent, who could be arsed making jam?

Its just old people desperate to stay relevant. Its no longer their world so they gotta reaffirm that their jampacking abilities is still somehow a unique art, oblivious to the fact that no one cares.

Im sure 50 years in the future old people will be bragging about how good they are at making avocado toast

whisky_galore · 02-01-2019 12:56PM

Cienciano wrote: »

I mean, I'm in my 40's and I'm shocked at the level of "kids these days" and "back in my day" in this thread. You can buy a jar of jam for 40 cent, who could be arsed making jam?

It's the satisfaction you derive from doing it yourself.

You can get a packet of fish fingers in any supermarket but people still go on fishing trips because they like the experience.

CelticRambler · 02-01-2019 01:18PM

Cienciano wrote: »

You can buy a jar of jam for 40 cent, who could be arsed making jam?

The former MrsCR (back this week for a brief trip down memory lane) says she'd forgotten how much better my jam tastes, made with 100% organic blackcurrants from the garden, compared to the stuff you buy in a shop.

Mind you, most of my visitors say the same. Maybe it's the wine I ply them with ... :rolleyes:

sbsquarepants · 02-01-2019 01:29PM

DS86DS wrote: »

I remember been atop Dun Aonghasa a few years ago. Seen some folks literally lying down on the side of the cliff and staring down at the sea below. Absolute madness.

Could have been me either, it's a sight you wouldn't forget I have to say, what an amazing place. Threw a couple of stones over the edge to see how long they'd take to hit the water - a surprisingly long time.
My missus is like you, she sat a good 25m back from the edge trembling, you actually couldn't pay her enough to look over. She's so bad in fact that she couldn't even look at other people looking over!

blade1 · 02-01-2019 02:18PM

randd1 wrote: »

Compo culture has something to do with it too. Some car models no longer come with a spare wheel in some countries as too many people were suing them for getting injured when changing the wheel.

Can't find the link, I saw it on facebook a while back about a case in the US, it was established that the spare wheels (usually in the boot) weren't ergonomically stored for stress free lifting, and caused back problems when attempting to lift one out of the car. They sued, and won, and now manufacturers are pulling the spare wheels from cars.

And next they'll be suing them for swallowing the foam supplied to seal the puncture.

Wibbs · 02-01-2019 02:39PM

Cienciano wrote: »

We also could make bronze arrowheads 5000 years ago, I assume you could knock a few up in an hour?

Right; we'll need copper and tin ore(handily enough found in Ireland), charcoal, some fine river clay for the moulds, crucible and oven fittings, and some leather to make bellows and a stout chap to pump them. Producing charcoal could be the long winded part, but in a pinch we could use dry hawthorn wood as it burns the hottest of the woods.

Cienciano · 02-01-2019 04:01PM

Wibbs wrote: »

Right; we'll need copper and tin ore(handily enough found in Ireland), charcoal, some fine river clay for the moulds, crucible and oven fittings, and some leather to make bellows and a stout chap to pump them. Producing charcoal could be the long winded part, but in a pinch we could use dry hawthorn wood as it burns the hottest of the woods.

I watched every primitive technology on youtube. Even starting the fire is hard! Check out making the blower (instead of bellows)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JgQ-07VgJuY

Wabbit Ears · 02-01-2019 04:07PM

was just commenting there the other day that it really amazes me how many people cant use a screwdriver properly. I get its a specific motion that wouldn't really be used in everyday activities but its kinda saddening that people grow up unable to use basic tools with relative ease.

Wibbs · 02-01-2019 04:44PM

Cienciano wrote: »

I watched every primitive technology on youtube. Even starting the fire is hard! Check out making the blower (instead of bellows)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JgQ-07VgJuY

That guy's fantastic. Good to see that sorta thing getting 9 million subs. Switch on subtitles to get the full story as he goes through what he's doing.

The J Stands for Jay · 02-01-2019 07:03PM

AndrewJRenko wrote: »

My brother has a new Merc. There is no spare wheel. So when he got a puncture, he had no choice but to call out their service guys to fit a new tyre.

Bizarre to design out independence and error tolerance.

It's to keep the weight of the car down to get a smaller CO² rating so that people will buy the car for the cheap tax

EdgeCase · 02-01-2019 07:26PM

randd1 wrote: »

Compo culture has something to do with it too. Some car models no longer come with a spare wheel in some countries as too many people were suing them for getting injured when changing the wheel.

Can't find the link, I saw it on facebook a while back about a case in the US, it was established that the spare wheels (usually in the boot) weren't ergonomically stored for stress free lifting, and caused back problems when attempting to lift one out of the car. They sued, and won, and now manufacturers are pulling the spare wheels from cars.

It's nothing to do with that - they cut out the spare wheel to reduce the fuel consumption as it's significant extra weight. It's also the reason for lighter materials used in interior in some cases too and a major reason why sunroofs disappeared. They were seriously heavy.

Wibbs · 02-01-2019 10:54PM

EdgeCase wrote: »

It's nothing to do with that - they cut out the spare wheel to reduce the fuel consumption as it's significant extra weight. It's also the reason for lighter materials used in interior in some cases too and a major reason why sunroofs disappeared. They were seriously heavy.

Aye and just as importantly it's cheaper.

Graces7 · 03-01-2019 07:18AM

Cienciano wrote: »

We also could make bronze arrowheads 5000 years ago, I assume you could knock a few up in an hour?

I mean, I'm in my 40's and I'm shocked at the level of "kids these days" and "back in my day" in this thread. You can buy a jar of jam for 40 cent, who could be arsed making jam?

Home made jam with wayside berries or garden fruit costs a lot less than 40 cents. nb where do you get jam for 40 cents please? I mean a full pound ....

If a real disaster happens you will not have any jam as no sugar...

Irish Guitarist · 03-01-2019 09:17AM

My father used to hunt. I've seen and smelled enough dead rabbits and pheasants to last a lifetime. And I have no idea what's 'manly' about hiding somewhere and watching an animal the size of your hand get caught in a trap. Try punching a lion in the face instead. Or try hunting deer without a gun.

My father also once got an electrician to tune in the television (this was years before Sky boxes). I told him I could do that myself. His reply was that he 'wanted it done right' as if tuning a television required years of training. The electrician had no idea how to tune the television so I showed him. He didn't want to charge my father but I think he insisted on giving him a tenner for his hard work.

Not having a clue how to do things and making a mountain out of a molehill isn't a new thing.

KevinCavan · 03-01-2019 09:34AM

I presume there have been and always will be men who are practically minded and good at repairing things. The flip side of this is presumably there have always been bookish men who have always shied away from repairing items, or never had the practical mindsets for repairs. In some ways is it horses for courses? Imagine two men that coexist, a mechanic who can take a car fully apart and rebuild it and an English professor at university level. The mechanic is never going to write a sonnet or critique the work of Seamus Heaney and the English professor is never going to repair the gearbox in his own car.

FelaniaMump · 03-01-2019 05:30PM

Graces7 wrote: »

Home made jam with wayside berries or garden fruit costs a lot less than 40 cents. nb where do you get jam for 40 cents please? I mean a full pound ....

If a real disaster happens you will not have any jam as no sugar...

Home made jam can't cost any less than 40c....what about the sugar? Thats more than 40c for the price of a jar.

If you like making jam, great. If you think it tastes better than bought jam, have at it, delighted for you. But lets not pretend there is any inherent value or that you possess some kind of godlike skill that should be applauded. I can make jam, I learned from the internet. Big whoop.

Roger Hassenforder · 03-01-2019 05:41PM

KevinCavan wrote: »

I presume there have been and always will be men who are practically minded and good at repairing things. The flip side of this is presumably there have always been bookish men who have always shied away from repairing items, or never had the practical mindsets for repairs. In some ways is it horses for courses? Imagine two men that coexist, a mechanic who can take a car fully apart and rebuild it and an English professor at university level. The mechanic is never going to write a sonnet or critique the work of Seamus Heaney and the English professor is never going to repair the gearbox in his own car.

I know who i'd want beside me in the zombie apocalypse...

My father in law is a retired fitter. Can fix almost any engine, electrical or mechanical issue.
Can he synch his fitbit though? Or write a strongly worded letter of complaint in respect of a leaking new shoe.
Can he fcuk.
Roger has some use!

FelaniaMump · 03-01-2019 05:53PM

KevinCavan wrote: »

I presume there have been and always will be men who are practically minded and good at repairing things. The flip side of this is presumably there have always been bookish men who have always shied away from repairing items, or never had the practical mindsets for repairs. In some ways is it horses for courses? Imagine two men that coexist, a mechanic who can take a car fully apart and rebuild it and an English professor at university level. The mechanic is never going to write a sonnet or critique the work of Seamus Heaney and the English professor is never going to repair the gearbox in his own car.

But thats just more nonsense, isn't it? You think people who repair things and poets are mutually exclusive? Why isn't a mechanic going to write a sonnet, he might have a masters in comparitive literature for all you know. An English professor could be a gifted carpenter in his or her spare time, or restore vintage cars.

It's not an either or situation.

Wibbs · 03-01-2019 06:08PM

KevinCavan wrote: »

I presume there have been and always will be men who are practically minded and good at repairing things. The flip side of this is presumably there have always been bookish men who have always shied away from repairing items, or never had the practical mindsets for repairs. In some ways is it horses for courses?

There are extremes of course. The practical guy handy with his hands whose brains burn out syncing his phone and his cooker forever flashes 00:00 and the bookish guy who is so uncoordinated you daren't hand him a screwdriver because you know he'll twitch out and stab himself in the eye.

However it is possible to have both aspects going on. Most of my mates would have a foot well stuck in both camps. One could rewire and replumb your gaff, have a good stab at fixing your car, while having a conversation on a multitude of subjects, commonplace and arcane. He's bookish and practical. My dad was a qualified engineer who could use a slide rule(old skool

) learned about computers in his late 70's and could rebuild a buggered engine on the kitchen table(which would have the Ma channelling her inner torturer

). I can think of a shit ton(actual unit of measurement) of men like that. A fair few women too. Though to be fair they tended to be of an older generation, where repair rather than replace was more a thing so more people learned such skills.

I would reckon that outside of the extremes most could learn something of the "Other Side" and become fairly ok at it. There can be an element of cliche and preselection to it too. So it's assumed the mechanically minded guy is more of an intellectual dunce and the nerdy bookish guy is as clumsy as a drunk octopus and both society and the individual believe it and act accordingly.

CelticRambler · 04-01-2019 12:28AM

FelaniaMump wrote: »

Home made jam can't cost any less than 40c....what about the sugar? Thats more than 40c for the price of a jar.

Give us a link for what jam you can buy for 40ct a jar.

And in the meantime: sugar 90ct/kg + fruit 0ct/1.5kg = at least 2.2kg of premium quality jam at 41ct/kg, or about 15ct per the smallish-pot I make. Plus savings to be made on trips to the supermarket, extra weight in the shopping bags/car on the way home, and recycling ... :cool:

Something I've noticed that prevents a lot of modern city dwellers (young and old) from getting involved in the practical arts - or keeping their skills alive - is a lack of space to store all those things that might come in useful some day. When you're paying a month's salary for every square metre, it's very hard to justify giving over a whole room to store a pile of broken equipment and miscellaneous off-cuts so that you've a ready supply of spare parts to hand, and that's before you start thinking about colonising the kitchen table as a temporary workshop! :pac:

Graces7 · 04-01-2019 01:35PM

CelticRambler wrote: »

Give us a link for what jam you can buy for 40ct a jar.

And in the meantime: sugar 90ct/kg + fruit 0ct/1.5kg = at least 2.2kg of premium quality jam at 41ct/kg, or about 15ct per the smallish-pot I make. Plus savings to be made on trips to the supermarket, extra weight in the shopping bags/car on the way home, and recycling ... :cool:

Something I've noticed that prevents a lot of modern city dwellers (young and old) from getting involved in the practical arts - or keeping their skills alive - is a lack of space to store all those things that might come in useful some day. When you're paying a month's salary for every square metre, it's very hard to justify giving over a whole room to store a pile of broken equipment and miscellaneous off-cuts so that you've a ready supply of spare parts to hand, and that's before you start thinking about colonising the kitchen table as a temporary workshop! :pac:

Moving house is a great leveller... Have had NINE moves in the last two decades, the first being to Ireland with a rucksack, a cat and my laptop, car following ...

Is anybody mourning the loss of Manly /Womanly arts?

Comments